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Horse-fights:ThebrutalentertainmentoftheSagaAgeIcelanders
19
countonsimilaritiesoftheNorwegianandIcelandichorse-fights:“Moreover,
allofthesedescriptionsareverysimilar,afactwhichindicatesthattheman-
nerofproceedingwastraditionalandancient.Ifwecomparethesedescrip-
tionswiththeaccountsoftheskeidinSetesdalandTelemark,thesimilarity
isstriking.BothintheIcelandicdescriptionsandtheNorwegianaccountswe
findidenticalspectacles…Itseemsunbelievabletodiscoveralmostidentical
methodsofproceedinginboththeoverallpicture,aswellasinanumberof
details,inaccountswhicharesofarapartbothgeographicallyandchrono-
logically.Literaryconnectionhereisoutofthequestion,sothesimilarity,
then,isaconclusiveproofofthehistoricalconnection,ofthesameoriginof
thesecustoms”
9
.
Inhiswork,Solheimalsolistsdifferencesbetweenthehorse-fightsinNor-
wayandthoseinIceland.Norsehorse-fightswereapartofinofbigger,gen-
eralassemblies,whichtookplaceinautumn.However,Icelandichorse-fights
seemtobeaseparateeventsnotrestrictedtotheassemblies,butalsotaking
placeatdifferenttimesandplaces.Furthermore,SolheimstressesthatIcelan-
dichestavigcanbeeasilyincludedinthecategoryofgames-gatheringswith
theirsportcontests.Hebelievesthatthehorse-fightshavealotincommon
withfoot-racesandhorse-races.
Thereisnocomprehensivedescriptionofthehorse-fights(alikeallthe
gamesandsportsinsagaliterature)foraoneparticularreason.Thosegames
werepopularinNorwayandinIcelandatthetimethesagaswerewritten.
Thus,therewasnoneedforthesagaauthorstoexplaintheaudiencewhatthe
sportlookedlikeandhowto“play”it.
Problemsconcerningnamesandterminology
Itisnecessarytodealherewiththeterminologypertainingtohorse-fights
first,inordertoavoidmisunderstandingswhileusingitwithinthescopeof
thispaper.
Thetranslationofthetermhorse-fightitselfmaycausesomeproblems.
Amongacademicauthorsitiscommontotranslatehestaling,hestavigand
hestaatashorse-fighting
10
.Ingeneraldiscussionthereisnostandardformand
9
Ibidem,p.62.
10
SagaofBjorn.In:TheCompleteSagasofIcelanders.Ed.V.Hreinsson.Vol.1.Rey-
kjavik1997,p.286:dttuleirhestaling(heldahorsefight);Njal’ssaga.In:TheComplete