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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17919-8.txt b/17919-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e4063d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/17919-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18299 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The story of Burnt Njal, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The story of Burnt Njal + From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga + +Author: Anonymous + +Translator: George Webbe Dasent + +Release Date: March 4, 2006 [EBook #17919] +Last Updated: October 18, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL *** + + + + +Produced by National Library of Iceland and Cornell +University Library via www.sagnanet.is, Jóhannes Birgir +Jensson, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed +Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net + + + + + ++---------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's Note: This is a translation from Icelandic | +|and there are inconsistencies in punctuation which | +|have been left as they were in the original. | ++---------------------------------------------------------+ + + +[Illustration: The Story of Burnt Njal +From the Icelandic of Njal Saga] + + + + +THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL + + + + +[Illustration: GUNNAR REFUSES TO LEAVE HOME] + +"_Fair is Lithe: so fair that it has never seemed to me so fair; the +corn fields are white to harvest, and the home mead is mown: and now I +will ride back home, and not fare abroad at all._" + + + + +The Story of Burnt Njal + + +From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga + + +By the late Sir George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. + + + + +_With a Prefatory Note, and the Introduction, Abridged, from the +Original Edition of 1861_ + + +New York E. P. Dutton & Co. +London Grant Richards +1900 + +THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS LIMITED + + +_The design of the cover made by the late James Drummond, R.S.A., +combines the chief weapons mentioned in_ The Story of Burnt Njal: +_Gunnar's bill, Skarphedinn's axe, and Kari's sword, bound together by +one of the great silver rings found in a Viking's hoard in Orkney._ + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE TO THE ONE-VOLUME EDITION. + + +_SIR GEORGE DASENT'S translation of the Njals Saga, under the +title The Story of Burnt Njal, which is reprinted in this volume, was +published by Messrs. Edmonston & Douglas in 1861. That edition was in +two volumes, and was furnished by the author with maps and plans; with a +lengthy introduction dealing with Iceland's history, religion and social +life; with an appendix and an exhaustive index. Copies of this edition +can still be obtained from Mr. David Douglas of Edinburgh._ + +_The present reprint has been prepared in order that this incomparable +Saga may become accessible to those readers with whom a good story is +the first consideration and its bearing upon a nation's history a +secondary one--or is not considered at all. For_ Burnt Njal _may be +approached either as a historical document, or as a pure narrative of +elemental natures, of strong passions; and of heroic feats of strength. +Some of the best fighting in literature is to be found between its +covers. Sir George Dasent's version in its capacity as a learned work +for the study has had nearly forty years of life; it is now offered +afresh simply as a brave story for men who have been boys and for boys +who are going to be men._ + +_We lay down the book at the end having added to our store of good +memories the record of great deeds and great hearts, and to our gallery +of heroes strong and admirable men worthy to stand beside the strong and +admirable men of the Iliad--Gunnar of Lithend and Skarphedinn, Njal and +Kari, Helgi and Kolskegg, beside Telamonian Aias and Patroclus, Achilles +and Hector, Ulysses and Idomeneus. In two respects these Icelanders win +more of our sympathy than the Greeks and Trojans; for they, like +ourselves, are of Northern blood, and in their mighty strivings are +unassisted by the gods._ + +_In the present volume Sir George Dasent's preface has been shortened, +and his introduction, which everyone who is interested in old Icelandic +life and history should make a point of reading in the original edition, +has been considerably abridged. The three appendices, treating of the +Vikings, Queen Gunnhillda, and money and currency in the tenth century, +have been also exised, and with them the index. There remains the Saga +itself (not a word of Sir George Dasent's simple, forcible, clean prose +having been touched), with sufficient introductory matter to assist the +reader to its fuller appreciation._ + +_Sir George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L., the translator of the Njals Saga, was +born in 1817 at St. Vincent in the West Indies, of which island his +father was Attorney-General. He was educated at Westminster School, and +at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he was distinguished both as a fine +athlete and a good classic. He took his degree in 1840, and on coming +to London showed an early tendency towards literature and literary +society. The Sterlings were connected with the island of' St. Vincent, +and as Dasent and John Sterling became close friends, he was a constant +guest at Captain Sterlings house in Knightsbridge, which was frequented +by many who afterwards rose to eminence in the world of letters, +including Carlyle, to whom Dasent dedicated his first book, Dasent's +appointment in 1842 as private secretary to Sir James Cartwright, the +British Envoy to the court of Sweden, took him to Stockholm, where under +the advice of Jacob Grimm, whom he had met in Denmark, he began that +study of Scandinavian literature which has enriched English literature +bu the present work, and by the_ Norse Tales, Gísli the Outlaw, _and +other valuable translations and memoirs. On settling in London again in +1845 he joined the_ Times _staff as assistant editor to the great +Delane, who had been his friend at Oxford, and whose sister he married +in the following year. Dasent retained the post during the paper's most +brilliant period. In 1870 Mr. Gladstone offered him a Civil Service +Commissionership, which he accepted and held until his retirement in +1892, at which time he was the Commission's official head. He was +knighted "for public services" in 1876, having been created a knight +of the Danish order of the Dannebrög many years earlier._ + +_In addition, to his Scandinavian work, Sir George Dasent wrote several +novels, of which_ The Annals of an Eventful Life _was at once the most +popular and the best. He died greatly respected in 1896._ + + E. V. LUCAS. + + + + +SIR GEORGE DASENT'S PREFACE + +(ABRIDGED.) + + +What is a Saga? A Saga is a story, or telling in prose, +sometimes mixed with verse. There are many kinds of Sagas, of all +degrees of truth. There are the mythical Sagas, in which the wondrous +deeds of heroes of old time, half gods and half men, as Sigurd and +Ragnar, are told as they were handed down from father to son in the +traditions of the Northern race. Then there are Sagas recounting the +history of the kings of Norway and other countries, of the great line of +Orkney Jarls, and of the chiefs who ruled in Faroe. These are all more +or less trustworthy, and, in general, far worthier of belief than much +that passes for the early history of other races. Again, there are Sagas +relating to Iceland, narrating the lives, and feuds, and ends of mighty +chiefs, the heads of the great families which dwelt in this or that +district of the island. These were told by men who lived on the very +spot, and told with a minuteness and exactness, as to time and place, +that will bear the strictest examination. Such a Saga is that of Njal, +which we now lay before our readers in an English garb. Of all the Sagas +relating to Iceland, this tragic story bears away the palm for +truthfulness and beauty. To use the words of one well qualified to +judge, it is, as compared with all similar compositions, as gold to +brass.[1] Like all the Sagas which relate to the same period of +Icelandic story, Njala[2] was not written down till about 100 years +after the events which are described in it had happened. In the +meantime, it was handed down by word of mouth, told from Althing to +Althing, at Spring Thing, and Autumn Leet, at all great gatherings of +the people, and over many a fireside, on sea strand or river bank, or up +among the dales and hills, by men who had learnt the sad story of Njal's +fate, and who could tell of Gunnar's peerlessness and Hallgerda's +infamy, of Bergthora's helpfulness, of Skarphedinn's hastiness, of +Flosi's foul deed, and Kurt's stern revenge. We may be sure that as soon +as each event recorded in the Saga occurred, it was told and talked +about as matter of history, and when at last the whole story was +unfolded and took shape, and centred round Njal, that it was handed down +from father to son, as truthfully and faithfully as could ever be the +case with any public or notorious matter in local history. But it is not +on Njala alone that we have to rely for our evidence of its genuineness. +There are many other Sagas relating to the same period, and handed down +in like manner, in which the actors in our Saga are incidentally +mentioned by name, and in which the deeds recorded of them are +corroborated. They are mentioned also in songs and Annals, the latter +being the earliest written records which belong to the history of the +island, while the former were more easily remembered, from the +construction of the verse. Much passes for history in other lands on far +slighter grounds, and many a story in Thucydides or Tacitus, or even in +Clarendon or Hume, is believed on evidence not one-tenth part so +trustworthy as that which supports the narratives of these Icelandic +story-tellers of the eleventh century. That with occurrences of +undoubted truth, and minute particularity as to time and place, as to +dates and distance, are intermingled wild superstitions on several +occasions, will startle no reader of the smallest judgment. All ages, +our own not excepted, have their superstitions, and to suppose that a +story told in the eleventh century,--when phantoms, and ghosts, and +wraiths, were implicitly believed in, and when dreams, and warnings, and +tokens, were part of every man's creed--should be wanting in these marks +of genuineness, is simply to require that one great proof of its +truthfulness should be wanting, and that, in order to suit the spirit of +our age, it should lack something which was part and parcel of popular +belief in the age to which it belonged. To a thoughtful mind, therefore, +such stories as that of Swan's witchcraft, Gunnar's song in his cairn, +the Wolf's ride before the Burning, Flosi's dream, the signs and tokens +before Brian's battle, and even Njal's weird foresight, on which the +whole story hangs, will be regarded as proofs rather for than against +its genuineness.[3] + +But it is an old saying, that a story never loses in telling, and so we +may expect it must have been with this story. For the facts which the +Saga-teller related he was bound to follow the narrations of those who +had gone before him, and if he swerved to or fro in this respect, public +opinion and notorious fame was there to check and contradict him.[4] But +the way in which he told the facts was his own, and thus it comes that +some Sagas are better told than others, as the feeling and power of the +narrator were above those of others. To tell a story truthfully was +what was looked for from all men in those days; but to tell it properly +and gracefully, and so to clothe the facts in fitting diction, was given +to few, and of those few the Saga teller who first threw Njala into its +present shape, was one of the first and foremost. + +With the change of faith and conversion of the Icelanders to +Christianity, writing, and the materials for writing, first came into +the land, about the year 1000. There is no proof that the earlier or +Runic alphabet, which existed in heathen times, was ever used for any +other purposes than those of simple monumental inscriptions, or of short +legends on weapons or sacrificial vessels, or horns and drinking cups. +But with the Roman alphabet came not only a readier means of expressing +thought, but also a class of men who were wont thus to express +themselves.... Saga after Saga was reduced to writing, and before the +year 1200 it is reckoned that all the pieces of that kind of composition +which relate to the history of Icelanders previous to the introduction +of Christianity had passed from the oral into the written shape. Of all +those Sagas, none were so interesting as Njal, whether as regarded the +length of the story, the number and rank of the chiefs who appeared in +it as actors, and the graphic way in which the tragic tale was told. As +a rounded whole, in which each part is finely and beautifully polished, +in which the two great divisions of the story are kept in perfect +balance and counterpoise, in which each person who appears is left free +to speak in a way which stamps him with a character of his own, while +all unite in working towards a common end, no Saga had such claims on +public attention as Njala, and it is certain none would sooner have been +committed to writing. The latest period, therefore, that we can assign +as the date at which our Saga was moulded into its present shape is the +year 1200.... + +It was a foster-father's duty, in old times, to rear and cherish the +child which he had taken from the arms of its natural parents, his +superiors in rank. And so may this work, which the translator has taken +from the house of Icelandic scholars, his masters in knowledge, and +which he has reared and fostered so many years under an English roof, go +forth and fight the battle of life for itself, and win fresh fame for +those who gave it birth. It will be reward enough for him who has first +clothed it in an English dress if his foster-child adds another leaf to +that evergreen wreath of glory which crowns the brows of Iceland's +ancient worthies. + +BROAD SANCTUARY. + +_Christmas Eve, 1860._ + + It will be seen that in most cases the names of places throughout + the Saga have been turned into English, either in whole or in part, + as "Lithend" for "Lfaðrendi," and "Bergthorsknoll" for + "Bergthorshvól". The translator adopted this course to soften the + ruggedness of the original names for the English reader, but in + every case the Icelandic name, with its English rendering, will be + found in the maps. The surnames and nicknames have also been turned + into English--an attempt which has not a little increased the toil + of translation. Great allowance must be made for these renderings, + as those nicknames often arose out of circumstances of which we + know little or nothing. Of some, such as "Thorgeir Craggeir," and + "Thorkel foulmouth," the Saga itself explains the origin. In a + state of society where so many men bore the same name, any + circumstance or event in a man's life, as well as any peculiarity + in form or feature, or in temper and turn of mind, gave rise to a + surname or nickname, which clung to him through life as a + distinguishing mark. The Post Office in the United States is said + to give persons in the same district, with similar names, an + initial of identification, which answers the same purpose, as the + Icelandic nickname, thus: "John _P_ Smith."--"John _Q_ Smith". As a + general rule the translator has withstood the temptation to use old + English words. "Busk" and "boun" he pleads guilty to, because both + still linger in the language understood by few. "Busk" is a + reflective formed from 'eat búa sik,' "to get oneself ready," and + "boun" is the past participle of the active form "búa, búinn," to + get ready. When the leader in Old Ballads says-- + + "Busk ye, busk ye, + My bonny, bonny me," + + he calls on his followers to equip themselves; when they are thus + equipped they are "boun". A bride "busks" herself for the bridal; + when she is dressed she is "boun". In old times a ship was "busked" + for a voyage; when she was filled and ready for sea she was + "boun"--whence come our outward "bound" and homeward "bound". These + with "redes" for counsels or plans are almost the only words in the + translation which are not still in everyday use. + + + + +SIR GEORGE DASENT'S INTRODUCTION. + +(ABRIDGED). + + +THE NORTHMEN IN ICELAND. + +The men who colonized Iceland towards the end of the ninth century of +the Christian æra, were of no savage or servile race. They fled from the +overbearing power of the king, from that new and strange doctrine of +government put forth by Harold Fairhair, 860-933, which made them the +king's men at all times, instead of his only at certain times for +special service, which laid scatts and taxes on their lands, which +interfered with vested rights and world-old laws, and allowed the +monarch to meddle and make with the freemen's allodial holdings. As we +look at it now, and from another point of view, we see that what to them +was unbearable tyranny was really a step in the great march of +civilization and progress, and that the centralization and consolidation +of the royal authority, according to Charlemagne's system, was in time +to be a blessing to the kingdoms of the north. But to the freeman it was +a curse. He fought against it as long as he could; worsted over and over +again, he renewed the struggle, and at last, when the isolated efforts, +which were the key-stone of his edifice of liberty, were fruitless, he +sullenly withdrew from the field, and left the land of his fathers, +where, as he thought, no free-born man could now care to live. Now it is +that we hear of him in Iceland, where Ingolf was the first settler in +the year 874, and was soon followed by many of his countrymen. Now, too, +we hear of him in all lands. Now France--now Italy--now Spain, feel +the fury of his wrath, and the weight of his arm. After a time, but not +until nearly a century has passed, he spreads his wings for a wider +flight, and takes service under the great emperor at Byzantium, or +Micklegarth--the great city, the town of towns--and fights his foes from +whatever quarter they come. The Moslem in Sicily and Asia, the +Bulgarians and Slavonians on the shores of the Black Sea and in Greece, +well know the temper of the Northern steel, which has forced many of +their chosen champions to bite the dust. Wherever he goes the Northman +leaves his mark, and to this day the lion at the entrance to the arsenal +at Venice is scored with runes which tell of his triumph. + +But of all countries, what were called the Western Lands were his +favourite haunt. England, where the Saxons were losing their old dash +and daring, and settling down into a sluggish sensual race; Ireland, the +flower of Celtic lands, in which a system of great age and undoubted +civilization was then fast falling to pieces, afforded a tempting +battlefield in the everlasting feuds between chief and chief; Scotland, +where the power of the Picts was waning, while that of the Scots had not +taken firm hold on the country, and most of all the islands in the +Scottish Main, Orkney, Shetland, and the outlying Faroe Isles;--all +these were his chosen abode. In those islands he took deep root, +established himself on the old system, shared in the quarrels of the +chiefs and princes of the Mainland, now helped Pict and now Scot, roved +the seas and made all ships prizes, and kept alive his old grudge +against Harold Fairhair and the new system by a long series of piratical +incursions on the Norway coast. So worrying did these Viking cruises at +last become, that Harold, who meantime had steadily pursued his policy +at home, and forced all men to bow to his sway or leave the land, +resolved to crush the wasps that stung him summer after summer in their +own nest. First of all he sent Kettle flatnose, a mighty chief, to +subdue the foe; but though Kettle waged successful war, he kept what he +won for himself. It was the old story of setting a thief to catch a +thief; and Harold found that if he was to have his work done to his mind +he must do it himself. He called on his chiefs to follow him, levied a +mighty force, and, sailing suddenly with a fleet which must have seemed +an armada in those days, he fell upon the Vikings in Orkney and +Shetland, in the Hebrides and Western Isles, in Man and Anglesey, in the +Lewes and Faroe--wherever he could find them he followed them up with +fire and sword. Not once, but twice he crossed the sea after them, and +tore them out so thoroughly, root and branch, that we hear no more of +these lands as a lair of Vikings, but as the abode of Norse Jarls and +their udallers (freeholders) who look upon the new state of things at +home as right and just, and acknowledge the authority of Harold and his +successors by an allegiance more or less dutiful at different times, but +which was never afterwards entirely thrown off. + +It was just then, just when the unflinching will of Harold had taught +this stern lesson to his old foes, and arising in most part out of that +lesson, that the great rush of settlers to Iceland took place. We have +already seen that Ingolf and others had settled in Iceland from 874 +downwards, but it was not until nearly twenty years afterwards that the +island began to be thickly peopled. More than half of the names of the +first colonists contained in the venerable Landnáma Book--the Book of +Lots, the Doomsday of Iceland, and far livelier reading than that of the +Conqueror--are those of Northmen who had been before settled in the +British Isles. Our own country then was the great stepping-stone between +Norway and Iceland; and this one fact is enough to account for the close +connection which the Icelanders ever afterwards kept up with their +kinsmen who had remained behind in the islands of the west.... + + +SUPERSTITIONS OF THE RACE. + +The Northman had many superstitions. He believed in good giants and bad +giants, in dark elves and bright elves, in superhuman beings who tilled +the wide gulf which existed between himself and the gods. He believed, +too, in wraiths and fetches and guardian spirits, who followed +particular persons, and belonged to certain families--a belief which +seems to have sprung from the habit of regarding body and soul as two +distinct beings, which at certain times took each a separate bodily +shape. Sometimes the guardian spirit or fylgja took a human shape; at +others its form took that of some animal fancied to foreshadow the +character of the man to whom it belonged. Thus it becomes a bear, a +wolf, an ox, and even a fox, in men. The fylgjur of women were fond of +taking the shape of swans. To see one's own fylgja was unlucky, and +often a sign that a man was "fey," or death-doomed. So, when Thord +Freedmanson tells Njal that he sees the goat wallowing in its gore in +the "town" of Bergthorsknoll, the foresighted man tells him that he has +seen his own fylgja, and that he must be doomed to die. Finer and nobler +natures often saw the guardian spirits of others. Thus Njal saw the +fylgjur of Gunnar's enemies, which gave him no rest the livelong night, +and his weird feeling is soon confirmed by the news brought by his +shepherd. From the fylgja of the individual it was easy to rise to the +still more abstract notion of the guardian spirits of a family, who +sometimes, if a great change in the house is about to begin, even show +themselves as hurtful to some member of the house. He believed also that +some men had more than one shape; that they could either take the shapes +of animals, as bears or wolves, and so work mischief; or that, without +undergoing bodily change, an access of rage and strength came over them, +and more especially towards night, which made them more than a match for +ordinary men. Such men were called hamrammir, "shape-strong," and it was +remarked that when the fit left them they were weaker than they had been +before. + +This gift was looked upon as something "uncanny," and it leads us at +once to another class of men, whose supernatural strength was regarded +as a curse to the community. These were the Baresarks. What the +hamrammir men were when they were in their fits the Baresarks almost +always were. They are described as being always of exceeding, and when +their fury rose high, of superhuman strength. They too, like the +hamrammir men, were very tired when the fits passed off. What led to +their fits is hard to say. In the case of the only class of men like +them nowadays, that of the Malays running a-muck, the intoxicating fumes +of bangh or arrack are said to be the cause of their fury. One thing, +however, is certain, that the Baresark, like his Malay brother, was +looked upon as a public pest, and the mischief which they caused, +relying partly no doubt on their natural strength, and partly on the +hold which the belief in their supernatural nature had on the mind of +the people, was such as to render their killing a good work. + +Again, the Northman believed that certain men were "fast" or "hard"; +that no weapons would touch them or wound their skin; that the mere +glance of some men's eyes would turn the edge of the best sword; and +that some persons had the power of withstanding poison. He believed in +omens and dreams and warnings, in signs and wonders and tokens; he +believed in good luck and bad luck, and that the man on whom fortune +smiled or frowned bore the marks of her favour or displeasure on his +face; he believed also in magic and sorcery, though he loathed them as +unholy rites. With one of his beliefs our story has much to do, though +this was a belief in good rather than in evil. He