The king said: “I think you have told it very well. Where did you get the material for it, and who taught it to you?”
The Icelander answered: “When in Iceland I used to go every summer to the Thing, and each summer I learned a portion of the saga from Halldór Snorrason.”
“Then it is not surprising that you know it so well, since you have learned it from him,” said the king.
We may in fact see the origin of the Íslendinga Sögur in certain passages of the sagas themselves. In Fóstbroethra Saga, for instance, the story is told of an Icelander named Thormóthr, who went to Greenland in order to avenge the death of his foster-brother Thorgeirr. On one occasion he fell asleep in his booth, and when he awoke some time later he found, to his surprise, that the place was quite deserted. Then his servant Egill “the foolish” came to him and said: “You are too far off from a great entertainment.”
Thormóthr asked: “Where have you come from and what is the entertainment?”
Egill replied: “I have been to Thorgrímr Einarsson’s booth and most of the people who are attending the Thing are there now.”
Thormóthr asked: “What form of amusement have they?”
Egill answered: “Thorgrímr is telling a saga.”
“About whom is the saga?” asked Thormóthr.
“That I do not know clearly,” replied Egill, “but I know that he tells it well and in an interesting manner. He is sitting on a chair outside his booth and the people are all around him listening to the saga.”