A Coalbiter Makes Good: The Saga of Ref the Sly
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- Опубликовано: 28 июл 2024
- Norse saga heroes frequently start life as a "coalbiter"--a lazy, good-for-nothing teen. One of the best examples is unconventional saga hero Króka-Refr ("Ref the Sly").
Jackson Crawford, Ph.D.: Sharing real expertise in Norse language and myth with people hungry to learn, free of both ivory tower elitism and the agendas of self-appointed gurus. Visit JacksonWCrawford.com (includes bio and linked list of all videos).
Jackson Crawford’s translation of Hávamál, with complete Old Norse text: www.hackettpublishing.com/the...
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Audiobook: www.audible.com/pd/The-Poetic...
Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Saga of the Volsungs: www.hackettpublishing.com/the...
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“Makes me nostalgic about Thanksgiving at my mom’s house,” damn doc, you okay?
I know! So DARK! I snorted laughing (with commiseration, I feel this)
"Well, sons. How was yer fishin?"
"Not bad, we caught a Polar Bear."
"Nice!"
That's good fishin
"Ref the Sly" or "Crooked Ref" - this guy sounds like he's gonna be a real character.
His name even means 'fox'.
Actually hilarious! I loved the rolling-bat-boat scene! Thank you for sharing this tale.
I especially appreciated your allusions and comparisons to our postmodern world were both helpful and funny to boot. Thanks!
Concur with the comment mentioning the "ash lad" Askeladden, which seems to have common origins with this. Also, nicely done with keeping the character names of each scene on the screen, small touch that makes it a lot easier to follow.
I love story time with grandpa Jackson.
Edit: I realized my post has some spoilers, and so I should probably obscure them.
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Something that occurs to me is that King Harald Hardrardr spent many years in the Byzantine Empire as part of the Varangian Guard before claiming the throne of Norway. He would certainly have encountered pipes and running water in that part of the world where Roman engineering lived on, so it makes some sense he would be able to recognize what Ref had somehow invented.
LMAO! Refr is now my favorite norse character, whoever made up this saga was a real genius
You should compile these stories in a book as well. Absolutely love this.
hello Dr Crawford how are you I just want to say thank you for all of your dedication and putting your hard work into making the sagas understandable as that's always been kind of my downfall in understanding them I truly appreciate it You're the best thank you
I read this Saga years ago and remember being struck by the next level science fiction ingenuity of Ref. Great summation!
What a wonderful saga -- thanks for bringing it to life. Wasn't expecting a polar bear nor a ship on wheels to make an appearance! And beautiful scenery as always.
I really enjoy it when you tell the stories of old Iceland. Thank you.
Wonderful story Dr. Crawford. As always I look forward to hearing these tales. I like to memorize these and use them to tell stories at BBQ's and camp fires. Thanks for all your hard work and please keep making these videos :)'
Very fun saga to listen to!! Thank you, Doctor Crawford!!
Loved this. In France the fox-the renard -is often an understated chapter for puns or just to forward the arc. Stay well and thanks
Ref sounds a lot like the Norwegian folktale character "Askeladden"--Ash-lad, also called that because he spends all his time sitting by the coal-fire. Askeladden is also a underachiever who unexpectedly wins by his wits where others have failed. A similar character in British and Appalachian folklore is Jack from the Jack Tales--a clever lazybones who always wins by his wits or sheer luck.
The original name was "oskefisen", but was changed to something more suited for print.
@@midtskogen I had to look that up. Does that mean "Ashfart"? That is even more appropriate as an insult.
I've seen dozens of your videos now, Jackson, but this was definitely the funniest of them all! Great saga. Now I must read the whole thing.
Refr sounds like a beast.
"Really really makes me nostalgic for Thanksgiving at my mum's house..." 😂😂😂😂
This almost sounds like the Old Norse version of The Coward of the County by Kenny Rogers.
Great story; I was not familiar with this saga 👍
Just ordered a copy of your Havamal, looking forward to reading it!
Thankyou for studying these things
I enjoyed your joke about the Old Norse Hogwarts at CU. I'm sure their guardians are hiding the mail, or perhaps the owls can't make it to the basement.
Don't be ashamed of who you are.
That's your parents job.
Favourite norse saga you've shared
Excellent. Thanks.
