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Wīdsīth, Víthförull, and Some Other Analogues
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
Wīdsīð maðolade, wordhord onlēac—“Wīdsīð spoke, unlocked his word-hoard:” and the things he said have caused many modern scholars to unlock theirs. This curious Old English poem purports to be an account, told in the first person, of a minstrel's wanderings far and wide over the earth; yet it is full of chronological impossibilities. When the singer claims to have visited not only Eormanrīc, King of the Goths, and Offa, King of the Angles, but also Caesar and Alexander, he justifies his name of Far-Wanderer, but he likewise makes his tale impossible to believe.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1931
References
1 For detailed discussion of theories concerning Wīdsīð, see W. W. Lawrence, “Structure and Interpretation of Widsith,” Modern Philology, iv, 1906, 1–46, and R. W. Chambers, Widsith, A Study in Old English Heroic Legend, Cambridge, 1912.
2 In the Ólafs Saga the þattr occupies Chapters 282–292; it is printed separate by Ernst Wilken in Die prosaische Edda, Paderborn, 1912, 235 ff.
3 The voluntary death of the hero at a given moment is to be found in some variants of the märchen called Godfather Death. See Folklore Fellows Communications, xxv, no. 74, item 332.
4 Tóka þattr Tókasonar, contained in Fornmanna Sögur, Copenhagen, 1830, v, 299–303; also in Flateyjarbók, Christiania, 1862, ii, 135–138.
5 Saxonis Grammatici Gesta Danorum, ed. Alfred Holder, Strassburg, 1886, Books vi and viii.
6 Quem eciam ob hoc ternis etatis humane curriculis donauit, ut in his totidem execrabilium operum auctor evaderet.—Op. cit., p. 184.
7 Sagan af Siarkaði Stórvirkssyni, Prentuð eftir gömlu Handriti, Winnipeg, 1911.
8 Sagan af Starkaði, p. 97.
9 According to Paul Herrmann, Die Heldensagen des Saxo Grammaticus, Leipzig, 1922, p. 421, Starkaðr was regarded as a giant in the later versions, and this explains the enmity of þór, traditional foe of giants. See also Axel Olrik, Danmarks Heltedigting, ii, Copenhagen, 1910.
10 Flateyjarbók, Christiania, 1862, ii, 134–5.
11 Lee M. Hollander, “Notes on the Nornagestsþattr,” Scandinavian Studies and Notes, iii, 105–111.
12 Rémundar Saga Keisarasonar, ed. Sven Grén Broberg, Copenhagen, 1909–12 (Samfund til Udgivelse af gammel nordisk Litteratur, xxxviii), p. 51.
13 The whole conversation implies that Víðförull is an extraordinary person, and recalls Óðinn's encounters with mortal kings:
“Fleira veit ek,” segir Víðfọrull, “en mér er sagt.”
“Þú munt fróðr madr,” segir Rémundr, “ok kunna frá mọrgum at seggja.”
“Lítit ætla ek urn þat,” segir Víðọrull, “eða hvers viltu fretta?” (Op. cit., p. 53).
14 Translated from Sagan af Haralde Hringsbana, MS. Kall 614, 4to, fol. 113b.
15 “Þó veit ek fleira enn miér er sagt;” repeated on fol. 114a.
16 Gustav Cederschiöld, Fornsögur Suðrlanda, Lund, 1884 (earlier recension); Bragða-Mágus Saga, Skrifuð upp eptir gömlum Handritum af Gunnlaugi þórðarsyni, Kaupmannahöfn, 1858 (later recension); Mágus Saga Jarls, ed. Páll Eggert Ólason, Reykjavík, 1916.
17 They also differ from the vulgar but amusing tricks described in the Dutch volksbuch Maleghijs.
18 Ed. Olason, ch. 25, p. 107.
19 Ibid., pp. 135 f. Víðförull's ellibelgr was cast the first time when he lay faint from weariness after an encounter with a dragon; the second time, when he sank to the bottom of the sea after strenuous swimming. Notice that he visits the very King Eormanrīc mentioned by Wīdsīð.
20 Ibid., p. 144. The details of the process of rejuvenation are very interesting, but they are not pertinent here.
21 The Irish Version of Nennius, Irish Archaelogical Society, xi, 1848.
22 For the dating of MSS., see J. F. Kinney, The Sources for the Early History of Ireland, New York, 1929.
25 In the Book of Fenagh (14 century), ed. W. M. Hennessy, Dublin, 1875.
24 The relation of the Lebhor Gabála and “Nennius” is not entirely clear; in some respects the former seems more logical and complete than the latter, yet the Lebhor is later (as we have it), and shows (indirect?) connection with classical tradition. For instance, the “sons of Míl” who invade Ireland are surely the same as the “très filii militis Hispaniae” (a common noun) of “Nennius.” Partholon is certainly not an Irish name. E. Faral, La Légende Arthurienne, i, 1, 200, considers that even “Nennius” was using Irish tradition of the sort represented in the Lebhor; but this older tradition must itself have contained Latin elements.
25 Ed. in the Anecdota from Irish Manuscripts by O. J. Bergin, R. I. Best, Kuno Meyer and J. G. O'Keefe, Halle, 1907, i, 24 ff.
