Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1978, Qupperneq 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