Its weird to me how "anarchic" Viking society often appears in the Sagas. I had always thought the thing or some kind of village community would be more important, preventing a guy to simply take stuff from another or graze their cattle on their land. Is this specific to island? Did Denmark for example have village communes more similar to medieval Germany?
Interesting story. Thank you
Fun story to wake up to
Hnefatafl being good as the new game is interesting, as in modern Faroese talv (-fl- > -lv- is a common sound change in Faroese) means chess.
Mr. Crawford, how close would you say
Old Norse and Gothic are? I've been
studying Gothic for some time and
see a lot of similarities.
Thanks for the story.
Great Video
Something about the jacket and tie instead of the denim and stetson changed the presentation--like our hero here just came from work to do this. A great re-telling with contemporary allusions .... compare this to the interviews with JRR Tolkien talking about his work .... worlds apart in the approach ... prefer our Doc here.
More translations of the sagas, please. PUBLISH THESE. We want the details.
I wonder if the French Reynard the fox is somehow derived from this character? Really enjoyed this one 👍
Unfortunately the Ylvisaker brothers may have irreparably damaged the repute of Ref which he managed to maintain in his lifetime.
FWIW,I remember reading back in the late 1970s that one of the reasons for the failure of the Norse in Greenland was that the Hansa trading empire gave specific orders not to trade West of Iceland. Wish I could remember more of the article, I think it may have been in Horizon magazine . No doubt the cooling of the climate made it worse,but I find it interesting that this tale is placed fairly specifically in time. The 1050s or so was a real high point for Norse/Norman expansion. Uncomfortable neighbours,but that is one heck of a tale.
Playing his ipad by the fire....lol.... Hail to Wisdom
Please, consider a glimpse to folk music/folk metal from Scandinavia (Wadruna, Danheim). It seems to be a parallel to your studies.
Dr. Crawford, could you please give me a round number of how many sagas have come down to us? Is it closer to 50 or 500?
❤ this one
Can you do some videos on Helgisaga Óláfs konungs Haraldssonar?
I can't help liking this character :)
@Jackson Crawford I wish you all the best in your endeavors as well. I have been following your videos for some time and absolutely love them. There really isn't anyone who provides this information as clean and accessible as you do. I commend you for that. As a side note, if in your experience and opinion there is no good jobs teaching Old Norse myth and language as you've said here, would the case be different and possible more hopeful in researching jobs for Old Norse myth and language? I have been weighing my options for years on this. I do not wish to teach, but the prospect of research has always caught my eye.
Dr. Crawford. You speak as Old Norse/Icelandic are two different languages. Icelandic happens to be my vernacular and I still read these Icelandic sagas without any problem. So what is the bottom line here? Is it about some dialectical sound shifts during 1200 years? Would you then, professor, agree that English English, American English and Australian English are not really the same language due to difference in pronunciation - are these three dialects of the same language but different languages?
Howdy!
Does the saga specify that the bear is a Polar bear?
How do we know?
Yep- it's specifically referenced as a "hvítabjǫrn" in the saga (so something like "white bear;" I believe "polar bear" is still "hvítabjörn" or "ísbjörn" in modern Icelandic)
Just.. as our Askeladden . ... 🇧🇻. Ancient as the hills. Just a little bit more graphic than the folkloric version..
And.. apparently sometimes, evident in the archaeology - ashes and burning stuff and and exceptional skills and "luck" ..
Could 'coalbiter' be a reference to using coal for eyemakeup?
Is the similarity of Króka to Kraka purely incidental, or is it a device the authors would make use of?
Could the christianisations in some of these sagas be later additions?
Is Ref on the asperger spectrum? I kind of recognize the weirdness of the situations , his self-taught mastering of like boat building, and always getting misunderstood and bullied...I can relate to him
Ref, inventor of the duck boat
Is Coalbiter the original Askeladden?
"Saga of the Crooked Ref" Oh, so it's about Nick Patrick from WCW?
In what way is he lucky? He is constantly compeled to kill people, and then flee his home
I thought codbiter.. maybe my eyesight.
Revr is a real drengr
And yet everyone around seemed to think he wasn't. Looks can be deceiving.
I think I'm inherently lucky. ☺️
I thought you said Refr tries to avoid combat and use his head. It seems like he just walked up and killed people when they made him angry, he really doesn't seem that sly or clever. He was pretty blunt, actually, I guess aside from the beard disguise.