believed firmly that +some men had the inborn gift, not won by any black arts, of seeing +things and events beforehand. He believed, in short, in what is called +in Scotland "second sight". This was what was called being "forspár" or +"framsýnn," "foretelling" and "foresighted ". Of such men it was said +that their "words could not be broken". Njal was one of these men; one +of the wisest and at the same time most just and honourable of men. This +gift ran in families, for Helgi Njal's son had it, and it was beyond a +doubt one of the deepest-rooted of all their superstitions. + + +SOCIAL PRINCIPLES. + +Besides his creed and these beliefs the new settler brought with him +certain fixed social principles, which we shall do well to consider +carefully in the outset.... First and foremost came the father's right +of property in his children. This right is common to the infancy of all +communities, and exists before all law. We seek it in vain in codes +which belong to a later period, but it has left traces of itself in all +codes, and, abrogated in theory, still often exists in practice. We find +it in the Roman law, and we find it among the Northmen. Thus it was the +father's right to rear his children or not at his will. As soon as it +was born, the child was laid upon the bare ground; and until the father +came and looked at it, heard and saw that it was strong in lung and +limb, lifted it in his arms, and handed it over to the women to be +reared, its fate hung in the balance, and life or death depended on the +sentence of its sire. After it had passed safely through that ordeal, it +was duly washed, signed with Thor's holy hammer, and solemnly received +into the family. If it were a weakly boy, and still more often, if it +were a girl, no matter whether she were strong or weak, the infant was +exposed to die by ravening beasts, or the inclemency of the climate. +Many instances occur of children so exposed, who, saved by some kindly +neighbour, and fostered beneath a stranger's roof, thus contracted ties +reckoned still more binding than blood itself. So long as his children +remained under his roof, they were their father's own. When the sons +left the paternal roof, they were emancipated, and when the daughters +were married they were also free, but the marriage itself remained till +the latest times a matter of sale and barter in deed as well as name. +The wife came into the house, in the patriarchal state, either stolen or +bought from her nearest male relations; and though in later times when +the sale took place it was softened by settling part of the dower and +portion on the wife, we shall do well to bear in mind, that originally +dower was only the price paid by the suitor to the father for his good +will; while portion, on the other hand, was the sum paid by the father +to persuade a suitor to take a daughter off his hands. Let us remember, +therefore, that in those times, as Odin was supreme in Asgard as the +Great Father of Gods and men, so in his own house every father of the +race that revered Odin was also sovereign and supreme. + +In the second place, as the creed of the race was one that adored the +Great Father as the God of Battles; as it was his will that turned the +fight; nay, as that was the very way in which he chose to call his own +to himself,--it followed, that any appeal to arms was looked upon as an +appeal to God. Victory was indeed the sign of a rightful cause, and he +that won the day remained behind to enjoy the rights which he had won in +fair fight, but he that lost it, if he fell bravely and like a man, if +he truly believed his quarrel just, and brought it without guile to the +issue of the sword, went by the very manner of his death to a better +place. The Father of the Slain wanted him, and he was welcomed by the +Valkyries, by Odin's corse-choosers, to the festive board in Valhalla. +In every point of view, therefore, war and battle was a holy thing, and +the Northman went to the battlefield in the firm conviction that right +would prevail. In modern times, while we appeal in declarations of war +to the God of Battles, we do it with the feeling that war is often an +unholy thing, and that Providence is not always on the side of strong +battalions. The Northman saw Providence on both sides. It was good to +live, if one fought bravely, but it was also good to die, if one fell +bravely. To live bravely and to die bravely, trusting in the God of +Battles, was the warrior's comfortable creed. + +But this feeling was also shown in private life. When two tribes or +peoples rushed to war, there Odin, the warrior's god, was sure to be +busy in the fight, turning the day this way or that at his will; but he +was no less present in private war, where in any quarrel man met man to +claim or to defend a right. There, too, he turned the scale and swayed +the day, and there too an appeal to arms was regarded as an appeal to +heaven. Hence arose another right older than all law, the right of +duel--of wager of battle, as the old English law called it. Among the +Northmen it underlaid all their early legislation, which, as we shall +see, aimed rather at regulating and guiding it, by making it a part and +parcel of the law, than at attempting to check at once a custom which +had grown up with the whole faith of the people, and which was regarded +as a right at once so time-honoured and so holy. + +Thirdly, we must never forget that, as it is the Christian's duty to +forgive his foes, and to be patient and long-suffering under the most +grievous wrongs so it was the heathen's bounden duty to avenge all +wrongs, and most of all those offered to blood relations, to his kith +and kin, to the utmost limit of his power. Hence arose the constant +blood-feuds between families, of which we shall hear so much in our +story, but which we shall fail fully to understand, unless we keep in +view, along with this duty of revenge, the right or property which all +heads of houses had in their relations. Out of these twofold rights, of +the right of revenge and the right of property, arose that strange +medley of forbearance and blood-thirstiness which stamps the age. +Revenge was a duty and a right, but property was no less a right; and so +it rested with the father of a family either to take revenge, life for +life, or to forego his vengeance, and take a compensation in goods or +money for the loss he had sustained in his property. Out of this latter +view arose those arbitrary tariffs for wounds or loss of life, which +were gradually developed more or less completely in all the Teutonic and +Scandinavian races, until every injury to life or limb had its +proportionate price, according to the rank which the injured person bore +in the social scale. These tariffs, settled by the heads of houses, are, +in fact, the first elements of the law of nations; but it must be +clearly understood that it always rested with the injured family either +to follow up the quarrel by private war, or to call on the man who had +inflicted the injury to pay a fitting fine. If he refused, the feud +might be followed up on the battlefield, in the earliest times, or in +later days, either by battle or by law. Of the latter mode of +proceeding, we shall have to speak at greater length farther on; for the +present, we content ourselves with indicating these different modes of +settling a quarrel in what we have called the patriarchal state. + +A fourth great principle of his nature was the conviction of the +worthlessness and fleeting nature of all worldly goods. One thing alone +was firm and unshaken, the stability of well-earned fame. "Goods +perish, friends perish, a man himself perishes, but fame never dies to +him that hath won it worthily." "One thing I know that never dies, the +judgment passed on every mortal man." Over all man's life hung a blind, +inexorable fate, a lower fold of the same gloomy cloud that brooded over +Odin and the Æsir. Nothing could avert this doom. When his hour came, a +man must meet his death, and until his hour came he was safe. It might +strike in the midst of the highest happiness, and then nothing could +avert the evil, but until it struck he would come safe through the +direst peril. This fatalism showed itself among this vigorous pushing +race in no idle resignation. On the contrary, the Northman went boldly +to meet the doom which he felt sure no effort of his could turn aside, +but which he knew, if he met it like a man, would secure him the only +lasting thing on earth--a name famous in songs and story. Fate must be +met then, but the way in which it was met, that rested with a man +himself, that, at least, was in his own power; there he might show his +free will; and thus this principle, which might seem at first to be +calculated to blunt his energies and weaken his strength of mind, really +sharpened and hardened them in a wonderful way, for it left it still +worth everything to a man to fight this stern battle of life well and +bravely, while its blind inexorable nature allowed no room for any +careful weighing of chances or probabilities, or for any anxious prying +into the nature of things doomed once for all to come to pass. To do +things like a man, without looking to the right or left, as Kari acted +when he smote off Gunnar's head in Earl Sigurd's hall, was the +Northman's pride. He must do them openly too, and show no shame for what +he had done. To kill a man and say that you had killed him, was +manslaughter; to kill him and not to take it on your hand was murder. To +kill men at dead of night was also looked on as murder. To kill a foe +and not bestow the rights of burial on his body by throwing sand or +gravel over him, was also looked on as murder. Even the wicked Thiostolf +throws gravel over Glum in our Saga, and Thord Freedmanson's complaint +against Brynjolf the unruly was that he had buried Atli's body badly. +Even in killing a foe there was an open gentlemanlike way of doing it, +to fail in which was shocking to the free and outspoken spirit of the +age. Thorgeir Craggeir and the gallant Kari wake their foes and give +them time to arm themselves before they fall upon them; and Hrapp, too, +the thorough Icelander of the common stamp, "the friend of his friends +and the foe of his foes," stalks before Gudbrand and tells him to his +face the crimes which he has committed. Robbery and piracy in a good +straightforward wholesale way were honoured and respected; but to steal, +to creep to a man's abode secretly at dead of night and spoil his goods, +was looked upon as infamy of the worst kind. To do what lay before him +openly and like a man, without fear of either foes, fiends, or fate; to +hold his own and speak his mind, and seek fame without respect of +persons; to be free and daring in all his deeds; to be gentle and +generous to his friends and kinsmen; to be stern and grim to his foes, +but even towards them to feel bound to fulfil all bounden duties; to be +as forgiving to some as he was unyielding and unforgiving to others. To +be no truce-breaker, nor talebearer nor backbiter. To utter nothing +against any man that he would not dare to tell him to his face. To turn +no man from his door who sought food or shelter, even though he were a +foe--these were other broad principles of the Northman's life, further +features of that steadfast faithful spirit which he brought with him to +his new home.... + + +DAILY LIFE IN NJAL'S TIME. + +In the tenth century the homesteads of the Icelanders consisted of one +main building, in which the family lived by day and slept at night, and +of out-houses for offices and farm-buildings, all opening on a yard. +Sometimes these out-buildings touched the main building, and had doors +which opened into it, but in most cases they stood apart, and for +purposes of defence, no small consideration in those days, each might be +looked upon as a separate house. + +The main building of the house was the stofa, or sitting and sleeping +room. In the abodes of chiefs and great men, this building had great +dimensions, and was then called a skáli, or hall. It was also called +eldhús, or eldáskáli, from the great fires which burned in it.... It had +two doors, the men's or main door, and the women's or lesser door. Each +of these doors opened into a porch of its own, andyri, which was often +wide enough, in the case of that into which the men's door opened, as we +see in Thrain's house at Grit water, to allow many men to stand in it +abreast. It was sometimes called forskáli. Internally the hall consisted +of three divisions, a nave and two low side aisles. The walls of these +aisles were of stone, and low enough to allow of their being mounted +with ease, as we see happened both with Gunner's skáli, and with Njal's. +The centre division or nave on the other hand, rose high above the +others on two rows of pillars. It was of timber, and had an open work +timber roof. The roofs of the side aisles were supported by posts as +well as by rafters and cross-beams leaning against the pillars of the +nave. It was on one of these cross-beams, after it had fallen down from +the burning roof, that Kari got on to the side wall and leapt out, while +Skarphedinn, when the burnt beam snapped asunder under his weight, was +unable to follow him. There were fittings of wainscot along the walls of +the side aisles, and all round between the pillars of the inner row, +supporting the roof of the nave, ran a wainscot panel. In places the +wainscot was pierced by doors opening into sleeping places shut off from +the rest of the hall on all sides for the heads of the family. In other +parts of the passages were sleeping places and beds not so shut off, for +the rest of the household. The women servants slept in the passage +behind the dais at one end of the hall. Over some halls there were upper +chambers or lofts, in one of which Gunnar of Lithend slept, and from +which he made his famous defence. + +We have hitherto treated only of the passages and recesses of the side +aisles. The whole of the nave within the wainscot, between the inner +round pillars, was filled by the hall properly so called. It had long +hearths for fires in the middle, with louvres above to let out the +smoke. On either side nearest to the wainscot, and in some cases +touching it, was a row of benches; in each of these was a high seat, if +the hall was that of a great man, that on the south side being the +owner's seat. Before these seats were tables, boards, which, however, do +not seem, any more than our early Middle Age tables, to have been always +kept standing, but were brought in with, and cleared away after, each +meal. On ordinary occasions, one row of benches on each side sufficed; +but when there was a great feast, or a sudden rush of unbidden guests, +as when Flosi paid his visit to Tongue to take down Asgrim's pride, a +lower kind of seats, or stools were brought in, on which the men of +lowest rank sat, and which were on the outside of the tables, nearest to +the fire. At the end of the hall, over against the door, was a raised +platform or dais, on which also was sometimes a high seat and benches. +It was where the women eat at weddings, as we see from the account of +Hallgerda's wedding, in our Saga, and from many other passages. + +In later times the seat of honour was shifted from the upper bench to +the dais; and this seems to have been the case occasionally with kings +and earls In Njal's time, if we may judge from the passage in the Saga, +where Hildigunna fits up a high seat on the dais for Flosi, which he +spurns from under him with the words, that he was "neither king nor +earl," meaning that he was a simple man, and would have nothing to do +with any of those new-fashions. It was to the dais that Asgrim betook +himself when Flosi paid him his visit, and unless Asgrim's hall was much +smaller than we have any reason to suppose would be the case in the +dwelling of so great a chief, Flosi must have eaten his meal not far +from the dais, in order to allow of Asgrim's getting near enough to aim +a blow at him with a pole-axe from the rail at the edge of the platform. +On high days and feast days, part of the hall was hung with tapestry, +often of great worth and beauty, and over the hangings all along the +wainscot, were carvings such as those which ... our Saga tells us +Thorkel Foulmouth had carved on the stool before his high seat and over +his shut bed, in memory of those deeds of "derring do" which he had +performed in foreign lands. + +Against the wainscot in various parts of the hall, shields and weapons +were hung up. It was the sound of Skarphedinn's axe against the wainscot +that woke up Njal and brought him out of his shut bed, when his sons set +out on their hunt after Sigmund the white and Skiolld. + +Now let us pass out of the skáli by either door, and cast our eyes at +the high gables with their carved projections, and we shall understand +at a glance how it was that Mord's counsel to throw ropes round the ends +of the timbers, and then to twist them tight with levers and rollers, +could only end, if carried out, in tearing the whole roof off the house. +It was then much easier work for Gunnar's foes to mount up on the +side-roofs as the Easterling, who brought word that his bill was at +home, had already done, and thence to attack him in his sleeping loft +with safety to themselves, after his bowstring had been cut. + +Some homesteads, like those of Gunnar at Lithend, and Gísli and his +brother at Hol in Hawkdale, in the West Firths, had bowers, ladies' +chambers, where the women eat and span, and where, in both the houses +that we have named, gossip and scandal was talked with the worst +results. These bowers stood away from the other buildings.... + +Every Icelandic homestead was approached by a straight road which led up +to the yard round which the main building and its out-houses and +farm-buildings stood. This was fenced in on each side by a wall of +stones or turf. Near the house stood the "town" or home fields where +meadow hay was grown, and in favoured positions where corn would grow, +there were also enclosures of arable land near the house. On the uplands +and marshes more hay was grown. Hay was the great crop in Iceland; for +the large studs of horses and great herds of cattle that roamed upon the +hills and fells in summer needed fodder in the stable and byre in +winter, when they were brought home. As for the flocks of sheep, they +seem to have been reckoned and marked every autumn, and milked and shorn +in summer; but to have fought it out with nature on the hill-side all +the year round as they best could. Hay, therefore, was the main staple, +and haymaking the great end and aim of an Icelandic farmer.... Gunnar's +death in our Saga may be set down to the fact that all his men were away +in the Landisles finishing their haymaking. Again, Flosi, before the +Burning, bids all his men go home and make an end of their haymaking, +and when that is over, to meet and fall on Njal and his sons. Even the +great duty of revenge gives way to the still more urgent duty of +providing fodder for the winter store. Hayneed, to run short of hay, was +the greatest misfortune that could befall a man, who with a fine herd +and stud, might see both perish before his eyes in winter. Then it was +that men of open heart and hand, like Gunnar, helped their tenants and +neighbours, often, as we see in Gunnar's case, till they had neither hay +nor food enough left for their own household, and had to buy or borrow +from those that had. Then, too, it was that the churl's nature came out +in Otkell and others, who having enough and to spare, would not part +with their abundance for love or money. + +These men were no idlers. They worked hard, and all, high and low, +worked. In no land does the dignity of labour stand out so boldly. The +greatest chiefs sow and reap, and drive their sheep, like Glum, the +Speaker's brother, from the fells. The mightiest warriors were the +handiest carpenters and smiths. Gísli Súr's son knew every corner of his +foeman's house, because he had built it with his own hands while they +were good friends. Njal's sons are busy at armourer's work, like the +sons of the mythical Ragnar before them, when the news comes to them +that Sigmund has made a mock of them in his songs. Gunnar sows his corn +with his arms by his side, when Otkell rides over him; and Hauskuld the +Whiteness priest is doing the same work when he is slain. To do +something, and to do it well, was the Icelander's aim in life, and in no +land does laziness like that of Thorkell meet with such well deserved +reproach. They were early risers and went early to bed, though they +could sit up late if need were. They thought nothing of long rides +before they broke their fast. Their first meal was at about seven +o'clock, and though they may have taken a morsel of food during the +day, we hear of no other regular daily meal till evening, when between +seven and eight again they had supper. While the men laboured on the +farm or in the smithy, threw nets for fish in the teeming lakes and +rivers, or were otherwise at work during the day, the women, and the +housewife, or mistress of the house, at their head, made ready the food +for the meals, carded wool, and sewed or wove or span. At meal-time the +food seems to have been set on the board by the women, who waited on the +men, and at great feasts, such as Gunnar's wedding, the wives of his +nearest kinsmen, and of his dearest friend, Thorhillda Skaldtongue, +Thrain's wife, and Bergthora, Njal's wife, went about from board to +board waiting on the guests. + +In everyday life they were a simple sober people, early to bed and early +to rise--ever struggling with the rigour of the climate. On great +occasions, as at the Yule feasts in honour of the gods, held at the +temples, or at "arvel," "heir-ale," feasts, when heirs drank themselves +into their father's land and goods, or at the autumn feasts, which +friends and kinsmen gave to one another, there was no doubt great mirth +and jollity, much eating and hard drinking of mead and fresh-brewed ale; +but these drinks are not of a very heady kind, and one glass of spirits +in our days would send a man farther on the road to drunkenness than +many a horn of foaming mead. They were by no means that race of +drunkards and hard livers which some have seen fit to call them. + +Nor were these people such barbarians as some have fancied, to whom it +is easier to rob a whole people of its character by a single word than +to take the pains to inquire into its history. They were bold warriors +and bolder sailors. The voyage between Iceland and Norway, or Iceland +and Orkney, was reckoned as nothing; but from the west firths of +Iceland, Eric the Red--no ruffian as he has been styled, though he had +committed an act of manslaughter--discovered Greenland; and from +Greenland the hardy seafarers pushed on across the main, till they made +the dreary coast of Labrador. Down that they ran until they came at last +to Vineland the good, which took its name from the grapes that grew +there. From the accounts given of the length of the days in that land, +it is now the opinion of those best fitted to judge on such matters, +that this Vineland was no other than some part of the North American +continent near Rhode Island or Massachusetts, in the United States. +Their ships were half-decked, high out of the water at stem and stern, +low in the waist, that the oars might reach the water, for they were +made for rowing as well as for sailing. The after-part had a poop. The +fore-part seems to have been without deck, but loose planks were laid +there for men to stand on. A distinction was made between long-ships or +ships of war, made long for speed, and ... ships of burden, which were +built to carry cargo. The common complement was thirty rowers, which in +warships made sometimes a third and sometimes a sixth of the crew. All +round the warships, before the fight began, shield was laid on shield, +on a rim or rail, which ran all round the bulwarks, presenting a mark +like the hammocks of our navy, by which a long-ship could be at once +detected. The bulwarks in warships could be heightened at pleasure, and +this was called "to girdle the ship for war". The merchant ships often +carried heavy loads of meal and timber from Norway, and many a one of +these half-decked yawls no doubt foundered, like Flosi's unseaworthy +ship, under the weight of her heavy burden of beams and planks, when +overtaken by the autumnal gales on that wild sea. The passages were +often very long, more than one hundred days is sometimes mentioned as +the time spent on a voyage between Norway and Iceland. + +As soon as the ship reached the land, she ran into some safe bay or +creek, the great landing places on the south and south-east coasts being +Eyrar, "The Eres," as such spots are still called in some parts of the +British Isles, that is, the sandy beaches opening into lagoons which +line the shore of the marsh district called Flói; and Hornfirth, whence +Flosi and the Burners put to sea after their banishment. There the ship +was laid up in a slip, made for her, she was stripped and made snug for +the winter, a roof of planks being probably thrown over her, while the +lighter portions of her cargo were carried on pack-saddles up the +country. The timber seems to have been floated up the firths and rivers +as near as it could be got to its destination, and then dragged by +trains of horses to the spot where it was to be used. + +Some of the cargo--the meal, and cloth and arms--was wanted at home; +some of it was sold to neighbours either for ready money or on trust, it +being usual to ask for the debt either in coin or in kind, the spring +after. Sometimes the account remained outstanding for a much longer +time. Among these men whose hands were so swift to shed blood, and in +that state of things which looks so lawless, but