Gripla - 2022, Side 131

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whole)74 a term which, in AM 194 8vo, consistently translates the Lat.
insanos.75 The use of the term óheill here implies a connection between
physical openness and mental illness. This chimes with various saga nar-
ratives that portray mental disorder as induced by contact with external
paranormal forces.76 It is interesting, then, that another stone, Crisolitus
is said to frighten and drive away trolls:77 this further highlights the per-
ceived relationship between supernatural forces and human health and
emphasises the degree to which humans were seen as continually subject
to external influence, both involuntary (e.g., diseases, trolls etc.) and vol-
untary (e.g., use of stones).
Elsewhere, stones enhance cognitive and intellectual capacities:
Saledonius makes people eloquent,78 while Geretisses allows the user in-
sight into the thoughts and desires of others: “ef madr hefir hann i munni
ser, þa ma hann segia hvat annar hyGr um hann” (if a man holds the stone
in his mouth, then he can say what another thinks about him).79 The way
in which this form of telepathy is achieved (by holding the stone in the
mouth) is striking, especially as the phrasing emphasises the verbal nature
of the telepathy (the user will “segja” (say) the thoughts of others). Perhaps
the placement of the stone in the mouth is seen as allowing direct physical
transfer of hidden information, mediated through the stone to the organs
of speech? And the text has some ideas about how one might implement
this telepathy: the bearer could use Geretisses to ascertain “hvart kona vill
iata bondi eda nita” (whether a woman will accept or deny a husband)!80
This description differs from Marbode’s text, which has a more predatory
74 AÍ, 83: “hann gredir oheila;” AÍ, 82: “gredir hann oheila.”
75 De Lapidibus, 36, 55.
76 For this relationship in the family saga tradition, see Kanerva, “Disturbances of the
Mind and Body” and Miriam Mayburd, “It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Haunted
Saga Homesteads, Climate Fluctuations, and the Vulnerable Self,” Paranormal Encounters
in Iceland 1150–1400, ed. by Ármann Jakobsson and Miriam Mayburd (Berlin: De
Gruyter, 2020), 21–38. We can also think here of the inducing of mental disorder through
environmental magic in the fornaldarsögur (see, e.g., Göngu-Hrólfs saga, in Fornaldar sögur
Norðurlanda, ed. by Guðni Jónsson (Reykjavík: Prentverks Odds Björnssonar, 1954), vol.
III, ch. 28).
77 AÍ, 79: “hredir hann troll ok rekir.” The term “troll” translates Marbode’s “demones” (De
Lapidibus, 49).
78 AÍ, 83: “hann gerir mann malsniallan.”
79 AÍ, 81.
80 Ibid.
LAPIDARIES AND L Y F S T E I N A R