SAGA-BOOK - Viking Society Web Publications

Bergr Sokkason's Michaels saga
rather than independent. The Latin text has "crines
candent".28 C. R. Unger, editor of Hms., has emended
the verb in Duggals Leizla to folnaoi, but records in the
footnotes that he has no manuscript authority for this,
AM 681a 4to having fell en, and AM 624 4to, the manuscript
of Duggals Leizla consistently closest to the
Michaels Saga, having fell i corresponding to the verb fell
of Michaels Saga.
It is therefore the Norse Duggals Leizla that may be
assumed to be the source of Michaels Saga. The Michaels
Saga itself cannot be the earlier of the two texts, since in
some details Duggals Leizla is fuller, and it is the fuller
version which corresponds to the Latin. Also the Duggals
Leizla contains the whole story, not merely an excerpt
from it as the Michaels Saga does.
There are other grounds for assuming that the Duggals
Leizla is the earlier of the two texts. It is associated in
a preface with Hdko« konungr who had it translated from
Latin. C. R. Unger in his preface to Hms. says that there
can be little doubt that this was Hakon gamli. Certainly,
since it is known that Hakon gamli encouraged translation,
it is very possible that he was responsible for ordering the
translation of Duggals Leizla, in which case the date would
fall within the years of his reign 1217-1263, but even if the
Hakon referred to were Hakon V (1299-1319), this still
would put the translation of Duggals Leizla earlier than
the composition of Michaels Saga.
It seems as if there is every reason to assume that for
this material Bergr made use of an already existing
translation, and if this is accepted, it throws further light
on the way Bergr handled his sources. The lack of
expansion, elaboration and moralisation is unlike his
practice elsewhere, and it seems a possible reason for this
that he is copying from the vernacular rather than
translating Latin. It is obviously easier to add independent
flourishes if one is translating than to rework an
28 Hms, I 359/26, also 331, footnote.