which in truth was +based upon fixed principles of justice and law, the rights of property +were so safe, that men like Njal went lending their money to overbearing +fellows like Starkad under Threecorner for years, on condition that he +should pay a certain rate of interest. So also Gunnar had goods and +money out at interest, out of which he wished to supply Unna's wants. In +fact the law of debtor and creditor, and of borrowing money at usance, +was well understood in Iceland, from the very first day that the +Northmen set foot on its shores. + +If we examine the condition of the sexes in this state of society, we +shall find that men and women met very nearly on equal terms. If any +woman is shocked to read how Thrain Sigfus' son treated his wife, in +parting from her, and marrying a new one, at a moment's warning, she +must be told that Gudruna, in Laxdæla, threatened one of her three +husbands with much the same treatment, and would have put her threat +into execution if he had not behaved as she commanded him. In our Saga, +too, the gudewife of Bjorn the boaster threatens him with a separation +if he does not stand faithfully by Kari; and in another Saga of equal +age and truthfulness, we hear of one great lady who parted from her +husband, because, in playfully throwing a pillow of down at her, he +unwittingly struck her with his finger. In point of fact, the customary +law allowed great latitude to separations, at the will of either party, +if good reason could be shown for the desired change. It thought that +the worst service it could render to those whom it was intended to +protect would be to force two people to live together against their +will, or even against the will of only one of them, if that person +considered him or herself, as the case might be, ill-treated or +neglected. Gunnar no doubt could have separated himself from Hallgerda +for her thieving, just as Hallgerda could have parted from Gunnar for +giving her that slap in the face; but they lived on, to Gunnar's cost +and Hallgerda's infamy. In marriage contracts the rights of brides, like +Unna the great heiress of the south-west, or Hallgerda the flower of the +western dales, were amply provided for. In the latter case it was a +curious fact that this wicked woman retained possession of Laugarness, +near Reykjavik, which was part of her second husband Glum's property, to +her dying day, and there, according to constant tradition, she was +buried in a cairn which is still shown at the present time, and which is +said to be always green, summer and winter alike. Where marriages were +so much matter of barter and bargain, the father's will went for so much +and that of the children for so little, love matches were comparatively +rare; and if the songs of Gunnlaugr snaketongue and Kormak have +described the charms of their fair ones, and the warmth of their passion +in glowing terms, the ordinary Icelandic marriage of the tenth century +was much more a matter of business, in the first place, than of love. +Though strong affection may have sprung up afterwards between husband +and wife, the love was rather a consequence of the marriage than the +marriage a result of the love. + +When death came it was the duty of the next of kin to close the eyes and +nostrils of the departed, and our Saga, in that most touching story of +Rodny's behaviour after the death of her son Hauskuld, affords an +instance of the custom. When Njal asks why she, the mother, as next of +kin, had not closed the eyes and nostrils of the corpse, the mother +answers, "That duty I meant for Skarphedinn". Skarphedinn then performs +the duty, and, at the same time, undertakes the duty of revenge. In +heathen times the burial took place on a "how" or cairn, in some +commanding position near the abode of the dead, and now came another +duty. This was the binding on of the "hellshoes," which the deceased was +believed to need in heathen times on his way either to Valhalla's +bright hall of warmth and mirth, or to Hell's dark realm of cold and +sorrow. That duty over, the body was laid in the cairn with goods and +arms, sometimes as we see was the case with Gunnar in a sitting posture; +sometimes even in a ship, but always in a chamber formed of baulks of +timber or blocks of stone, over which earth and gravel were piled.... + + +CONCLUSION. + +We are entitled to ask in what work of any age are the characters so +boldly, and yet so delicately, drawn [as in this Saga]? Where shall we +match the goodness and manliness of Gunnar, struggling with the storms +of fate, and driven on by the wickedness of Hallgerda into quarrel after +quarrel, which were none of his own seeking, but led no less surely to +his own end? Where shall we match Hallgerda herself--that noble frame, +so fair and tall, and yet with so foul a heart, the abode of all great +crimes, and also the lurking place of tale-bearing and thieving? Where +shall we find parallels to Skarphedinn's hastiness and readiness, as axe +aloft he leapt twelve ells across Markfleet, and glided on to smite +Thrain his death-blow on the slippery ice? where for Bergthora's love +and tenderness for her husband, she who was given young to Njal, and +could not find it in her heart to part from him when the house blazed +over their heads? where for Kari's dash and gallantry, the man who dealt +his blows straightforward, even in the Earl's hall, and never thought +twice about them? where for Njal himself, the man who never dipped his +hands in blood, who could unravel all the knotty points of the law; who +foresaw all that was coming, whether for good or ill, for friend or for +foe; who knew what his own end would be, though quite powerless to avert +it; and when it came, laid him down to his rest, and never uttered sound +or groan, though the flames roared loud around him? Nor are the minor +characters less carefully drawn, the scolding tongue of Thrain's first +wife, the mischief-making Thiostolf with his pole-axe, which divorced +Hallgerda's first husband, Hrut's swordsmanship, Asgrim's dignity, +Gizur's good counsel, Snorri's common sense and shrewdness, Gudmund's +grandeur, Thorgeir's thirst for fame, Kettle's kindliness, Ingialld's +heartiness, and, though last not least, Bjorn's boastfulness, which his +gudewife is ever ready to cry down--are all sketched with a few sharp +strokes which leave their mark for once and for ever on the reader's +mind. Strange! were it not that human nature is herself in every age, +that such forbearance and forgiveness as is shown by Njal and Hauskuld +and Hall, should have shot up out of that social soil, so stained and +steeped with the blood-shedding of revenge. Revenge was the great duty +of Icelandic life, yet Njal is always ready to make up a quarrel, though +he acknowledges the duty, when he refuses in his last moments to outlive +his children, whom he feels himself unable to revenge. The last words of +Hauskuld, when he was foully assassinated through the tale-bearing of +Mord, were, "God help me and forgive you"; nor did the beauty of a +Christian spirit ever shine out more brightly than in Hall, who, when +his son Ljot, the flower of his flock, fell full of youth, and strength, +and promise, in chance-medley at the battle on the Thingfield, at once +for the sake of peace gave up the father's and the freeman's dearest +rights, those of compensation and revenge, and allowed his son to fall +unatoned in order that peace might be made. This struggle between the +principle of an old system now turned to evil, and that of a new state +of things which was still fresh and good, between heathendom as it sinks +into superstition, and Christianity before it has had time to become +superstitious, stands strongly forth in the latter part of the Saga; but +as yet the new faith can only assert its forbearance and forgiveness in +principle. It has not had time, except in some rare instances, to bring +them into play in daily life. Even in heathen times such a deed as that +by which Njal met his death, to hem a man in within his house and then +to burn it and him together, to choke a freeman, as Skarphedinn says, +like a fox in his earth, was quite against the free and open nature of +the race; and though instances of such foul deeds occur besides those +two great cases of Blundkettle and Njal, still they were always looked +upon as atrocious crimes and punished accordingly. No wonder, +therefore, then that Flosi, after the Change of Faith, when he makes up +his mind to fire Njal's house, declares the deed to be one for which +they would have to answer heavily before God, "seeing that we are +Christian men ourselves".... + +One word and we must bring this introduction to an end; it is merely to +point out how calmly and peacefully the Saga ends, with the perfect +reconciliation of Kari and Flosi, those generous foes, who throughout +the bitter struggle in which they were engaged always treated each other +with respect. It is a comfort to find, after the whole fitful story has +been worked out, after passing from page to page, every one of which +reeks with gore, to find that after all there were even in that +bloodthirsty Iceland of the tenth century such things as peaceful old +age and happy firesides, and that men like Flosi and Kari, who had both +shed so much blood, one in a good and the other in a wicked cause, +should after all die, Flosi on a trading voyage, an Icelandic Ulysses, +in an unseaworthy ship, good enough, as he said, for an old and +death-doomed man, Kari at home, well stricken in years, blessed with a +famous and numerous offspring, and a proud but loving wife. + + + + + ICELANDIC CHRONOLOGY. + + + A.D. 850. Birth of Harold fairhair. + 860. Harold fairhair comes to the throne. + 870. Harold fairhair sole King in Norway. + 871. Ingolf sets out for Iceland. + 872. Battle of Hafrsfirth (Hafrsfjöðr). + 874. Ingolf and Leif go to settle in Iceland. + 877. Kettle hæng goes to Iceland. + 880-884. Harold fairhair roots out the Vikings in the west. + 888. Fall of Thorstein the red in Scotland. + 890-900. Rush of settlers from the British Isles to Iceland. + 892. Aud the deeply wealthy comes to Iceland. + 900-920. The third period of the Landnámstide. + 920. Harold fairhair shares the kingdom with his sons. + 923. Hrut Hauskuld's brother born. + 929. Althing established. + 930. Hrafn Kettle hæng's son Speaker of the Law. + 930-935. Njal born. + 930. The Fleetlithe feud begins. + 933. Death of Harold fairhair. + 940. End of the Fleetlithe feud; Fiddle Mord a man of rank; + Hamond Gunnar's son marries Mord's sister Rannveiga. + 941. Fall of King Eric Bloodaxe. + c. 945. Gunnar of Lithend born. + 955-960. Njal's sons born. + 959. Glum marries Hallgerda. + 960. Fall of King Hacon; Athelstane's foster-child, Harold + Grayfell, King in Norway. + 963. Hrut goes abroad. + 965. Hrut returns to Iceland and marries Unna Mord's daughter. + 968. Unna parts from Hrut. + 969. Fiddle Mord and Hrut strive at the Althing; Fall of King + Harold Grayfell; Earl Hacon rules in Norway. + 970-971. Fiddle Mord's death; Gunnar and Hrut strive at the Althing. + 972. Gunnar of Lithend goes abroad. + 974. Gunnar returns to Iceland. + 974. Gunnar's marriage with Hallgerda. + + 975. The slaying of Swart. + + 976. The slaying of Kol. + + 977. The slaying of Atli. + + 978. The slaying of Brynjolf the unruly and Thord Freedmanson. + + 979. The slaying of Sigmund the white. + + 983. Hallgerda steals from Otkell at Kirkby. + + 984. The suit for the theft settled at the Althing. + + 985. Otkell rides over Gunnar in the spring; fight at Rangriver + just before the Althing; at the Althing Geir the priest + and Gunnar strive; in the autumn Hauskuld Dale-Kolli's + son, Gunnar's father-in-law, dies; birth of Hauskuld + Thrain's son. + + 986. The fight at Knafahills, and death of Hjort Gunnar's brother. + + 987. The suit for those slain at Knafahills settled at the Althing. + + 988. Gunnar goes west to visit Olaf the peacock. + + 989. Slaying of Thorgeir Otkell's son before, and banishment of + Gunnar at, the Althing; Njal's sons, Helgi and Grim, + and Thrain Sigfus' son, go abroad. + + 990. Gunnar slain at Lithend. + + 992. Thrain returns to Iceland with Hrapp; Njal's sons ill-treated + by Earl Hacon for his sake. + + 994. Njal's sons return to Iceland, bringing Kari with them. + + 995. Death of Earl Hacon; Olaf Tryggvi's son King of Norway. + + 996. Skarphedinn slays Thrain. + + 997. Thangbrand sent by King Olaf to preach Christianity in + Iceland. + + 998. Slaying of Arnor of Forswaterwood by Flosi's brothers at + Skaptarfells Thing; Thangbrand's missionary journey; + Gizur and Hjallti go abroad. + + 999. Hjallti Skeggi's son found guilty of blasphemy against the + Gods at the Althing; Thangbrand returns to Norway. + + 1000. Gizur and Hjallti return to Iceland; the Change of Faith + and Christianity brought into the law at the Althing on + St. John's day, 24th June; fall of King Olaf Tryggvi's + son at Svoldr, 9th September. + + 1001. Thorgeir the priest of Lightwater gives up the Speakership + of the Law. + + 1002. Grim of Mossfell Speaker of the Law. + + 1003. Grim lays down the Speakership. + + 1003 or 1004. Skapti Thorod's son Speaker of the Law; the Fifth Court + established; Hauskuld Thrain's son marries Hildigunna + Flosi's niece and has one of the new priesthoods at + Whiteness. + + 1006. Duels abolished in legal matters; slaying of Hauskuld + Njal's son by Lyting and his brothers. + + 1009. Amund the blind slays Lyting; Valgard the guileful comes + back to Iceland; his evil counsel to Mord; Mord begins + to backbite and slander Hauskuld and Njal's sons to one + another. + + 1111. Hauskald the Whiteness priest slain early in the spring; + suit for his manslaughter at the Althing; Njal's Burning + the autumn after. + + 1112. The suit for the Burning and battle at the Althing; Flosi + and the Burners banished; Kari and Thorgeir Craggeir + carry on the feud. + + 1113. Flosi goes abroad with the Burners, and Kari follows them; + Flosi and Kari in Orkney. + + 1114. Brian's battle on Good Friday; Flosi goes to Rome. + + 1115. Flosi returns from Rome to Norway, and stays with Earl + Eric, Earl Hacon's son. + + 1116. Flosi returns to Iceland; Kari goes to Rome and returns to + Caithness; his wife Helga dies out in Iceland. + + 1117. Kari returns to Iceland, id reconciled with Flosi, + and marries Hildigunna Hauskuld's widow. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + Introduction + + The Northmen in Iceland--Superstitions of the Race--Social + Principles--Daily Life in Njal's Time--Conclusion. + + Icelandic Chronology + + CHAPTER + + I. Of Fiddle Mord 1 + + II. Hrut Woos Unna 2 + + III. Hrut and Gunnhillda, Kings' Mother 4 + + IV. Of Hrut's Cruise 7 + + V. Atli Arnvid Son's Slaying 8 + + VI. Hrut Sails out to Iceland 10 + + VII. Unna separates from Hrut 13 + + VIII. Mord claims his Goods from Hrut 15 + + IX. Thorwald gets Hallgerda to Wife 17 + + X. Hallgerda's Wedding 19 + + XI. Thorwald's Slaying 20 + + XII. Thiostolf's Flight 22 + + XIII. Glum's Wooing 25 + + XIV. Glum's Wedding 28 + + XV. Thiostolf goes to Glum's House 29 + + XVI. Glum's Sheep Hunt 30 + + XVII. Glum's Slaying 31 + + XVIII. Fiddle Mord's Death 34 + + XIX. Gunnar comes into the Story 34 + + XX. Of Njal and His Children 35 + + XXI. Unna goes to See Gunnar 35 + + XXII. Njal's Advice 37 + + XXIII. Huckster Hedinn 39 + + XXIV. Gunnar and Hrut Strive at the Thing 42 + + XXV. Unna's Second Wedding 44 + + XXVI. Of Asgrim and his Children 45 + + XXVII. Helgi Njal's Son's Wooing 45 + + XXVIII. Hallvard comes out to Iceland 46 + + XXIX. Gunnar goes Abroad 47 + + XXX. Gunnar goes a-sea-roving 48 + + XXXI. Gunnar goes to King Harold Gorm's Son and Earl Hacon 52 + + XXXII. Gunnar comes out to Iceland 53 + + XXXIII. Gunnar's Wooing 54 + + XXXIV. Of Thrain Sigfus' Son 57 + + XXXV. The Visit to Bergthorsknoll 59 + + XXXVI. Kol Slew Swart 60 + + XXXVII. The Slaying of Kol, whom Atli Slew 63 + + XXXVIII. The Killing of Atli the Thrall 65 + + XXXIX. The Slaying of Brynjolf the Unruly 69 + + XL. Gunnar and Njal make Peace about Brynjolf's Slaying 70 + + XLI. Sigmund comes out to Iceland 71 + + XLII. The Slaying of Thord Freedmanson 73 + + XLIII. Njal and Gunnar make Peace for the Slaying of Thord 74 + + XLIV. Sigmund Mocks Njal and his Sons 76 + + XLV. The Slaying of Sigmund and Skiolld 79 + + XLVI. Of Gizur The White and Geir the Priest 82 + + XLVII. Of Otkell in Kirkby 83 + + XLVIII. How Hallgerda makes Malcolm Steal from Kirkby 85 + + XLIX. Of Skamkell's Evil Counsel 86 + + L. Of Skamkell's Lying 90 + + LI. Of Gunnar 92 + + LII. Of Runolf, the Son of Wolf Aurpriest 94 + + LIII. How Otkell Rode over Gunnar 95 + + LIV. The Fight at Rangriver 97 + + LV. Njal's Advice to Gunnar 99 + + LVI. Gunnar and Geir the Priest Strive at the Thing 101 + + LVII. Of Starkad and his Sons 104 + + LVIII. How Gunnar's Horse Fought 106 + + LIX. Of Asgrim and Wolf Uggis' Son 108 + + LX. An Attack against Gunnar agreed on 109 + + LXI. Gunnar's Dream 111 + + LXII. The Slaying of Hjort and Fourteen Men 112 + + LXIII. Njals Counsel to Gunnar 115 + + LXIV. Of Valgard and Mord 116 + + LXV. Of Fines and Atonements 118 + + LXVI. Of Thorgeir Otkell's Son 120 + + LXVII. Of Thorgeir Starkad's Son 121 + + LXVIII. Of Njal and those Namesakes 122 + + LXIX. Olaf the Peacock's Gifts to Gunnar 124 + + LXX. Mord's Counsel 126 + + LXXI. The Slaying of Thorgeir Otkell's Son 127 + + LXXII. Of the Suits for Manslaughter at the Thing 129 + + LXXIII. Of the Atonement 130 + + LXXIV. Kolskegg goes Abroad 132 + + LXXV. The Riding to Lithend 135 + + LXXVI. Gunnar's Slaying 135 + + LXXVII. Gunnar Sings a Song Dead 139 + + LXXVIII. Gunnar of Lithend Avenged 141 + + LXXIX. Hogni takes an Atonement for Gunnar's Death 143 + + LXXX. Of Kolskegg: How he was Baptised 143 + + LXXXI. Of Thrain: How he Slew Kol 144 + + LXXXII. Njal's Sons Sail Abroad 147 + + LXXXIII. Of Kari Solmund's Son 148 + + LXXXIV. Of Earl Sigurd 150 + + LXXXV. The Battle with the Earls 151 + + LXXXVI. Hrapp's Voyage from Iceland 152 + + LXXXVII. Thrain took to Hrapp 156 + + LXXXVIII. Earl Hacon Fights with Njal's Sons 162 + + LXXXIX. Njal's Sons and Kari come out to Iceland 165 + + XC. The Quarrel of Njal's Sons with Thrain Sigfus' Son 166 + + XCI. Thrain Sigfus' Son's Slaying 170 + + XCII. Kettle takes Hauskuld as his Foster-Son 175 + + XCIII. Njal takes Hauskuld to Foster 176 + + XCIV. Of Flosi Thord's Son 177 + + XXCV. Of Hall of the Side 177 + + XCVI. Of the Change of Faith 178 + + XCVII. Of Thangbrand's Journeys 179 + + XCVIII. Of Thangbrand and Gudleif 180 + + XCIX. Of Gest Oddleif's Son 183 + + C. Of Gizur the White and Hjallti 185 + + CI. Of Thorgeir of Lightwater 186 + + CII. The Wedding of Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness 187 + + CIII. The Slaying of Hauskuld Njal's Son 191 + + CIV. The Slaying of Lyting's Brothers 195 + + CV. Of Amund the Blind 197 + + CVI. Of Valgard the Guileful 198 + + CVII. Of Mord and Njal's Sons 199 + + CVIII. Of The Slander of Mord Valgard's Son 200 + + CIX. Of Mord and Njal's Sons 203 + + CX. The Slaying of Hauskuld, the Priest Whiteness 203 + + CXI. Of Hildigunna and Mord Valgard's Son 205 + + CXII. The Pedigree of Gudmund the Powerful 206 + + CXIII. Of Snorri the Priest and his Stock 207 + + CXIV. Of Flosi Thord's Son 207 + + CXV. Of Flosi and Hildigunna 209 + + CXVI. Of Flosi and Mord and the Sons of Sigfus 211 + + CXVII. Njal and Skarphedinn Talk Together 213 + + CXVIII. Asgrim and Njal's Sons pray Men for Help 214 + + CXIX. Of Skarphedinn and Thorkel Foulmouth 219 + + CXX. Of the Pleading of the Suit 221 + + CXXI. Of the Award of Atonement between Flosi and Njal 223 + + CXXII. Of the Judges 225 + + CXXIII. An Attack planned on Njal and his Sons 228 + + CXXIV. Of Portents 232 + + CXXV. Flosi's Journey from Home 232 + + CXXVI. Of Portents at Bergthorsknoll 233 + + CXXVII. The Onslaught on Bergthorsknoll 235 + + CXXVIII. Njal's Burning 237 + + CXXIX. Skarphedinn's Death 241 + + CXXX. Of Kari Solmund's Son 245 + + CXXXI. Njal's and Bergthora's Bones Found 248 + + CXXXII. Flosi's Dream 251 + + CXXXIII. Of Flosi's Journey and his Asking for Help 252 + + CXXXIV. Of Thorhall and Kari 256 + + CXXXV. Of Flosi and the Burners 260 + + CXXXVI. Of Thorgeir Craggeir 262 + + CXXXVII. Of Eyjolf Bolverk's Son 262 + + CXXXVIII. Of Asgrim, and Gizur, and Kari 267 + + CXXXIX. Of Asgrim and Gudmund 270 + + CXL. Of the Declarations of the Suits 271 + + CXLI. Now Men go to the Courts 274 + + CXLII. Of Eyjolf Bolverk's Son 284 + + CXLIII. The Counsel of Thorhall Asgrim's Son 285 + + CXLIV. Battle at the Althing 290 + + CXLV. Of Kari and Thorgeir 299 + + CXLVI. The Award of Atonement with Thorgeir Craggeir 303 + + CXLVII. Kari comes to Bjorn's House in the Mark 305 + + CXLVIII. Of Flosi and the Burners 307 + + CXLIX. Of Kari and Bjorn 309 + + CL. More of Kari and Bjorn 312 + + CLI. Of Kari, and Bjorn, and Thorgeir 315 + + CLII. Flosi goes Abroad 317 + + CLIII. Kari goes Abroad 318 + + CLIV. Gunnar Lambi's Son's Slaying 320 + + CLV. Of Signs and Wonders 323 + + CLVI. Brian's Battle 324 + + CLVII. The Slaying of Kol Thorstein's Son 330 + + CLVIII. Of Flosi and Kari 332 + + + + +THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OF FIDDLE MORD. + + +There was a man named Mord whose surname was Fiddle; he was the son of +Sigvat the Red, and he dwelt at the "Vale" in the Rangrivervales. He was +a mighty chief, and a great taker up of suits, and so great a lawyer +that no judgments were thought lawful unless he had a hand in them. He +had an only daughter, named Unna. She was a fair, courteous and gifted +woman, and that was thought the best match in all the Rangrivervales. + +Now the story turns westward to the Broadfirth dales, where, at +Hauskuldstede, in Laxriverdale, dwelt a man named Hauskuld, who was +Dalakoll's son, and his mother's name was Thorgerda. He had a brother +named Hrut, who dwelt at Hrutstede; he was of the same mother as +Hauskuld, but his father's name was Heriolf. Hrut was handsome, tall and +strong, well skilled in arms, and mild of temper; he was one of the +wisest of men--stern towards his foes, but a good counsellor on great +matters. It happened once that Hauskuld bade his friends to a feast, and +his brother Hrut was there, and sat next him. Hauskuld had a daughter +named Hallgerda, who was playing on the floor with some other girls. She +was fair of face and tall of growth, and her hair was as soft as silk; +it was so long, too, that it came down to her waist. Hauskuld called out +to her, "Come hither to me, daughter". So she went up to him, and he +took her by the chin, and kissed her; and after that she went away. + +Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, "What dost thou think of this maiden? Is she +not fair?" Hrut held his peace. Hauskuld said the same thing to him a +second time, and then Hrut answered, "Fair enough is this maid, and many +will smart for it, but this I know not, whence thief's eyes have come +into our race". Then Hauskuld was wroth, and for a time the brothers saw +little of each other. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HRUT WOOS UNNA. + + +It happened once that those brothers, Hauskuld and Hrut, rode to the +Althing, and there was much people at it. Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, +"One thing I wish, brother, and that is, that thou wouldst better thy +lot and woo thyself a wife." + +Hrut answered, "That has been long on my mind, though there always +seemed to be two sides to the matter; but now I will do as thou wishest; +whither shall we turn our eyes?" + +Hauskuld answered, "Here now are many chiefs at the Thing, and there is +plenty of choice, but I have already set my eyes on a spot where a match +lies made to thy hand. The woman's name is Unna, and she is a daughter +of Fiddle Mord one of the wisest of men. He is here at the Thing, and +his daughter too, and thou mayest see her if it pleases thee." + +Now the next day, when men were going to the High Court, they saw some +well-dressed women standing outside the booths of the men from the +Rangrivervales, Then Hauskuld said to Hrut-- + +"Yonder now is Unna, of whom I spoke; what thinkest thou of her?" + +"Well," answered Hrut; "but yet I do not know whether we should get on +well together." + +After that they went to the High Court, where Fiddle Mord was laying +down the law as was his wont, and alter he had done he went home to his +booth. + +Then Hauskuld and Hrut rose, and went to Mord's booth. They went in and +found Mord sitting in the innermost part of the booth, and they bade him +"good day". He rose to meet them, and took Hauskuld by the hand and made +him sit down by his side, and Hrut sat next to Hauskuld, So after they +had talked much of this and that, at last Hauskuld said, "I have a +bargain to speak to thee about; Hrut wishes to become thy son-in-law, +and buy thy daughter, and I, for my part, will not be sparing in the +matter". + +Mord answered, "I know that thou art a great chief, but thy brother is +unknown to me". + +"He is a better man than I," answered Hauskuld. + +"Thou wilt need to lay down a large sum with him, for she is heir to all +I leave behind me," said Mord. + +"There is no need," said Hauskuld, "to wait long before thou hearest +what I give my word he shall have. He shall have Kamness and Hrutstede, +up as far as Thrandargil, and a trading-ship beside, now on her voyage." + +Then said Hrut to Mord, "Bear in mind, now, husband, that my brother has +praised me much more than I deserve for love's sake; but if after what +thou hast heard, thou wilt make the match, I am willing to let thee lay +down the terms thyself". + +Mord answered, "I have thought over the terms; she shall have sixty +hundreds down, and this sum shall be increased by a third more in thine +house, but if ye two have heirs, ye shall go halves in the goods". + +Then said Hrut, "I agree to these terms, and now let us take witness". +After that they stood up and shook hands, and Mord betrothed his +daughter Unna to Hrut, and the bridal feast was to be at Mord's house, +half a month after Midsummer. + +Now both sides ride home from the Thing, and Hauskuld and Hrut ride +westward by Hallbjorn's beacon. Then Thiostolf, the son of Biorn +Gullbera of Reykiardale, rode to meet them, and told them how a ship had +come out from Norway to the White River, and how aboard of her was +Auzur, Hrut's father's brother, and he wished Hrut to come to him as +soon as ever he could. When Hrut heard this, he asked Hauskuld to go +with him to the ship, so Hauskuld went with his brother, and when they +reached the ship, Hrut gave his kinsman Auzur a kind and hearty welcome. +Auzur asked them into his booth to drink, so their horses were +unsaddled, and they went in and drank, and while they were drinking, +Hrut said to Auzur, "Now, kinsman, thou must ride west with me, and stay +with me this winter." + +"That cannot be, kinsman, for I have to tell thee the death of thy +brother Eyvind, and he has left thee his heir at the Gula Thing, and now +thy foes will seize thy heritage, unless thou comest to claim it." + +"What's to be done now, brother?" said Hrut to Hauskuld, "for this seems +a hard matter, coming just as I have fixed my bridal day." + +"Thou must ride south," said Hauskuld, "and see Mord, and ask him to +change the bargain which ye two have made, and to let his daughter sit +for thee three winters as thy betrothed, but I will ride home and bring +down thy wares to the ship." + +Then said Hrut, "My wish is that thou shouldest take meal and timber, +and whatever else thou needest out of the lading". So Hrut had his +horses brought out, and he rode south, while Hauskuld rode home west. +Hrut came east to the Rangrivervales to Mord, and had a good welcome, +and he told Mord all his business, and asked his advice what he should +do. + +"How much money is this heritage?" asked Mord, and Hrut said it would +come to a hundred marks, if he got it all. + +"Well," said Mord, "that is much when set against what I shall leave +behind me, and thou shalt go for it, if thou wilt." + +After that they broke their bargain, and Unna was to sit waiting for +Hrut three years as his betrothed. Now Hrut rides back to the ship, and +stays by her during the summer, till she was ready to sail, and Hauskuld +brought down all Hrut's wares and money to the ship, and Hrut placed all +his other property in Hauskuld's hands to keep for him while he was +away. Then Hauskuld rode home to his house, and a little while after +they got a fair wind and sail away to sea. They were out three weeks, +and the first land they made was Hern, near Bergen, and so sail eastward +to the Bay. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HRUT AND GUNNHILLDA, KINGS MOTHER. + + +At that time Harold Grayfell reigned in Norway; he was the son of Eric +Bloodaxe, who was the son of Harold Fairhair; his mother's name was +Gunnhillda, a daughter of Auzur Toti, and they had their abode east, at +the King's Crag. Now the news was spread, how a ship had come thither +east into the Bay, and as soon as Gunnhillda heard of it, she asked +what men from Iceland were aboard, and they told her Hrut was the man's +name, Auzur's brother's son. Then Gunnhillda said, "I see plainly that +he means to claim his heritage, but there is a man named Soti, who has +laid his hands on it". + +After that she called her waiting-man, whose name was Augmund, and +said-- + +"I am going to send thee to the Bay to find out Auzur and Hint, and tell +them that I ask them both to spend this winter with me. Say, too, that I +will be their friend, and if Hrut will carry out my counsel, I will see +after his suit, and anything else he takes in hand, and I will speak a +good word, too, for him to the king." + +After that he set off and found them; and as soon as they knew that he +was Gunnhillda's servant, they gave him good welcome. He took them aside +and told them his errand, and after that they talked over their plans by +themselves. Then Auzur said to Hrut-- + +"Methinks, kinsman, here is little need for long talk, our plans are +ready made for us; for I know Gunnhillda's temper; as soon as ever we +say we will not go to her she will drive us out of the land, and take +all our goods by force; but if we go to her, then she will do us such +honour as she has promised." + +Augmund went home, and when he saw Gunnhillda, he told her how his +errand had ended, and that they would come, and Gunnhillda said-- + +"It is only what was to be looked for; for Hrut is said to be a wise and +well-bred man; and now do thou keep a sharp look out, and tell me as +soon as ever they come to the town." + +Hrut and Auzur went east to the King's Crag, and when they reached the +town, their kinsmen and friends went out to meet and welcome them. They +asked, whether the king were in the town, and they told them he was. +After that they met Augmund, and he brought them a greeting from +Gunnhillda, saying, that she could not ask them to her house before they +had seen the king, lest men should say, "I make too much of them". Still +she would do all she could for them, and she went on, "tell Hrut to be +outspoken before the king, and to ask to be made one of his body-guard"; +"and here," said Augmund, "is a dress of honour which she sends to thee, +Hrut, and in it thou must go in before the king". After that he went +away. + +The next day Hrut said-- + +"Let us go before the king." + +"That may well be," answered Auzur. + +So they went, twelve of them together, and all of them friends or +kinsmen, and came into the hall where the king sat over his drink. Hrut +went first and bade the king "good day," and the king, looking +steadfastly at the man who was well-dressed, asked him his name. So he +told his name. + +"Art thou an Icelander?" said the king. + +He answered, "Yes". + +"What drove thee hither to seek us?" + +Then Hrut answered-- + +"To see your state, lord; and, besides, because I have a great matter of +inheritance here in the land, and I shall have need of your help, if I +am to get my rights." + +The king said-- + +"I have given my word that every man shall have lawful justice here in +Norway; but hast thou any other errand in seeking me?" + +"Lord!" said Hrut, "I wish you to let me live in your court, and become +one of your men." + +At this the king holds his peace, but Gunnhillda said-- + +"It seems to me as if this man offered you the greatest honour, for me +thinks if there were many such men in the body-guard, it would be well +filled." + +"Is he a wise man?" asked the king. + +"He is both wise and willing," said she. + +"Well," said the king, "methinks my mother wishes that thou shouldst +have the rank for which thou askest, but for the sake of our honour and +the custom of the land, come to me in half a month's time, and then thou +shalt be made one of my body-guard. Meantime, my mother will take care +of thee, but then come to me." + +Then Gunnhillda said to Augmund-- + +"Follow them to my house, and treat them well." + +So Augmund went out, and they went with him, and he brought them to a +hall built of stone, which was hung with the most beautiful tapestry, +and there too was Gunnhillda's high-seat. + +Then Augmund said to Hrut-- + +"Now will be proved the truth of all that I said to thee from +Gunnhillda. Here is her high-seat, and in it thou shalt sit, and this +seat thou shalt hold, though she comes herself into the hall." + +After that he made them good cheer, and they had sat down but a little +while when Gunnhillda came in. Hrut wished to jump up and greet her. + +"Keep thy seat!" she says, "and keep it too all the time thou art my +guest." + +Then she sat herself down by Hrut, and they fell to drink, and at even +she said-- + +"Thou shalt be in the upper chamber with me to-night, and we two +together." + +"You shall have your way," he answers. + +After that they went to sleep, and she locked the door inside. So they +slept that night, and in the morning fell to drinking again. Thus they +spent their life all that half-month, and Gunnhillda said to the men who +were there-- + +"Ye shall lose nothing except your lives if you say to any one a word of +how Hrut and I are going on." + +[When the half-month was over] Hrut gave her a hundred ells of household +woollen and twelve rough cloaks, and Gunnhillda thanked him for his +gifts. Then Hrut thanked her and gave her a kiss and went away. She bade +him "farewell". And next day he went before the king with thirty men +after him and bade the king "good-day". The king said-- + +"Now, Hrut, thou wilt wish me to carry out towards thee what I +promised." + +So Hrut was made one of the king's body-guard, and he asked, "Where +shall I sit?" + +"My mother shall settle that," said the king. + +Then she got him a seat in the highest room, and he spent the winter +with the king in much honour. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OF HRUT'S CRUISE. + + +When the spring came he asked about Soti, and found out he had gone +south to Denmark with the inheritance. Then Hrut went to Gunnhillda and +tells her what Soti had been about. Gunnhillda said-- + +"I will give thee two long-ships, full manned, and along with them the +bravest men. Wolf the Unwashed, our overseer of guests; but still go +and see the king before thou settest off." + +Hrut did so; and when he came before the king, then he told the king of +Soti's doings, and how he had a mind to hold on after him. + +The king said, "What strength has my mother handed over to thee?" + +"Two long-ships and Wolf the Unwashed to lead the men," says Hrut. + +"Well given," says the king. "Now I will give thee other two ships, and +even then thou'lt need all the strength thou'st got." + +After that he went down with Hrut to the ship, and said "fare thee +well". Then Hrut sailed away south with his crews. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ATLI ARNVID SON'S SLAYING. + + +There was a man named Atli, son of Arnvid, Earl of East Gothland. He had +kept back the taxes from Hacon Athelstane's foster child, and both +father and son had fled away from Jemtland to Gothland. After that, Atli +held on with his followers out of the Mælar by Stock Sound, and so on +towards Denmark, and now he lies out in Öresound.[5] He is an outlaw +both of the Dane-King and of the Swede-King. Hrut held on south to the +Sound, and when he came into it he saw many ships in the Sound. Then +Wolf said-- + +"What's best to be done now, Icelander?" + +"Hold on our course," says Hrut, "'for nothing venture, nothing have'. +My ship and Auzur's shall go first, but thou shalt lay thy ship where +thou likest." + +"Seldom have I had others as a shield before me," says Wolf, and lays +his galley side by side with Hrut's ship; and so they hold on through +the Sound. Now those who are in the Sound see that ships are coming up +to them, and they tell Atli. + +He answered, "Then maybe there'll be gain to be got". + +After that men took their stand on board each ship; "but my ship," says +Atli, "shall be in the midst of the fleet". + +Meantime Hrut's ships ran on, and as soon as either side could hear the +other's hail, Atli stood up and said-- + +"Ye fare unwarily. Saw ye not that war-ships were in the Sound? But +what's the name of your chief?" + +Hrut tells his name. + +"Whose man art thou?" says Atli. + +"One of king Harold Grayfell's body-guard." + +Atli said, "'Tis long since any love was lost between us, father and +son, and your Norway kings". + +"Worse luck for thee," says Hrut. + +"Well," says Atli, "the upshot of our meeting will be, that thou shalt +not be left alive to tell the tale;" and with that he caught up a spear +and hurled it at Hrut's ship, and the man who stood before it got his +death. After that the battle began, and they were slow in boarding +Hrut's ship. Wolf, he went well forward, and with him it was now cut, +now thrust. Atli's bowman's name was Asolf; he sprung up on Hrut's ship, +and was four men's death before Hrut was ware of him; then he turned +against him, and when they met, Asolf thrust at and through Hrut's +shield, but Hrut cut once at Asolf, and that was his death-blow. Wolf +the Unwashed saw that stroke, and called out-- + +"Truth to say, Hrut, thou dealest big blows, but thou'st much to thank +Gunnhillda for." + +"Something tells me," says Hrut, "that thou speakest with a 'fey' +mouth." + +Now Atli sees a bare place for a weapon on Wolf, and shot a spear +through him, and now the battle grows hot: Atli leaps up on Hrut's ship, +and clears it fast round about, and now Auzur turns to meet him, and +thrust at him, but fell down full length on his back, for another man +thrust at him. Now Hrut turns to meet Atli: he cut at once at Hrut's +shield, and clove it all in two, from top to point; just then Atli got a +blow on his hand from a stone, and down fell his sword. Hrut caught up +the sword, and cut his foot from under him. After that he dealt him his +death-blow. There they took much goods, and brought away with them two +ships which were best, and stayed there only a little while. But +meantime Soti and his crew had sailed past them, and he held on his +course back to Norway, and made the land at Limgard's side. There Soti +went on shore, and there he met Augmund, Gunnhillda's page; he knew him +at once, and asks-- + +"How long meanest thou to be here?" + +"Three nights," says Soti. + +"Whither away, then?" says Augmund. + +"West, to England," says Soti, "and never to come back again to Norway +while Gunnhillda's rule is in Norway." + +Augmund went away, and goes and finds Gunnhillda, for she was a little +way off at a feast, and Gudred, her son, with her. Augmund told +Gunnhillda what Soti meant to do, and she begged Gudred to take his +life. So Gudred set off at once, and came unawares on Soti, and made +them lead up the country, and hang him there. But the goods he took, and +brought them to his mother, and she got men to carry them all down to +the King's Crag, and after that she went thither herself. + +Hrut came back towards autumn, and had gotten great store of goods. He +went at once to the king, and had a hearty welcome. He begged them to +take whatever they pleased of his goods, and the king took a third. +Gunnhillda told Hrut how she had got hold of the inheritance, and had +Soti slain. He thanked her, and gave her half of all he had. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +HRUT SAILS OUT TO ICELAND. + + +Hrut stayed with the king that winter in good cheer, but when spring +came he grew very silent. Gunnhillda finds that out, and said to him +when they two were alone together-- + +"Art thou sick at heart?" + +"So it is," said Hrut, "as the saying runs--'Ill goes it with those who +are born on a barren land'." + +"Wilt thou to Iceland?" she asks. + +"Yes," he answered. + +"Hast thou a wife out there?" she asked; and he answers, "No". + +"But I am sure that is true," she says; and so they ceased talking about +the matter. + +[Shortly after] Hrut went before the king and bade him "good day"; and +the king said, "What dost thou want now, Hrut?" + +"I am come to ask, lord, that you give me leave to go to Iceland." + +"Will thine honour be greater there than here?" asks the king. + +"No, it will not," said Hrut; "but every one must win the work that is +set before him." + +"It is pulling a rope against a strong man," said Gunnhillda, "so give +him leave to go as best suits him." + +There was a bad harvest that year in the land, yet Gunnhillda gave Hrut +as much meal as he chose to have; and now he busks him to sail out to +Iceland, and Auzur with him; and when they were all-boun, Hrut went to +find the king and Gunnhillda. She led him aside to talk alone, and said +to him-- + +"Here is a gold ring which I will give thee;" and with that she clasped +it round his wrist. + +"Many good gifts have I had from thee," said Hrut. + +Then she put her hands round his neck and kissed him, and said-- + +"If I have as much power over thee as I think, I lay this spell on thee +that thou mayest never have any pleasure in living with that woman on +whom thy heart is set in Iceland, but with other women thou mayest get +on well enough, and now it is like to go well with neither of us;--but +thou hast not believed what I have been saying." + +Hrut laughed when he heard that, and went away; after that he came +before the king and thanked him; and the king spoke kindly to him, and +bade him "farewell". Hrut went straight to his ship, and they had a fair +wind all the way until they ran into Borgarfirth. + +As soon as the ship was made fest to the land, Hrut rode west home, but +Auzur stayed by the ship to unload her, and lay her up. Hrut rode +straight to Hauskuldstede, and Hauskuld gave him a hearty welcome, and +Hrut told him all about his travels. After that they sent men east +across the rivers to tell Fiddle Mord to make ready for the bridal +feast; but the two brothers rode to the ship, and on the way Hauskuld +told Hrut how his money matters stood, and his goods had gained much +since he was away. Then Hrut said-- + +"The reward is less worth than it ought to be, but I will give thee as +much meal as thou needst for thy household next winter." + +Then they drew the ship on land on rollers, and made her snug in her +shed, but all the wares on board her they carried away into the Dales +westward. Hrut stayed at home at Hrutstede till winter was six weeks +off, and then the brothers made ready, and Auzur with them, to ride to +Hrut's wedding. Sixty men ride with them, and they rode east till they +came to Rangriver plains. There they found a crowd of guests, and the +men took their seats on benches down the length of the hall, but the +women were seated on the cross benches on the dais, and the bride was +rather downcast. So they drank out the feast and it went off well. Mord +pays down his daughter's portion, and she rides west with her husband +and his train. So they ride till they reach home. Hrut gave over +everything into her hands inside the house, and all were pleased at +that; but for all that she and Hrut did not pull well together as man +and wife, and so things went on till spring, and when spring came Hrut +had a journey to make to the Westfirths, to get in the money for which +he had sold his wares; but before he set off his wife says to him-- + +"Dost thou mean to be back before men ride to the Thing?" + +"Why dost thou ask?" said Hrut. + +"I will ride to the Thing," she said, "to meet my father." + +"So it shall be," said he, "and I will ride to the Thing along with +thee." + +"Well and good," she says. + +After that Hrut rode from home west to the Firths, got in all his money, +and laid it out anew, and rode home again. When he came home he busked +him to ride to the Thing, and made all his neighbours ride with him. His +brother Hauskuld rode among the rest. Then Hrut said to his wife-- + +"If thou hast as much mind now to go to the Thing as thou saidst a while +ago, busk thyself and ride along with me." + +She was not slow in getting herself ready, and then they all rode to the +Thing. Unna went to her father's booth, and he gave her a hearty +welcome, but she seemed somewhat heavy-hearted, and when he saw that he +said to her-- + +"I have seen thee with a merrier face. Hast thou anything on thy mind?" + +She began to weep, and answered nothing. Then he said to her again, "Why +dost thou ride to the Thing, if thou wilt not tell me thy secret? Dost +thou dislike living away there in the west?" + +Then she answered him-- + +"I would give all I own in the world that I had never gone thither." + +"Well!" said Mord, "I'll soon get to the bottom of this." Then he sends +men to fetch Hauskuld and Hrut, and they came straightway; and when they +came in to see Mord, he rose up to meet them and gave them a hearty +welcome, and asked them to sit down. Then they talked a long time in a +friendly way, and at last Mord said to Hauskuld-- + +"Why does my daughter think so ill of life in the west yonder?" + +"Let her speak out," said Hrut, "if she has anything to lay to my +charge." + +But she brought no charge against him. Then Hrut made them ask his +neighbours and household how he treated her, and all bore him good +witness, saying that she did just as she pleased in the house. + +Then Mord said, "Home thou shalt go, and be content with thy lot; for +all the witness goes better for him than for thee". + +After that Hrut rode home from the Thing, and his wife with him, and all +went smoothly between them that summer; but when spring came it was the +old story over again, and things grew worse and worse as the spring went +on. Hrut had again a journey to make west to the Firths, and gave out +that he would not ride to the Althing, but Unna his wife said little +about it. So Hrut went away west to the Firths. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +UNNA SEPARATES FROM HRUT. + + +Now the time for the Thing was coming on, Unna spoke to Sigmund Auzur's +son, and asked if he would ride to the Thing with her; he said he could +not ride if his kinsman Hrut set his face against it. + +"Well!" says she, "I spoke to thee because I have better right to ask +this from thee than from any one else." + +He answered, "I will make a bargain with thee: thou must promise to ride +back west with me, and to have no underhand dealings against Hrut or +myself". + +So she promised that, and then they rode to the Thing. Her father Mord +was at the Thing, and was very glad to see her, and asked her to stay in +his booth white the Thing lasted, and she did so. + +"Now," said Mord, "what hast thou to tell me of thy mate, Hrut?" + +Then she sung him a song, in which she praised Hrut's liberality, but +said he was not master of himself. She herself was ashamed to speak out. + +Mord was silent a short time, and then said-- + +"Thou hast now that on thy mind I see, daughter, which thou dost not +wish that any one should know save myself, and thou wilt trust to me +rather than any one else to help thee out of thy trouble." + +Then they went aside to talk, to a place where none could overhear what +they said; and then Mord said to his daughter-- + +"Now tell me all that is between you two, and don't make more of the +matter than it is worth." + +"So it shall be," she answered, and sang two songs, in which she +revealed the cause of their misunderstanding; and when Mord pressed her +to speak out, she told him how she and Hrut could not live together, +because he was spell-bound, and that she wished to leave him. + +"Thou didst right to tell me all this," said Mord, "and now I will give +thee a piece of advice, which will stand thee in good stead, if thou +canst carry it out to the letter. First of all, thou must ride home from +the Thing, and by that time thy husband will have come back, and will be +glad to see thee; thou must he blithe and buxom to him, and he will +think a good change has come over thee, and thou must show no signs of +coldness or ill-temper, but when spring comes thou must sham sickness, +and take to thy bed. Hrut will not lose time in guessing what thy +sickness can be, nor will he scold thee at all, but he will rather beg +every one to take all the care they can of thee. After that he will set +off west to the Firths, and Sigmund with him, for he will have to flit +all his goods home from the Firths west, and he will be away till the +summer is far spent. But when men ride to the Thing, and after all have +ridden from the Dales that mean to ride thither, then thou must rise +from thy bed and summon men to go along with thee to the Thing; and when +thou art all-boun, then shalt thou go to thy bed, and the men with thee +who are to bear thee company, and thou shalt take witness before thy +husband's bed, and declare thyself separated from him by such a lawful +separation as may hold good according to the judgment of the Great +Thing, and the laws of the land; and at the man's door [the main door of +the house] thou shalt take the same witness. After that ride away, and +ride over Laxriverdale Heath, and so on over Holtbeacon Heath; for they +will look for thee by way of Hrutfirth. And so ride on till thou comest +to me; then I will see after the matter. But into his hands thou shalt +never come more." + +Now she rides home from the Thing, and Hrut had come back before her, +and made her hearty welcome. She answered him kindly, and was blithe and +forbearing towards him. So they lived happily together that half-year; +but when spring came she fell sick, and kept her bed. Hrut set off west +to the Firths, and bade them tend her well before he went. Now, when the +time for the Thing comes, she busked herself to ride away, and did in +every way as had been laid down for her; and then she rides away to the +Thing. The country folk looked for her, but could not find her. Mord +made his daughter welcome, and asked her if she had followed his advice; +and she says, "I have not broken one tittle of it". + +Then she went to the Hill of Laws, and declared herself separated from +Hrut; and men thought this strange news. Unna went home with her father, +and never went west from that day forward. