Gautreks saga

Gautreks saga (Gautrek's Saga) is a Scandinavian legendary saga put to text towards the end of the 13th century which survives only in much later manuscripts. It seems to have been intended as a compilation of traditional stories, often humorous, about a legendary King Gautrek of West Götaland, to serve as a kind of prequel to the already existing Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar (Saga of Hrólf son of Gautrek). See also king of the Geats.

As it stands, the saga seems incomplete, for a promise is made that the tale will return to King Gautrek of Götaland and his sons, to "the same story as told in Sweden", and that promise is not kept. Indeed, other than the reference to Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar, no sons are mentioned. But it seems that Gautrek was noted in many tales for his generosity and bravery, but not for deep thinking, according to a passage near the end. It is probable there were more amusing anecdotes to that effect that the author planned to include.

There are actually two main versions of Gautreks saga. Both versions begin by relating how Gautrek's father-to-be, King Gauti of West Götaland, became lost while hunting and spent the night in an isolated homestead of strange, arguably insane, backwoods bumpkins: a stingy farmer named Skafnörtung 'Skinflint', his equally stingy wife Tötra 'Tatters', and their three sons and three daughters. That night Gauti fathered Gautrek on Snotra who was the eldest of the farmer's daughters and supposedly the most intelligent of the bunch. The account bristles with grisly humor as it relates how one by one the members of this family of boobies committed suicide over the most trivial losses, believing that they will go to Odin in Valhall, until at last only Snotra and her child survived. At that point Snotra took the child Gautrek to Gauti's court; years later, on his deathbed, King Gauti made Gautrek his heir. This section is sometimes referred to as Dalafífla þáttr ("The Tale of the Fools in the Valley").

Both versions of the saga conclude with a folk-tale-like account of how Ref, the lazy son of a farmer, forced his father's stupendous ox as gift upon the stingy but extraordinarily intelligent Jarl Neri and requested only Neri's advice in return. Jarl Neri normally never accepted gifts because he was too stingy to repay them. But he took the ox and gave Ref a whetstone in return, telling him how to employ it as a gift to King Gautrek to get greater wealth. The saga has mentioned Gautrek's marriage to Alfhild, daughter of King Harald of Wendland, and Alfhild's subsequent death by illness years later, which has driven the grieving Gautrek somewhat out of his mind; ignoring all matters of state, he spends all his time on Alfhild's burial mound, flying his hawk. On Neri's advice, Ref gives the whetstone to Gautrek at the moment that the king needs something to throw at his hawk; Gautrek promptly gives Ref a gold ring. Ref goes on to visit king after king, in each case giving part or all of that which he received from the previous king, and getting in return a greater gift, since none of the kings want to be outdone by Gautrek, who "gives gold in exchange for pebbles." At last, through Neri's advice and trickery, Ref gained the hand of Gautrek's daughter Helga and an earldom that Neri held from King Gautrek.

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