Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1978, Page 40

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Sniolvs kvæði
he started his own collection in 1821. Apparently keenly inte-
rested in this longest of all Faroese ballad cycles, he was quick
to collect ballads more loosely associated with it, as well —
Gríms ríma and Tíðriks kongs ríma were both recorded in 1822.
It may well be that Clemensen did not collect Frúgvin Olrina
earlier than 1827 simply because it had not yet been com-
posed. Unfortunately, one can do no more than speculate
about the year of composition of a given ballad; but it can
most certainly be said that Frúgvin Olrina was composed after
Hildardalsstríð, itself a late ballad. The composer of Frúgvin
Olrina demonstrates such a sovereign knowledge of Sniolvs
kvæði that it is tempting to think that he was a member of
the family in Skálavík that »owned« the cycle.
The remaining three ballads associated with the Sniolv cycle
all reflect to a greater or lesser degree the influence of Danish
tradition on the composition of native heroic ballads.
The clearest example of this is Tíðriks kongs ríma, which
has been correctly identified by Helmut de Boor as a variant
of Kong Diderik i Birtingsland (DgF 8).9 To be more precise,
it looks as if some Faroese ballad man grafted an Ásmund
story onto the beginning of the Danish ballad. There is a real
question, however, as to whether this new amalgam was inten-
ded to be an extension of the Sniolv cycle or of the quite popu-
lar and widespread Torbjørn Bekil. In, Tíðriks kongs ríma Ás-
mund is a member of King Tíðrik’s retinue. His wife Halga
learns that he has been unfaithful to her and poisons him when
he says goodbye to her before setting off on the military ex-
pedition to Island which is the story told in Kong Diderik i
Birtingsland. Although Ásmund’s marriage to a woman named
Halga suggests that Tíðriks kongs ríma was written about the
hero of Torbjørn Bekil, the unpleasant character of Ásmund
in Tíðriks kongs ríma and his association with Diderik’s court
and the champions Virgar and Sjúrð all speak for a much
closer relationship to the Sniolv cycle. In composing this new
ballad the poet seems to have wanted to provide a fitting death
for Ásmund, the villain of Sniolvs kvæði — the man who has