SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

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Saga-Book of the Viking Society
the first was inflicted by Sturla, and that Aron was sdrr
ok kumlaor my'ok when he reached the mainland.P"
Likewise, Sturla's account has Aron my'ok ftrekaor after
his escape from Valshamarr, but the biography states that
he had been wounded in the calf by a spear.61 Although
these details might have been invented in order to
increase the hero's standing by dwelling on his sufferings,
it seems from the other evidence that they are more likely
to be true. We can imagine, too, that the scars would
have been well remembered in Aron's family.
Having discussed the ways in which the two accounts
differ from each other, it is worth while to make a general
survey of their similarities. Certain overall agreement
will naturally appear when the same events are being
reported, but it is as well not to assume without careful
investigation that this is the sale cause of any such
correspondence.
On a number of occasions the two narratives show such
close verbal agreement as to make one think that copying
might have taken place. We have already seen that this
is not likely to have been true. Bjorn M. Olsen touches
on some of these points in his discussion, but dismisses
them rather summarily as coincidence or as the result
of the same fact being described. Some indeed are
susceptible of the latter explanation, but in other places
there is more room for doubt. In the tale of Aron's
fostering at Hitardalr, we find the following:
Arons saga
t>vi varu peir sva sem f6stbr