Fortellerforestilling: Gullrun – She built a boat

‘Gullrun’s Saga – She Built a Boat’ is an original story created by Danish storyteller Svend-Erik Engh in collaboration with musician Neil Sutcliffe from Scotland.

When Svend-Erik Engh was at the Hilmarfestival in November 2021 showing Giants with Neil and Alice Fernbank, he drove around the area with his friend Johan Ejnar Bjerkem from Steinkjer. Johan told Svend-Erik how boatbuilding was a major craft around Steinkjer in the very old times, the times even before the Vikings. It inspired Svend-Erik, which mother was Norwegian, to create a story also inspired by the traditional Icelandic Sagas. In Egil’s Saga, there is a poem that goes, “My mother told them to buy me a ship, a Viking ship with beautiful oars.” These words gave birth to a new saga, a saga about a young woman from the landscapes around Steinkjer.

We call our saga ‘Gullrun’s Saga – She Built a Boat’ and we will bring this original tale to life through storytelling, singing and music, blending traditional and original pieces.

The story

In 980 AD, a young woman named Gullrun with golden hair decided to leave the newly formed Norway and sail to Iceland. Her father wanted her to marry Svein Bergman, a mountain boy, but Gullrun, a sea girl at heart, found no connection with him. Their engagement party only highlighted their differences.

Determined to forge her own path, Gullrun, set her sights on Iceland, the land of the sagas. There was only one obstacle: she needed a boat!  With her crippled mother’s unwavering support, they enlisted the help of skilled boat builders from the village. Together, they spent the entire winter building a boat and weaving a sail.