Orð og tunga - 2023, Qupperneq 18

Ármann Jakobsson: Cursing with trolls in Njáls saga 9
tion of trollish behaviour. She is implying that the trolls do not even
need to take Njáll and his sons since the beards of the sons are clear
proof of magic: they are themselves trolls.
Whether Hallgerðr’s veiled accusation of witchcraft gained cur­
rency in the whole of South Iceland cannot be said, but much later in
the saga, Skarpheðinn encounters Skapti Þóroddsson the lawspeaker
(or “attorney general” in modern parlance). Skapti immediately asks
who this trollish man is, leading Skarpheðinn to react promptly, an­
grily and cleverly (Brennu­Njáls saga 1954:298–99). Why would Skar­
pheðinn be trollish? Not just because he is a big man – Skapti has al­
ready mentioned that – but rather because Skapti sees ‘something of
the night about him’.12 Possibly this is because he has heard the dung­
beardlings slur, which most definitely exacerbates Skarpheðinn’s re­
action to the question.
The impression I may have given of what Njáls saga is like is cer­
tainly correct: the saga characters hurl accusations of trollish behav­
iour at each other, and few seem exempt from being linked in this
way to the dark place itself. And the presence of trolls is not limited
to accusations; they also figure as characters in the saga.
Given the presence of all these trollish accusations and demonic
figures in Njáls saga, it seems natural to interpret Hallgerðr’s curse
as rather more than mere words. Indeed, Gunnarr’s courageous in­
difference to her response seems ill­advised, given how trolls walk
the earth in this saga. Some of these paranormal others may appear
to people and frighten them and, in some cases, harm them. People
are accused of interaction, sexual and otherwise, with these trolls, as
well as of other foul and magical activities, and this leads to battle
and bloodshed, precisely because the characters of the saga take these
accusations seriously. They are living in a storyworld that contains
trolls, and these trolls are dangerous to both one’s physical and spir­
itual health. Therefore, people should take care in invoking and sum­
moning them.
To sum up: When Hallgerðr asks the trolls to take Njáll and his
family, the sense of her words is multi­layered and the cultural con­
text complex. Hallgerðr is certainly expressing her anger and venting
her feelings, making threats and ensuring that the feud will continue.
That she does this by mentioning trolls is all the more threatening
12 The complicated portrayal of Skapti in various thirteenth­, fourteenth­ and fif­
teenth­century sagas and how the sagas in general treat traditional or historical
figures is discussed in Ármann Jakobsson (2014).
tunga25.indb 9 08.06.2023 15:47:14