For our second episode of Saga Shorts, we've chosen the brilliant "Tale of Thorstein Bull's-leg" (Þorsteins Þáttr uxafóts). As one of the longer þættir, this one defies categorization. It tells the story of Thorstein Oddnyarson, a child abandoned at birth who grows up to be a hero in the court of King Olaf Tryggvason. Along the way, he'll find his parents, do battle with the undead, raid the home of a troll family, experience a miracle, almost drown in vomit, and fight a pagan bull. It's got everything you could want in a saga and more, all wrapped in a nice little Þáttr sized package.
For this episode, we used George Clark's translation, "The Tale of Thorstein Bull's-Leg," in The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, Vol. 4, ed. Vidar Hrinsson (Reykjavik: Leifur Eiriksson Publishing, 1997), 340-54.
We mention Elizabeth Ashman Rowe's "Þorsteins þáttr uxafóts, Helga þáttr Þórissonar, and the Conversion þættir," Scandinavian Studies 76, no. 4 (2004): 459-74.
Music Credits:
Intro: From “Death Awaits” by Billy Malmstrom
Outro: From “Óðinn” by Krauka
Episode 38d - Svarfdaela Saga (chapters 10-14a)
Episode 38c - Svarfdaela Saga (The Big Lacuna)
Episode 38b - Svarfdaela Saga (chapters 6-10)
Episode 38a - Svarfdaela Saga (chapters 1-6)
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Hwaet a Movie - Episode 2 - The 13th Warrior
Episode 37e - The Saga ofHavard of Isafjord (Judgments)
Episode 37d - The Saga of Havard of Isafjord (chapters 19-24)
Episode 37c - The Saga of Havard of Isafjord (chapters 11-18)
Hwæt a Movie! - Episode 1 - Beowulf (1999)
10th Anniversary of Saga Thing (Part 2) - How Well Do You Know Your Co-Host (with Totalus Rankium)
10th Anniversary of Saga Thing
Episode 37b - The Saga of Havard of Isafjord (chapters 6-11)
Episode 37a - The Saga of Havard of Isafjord (chapters 1-5)
Saga Short 11 - The Tale of Bolli Bollason
Episode 36o - Laxdaela Saga (Judgments)
Episode 36n - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 72-78)
Saga Brief 24 - Slavery in the Viking Age (Live Presentation at the University of Connecticut)
Episode 36m - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 65-71)
Episode 36l - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 59-64)
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