Audun and the polar bear : : luck, law, and largesse in a medieval tale of risky business / / by William I. Miller.
Audun’s Story is the tale of an Icelandic farmhand who buys a polar bear in Greenland for no other reason than to give it to the Danish king, half a world away. It can justly be listed among the finest pieces of short fiction in world literature. Terse in the best saga style, it spins a story of com...
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| Superior document: | Medieval law and its practice, v. 1 |
|---|---|
| TeilnehmendeR: | |
| Year of Publication: | 2008 |
| Edition: | 1st ed. |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Medieval law and its practice ;
v. 1. |
| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (167 p.) |
| Notes: | Description based upon print version of record. |
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Table of Contents:
- Some technical matters : dates, origin, versions
- The story of Audun from the Westfjords (Audun's story)
- The commitment to plausibility
- Helping Thorir and buying the bear
- Dealing with King Harald
- Giving the bear to Svein : the interests in the bear
- Saying no to kings
- Eggs in one basket and market value
- Rome : self-impoverishment and self-confidence
- Repaying the bear
- Back to Harald : the yielding of accounts
- Audun's luck
- Richness and risk
- Motives
- Gaming the system : gift-ref
- Regiving and reclaiming gifts
- Relevant law
- Serious scarcity, self-interest and Audun's mother
- In the gift vs. in on the gift
- Gifts upward : repaying by receiving and funny money
- The obligation to accept
- Giving up and down hierarchies : of god(s), beggars, and equals
- Nadad and Abihu : sacrifice, caprice, and binding god and kings
- Funny money that is not so funny
- Of free and closing gifts
- Coda : the whiteness of the bear.