Week Fourteen: The Saga of Ref the Sly

This saga, more than any other we've read, seems like an actual story told for entertainment. I enjoyed the storyline, and can see how it would be a good nighttime tale told around a fire. There were a number of indications beyond the introduction stating this saga to be fantastical. Gest suggests that Ref should "have a story written about [his] journey, because it will seem noteworthy to some people" (605). Greenland is presented as a sort of mythical, ambiguous place, especially compared to its description in the Vinland Sagas. Ref kills Thorgils by splitting his head open down to his shoulders, which seems impossible to me. Ref's house can't be lit on fire because he has devised a system of running water, which I would guess is around the time when the Romans first build aqueducts.

In addition to all of these details, I felt like this stanza on page 604 was a little red flag, alerting the audience that this is more a story than a history: "The stroke this day was struck / I felled the famous man. / I reckon two blows revenged / and hot blood won for the raven. / Such deeds are told in stories, / related by wise men." This is the first reference I've noticed in the sagas of stories actually being told, and of someone acknowleding that those stories are sometimes exaggerated. While there has been a lot of talk about poems and telling the deeds of kings, this specifically points out stories. I feel like this stanza is sort of a self-referencing joke, because the audience would know that this story is more for entertainment than historical or cultural value.

Some other tidbits I noticed included the first mention of homosexuality. It has never been remotely brought up before, so I sort of assumed it was not a concern in this culture. Calling Ref homosexual seemed to have the same insult implied as today, which shows one way in which we have not progressed over the past thousand years. Also, Thorgerd's and Gest's reactions to Ref telling each of them that he killed someone echo Egil's mother's reaction in Egil's Saga, when she says that he is such a good little Viking. Last thing- King Harald is characterized as much smarter in this saga than any other: he guesses the secret of Ref's house, and deciphers his gibberish after killing Grani. Propaganda, perhaps?