26 Lebhor na Huidre, ed. R. I. Best and O. Bergin, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1929, pp. 42–49; two versions edited by Kuno Meyer in Alfred Nutt's The Voyage of Bran, ii, London, 1897, pp. 285–294.
27 Ed. Kuno Meyer, p. 286.
28 The Legend of Perseus, London, 1894, i, Ch. 7: Death and Rebirth as Transformation.
29 iii, 2: Ex illa namque mortalitate solus fertur evasisse Ruanus. Qui scilicet Ruanus, ut antiquae referunt historiae, per multa, et plura quam de facili credi possit, annorum curricula, usque ad tempora beati Patricii reservatus, et ab eo baptizatus fuit. Hic verus, ut aiunt, Hibernicae historiae relator, cuncta gentis gesta, a memoriae sinibus prae nimia antiquitate abolita, sancto Patricio replicabat.
30 Verumtamen cunctis fere per diluvium jam deletis, qualiter rerum istarum, et tam eventus quam adventus memoriae post diluvium retenta fuerit, non indignum videtur dubitatione. Sed qui historias istas primo scripserunt ipsi viderint. Ibid., iii, 1.
31 Nutt, Celtic Doctrine of Rebirth, p. 86, says that the story was written as we have it in the sixteenth or seventeenth century, but it is possible of course that the date of original composition is much earlier. The Welsh text is published in Y Mabinogion Cymreig, Liverpool, 1880, i, 166–178, although the Hanes Taliesin is not part of the Mabinogion proper; Lady Charlotte Guest gives a translation of the text as a supplement to her Mabinogion in English.
32 Friedrich von der Leyen, Das Märchen in den Göttersagen der Edda, Berlin, 1899, pp. 34–35, and Theodor Benfey, Pantschatantra, i, 410–413, consider that the formula is of Indian origin. W. A. Clouston, Popular Tales and Fictions, i, 413 ff., denies that it came from the East. He did not, however, know the Egyptian tale printed by Maspero.
33 G. Maspero, Les Contes Populaires de l'Egypte Ancienne, Paris, 1882, no. 1; Hartland, Legend of Perseus, i, 183.
34 Bibliography in Victor Chauvin, Bibliographie des Ouvrages Arabes, v, 1901, pp. 197–200 (item 116). See Hartland, loc. cit.; Bolte and Polívka, Anmerkungen, ii, Leipzig, 1915, pp. 60 ff.
35 F. J. Child, English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 44.
36 Irische Texte, iii, 1 ff. The story is contained in the Book of Leinster (twelfth century), and in a somewhat longer form in the MS. Egerton 1782 (fifteenth century).
37 The original is:
Ffoes yn gadarn ffoes yn llyfan,
Ffoes yn rhith bran braidd orphowys,
Ffoes yn derwyn ffoes yn gadwyn,
Ffoes yn Iyrchwyn ...
38 The original:
Mi a fum dyssogawd ir holl feddyldawd,
Mi a wn ddysgu gwawd ir holl fodyfawd,
Mi a fyddaf hyd ddydd brawd a wyneb daearawd,
Ac ni wyddis beth yw y nghawd ai cig ai pysgwad.
39 Poems from the Book of Taliesin, edited and translated by J. Gwenogvryn Evans, Tremvan, 1915, p. 25. The original is
Bum glas, bum gleisad;
Bum ci, a bum hydd
Bum iwrch y'mynydd....
40 Ibid., p. 27. The original:
Bum dreigl yn awyr:
Bum yn serwaw syr.
Bum gair yn llythyr:
Bum llyur i'm privder.
Bum llugyrn lleuver
vlwyddyn a hanner
Bum bont, a'r driger
ar drugein aber.
Bum hynt; bum eryr.
Bum corwg y'myr.
Bum darweddyn llad.
Bum dos yng'hawad.
41 Do Ghabhálaibh Érend, Dublin, 1916, pp. 262 and 263.
42 Nutt, Celtic Rebirth, p. 65.
43 E. Farai, La Légende Arthurienne, i, 3, p. 345.
44 Matthew of Paris, Hist. Angl, Rolls Series, sub anno 1228: tempore Dominicae passionis erat quasi triginta annorum, et semper cum usque ad centum attingerit redeuntium annorum, corripitur incurabili infirmitate, et rapitur quasi in exstasim et convalescens rediit redivivus ad illum aetatis statum, quo fuit anno, quando passus est Dominus.
45 See Alice M. Killen, “L'Evolution de la Légende du Juif Errant,” Révue de Littérature Comparée, v, 1925, 5–36; W. Zirus, Der ewige Jude, Leipzig, 1928; Felix Liebrecht, Zur Volkskunde, Heilbronn, 1879, 107–108. I am indebted to Professor Gillet of Bryn Mawr for these suggestions. See his article, “Traces of the Wandering Jew in Spain,” Romanic Review xxii, 1931, 16–27.
46 Alice Killen, op. cit., p. 108.
47 Liebrecht, op. cit., p. 108.
48 The Celtic analogues mentioned in this article have been discussed at length, though from another point of view, by Robert D. Scott, The Thumb of Knowledge in Legends of Finn, Sigurd, and Taliesin, New York, 1930.