Note Footnote 1: — PART II

In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in Iceland, many of the Sagas or portions of them were turned into rhyming verse known as Rímur. Sagas of almost every class were subjected to this treatment—Íslendinga Sögur, Fornaldar Sögur, Fornmanna Sögur and others. It is supposed that in the first place these rhymed versions (Rímur) were made for the purpose of recitation at social gatherings. There is ground for believing that the Rímur were sometimes recited, as an accompaniment of dances in Iceland1; but this is not believed to have been the purpose for which they were originally composed2.