Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða

Edited with Introduction and Glossary by Frank Stanton Cawley. The purpose of this book is to enable English-speaking students with some knowledge of Old Norse inflections to read a complete Icelandic saga without recourse to a third language for assistance in matters of idiom, syntax, and lexicography. "Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða" is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It tells of struggles between chieftains and farmers in the east of Iceland in the 10th century. The eponymous main character, Hrafnkel, starts out his career as a fearsome duelist and a dedicated worshiper of the god Freyr. After suffering defeat, humiliation, and the destruction of his temple, he becomes an atheist. His character changes and he becomes more peaceful in dealing with others. After gradually rebuilding his power base for several years, he achieves revenge against his enemies and lives out the rest of his life as a powerful and respected chieftain. The saga has been interpreted as the story of a man who arrives at the conclusion that the true basis of power does not lie in the favor of the gods but in the loyalty of one's subordinates.