Narrative
Laxdaela Saga
Laxdæla saga
Anonymous · 1245
Opening lines
Ketill flatnefur hét maður son Bjarnar bunu. Hann var hersir ríkur í Noregi og kynstór. Hann bjó í Raumsdal í Raumsdælafylki.
There was a man named Ketill Flat-nose, son of Björn Buna. He was a powerful hersir in Norway and of high lineage. He lived in Raumsdal in Raumsdælafylki.
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from sagadb.org
Synopsis
The saga opens in Norway, where Ketill Flatnose and his children flee the power of Harald Fairhair; his daughter Unnr settles in Iceland. Generations later, Óláfr the Peacock, having gone to Ireland, is recognised there by his grandfather, King Mýrkjartan. His son Kjartan and his foster-brother Bolli grow up as inseparable friends, but both love Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir, already twice married. She prefers Kjartan, but marries Bolli on the false rumour that Kjartan is betrothed to Ingibjörg, sister of King Óláfr Tryggvason, and the rivalry separates the two friends.
Context
The saga was composed in the thirteenth century, between about 1230 and 1260 according to internal evidence, by an author who knew the Breiðafjörður region well; the place it gives to women has led to the supposition of a woman author. The oldest complete text is that of the Möðruvallabók, from the middle of the fourteenth century, and five fragments on vellum survive, the oldest from around 1250. The dreams that Guðrún recounts in her youth foretell her four marriages. The saga inspired Adam Oehlenschläger's Kiartan og Gudrun, in 1848, and William Morris's The Lovers of Gudrun.
Who it is for
A saga of medium length, in a dry style, whose opening genealogies call for patience; in French from Gallimard.
Prizes and reception
The most romantic of all the sagas, according to Guðbrandur Vigfússon; only Njáll's saga has more medieval manuscripts.