N is for the Nítíða Saga (Women's Epcis A to Z)

This year my theme for the A to Z Blogging Challenge is Women's Epics. My goal was to read 26 traditional epics from around the world that have women as their heroes. Because epics like this do exist, and they are fascinating! Read the intoduction post here.

Nítíða Saga
Iceland

This is a 14th century Icelandic riddarasaga ('knight saga') that exists in no fewer than 65 manuscripts, testifying to its popularity. (Apparently riddarasögür are less popular and well-known today than the earlier sagas, which is a pity because they are definitely fun.) In the original text Nítíða is referred to not as queen, but as "maiden-king". There are other similar sagas featuring "maiden-kings", but those usually end in the defeat and humiliation of the maidens, and their submission to marriage - Nítíða, in this regard, is a counter-narrative to those, because she makes her own free choice.

I read Sheryl McDonald's translation and article from here, but there is also a whole book on this saga here. The article came with a short and concise introduction to the story as well as the history of its translation and research.

What is it about?

TL;DR: Nítíða, the maiden-king of France, manages to repel (and/or kill) a whole host of unwanted suitors before she falls in love with Prince Liforinus from India and makes her own free choice to marry him.

Nítíða the Famous is the queen (maiden-king) of France who rules in Paris. She is known for her beauty and her intellect. One day she decides to visit her foster-mother Egidía in Apulia. While there, she tells her foster-mother that she would like to travel to the North Pole, to a magical island called Visio, where the great magician Virgilius lives. She takes her foster-brother Hléskjöldur along for the journey. They arrive to Virgilius' island and the queen basically robs the place, taking four magic stones, a vessel that lets her see the entire world, and various magic apples and herbs. Virgilius sends ships after them, but Nítíða uses the stones to render their own ship invisible. She happily returns home to France along with her foster-brother.

Ingi, son of the King of Constantinople, sails to Paris on his yearly journey of plundering. Nítíða  invites him to a feast. Ingi asks her to be his wife, promising riches in return. Nítíða turns him down in no uncertain terms, saying her kingdom is richer and greater than his, and anyway she is much better off without men, and she doesn't want to give herself up to any king, thank you very much. Ingi goes on plundering, and hires a sorcerer named Fox-Stone to get him Nítíða as a wife. They sneak into the queen's palace under the cover of a cloak of invisibility, and kidnap her, sailing straight back to Constantinople. A wedding is prepared. But when Nítíða is being escorted to the wedding chambers by Ingi's sister, she suggests they stop and gaze at the sky to read the stars. She takes out one of her magic stones, and uses it to fly up and out of their reach. She returns home to France.

The next summer Ingi goes plundering again, plotting revenge for the humiliation. He hires another sorcerer, named Sly-Fox, to get Nítíða for him. The maiden-king sees him coming, and prepares a trick. She dresses up a bondwoman as herself, using magic to glamour her, and she makes herself invisible. Ingi appears, kidnaps the woman, and this time he succeeds in taking her home to Constaniople and marrying her. However, after a month, his sister begins to suspect that the wife is not the actual Nítíða. She has a conversation with the woman, and she confesses the truth (she misses her husband and children). Angry and humiliated, Ingi chases her away.

Meanwhile, the sons of the king of Serkland hear about Ingi's humiliation, and they decide to sail to France to try their own luck. Meanwhile, Nítíða is preparing for the next invasion, having his trusted smith Ypolitus construct a trap door at her chamber a glass dome over the gates. When the princes arrive, they send a message that she should marry one of them, or otherwise they'll plunder her lands. Nítíða replies by telling them she wants to talk to the each separately, so she can make her choice. The next dawn, Prince Vélogi goes to the castle, but he is trapped by the glass dome with his men, and attacked by Hléskjöldur. They all die. Soon after the other brother, Prince Heiðarlogi is invitied - but he is lured by all his men into the ditch under the trap door and also killed. Nítíða's soldiers then chase the rest of the raiders away.

