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LITERARY INFLUENCE 63 ;
"
The men were so pleased that King Sigtryggr [of Dublin]
sat on a high seat in the middle, but on either side of the
king sat one of the earls. . . . Now King Sitryggr and Earl
Gille wished to hear of these tidings which had happened
at the burning, and so, also, what had befallen since.
Then Gunnarr lyambi’s son, who had taken part in the
burning was got to tell the tale, and a stool was set for him
to sit upon.
. . . Now King Sigtryggr asked :
"
How did Skarphethinn
bear the burning ?
"
"
Well at first for a long time," said Gunnarr,
"
but still
the end of it was that he wept." And so he went on giving
an unfair bias to his story, but every now and then he
laughed aloud.
Kari (Kjall’s friend who was listening outside) could
not stand this and he then ran in with his sword drawn . . .
and smote Gunnarr I/ambi’s son on the neck with such a
smart blow that his head spun off on to the board before
the king and the earls.
"... Now Flosi undertook to tell the story of the Burning
and he was fair to all, and therefore what he said was
believed." 1
For the way in which such stories were preserved from
generation to generation we may refer to the end of
Droplatigarsona Saga (L,j6svetninga) :
"
Thorvaldr (born c.
1006) son of Grimr
"
one of the chief actors in the story
"
had a son called Ingjaldr. His son was named Thorvaldr,
and he it was who told the story."
2
The passage* quoted from Njdla Saga and Fostbroethm
Saga seem to show that the art of story-telling was already
developed at the beginning of the eleventh century. In these
l
Njd!sSaga (by G. W. Dascnl), clis. 153, 154.
2
Droplaugarsona Saga (Ljosvetninga Saga), p. 175 (Ausljirihinga
Sogur, ed. Jakobseu).
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