''Íslendings þáttr sögufróða'' (''The Tale of the Story-Wise Icelander'') is a very short ''

þáttr The ''þættir'' (Old Norse singular ''þáttr'', literally meaning a "strand" of rope or yarn)O'Donoghue (2004:226). are short stories written mostly in Iceland during the 13th and 14th centuries. The majority of ''þættir'' occur in two compen ...

'' about a young

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic storyteller at king Haraldr Sigurðarson's court. This ''þáttr'', which may have been written at the end of the 13th century, was preserved in the ''

Morkinskinna ''Morkinskinna'' is an Old Norse kings' saga, relating the history of Norwegian kings from approximately 1025 to 1157. The saga was written in Iceland around 1220, and has been preserved in a manuscript from around 1275. The name ''Morkinskinn ...

'', '' 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 Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

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:Tale of the Story-Wise Icelander 13th-century books Þættir Cultural depictions of Harald Hardrada