SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

348 Saga-Book of the Vi1?ing Society
the Saga and Signin is described as appearing on the shore.
The compiler must have thought that the sudden mention
of the shore would be inconsistent with his reference to the
perils of the deep unless these could be brought into
proximity with the shore. He therefore adds dor peir
kcemi at landi (VS r6(r) to his statement 'they were then
on the verge of foundering'.
The lines spdkr pcetti mer ( spillir bauga, ( ef hann
fiorsega / frdnan ceti (Fm. 32/5-8) can hardly be taken to
mean anything but that the bird considers it would be a
wise thing for Sigurd to do if he ate the dragon's heart. But
the obvious interpretation of the VS equivalent: Pat (the
heart) skyldi hann sjdlfr eta. Pd mundi hann veroa hoerjwm
manni vitrari (VS 34(r-2) is that Sigurd would grow in
wisdom if he were to eat the dragon's heart. Here is
a significant difference, an alteration which seems to have
gone unremarked. Why did the compiler make the
change? It is at least possible that he had in mind the
scene in which Sigurd gives Gudnin to eat of the dragon's
heart, where we hear ok sioa« var han mikht grimmari en
dar ok vitrari (VS 48/3). This consideration may also
explain why, when Sigurd says to Brynhild 'kenn ass rdO
til siorra hlula', the compiler lets her reply 'per munuo betra
kunna' (VS 35/24).
Of course, these differences could be ascribed to the
influence of the Siguroar saga, so could, no doubt, much
else, but there is no proof and if the compiler is the
innovator, then here at least he shows a high degree of
consistency in handling his sources.
The compiler avoids possible confusion by unhesitatingly
identifying the sleeping valkyrie as Brynhild,
Gunnar's wife to be, though there is no such identification
in his immediate source (Fm. 42-44 : VS 34/9).
The compiler followed Sg. in his narration of Sigurd's
death, and thus tells of Gudrun's presence at the time of
the murder. His reintroduction of Gudnin into the story
is based on Br. 6, where Gudrun asks what has become of