T 28 Norway and the Norivegians 



and has, no doubt, a good deal of Irish blood in him. 

 And the story of his courting of his mistress, Steingerda, 

 is a curious half-real, half-magical tale, not unlike one 

 of the stories told in the poetic Edda. It is in style 

 and in treatment the nearest approach which we have 

 to a link uniting the true Icelandic Saga and the Edda 

 literature. Two other short Sagas well worth reading 

 are the Vatnsdcvla Saga and the Vapnjirdhinga Saga, 

 the]_Sagas respectively of certain settlers in ' Waterdale ' 

 and ' Weaponfirth,' two districts in Iceland. Both are 

 stories of blood feuds. 



On the whole, it may be said that the plots of the 

 Sagas turn mainly upon two subjects, either the rivalry 

 of two heroes for the love of a woman, or a blood feud 

 between two rival houses, and the duty which devolves 

 (very often) on generation after generation of carrying 

 it on. An incident in the narrative is frequently the 

 outlawry of one or other of the parties to the quarrel ; 

 for outlawry was one of the chief weapons by which 

 the law of Iceland struck offenders against the peace. 



Other Sagas which may be mentioned, as containing 

 a good deal of interesting matter, are Hrafnkds Saga 

 Frcysgoda, Svarfdcela Saga, Vigu Glums Saga (which 

 contains some genuine and antique verses), ])orstcims 

 Saga Sidu Halls sonar, the Saga of Tliorstein, the son 

 of Hall of Side. Hall o' Side had much to do with the 

 first attempts to introduce Christianity into Iceland. 



Gunnkmgs Saga Ormstungu (the Saga of Gunnlaug 

 Snake-tongue), Gisla Saga Surssonar (the Saga of Gisli 

 Sur's son), are accessible to the reader in translations, 

 the former by Messrs. Morris and Magnusson, the latter 

 by Sir G. Dasent. 



