[321] We are told that he talked in “þýrsku.” Similarity of sound may here raise the question whether he was not originally supposed to be a Turk (cf. the Wild Turks above), to which the name itself would point.
[322] It is noteworthy that we are told of this Tyrker that he was “brattleitr” (i.e. with a flat, abrupt face); this is the only passage in Old Norse literature where this rare expression is used. The only context in which Moltke Moe has found it used in our time is in connection with the tale of the youngest son (Askeladden) in Sætersdal [cf. also H. Ross], where it is said that “Oskefis was also brasslaitte” (Ross thinks it means here “stiff in his bearing, full of self-esteem, self-sufficient”). Can it be merely a coincidence that this rare word is used of none other than the fairy-tale hero who is favoured by fortune, and of the lucky finder of the wild grapes, by eating which he intoxicates himself?
[323] Professor Moltke Moe has called my attention to resemblances to these runners in the Welsh tale of “Kulhwch and Olwen.” In this there occur two swift-footed knights, and Queen Gwenhwyvar’s two servants (Yskyrdav and Yscudydd) “as swift as thought,” and finally Arthur’s wonderfully swift hound “Cavall” (in older MSS. “Cabal”) [cf. Heyman, “Mabinogion,” 1906, pp. 80, 82, 101, 103; J. Loth, “Les Mabinogion,” i. and ii.]. Of Tjalve it is related in the Snorra-Edda that he was “fóthvatastr” (the swiftest), and in Utgard he ran a race with thought (Hugi). This trait is Irish, as will be shown by Von Sydow [1910]. It resembles the two servants (“swift as thought”) in the Welsh legend. The runners in the Saga of Eric the Red are also Celtic, and this in itself points to a connection.
[324] In the “Grönlendinga-þáttr” the whale they found was both large and good; they cut it in pieces, and “they had no lack of food.”
[325] According to information given by Professor R. Collett, the Larus argentatus is the only species of gull that occurs in Nova Scotia in sufficiently large numbers to make it seem probable that it might breed extensively on an island. Can it be possible that these close-lying eggs are derived from the white and red “scaltæ” (?) which covered the Anchorites’ Isle in the Navigatio Brandani (see below, [p. 360])?
[326] Cf. Karlsevne’s people, who on arrival rested for half a month and amused themselves.
[327] W. Brede Kristensen: “Een of twe boomen in het Paradijsverhaal.” Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1908, p. 218.
[328] Of less importance in this connection is the question how far these names of islands in the Odyssey were originally connected with islands in the Mediterranean [cf. V. Bérard, 1902, i.]; in the description in the poem they have in any case become wholly mythical.
[329] C. Sallusti Crispi Historiarum Reliquiæ. Ed. Bertoldus Maurenbrecher, Lipsiæ, 1891, pp. 43 f.
[330] L. Annæus Florus, Epitome rerum Romanum, ex editione J. Fr. Fischeri Londini, 1822. Vol. i. pp. 278 f.