Örvar Odds saga

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The Örvar Odds saga is an ancient Icelandic saga from the late 13th century. It tells of Örvar-Oddr ( Old Norse Ǫrvar-Oddr ; German "Pfeil-Odd") and contains some poetic pieces.

background

The saga of Örvar-Oddr was probably written by an unknown Icelander in the 13th or early 14th century. It belongs to the so-called Fornaldarsögur (prehistoric sagas) or Viking sagas .

The hero Örvar-Oddr is also mentioned in the Hervarar saga and in connection with the battle on Samsø , in the Gesta Danorum (On the Deeds of the Danes). Some of the adventures that Örvar-Oddr experiences describe events that relate to real people, so the travel description that starts in Hålogaland and leads to Bjarmaland is similar to the journey from Ottar . There are also echoes of the adventures of Odysseus . The depiction of death by the "skull of a horse" was immortalized in 1826 by Alexander Pushkin in "The Song of Oleg's fortune telling".

action

Örvar-Oddr tells Ingeborg about Hjalmar's death
( August Malmström 1859)

Örvar-Oddr was the son of Grim Lodinkinni and the grandson of Ketil Höing from Hålogaland. A Völva (seer) predicted that one day, at the age of 300, he would be killed by his own horse "Faxi" in the place where he was born.

To avoid this fate, Oddr killed his horse, buried the carcass deep in the earth and left his home never to return. As a farewell he received some magic arrows (Gusisnautar) from his father. First he traveled to Finnmark , Bjarmaland and Jötunheim . When he had blinded the giantess Gneip with these , he was nicknamed "Örvar" (arrow) by his father. There he took part in numerous battles against the Vikings with Asmundr. Finally they met the Swedish warriors Hjalmar ( Hjálmarr ) and Thord and they competed in battle. This ended in a draw, so they allied and fought many battles together.

In a battle on the island of Samsø, which they waged against the sons of Arngrim, Hjalmar of Angantyr was killed and Örvar-Oddr traveled to Uppsala to bring this sad news to his bride Ingeborg, the daughter of the Swedish king. Then Örvar-Oddr traveled south to fight the corsairs of the Mediterranean . By now he had adopted the Christian faith, when his ship sank he was the only survivor and eventually made it to the Holy Land .

On his further journey, as Örvar-Odd, accompanied by the son of his blood brother Thord, who had been killed by Ogmund Tussock and on which they want to take revenge on him together, they met two sea ​​monsters . One was a giant whale and the other was possibly the octopus from Norwegian legends.

In another story, Örvar-Oddr goes to Hunaland disguised as an old man . There he is soon recognized, however, and after he defeated the king of Bjalkaland, he was allowed to marry the princess Silkisif and became the next king of Hunaland. But after all these exploits and adventures, he eventually got homesick and returned to his homeland. He visited the grave of his horse Faxi and made fun of the old Völva prophecy. But then he suddenly stumbled over the skull bone of the horse in which a poisonous snake was crouching. This came out and bit him, so that the prediction came true, because he died shortly afterwards.

literature

  • Richard Constant Boer: Orvar-Odds saga. EJ Brill, Leiden 1888, OCLC 462860153 , ( archive.org ).
  • Richard Constant Boer: Orvar-Odds saga. In: Gustaf Cederschiöld, Hugo Gering, Eugen Mogk (eds.): Old Norse Saga Library. Volume 2, Max Niemeyer, Halle / Saale 1892. [1] (PDF; 14.0 MB).
  • Hermann Palsson, Paul Edwards: Örvar-Odds saga. (English translation) In: Seven Viking Romances. Penguin Classics, Toronto, Ontario 1986, ISBN 0-14-044474-2 .

Translations (selection)

  • Ǫrvar-Odds saga. The saga of the arrows odd. Translated and edited with an afterword. by Bernd Menge, Thomas Pietsch, Manfred Schwering and Claudia Spinner. (= Old Norse Library. Volume 8.) Literaturverlag Norden Mark Reinhardt, Leverkusen 1990, ISBN 3-927153-10-9 .
  • The saga of Örvar-Odd. Translated by Ulrike Strerath-Bolz. In: Icelandic prehistoric sagas. 1: The saga of Asmund Kappabani, the saga of the Völsungen, the saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, the saga of King Half and his men, the saga of Örvar-Odd, the saga of An Bogsveigir. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-424-01375-7 , pp. 189-260.
  • La Saga di Oddr l'arciere. Translated by Fulvio Ferrari. Iperbore, Milan 2003, ISBN 88-7091-043-1 (Italian).
  • Saga d'Oddr aux Flèches. Suivie de la Saga de Ketill le Saumon et de la Saga de Grimr à la Joue velue. Translation by Régis Boyer. (= Collection Famagouste ). Édition Anacharsis, Toulouse 2010, ISBN 978-2-914777-67-4 , pp. 17-183 (French).
  • Saga de Odd Flechas. Translated by Santiago Ibáñez Lluch. In: Sagas islandesas: Saga de Odd Flechas - Saga de Hrolf Kraki (= Biblioteca Universal Gredos. 8). Editorial Gredos, Madrid 2003, ISBN 84-249-2374-X , pp. 39–203 (Spanish).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Orvar-Odds saga - Introduction.  - Internet Archive.Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  2. ^ The story of Halfdan, the protégé of the Brana: Hálfdanar saga Brönufóstra p. 118. on books.google.de, accessed on June 7, 2013.
  3. ↑ Song of the fortune telling Oleg on gedichte.xbib.de, accessed on June 7, 2013.
  4. ↑ a b Örvar Odds saga. on snerpa.is, accessed June 7, 2013.