Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis is a late legendary saga without an apparent historic basis. It is about two children of a jarl, and one of them is Hjálmþér whose evil stepmother commands him to work as a thrall until he has performed an impossible task.
In its present form, it stacks different motifs on top of each other.[according to whom?] However, according to Icelandic philologist Finnur Jónsson the various Hjálmþésrímur which appear in the saga reveal that it once had a different structure.[1]
There are many folk tales similar to Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis, including a number of medieval Irish stories,[2] the Northumbrian tale The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh (also known as The Laidly Worm of Bamburgh (or Bamborough).
Sources
- Ohlmarks, Åke. (1982). Fornnordiskt lexikon. Tiden. ISBN 91-550-2511-0
References
- ^ Finnur Jónsson, Fornaldarsögur og nogle dermed beslægtede sagaværker 1923
- ^ O'Connor, Ralph (Spring 2000). ""Stepmother Sagas": An Irish Analogue for "Hjálmpérs saga ok Ölvérs"". Scandinavian Studies. 72 (1): 1–48. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
External links
- The text
- Entry in the Stories for All Time bibliography Archived 2018-07-04 at the Wayback Machine