Bergbúa þáttr ('The Tale of the Mountain-Dweller') is a short medieval Icelandic tale ( þáttr). [1] It tells of Þórðr and his companion who get lost on their way to church one winter and take refuge in a cave. [1] Once inside, after they have settled down for the evening, they hear noises from the back of the cave. [1] Later they see two huge eyes and hear a voice which recites a poem of twelve stanzas, [1] now known as Hallmundarkviða. [2] The speaker of these verses refers to himself as a giant, and repeats the poem three time across the course of the night. [1] The giant instructs the humans to remember the poem or suffer a forfeit. [1] Þórðr memorises the poem but his companion does not and subsequently dies the following year. [1]
Hallmundarkviða makes many references to volcanic activity, [3] and it has been suggested that it may refer to a specific Icelandic volcanic eruption. Determining which depends on the date of the poem. Bergbúa þáttr was probably written some time in the thirteenth century, [1] but Hallmundarkviða may be considerably older. [4] Guðmundur Finnbogason suggested that it may refer to the 1262 eruption at Sólheimajökull. [4] The name Hallmundarkviða is only attested from 1844 [4] but it has been proposed that the poem refers to the tenth century eruption at Hallmundarhraun. [4] [5]
The text survives in fragmentary form in AM 564a 4to [4] [6] ( Pseudo-Vatnshyrna) and in paper copies made by Árni Magnússon of the Vatnshyrna manuscript, which was destroyed in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728. [7] It is unusual amongst þættir for not being preserved as part of the kings' sagas manuscripts Flateyjarbók and Morkinskinna. [8] Kumlbúa þáttr, which is thematically similar to Bergbúa þáttr, was likewise recorded outside of the kings' sagas manuscripts in Vatnshyrna and Pseudo-Vatnshyrna. [8]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lindow, John (2002) [2001]. Norse mythology: A guide to gods, heroes, rituals, and beliefs. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 73–74. ISBN 0195153820.
- ^ "skaldic project". abdn.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
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^
Nordvig, A. Mathias Valentin (2013).
Of fire and water: The Old Norse mythical worldview in an eco-mythological perspective. Aarhus University (PhD dissertation). p. 123.
{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link) - ^
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b
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Nordvig, A. Mathias Valentin (2013).
Of fire and water: The Old Norse mythical worldview in an eco-mythological perspective. Aarhus University (PhD dissertation). p. 124.
{{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link) -
^ Lindow, John (2014).
Trolls: An unnatural history. London: Reaktion Books. pp. 31, 147–148.
ISBN
9781780232898.
- Lindow refers to the work of Árni Hjartarson, now published as Árni Hjartarson (2014). "Hallmundarkviða, eldforn lýsing á eldgosi". Náttúrufræðingurinn. 84: 27–37.
- An association between the poem and the Hallmundarhraun eruption was made earlier, here: Pál Bergþórsson (2006-03-25). "Þýtr í þungu grjóti: þrír eskimars svíra". Lesbók Morgunblaðsins. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 2015-06-15.
- ^ McKinnell, John (1993). "Vatnshyrna". In Pulsiano, Phillip; Wolf, Kirsten (eds.). Medieval Scandinavia: An encyclopedia. New York: Garland. p. 690. ISBN 0824047877.
- ^ McKinnell, John (1993). "Vatnshyrna". In Pulsiano, Phillip; Wolf, Kirsten (eds.). Medieval Scandinavia: An encyclopedia. New York: Garland. p. 689. ISBN 0824047877.
- ^ a b Ármann Jakobsson (2013). "The life and death of the medieval Icelandic short story". JEGP, Journal of English and Germanic Philology. 112: 279.
External links
- Guðni Jónsson's edition at heimskringla.no
- Edition with modern Icelandic spelling at snerpa.is