Ála flekks saga

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Ála flekks saga (also: Saga af Ala flekk , German: Saga of Áli Fleck ) is counted among the Icelandic fairy tale sagas and was probably created in Iceland during the 15th century. The saga has survived in more than 30 manuscripts and was the basis for three previously unpublished rímur from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. Although the saga is characterized by its numerous fairy tale motifs, its motifs are also close to the prehistoric sagas and the translated knight sagas .

action

The king's son Áli is abandoned in the forest as an infant because his father, the English King Rikard, foresaw the difficult life of his son. However, Áli is found by the poor farmer Gunni. Together with his wife Hild he raises the child and gives him the name Áli flekk. At a court festival, Áli is recognized by his mother because of the stain on his right cheek and he comes back to his real parents. But soon he is cursed by the evil troll maid Blatönn, so that he has to run into the forest and become her sister's husband Nott. With the help of Nott's daughter, the half-troll Hladgerd, Áli manages to escape from Nott's cave.

Then Áli comes to Tartaria, into the realm of the girl king or meykonungr Thornbjörg and after he has freed her from two undesirable suitors, she takes him to her husband. However, on the wedding night he is cursed by Nott's brother Glaudarauga to rage in the form of a wolf in both Thornbjörg's and his father's kingdom. Áli can only be redeemed through the grace of a woman. As a werewolf, Áli finally visits the kingdom of King Rikdard, who puts a bounty on the wolf. When Rikard finally succeeds in catching the wolf, Hild asks for mercy for the wolf, because she recognizes Áli by his eyes. Áli is freed from his curse and returns home.

One night, in a dream of Nott, Áli is inflicted with wounds that can only be healed by her brothers and Áli becomes seriously ill. Thornbjörg travels with Áli through the north to Africa and Asia to Indialand. There you tell King Alf about Nott's brothers Jötunoxi, Legg and Lid. The latter two have an ointment with which they can heal Áli's wounds, but only with Jötunoxi's permission. Thornbjörg and Áli pretend to be siblings in the realm of trolls. Jötunoxi demands Thornbjörg if he lets his brothers Áli heal. Thornbjörg agrees if he kills Nott beforehand. Áli is healed and Nott is killed. At the following wedding people can burn Jötunoxi's hall and all the trolls in it. Before Áli kills Jötunoxi, the giant imposes a curse on him that he cannot find peace until he finds Hladgerd.

For five years Áli searches for Hladgerd alone and comes through the Myrkvid . There he kills the giant Kol in battle and then meets the small-grown Bard, who tells him that King Eirik wants to have Hladgerd burned because he thinks she is a troll. Áli can convince the king that Hladgerd is good and Eirik marries her. Áli travels back to England, marries Thornbjörg and ultimately becomes King of England himself.

literature

expenditure

  • Three Lygisögur. Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkerjabana, Ála flekks saga, Flóres saga konungs ok sona hans . Åke Lagerholm (ed.). Max Niemeyer Verlag, Halle (Saale) 1927. (Old Icelandic)
  • Icelandic fairy tale sagas. Volume 1: The saga of Ali Flekk, The saga of Vilmund Vidutan, The saga of King Flores and his sons, The saga of Remund the emperor's son, The saga of Sigurd Thögli, The saga of Damusti. Jürg Glauser, Gert Kreutzer (eds.). Translated from Old Icelandic by Jürg Glauser, Gert Kreutzer and Herbert Wäckerlin. Diedrichs, Munich 1998.

Secondary literature

  • Astrid Nahl: Original Riddarasögur as part of Old Norse saga literature . Publishing house Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main / Bern 1981.
  • Jürg Glauser: Icelandic fairy tale sagas. Studies of prose literature in late medieval Iceland . Helbing & Lichtenhain Verlag, Basel / Frankfurt am Main 1983.
  • Margaret Hose: Romance in Iceland . Russell & Russell, New York 1973.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d The saga of Ali Flekk . In: Jürg Glauser, Gert Kreutzer (Ed.): Icelandic fairy tale sagas. The saga of Ali Flekk, The saga of Vilmund Vidutan , The saga of King Flores and his sons, The saga of Remund the emperor's son, The saga of Sigurd Thögli, The saga of Damusti . Translated from Old Icelandic by Jürg Glauser, Gert Kreutzer and Herbert Wäckerlin. tape 1 . Diedrichs, Munich 1998, p. 19-40 .
  2. ↑ Ála flekks saga . In: Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages . ( abdn.ac.uk [accessed September 9, 2016]).