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 36l - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 59-64)
Episode 36k - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 52-58)
Episode 36j - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 47-51)
Holiday Special - The Tale of Frosti Snjokarlinn
Episode 36i - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 43-46)
Episode 36h - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 40-43)
Episode 36g - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 35-40, but actually only to 38)
Episode 36f - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 31-36)
Saga Brief 25: Saga Manuscripts and the Árni Magnússon Institute: An Interview with Svanhildur Óskarsdóttir
Episode 36e - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 24-31)
Episode 36d - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 20-24)
Episode 36c - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 14-19)
Episode 36b - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 7-13)
Saga Brief 24 - The Northman Interview with Robert Eggers and Sjón
Episode 36a - Laxdaela Saga (chapters 1-7)
Episode 35b - Third Quarter Court (Results)
Saga Brief 23 - Drinking in the Viking Age and the Sagas (Part II - How They Drank)
Episode 35a - Third Quarter Court (Review)
Saga Brief 22 - Drinking in the Viking Age and the Sagas of Icelanders (Part 1 - What Were They Drinking)
Episode 34c - The Saga of Gunnar of Keldugnup (Judgments)
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