SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Treatment of Sources in the Volsunga saga 335
when a drap pei would have done equally well. The
omission of the reference to calves can scarcely be said to
reveal the compiler's dislike of the horrific, though
admittedly the omission of just how Atli ate his sons'
hearts does make the passage rather less gruesome ­
whether this was the compiler's purpose in making the
omission is more doubtful. The compiler's avoidance of
the details of Gudrun's prowess in battle, whatever his real
reason, can hardly be due to squeamishness in the
description of battle scenes. See e.g. VS 29/24 ff. where
skulls are cleft and arms bloody to the shoulders! There
are clearly a few instances where the compiler could have
modified gory or similar elements, and did not do so, e.g.
how the two halves of Guttorm's corpse fell one in, one
outside Sigurd's bedchamber (VS 58/31); how Gudrun
awoke, bathed in Sigurd's blood (VS 58/33), and the vivid
description of Brynhild's self-inflicted wound (VS 61/10)
is not really an essential element, while her command
regarding the funeral pyre: Ldt par tjalda yfir af rauau
mannabl60i (VS 61/2) is not as such in the source, Sg.
66/1-4 (for other such interpretative renderings see below).
Moreover, the inclusion by the compiler of the two
different accounts of the Hjalli episode (Am. 61-64 and
Akv. 22-25 respectively, see VS 70/25 - 71/10) does nothing
to lessen the cruelty inherent in the situation.
In view of these considerations it seems difficult to
maintain that the compiler made a special point of
eliminating the gruesome or cruel elements in his sources.
VI
The compiler, however, does not adopt a purely negative
attitude towards his source material; he does not merely
prune it of elements unsuited to his purpose. There are
not a few instances of additions made by him which, if not
essential, are by no means inappropriate or unreasonable
in their context (d. (21) and (35) above), e.g. pann
g1tUhring ok sod aUt (guUit) (VS 26/8 : Rm. 5) - the