Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Síða 214
pp. 105-06). When Kalegras kills Piegrus, Blenzibly’s lover, her reaction
is contrary to all expectations: she does not begin a period of mourning
nor does she attempt to seek vengeance; instead, she is seized by love for
Kalegras, the slayer. Blenzibly’s deportment seems predicated upon Lu-
neta’s sophistry in Ivens saga, who inquires of her mistress:
Nu ef tveir riddarar herklædask til bardaga ok mætask, hvårr
Jteira hyggr J>u at vildari sé, ef einn våpnsækir annan ok
sigrar?
(Now if two knights arm themselves for battie and meet one an-
other, and if one attacks the other and wins, which of them do you
think is the better?)
Luneta’s lady responds without hesitation:
“Så synisk mér vildari,” sagdi fruin, “er sigrask en hinn er yfir
verdr kominn.” (ch. 5, 45:1-5)
(“The one who wins seems to me better than the other who is
vanquished,” the lady said.)
Iven’s future wife is trapped into arriving at the conclusion that her
husband’s slayer is as worthy of marrying her as was her husband. Blen-
zibly arrives at the same realization by herself, and acts upon her insight.
Only the words of Pollornis, her page, suggest that her behavior is out of
the ordinary. When she confesses to him that she is in love with the
slayer, and orders Pollornis to bid Kalegras come to her, the page accuses
her of drunkenness and declares that it would be far better for him to kill
Kalegras and to deliver the knight’s head to Blenzibly.
The various scenes of which the Blenzibly-Kalegras section is composed
- the combat; Blenzibly’s reaction at first sight of Kalegras; the inter-
mediary between knight and lady; the successful outcome of the negotia-
tions - are reminiscent of Ivens saga, except that male and female roles
are reversed, and that Luneta happily takes part in the intrigue in Ivens
saga, whereas in the Icelandic Tristrams saga Pollornis is an unwilling
accomplice. The motif of the widow who wants to marry her husband’s
slayer occurs also in Bærings saga (ch. 19), where the situation is identical
to that in the Icelandic Tristram, except that the hero refuses the offer of
love. Gustaf Cederschiold, who edited Bærings saga, thought that this
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