Rafn[2], in his edition of the _Fornaldarsˆgur_, based his text of the _th·ttr_ on _A_; but subsequent examination has rendered it probable that this MS. is hardly independent of _F_ which gives an earlier and better text. As regards MSS. _F_ and _S_, the latter frequently gives a better reading than the former[3]. For this reason it was followed by Bugge[4] who believed it to be the better source. Wilken[5] however held that _F_ represents the 'Vulgate' of the _th·ttr_, while _S_ gives a corrected and edited version. In his edition, therefore, he chiefly followed _F_, though he made use of _S_ throughout, and also (for the poems) the _Codex Regius_ of the Older Edda. His example has been followed by later editors, including Valdimar ¡smundarson[6], from whose version the following translation has been made. The differences between all three MSS. appear to be very slight, but ¡smundarson's edition approximates more closely to Wilken's than to Rafn's. Indeed the variations between the texts of Wilken's second edition[7] and ¡smundarson are negligible. For a full bibliography of texts, translations, and literature relating to this saga the reader is referred to _Islandica_, Vol. V, p. 32. The saga itself dates from about 1300[8]. It is derived from tradition, mainly Icelandic; but the various stories contained in it differ greatly from one another in their historical value. This episode is probably to be regarded as legendary in part; and it would seem also to contain a good deal of conscious fiction. The _th·ttr_ falls naturally into three parts. The framework of the story--the arrival of Guest at the hall of Olaf Tryggvason, his inclusion in the King's retinue, and his baptism--forms a whole in itself and contains nothing inherently improbable save the manner of his death, where the folk-tale element creeps in. The first 'story within a story,' the account that Guest gives of his wanderings and more especially of the adventures of Sigurth, is legendary--or perhaps rather made up from old legends with the help of the _Edda_ poems. As in the case of the Anglo-Saxon poem _Widsith_--and indeed to a much greater extent--the persons who figure in the stranger's stories lived in reality in widely different ages. Sigurth and his brothers-in-law belong to the early part of the fifth century, Harold the Fairhaired and the sons of Lothbrok to the latter part of the ninth century. Other characters such as Guthmund of Glasisvellir who is mentioned in the first chapters are probably mythical.