The Rose's Grove

A few days ago, I burst out in hysterical laughter in our kitchen and made my housemates listen as I read from Grettir's Saga two very well-written skaldic poems about the small penis belonging to the hero, Grettir. I was certain this was the most bizarre thing that would ever turn up in a saga, or at least in the major sagas that we'd cover in my class.

I was wrong.

Now we're reading Njal's Saga, and Unn, a very exceptional and highly-respected young woman, is explaining to her father why she wants to divorce her husband of two years, Hrut:

"Whenever he touches me, he is so enlarged that he cannot have enjoyment of me, although we both passionately desire to reach consummation. But we have never succeeded. And yet, before we draw apart, he proves that he is by nature as normal as other men."

This is what Hrut gets for having an affair with Gunnhild, the mother of the king of Norway, and then lying to her when she asked whether he had a woman back home in Iceland. Keeping in mind that the bastard had the affair before he and Unn were even married. *Growls at him*


Although none of this compares to Terra reading aloud from Tolkien's translation of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." That still haunts me, and makes me rethink every time I've said "oh, the people who see outright slash in Lord of the Rings are just misunderstanding the old-fashioned way the characters speak." I'm not so sure, anymore...

At the very least, it was fun to shout "Tolkien is writing about BONDAGE!" down the stairs to Kari. ;)


Also, why why why why WHY is LJ in perpetual 'read-only' mode, lately????