:1 r52 THE MYTHS THE SAGAS 153

served King Eirik as retainer, but most F found their way to the court of King Athelstan. who greeted Egil warmly: the verses a his. Egil's blood brother Arinbjom I f.rro.J in that courr was a man named Berg-Onund, a relation of Egilt Egil sang to this king reflected his true hatred for Eirik. and would have cost Egil that wife, Asgerd, who was able-through the influence of his royal patrons at I which he had ransomed, if onlv Eirik had heard them. rhe law-moot-to deny to Asgerd her inheritance. Egil killed Berg'Onund killed son, who had and his brothers as a result of this dispute, and Eirikt THE MARTYRDOM AND MIRACLES come to wam Berg-Onund of Egil's approach; then Egil added insult to in- OF SAINT MAGNUS OF ORKNEY jury by placing a horsehead on a pole on a cliff and dedicating it to the royal couple. These crimes, in conjunction with earlier enmity between the family In classic saga style, this tale begins with rhe legendary and mythic past and of Egil and the queen of Norway, effectively passed a death sentence on Egil, then moves rapidly into the historical period and the central concerns of should he fall into the power of King Eirik. It was just Egil's luck that he rhe story. In this case the mythic marerial is concerned with rhe division of would do so, but with his skill in words he purchased his head from the an- Norway; the myth has it that Nor and Gor, rwo brothers, divided all Nor. gry king, if only for a time: way between them, Nor getting the mainland and Gor keeping the islands that were separated from the mainland by water deep enough to sail upon It is said that Gunnhild was skilled in the black arts, and that she cursed Egil so that with a ship with a fixed rudder. Later Gor's son hauled his father across rhe he could not rest until he was within her power. Soon after their last confrontation, neck of a large peninsula in a ship with Gor's hand upon the tiller, and so King tirik was forced to abandon his claims in Norway and seek refuge in England. Gor vastly increased his holdings. The sons of these brothers squabbled Here he raided the holdings of King Athelstan until that king granted him the north among themselves, and Norway was divided and redivided among their to hold against the Scots: Eirik then set up his court at York. Meanwhile, Egil stayed many descendants; this explains the division of Norway into provinces. at home as long as he could, until he felt so agitated that he feh he must go roving. Later in (hkneyingasaga, King Magnus Bare-legs uses Gor's boar ruse to trick He determined to seek service with King Athelstan in tngland, and he outfitted a the king of Scotland our of the Mull of Kintyre, and this saga rerums to rhe ship and crew with this purpose in mind. On the way to Athelstan, however, Egil's theme of partition and intrigue again and again in discussions of the divi- craft was forced to land not far from York, and although crew and cargo were saved, sion of the earldom Orkney. the ship was totally destroyed. When Egil learned where he was and who ruled of Saint Magnus himself is a victim of his there, he made his way quickly to the house of Arinbjorn his blood brother, who cousin's desire to rule all ofl)rkney on his own; thus in the story of Magnus stood high in the favor of Eirik. Arinbjorn took Egil to his king immediately, and we find an account that combines rhe problems of partition specific to rhis gave out that Egil had come by choice to cast himself upon the mercy of Eirik: tale, the heroic sensibilities of the saga genre, and the narrative form of the ,;i,i; Gunnhild demanded the immediate death of her enemy, but Eirik stayed his hand saint's life. Both of rhe latrer aspects may help to illuminate some facets of when Arinbjorn reminded him that to kill a man in cold blood after dark was mur- the hero archetype. der. Eirik gave Arinbjorn Egil's life for the night, but determined to kill him with the dawn. : During their lives, the brothers Erlend and Paul Thorfinnsson shared the title of Earl his brother advised the old Egil returned with Arinbjorn to his house, and blood t, of Orkney and divided the earldom between them. After their deaths abroad, Hakon was an verse smith to come up with a drapain honor of his enemy the king; this ri Paulsson petitioned the throne in Norway for the earldom of Orkney and was time a elaborate poem of praise with a repeating refrain. Egil tried to do so. but each ' granted it. Soon afterwards. however, Magnus Erlendsson returned kom mainland perched right out verse came into his head a noisy bird by his window chased it ;:..: Scotland and petitioned for his share of the title. which he, too, was granted. At Arinbjorn and although he saw no bird, again. finally climbed