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Notes
4. These points are discussed at length in CitationNeidorf, “Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied” (660–5).
5. That motifs and character types can be shared by stylistically different texts and retained in Germanic tradition across great lengths of time and space is readily indicated by the parallels between Beowulf and Icelandic romance literature. See, for instance, CitationSchlauch; CitationLawrence; CitationGrant, “Hrólfs saga”; “Beow in Scandinavia”; “Beowulfian Echoes”. For studies which treat the conservatism of the Nibelungenlied see CitationNeidorf, “Beowulf and the Nibelungenlied” (657, n. 9).
8. Translations in this paper are my own.
11. A figure also called Björn appears as a jealous opponent of the monster-slayer Grettir in chapters 21–2 of Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar. This figure is no counselor and is neither intelligent nor skilled in battle, but his function in the saga resembles that of Unferð in some important respects (CitationTaylor (16–17); CitationWachsler (383–90); CitationOrchard (147–8)).
14. On the folktale heritage of Beowulf and its saga analogues see CitationGrant, “Beowulfian Echoes.” To the author’s knowledge, this Scandinavian reflex of the “Bear’s Son” folktale has not been previously identified. The only appearance of Illuga saga in the analogue debate is an article by CitationPeter Jorgensen, in which he compares Illugi’s crossing to the cave to Grettir’s feats of swimming (55–6).
16. The appearance of Björn in Grettir’s slaying of the bear (see n. 11) might similarly be seen as a half-buried instance of this archetype woven into the “Bear’s Son” pattern.
17. Such a folktale ancestor is proposed in CitationGrant, “Hrólfs saga (18–19)”
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Funding
This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust under Grant SAS-2021-011.
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