courage." These statements are deductions that the author of the _rímur_
made from the story in the saga, in the light of subsequent events.

In the _rímur_, it is said that Hjalti "became very strong, mighty as a
troll, all his clothes burst open." Why, or whence, this reference to a
troll? Another harking back to the _Hrólfssaga,_ another deduction made
from the story in the saga. The saga does not say that Hott acquired any
of the characteristics of a troll. He is given the desired strength
without any reference to the strength of a troll. But when the _rímur_
say that he became "mighty as a troll," it amounts to saying, "Hjalti is
no longer represented as having drunk the blood of a troll and eaten
some of its heart, as is the case in the _Hrólfssaga_, but let it be
understood, nevertheless, that the strength he has acquired is no less
than that of a troll." The troll-dragon has been eliminated, but so
great, in the _rímur_, has the strength of Hjalti become that it now
equals that of the very monster, the troll, which, in the saga, he
feared to such an extent that it rendered him pitiable in the extreme.
Here again the author of the _rímur_ inserted an element that is wholly
foreign to his story and unsuggested by it, but that is suggested by the
saga, and that he probably never would have thought of, had he not known
of the version of the story that is contained in the saga.

Furthermore, the _rímur_ say, "The folds at Hleidargard were attacked by
a gray bear; many such beasts were there far and wide thereabout. Bjarki
was told that it had killed the herdsmen's dogs; it was not much used to
contending with men." This is still another harking back to the
_Hrólfssaga_, and confirms what has been said on pp. 29 ff., that the
monster in the saga is a cattle-attacking monster, not a hall-attacking
monster. "The folds were attacked," "it had killed the herdsmen's dogs,"
"it was not much used to contending with men."