V
| The Sagas not bound by solemn conventions | 225 |
| Comic humours | 226 |
| Bjorn and his wife in Njála | 228 |
| Bandamanna Saga: "The Confederates," a comedy | 229 |
| Satirical criticism of the "heroic age" | 231 |
| Tragic incidents in Bandamanna Saga | 233 |
| Neither the comedy nor tragedy of the Sagas is monotonous or abstract | 234 |
VI
| Organic unity of the best Sagas | 235 |
| Method of representing occurrences as they appear at the time | 236 |
| Instance from Þorgils Saga | 238 |
| Another method—the death of Kjartan as it appeared to a churl | 240 |
| Psychology (not analytical) | 244 |
| Impartiality—justice to the hero's adversaries (Færeyinga Saga) | 245 |
VII
| Form of Saga used for contemporary history in the thirteenth century | 246 |
| The historians, Ari (1067–1148) and Snorri (1178–1241) | 248 |
| The Life of King Sverre, by Abbot Karl Jónsson | 249 |
| Sturla (c. 1214–1284), his history of Iceland in his own time (Islendinga or Sturlunga Saga) | 249 |
| The matter ready to his hand | 250 |
| Biographies incorporated in Sturlunga: Thorgils and Haflidi | 252 |
| Sturlu Saga | 253 |
| The midnight raid (a.d. 1171) | 254 |
| Lives of Bishop Gudmund, Hrafn, and Aron | 256 |
| Sturla's own work (Islendinga Saga) | 257 |
| The burning of Flugumyri | 259 |
| Traces of the heroic manner | 264 |
| The character of this history brought out by contrast with Sturla's other work, the Life of King Hacon of Norway | 267 |
| Norwegian and Icelandic politics in the thirteenth century | 267 |
| Norway more fortunate than Iceland—the history less interesting | 267 |
| Sturla and Joinville contemporaries | 269 |
| Their methods of narrative compared | 270 |
VIII