Note Footnote 2: — PART I

Rafn2, in his edition of the Fornaldarsögur, based his text of the tháttr on A; but subsequent examination has rendered it probable that this ms. is hardly independent of F which gives an earlier and better text. As regards mss. F and S, the latter frequently gives a better reading than the former3. For this reason it was followed by Bugge4 who believed it to be the better source. Wilken5 however held that F represents the 'Vulgate' of the tháttr, while S gives a corrected and edited version. In his edition, therefore, he chiefly followed F, though he made use of S throughout, and also (for the poems) the Codex Regius of the Older Edda. His example has been followed by later editors, including Valdimar Ásmundarson6, from whose version the following translation has been made. The differences between all three mss. appear to be very slight, but Ásmundarson's edition approximates more closely to Wilken's than to Rafn's. Indeed the variations between the texts of Wilken's second edition7 and Ásmundarson are negligible. For a full bibliography of texts, translations, and literature relating to this saga the reader is referred to Islandica, Vol. v, p. 32.