The five composition principles are not unique to Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana. The combat scenes of, e. g., Bósa saga ok Herrauðs show several structural similarities. The main manuscripts of Bósa saga ok Herrauðs are AM 577, 4to; AM 510, 4to; AM 586, 4to.56
Bósa saga ok Herrauðs tells the story of Bósi, a farmer's son, and his blood brother Herrauðr, son of king Hringr. The friends undergo several fantastic adventures, first to appease the enraged king Hringr, then to re-capture Herrauðr's stolen bride, princess Hleiðr.
The combat scenes of Bosa saga ok Herrauðs shall not be analysed here in too much detail, but discussed in comparison to those of Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana.
a) No ‘knightly mode of combat’
Like Egill and Ásmundr, Bósi and Herrauðr do not adhere to any ‘knightly mode of combat’, neither in terms of weaponry, nor in terms of etiquette. When encountering an opponent that might prove dangerous, they are not shy of unfair methods, as they show in their fight against a eunuch
56 For an overview of the research on Bósa saga ok Herrauðs, and a discussion of its transmission, see Reifegerste (2005).
‘er Skálkr heitir ok er svá sterkr, at hann hefir tólf karla afl, hvat sem reyna þarf.’ [...] Þrællinn sló með stórri kylfu til Herrauðar, en hann brá við skildinum. Höggit var svá þungt, at hann brotnaði allr. Herrauðr hljóp undir þrælinn, en hann tók fast í móti, ok váru þeira sviptingar sterkligar, ok fór þrællinn hvergi á hæl. Bósi kom þá at ok tók fætrna undan þrælnum, ok lögðu síðan snöru á háls honum ok hendgu hann þar á eikunum. (Jónsson, 1954, pp. 316–317 / ch. 13)
Skalk is, in his combat function, comparable to the berserks of Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, and so is the fight against him. As a eunuch of superhuman strength, he is an exotic and dangerous enemy, but not a real monster yet. The combat action is dynamic and dirty. Skalk fights on equal terms with Herrauðr, so the friends team up against him and bring him a quick and brutal end, using bare hands and a noose.
The weapons used by Bósi and Herrauðr in the course of the saga are of a wide variety: spears, clubs, an atgeirr, a noose, often the bare hands – but only one time, in Bósi's very last fight, a sword. The use of clubs and bare hands as weapons is insofar remarkable as it is not only non-chilvalric, but more or less barbaric, even in the cosmos of the fornaldarsögur. The club is the weapon of the peasant, the heathen, and, most of all, the giant (Schulz, 2004, pp. 288–291), but it also helps to express the strength of its wielder.57 The neglect shown for standard chivalric weaponry is made explicit in the saga, when Bosi's father Þvari takes military logistics in his hands and hafði látit smíðja spjót ok öxar ok örvar (Jónsson, 1954, p. 318 / ch. 14), that means, the typical infantry weapons of the Viking Age and Middle Ages.
b) No interest in mass battles
When a plan is needed to rescue the beautiful maiden Hleiðr from a forced wedding, the old warrior Þvari acts as the author's mouthpiece, and in fact explains how the text conceptualizes its combat scenes. Having been an accomplished fighter in younger years himself, Þvari points out that þeir mundu verða of seinir, ef þeir söfnuðu liði miklu, ok því sagði hann, at þeir mundu heldr ná konungsdóttur með djúpsettum ráðum ok snörum atburðum, ok var nú þetta ráðit, at þeir bjuggu eitt skip ok á þrjá tigi manna. (Jónsson, 1954, p. 307 / ch. 11) In other words: Like Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, Bosa saga ok Herrauðs shows no interest in mass battles with huge numbers of participants. If such a battle happens, the text gives nothing more than a short account:
[The brothers Hrærekr and Siggeirr] fengu þar þrjú skip ok tuttugu ok sigldu síðan til Gautlands [...] ok var Hringr konungr fámennr heima, ok buðu þeir honum þegar bardaga eða gefa upp meyna. Konungr kjöri heldr at berjast, ok urðu þar skjót umskipti. Fell þar Hringr konungr ok mestr hlutr liðs hans. (Jónsson, 1954, p. 306 / ch. 10)
Not even the (so called) biggest battle in Scandinavian history provokes the author to tell about its course:
