The Saga of Ref the Sly

While the preface to this saga states that there really isn’t an “explicit message” to the saga of Ref the Sly, I disagree a little. I think that in previous sagas we were able to catch up on things that the Vikings found important, like family honor, getting revenge/compensation, being a good warrior but also having an intellectual, poetic side, being handsome, and later on in the sagas we’ve most recently read, the virtue of cunning. I think that this saga’s purpose is to emphasize the importance of intellect and virtue, just as the Cinderella story mentioned as its parallel in the preface also implies. In Cinderella, the girl-made-poor housemaid uses her beauty and virtue to prove herself and get what she wants/deserves. Ref the Sly is dissimilar to Cinderella in that he’s lazy in the beginning and not in a sticky stepmother situation, but he does go on to prove himself through his wit and cunning. He appears to be good at everything, from boat making to sailing to house building to acting in disguise. He also thinks of everything. As I read the saga, I couldn’t help but think, who would think of and spend the time to build such an intricate fortress on the off-chance that someone from back home will try and get their revenge on you? But it works out for him in the end, so I suppose he’s justified in such an intricate creation.

One side note: on page 624, Ref goes on to meet the apostle Peter. This seems like another random interjection of Christian faith. It would be interesting to know if this actually happened, though! There aren’t any letters from Peter to the Vikings in the Bible…but who knows?