''Hreiðars þáttr heimska'' or the ''Tale of Hreiðarr the Stupid'' is one of the
short tales of Icelanders
Short may refer to:
Places
* Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon
* Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community
* Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place
People
* Short (surname)
* List of people known as ...
. It tells of Hreiðarr, an apparently mentally disabled Icelandic man who travels to Norway in the time of the joint rule of the kings
Magnús góði and
Haraldr harðráði. Hreiðarr befriends Magnús with his eccentric behaviour but incurs the wrath of Haraldr when he kills one of his courtiers.
The story is preserved as a part of ''
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 ...
'' and its derivative, ''
Hulda-Hrokkinskinna'', but it may originally have existed as a separate written work. It is believed to be among the oldest stories of its kind, perhaps originally composed around 1200 and certainly no later than the mid-13th century. Although the story is realistic and plausible it is believed to be fictitious.
References
* Faulkes, Anthony (editor) (1978). ''Two Icelandic Stories : Hreiðars þáttr : Orms þáttr''. Viking Society for Northern Research.
* Faulkes, Anthony (editor) (2011²). ''Two Icelandic Stories : Hreiðars þáttr : Orms þáttr''. New edition with corrections and further additions. London: Viking Society for Northern Research & University College London.
Open access edition
* ''Hreidar's Tale''. Translated by
Robert Kellogg. En:
Viðar Hreinsson (General Editor): ''The Complete Sagas of Icelanders including 49 Tales''. Reykjavík: Leifur Eiríksson Publishing, 1997. Volume I, pp. 375–384. .
External links
''Hreiðars þáttr''Old Norse text at heimskringla.no
An edition of the story in modern Icelandic spelling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hreidars thattr
Þættir