Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar
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This saga (here abbreviated HrólfG) belongs to a group of sagas, fornaldarsagas,
whose setting is Scandinavia, before the settlement of Iceland. Like most
Icelandic sagas they are a kind of biography. Another thing they have in common
with sagas of knights (riddarasgur) is that they are for entertainment, obviously
not meant to be taken seriously, although some fornaldarsagas do contain traces
of tragic myths. Here is a great deal of exaggerarion and supernatural creatures,
giants, dwarfs, even creatures that change their appearance. These sagas as
a rule also are episodic, tell of various exploits of the hero on his travels,
but the episodes are not intrinsically connected, they can be added to or
subtracted at will, without damage to the whole. New persons come and go.
Often the saga is concluded by a wedding, three- or fourfold, for not only
the hero must be disposed of, also his friends.
This general description of fornaldarsagas (taken from Jón Helgason
in Nordisk kultur) fits HrólfG exactly, showing it to be quite typical.
It is concluded by a fourfold wedding, and its main episodes are bridal quests,
interlaced with the hero's lesser exploits. And much of the saga's material
is very common in fornaldarsagas, for example the viking expeditions are quite
stereotyped, as are the hero's fights with berserks, his superhuman strength
and wisdom, and other good qualities. But even some of the most common material
can be traced to certain sources, because of similarities in expression.
These sagas of entertainment have much fewer persons than the sagas of Icelanders,
of kings and contemporary sagas (Sturlunga, the bishops sagas). They also
have much fewer place-names, and generally it is quite unclear where they
are supposed to take place. HrólfG is quite typical in having its setting
in southern Scandinavia, Russia, and Britain (which is more rare). The names
in .the saga are very common, only the hero's most inhuman enemies have exceptional
names . A few of the rarest names point to a particular source
Fornaldarsagas are divided into two groups. Some contain poetry, that often
is much older than the saga. These sagas are considered to be the oldest,
and to be based on myths. The younger sagas do not contain poetry, and are
generally considered to be based on other sagas. The oldest fornaldarsagas
are generally believed to be written in the latter half of the 13th. Century,
Jón Helgaon considers most of them to be written in the 14th. century.
I believe HrólfG to have been written in the last quarter of the 13th.
century. Two of its sources, Vatnsdžlasaga and Örvar-Odds saga are dated
to about 1270, whereas the oldest manuscripts of Hrólfs saga are dated
to around 1300. This last date is supported by the estimated age of sagas
that clearly borrow material from HrólfG. It exists in two versions.
This study only concerns the shorter one, the elder one of the two. There
are no verses in the saga, and it is not based on myths or folk-tales. I follow
the scholar Helga Reuschel in rejecting a theory, widely believed in the latter
part of the 19th century, namely, that the last and longest episode of the
saga is based on old, ostrogothic myths, also contained in the Middle High
German poem Virginal. Verses in the Eddic poem Hyndluljóð were
also considered to be based on old tales of Hrólfur and his companions.
This is rejected just as B. Nermans theory that Hrólfs bridal quest
is based on Swedo-Gautic valkyrie-myths. HrólfG is mainly based on
other fornaldarsagas. What is taken from Icelander's sagas and kings' sagas,
is material from their more adventurous episodes, taking place outside Iceland,
that is to say, material of the same kind as in fornaldarsagas. Most marked
is the influence from Ragnars saga loðbrókar, so strong as to occasionally
be damaging (blind motifs). Örvar Odds saga seems to be the source of
the viking episodes, although they are indeed very stereotyped. Vatnsdžla
saga is the source of the description of two very different brothers, and
most of the Polyphem- episode (as in the Odyssey!) seems to be based on it.
Other elements are taken from a translated variant of the Polyphem –episode,
transmitted in Icelandic as a miracle of Virgin Mary. Harðar saga og hólmverja
is clearly related to Hrólf's bridal quest, but it is not clear which
is the original. Less clear is the connection to Vlsunga saga, Þiðriks
saga af Bern, Hrólfs saga kraka and others.
The author's methods of work seem to vary quite a bit. All the highlights
of Hrólfs bridal quest are taken from other sagas, with little changes,
as well as the beginning of the last episode, but in the best related episode,
Hrólf's dealings with the princess of Ireland, (ch. 38-42), the saga
becomes so independant, that it is difficult to say whether it is at all based
on Þiðriks saga. In Ketil's bridal quest the independance is greater
still, a good story there seems to be original. Even though the Polyphem episode
is too dependent on its sources, it still is a well told story, one of the
most intriguing of the saga.
This saga is relatively realistic, compared to others of the same genre. There
is only one superhuman being, a giant, and although he be a magician, like
the king of Ireland, such powers were hardly considered unbelievable at the
time of the saga's writing. The worst exagerations are justified, as when
Þórir járnskjldur is said to have taken no food from
the time he left Sweden, until he met Hrólfur. "People often survive
for a long time on things that are not fully considered to be food, such as
various grasses and bulbs."
HrólfG seems to have been popular. Different sagas, such as Þorsteins
saga Víkingssonar are based on it to a great deal, other sagas in turn
derive from that. Two episodes in particular have had much influence, the
Polyphem-episode was a model for episodes in Þorsteins þáttur
Uxafóts, Hjálmþés saga og Ölvis and Ectors
saga. The bridal quest of çsmundur has influenced Sigurðar saga þögla,
Flóres saga, and Sigurðar saga fóts. Gautreks saga takes
its title from Hrólf's father, but there seems to be no connection
except for occasional later interpolations in some manuscripts. Gautrekur
is indeed shown as a fool in HrólfG.
Aside from the above-mentioned influence, the sagas popularity is attested
by the fact that there exist 58 different manuscript fragments of it, it was
versified six times as rmur, and three sets of ballads were based on it,
one Norvegian, two Faroese, as well as glimpses in Icelandic poems of heroes.
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