Searchable version - Viking Society Web Publications

8 Saga-Book of the Viking Society
chapters are compared, or incomprehensibility in a chapter which
may indicate an inept summary of another source. The fact that
Sturla made a change or addition will also show up when the
relevant chapter in Stb is compared with its counterpart in Pb(Mb),
representing an earlier stage in the development of Ldn. That
which is new or different in Stb can often be traced to a particular
saga. A good example of one such used by Sturla is Egils saga. In
Stb chs. 29-30, he summarised its account of Skalla-Grimr's journey
to Iceland and settlement there, thus, incidentally, ascribing to
him a much larger land-claim than in the earlier Ldn tradition.
Which sagas were used by Sturla is to some extent uncertain, since
it is not always possible to distinguish between a saga which was a
source for Ldn, and one for which Ldn was a source, and the list
is occasionally altered by new research (J6nas Kristjansson 1977).
However, the principle that Sturla used lslendingasiigur as a supplementary
source for Stb has not been challenged. Thus it is
reasonable to assume that he also used some sagas which are now
lost. This is particularly so in parts of Stb which show signs of
additions or changes which cannot be derived from any known
source. The supposition is of course helped by the fact that some
lost sagas are named in Stb (e.g. Poroar saga gellis in ch. 97,
lslendingabok, Landnamabok 1968, 140).
Even when a lost saga is not named, it is possible to show that
it very likely existed and was used as a source for Stb. One such
saga has been called *Hroars saga Tungugoba.
The first half of ch. 284 in Stb tells of a settler called Uni
Garoarsson:
Uni son Garoars, er fyrst fann island, f6r til islands mea raai Haralds konungs
harfagra ok retlaai at leggja undir sik landit, en sman halai konungr heitit honum
at gera hann jarl sinn, Uni t6k land, par sem nu heitir Una6ss, ok h6saai par;
hann nam ser land til eignar fyrir sunnan Lagarftj6t, alit herao til Unalrekjar.
En er landsmenn vissu setlan hans, t6ku peir at yfask via hann ok vildu eigi selja
honum kvikfe eaa vistir, ok matti hann eigi par haldask. Uni f6r [AlptafjQra enn
syora: hann nMi par eigi at staofestask. l>a f6r hann austan mea t61fta mann ok
kom at vetri til LeiMlfs kappa [ Sk6gahverfi; hann t6k via peim. Uni pyddisk
l>6runni d6ttur LeiMlfs, ok var hon mea barni urn varit. l>1i vildi Uni hlaupask
Ii braut mea slna menn, en LeiMlfr reio eptir honum, ok fundusk peir hja
Flangastooum ok borousk par, pvl at Uni vildi eigi aptr fara mea LeiMlfi; par
fellu nokkurir menn af Una, en hann f6r aptr nauoigr, pv[ at LeiMlfr vildi, at
hann fengi konunnar ok staofestisk ok treki arf eptir hann. Nokkuru s[aar hlj6p
Uni Ii braut, pli er LeiMlfr var eigi heima, en LeiMlfr reia eptir honum, pli er
hann vissi, ok fundusk peir hja Kalfagrofum; var hann pa sva reior, at hann drap
Una ok forunauta hans alia.
From Pb we can see that the adventures of Uni were told in a very