Meanwhile a prince called Liforinus from India finds out about Nítíða and decides to win her as his wife. He enlists the help of a dwarf who knows magic. When he lands in France, Nítíða (who foresees his arrival with her stones) invites him to a feast. The dwarf gives Liforinus a gold ring, instructing him to touch it to Nítíða's neck to capture her. With the magic of the ring he grabs her, and while all her men are stuck to their seats, spirits her away to his ship and then back to India. There the maiden-king befriends the prince's sister Sýjalín. Soon she uses her magic stone to fly the both of them back to Paris, where the two women become inseparable.

Meanwhile Soldán, the King of Serkland finds out about the death of his sons, and brings an army to France for revenge. Nítíða sends out her foster-brother with her own army to meet them in naval battle. King Soldán seems to be winning when Liforinus makes a surprise appearance and joins the battle. He kills King Soldán, and saves Hléskjöldur who is severely wounded. He takes Hléskjöldur back to India and once he is healed, sends him home to France with ships and gifts and well-wishes. 

Liforinus himself goes on another plundering voyage, and stops to visit his aunt Alduria, queen of Småland. She sees that he is sad and finds out he still longs for the maiden-king. She gives him a ring that helps him disguise himself. In the autumn Liforinus arrives to Nítíða's court as Eskilvarður, prince of Mundia. He spends the winter with her. She judges him wise and entertaining, and they spend a lot of time in conversation, and with the young man playing music and reciting poetry for her.

When spring comes, Nítíða invites her guest to show him and look over the whole world through the magic mirror. She makes playful comments about Prince Liforinus being nowhere to be seen, until she reveals the truth: "Liforinus, remove your cloak of disguise." It turns out that she had known all this time who he really was. She organizes a large feast, and Liforinus officially proposes to her. Her foster-brother supports the suitor, and so do her counselors. A wedding is arranged for autumn.

Meanwhile Ingi finds out the maiden-king is marrying someone else, and he grows angry, bringing an army to France. Liforinus rides out to battle him. Eventually the two leaders arrange a single combat. When they are both wounded, they go to bed to heal their wounds. Liforinus courteously sends his sister Sýjalín to Ingi to tend to him, and the two fall in love. Thus, the war ends, and Ingi joins the family, engaged to the Indian princess. To round out the wedding lineup, Listalín, Ingi's sister is betrothed to Hléskjöldur. They all live happily ever after.

The highlights

Image from here

I loved the opening description of Nítíða's intellect: "She was as endowed with knowledge as the wisest scholar, and, surpassing other people’s intelligence, she could make the strongest castlewall with her own intellect, and thus outmaneuvre others’ plans; and she knew ten answers when others knew one." 

Another detail that I really liked was the maiden-king's relationship with her foster brother.Hléskjöldur was by her side in all her plans and adventures, and he was the one who saw the potential in Liforinus as a good match for her. He came off as a brave, caring supporting character, and I was glad he got his own happy ending.

I really enjoyed the fact that the story allowed the maiden-king to actually grow to like Liforinus. The text says he "frequently came to the queen because he was good at playing the harp and all musical instruments, and he was able to say something about every country. The queen took the greatest delight in his company." The playful way she revealed that she had known him all along was surprisingly endearing, and also felt like a modern twist on an old trope. Women often get cheated by disguise like this in folklore, but the fact that she knew what was happening gives her all the agency in choosing her husband.

Side note: honestly, the description of devotion between Sýjalín and Nítíða bordered on queer. After flying back to France together, the maiden-king "set her in the high-seat next to herself, both of them drinking from one cup, and she parted from her neither in sleep nor during meals." It did occur to me that this part would lend itself well to a queer retelling of this story very well. Later on, when King Soldán makes an appearance, the women are gazing into the magic mirror together, making plans.

THIS SAGA SOUNDS LIKE A "FEMINIST TAKE" ON AN OLD TROPE, AND YET IT IS 700 YEARS OLD.

I wonder why it is not more well-known among modern retellings today...?