Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1978, Page 28

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Sniolvs kvæði
unusual collection history that casts some light upon the com-
position of new ballads about the Sniolv cycle.
The oldest variant of Sniolvs kvæði was collected by Svabo
in 1781—1782. This variant consists of only four tættir, which
are untitled but correspond to what are in later collections
called (1) Golmars táttur, (2) Sniolvs táttur, (3) Ásmundar
táttur, and (4) Gríms táttur. Although it might be assumed
that Svabo’s text is not complete, that he only succeeded in
collecting four out of a possible nine txttir, it could be argued
that these four tættir do in fact comprise a complete text of
the cycle. In his Indberetninger fra en Reise i Færøe 1781 og
1782, Svabo gives a short characterization of Faroese ballads
in which he says that they usually consist of one, two, or three
tættir, although there are those that have even four, and he
names Sniolvs kvæði as the lone example.3 To judge from his
specific mention of Sniolvs kvæði in this context, Svabo seems
fairly certain that he has collected the entire ballad.
Furthermore, the text itself with its complex but coherent
structure also gives the impression of completeness. The four
tættir relate sequentially three infamous acts committed by
the villain Ásmund: in Golmars táttur Ásmund rapes Duke
Golmar’s wife and then before killing the Duke forces
him to assist in finding a sword once sunk deep beneath the
sea by the valiant warrior Hildibrand. This motif, the quest
for a weapon, is a rather common opening in Faroese ballads
and is usually handled in one of two ways. Sometimes the pre-
history of the weapon is provided, as for example in the first
táttur of Sjúrðar kvæði (FK 1), in which we are told how
the sword breaks when Sjúrð’s father dies and how years later
Regin forges the two pieces together and gives them to the
young Sjúrð. However, it also happens that a ballad can open
without giving any background for the weapon, as in Risin
í Holmgørðum (FK 10) — this ballad begins with Virgar’s
trip to his father’s burial mound to get a sword, but nothing
is said about where the sword came from or how it got into
the mound. Svabo’s text of Sniolvs kvæði employs this more
simple variation of the motif of the quest for a weapon.