SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Saga-Book of the Viking Society
Duggal's whole story appears elsewhere by the name of
Duggals Leizla. It is a typical warning about the afterlife.
The man Duggall appeared to have died, lay in
a trance for three days, astonished everyone by proving
not to be dead after all, and recounted the adventures his
soul had experienced during that time with both angels
and devils. There appear to be three possible sources that
Bergr could have used for this tale, the Latin original, the
Norse translation, or the abbreviated Speculum Historiale
version. Of these the Speculum was clearly not the
source, since the Michaels Saga and the other texts share
details not found in the Speculum. Between the three
other texts there is extremely close correspondence, and
especially between the two vernacular texts there is such
similarity of vocabulary and syntax, even frequent
identity, that it would be unreasonable to posit independent
translations from the Latin. For example when
Duggalliay in a trance the signs of death which came on
him are listed in a sentence that corresponds point by
point and almost word for word.
Michaels Saga
pvi nrest fellu all dauoamork a hann : har hans fell, enni hans
hrokknarii, augun urn sneruz, nasraufar byrg6uz, varrar
bliknu6u, haka hans ofan signaoi, ok allir hans lirnir k61nut5u.
Duggals Leizla
pvi nzest feUu all sonn dauoamork a hann: har hans folnaoi,
enni hrokknaoi, augu hans urn sneruz, en nasraufar hans
byrg6uz, varrar bliknuou, haka ofan seig ok allir Iikams lioir
hans k61nu6u. 2 7
This is a particularly helpful sentence. First of all it
demonstrates clearly that the Speculum. Historiale can be
discounted as a source since it has only "Assunt omnia
signa mortis", and omits the list. Secondly the two
vernacular texts are alike in having the same deviation or
mistranslation from the full Latin version, thereby
supporting the suggestion that the translations are related
27 Hms. I 686/28; Hms, I 331/34.