mother had told him the whole story of his ancestry and the maltreatment
of his father, and it had aroused him to take most dire revenge.
Consequently, he must be represented as having killed some other kind of
ferocious beast, or monster, than a bear, and this naturally became the
same kind of monster that Siward had overcome, namely a dragon. The fact
that it was not uncommon at the time the saga was composed for a popular
hero to be represented as having slain a dragon made it all the easier
for the author of the _Hrólfssaga_ to imitate this feature of the Siward
saga. It may be said that this is attributing too much consistency in
one particular to a story that otherwise is a piece of patch-work. But
the story of Bjarki's fight with the winged monster is not patch-work;
it does not represent the poorest and latest form of the Bjarki legends,
as Olrik says;[48] it is not an impossible story, as Panzer says;[49]
nor is it "inconsequent and absurd," as Lawrence says.[50] Considering
the time at which it was written, it is a well considered, well
constructed narrative, in which the material at hand and the machinery
that was regarded as permissible and appropriate in saga-writing at the
time is employed with great skill to produce the intended effect. The
story is as follows:--

"Ok sem leið at jólum, gerðuz menn ókátir. Bọðvarr spyrr Họtt, hverju
þetta sætti; hann segir honum, at dýr eitt hafi þar komit tvá vetr í
samt, mikit og ógurligt--'ok hefir vængi á bakinu ok flýgr þat jafnan;
tvau haust hefir þat nú hingat vitjat ok gert mikinn skaða; á þat bíta
ekki vápn, en kappar konungs koma ekki heim, þeir sem at eru einna
mestir.' Bọðvarr mælti: 'ekki er họllin svá vel skipuð, sem ek ætlaði,
ef eitt dýr skal hér eyða ríki og fé konungsins.' Họttr sagði: 'þat er
ekki dýr, heldr er þat hit mesta trọll.' Nú kemr jólaaptann; þá, mælti
konungr: 'nú vil ek, at menn sé kyrrir ok hljóðir í nótt, ok banna ek
ọllum mínum mọnnum at ganga í nọkkurn háska við dýrit, en fé ferr