The bear-ancestor feature was not
applicable in the connection in which the story is used in the _r?mur_;
hence, it was omitted. Now, did this story spring up spontaneously and
independently in all these three instances? No, Bjarki and Ulf got their
reputed ancestry from the Siward story; and this bear hunt story they
got from a common source through contact with each other, or Bjarki got
it from Ulf. The author of the _r?mur_, liking it better than the last
part of the dragon story in the saga, as most modern readers also have
done, took it from the version contained in the saga of the early life
of Bjarki and used it for letting Hjalti display his courage. As a
result, he modified the story where it applies to the early life of
Bjarki. He has two sets of three sons each, while the saga has only one
set; and, what is still more suspicious, there is a Bothvar in each set.
This is the same kind of separation or repetition as the _r?mur_ later
make with regard to the dragon story, dividing it into a wolf story and
a bear story.
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