Sigurðar saga fóts (The Saga of Sigurðr Foot)

MIRATOR 11:1/2010 72versified as Hrólfs rímur Gautrekssonar. 63 The shared episodes come after theeponymous hero has already married. In each case, the hero’s foster-brotherÁsmundr decides to marry the daughter of King Hrólfr of Ireland, who isnoted for his magical powers (Sigurðar saga ch. 7; Hrólfs saga ch. 21)—thoughthe magical powers are only relevant to the story in Hrólfs saga, where theyenable Hrólfr of Ireland to foresee Ásmundr’s arrival and to make his armyappear smaller than it is (ch. 29), which is one of several hints that Hrólfs sagais the basis for Sigurðar saga rather than the other way around. In bothstories, the wooer is defeated and thrown into a dungeon (Sigurðar saga ch. 8;Hrólfs saga chs 29–30). Meanwhile, the wife of the saga’s eponymous herorealises what must be going on through prophetic dreaming (Sigurðar sagach. 8; Hrólfs saga ch. 28) and sends a rescue party. In Hrólfs saga, HrólfrGautreksson himself was part of the wooing party, and the rescue partycomprises his wife and other (foster-)brothers (chs 28, 31); in Sigurðar saga,Sigurðr was not part of the wooing party and comes to the rescue himself(ch. 8). The main party of rescuers arrive the day after the wooer wasimprisoned, by which time the daughter of the Irish king has rescued thewooer and is enjoying his company in her bower (Sigurðar saga ch. 8; Hrólfssaga chs 32–33). The rescuers defeat the Irish king, but spare his life for hisdaughter’s sake, and she marries Ásmundr (Sigurðar saga ch. 9; Hrólfs sagachs 33–35). As this exposition shows, Kalinke’s inference of a textualconnection is surely correct. Her implicit criticism of the lack of originality inSigurðar saga is valid. The prophetic dream and its exposition in chapter 8,for example, are spectacularly prosaic; characterisation and motivation aremore fully depicted in Hrólfs saga, supported by the rather deft use ofdelaying devices to build suspense. Nor need these criticisms be dismissedmerely as modern ones: it is perhaps telling that the Faroese balladÁsmundur Aðalsson adapts Sigurðar saga only as far as Sigurðr’s marriage toSigný. Even so, Sigurðar saga gives us a valuable view of what one Icelandermade of Hrólfs saga, and how he chose to maintain or change the material hefound.The text and translationSigurðar saga fóts was first edited by J. H. Jackson in 1931, in a diplomaticform from the earliest manuscript, Stockholm, Kungliga biblioteket, Perg.63For this and the dating see Hans-Peter Naumann, ‘Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar’, in Philip Pulsiano ed.,Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia, Garland: New York 1993, s.v.