The story I"m referring to, is the Icelandic saga, "Audun and the Bear". It's not as well known as some others, but it's quite interesting, and at medievalists.net, the author of a book about it gave an interview. Incidentally, I've heard of this saga; it was reproduced as a children's story years ago, and I kind of vaguely remember it. Even more interesting is that the hero, Audun, sort of "gambles" everything he has on buying this polar bear in Greenland and has a lot of adventures getting it to the king of Denmark. In the course of these adventures, he meets and outwits Harald Hardraada, who, as some of you probably know, attempted to invade England in 1066, ahead of William the You-Know-Who. He didn't succeed, any more than he apparently succeeded with this Audun, but he survived in the saga, and apparently, so did Audun. In any case, what the author of the book about this saga has to say, should be of considerable interest to anyone who studies Anglo-Saxon England or the "Viking era"(the aughor mentions Beowulf and several other pieces of Anglo-Saxon literature in the course of his interview.
Anne G
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