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +MORD CLAIMS HIS GOODS FROM HRUT. + + +Hrut came home, and knit his brows when he heard his wife was gone, but +yet kept his feelings well in hand, and stayed at home all that +half-year, and spoke to no one on the matter. Next summer he rode to the +Thing, with his brother Hauskuld, and they had a great following. But +when he came to the Thing, he asked whether Fiddle Mord were at the +Thing, and they told him he was; and all thought they would come to +words at once about their matter, but it was not so. At last, one day +when the brothers and others who were at the Thing went to the Hill of +Laws, Mord took witness and declared that he had a money-suit against +Hrut for his daughter's dower, and reckoned the amount at ninety +hundreds in goods, calling on Hrut at the same time to pay and hand it +over to him, and asking for a fine of three marks. He laid the suit in +the Quarter Court, into which it would come by law, and gave lawful +notice, so that all who stood on the Hill of Laws might hear. + +But when he had thus spoken, Hrut said-- + +"Thou hast undertaken this suit, which belongs to thy daughter, rather +for the greed of gain and love of strife than in kindliness and +manliness. But I shall have something to say against it; for the goods +which belong to me are not yet in thy hands. Now, what I have to say is +this, and I say it out, so that all who hear me on this hill may bear +witness: I challenge thee to fight on the island; there on one side +shall be laid all thy daughter's dower, and on the other I will lay down +goods worth as much, and whoever wins the day shall have both dower and +goods; but if thou wilt not fight with me, then thou shalt give up all +claim to these goods." + +Then Mord held his peace, and took counsel with his friends about going +to fight on the island, and Jorund the priest gave him an answer. + +"There is no need for thee to come to ask us for counsel in this matter, +for thou knowest if thou fightest with Hrut thou wilt lose both life and +goods. He has a good cause, and is besides mighty in himself and one of +the boldest of men." + +Then Mord spoke out, that he would not fight with Hrut, and there arose +a great shout and hooting on the hill, and Mord got the greatest shame +by his suit. + +After that men ride home from the Thing, and those brothers Hauskuld and +Hrut ride west to Reykiardale, and turned in as guests at Lund, where +Thiostolf, Biorn Gullbera's son, then dwelt. There had been much rain +that day, and men got wet, so long-fires were made down the length of +the hall. Thiostolf, the master of the house, sat between Hauskuld and +Hrut, and two boys, of whom Thiostolf had the rearing, were playing on +the floor, and a girl was playing with them. They were great +chatterboxes, for they were too young to know better. So one of them +said-- + +"Now, I will be Mord, and summon thee to lose thy wife because thou hast +not been a good husband to her." + +Then the other answered-- + +"I will be Hrut, and I call on thee to give up all claim to thy goods, +if thou darest not to fight with me." + +This they said several times, and all the household burst out laughing. +Then Hauskuld got wroth, and struck the boy who called himself Mord with +a switch, and the blow fell on his face, and graced the skin. + +"Get out with thee," said Hauskuld to the boy, "and make no game of us;" +but Hrut said, "Come hither to me," and the boy did so. Then Hrut drew a +ring from his finger and gave it to him, and said-- + +"Go away, and try no man's temper henceforth." + +Then the boy went away saying-- + +"Thy manliness I will bear in mind all my life." + +From this matter Hrut got great praise, and after that they went home; +and that was the end of Mord's and Hrut's quarrel. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THORWALD GETS HALLGERDA TO WIFE. + + +Now, it must be told how Hallgerda, Hauskuld's daughter, grows up, and +is the fairest of women to look on; she was tall of stature, too, and +therefore she was called "Longcoat". She was fair-haired, and had so +much of it that she could hide herself in it; but she was lavish and +hard-hearted. Her foster-father's name was Thiostolf; he was a South +islander[6] by stock; he was a strong man, well skilled in arms, and had +slain many men, and made no atonement in money for one of them. It was +said, too, that his rearing had not bettered Hallgerda's temper. + +There was a man named Thorwald; he was Oswif's son, and dwelt out on +Middlefells strand, under the Fell. He was rich and well to do, and +owned the islands called Bear-isles, which lie out in Broadfirth, whence +he got meal and stock fish. This Thorwald was a strong and courteous +man, though somewhat hasty in temper. Now, it fell out one day that +Thorwald and his father were talking together of Thorwald's marrying, +and where he had best look for a wife, and it soon came out that he +thought there wasn't a match fit for him far or near. + +"Well," said Oswif, "wilt thou ask for Hallgerda Longcoat, Hauskuld's +daughter?" + +"Yes! I will ask for her," said Thorwald. + +"But that is not a match that will suit either of you," Oswif went on to +say, "for she has a will of her own, and thou art stern-tempered and +unyielding." + +"For all that I will try my luck there," said Thorwald, "so it's no good +trying to hinder me." + +"Ay!" said Oswif, "and the risk is all thine own." + +After that they set off on a wooing journey to Hauskuldstede, and had a +hearty welcome. They were not long in telling Hauskuld their business, +and began to woo; then Hauskuld answered-- + +"As for you, I know how you both stand in the world, but for my own part +I will use no guile towards you. My daughter has a hard temper, but as +to her looks and breeding you can both see for yourselves." + +"Lay down the terms of the match," answered Thorwald, "for I will not +let her temper stand in the way of our bargain." + +Then they talked over the terms of the bargain, and Hauskuld never asked +his daughter what she thought of it, for his heart was set on giving her +away, and so they came to an understanding as to the terms of the match. +After that Thorwald betrothed himself to Hallgerda, and rode away home +when the matter was settled. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +HALLGERDA'S WEDDING. + + +Hauskuld told Hallgerda of the bargain he had made, and she said-- + +"Now that has been put to the proof which I have all along been afraid +of, that thou lovest me not so much as thou art always saying, when thou +hast not thought it worth while to tell me a word of all this matter. +Besides, I do not think the match as good a one as thou hast always +promised me." + +So she went on, and let them know in every way that she thought she was +thrown away. + +Then Hauskuld said-- + +"I do not set so much store by thy pride as to let it stand in the way +of my bargains; and my will, not thine, shall carry the day if we fell +out on any point." + +"The pride of all you kinsfolk is great," she said, "and so it is not +wonderful if I have some of it." + +With that she went away, and found her foster-father Thiostolf, and told +him what was in store for her, and was very heavy-hearted. Then +Thiostolf said-- + +"Be of good cheer, for thou wilt be married a second time, and then they +will ask thee what thou thinkest of the match; for I will do in all +things as thou wishest, except in what touches thy father or Hrut." + +After that they spoke no more of the matter, and Hauskuld made ready the +bridal feast, and rode off to ask men to it. So he came to Hrutstede and +called Hrut out to speak with him. Hrut went out, and they began to +talk, and Hauskuld told him the whole story of the bargain, and bade him +to the feast, saying-- + +"I should be glad to know that thou dost not feel hurt though I did not +tell thee when the bargain was being made." + +"I should be better pleased," said Hrut, "to have nothing at all to do +with it; for this match will bring luck neither to him nor to her; but +still I will come to the feast if thou thinkest it will add any honour +to thee." + +"Of course I think so," said Hauskuld, and rode off home. + +Oswif and Thorwald also asked men to come, so that no fewer than one +hundred guests were asked. + +There was a man named Swan, who dwelt in Bearfirth, which lies north +from Steingrimsfirth. This Swan was a great wizard, and he was +Hallgerda's mother's brother. He was quarrelsome, and hard to deal with, +but Hallgerda asked him to the feast, and sends Thiostolf to him; so he +went, and it soon got to friendship between him and Swan. + +Now men come to the feast, and Hallgerda sat upon the cross-bench, and +she was a very merry bride. Thiostolf was always talking to her, though +he sometimes found time to speak to Swan, and men thought their talking +strange. The feast went off well, and Hauskuld paid down Hallgerda's +portion with the greatest readiness. After he had done that, he said to +Hrut-- + +"Shall I bring out any gifts beside?" + +"The day will come," answered Hrut, "when thou wilt have to waste thy +goods for Hallgerda's sake, so hold thy hand now." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THORWALD'S SLAYING. + + +Thorwald rode home from the bridal feast, and his wife with him, and +Thiostolf, who rode by her horse's side, and still talked to her in a +low voice. Oswif turned to his son and said-- + +"Art thou pleased with thy match? and how went it when ye talked +together?" + +"Well," said he, "she showed all kindness to me. Thou mightst see that +by the way she laughs at every word I say." + +"I don't think her laughter so hearty as thou dost," answered Oswif, +"but this will be put to the proof by and by." + +So they ride on till they come home, and at night she took her seat by +her husband's side, and made room for Thiostolf next herself on the +inside. Thiostolf and Thorwald had little to do with each other, and few +words were thrown away between them that winter, and so time went on. +Hallgerda was prodigal and grasping, and there was nothing that any of +their neighbours had that she must not have too, and all that she had, +no matter whether it were her own or belonged to others, she waited. But +when the spring came there was a scarcity in the house, both of meal +and stock fish, so Hallgerda went up to Thorwald and said-- + +"Thou must not be sitting indoors any longer, for we want for the house +both meal and fish." + +"Well," said Thorwald, "I did not lay in less for the house this year +than I laid in before, and then it used to last till summer." + +"What care I," said Hallgerda, "if thou and thy father have made your +money by starving yourselves." + +Then Thorwald got angry and gave her a blow on the face and drew blood, +and went away and called his men and ran the skiff down to the shore. +Then six of them jumped into her and rowed out to the Bear-isles, and +began to load her with meal and fish. + +Meantime it is said that Hallgerda sat out of doors heavy at heart. +Thiostolf went up to her and saw the wound on her face, and said-- + +"Who has been playing thee this sorry trick?" + +"My husband Thorwald," she said, "and thou stoodst aloof, though thou +wouldst not if thou hadst cared at all for me." + +"Because I knew nothing about it," said Thiostolf, "but I will avenge +it." + +Then he went away down to the shore and ran out a six-oared boat, and +held in his hand a great axe that he had with a haft overlaid with iron. +He steps into the boat and rows out to the Bear-isles, and when he got +there all the men had rowed away but Thorwald and his followers, and he +stayed by the skiff to load her, while they brought the goods down to +him. So Thiostolf came up just then and jumped into the skiff and began +to load with him, and after a while he said-- + +"Thou canst do but little at this work, and that little thou dost +badly." + +"Thinkest thou thou canst do it better?" said Thorwald. + +"There's one thing to be done which I can do better than thou," said +Thiostolf, and then he went on-- + +"The woman who is thy wife has made a bad match, and you shall not live +much longer together." + +Then Thorwald snatched up a fishing-knife that lay by him, and made a +stab at Thiostolf; he had lifted his axe to his shoulder and dashed it +down. It came on Thorwald's arm and crushed the wrist, but down fell the +knife. Then Thiostolf lifted up his axe a second time and gave Thorwald +a blow on the head, and he fell dead on the spot. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THIOSTOLF'S FLIGHT. + + +While this was going on, Thorwald's men came down with their load, but +Thiostolf was not slow in his plans. He hewed with both hands at the +gunwale of the skiff and cut it down about two planks; then he leapt +into his boat, but the dark blue sea poured into the skiff, and down she +went with all her freight. Down too sank Thorwald's body, so that his +men could not see what had been done to him, but they knew well enough +that he was dead, Thiostolf rowed away up the firth, but they shouted +after him wishing him ill luck. He made them no answer, but rowed on +till he got home, and ran the boat up on the beach, and went up to the +house with his axe, all bloody as it was, on his shoulder. Hallgerda +stood out of doors, and said-- + +"Thine axe is bloody; what hast thou done?" + +"I have done now what will cause thee to be wedded a second time." + +"Thou tellest me then that Thorwald is dead?" she said. + +"So it is," said he, "and now look out for my safety." + +"So I will," she said; "I will send thee north to Bearfirth, to +Swanshol, and Swan, my kinsman, will receive thee with open arms. He is +so mighty a man that no one will seek thee thither." + +So he saddled a horse that she had, and jumped on his back, and rode off +north to Bearfirth, to Swanshol, and Swan received him with open arms, +and said-- + +"That's what I call a man who does not stick at trifles! And now I +promise thee if they seek thee here, they shall get nothing but the +greatest shame." + +Now, the story goes back to Hallgerda, and how she behaved. She called +on Liot the black, her kinsman, to go with her, and bade him saddle +their horses, for she said--"I will ride home to my father". + +While he made ready for their journey, she went to her chests and +unlocked them, and called all the men of her house about her, and gave +each of them some gift; but they all grieved at her going. Now she rides +home to her father; and he received her well, for as yet he had not +heard the news. But Hrut said to Hallgerda-- + +"Why did not Thorwald come with thee?" and she answered-- + +"He is dead." + +Then Said Hauskuld-- + +"That was Thiostolf's doing?" + +"It was," she said. + +"Ah!" said Hauskuld, "Hrut was not for wrong when he told me that this +bargain would draw mickle misfortune after it. But there's no good in +troubling one's self about a thing that's done and gone." + +Now the story must go back to Thorwald's mates, how there they ate, and +how they begged the loan of a boat to get to the mainland. So a boat was +lent them at once, and they rowed up the firth to Reykianess, and found +Oswif, and told him these tidings. + +He said, "Ill luck is the end of ill redes, and now I see how it has all +gone. Hallgerda must have sent Thiostolf to Bearfirth, but she herself +must have ridden home to her father. Let us now gather folk and follow +him up thither north." So they did that, and went about asking for help, +and got together many men. And then they all rode off to Steingrims +river, and so on to Liotriverdale and Selriverdale, till they came to +Bearfirth. + +Now Swan began to speak, and gasped much. "Now Oswif's fetches are +seeking us out." Then up sprung Thiostolf, but Swan said, "Go thou out +with me, there won't be need of much". So they went out both of them, +and Swan took a goatskin and wrapped it about his own head, and said, +"Become mist and fog, become fright and wonder mickle to all those who +seek thee". + +Now, it must be told how Oswif, his friends, and his men are riding +along the ridge; then came a great mist against them, and Oswif said, +"This is Swan's doing; 'twere well if nothing worse followed". A little +after a mighty darkness came before their eyes, so that they could see +nothing, and then they fell off their horses' backs, and lost their +horses, and dropped their weapons, and went over head and ears into +bogs, and some went astray into the wood, till they were on the brink of +bodily harm. Then Oswif said, "If I could only find my horse and +weapons, then I'd turn back"; and he had scarce spoken these words than +they saw somewhat, and found their horses and weapons. Then many still +egged the others on to look after the chase once more; and so they did, +and at once the same wonders befell them, and so they fared thrice. +Then Oswif said, "Though the course be not good, let us still turn back. +Now, we will take counsel a second time, and what now pleases my mind +best, is to go and find Hauskuld, and ask atonement for my son; for +there's hope of honour where there's good store of it." + +So they rode thence to the Broadfirth dales, and there is nothing to be +told about them till they come to Hauskuldstede, and Hrut was there +before them. Oswif called out Hauskuld and Hrut, and they both went out +and bade him good-day. After that they began to talk. Hauskuld asked +Oswif whence he came. He said he had set out to search for Thiostolf, +but couldn't find him. Hauskuld said he must have gone north to +Swanshol, "and thither it is not every man's lot to go to find him". + +"Well," says Oswif, "I am come hither for this, to ask atonement for my +son from thee." + +Hauskuld answered--"I did not slay thy son, nor did I plot his death; +still it may be forgiven thee to look for atonement somewhere". + +"Nose is next of kin, brother, to eyes," said Hrut, "and it is needful +to stop all evil tongues, and to make him atonement for his son, and so +mend thy daughter's state, for that will only be the case when this suit +is dropped, and the less that is said about it the better it will be." + +Hauskuld said--"Wilt thou undertake the award?" + +"That I will," says Hrut, "nor will I shield thee at all in my award; +for if the truth must be told thy daughter planned his death." + +Then Hrut held his peace some little while, and afterwards he stood up, +and said to Oswif--"Take now my hand in handsel as a token that thou +lettest the suit drop". + +So Oswif stood up and said--"This is not an atonement on equal terms +when thy brother utters the award, but still thou (speaking to Hrut) +hast behaved so well about it that I trust thee thoroughly to make it" +Then he stood up and took Hauskuld's hand, and came to an atonement in +the matter, on the understanding that Hrut was to make up his mind and +utter the award before Oswif went away. After that, Hrut made his award, +and said--"For the slaying of Thorwald I award two hundred in +silver"--that was then thought a good price for a man--"and thou shalt +pay it down at once, brother, and pay it too with an open hand". + +Hauskuld did so, and then Hrut said to Oswif--"I will give thee a good +cloak which I brought with me from foreign lands". + +He thanked him for his gift, and went home well pleased at the way in +which things had gone. + +After that Hauskuld and Hrut came to Oswif to share the goods, and they +and Oswif came to a good agreement about that too, and they went home +with their share of the goods, and Oswif is now out of our story. +Hallgerda begged Hauskuld to let her come back home to him, and he gave +her leave, and for a long time there was much talk about Thorwald's +slaying. As for Hallgerda'a goods they went on growing till they were +worth a great sum. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GLUM'S WOOING. + + +Now three brothers are named in the story. One was called Thorarin, the +second Ragi, and the third Glum. They were the sons of Olof the Halt, +and were men of much worth and of great wealth in goods. Thorarin's +surname was Ragi's brother; he had the Speakership of the Law after Rafn +Heing's son. He was a very wise man, and lived at Varmalek, and he and +Glum kept house together. Glum had been long abroad; he was a tall, +strong, handsome man. Ragi their brother was a great man-slayer. Those +brothers owned in the south Engey and Laugarness. One day the brothers +Thorarin and Glum were talking together, and Thorarin asked Glum whether +he meant to go abroad, as was his wont. + +He answered--"I was rather thinking now of leaving off trading voyages". + +"What hast thou then in thy mind? Wilt thou woo thee a wife?" + +"That I will," says he, "if I could only get myself well matched." + +Then Thorarin told off all the women who were unwedded in Borgarfirth, +and asked him if he would have any of these--"Say the word, and I will +ride with thee!" + +But Glum answered--"I will have none of these". + +"Say then the name of her thou wishest to have," says Thorarin. + +Glum answered--"If thou must know, her name is Hallgerda, and she is +Hauskuld's daughter away west in the dales". + +"Well," says Thorarin, "'tis not with thee as the saw says, 'be warned +by another's woe'; for she was wedded to a man, and she plotted his +death." + +Glum said--"May be such ill-luck will not befall her a second time, and +sure I am she will not plot my death. But now, if thou wilt show me any +honour, ride along with me to woo her." + +Thorarin said--"There's no good striving against it, for what must be is +sure to happen". Glum often talked the matter over with Thorarin, but he +put it off a long time. At last it came about that they gathered men +together and rode off ten in company, west to the dales, and came to +Hauskuldstede. Hauskuld gave them a hearty welcome, and they stayed +there that night. But early next morning, Hauskuld sends Hrut, and he +came thither at once; and Hauskuld was out of doors when he rode into +the "town". Then Hauskuld told Hrut what men had come thither. + +"What may it be they want?" asked Hrut + +"As yet," says Hauskuld, "they have not let out to me that they have any +business." + +"Still," says Hrut, "their business must be with thee. They will ask the +hand of thy daughter, Hallgerda. If they do, what answer wilt thou +make?" + +"What dost thou advise me to say?" says Hauskuld. + +"Thou shalt answer well," says Hrut; "but still make a clean breast of +all the good and all the ill thou knowest of the woman." + +But while the brothers were talking thus, out came the guests. Hauskuld +greeted them well, and Hrut bade both Thorarin and his brothers good +morning. After that they all began to talk, and Thorarin said-- + +"I am come hither, Hauskuld, with my brother Glum on this errand, to ask +for Hallgerda thy daughter, at the hand of my brother Glum. Thou must +know that he is a man of worth." + +"I know well," says Hauskuld, "that ye are both of you powerful and +worthy men; but I must tell you right out, that I chose a husband for +her before, and that turned out most unluckily for us." + +Thorarin answered--"We will not let that stand in the way of the +bargain; for one oath shall not become all oaths, and this may prove to +be a good match, though that turned out ill; besides Thiostolf had most +hand in spoiling it". + +Then Hrut spoke: "Now I will give you a bit of advice--this: if ye will +not let all this that has already happened to Hallgerda stand in the way +of the match, mind you do not let Thiostolf go south with her if the +match comes off, and that he is never there longer than three nights at +a time, unless Glum gives him leave, but fall an outlaw by Glum's hand +without atonement if he stay there longer. Of course, it shall be in +Glum's power to give him leave; but he will not if he takes my advice. +And now this match, shall not be fulfilled, as the other was, without +Hallgerda's knowledge. She shall now know the whole course of this +bargain, and see Glum, and herself settle whether she will have him or +not; and then she will not be able to lay the blame on others if it does +not turn out well. And all this shall be without craft or guile." + +Then Thorarin said--"Now, as always, it will prove best if thy advice be +taken". + +Then they sent for Hallgerda, and she came thither, and two women with +her. She had on a cloak of rich blue wool, and under it a scarlet +kirtle, and a silver girdle round her waist, but her hair came down on +both sides of her bosom, and she had turned the locks up under her +girdle. She sat down between Hrut and her father, and she greeted them +all with kind words, and spoke well and boldly, and asked what was the +news. After that she ceased speaking. + +Then Glum said--"There has been some talk between thy father and my +brother Thorarin and myself about a bargain. It was that I might get +thee, Hallgerda, if it be thy will, as it is theirs; and now, if thou +art a brave woman, thou wilt say right out whether the match is at all +to thy mind; but if thou hast anything in thy heart against this bargain +with us, then we will not say anything more about it." + +Hallgerda said--"I know well that you are men of worth and might, ye +brothers. I know too that now I shall be much better wedded than I was +before; but what I want to know is, what you have said already about the +match, and how far you have given your words in the matter. But so far +as I now see of thee, I think I might love thee well if we can but hit +it off as to temper." + +So Glum himself told her all about the bargain, and left nothing out, +and then he asked Hauskuld and Hrut whether he had repeated it right. +Hauskuld said he had; and then Hallgerda said--"Ye have dealt so well +with me in this matter, my father and Hrut, that I will do what ye +advise, and this bargain shall be struck as ye have settled it". + +Then Hrut said--"Methinks it were best that Hauskuld and I should name +witnesses, and that Hallgerda should betroth herself, if the Lawman +thinks that right and lawful". + +"Right and lawful it is," says Thorarin. + +After that Hallgerda's goods were valued, and Glum was to lay down as +much against them, and they were to go shares, half and half, in the +whole. Then Glum bound himself to Hallgerda as his betrothed, and they +rode away home south; but Hauskuld was to keep the wedding-feast at his +house. And now all is quiet till men ride to the wedding. