Vatnsdæla saga (Icelandic: [ˈvassˌdaiːla ˌsaːɣa]; listen^ⓘ; Old Norse: Vatnsdœla saga) is one of the sagas of Icelanders. The saga follows several generations of a family originating in Norway and settling in the north of Iceland until the arrival of Christianity in the late tenth century.^[1][2]

A fragment of Vatnsdæla saga is preserved in a late-14th or early-15th-century manuscript (AM 445 b 4to).^[3] Complete versions of the text are preserved in later paper manuscripts including AM 559 4to, written between 1686 and 1688, and AM 942 4to, written between 1700 and 1782.^[4][5] These texts likely originate from a 14th-century source, while the saga may have originally been written in the late 13th century.^[6]

Vatnsdæla Saga is essentially a family chronicle. It relates to residents of Vatnsdalur, a valley that runs south from Húnaflói, a large bay in the north of Iceland. The principal protagonist is a man named Ingimundr Þorsteinsson who fought for King Harald Fairhair of Norway at the Battle of Hafrsfjord winning his friendship and an amulet. At the instigation of a sorceress, he moved to Iceland to settle at Vatnsdalur in Húnaþing.

• Jane Smiley (2001) The Sagas of the Icelanders (Penguin Classics) ISBN 978-0141000039

• "Proverbs of Vatnsdœla Saga and the Sword of Jokull: The Oral Backgrounds of Grettir Ásmundarson's Flawed Heroism" by Harris, Richard L. (2010) in Essays in honor of George Clark, Robin Waugh and James Weldon (eds.), (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University . pages 150 - 170. )
• Proverbs in Vatnsdœla saga
• Full text at the Icelandic Saga Database