''Bergbúa þáttr'' ('The Tale of the Mountain-Dweller') is a short
medieval Icelandic tale (
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 compend ...
).
It tells of Þórðr and his companion who get lost on their way to church one winter and take refuge in a cave.
Once inside, after they have settled down for the evening, they hear noises from the back of the cave.
Later they see two huge eyes and hear a voice which recites a poem of twelve stanzas,
now known as ''Hallmundarkviða.'' The speaker of these verses refers to himself as a giant, and repeats the poem three time across the course of the night.
The giant instructs the humans to remember the poem or suffer a forfeit.
Þórðr memorises the poem but his companion does not and subsequently dies the following year.
''Hallmundarkviða'' makes many references to volcanic activity,
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,
but ''Hallmundarkviða'' may be considerably older.
Guðmundur Finnbogason suggested that it may refer to the 1262 eruption at Sólheimajökull.
The name ''Hallmundarkviða'' is only attested from 1844
but it has been proposed that the poem refers to the tenth century eruption at Hallmundarhraun.
[
*Lindow refers to the work of Árni Hjartarson, now published as
*An association between the poem and the Hallmundarhraun eruption was made earlier, here: ]
The text survives in fragmentary form in AM 564a 4to
(''
Pseudo-Vatnshyrna'') and in paper copies made by
Árni Magnússon
Árni Magnússon (13 November 1663 – 7 January 1730) was a scholar and collector of manuscripts from Iceland who assembled the Arnamagnæan Manuscript Collection.
Life
Árni was born in 1663 at Kvennabrekka in Dalasýsla, in western Iceland ...
of the ''
Vatnshyrna'' manuscript, which was destroyed in the
Copenhagen Fire of 1728
The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of 20 October 1728 and continued to burn until the morning of 23 October. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city (measured by cou ...
.
It is unusual amongst ''þættir'' for not being preserved as part of the
kings' sagas
Kings' sagas ( is, konungasögur, nn, kongesoger, -sogor, nb, kongesagaer) are Old Norse sagas which principally tell of the lives of semi-legendary and legendary (mythological, fictional) Nordic kings, also known as saga kings. They were comp ...
manuscripts ''
Flateyjarbók
''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey") is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and produced by the priests and scribes ...
'' and ''
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 ...
''.
''
Kumlbúa þáttr'', which is thematically similar to ''Bergbúa þáttr'', was likewise recorded outside of the kings' sagas manuscripts in ''Vatnshyrna'' and ''Pseudo-Vatnshyrna''.
References
External links
*
Guðni Jónsson
Guðni Jónsson (22 July 1901 – 4 March 1974) was an Icelandic professor of history and editor of Old Norse texts.
Life and career
Guðni was born at Gamla-Hraun at EyrarbakkiPáll Lýðsson"GUÐNI JÓNSSON" Minningargreinar, ''Morgunblaði ...
's edition a
heimskringla.no* Edition with modern Icelandic spelling a
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bergbua thattr
Þættir