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +GLUM'S WEDDING. + + +Those brothers gathered together a great company, and they were all +picked men. They rode west to the dales and came to Hauskuldstede, and +there they found a great gathering to meet them. Hauskuld and Hrut, and +their friends, filled one bench, and the bridegroom the other. Hallgerda +sat upon the cross-bench on the dais, and behaved well. Thiostolf went +about with his axe raised in air, and no one seemed to know that he was +there, and so the wedding went off well. But when the feast was over, +Hallgerda went away south with Glum and his brothers. So when they came +south to Varmalek, Thorarin asked Hallgerda if she would undertake the +housekeeping, "No, I will not," she said. Hallgerda kept her temper down +that winter, and they liked her well enough. But when the spring came, +the brothers talked about their property, and Thorarin said--"I will +give up to you the house at Varmalek, for that is readiest to your hand, +and I will go down south to Laugarness and live there, but Engey we will +have both of us in common". + +Glum was willing enough to do that. So Thorarin went down to the south +of that district, and Glum and his wife stayed behind there, and lived +in the house at Varmalek. + +Now Hallgerda got a household about her; she was prodigal in giving, and +grasping in getting. In the summer she gave birth to a girl. Glum asked +her what name it was to have. + +"She shall be called after my father's mother, and her name shall be +Thorgerda," for she came down from Sigurd Fafnir's-bane on the father's +side, according to the family pedigree. + +So the maiden was sprinkled with water, and had this name given her, and +there she grew up, and got like her mother in looks and feature. Glum +and Hallgerda agreed well together, and so it went on for a while. About +that time these tidings were heard from the north and Bearfirth, how +Swan had rowed out to fish in the spring, and a great storm came down on +him from the east, and how he was driven ashore at Fishless, and he and +his men were there lost. But the fishermen who were at Kalback thought +they saw Swan go into the fell at Kalbackshorn, and that he was greeted +well; but some spoke against that story, and said there was nothing in +it. But this all knew that he was never seen again either alive or dead. +So when Hallgerda heard that, she thought she had a great loss in her +mother's brother. Glum begged Thorarin to change lands with him, but he +said he would not; "but," said he, "if I outlive you, I mean to have +Varmalek to myself". When Glum told this to Hallgerda, she said, +"Thorarin has indeed a right to expect this from us". + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THIOSTOLF GOES TO GLUM'S HOUSE. + + +Thiostolf had beaten one of Hauskuld's house-carles, so he drove him +away. He took his horse and weapons, and said to Hauskuld-- + +"Now, I will go away and never come back." + +"All will be glad at that," says Hauskuld. + +Thiostolf rode till he came to Varmalek, and there he got a hearty +welcome from Hallgerda, and not a bad one from Glum. He told Hallgerda +how her father had driven him away, and begged her to give him her help +and countenance. She answered him by telling him she could say nothing +about his staying there before she had seen Glum about it. + +"Does it go well between you?" he says. + +"Yes," she says, "our love runs smooth enough." + +After that she went to speak to Glum, and threw her arms round his neck +and said-- + +"Wilt thou grant me a boon which I wish to ask of thee?" + +"Grant it I will," he says, "if it be right and seemly; but what is it +thou wishest to ask?" + +"Well," she said, "Thiostolf has been driven away from the west, and +what I want thee to do is to let him stay here; but I will not take it +crossly if it is not to thy mind." + +Glum said--"Now that thou behavest so well, I will grant thee thy boon; +but I tell thee, if he takes to any ill he shall be sent off at once". + +She goes then to Thiostolf and tells him, and he answered-- + +"Now, thou art still good, as I had hoped." + +After that he was there, and kept himself down a little white, but then +it was the old story, he seemed to spoil all the good he found; for he +gave way to no one save to Hallgerda alone, but she never took his side +in his brawls with others. Thorarin, Glum's brother, blamed him for +letting him be there, and said ill luck would come of it, and all would +happen as had happened before if he were there. Glum answered him well +and kindly, but still kept on in his own way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +GLUM'S SHEEP HUNT. + + +Now once on a time when autumn came, it happened that men had hard work +to get their flocks home, and many of Glum's wethers were missing. Then +Glum said to Thiostolf-- + +"Go thou up on the fell with my house-carles and see if ye cannot find +out anything about the sheep." + +"'Tis no business of mine," says Thiostolf, "to hunt up sheep, and this +one thing is quite enough to hinder it. I won't walk in thy thralls' +footsteps. But go thyself, and then I'll go with thee." + +About this they had many words. The weather was good, and Hallgerda was +sitting out of doors. Glum went up to her and said-- + +"Now Thiostolf and I have had a quarrel, and we shall not live much +longer together." And so he told her all that they had been talking +about. + +Then Hallgerda spoke up for Thiostolf, and they had many words about +him. At last Glum gave her a blow with his hand, and said-- + +"I will strive no longer with thee," and with that he went away. + +Now she loved him much, and could not calm herself, but wept out loud. +Thiostolf went up to her and said-- + +"This is sorry sport for thee, and so it must not be often again." + +"Nay," she said, "but thou shalt not avenge this, nor meddle at all +whatever passes between Glum and me." + +He went off with a spiteful grin. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +GLUM'S SLAYING. + + +Now Glum called men to follow him, and Thiostolf got ready and went with +them. So they went up South Reykiardale and then up along by Baugagil +and so south to Crossfell. But some of his band he sent to the +Sulafells, and they all found very many sheep. Some of them, too, went +by way of Scoradale, and it came about at last that those twain, Glum +and Thiostolf, were left alone together. They went south from Crossfell +and found there a flock of wild sheep, and they went from the south +towards the fell, and tried to drive them down; but still the sheep got +away from them up on the fell. Then each began to scold the other, and +Thiostolf said at last that Glum had no strength save to tumble about in +Hallgerda's arms. + +Then Glum said-- + +"'A man's foes are those of his own house.' Shall I take upbraiding from +thee, runaway thrall as thou art?" + +Thiostolf said-- + +"Thou shalt soon have to own that I am no thrall, for I will not yield +an inch to thee." + +Then Glum got angry, and cut at him with his hand-axe, but he threw his +axe in the way, and the blow fell on the haft with a downward stroke and +bit into it about the breadth of two fingers. Thiostolf cut at him at +once with his axe, and smote him on the shoulder, and the stroke hewed +asunder the shoulderbone and collarbone, and the wound bled inwards. +Glum grasped at Thiostolf with his left hand so fast that he fell; but +Glum could not hold him, for death came over him. Then Thiostolf covered +his body with stones, and took off his gold ring. Then he went straight +to Varmalek. Hallgerda was sitting out of doors, and saw that his axe +was bloody. He said-- + +"I know not what thou wilt think of it, but I tell thee Glum is slain." + +"That must be thy deed?" she says. + +"So it is," he says. + +She laughed and said-- + +"Thou dost not stand for nothing in this sport." + +"What thinkest thou is best to be done now?" he asked. + +"Go to Hrut, my father's brother," she said, "and let him see about +thee." + +"I do not know," says Thiostolf, "whether this is good advice; but still +I will take thy counsel in this matter." + +So he took his horse, and rode west to Hrutstede that night. He binds +his horse at the back of the house, and then goes round to the door, and +gives a great knock. After that he walks round the house, north about. +It happened that Hrut was awake. He sprang up at once, and put on his +jerkin and pulled on his shoes. Then he took up his sword, and wrapped a +cloak about his left arm, up as far as the elbow. Men woke up just as he +went out; there he saw a tall stout man at the back of the house, and +knew it was Thiostolf. Hrut asked him what news. + +"I tell thee Glum is slain," says Thiostolf. + +"Who did the deed?" says Hrut. + +"I slew him," says Thiostolf. + +"Why rodest thou hither?" says Hrut. + +"Hallgerda sent me to thee," says Thiostolf. + +"Then she has no hand in this deed," says Hrut, and drew his sword. +Thiostolf saw that, and would not be behind hand, so he cuts at Hrut at +once. Hrut got out of the way of the stroke by a quick turn, and at the +same time struck the back of the axe so smartly with a side-long blow of +his left hand, that it flew out of Thiostolf's grasp. Then Hrut made a +blow with the sword in his right hand at Thiostolf's leg, just above the +knee, and cut it almost off so that it hung by a little piece, and +sprang in upon him at the same time, and thrust him hard back. After +that he smote him on the head, and dealt him his death-blow. Thiostolf +fell down on his back at full length, and then out came Hrut's men, and +saw the tokens of the deed. Hrut made them take Thiostolf away, and +throw stones over his body, and then he went to find Hauskuld, and told +him of Glum's slaying, and also of Thiostolf's. He thought it harm that +Glum was dead and gone, but thanked him for killing Thiostolf. A little +while after, Thorarin Ragi's brother hears of his brother Glum's death, +then he rides with eleven men behind him west to Hauskuldstede, and +Hauskuld welcomed him with both hands, and he is there the night. +Hauskuld sent at once for Hrut to come to him, and he went at once, and +next day they spoke much of the slaying of Glum, and Thorarin +said--"Wilt thou make me any atonement for my brother, for I have had a +great loss?" + +Hauskuld answered--"I did not slay thy brother, nor did my daughter plot +his death; but as soon as ever Hrut knew it he slew Thiostolf". + +Then Thorarin held his peace, and thought the matter had taken a bad +turn. But Hrut said--"Let us make his journey good; he has indeed had a +heavy loss, and if we do that we shall be well spoken of. So let us give +him gifts, and then he will be our friend ever afterwards." + +So the end of it was that those brothers gave him gifts, and he rode +back south. He and Hallgerda changed homesteads in the spring, and she +went south to Laugarness and he to Varmalek. And now Thorarin is out of +the story. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +FIDDLE MORD'S DEATH. + + +Now it must be told how Fiddle Mord took a sickness and breathed his +last; and that was thought great scathe. His daughter Unna took all the +goods he left behind him. She was then still unmarried the second time. +She was very lavish, and unthrifty of her property; so that her goods +and ready money wasted away, and at last she had scarce anything left +but land and stock. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +GUNNAR COMES INTO THE STORY. + + +There was a man whose name was Gunnar. He was one of Unna's kinsmen, and +his mother's name was Rannveig. Gunnar's father was named Hamond. Gunnar +Hamond's son dwelt at Lithend, in the Fleetlithe. He was a tall man in +growth, and a strong man--best skilled in arms of all men. He could cut +or thrust or shoot if he chose as well with his left as with his right +hand, and he smote so swiftly with his sword, that three seemed to flash +through the air at once. He was the best shot with the bow of all men, +and never missed his mark. He could leap more than his own height, with +all his war-gear, and as far backwards as forwards. He could swim like a +seal, and there was no game in which it was any good for anyone to +strive with him; and so it has been said that no man was his match. He +was handsome of feature, and fair skinned. His nose was straight, and a +little turned up at the end. He was blue-eyed and bright-eyed, and +ruddy-cheeked. His hair thick, and of good hue, and hanging down in +comely curls. The most courteous of men was he, of sturdy frame and +strong will, bountiful and gentle, a fast friend, but hard to please +when making them. He was wealthy in goods. His brother's name was +Kolskegg; he was a tall strong man, a noble fellow, and undaunted in +everything. Another brother's name was Hjort; he was then in his +childhood. Orm Skogarnef was a base-born brother of Gunnar's; he does +not come into this story. Arnguda was the name of Gunnar's sister. +Hroar, the priest at Tongue, had her to wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +OF NJAL AND HIS CHILDREN. + + +There was a man whose name was Njal. He was the son of Thorgeir Gelling, +the son of Thorolf. Njal's mother's name was Asgerda. Njal dwelt at +Bergthorsknoll in the land-isles; he had another homestead on +Thorolfsfell. Njal was wealthy in goods, and handsome of face; no beard +grew on his chin. He was so great a lawyer, that his match was not to be +found. Wise too he was, and foreknowing and foresighted.[7] Of good +counsel, and ready to give it, and all that he advised men was sure to +be the best for them to do. Gentle and generous, he unravelled every +man's knotty points who came to see him about them. Bergthora was his +wife's name; she was Skarphedinn's daughter, a very high-spirited, +brave-hearted woman, but somewhat hard-tempered. They had six children, +three daughters and three sons, and they all come afterwards into this +story. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +UNNA GOES TO SEE GUNNAR. + + +Now it must be told how Unna had lost all her ready money. She made her +way to Lithend, and Gunnar greeted his kinswoman well. She stayed there +that night, and the next morning they sat out of doors and talked. The +end of their talk was that she told him how heavily she was pressed for +money. + +"This is a bad business," he said. + +"What help wilt thou give me out of my distress?" she asked. + +He answered--"Take as much money as thou needest from what I have out at +interest". + +"Nay," she said, "I will not waste thy goods." + +"What then dost thou wish?" + +"I wish thee to get back my goods out of Hrut's hands," she answered. + +"That, methinks, is not likely," said he, "when thy father could not get +them back, and yet he was a great lawyer, but I know little about law." + +She answered--"Hrut pushed that matter through rather by boldness than +by law; besides, my father was old, and that was why men thought it +better not to drive things to the uttermost. And now there is none of my +kinsmen to take this suit up if thou hast not daring enough." + +"I have courage enough," he replied, "to get these goods back; but I do +not know how to take the suit up." + +"Well!" she answered, "go and see Njal of Bergthorsknoll, he will know +how to give thee advice. Besides, he is a great friend of thine." + +"'Tis like enough he will give me good advice, as he gives it to every +one else," says Gunnar. + +So the end of their talk was, that Gunnar undertook her cause, and gave +her the money she needed for her housekeeping, and after that she went +home. + +Now Gunnar rides to see Njal, and he made him welcome, and they began to +talk at once. + +Then Gunnar said--"I am come to seek a bit of good advice from thee". + +Njal replied--"Many of my friends are worthy of this, but still I think +I would take more pains for none than for thee". + +Gunnar said--"I wish to let thee know that I have undertaken to get +Unna's goods back from Hrut". + +"A very hard suit to undertake," said Njal, "and one very hazardous how +it will go; but still I will get it up for thee in the way I think +likeliest to succeed, and the end will be good if thou breakest none of +the rules I lay down; if thou dost, thy life is in danger." + +"Never fear; I will break none of them," said Gunnar. + +Then Njal held his peace for a little while, and after that he spoke as +follows:-- + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +NJAL'S ADVICE. + + +"I have thought over the suit, and it will do so. Thou shalt ride from +home with two men at thy back. Over all thou shalt have a great rough +cloak, and under that, a russet kirtle of cheap stuff, and under all, +thy good clothes. Thou must take a small axe in thy hand, and each of +you must have two horses, one fat, the other lean. Thou shalt carry +hardware and smith's work with thee hence, and ye must ride off early +to-morrow morning, and when ye are come across Whitewater westwards, +mind and slouch thy hat well over thy brows. Then men will ask who is +this tall man, and thy mates shall say--'Here is Huckster Hedinn the +Big, a man from Eyjafirth, who is going about with smith's work for +sale'. This Hedinn is ill-tempered and a chatterer--a fellow who thinks +he alone knows everything. Very often he snatches back his wares, and +flies at men if everything is not done as he wishes. So thou shalt ride +west to Borgarfirth offering all sorts of wares for sale, and be sure +often to cry off thy bargains, so that it will be noised abroad that +Huckster Hedinn is the worst of men to deal with, and that no lies have +been told of his bad behaviour. So thou shalt ride to Northwaterdale, +and to Hrutfirth, and Laxriverdale, till thou comest to Hauskuldstede. +There thou must stay a night, and sit in the lowest place, and hang thy +head down. Hauskuld will tell them all not to meddle nor make with +Huckster Hedinn, saying he is a rude unfriendly fellow. Next morning +thou must be off early and go to the farm nearest Hrutstede. There thou +must offer thy goods for sale, praising up all that is worst, and +tinkering up the faults. The master of the house will pry about and find +out the faults. Thou must snatch the wares away from him, and speak ill +to him. He will say--'Twas not to be hoped that thou wouldst behave well +to him, when thou behavest ill to every one else. Then thou shalt fly at +him, though it is not thy wont, but mind and spare thy strength, that +thou mayest not be found out. Then a man will be sent to Hrutstede to +tell Hrut he had best come and part you. He will come at once and ask +thee to his house, and thou must accept his offer. Thou shalt greet +Hrut, and he will answer well. A place will be given thee on the lower +bench over against Hrut's high-seat. He will ask if thou art from the +North, and thou shalt answer that thou art a man of Eyjafirth. He will +go on to ask if there are very many famous men there. 'Shabby fellows +enough and to spare,' thou must answer. 'Dost thou know Reykiardale and +the parts about?' he will ask. To which thou must answer--'I know all +Iceland by heart'. + +"Are there any stout champions left in Reykiardale?' he will ask. +'Thieves and scoundrels,' thou shalt answer. Then Hrut will smile and +think it sport to listen. You two will go on to talk of the men in the +Eastfirth Quarter, and thou must always find something to say against +them. At last your talk will come to Rangrivervale, and then thou must +say, there is small choice of men left in those parts since Fiddle Mord +died. At the same time sing some stave to please Hrut, for I know thou +art a skald. Hrut will ask what makes thee say there is never a man to +come in Mord's place; and then thou must answer, that he was so wise a +man and so good a taker up of suits, that he never made a false step in +upholding his leadership. He will ask--'Dost thou know how matters fared +between me and him?' + +"'I know all about it,' thou must reply, 'he took thy wife from thee, +and thou hadst not a word to say.' + +"Then Hrut will ask--'Dost thou not think it was some disgrace to him +when he could not get back his goods, though he set the suit on foot?' + +"'I can answer thee that well enough,' thou must say, 'Thou challengedst +him to single combat; but he was old, and so his friends advised him not +to fight with thee, and then they let the suit fall to the ground.' + +"'True enough," Hrut will say. 'I said so, and that passed for law among +foolish men; but the suit might have been taken up again at another +Thing if he had the heart.' + +"'I know all that,' thou must say. + +"Then he will ask--'Dost thou know anything about law?" + +"'Up in the North I am thought to know something about it,' thou shalt +say. 'But still I should like thee to tell me how this suit should be +taken up.' + +"'What suit dost thou mean?' he will ask. + +"'A suit,' thou must answer, 'which does not concern me. I want to know +how a man must set to work who wishes to get back Unna's dower.' + +"Then Hrut will say--'In this suit I must be summoned so that I can hear +the summons, or I must be summoned here in my lawful house'. + +"'Recite the summons, then,' thou must say, and I will say it after +thee.' + +"Then Hrut will summon himself; and mind and pay great heed to every +word he says. After that Hrut will bid thee repeat the summons, and thou +must do so, and say it all wrong, so that no more than every other word +is right. + +"Then Hrut will smile and not mistrust thee, but say that scarce a word +is right. Thou must throw the blame on thy companions, and say they put +thee out, and then thou must ask him to say the words first, word by +word, and to let thee say the words after him. He will give thee leave, +and summon himself in the suit, and thou shalt summon after him there +and then, and this time say every word right. When it is done, ask Hrut +if that were rightly summoned, and he will answer 'there is no flaw to +be found in it'. Then thou shalt say in a loud voice, so that thy +companions may hear-- + +"'I summon thee in the suit which Unna Mord's daughter has made over to +me with her plighted hand.' + +"But when men are sound asleep, you shall rise and take your bridles and +saddles, and tread softly, and go out of the house, and put your saddles +on your fat horses in the fields, and so ride off on them, but leave the +others behind you. You must ride up into the hills away from the home +pastures and stay there three nights, for about so long will they seek +you. After that ride home south, riding always by night and resting by +day. As for us we will then ride this summer to the Thing, and help thee +in thy suit." So Gunnar thanked Njal, and first of all rode home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +HUCKSTER HEDINN. + + +Gunnar rode from home two nights afterwards, and two men with him; they +rode along until they got on Bluewoodheath, and then men on horseback +met them and asked who that tall man might be of whom so little was +seen. But his companions said it was Huckster Hedinn. Then the others +said a worse was not to be looked for behind, when such a man as he went +before. Hedinn at once made as though he would have set upon them, but +yet each went their way. So Gunnar went on doing everything as Njal had +laid it down for him, and when he came to Hauskuldstede he stayed there +the night, and thence he went down the dale till he came to the next +farm to Hrutstede. There he offered his wares for sale, and Hedinn fell +at once upon the farmer. This was told to Hrut, and he sent for Hedinn, +and Hedinn went at once to see Hrut, and had a good welcome. Hrut seated +him over against himself, and their talk went pretty much as Njal had +guessed; but when they came to talk of Rangrivervale, and Hrut asked +about the men there, Gunnar sung this stave-- + + Men in sooth are slow to find,-- + So the people speak by stealth, + Often this hath reached my ears,-- + All through Rangar's rolling vales. + Still I trow that Fiddle Mord, + Tried his hand in fight of yore; + Sure was never gold-bestower, + Such a man for might and wit. + +Then Hrut said, "Thou art a skald, Hedinn. But hast thou never heard how +things went between me and Mord?" Then Hedinn sung another stave-- + + Once I ween I heard the rumour, + How the Lord of rings[8] bereft thee; + From thine arms earth's offspring[9] tearing, + Trickful he and trustful thou. + Then the men, the buckler-bearers, + Begged the mighty gold-begetter, + Sharp sword oft of old he reddened, + Not to stand in strife with thee. + +So they went on, till Hrut, in answer told him how the suit must be +taken up, and recited the summons. Hedinn repeated it all wrong, and +Hrut burst out laughing, and had no mistrust. Then he said, Hrut must +summon once more, and Hrut did so. Then Hedinn repeated the summons a +second time, and this time right, and called his companions to witness +how he summoned Hrut in a suit which Unna Mord's daughter had made over +to him with her plighted hand. At night he went to sleep like other men, +but as soon as ever Hrut was sound asleep, they took their clothes and +arms, and went out and came to their horses, and rode off across the +river, and so up along the bank by Hiardarholt till the dale broke off +among the hills, and so there they are upon the fells between +Laxriverdale and Hawkdale, having got to a spot where no one could find +them unless he had fallen on them by chance. + +Hauskuld wakes up that night at Hauskuldstede, and roused all his +household, "I will tell you my dream," he said. "I thought I saw a great +bear go out of this house, and I knew at once this beast's match was not +to be found; two cubs followed him, wishing well to the bear, and they +all made for Hrutstede, and went into the house there. After that I +woke. Now I wish to ask if any of you saw aught about yon tall man." + +Then one man answered him--"I saw how a golden fringe and a bit of +scarlet cloth peeped out at his arm, and on his right arm he had a ring +of gold". + +Hauskuld said--"This beast is no man's fetch, but Gunnar's of Lithend, +and now methinks I see all about