The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1979, Qupperneq 40

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THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
WINTER 1979
SKARPHEDINN NJALSSON
by Haraldur Bessason
Skarphedinn Njalsson was the eldest son
of Njall Thorgeirsson at Bergporshvall
(Bergthorsknoll) in southern Iceland the
protagonist of the famous 13th-century
work Njal’s Saga. In 1011 Skarphedinn and
a number of other members of his father
Njall’s household perished as their enemies
besieged them and set fire to their home.
In history this tragic event is known as
The Burning of Njall. In Njal’s Saga, which
is first and foremost a literary work, the
Burning has a deeper meaning in that it
marks the very end of a heathen society
whose code of ethics claimed revenge as a
sacred obligation.
Only a decade before the Burning of Njall
the Icelandic nation had been converted to a
new faith which preached humility and
compassion leaving no margin for time-
honoured heroic conduct. Love for the
enemy and forgiveness were novel concepts
and created the social tension which is care-
fully examined in Njal’s Saga. In the con-
cluding chapters of the saga heroic intran-
sigence gives way to Christian humility.
In Njal’s Saga Skarphedinn Njalsson
represents archaic heathen values. Engulfed
by flames his father Njall, a recent convert
to Christianity, sees the Burning as purga-
tory and asks his people to “be of good heart
and speak no words of fear”. In his words
the Burning is “just a passing storm” and he
reminds his people that God will not let
them bum “both in this world and the
next”. Bent on revenge, Skarphedinn says
to Kari Solmundarson as the latter makes his
escape from the fire: “I shall laugh, brother-
in-law, if you escape, for you will avenge us
all”. Njal’s Saga’s account makes one
wonder if Skarphedinn’s brief stay among
the flames sufficed for his salvation.
In Hannes Hafstein’s poem presented
here in Dr. Gudmundur Gislason’s English
translation this question receives the poet’s
careful attention. At the beginning of the
poem the destructive power of the Burning
is stressed. Then the emphasis gradually
shifts to its purgatorial effects. In the end the
flames mark the sign of the cross on the
chest of the dead hero. The poem therefore
goes beyond the confines of the saga ac-
count by implying that Njall’s prediction
noted above held true for everyone con-
cerned, even his intensely heroic son
Skarphedinn.
The poet
Hannes Hafstein (1861-1922) was, in his
day, one of Iceland’s leading literary and
political figures. In 1904 he became Ice-
land’s first cabinet minister.
The translator
Dr. Gudmundur J. Gislason ( ) of
Grand Forks, North Dakota, was a physi-
cian and surgeon as well as a man of letters.
Several of his English translations of Ice-
landic peoms have appeared in journals and
anthologies.
i—
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