Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series B - 01.10.1965, Blaðsíða 45
XLIII
B (inserts sa), and á (b: 6; if correct), as well as what is
left of the name of the castle (a:4). The total is slightly
in favor of B, perhaps, but some of the points are rather
minute, the agreement is far from overwhelming, and in
many respects A and B are closer to each other than either
is to 1230. JB is quite correct, however, in his defense
of B, and of Jón Vigfússon, and the evidence of 1230 does
show that readings in B are not to be passed off lightly.
Before leaving a discussion of the text, it should be pointed
out that 1230 preserves the point that the stag is white
(b: 5; Chrétien, 37), a feature which has been lost in
both A and B.
While I was studying the 1230 fragments, it was pointed
out by Stefán Karlsson that the hand bears a striking
resemblance to that of AM 556A-B 4to. A close com-
parison of the fragments with the codex seems to me to
confirm the identification, and our very meager knowledge
of 1230 is thereby enlarged. In his edition of the Harðar
saga (Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, A, Vol. 6), Sture Hast
furnishes a rather detailed investigation of 556. The
material furnished by 1230 is very limited, to be sure, but
in the comparison I have, of course, also included the
remainder of the text (from the end of the Mírmann; see
below). Since Hast’s description is as complete as it is, I
make reference to it (especially pp. 30-59). The length
of the lines—this is clear only in one fragment, of course
—matches that of the codex exactly, as does the size of
the script (this varies slightly throughout the codex). Hast
comments on the equal length of the Jines (p. 33), and this
feature is also clear in the fragments. I am unable to see
a small s in the margin opposite the large capital at the
beginning of the ES. However, in spite of Hast’s “alltid”
(p. 32), such is not always found in 556. Paleographic
details in 1230 agree to a very large extent with those of
556.1 have not been able to make a detailed investigation
of every page of 556, but I do not find the following