The heroic ideal not made too explicit or formal 206 IV TRAGIC IMAGINATION Tragic contradictions in the Sagas--_Gisli_, _Njal_ 207 Fantasy 208 _Laxdæla_, a reduction of the story of Sigurd and Brynhild to the terms of common life 209 Compare Ibsen's _Warriors in Helgeland_ 209 The Sagas are a late stage in the progress of heroic literature 210 The Northern rationalism 212 Self-restraint and irony 213 The elegiac mood infrequent 215 The story of Howard of Icefirth--ironical pathos 216 The conventional Viking 218 The harmonies of _Njála_ 219 and of _Laxdæla_ 222 The two speeches of Gudrun 223 V COMEDY The Sagas not bound by solemn conventions 225 Comic humours 226 Bjorn and his wife in _Njála_ 228 _Bandamanna Saga_: "The Confederates," a comedy 229 Satirical criticism of the "heroic age" 231 Tragic incidents in _Bandamanna Saga_ 233 Neither the comedy nor tragedy of the Sagas is monotonous or abstract 234 VI THE ART OF NARRATIVE Organic unity of the best Sagas 235 Method of representing occurrences as they appear at the time 236 Instance from _Þorgils Saga_ 238 Another method--the death of Kjartan as it appeared to a churl 240 Psychology (not analytical) 244 Impartiality--justice to the hero's adversaries (_Færeyinga Saga_) 245 VII EPIC AND HISTORY Form of Saga used for contemporary history in the thirteenth century 246 The historians, Ari (1067-1148) and Snorri (1178-1241) 248 The _Life of King Sverre_, by Abbot Karl Jónsson 249 Sturla (_c._ 1214-1284), his history of Iceland in his own time (_Islendinga_ or _Sturlunga Saga_) 249 The matter ready to his hand 250 Biographies incorporated in _Sturlunga_: Thorgils and Haflidi 252 _Sturlu Saga_ 253