The Saga of Hrafnkell, Freyr’s priest, is short, but few Icelandic sagas have a plot so lean and so cruel. It tells how a powerful chieftain of eastern Iceland loses everything because of a horse and an oath.

The horse and the oath

Hrafnkell, son of Hallfreðr, founds a farm called Aðalból and becomes a great devotee of the god Freyr. He dedicates to him the best of his horses, a stallion with a pale mane called Freyfaxi, and swears an oath: whoever rides it without permission will die.

A young shepherd, Einarr, works for him. One day, looking for strayed sheep and with no other horse at hand, he rides Freyfaxi. Hrafnkell finds out and, faithful to the oath, kills him.

The case at the Althing

Einarr’s father, Þorbjörn, seeks justice. His nephew, Sámr, takes the case to the assembly, the Althing, and the suit against Hrafnkell is accepted. Hrafnkell is found guilty and is captured in his own house. Sámr has the chance to kill him but spares the chieftain’s life and makes him live as his subordinate.

That mercy decides the story. Hrafnkell loses his property, his prestige and his place, and his goods pass to Sámr.

The fall of the gods

The two brothers Þorkell and Þorgeirr, allies of Sámr, kill Freyfaxi by throwing the horse off a cliff, and burn the temple. Hrafnkell, hearing this, renounces the gods and says it is folly to believe in them. After the humiliation, he moves to another district and starts again.

Six years later, the wheel turns. Hrafnkell gathers forces, kills Eyvindr, Sámr’s brother, and captures Sámr again. This time he is not merciful, and he regains his position. The moral of the saga, at this point, is that mercy toward a powerful enemy can be a mistake.

How much of the saga is history?

The saga was composed around the year 1300, more than three hundred years after the events it tells. Scholars such as Gordon and Nordal doubt that it is a faithful historical account: they see in it a well-built literary work. One sign of anachronism is the lawsuit at the Althing, whose workings in the saga seem closer to what was known in the 13th century than to what existed in the chieftain’s time.

A hero without gods

What makes the saga memorable is that the protagonist is, for a time, a man who has renounced the gods. He does not convert to another religion. He only learns that loyalty to a god who did not protect him is worth no more than loyalty to the one who helps, and that he can trust only himself.

To keep watch over the horse, play Freyr’s horse.

Sources.

• Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða (Saga of Hrafnkell, Freyr's Priest)
• Encyclopedia entries on the saga and on Freyr
• Academic studies by Gordon, Nordal and others on the composition of the saga