Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Blaðsíða 223

were to fight against three and I against four’). The stranger’s approach
to requesting help is unusual. Unlike many individuals who blindly en-
trust théir fate to an Erex or an Iven, Tristram the Stranger suggests that
the knight is inferior to him. The hero is understandably displeased and
resorts to boasting: "Ok pat veit gud,” sagdi hann, “at ek ætla mér betr
vinnask at berjask vid v, en pér vid ij” (ch. 13, p. 74 ‘“And God knows,”
he said, “that I shall get on better fighting against five than you against
two’”). Tristram’s prognosis turns out to be correct, for in the amount of
time it takes Tristram to kill five opponents, his namesake has slain but
one, so that the hero gives the deathblow to the last of the brothers, his
sixth victim. The hero has been vindicated.
The episode with Tristram’s namesake derives from the Norwegian
Tristrams saga, and a comparison of the episodes in the two versions
highlights the farcical tone of the Icelandic saga. In the Norwegian Tris-
trams saga the stranger’s epithet is “the dwarf” - a misnomer, as he
himself admits, for he is a huge man (ch. 94). Tristram the Dwarf seeks
out Tristram, the hero, because the Dwarf has lost both his castle and his
wife to an evil man who has the support of seven brothers. The humble
stance assumed by Tristram the Dwarf is typical of that of many another
suppliant in the riddarasogur. His words to the hero imply an absolute
trust in Tristram’s ability to help him:
En nu em ek hingat kominn til Jnn; jjvi at jru ert hinn frægasti
madr ok hinn vaskasti, vitr ok vinsæll af Ju'num vinum, en
hardr ovinum ok Jrarf ek, at [ru leggir nokkut heilrædi fyrir
mik ok hjålpir mér nokkut, vid svå mikla naudsyn, at J?u
mættir sækja eptir husfru minni. En ek vil vera J)ér tryggr ok
trur ok |rinn eidsvari! (ch. 94, p. 190)
(And so I have turned to you, because you are so famous and
valiant, wise and well loved by your friends, but fierce to your
enemies. I need that you proffer me some wise counsel and help me
in my extremity and that you try to return my wife to me. In return
I shall be true and faithful to you and become your liegeman.)
A comparison of the request for help above with that in the correspond-
ing episode in the Icelandic Tristram shows that the basic difference is
one of attitude: the Norwegian is characterized by humility, whereas the
Icelander exhibits an offensive arrogance. The difference in deportment,
all other things considered, is the difference between the chivalry and
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