Kormáks saga

Kormáks saga ( Old Norse pronunciation :, ) is one of the Icelanders' sagas. The saga was probably written during the first part of the 13th century.

Though the saga is believed to have been among the earliest sagas composed, it is well preserved. The unknown author clearly relies on oral tradition and seems unwilling to add much of his own or even to fully integrate the different accounts he knew of Kormákr. Often, he does little more than briefly set the scenes for Kormákr's stanzas, with the declarations of love often contrasting with the skald's antagonizing actions. The only complete version of the saga is found in the Icelandic manuscript Möðruvallabók AM 132 fol.

The saga tells of the tenth-century Icelandic poet Kormak Ogmundsson (Kormákr Ögmundarson) and of the love of his life, Steingerd Torkelsdottir (Steingerðr Þórkelsdóttir), to whom he is betrothed. Due to a curse, he arrives too late for his wedding with Steingerðr, who marries another. Kormak then follows King Harald Greycloak to Ireland. Later, in Scotland, he loses his life in a battle with a wizard. The saga preserves a significant number of poems attributed to Kormak, many of them dealing with his love for Steingerd.

Kormákr's love poems
The following stanzas, in which Kormak recalls the first time he met Steingerd, represent the style and content of his love poems.Read aloud.

Other sources

 * Einar Ól. Sveinsson (Ed.) (1939). Íslenzk fornrit VIII - Vatnsdœla saga. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag.
 * Hollander, Lee M. (Ed.) (1949). The Sagas of Kormák and The Sworn Brothers. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
 * Viðar Hreinsson (Ed.) (1997). The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, Volume 1. Reykjavík: Leifur Eiríksson Publishing. ISBN 9979-9293-1-6.