SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Treatment of Sources in the Volsunga saga 343
again specifically refer. There are, however, perhaps
three further points that speak in its favour, though not
without possibility of contradiction.
Firstly, Atli in the Saga admits that Gudnin had at
least some cause for contriving his death, there being no
such reference in the source (see VS 73/21-22 and Am. 92),
so her guilt might seem to be less. On the other hand,
this is in a sense counterbalanced by the Atli of the Saga's
statement that Gudnin herself was responsible for the
downfall of her brothers (VS 72/3-4), whereas in the
source he tells her that she is only partly responsible (A1Jl.
68/7-8).
Secondly, Gudnin in the Saga tells how she slew her
sons l haY1'ni (VS 77/1), thus making her action more
spontaneous than premeditated. There is no hint of this
in the source (see Ghv. 12). There is another specific
reference by Gudnin to the fate of her sons in Gar, II
34/7-8 which is turned into a more general statement (VS
64/9-10). But the first of these instances may perhaps be
thought of as a not unnatural addition in the context of
Gudnin's general lament, the second as a cutting down of
detail unnecessary in the context.
Thirdly, one of the reproaches levelled against Gudnin
by Atli in Am. (96/5-6) is omitted (VS 73/23), but the
precise sense of the reproach seems obscure and the
compiler may therefore have chosen to disregard it - or
he may simply have considered that the two reproaches
he took over from the source were enough.
It is not impossible to argue the opposite case, viz. that
the compiler slightly blackens her character. Gudrun
(Gor. II 39/3-4) seems to tell Atli openly of her anger
against him. The omission of this reference in VS
(64/21-22) could be said to show a tendency on the
compiler's part to increase Gudrun's cunning and deceit,
a tendency further revealed in Gudnin's declared willingness
to be reconciled to Atli after the death of her brothers
(VS 72/14-15), which is not as such in the source (d.
Am. 73).