out by Egil's window, ,'. first Hakon thought to deny Magnus his birthright by force of arms, but conciliatory he noticed an old hag scunying it is thought that she was a shape-shifter in away: ' voices prevailed, and the cousins shared power and title for a time without incident. service of the witch Egil spent the rest of the the Queen Gunnhild. Now undisturbed, Magnus was generally well liked and was thought to be charitable and just and and he was able to recite them night composing memorizing his verses: by morning , righteously severe upon wrongdoers; he was also said to be holy and to have re- and they went the king was still unwilling to to Arinbjorn, back to King Eirik. When ,. , frained from staining his maniage bed with sin through plenty of prayer and liberal life grant Egil his head, Arinbjorn remarked sadly that he would have to stake his own plunges into icy seawater. .1 . with that of his blood brother: further, he reckoned that the two could take many a . lt is said that the virtues and general popularity of Magnus were part of the good man to the grave with them. Gunnhild called him a traitor to choose his friend reason his cousin Hakon came to envy and despise him. One Lent the acrimony be- Eirik wished to placate his loyal servant. At this point Egil stepped over his lord, but , tween the earls came to a head, and it was only through the intervention of many his lay, finer verses were never dedicated to any king; they forward and recited and powerful friends that Magnus and Hakon came to terms. Soon thereafter Hakon glory generosity, it was impossible to hear these words told of his valor and and and asked Magnus to meet him on tgilsay after Easter. Magnus. truthful as he was, and and remain unmoved. Eirik granted tgil his head for his poem. but only so long as he , unwilling to see deceit in his kinsman, agreed to the meeting. On the way there, his sight again: he did for the love of Arinbjorn. Egil +': never came into this mainly however, a mighty wave thrust out a calm and glassy ,&ti of sea and slammed into the thanked the king in verse for the gift of his ugly skull, and the blood brothers quickly seat of Earl Magnus: he declared it a portend of his own death and the duplicity of departed. Traveling in the company of Arinbjorn's many armed men, the two soon Hakon. but still he refused to turn back. The treachery of Hakon was clear enough r54 THE MYTHS HE sAcAS r55

with he went to church when he arrived eight ships, but still Magnus was unafraid; ',',r' were exorcised. and many who desecrated the shrine or the day of Saint Magnus to hear mass. and it was at prayers the next morning that Hakon and his henchmen rued their mistakes. Here ends the account of the miracles of Saint Magnus of found the blessed earl. ' Orkney. When Hakon came upon his cousin, Magnus offered him three ways to avoid tainting his soul with the mortal sin of breaking his peace-vow, not to mention staining his hands with the blood of his kinsman. The first offer was that Magnus Norse Echoes of English Heroic Sagas would leave Orkney for a pilgrimage to the Holy Land: the second offer was that Magnus be handed over rn bondage to mutual friends in Scotland; the third offer BODVAR BJARKI AT THE COURT OF KING HROLF was that Magnus be mutilated, or else blinded and cast into the dungeon. Magnus Bjarki is a made it clear that he wanted to save his cousin's soul if he could. The first two of- Bodvar major characrer in rhe saga of King Hrolf Kraki, one of the fers did not please Hakon, but he considered the third: at this point his men rose in funaldn sogzr of medieval lceland. In the tale of Bodvar Bjarki we are pre- protest against him. however. and said that they wanted no more division of power sented with a classic Norse account of the hero's birth and joumey of transfor. in Orkney, and thus that one earl or the other must die. Hakon responded that he mation; this journey is played our in duplicate, moreover, in that Bodvar- himself was not willing to make that ultimate sacrifice, and so it would suit him having gained heroic stature and courage himself-leads another ordinary his minor retain- better if his men killed Magnus instead of him. He looked among man through the same metamorphosis. The episode that we have excerpted ers for one to sully his hands with this foul deed. and when his standard-bearer re- here recounts thar second transformation, the rebirth inro herohocld of a fused he appointed his cook to the task; the poor man didn't want this honor, but worthless, cringing scapegoat in the court of King Hrolf; Bodvar acts as rhe all involved forced him, and Magnus promised him that he would pray to God for midwife at the rebirth of the timid wretch Hottr into the brave hero the