The text of the Vatnsdaela Saga
available to me (in English) does not mention the occupations of the
various adversaries described. However, piecing matters together
using information from the Saga Museum in Reykjavik, we can guess
that several of these men may have been blacksmiths. We do know that
a well-known blacksmith, Kveldulfur, was forced to leave Norway with
his son Grimur. These two managed to escape to Iceland by boat but
the senior sailor died on the way. Upon reaching Iceland his son
built a settlement known as Borg. But Grimur but was clearly not a
farmer and he did not bring livestock with him. Instead Grimur lived
by hunting and fishing in this new land. After a time, Grimur found
iron deposits in some wetlands nearby and then was able to start a
smithy by the shore. Grimur is described as having a dark and
unattractive complexion, as being reticent and as not being
interested in the company of others.
The above description evokes a similar situation in the Legend
of Poninvala where a group of
artisans (who know many skilled trades) are the first residents of
the area where the heroes want to settle. They are first called upon
for their blacksmith skills, but later are described as sawyers or
woodcutters too. These artisans are friendly with the native hunters
living in the hills nearby. These craftsmen, significantly, do not
farm and they are a key adversarial group the heroes must face.
Indeed, the artisans challenge this leading family once in every
generation. In sum, there is a similar situation in both stories.
Indeed, this sociological parallel, focused on an artisan-farmer
confrontation, is really quite striking!
We can further analyze the confrontation of Berg The Bold of Borg
symbolically. As he enters a wedding hall Berg deliberately pushes
Thorstein aside so violently that he almost falls into the big fire
that burns in the middle of the longhouse. Berg is in a rush to get
to the fire. His clothes are frozen stiff and he is freezing.
Blacksmiths normally work in a very hot and enclosed setting. The
fact that Berg’s clothes were frozen (due to a foolish decision he
made to show off by carrying people across a river full of chunks of
ice) may serve to mark his lack of survival skills out-of-doors.
Berg should not have depended on his strength alone to resist the
frigid outside temperature that wintery day. Indeed, Berg’s rush
to the fireplace might even be a kind of “inside farmer’s joke”
about the nature of his character. After all, the entire Vatnsdaela
story is told from the farming-hero’s perspective, just as the
Ponnivala story is. Furthermore, Berg’s skin is said to be dark.
This fact fits well with his presumed work environment, a smithy
where there is plenty of soot and constant smoke. Farmers may have
sneered at his occupation, though they would have been dependent on
his skills to acquire new plow points and many other iron tools
needed for their work. Note the cat in the background of this 3D
scene featured in the Saga Museum display (Reykjavik) of the smithy
at Borg. The cat seems to convey the idea that magic or of other
related occult powers may reside in this dark, hot setting,
Like the famous
sword that belongs to the Vatnsdaela heroes, named Aettartangi, the
swords of the Ponnivala heroes also have some magical power within.
But interestingly, these swords only acquire their mystical force due
to a blessing that the heroes’ sisters can give them just before
their use. In this as well as in other ways, the women in the
Ponnivala story have a strong impact on events, especially via their
backing of their husbands’ and brothers’ exploits. The force
these Ponnivala women have available to transfer derives from their
chastity (self restraint in sexual matters) and in particular from
their virginity. I refer, in particular, to examples set by the
several unmarried girls in this story. Chastity and virginity are
not given anywhere near the same importance in the Vatnsdaela case, a
story which speaks of a man’s mistress at least one point, as well
as of a child born out of wedlock. There are no parallels for either
of these situations in the Legend of Ponnivala. The Vatnsdaela Saga
also has key roles for several female sorcerers, women who operate
solely on the negative as opposed to the positive side of the heroes’
balance sheet.
Insults to a hero’s
honor and self respect are important in both stories. Even the
specific nature of an intended insult finds a parallel in at least
one case. In this image the elder brother-hero Thorstein is made to
bend low to get under an arch, meaning that he has to place his head
below that of his adversary.
A similar
situation occurs in the Ponnivala legend when the elder brother in
the third generation, Ponnar, is made to swim through a sluice-tunnel
while his adversary stands on top of it.
In both epics there
are accounts of what amounts to the murder of several unfortunate
people pretty much at once. In this Vatnsdaela image it is the
killing of two “berserks” in an action sanctioned by the Bishop
himself. This is a kind of justice enforced by crowd behavior. It
is also an incident that expresses a fear of outsiders and of those
who are “different” or behave strangely.
In
the Ponnivala Legend there are some rather similar moments. Here the
twin heroes’ key assistant (third generation) kills a large group
of disliked clansmen by simply dropping a heavy stone pillar on them
using his magical strength. In another case (not shown) the goddess
herself kills a group of artisans (depicted as both sly and
deceitful) during a village ceremony by causing them to fall to their
deaths from her magically “flying” temple cart. As for people
who are strange, the main heroine, Tamarai, is vilified for being a
barren woman… by her own brothers, as well as by others!
In the Vatnsdaela
Saga the Bishop and his assistant wield significant authority. But
they live in a world where Christian beliefs are only half the
picture. Vatnsdaela society is described as containing many
pre-Christian ideas about sorcery and magic. Curses delivered via
rune-writing are widely respected.
This
co-existence of orthodox religious beliefs and earlier tribal
traditions is not so obvious in the Ponnivala case, though one can
see it if one looks below the story surface. The Ponnivala heroes
clearly live in a Hindu world where the great gods Vishnu and Shiva,
(not shown here) are seen to rule. There can be no doubt that these
orthodox divinities of Hinduism call the shots and manipulate men’s
fates as they wish. Nonetheless, traces of earlier belief systems
can also be seen. There is a great wild boar in the Ponnivala story,
for example, for which there is strong evidence of a wild-divine-boar
precursor in Indian rock art from the area. Other details (too
complex to describe here) also point to the persistence of earlier
tribal beliefs present in the background surround, particularly at
the point where Tangal attempts to “resurrect” her twin brothers
from death.
~ Brenda E.F. Beck
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