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 34b - The Saga of Gunnar the Fool of Keldugnup
Episode 34a - The Saga of Gunnar the Fool of Keldugnup (chapters 1-5)
’Twas the Night Before Christmas - A Visit from Glam
Saga Short 10 - The Tales of Thormod and Thorarin the Overbearing
Episode 33g - The Saga of the Sworn Brothers (Judgments)
Episode 33f - The Saga of the Sworn Brothers (chapters 23-24)
Episode 33e - The Saga of the Sworn Brothers (chapters 18-23)
Episode 33d - The Saga of the Sworn Brothers (chapters 13-18)
Episode 33c - The Saga of the Sworn Brothers (chapters 7-13 with Thormod)
Episode 33b - The Saga of the Sworn Brothers (chapters 7-13 with Thorgeir)
Episode 33a - The Saga of the Sworn Brothers
Saga Short 9 - The Tale of Gisl Illugason
Saga Brief 21 - Interpreting the Past Series (Part I) - Modern Perceptions of the Viking Age with Verena Hoefig and Zachary Melton
Episode 32d - The Saga of Thord Menace (Judgments)
Episode 32c - The Saga of Thord Menace (chapters 10-14)
Episode 32b - The Saga of Thord Menace (chapters 6-9)
Episode 32a - The Saga of Thord Menace (chapters 1-5)
The Saga of Gudmund the Grunch
Saga Short 8: The Tale of Audun and the Bear
Episode 31d - The Saga of Bard the God of Snowfell (Judgments)
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