THE LIGHT AND SMOKE HOLES OF THE
NORDIC SAGA HOUSE
This roof device is well attested in the Nordic Sagas where,
according to its function, it is referred to varyingly as
"smoke hole" (reykháfr, reykberi), "light inlet" (ljóri), or
"air inlet" (vindgluggr, vindauga).[230]
Little is known about
the size and shape of these devices, but apparently they
were large enough to be used as an escape hatch when all
other passages were blocked. The Sagas abound with tales
of exits made in this manner. A passage from the Vatnsdœla
Saga gives a typical example: "And so was this [house]
arranged that from that pile of goods, one could step up
into a big smoke hole [í einn storan reykbera] which was
over the hall [er á var skálanum] and when the marauder
investigated the pile, þorsteinn was outside" [var þorsteinn
úti, the sense being: þorsteinn had gained his freedom by
escaping through the smoke hole].[231]
The openings of these light and smoke holes could be
closed by means of wooden shutters (spjaeld) or boards
(fjöl) which were placed in position with the help of a pole
or rope; or they were screened with transparent membranes
made from the stomach lining of a hog mounted on movable
frames (
skjágluggr, skjávindauga). We read of the first type
in
Haralds saga harđrađa: "The king then let a board
(
fjöl) be moved in front of the light hole (
ljórann) so that
only a small opening was left . . . Einar entered and said,
`Dark is it in the King's Council Hall (
málstofa).' At the
same moment men rushed on him. . . ."
[232]
The second type is
mentioned in an equally dramatic passage of the
GullÞoris
saga, where Þorir, finding himself trapped in the hall
by Þorbjörn's housecarls, with all exits blocked, "grabbed
a pole and raised it under the `skin hole' (
skjárinn) and
there went out and pulled up the pole, and then ran up to
the mountains."
[233]