it. Up! let us ride to Hrutstede." And +they did so. Hrut lay in his locked bed, and asks who have come there? +Hauskuld tells who he is, and asked what guests might be there in the +house. + +"Only Huckster Hedinn is here," says Hrut. + +"A broader man across the back, it will be, I fear," says Hauskuld, "I +guess here must have been Gunnar of Lithend." + +"Then there has been a pretty trial of cunning," says Hrut. + +"What has happened?" says Hauskuld. + +"I told him how to take up Unna's suit, and I summoned myself and he +summoned after, and now he can use this first step in the suit, and it +is right in law." + +"There has, indeed, been a great falling off of wit on one side," said +Hauskuld, "and Gunnar cannot have planned it all by himself; Njal must +be at the bottom of this plot, for there is not his match for wit in all +the land." + +Now they look for Hedinn, but he is already off and away; after that +they gathered folk, and looked for them three days, but could not find +them. Gunnar rode south from the fell to Hawkdale and so east of Skard, +and north to Holtbeaconheath, and so on until he got home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +GUNNAR AND HRUT STRIVE AT THE THING. + + +Gunnar rode to the Althing, and Hrut and Hauskuld rode thither too with +a very great company. Gunnar pursues his suit, and began by calling on +his neighbours to bear witness, but Hrut and his brother had it in their +minds to make an onslaught on him, but they mistrusted their strength. + +Gunnar next went to the court of the men of Broadfirth, and bade Hrut +listen to his oath and declaration of the cause of the suit, and to all +the proofs which he was about to bring forward. After that he took his +oath, and declared his case. After that he brought forward his witnesses +of the summons, along with his witnesses that the suit had been handed +over to him. All this time Njal was not at the court. Now Gunnar pursued +his suit till he called on the defendant to reply. Then Hrut took +witness, and said the suit was naught, and that there was a flaw in the +pleading; he declared that it had broken down because Gunnar had failed +to call those three witnesses which ought to have been brought before +the court. The first, that which was taken before the marriage-bed, the +second, before the man's door, the third, at the Hill of Laws. By this +time Njal was come to the court and said the suit and pleading might +still he kept alive if they chose to strive in that way. + +"No," says Gunnar, "I will not have that; I will do the same to Hrut as +he did to Mord my kinsman;--or, are those brothers Hrut and Hauskuld so +near that they may hear my voice?" + +"Hear it we can," says Hrut. "What dost thou wish?" + +Gunnar said--"Now all men here present be ear-witnesses, that I +challenge thee Hrut to single combat, and we shall fight to-day on the +holm, which is here in Axewater. But if thou wilt not fight with me, +then pay up all the money this very day." + +After that Gunnar sung a stave-- + + Yes, so must it be, this morning-- + Now my mind is full of fire-- + Hrut with me on yonder island + Raises roar of helm and shield. + All that hear my words bear witness, + Warriors grasping Woden's guard, + Unless the wealthy wight down payeth + Dower of wife with flowing veil. + +After that Gunnar went away from the court with all his followers. Hrut +and Hauskuld went home too, and the suit was never pursued nor defended +from that day forth. Hrut said, as soon as he got inside the booth, +"This has never happened to me before, that any man has offered me +combat and I have shunned it". + +"Then thou must mean to fight," says Hauskuld, "but that shall not be if +I have my way; for thou comest no nearer to Gunnar than Mord would have +come to thee, and we had better both of us pay up the money to Gunnar." + +After that the brothers asked the householders of their own country what +they would lay down, and they one and all said they would lay down as +much as Hrut wished. + +"Let us go then," says Hauskuld, "to Gunner's booth, and pay down the +money out of hand." That was told to Gunnar, and he went out into the +doorway of the booth, and Hauskuld said-- + +"Now it is thine to take the money." + +Gunnar said-- + +"Pay it down, then, for I am ready to take it." + +So they paid down the money truly out of hand, and then Hauskuld +said--"Enjoy it now, as thou hast gotten it". Then Gunnar sang another +stave-- + + Men who wield the blade of battle + Hoarded wealth may well enjoy, + Guileless gotten this at least, + Golden meed I fearless take; + But if we for woman's quarrel, + Warriors born to brandish sword, + Glut the wolf with manly gore, + Worse the lot of both would be. + +Hrut answered--"Ill will be thy meed for this". + +"Be that as it may," says Gunnar. + +Then Hauskuld and his brother went home to their booth, and he had much +upon his mind, and said to Hrut-- + +"Will this unfairness of Gunnar's never be avenged?" + +"Not so," says Hrut; "'twill be avenged on him sure enough, but we shall +have no share nor profit in that vengeance. And after all it is most +likely that he will turn to our stock to seek for friends." + +After that they left off speaking of the matter. Gunnar showed Njal the +money, and he said--"The suit has gone off well". + +"Ay," says Gunnar, "but it was all thy doing." + +Now men rode home from the Thing, and Gunnar got very great honour from +the suit. Gunnar handed over all the money to Unna, and would have none +of it, but said he thought he ought to look for more help from her and +her kin hereafter than from other men. She said, so it should be. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +UNNA'S SECOND WEDDING. + + +There was a man named Valgard, he kept house at Hof by Rangriver, he was +the son of Jorund the Priest, and his brother was Wolf Aurpriest. Those +brothers. Wolf Aurpriest, and Valgard the guileful, set off to woo Unna, +and she gave herself away to Valgard without the advice of any of her +kinsfolk. But Gunnar and Njal, and many others thought ill of that, for +he was a cross-grained man and had few friends. They begot between them +a son, whose name was Mord, and he is long in this story. When he was +grown to man's estate, he worked ill to his kinsfolk, but worst of all +to Gunnar. He was a crafty man in his temper, but spiteful in his +counsels. + +Now we will name Njal's sons. Skarphedinn was the eldest of them. He was +a tall man in growth and strong withal; a good swordsman; he could swim +like a seal, the swiftest-footed of men, and bold and dauntless; he had +a great flow of words and quick utterance; a good skald too; but still +for the most part he kept himself well in hand; his hair was dark brown, +with crisp curly locks; he had good eyes; his features were sharp, and +his face ashen pale, his nose turned up and his front teeth stuck out, +and his mouth was very ugly. Still he was the most soldier-like of men. + +Grim was the name of Njal's second son. He was fair of face and wore his +hair long. His hair was dark, and he was comelier to look on than +Skarphedinn. A tall strong man. + +Helgi was the name of Njal's third son. He too was fair of face and had +fine hair. He was a strong man and well-skilled in arms. He was a man of +sense and knew well how to behave. They were all unwedded at that time, +Njal's sons. + +Hauskuld was the fourth of Njal's sons. He was base-born. His mother was +Rodny, and she was Hauskuld's daughter, the sister of Ingialld of the +Springs. + +Njal asked Skarphedinn one day if he would take to himself a wife. He +bade his father settle the matter. Then Njal asked for his hand +Thorhilda, the daughter of Ranvir of Thorolfsfell, and that was why they +had another homestead there after that. Skarphedinn got Thorhilda, but +he stayed still with his father to the end. Grim wooed Astrid of +Deepback; she was a widow and very wealthy. Grim got her to wife, and +yet lived on with Njal. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +OF ASGRIM AND HIS CHILDREN. + + +There was a man named Asgrim. He was Ellidagrim's son. The brother of +Asgrim Ellidagrim's son was Sigfus. + +Asgrim had two sons, and both of them were named Thorhall. They were +both hopeful men. Grim was the name of another of Asgrim's sons, and +Thorhalla was his daughter's name. She was the fairest of women, and +well behaved. + +Njal came to talk with his son Helgi, and said, "I have thought of a +match for thee, if thou wilt follow my advice". + +"That I will surely," says he, "for I know that thou both meanest me +well, and canst do well for me; but whither hast thou turned thine +eyes?" + +"We will go and woo Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's daughter, for that is the +best choice we can make." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HELGI NJAL'S SON'S WOOING. + + +A little after they rode out across Thurso water, and fared till they +came into Tongue. Asgrim was at home, and gave them a hearty welcome; +and they were there that night. Next morning they began to talk, and +then Njal raised the question of the wooing, and asked for Thorhalla for +his son Helgi's hand. Asgrim answered that well, and said there were no +men with whom he would be more willing to make this bargain than with +them. They fell a-talking then about terms, and the end of it was that +Asgrim betrothed his daughter to Helgi, and the bridal day was named. +Gunnar was at that feast, and many other of the best men. After the +feast Njal offered to foster in his house Thorhall, Asgrim's son, and he +was with Njal long after. He loved Njal more than his own father. Njal +taught him law, so that he became the greatest lawyer in Iceland in +those days. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +HALLVARD COMES OUT TO ICELAND. + + +There came a ship out from Norway, and ran into Arnbæl's Oyce,[10] and +the master of the ship was Hallvard, the white, a man from the Bay.[11] +He went to stay at Lithend, and was with Gunnar that winter, and was +always asking him to fare abroad with him. Gunnar spoke little about it, +but yet said more unlikely things might happen; and about spring he went +over to Bergthorsknoll to find out from Njal whether he thought it a +wise step in him to go abroad. + +"I think it is wise," says Njal; "they will think thee there an +honourable man, as thou art." + +"Wilt thou perhaps take my goods into thy keeping while I am away, for I +wish my brother Kolskegg to fare with me; but I would that thou shouldst +see after my household along with my mother." + +"I will not throw anything in the way of that," says Njal; "lean on me +in this thing as much as thou likest." + +"Good go with thee for thy words," says Gunnar, and he rides then home. + +The Easterling [the Norseman Hallvard] fell again to talk with Gunnar +that he should fare abroad. Gunnar asked if he had ever sailed to other +lands? He said he had sailed to every one of them that lay between +Norway and Russia, and so, too, I have sailed to Biarmaland.[12] + +"Wilt thou sail with me eastward ho?" says Gunnar. + +"That I will of a surety," says he. + +Then Gunnar made up his mind to sail abroad with him. Njal took all +Gunnar's goods into his keeping. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +GUNNAR GOES ABROAD. + + +So Gunnar fared abroad, and Kolskegg with him. They sailed first to +Tönsberg,[13] and were there that winter. There had then been a shift of +rulers in Norway, Harold Grayfell was then dead, and so was Gunnhillda. +Earl Hacon the Bad, Sigurd's son, Hacon's son, Gritgarth's son, then +ruled the realm. The mother of Hacon was Bergliot, the daughter of Earl +Thorir. Her mother was Olof harvest-heal. She was Harold Fair-hair's +daughter. + +Hallvard asks Gunnar if he would make up his mind to go to Earl Hacon? + +"No; I will not do that," says Gunnar. "Hast thou ever a long-ship?" + +"I have two," he says. + +"Then I would that we two went on warfare; and let us get men to go with +us." + +"I will do that," says Hallvard. + +After that they went to the Bay, and took with them two ships, and +fitted them out thence. They had good choice of men, for much praise was +said of Gunnar. + +"Whither wilt thou first fare?" says Gunnar. + +"I wish to go south-east to Hisingen, to see my kinsman Oliver," says +Hallvard. + +"What dost thou want of him?" says Gunnar. + +He answered--"He is a fine brave fellow, and he will be sure to get us +some more strength for our voyage". + +"Then let us go thither," says Gunnar. + +So, as soon as they were "boun," they held on east to Hisingen, and had +there a hearty welcome. Gunnar had only been there a short time ere +Oliver made much of him. Oliver asks about his voyage, and Hallvard says +that Gunnar wishes to go a-warfaring to gather goods for himself. + +"There's no use thinking of that," says Oliver, "when ye have no force." + +"Well," says Hallvard, "then you may add to it." + +"So I do mean to strengthen Gunnar somewhat," says Oliver; "and though +thou reckonest thyself my kith and kin, I think there is more good in +him." + +"What force, now, wilt thou add to ours?" he asks. + +"Two long-ships, one with twenty, and the other with thirty seats for +rowers." + +"Who shall man them?" asks Hallvard. + +"I will man one of them with my own house-carles, and the freemen around +shall man the other. But still I have found out that strife has come +into the river, and I know not whether ye two will be able to get away; +for _they_ are in the river." + +"Who?" says Hallvard. + +"Brothers twain," says Oliver; "one's name is Vandil and the other's +Karli, sons of Sjolf the Old, east away out of Gothland." + +Hallvard told Gunnar that Oliver had added some ships to theirs, and +Gunnar was glad at that. They busked them for their voyage thence, till +they were "all-boun". Then Gunnar and Hallvard went before Oliver, and +thanked him; he bade them fare warily for the sake of those brothers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +GUNNAR GOES A-SEA-ROVING. + + +So Gunnar held on out of the river, and he and Kolskegg were both on +board one ship. But Hallvard was on board another. Now, they see the +ships before them, and then Gunnar spoke, and said-- + +"Let us be ready for anything if they turn towards us! but else let us +have nothing to do with them." + +So they did that, and made all ready on board their ships. The others +patted their ships asunder, and made a fareway between the ships. Gunnar +fared straight on between the ships, but Vandil caught up a +grappling-iron, and cast it between their ships and Gunnar's ship, and +began at once to drag it towards him. + +Oliver had given Gunnar a good sword; Gunnar now drew it, and had not +yet put on his helm. He leapt at once on the forecastle of Vandil's +ship, and gave one man his death-blow. Karli ran his ship alongside the +other side of Gunnar's ship, and hurled a spear athwart the deck, and +aimed at him about the waist. Gunnar sees this, and turned him about so +quickly, that no eye could follow him, and caught the spear with his +left hand, and hurled it back at Karli's ship, and that man got his +death who stood before it. Kolskegg snatched up a grapnel and casts it +at Karli's ship, and the fluke fell inside the hold, and went out +through one of the planks, and in rushed the coal-blue sea, and all the +men sprang on board other ships. + +Now Gunnar leapt back to his own ship, and then Hallvard came up, and +now a great battle arose. They saw now that their leader was +unflinching, and every man did as well as he could. Sometimes Gunnar +smote with the sword, and sometimes he hurled the spear, and many a man +had his bane at his hand. Kolskegg backed him well. As for Karli, he +hastened in a ship to his brother Vandil, and thence they fought that +day. During the day Kolskegg took a rest on Gunnar's ship, and Gunnar +sees that. Then he sung a song-- + + For the eagle ravine-eager, + Raven of my race, to-day + Better surely hast thou catered, + Lord of gold, than for thyself; + Here the morn come greedy ravens, + Many a rill of wolf[14] to sup, + But thee burning thirst down-beareth, + Prince of battle's Parliament! + +After that Kolskegg took a beaker full of mead, and drank it off and +went on fighting afterwards; and so it came about that those brothers +sprang up on the ship of Vandil and his brother, and Kolskegg went on +one side, and Gunnar on the other. Against Gunnar came Vandil, and smote +at once at him with his sword, and the blow fell on his shield. Gunnar +gave the shield a twist as the sword pierced it, and broke it short off +at the hilt. Then Gunnar smote back at Vandil, and three swords seemed +to be aloft, and Vandil could not see how to shun the blow. Then Gunnar +cut both his legs from under him, and at the same time Kolskegg ran +Karli through with a spear. After that they took great war spoil. + +Thence they held on south to Denmark, and thence east to Smoland,[15] +and had victory wherever they went. They did not come back in autumn. +The next summer they held on to Reval, and fell in there with +sea-rovers, and fought at once, and won the fight. After that they +steered east to Osel,[16] and lay there somewhile under a ness. There +they saw a man coming down from the ness above them; Gunnar went on +shore to meet the man, and they had a talk. Gunnar asked him his name, +and he said it was Tofi. Gunnar asked again what he wanted. + +"Thee I want to see," says the man. "Two warships lie on the other side +under the ness, and I will tell thee who command them: two brothers are +the captains--one's name is Hallgrim, and the other's Kolskegg. I know +them to be mighty men of war; and I know too that they have such good +weapons that the like are not to be had. Hallgrim has a bill which he +had made by seething-spells; and this is what the spells say, that no +weapon shall give him his death-blow save that bill. That thing follows +it too that it is known at once when a man is to be slain with that +bill, for something sings in it so loudly that it may be heard a long +way off--such a strong nature has that bill in it." + +Then Gunnar sang a song-- + + Soon shall I that spearhead seize, + And the bold sea-rover slay, + Him whose blows on headpiece ring, + Heaper up of piles of dead. + Then on Endil's courser[17] bounding, + O'er the sea-depths I will ride, + While the wretch who spells abuseth, + Life shall lose in Sigar's storm.[18] + +"Kolskegg has a short sword; that is also the best of weapons. Force, +too, they have--a third more than ye. They have also much goods, and +have stowed them away on land, and I know clearly where they are. But +they have sent a spy-ship off the ness, and they know all about you. Now +they are getting themselves ready as fast as they can; and as soon as +they are 'boun,' they mean to run out against you. Now you have either +to row away at once, or to busk yourselves as quickly as ye can; but if +ye win the day, then I will lead you to all their store of goods." + +Gunnar gave him a golden finger-ring, and went afterwards to his men and +told them that war-ships lay on the other side of the ness, "and they +know all about us; so let us take to our arms, and busk us well, for now +there is gain to be got". + +Then they busked them; and just when they were boun they see ships +coming up to them. And now a fight sprung up between them, and they +fought long, and many men fell. Gunnar slew many a man. Hallgrim and his +men leapt on board Gunnar's ship, Gunnar turns to meet him, and Hallgrim +thrust at him with his bill. There was a boom athwart the ship, and +Gunnar leapt nimbly back over it, Gunnar's shield was just before the +boom, and Hallgrim thrust his bill into it, and through it, and so on +into the boom. Gunnar cut at Hallgrim's arm hard, and lamed the forearm, +but the sword would not bite. Then down fell the bill, and Gunnar seized +the bill, and thrust Hallgrim through, and then sang a song-- + + Slain is he who spoiled the people, + Lashing them with flashing steel: + Heard have I how Hallgrim's magic + Helm-rod forged in foreign land; + All men know, of heart-strings doughty, + How this bill hath come to me, + Deft in fight, the wolf's dear feeder. + Death alone us two shall part. + +And that vow Gunnar kept, in that he bore the bill while he lived. Those +namesakes [the two Kolskeggs] fought together, and it was a near thing +which would get the better of it. Then Gunnar came up, and gave the +other Kolskegg his death-blow. After that the sea-rovers begged for +mercy. Gunnar let them have that choice, and he let them also count the +slain, and take the goods which the dead men owned, but he gave the +others whom he spared their arms and their clothing, and bade them be +off to the lands that fostered them. So they went off and Gunnar took +all the goods that were left behind. + +Tofi came to Gunnar after the battle, and offered to lead him to that +store of goods which the sea-rovers had stowed away, and said that it +was both better and larger than that which they had already got. + +Gunnar said he was willing to go, and so he went ashore, and Tofi before +him, to a wood, and Gunnar behind him. They came to a place where a +great heap of wood was piled together. Tofi says the goods were under +there, then they tossed off the wood, and found under it both gold and +silver, clothes and good weapons. They bore those goods to the ships, +and Gunnar asks Tofi in what way he wished him to repay him. + +Tofi answered, "I am a Dansk man by race, and I wish thou wouldst bring +me to my kinsfolk". + +Gunnar asks why he was there away east? + +"I was taken by sea-rovers," says Tofi, "and they put me on land here in +Osel, and here I have been ever since." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +GUNNAR GOES TO KING HAROLD GORM'S SON AND EARL HACON. + + +Gunnar took Tofi on board, and said to Kolskegg and Hallvard, "Now we +will hold our course for the north lands". + +They were well pleased at that, and bade him have his way. So Gunnar +sailed from the east with much goods. He had ten ships, and ran in with +them to Heidarby in Denmark. King Harold Gorm's son was there up the +country, and he was told about Gunnar, and how too that there was no man +his match in all Iceland. He sent men to him to ask him to come to him, +and Gunnar went at once to see the king, and the king made him a hearty +welcome, and sat him down next to himself. Gunnar was there half a +month. The king made himself sport by letting Gunnar prove himself in +divers feats of strength against his men, and there were none that were +his match even in one feat. + +Then the king said to Gunnar, "It seems to me as though thy peer is not +to be found far or near," and the king offered to get Gunnar a wife, and +to raise him to great power if he would settle down there. + +Gunnar thanked the king for his offer and said--"I will first of all +sail back to Iceland to see my friends and kinsfolk". + +"Then thou wilt never come back to us," says the king. + +"Fate will settle that, lord," says Gunnar. + +Gunnar gave the king a good long-ship, and much goods besides, and the +king gave him a robe of honour, and golden-seamed gloves, and a fillet +with a knot of gold on it, and a Russian hat. + +Then Gunnar fared north to Hisingen. Oliver welcomed him with both +hands, and he gave back to Oliver his ships, with their lading, and said +that was his share of the spoil. Oliver took the goods, and said Gunnar +was a good man and true, and bade him stay with him some while. Hallvard +asked Gunnar if he had a mind to go to see Earl Hacon. Gunnar said that +was near his heart, "for now I am somewhat proved, but then I was not +tried at all when thou badest me do this before". + +After that they fared north to Drontheim to see Earl Hacon, and he gave +Gunnar a hearty welcome, and bade him stay with him that winter, and +Gunnar took that offer, and every man thought him a man of great worth. +At Yule the Earl gave him a gold ring. + +Gunnar set his heart on Bergliota, the Earl's kinswoman, and it was +often to be seen from the Earl's way, that he would have given her to +him to wife if Gunnar had said anything about that. