Fishing from the earliest times - Blog

GROWTH OF HAIR—GUNNAR'S BOWSTRING 341Do the Sagas or other ancient Scandinavian literature, inwhich descriptions of fishing frequently figure, allude to suchuse of dead men's hair ? Two of the foremost Scandinavianscholars could recall none. The Kalevala—the great Finnishepic — yielded no help.Nearest comes the account of " Gunnar's Slaying " inStory of the Burnt Njal.'^ After his bowstring has been cut byhis foe, Gunnar said unto his wife, Hallgerda, 'Give me twolocks of thy hair, and ye two, my mother and thou, twist themtogether into a bowstring for me.'*Does aught lie on it ?'she says. My life lies on it,' he said; 'for they will nevercome to close quarters with me, if I can keep them off with mybow.'*Well,' she says.'Now will I call to thy mind thatslap in the face thou gavest me,' and refused him her hair.Gunnar, just ere he falls, sings :" Now my helpmeet, wimple hooded,Hurries all my fame to earth.Woman, fond of Frodi's flourWends her hand, as she is wont." 2The passage containing the Greek words quoted in thearticle was eventually discovered on p. 82 of Fayum Towns andtheir Papyri, by Grenfell, Hunt, and Hogarth.'Ktti 8r^ ^^ova 8u