Translated and with introduction by Jacqueline Simpson. Foreword by Eric Linklater.
The aim of this anthology is to offer a selection from the many tales and narrative poems of medieval Iceland, choosing, on the whole, either complete works or self-contained passages which suffer little loss when removed from their contexts. The greatest of the sagas, therefore, are missing from these pages; the great Sagas of the Kings of Norway and the major Family Sagas are masterpieces of large-scale construction, and it would be as grave a mutilation to represent them by extracts as it would be to offer isolated chapters of "Emma" or "Middlemarch". Fortunately such outstanding achievements as the works of Snorri Sturluson or the sagas telling of Njal, Grettir, Egil, Hrafnkel, the men of Laxdal, and many others, have been frequently translated and are readily available to English readers. But the Icelanders worked on the scale of the short story as well as on that of the novel, and their aptitude for prose narrative is as clear in the brief as in the more complex form.
Author(s): Jacqueline Simpson (transl.)
Publisher: Phoenix House
Year: 1965
Language: English
Pages: XXX+290
City: London
Foreword vii
Introduction xv
Note on the Translation xxix
Icelandic Entertainers
Sturla and King Magnus 1
An Icelandic Story-Teller 6
Ottar’s Head-Ransom 8
Lays of Gods and Legendary Heroes
Thor’s Hammer 11
The Prophecy of the Wise-Woman 16
Helgi and Sigrun 22
Volund the Smith 29
Sigurd’s First Exploits 37
Sigurd and the Sons of Gjuki 45
The Death of Sigurd 47
Gudrun’s Lament 50
The Lay of Atli 55
Biography, Chronicle, and Semi-Historical Narrative
Bishop Jon Ogmundarson 65
Church and Chieftain 77
Bishop Pal Jonsson 84
Episodes in a Blood-Feud 87
The Battles of 1066 101
Realistic Tales
Hreidar the Halfwit 119
Hromund the Lame 132
Fantastic Tales
The Scoffing Verses 141
The Howls of the Damned 152
The Misers 156
The Price of an Ox 163
Helgi and the Women of the Otherworld 175
A Visit to the Otherworld 180
The Story of Orm Storolfsson 197
The Story of Thorstein Oxleg 212
The Blood-Brothers’ Pact 231
A Giant Outwitted 234
Odd Among the Giants 237
The Breaking of a Burial Mound 244
Ballads
Hildibrand 253
Tristran 257
Olaf and the Elf-Maid 261
Iceling 263
Ebbi’s Daughters 266
The Harp Song 272
Lord Ribbald 274
Logi of Vallarahlid 277
The She-Troll 284
The Goodman and the Goodwife 288
