SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

330 Saga-Book of the Viking Society
V
Before leaving the discussion of what the compiler
discarded of his source material, it is as well to consider
how the mythological and supernatural, the sentimental
and the gruesome or cruel elements in that material fared.
P. Wieselgren reached certain conclusions concerning the
compiler's attitude towards them, more especially towards
the last three, and we may test his results.
Firstly, the mythological and supernatural in the
paraphrase of HH (d. (3) and (4) above).
The compiler retains the appearance of the norns at
Helgi's birth (VS 14/II : HH 2/2). He retains, with
a change in vocabulary, a reference to 'daughters of the
giant' (VS 16/24 : HH 40/7), and to Ggllnir (adding in
explanation jgtuns, VS 16/30). In VS 16/20 he refers to
Asgard which is not in the source (HH 38/4), though this
does not introduce an additional mythological element: it
replaces AIffJaur in the original (HH 38/4) - perhaps to
avoid possibly blasphemous overtones.
Yet the compiler cuts out far more than he retains.
His excision of the supernatural is particularly clear in his
treatment of Signin and her warrior maidens." In the
Saga they first appear VS 15/4 ... konur margar ok
virauligar synum, ok bar po ein af gllum. Peer rio« mea
ageetligum bUningi, a marked contrast to the original (HH
IS) : Pa bra lioma / af Logafiollom, / en af fieim liomom /
leipirir kvomo: / pa var und hidlmom. / a Himinvanga ... /
Brynior ooro peira / blMi stokknar, / en af geirom / geislar
stooo, For thunder and lightning we have commonplace
attributes, and there is no reference to 'Himinvanga'
which in the context must surely mean the sky, though in
HH 8/6 the word seems to be an ordinary place-name (not
included in the paraphrase: VS 14/14). We saw above
in I A, that a similar reference to the warrior maidens'
airy provenance was avoided, and the compiler also omits
5 Cf. Wieselgren, op. cit.; I 25, who however does not give a full discussion.