Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Page 248
ted his valor in various feats of strength and courage. Chapter 6 of the
tale contains the grateful-lion motif in a homely but winsome metamor-
phosis of the account of Iven’s delivery of the lion. In Vigkæns saga
kuahirdis the cowherd comes one day upon two lions lying underneath
an oak tree. One is skittish and immediately moves some distance away
from the intruder. The other remains in place, however, and Vigkænn
discovers that the animal, a lioness, is too weak to move because she has
just given birth to a still-born cub. Vigkænn looks after the lioness, and
the animal expresses its friendship and gratitude by means of tears. The
cowherd becomes fond of the animal and bids it follow him. The lioness
becomes Vigkæn’s companion.
Vigkæn’s encounter with the lions lacks the heroic dimensions of anal-
ogous episodes in the riddarasogur. The grateful lion accompanies the
cowherd not because of a dramatic rescue from certain death but because
of Vigkæn’s demonstration of concern and compassion for a weak ani-
mal. Despite its modest proportions, this episode in Vigkæns saga kua-
hirdis - in faet, the entire tale - merits our consideration. The work illus-
trates a basic facet of Icelandic fiction: the utilization, adaptation, and
amalgamation of matter from diverse sources in the re-creative process.
The discussion of the grateful-lion motif has demonstrated the Iceland-
ers’ peculiar propensity to compose variations on standard themes, and
Finnur Jonsson’s simile of the kaleidoscope to apply to the composition
of the indigenous Icelandic romances is apt:
De kendte motiver benyttedes; det var som et kalejdoskop; hver gang det rystes,
kommer nye sammenstillinger og nye figurer frem, men bestanddelene er de
samme. De givne motiver var en sådan kalejdoskopisk bunke, der ved forskellige
sammenstillinger kunde varieres. Hvor morsomt hvert produkt blev, beroede på
forfatterens duelighed og behændighed og ævne til at fortælle godt.31
In Vigkæns saga kuahirdis three literary strands, albeit not all of equal
strength, meet in a work that is basically a folk tale.32 Vigkæn’s encounter
with the lions contains reminiscences from the realm of romance as well
as learned literature. The former is easily recognizable in the grateful-
lion motif, which even contains the topos of gratitude expressed by tears.
The setting of the scene - underneath an oak tree - may be a reflex of the
bending oak trees in the romances. The borrowing of topoi extends also
to learned literature, although a romance probably acted as intermedia-
31 Finnur Jonsson, Den oldnorske og oldislandske litteraturs historie, III, p. 103.
32 See Einar Ol. Sveinsson, Verzeichnis ..., pp. 17-18.
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