sagas been
accessible to Englishmen in Shakespeare's time, we should certainly have
had dramas of Icelandic life.

IV.

BY THE HAND OF THE MASTER.

Time has brought us to the man whose work in this field needs no
apology. The writer whom we consider next contributed almost as much
material to the English treasury of Northern gold as did all the writers
we have so far considered. Were it not for William Morris, the
examination that we are making would not not be worth while. The name
_literature_, in its narrow sense, belongs to only a few of the writings
that we have examined up to this point, but what we are now to inspect
deserves that title without the shadow of a doubt. For that reason we
set in a separate chapter the examination of Morris' Old Norse
adaptations and creations.

WILLIAM MORRIS (1834-1896).

The biographer of William Morris fixes 1868 as the beginning of the
poet's Icelandic stories.[30] Eirikr Magnusson, an Icelander, was his
guide, and the pupil made rapid progress. Dasent's work had drawn
Morris' attention to the sagas, and within a few months most of the
sagas had been read in the original. Although _The Saga of Gunnlang
Worm-tongue_ was published in the _Fortnightly Review_, for January,
1869, the _Grettis Saga_, of April, was the first published book on an
Old Norse subject. The next year gave the _Voelsunga Saga_. In 1871,
Morris made a journey through Iceland, the fruits of which were
afterwards seen in many a noble work. In 1875, _Three Northern Love
Stories_ was published, and, in 1877, _The Story of Sigurd the Volsung
and the Fall of the Niblungs_. More than ten years passed before he
turned again to Icelandic work, the Romances of the years of 1889 to
1896 showing signs of it, and the translations in the _Saga Library_,
"Howard the Halt," "The Banded Men," _Eyrbyggja_ and _Heimskringla_ of
1891-95. These contributions to the subject of our examination are no
less valuable than voluminous, and we make no excuses for an extended
consideration of them. They deserve a wider public than they have yet
attained.

1.

_The Story of Grettir the Strong_ is the title of Morris and Magnusson's
version of the _Grettis Saga_. The version impresses the reader as one
made with loving care by artistic hands. Certainly English readers will
read no other translation of this work, for this one is satisfactory as
a version and as an art-work. English readers will here get all the
flavor