Óskar wrote:

>T: "You have a point; but the only ON speakers that bothered to write
>in any quantity (and perhaps quality) were the Icelanders."

That is, perhaps, a slight overstatement:) There is some Norwegian literature
of interest; many will be familiar with the Norwegian rune poem.

One stanza is like this:

Reið kveða rossum vesta. (The say that a wagon is worst for horses.)
Reginn sló sverðit besta. (Reginn forged the best sword.)


Note that the Norwegians changed "hross" to "ross" early on.

The 5000 or so Swedish runic inscriptions are also, I dare say, rather
interesting.

But you're basically correct, of course; the reason for learning Old
Icelandic is that
the literature most people are looking for was written in Iceland.

If you're interested in old Danish literature you're best of learning Latin.

Regards,
Haukur