''Íslendings þáttr sögufróða'' (''The Tale of the Story-Wise Icelander'') is a very short ''
þáttr'' about a young
Icelandic storyteller at king
Haraldr Sigurðarson
Harald Sigurdsson (; – 25 September 1066), also known as Harald III of Norway and given the epithet ''Hardrada'' (; modern no, Hardråde, roughly translated as "stern counsel" or "hard ruler") in the sagas, was King of Norway from 1046 to ...
's court. This ''þáttr'', which may have been written at the end of the 13th century, was preserved in the ''
Morkinskinna'', ''
Hulda'' and ''
Hrokkinskinna'' manuscripts.
A young Icelander was given the job of entertaining the members of king Haraldr Sigurðarson's ''
hirð'' by telling them
saga
is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...
s. He fulfilled his task very well and was rewarded. But as ''
jól'' approached, he got sad. The king soon found out why: the Icelander had told all the stories he knew but one, which related Haraldr's expeditions abroad, that he did not dare to tell. But the king ordered him to tell it during ''jól'' feast. After hearing it, the king said that he had appreciated the saga, which was faithful to the events. He asked him how he knew it. The Icelander answered that he had learnt it from Halldórr Snorrason, who had been one of Haraldr’s travelling companions.
It was suggested that ''Íslendings þáttr sögufróða'' may have been included in ''Morkinskinna'' in order to authenticate the account of Haraldr's travels abroad.
[Gurevich, Elena. The Fantastic in Íslendinga þættir, with Special Emphasis on Þorsteins þáttr forvitna. In: ''The Fantastic in Old Norse/Icelandic Literature. Sagas and the British Isles. Preprint Papers of The 13th International Saga Conference, Durham and York, 6th-12th August, 2006''. Ed. by John McKinnell, David Ashurst and Donata Kick. Durham: Durham University, 2006.]
References
External links
''Íslendings þáttr sögufróða''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Islendings Thattr Sogufroda
Þættir