forgiveness of his executioner. After having said his prayers, Magnus directed Hjalti. This theme of the voyage from his killer to strike him full on in the front of the head, as it would not befit a chiet boyhood to manhood under the auspices of a mentor frgure is a tain to be beheaded like a common thief. So Magnus died. common archetype, and Bodvar Bjarki plays both roles in The rocky, mossy site where Magnus died soon became a grassy field, and Hrolf Kraki's saga. The Homr episode also contains a classic example of the this miracle is the first attributed to him. Hakon would not allow his men to carry hero's battle with aqnonster, a battle with obvious resonance with Beowulf's Magnus to church, and so they departed. This situation was mended by Thora, the battle with Grendeh in both cases a hero from outside the royal courr has ro gentle mother of Magnus, who approached Hakon with such heartfelt sorrow and come to the rescue of the hapless Danes, who are beset by a magical troll that The site of humility that he was moved to allow her to bury her son in the church. may nor be scarhed with ordinary weapons. grave was said emit light and fragrant odors, and miraculous cures thrs soon to The saga of Hrolf Kraki as a whole has many obvious parallels with thar were visited upon the infirm who stood vigil there: but this was kept secret during of Bew,ulf , and it has been suggested rhat Bodvar and Beowulf may be analo. the years of Hakon's rule. Earl Hakon proved himself an able ruler, however' and was gous characters drawn from the same ultimate source. well respected for that: he also undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in later The Hrolf of the lce- landic saga is years to pay for his sins. But many of those most closely involved in the treacherous equivalent to the Hrothulf of Beowulf, and both sources agree death of Magnus were said to have died horrible deaths. Hakon himself died peace- that this figure is rhe nephew of Hroar, who is better known ro us as the famil. fully in his bed, but strife ensued when his earldom was again divided, this time be- iar Hrodgar of the Anglo-Saxon epic. It is in any case clear thar both rales tween his sons Harald and Paul: as unlikely as it seems, Paul gained the whole of take as the central driving force oftheir narrarives stories ofstrife and struggle the earldom when his mother and her sister wove a poisoned tunic for him Harald within the early Danish monarchy, and the central evenrs of both sagas take donned the tunic unawares. and so he died instead of Paul. place in sixth-century Denmark. B.th sagas draw on the same oral tradirions, blindness' Meanwhile many miracles were performed at the grave of Magnus: both are classically Germanic in that they plant their roots in the misty, were healed. Still the bishop did not declare wounds and infirmities, and leprosy all mythic-historic pasr, and both concern themselves with rhe origin and rise to the sainthood of Magnus, nor translate his bones to a reliquary; he feared the en- prominence of the family of Skjold, called Scyld Scefing in Beou.,uf. This mity of tarl Paul. Finally the bishop made a vow to do so if a voyage home from mythical character is said by both acc.unts to be the patriarch of the Danish Shetland went well, but he reneged on this vow and was struck blind for his false- Royal House, called the Skjoldungs in Old Norse and the Scyldinga ness. Crawling to the grave of Magnus, the Bishop wept tears of true contrition' in Old English; both words and was healed when he renewed his vow. This time he was as good as his worcl come from the roor fcrr "shield," and refer ,o ih. ki.,g', role as guardian and soon had disinterred the bones of the saint, which he washed and found to be a of his people. The Anglo-Saxon version is the older of the hue two bright as snow. He tested a finger bone in a sanctified flame, and it took on the by at least a few hundred years, and includes an account of the discovery of burnished gold. These signs were taken as tokens of the holiness of saint Mag- of the foundling scyld that is remarkably like the story of Moses; the epithet nus. Some time later a man dreamt that Saint Magnus appeared unto him and Scefng was added to his name because a sheaf of wheat was found with him. at first the man was afraid of the asked to be moved to the church at Kirkwall; Thus in the old English rradition the mythical father of the Danish kings was the bishop and the transfer was wrath of Earl Paul, but eventually he approached linked folklorically with both prorecti,rn and susrenance. By the period Lf the made. Many, many miracles of healing were performed there, demonic possesslons great lcelandic sagas in the fourteenth centurv, the old Norse tradition had