Ála flekks saga

Synopsis

The saga blends motifs from the riddarasögur, the fornaldarsögur, and folk tales. As a baby, Áli flekkr, the son of King Ríkarðr of England, is left exposed in the woods but is rescued by peasants. After he marries Þorbjõrg, a maiden king, a number of misfortunes befall him because he has rejected the love of a female troll. He is temporarily turned into a wolf; in a dream he is wounded and can be cured only by the rejected troll's brothers. Eventually Áli succeeds his father as king of England.

Manuscripts

• Arnamagnæan Institute: AM 181i, fol.
• AM 181k, fol.
• AM 181m, fol.
• AM 182, fol.
• AM 395, fol.
• AM 571, 4°, vellum, 3 leaves
• AM 588b, 4°
• AM 588c, 4°
• AM 588p, 4°, defective
• AM 589e, 4°, vellum, defective
• AM 592a, 4°, defective beginning.
• Royal Library, Copenhagen: NKS 1144, fol., resume
• NKS 1160, fol.
• NKS 1717, 4°
• NKS 1718, 4°, fragment
• The British Library, London: Add. 4860, fol.
• National Library, Reykjavik: Lbs 272, fol.
• Lbs 840, 4°
• Lbs 980, 4°
• Lbs 1499, 4°
• Lbs 1940, 4°
• Lbs 3966, 4°
• Lbs 4447, 4°, 1 leaf missing
• Lbs 4485, 4°
• JS 27, fol.
• JS 634, 4°
• JS 103, 8°
• JS 408, 8°
• IB 201, 8°
• IB 801, 8°
• IBR 5, fol.
• IBR 41, 8°
• IBR 92, 8°
• National Museum, Reykjavik: Ásbúðarsafn, Sögubók
• Royal Library, Stockholm: Papp. fol. nr 47
• Papp. 4:o nr 5
• Papp. 4:o nr 6

  Editions and translations

• Drei lygisǫgur: Egils saga Einhenda ok Ásmundar Berserkjabana, Ála Flekks saga, Flóres saga konungs ok sona hans, ed. by Åke Lagerholm, Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek, 17, pp. 84–120
• Riddarasögur, ed. by Bjarni Vilhjálmsson, 6 vols, V 123-60
• Six Old Icelandic Sagas, trans. by W. Bryant Bachman and Guðmundur Erlingsson, pp. 41–61.
• Isländische Märchensagas, Band I: Die Saga von Ali Flekk, Die Saga von Vilmund Vidutan, Die Saga von König Flores und seinen Söhnen, Die Saga von Sigurd Thögli, Die Saga von Damusti, Jürg Glauser, Gert Kreutzer and Herbet Wäckerlin eds. and trans., Diederichs: Munich 1998, pp. 20–40.
• Ásdís Rósa Magnúsdóttir and Hélène Tétrel, in Histoires des Bretagnes: 3. La petite saga de Tristan et autres sagas islandaises inspirées de la matière de Bretagne, ed. by Ásdís Rósa Magnúsdóttir and Hélène Tétrel, pp. 123–41.
• Markéta Podolská, in Lživé ságy starého Severu, ed. by Jiří Starý, pp. 73–91.