Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1978, Page 33

Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1978, Page 33
Sniolvs kvæði 41 in the ballad cycle. Here, Ásmund’s motive for engineering Grím’s death is accounted for — Ásmund has been sent to fight with Grím by Virgar, who is angry at having been defeated by the young warrior. Just as Grím is about to set off on a voyage (the one from which he is returning when he fights with Sjúrð), Ásmund finds him and challenges him to a jousting match from which Grím emerges victorious, thus pro- voking Ásmund into threatening him with death »at the hands of one from whom you least expect it.« In addition to Sjúrðar kvæði and its derivatives, another ballad, Torbjørn Bekil (FK 98), appears to have played a role in the composition of some of the younger tættir in the Sniolv cycle. Torbjørn Bekil is about a young Askelad figure named Ásmund who slays some giants to win the hand of the maiden Halga. The Ásmund of Torbjørn Bekil bears the epithet »kell- ingarson« (old lady’s son), because it was his mother who helped outfit him for battle against a giant and later healed him of his wounds. The Ásmund »kellingarson« of Torbjørn Bekil seems to have become confused with the Ásmund »ungi« (young) or »illi« (evil) of the Sniolvs cycle on Sandoy.5 The first evidence of this confusion is to be found in the 1819 text of Gríms táttur where Ásmund is referred to twice as »kell- ingarson.« This epithet occurs in two commonplace stanzas (st. 368 and 414), each of which directly follows a scene in which the young Grím refuses to fight with Ásmund because he and his mother practice magic. It seems likely that the two Ásmunds were confused because of their names and because they both had mothers who had helped them get ahead in the world. This confusion played an interesting role in the composition of Hildibrands táttur. Looking for champions to challenge, Ásmund arrives at Virgar’s castle when Virgar is not at home. He is addressed by Virgar’s stoltsinsmoyggjar, valkyrie-like figures, who refer to incidents in Ásmund’s past and claim that they were themselves present helping him. Two of these incidents do indeed belong to the biography of Ásmund »ungi« 4 — Fróðskaparrit
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
Page 51
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
Page 61
Page 62
Page 63
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66
Page 67
Page 68
Page 69
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
Page 78
Page 79
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 84
Page 85
Page 86
Page 87
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 93
Page 94
Page 95
Page 96
Page 97
Page 98
Page 99
Page 100
Page 101
Page 102
Page 103
Page 104
Page 105
Page 106
Page 107
Page 108
Page 109
Page 110
Page 111
Page 112
Page 113
Page 114
Page 115
Page 116
Page 117
Page 118
Page 119
Page 120
Page 121
Page 122
Page 123
Page 124
Page 125
Page 126
Page 127
Page 128
Page 129
Page 130
Page 131
Page 132
Page 133
Page 134
Page 135
Page 136
Page 137
Page 138
Page 139
Page 140
Page 141
Page 142
Page 143
Page 144
Page 145
Page 146

x

Fróðskaparrit

Direct Links

If you want to link to this newspaper/magazine, please use these links:

Link to this newspaper/magazine: Fróðskaparrit
https://timarit.is/publication/15

Link to this issue:

Link to this page:

Link to this article:

Please do not link directly to images or PDFs on Timarit.is as such URLs may change without warning. Please use the URLs provided above for linking to the website.