Bandrúnir in Icelandic Sagas

Runic echoes permeate saga literature; the runes of divine origin, rúnar reginkunnar, of the Sparlösa and Noleby stones recur in Hávamál, while the evocative Swedish Skarpåker runestone (Jör› skal rifna ok upphiminn) or the Danish Ribe stick (Jör› bi› ek uar›a ok upphiminn) are strongly reminiscent of Germanic poetry (cf. Jansson 1987: 140f.). References to elves and trolls, and even invocations to pagan deities occur in medieval runic inscriptions, attesting to a continuing appreciation of Norse legends (Liestøl 1964: 37; Hagland 1994: 132), while runic poetry in the metres of dróttkvætt, hrynhenda, ljó›aháttr and galdralag testify to the continuance of the scaldic and eddic literary tradition. There are several runic inscriptions reminiscent of poems known from the Edda or other Norse literature (Liestøl 1964: 29ff.) and, more significantly, fragments of identifiable Norse poetry recur among the medieval runic inscriptions. The runic corroboration of saga verse is an important historical record of the survival of this literary tradition. From Trondheim comes a rune-stick (A 142)