Orð og tunga - 2023, Page 19

10 Orð og tunga
since this is a narrative replete with trolls and accusations of trollish
behaviour – a saga that indeed not only takes place in the Rangár vell­
ir region of Iceland but concerns the much bigger struggle between
heaven and hell, a story of heroes and villains, angels and demons.
4
Interestingly, Hallgerðr is not the last person in Njáls saga, nor in­
deed the last wife, to invoke the trolls in a curse. Close to the end of
the saga, we meet her counterpart, the noble Valgerðr, who is related
to Gunnarr of Hlíðarendi. Clearly a good woman, she has made an
unfortunate marriage to a braggart and mountebank called Björn,
whom Kári Sölmundarson – Njáll’s son­in­law and his and his sons’
avenger – visits during his lengthy campaign of revenge. Kári men­
tions the possibility that Björn could be his sidekick in the latter part
of the campaign, and the latter is swift to solicit the job with a barrage
of self­advertisement. This angers his wife, who says, “Troll hafi þitt
skrum ok hól” (The troll take thy boasting and bragging) (Brennu­
Njáls saga 1954:425).
In this instance too, the invocation clearly has a cathartic function.
Valgerðr is long tired of her husband’s empty bravado, and it is her
anger that releases the troll into her parlance, but of course she also
wishes to warn Kári against Björn, who is clearly not as brave as he
professes to be. The clever Kári has already realised this, and he man­
ages to find good use for Björn, who in the end acquits himself better
than expected and certainly better than his long­suffering wife ex­
pected. Hence, when they return and Valgerðr icily asks how Björn
performed, Kári gives him a glowing report which leads to husband
and wife making up in the end.
The trolls did not really take Björn’s boasting and bragging. A
swankpot and a rodomont he remains, and yet in spite of all his puff­
ing and showing off, he is also a man of good faith who stays true to
Kári. For this he is rewarded by Kári in multiple ways, most impor­
tantly by the praise that puts him back into the good graces of his
wife. Unlike Hallgerðr, who summoned the trolls to take Njáll and his
family, Valgerðr’s frustration was with Björn’s behaviour rather than
with the man himself. She in the end gives him a chance, and they are
reconciled.
While the presence of the two troll curses, the two husbands and
tunga25.indb 10 08.06.2023 15:47:14