Þá var settr tími til bardagans á Brávöllum, er mestr hefir verit á Norðrlöndum [...] Í þessi orrostu fell Haraldr konungr ok með honum fimmtán konungar annars hundraðs, sem segir í sögu hans, ok margir aðrir kappar, þeir sem konungum váru meiri. Þar fellu þeir Dagfari ok Náttfari, en þeir Herrauðr ok Bósi urðu báðir sárir ok kómust þó báðir ór bardaganum. (Jónsson, 1954, p. 305 / ch. 9)
c) The ‘adventurous mode of combat’ applied
While mass battles are neglected, the saga's combat scenes reach their climax when the heroes stand against supernatural foes. Just like in Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, in these moments the narration becomes the most dynamic, detailed, and violent. Foremost example is when Bósi and Herrauðr raid the temple of the god Jómali. Their enemies are a demonic bull, a giant vulture and Kolfrosta, the evil priestess of Jómali. After killing the slave who was to bring a heifer as food for the priestess, they stuff the animal's hide with moss and let the bull mount it – this is when the action sets in:
Mosabelgrinn var léttr fyrir, ok rak griddi höfuðit út á múrinn ok braut af sér bæði hornin. Herrauðr greip þá í bæði eyrun á honum ok í granirnar ok snaraði hann svá ór hálsliðinum. Þá vaknaði gýgrin ok hljóp á fætr. Í þessu kom Bósi inn í hofit ok bar þrælinn upp yfir höfði sér á spjótinu. Gammrinn brá nú við skjótt ok steypti sér ofan ór hreiðrinu ok vildi gleypa þann, sem inn var kominn. Svalg hann nú þrælinn ofan at mitti. Bósi þrýsti þá spjótinu, svá at þat gekk upp í háls gamminum, þar til at stóð í hjartanu. Gammrinn setti nú klærnar í þjóin á þrælsskrokkinum ok setti vænghnúfana við eyrat á Bósa, svá at hann fell í óvit. Fell gammrinn þá ok ofan á hann, ok váru hans fjörbrot ógurliga mikil. Herrauðr réðst á móti hofgyðjunni, ok var þeira atgangr inn harðasti, ok hafði kerlin illa skornar negl, ok reif hún hold hans niðr at beini. þau bárust þangat at, sem Bósi var fallinn, ok var blóðugt mjök. Kerlingu varð hált í gammsblóðinu, ok fell hún á bak aftr, ok váru þá sviptingar miklar með þeim, svá at ýmsi váru undir. Bósi raknaði þá við ok greip höfuð griðungsins ok rak á nasir gýginni. Herrauðr sleit þá af henni hödnina í axlarliðinum. Tók henni þá at dafna leikrinn, en í fjörbrotum hennar varð landskjálfti mikill. (Jónsson, 1954, pp. 301–302 / ch. 8)
(I) Detailed violence is the mark of the whole scene, especially concerning the priestess. Herrauðr's flesh is ripped apart by her fingernails, and again, the motif of mutilation is used when her arm is torn off. The demonic bull, too, is physically destroyed. His horns break off, and Herrauðr kills him not with a weapon, but with his bare hands, by breaking his neck. We can assume that this includes the meaning of ‘tearing off’ as well, since the head of the beast is afterwards used as a weapon against Kolfrosta.
(II) The three enemies are highly exaggerated: an enchanted bull, a giant vulture (big enough to swallow half a human body in one bite), and a pagan priestess with jagged fingernails, as strong as a man, whose death causes an earthquake. Medieval audience and modern readers can hardly hope for more. All of the foes are presented with their own background information and call for a unique method to be killed.
(III) Though well devised and adequately executed, the heroes' action is not flawless: Bósi is knocked out by the dying vulture, Herrauðr has a hard time struggling with the priestess.58 Only as a team, they can submit her. The friends might be great warriors, but they are far from being invulnerable.
(IV) Not only the monstrous enemies, but the whole setting of the scene belongs to the realm of the supernatural. A temple of a pagan god, situated in Permia, at the border of the known world, forebodes evil sorcery. The farmer's daughter who tells Bósi the story of the temple, is astounded someone would go there: ‘en hverr var þér svá reiðr, at þik vill feigan ok senda þik forsending?’ (Jónsson, 1954, p. 299 / ch. 7)
(V) In terms of combat action, the scene marks a climax in the saga. It is structurally very different from the second combat scene with supernatural personnel later in the saga (the sea battle against King Harek and his sons, where the witch Busla comes to aid the heroes), and combines the magical elements and heroes' manoeuvres into a fast-paced, unique outbreak of violence. The fight may use some known motifs, but it is not a mere copy of an existing model.