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +GUNNAR COMES OUT TO ICELAND. + + +When the spring came, the Earl asks Gunnar what course he meant to take. +He said he would go to Iceland. The Earl said that had been a bad year +for grain, "and there will be little sailing out to Iceland, but still +thou shalt have meal and timber both in thy ship". + +Gunnar fitted out his ship as early as he could, and Hallvard fared out +with him and Kolskegg. They came out early in the summer, and made +Arnbæl's Oyce before the Thing met. + +Gunnar rode home from the ship, but got men to strip her and lay her up. +But when they came home all men were glad to see them. They were blithe +and merry to their household, nor had their haughtiness grown while they +were away. + +Gunnar asks if Njal were at home; and he was told that he was at home; +then he let them saddle his horse, and those brothers rode over to +Bergthorsknoll. + +Njal was glad at their coming, and begged them to stay there that night, +and Gunnar told him of his voyages. + +Njal said he was a man of the greatest mark, "and thou hast been much +proved; but still thou wilt be more tried hereafter; for many will envy +thee". + +"With all men I would wish to stand well," says Gunnar. + +"Much bad will happen," says Njal, "and thou wilt always have some +quarrel to ward off." + +"So be it, then," says Gunnar, "so that I have a good ground on my +side." + +"So will it be too," says Njal, "if thou hast not to smart for others." + +Njal asked Gunnar if he would ride to the Thing. Gunnar said he was +going to ride thither, and asks Njal whether he were going to ride; but +he said he would not ride thither, "and if I had my will thou wouldst do +the like". + +Gunnar rode home, and gave Njal good gifts, and thanked him for the care +he had taken of his goods, Kolskegg urged him on much to ride to the +Thing, saying, "There thy honour will grow, for many will flock to see +thee there". + +"That has been little to my mind," says Gunnar, "to make a show of +myself; but I think it good and right to meet good and worthy men." + +Hallvard by this time was also come thither, and offered to ride to the +Thing with them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +GUNNAR'S WOOING. + + +So Gunnar rode, and they all rode. But when they came to the Thing they +were so well arrayed that none could match them in bravery; and men came +out of every booth to wonder at them. Gunnar rode to the booths of the +men of Rangriver, and was there with his kinsmen. Many men came to see +Gunnar, and ask tidings of him; and he was easy and merry to all men, +and told them all they wished to hear. + +It happened one day that Gunnar went away from the Hill of Laws, and +passed by the booths of the men from Mossfell; then he saw a woman +coming to meet him, and she was in goodly attire; but when they met she +spoke to Gunnar at once. He took her greeting well, and asks what woman +she might be. She told him her name was Hallgerda, and said she was +Hauskuld's daughter, Dalakoll's son. She spoke up boldly to him, and +bade him tell her of his voyages; but he said he would not gainsay her a +talk. Then they sat them down and talked. She was so clad that she had +on a red kirtle, and had thrown over her a scarlet cloak trimmed with +needlework down to the waist. Her hair came down to her bosom, and was +both fair and full. Gunnar was clad in the scarlet clothes which King +Harold Gorm's son had given him; he had also the gold ring on his arm +which Earl Hacon had given him. + +So they talked long out loud, and at last it came about that he asked +whether she were unmarried. She said, so it was, "and there are not many +who would run the risk of that". + +"Thinkest thou none good enough for thee?" + +"Not that," she says, "but I am said to be hard to please in husbands." + +"How wouldst thou answer were I to ask for thee?" + +"That can not be in thy mind," she says. + +"It is though," says he. + +"If thou hast any mind that way, go and see my father." + +After that they broke off their talk. + +Gunnar went straightway to the Dalesmen's booths, and met a man outside +the doorway, and asks whether Hauskuld were inside the booth? + +The man says that he was. Then Gunnar went in, and Hauskuld and Hrut +made him welcome. He sat down between them, and no one could find out +from their talk that there had ever been any misunderstanding between +them. At last Gunnar's speech turned thither; how these brothers would +answer if he asked for Hallgerda? + +"Well," says Hauskuld, "if that is indeed thy mind." + +Gunnar says that he is in earnest, "but we so parted last time, that +many would think it unlikely that we should ever be bound together". + +"How thinkest thou, kinsman Hrut?" says Hauskuld. + +Hrut answered, "Methinks this is no even match". + +"How dost thou make that out?" says Gunnar. + +Hrut spoke--"In this wise will I answer thee about this matter, as is +the very truth. Thou art a brisk brave man, well to do, and unblemished; +but she is much mixed up with ill report, and I will not cheat thee in +anything." + +"Good go with thee for thy words," says Gunnar, "but still I shall hold +that for true, that the old feud weighs with ye, if ye will not let me +make this match." + +"Not so," says Hrut, "'tis more because I see that thou art unable to +help thyself; but though we make no bargain, we would still be thy +friends." + +"I have talked to her about it," says Gunnar, "and it is not far from +her mind." + +Hrut says--"I know that you have both set your hearts on this match; +and, besides, ye two are those who run the most risk as to how it turns +out". + +Hrut told Gunnar unasked all about Hallgerda's temper, and Gunnar at +first thought that there was more than enough that was wanting; but at +last it came about that they struck a bargain. + +Then Hallgerda was sent for, and they talked over the business when she +was by, and now, as before, they made her betroth herself. The bridal +feast was to be at Lithend, and at first they were to set about it +secretly; but the end after all was that every one knew of it. + +Gunnar rode home from the Thing, and came to Bergthorsknoll, and told +Njal of the bargain he had made. He took it heavily. + +Gunnar asks Njal why he thought this so unwise? + +"Because from her," says Njal, "will arise all kind of ill if she comes +hither east." + +"Never shall she spoil our friendship," says Gunnar. + +"Ah! but yet that may come very near," says Njal; "and, besides, thou +wilt have always to make atonement for her." + +Gunnar asked Njal to the wedding, and all those as well whom he wished +should be at it from Njal's house. + +Njal promised to go; and after that Gunnar rode home, and then rode +about the district to bid men to his wedding. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OF THRAIN SIGFUS' SON. + + +There was a man named Thrain, he was the son of Sigfus, the son of +Sighvat the Red. He kept house at Gritwater on Fleetlithe. He was +Gunnar's kinsman, and a man of great mark. He had to wife Thorhilda +Skaldwife; she had a sharp tongue of her own, and was giving to jeering. +Thrain loved her little. He and his wife were bidden to the wedding, and +she and Bergthora, Skarphedinn's daughter, Njal's wife, waited on the +guests with meat and drink. + +Kettle was the name of the second son of Sigfus; he kept house in the +Mark, east of Markfleet. He had to wife Thorgerda, Njal's daughter. +Thorkell was the name of the third son of Sigfus; the fourth's name was +Mord; the fifth's Lambi; the sixth's Sigmund; the seventh's Sigurd. +These were all Gunnar's kinsmen, and great champions. Gunnar bade them +all to the wedding. + +Gunnar had also bidden Valgard the guileful, and Wolf Aurpriest, and +their sons Runolf and Mord. + +Hauskuld and Hrut came to the wedding with a very great company, and the +sons of Hauskuld, Torleik, and Olof, were there; the bride, too, came +along with them, and her daughter Thorgerda came also, and she was one +of the fairest of women; she was then fourteen winters old. Many other +women were with her, and besides there were Thorkatla Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son's daughter, and Njal's two daughters, Thorgerda and +Helga. + +Gunnar had already many guests to meet them, and he thus arranged his +men. He sat on the middle of the bench, and on the inside, away from +him, Thrain Sigfus' son, then Wolf Aurpriest, then Valgard the guileful, +then Mord and Runolf, then the other sons of Sigfus, Lambi sat outermost +of them. + +Next to Gunnar on the outside, away from him, sat Njal, then +Skarphedinn, then Helgi, then Grim, then Hauskuld Njal's son, then Hafr +the Wise, then Ingialld from the Springs, then the sons of Thorir from +Holt away east. Thorir would sit outermost of the men of mark, for every +one was pleased with the seat he got. + +Hauskuld, the bride's father, sat on the middle of the bench over +against Gunnar, but his sons sat on the inside away from him; Hrut sat +on the outside away from Hauskuld, but it is not said how the others +were placed. The bride sat in the middle of the cross-bench on the dais; +but on one hand of her sat her daughter Thorgerda, and on the other +Thorkatla Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's daughter. + +Thorhillda went about waiting on the guests, and Bergthora bore the meat +on the board. + +Now Thrain Sigfus' son kept staring at Thorgerda Glum's daughter; his +wife Thorhillda saw this, and she got wroth, and made a couplet upon +him. + +"Thrain," she says, + + "Gaping mouths are no wise good, + Goggle eyne are in thy head," + +He rose at once up from the board, and said he would put Thorhillda +away, "I will not bear her jibes and jeers any longer;" and he was so +quarrelsome about this, that he would not be at the feast unless she +were driven away. And so it was, that she went away; and now each man +sat in his place, and they drank and were glad. + +Then Thrain began to speak--"I will not whisper about that which is in +my mind. This I will ask thee, Hauskuld Dalakoll's son, wilt thou give +me to wife Thorgerda, thy kinswoman?" + +"I do not know that," says Hauskuld; "methinks thou art ill parted from +the one thou hadst before. But what kind of man is he, Gunnar?" + +Gunnar answers--"I will not say aught about the man, because he is near +of kin; but say thou about him, Njal," says Gunnar, "for all men will +believe it". + +Njal spoke, and said--"That is to be said of this man, that the man is +well to do for wealth, and a proper man in all things. A man, too, of +the greatest mark; so that ye may well make this match with him." + +Then Hauskuld spoke--"What thinkest thou we ought to do, kinsman Hrut?" + +"Thou mayst make the match, because it is an even one for her," says +Hrut. + +Then they talk about the terms of the bargain, and are soon of one mind +on all points. + +Then Gunnar stands up, and Thrain too, and they go to the cross-bench. +Gunnar asked that mother and daughter whether they would say yes to this +bargain. They said they would find no fault with it, and Hallgerda +betrothed her daughter. Then the places of the women were shifted again, +and now Thorhalla sate between the brides. And now the feast sped on +well, and when it was over, Hauskuld and his company ride west, but the +men of Rangriver rode to their own abode. Gunnar gave many men gifts, +and that made him much liked. + +Hallgerda took the housekeeping under her, and stood up for her rights +in word and deed. Thorgerda took to housekeeping at Gritwater, and was a +good housewife. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE VISIT TO BERGTHORSKNOLL. + + +Now it was the custom between Gunnar and Njal, that each made the other +a feast, winter and winter about, for friendship's sake; and it was +Gunnar's turn to go to feast at Njal's. So Gunnar and Hallgerda set off +for Bergthorsknoll, and when they got there Helgi and his wife were not +at home. Njal gave Gunnar and his wife a hearty welcome, and when they +had been there a little while, Helgi came home with Thorhalla his wife. +Then Bergthora went up to the cross-bench, and Thorhalla with her, and +Bergthora said to Hallgerda-- + +"Thou shalt give place to this woman." + +She answered--"To no one will I give place, for I will not be driven +into the corner for any one". + +"I shall rule here," said Bergthora, After that Thorhalla sat down, and +Bergthora went round the table with water to wash the guests' hands. +Then Hallgerda took hold of Bergthora's hand, and said-- + +"There's not much to choose, though, between you two. Thou hast +hangnails on every finger, and Njal is beardless." + +"That's true," says Bergthora, "yet neither of us finds fault with the +other for it; but Thorwald, thy husband, was not beardless, and yet thou +plottedst his death." + +Then Hallgerda said--"It stands me in little stead to have the bravest +man in Iceland if thou dost not avenge this, Gunnar!" + +He sprang up and strode across away from the board, and said--"Home I +will go, and it were more seemly that thou shouldest wrangle with those +of thine own household, and not under other men's roofs; but as for +Njal, I am his debtor for much honour, and never will I be egged on by +thee like a fool". + +After that they set off home. + +"Mind this, Bergthora," said Hallgerda, "that we shall meet again." + +Bergthora said she should not be better off for that. Gunnar said +nothing at all, but went home to Lithend, and was there at home all the +winter. And now the summer was running on towards the Great Thing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +KOL SLEW SWART. + + +Gunnar rode away to the Thing, but before he rode from home he said to +Hallgerda--"Be good now while I am away, and show none of thine ill +temper in anything with which my friends have to do". + +"The trolls take thy friends," says Hallgerda. + +So Gunnar rode to the Thing, and saw it was not good to come to words +with her. Njal rode to the Thing too, and all his sons with him. + +Now it must be told of what tidings happened at home. Njal and Gunnar +owned a wood in common at Redslip; they had not shared the wood, but +each was wont to hew in it as he needed, and neither said a word to the +other about that. Hallgerda's grieve's[19] name was Kol; he had been +with her long, and was one of the worst of men. There was a man named +Swart; he was Njal's and Bergthora's house-carle; they were very fond of +him. Now Bergthora told him that he must go up into Redslip and hew +wood; but she said--"I will get men to draw home the wood". + +He said he would do the work She set him to win; and so he went up into +Redslip, and was to be there a week. + +Some gangrel men came to Lithend from the east across Markfleet, and +said that Swart had been in Redslip, and hewn wood, and done a deal of +work. + +"So," says Hallgerda, "Bergthora must mean to rob me in many things, but +I'll take care that he does not hew again." + +Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, heard that, and said--"There have been good +housewives before now, though they never set their hearts on +manslaughter". + +Now the night wore away, and early next morning Hallgerda came to speak +to Kol, and said--"I have thought of some work for thee"; and with that +she put weapons into his hands, and went on to say--"Fare thou to +Redslip; there wilt thou find Swart". + +"What shall I do to him?" he says. + +"Askest thou that when thou art the worst of men?" she says. "Thou shalt +kill him." + +"I can get that done," he says, "but 'tis more likely that I shall lose +my own life for it." + +"Everything grows big in thy eyes," she says, "and thou behavest ill to +say this after I have spoken up for thee in everything. I must get +another man to do this if thou darest not." + +He took the axe, and was very wroth, and takes a horse that Gunnar +owned, and rides now till he comes east of Markfleet. There he got off +and bided in the wood, till they had carried down the firewood, and +Swart was left alone behind. Then Kol sprang on him, and said--"More +folk can hew great strokes than thou alone"; and so he laid the axe on +his head, and smote him his death-blow, and rides home afterwards, and +tells Hallgerda of the slaying. + +She said--"I shall take such good care of thee, that no harm shall come +to thee". + +"May be so," says he, "but I dreamt all the other way as I slept ere I +did the deed." + +Now they come up into the wood, and find Swart slain, and bear him home. +Hallgerda sent a man to Gunnar at the Thing to tell him of the slaying. +Gunnar said no hard words at first of Hallgerda to the messenger, and +men knew not at first whether he thought well or ill of it. A little +after he stood up, and bade his men go with him: they did so, and fared +to Njal's booth. Gunnar sent a man to fetch Njal, and begged him to come +out. Njal went out at once, and he and Gunnar fell a-talking, and Gunnar +said-- + +"I have to tell thee of the slaying of a man, and my wife and my grieve +Kol were those who did it; but Swart, thy house-carle, fell before +them." + +Njal held his peace while he told him the whole story. Then Njal spoke-- + +"Thou must take heed not to let her have her way in everything." + +Gunnar said--"Thou thyself shall settle the terms". + +Njal spoke again--"'Twill be hard work for thee to atone for all +Hallgerda's mischief; and somewhere else there will be a broader trail +to follow than this which we two now have a share in, and yet, even here +there will be much awanting before all be well; and herein we shall need +to bear in mind the friendly words that passed between us of old; and +something tells me that thou wilt come well out of it, but still thou +wilt be sore tried". + +Then Njal took the award into his own hands from Gunnar, and said-- + +"I will not push this matter to the uttermost; thou shalt pay twelve +ounces of silver; but I will add this to my award, that if anything +happens from our homestead about which thou hast to utter an award, thou +wilt not be less easy in thy terms". + +Gunnar paid up the money out of hand, and rode home afterwards. Njal, +too, came home from the Thing, and his sons. Bergthora saw the money, +and said-- + +"This is very justly settled; but even as much money shall be paid for +Kol as time goes on." + +Gunnar came home from the Thing and blamed Hallgerda. She said, better +men lay unatoned in many places, Gunnar said, she might have her way in +beginning a quarrel, "but how the matter is to be settled rests with +me". + +Hallgerda was for ever chattering of Swart's slaying, but Bergthora +liked that ill. Once Njal and her sons went up to Thorolfsfell to see +about the housekeeping there, but that selfsame day this thing happened +when Bergthora was out of doors: she sees a man ride up to the house on +a black horse. She stayed there and did not go in, for she did not know +the man. That man had a spear in his hand, and was girded with a short +sword. She asked this man his name. + +"Atli is my name," says he. + +She asked whence he came. + +"I am an Eastfirther," he says. + +"Whither shalt thou go?" she says. + +"I am a homeless man," says he, "and I thought to see Njal and +Skarphedinn, and know if they would take me in." + +"What work is handiest to thee?" says she. + +"I am a man used to field-work," he says, "and many things else come +very handy to me; but I will not hide from thee that I am a man of hard +temper and it has been many a man's lot before now to bind up wounds at +my hand." + +"I do not blame thee," she says, "though thou art no milksop." + +Atli said--"Hast thou any voice in things here?" + +"I am Njal's wife," she says, "and I have as much to say to our +housefolk as he." + +"Wilt thou take me in then?" says he. + +"I will give thee thy choice of that," says she. "If thou wilt do all +the work that I set before thee, and that though I wish to send thee +where a man's life is at stake." + +"Thou must have so many men at thy beck," says he, "that thou wilt not +need me for such work." + +"That I will settle as I please," she says. + +"We will strike a bargain on these terms," says he. + +Then she took him into the household. Njal and his sons came home and +asked Bergthora what man that might be? + +"He is thy house-carle," she says, "and I took him in." Then she went on +to say he was no sluggard at work. + +"He will be a great worker enough, I daresay," says Njal, "but I do not +know whether he will be such a good worker." + +Skarphedinn was good to Atli. + +Njal and his sons ride to the Thing in the course of the summer; Gunnar +was also at the Thing. + +Njal took out a purse of money. + +"What money is that, father?" + +"Here is the money that Gunnar paid me for our house-carle last summer." + +"That will come to stand thee in some stead," says Skarphedinn, and +smiled as he spoke. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE SLAYING OF KOL, WHOM ATLI SLEW. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say that Atli asked Bergthora what +work he should do that day. + +"I have thought of some work for thee," she says; "thou shall go and +look for Kol until thou find him; for now shalt thou slay him this very +day, if thou wilt do my will." + +"This work is well fitted," says Atli, "for each of us two are bad +fellows; but still I will so lay myself out for him that one or other of +us shall die." + +"Well mayest thou fare," she says, "and thou shalt not do this deed for +nothing." + +He took his weapons and his horse, and rode up to Fleetlithe, and there +met men who were coming down from Lithend. They were at home east in the +Mark. They asked Atli whither he meant to go? He said he was riding to +look for an old jade. They said that was a small errand for such a +workman, "but still 'twould be better to ask those who have been about +last night". + +"Who are they?" says he. + +"Killing-Kol," say they, "Hallgerda's house-carle, fared from the fold +just now, and has been awake all night." + +"I do not know whether I dare to meet him," says Atli, "he is +bad-tempered, and may be that I shall let another's wound be my +warning." + +"Thou bearest that look beneath the brows as though thou wert no +coward," they said, and showed him where Kol was. + +Then he spurred his horse and rides fast, and when he meets Kol, Atli +said to him-- + +"Go the pack-saddle bands well?" + +"That's no business of thine, worthless fellow, nor of any one else +whence thou comest." + +Atli said--"Thou hast something behind that is earnest work, but that is +to die". + +After that Atli thrust at him with his spear, and struck him about his +middle. Kol swept at him with his axe, but missed him, and fell off his +horse, and died at once. + +Atli rode till he met some of Hallgerda's workmen, and said, "Go ye up +to the horse yonder, and look to Kol, for he has fallen off, and is +dead". + +"Hast thou slain him?" say they. + +"Well, 'twill seem to Hallgerda as though he has not fallen by his own +hand." + +After that Atli rode home and told Bergthora; she thanked him for this +deed, and for the words which he had spoken about it. + +"I do not know," says he, "what Njal will think of this." + +"He will take it well upon his hands," she says, "and I will tell thee +one thing as a token of it, that he has earned away with him to the +Thing the price of that thrall which we took last spring, and that money +will now serve for Kol; but though peace be made thou must still beware +of thyself, for Hallgerda will keep no peace." + +"Wilt thou send at all a man to Njal to tell him of the slaying?" + +"I will not," she says, "I should like it better that Kol were +unatoned." + +Then they stopped talking about it. + +Hallgerda was told of Kol's slaying, and of the words that Atli had +said. She said Atli should be paid off for them. She sent a man to the +Thing to tell Gunnar of Kol's slaying; he answered little or nothing, +and sent a man to tell Njal. He too made no answer, but Skarphedinn +said-- + +"Thralls are men of more mettle than of yore; they used to fly at each +other and fight, and no one thought much harm of that; but now they will +do naught but kill," and as he said this he smiled. + +Njal pulled down the purse of money which hung up in the booth, and went +out; his sons went with him to Gunnar's booth. + +Skarphedinn said to a man who was in the doorway of the booth-- + +"Say thou to Gunnar that my father wants to see him." + +He did so, and Gunnar went out at once and gave Njal a hearty welcome. +After that they began to talk. + +"'Tis ill done," says Njal, "that my housewife should have broken the +peace, and let thy house-carle be slain." + +"She shall not have blame for that," says Gunnar. + +"Settle the award thyself," says Njal. + +"So I will do," say Gunnar, "and I value those two men at an even price, +Swart and Kol. Thou shalt pay me twelve ounces in silver." + +Njal took the purse of money and handed it to Gunnar. Gunnar knew the +money, and saw it was the same that he had paid Njal. Njal went away to +his booth, and they were just as good friends as before. When Njal came +home, he blamed Bergthora; but she said she would never give way to +Hallgerda. Hallgerda was very cross with Gunnar, because he had made +peace for Kol's slaying, Gunnar told her he would never break with Njal +or his sons, and she flew into a great rage; but Gunnar took no heed of +that, and so they sat for that year, and nothing noteworthy happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE KILLING OF ATLI THE THRALL. + + +Next spring Njal said to Atli--"I wish that thou wouldst change thy +abode to the east firths, so that Hallgerda may not put an end to thy +life". + +"I am not afraid of that," says Atli, "and I will willingly stay at home +if I have the choice." + +"Still that is less wise," says Njal. + +"I think it better to lose my life in thy house than to change my +master; but this I will beg of thee, if I am slain, that a thrall's +price shall not be paid for me." + +"Thou shalt be atoned for as a free man; but perhaps Bergthora will make +thee a promise which she will fulfil, that revenge, man for man, shall +be taken for thee." + +Then he made up his mind to be a hired servant there. + +Now it must be told of Hallgerda that she sent a man west to Bearfirth, +to fetch Brynjolf the Unruly, her kinsman. He was a base son of Swan, +and he was one of the worst of men. Gunnar knew nothing about it. +Hallgerda said he was well fitted to be a grieve. So Brynjolf came from +the west, and Gunnar asked what he was to do there? He said he was going +to stay there. + +"Thou wilt not better our household," says Gunnar, "after what has been +told me of thee, but I will not turn away any of Hallgerda's kinsmen, +whom she wishes to be with her." + +Gunnar said little, but was not unkind to him, and so things went on +till the Thing. Gunnar rides to the Thing and Kolskegg rides too, and +when they came to the Thing they and Njal met, for he and his sons were +at the Thing, and all went well with Gunnar and them. + +Bergthora said to Atli--"Go thou up into Thorolfsfell and work there a +week". + +So he went up thither, and was there on the sly, and burnt charcoal in +the wood. + +Hallgerda said to Brynjolf--"I have been told Atli is not at home, and +he must be winning work on Thorolfsfell". + +"What thinkest thou likeliest that he is working at?" says he. + +"At something in the wood," she says. + +"What shall I do to him?" he asks. + +"Thou shalt kill him," says she. + +He was rather slow in answering her, and Hallgerda said-- + +"'Twould grow less in Thiostolf's eyes to kill Atli if he were alive." + +"Thou shalt have no need to goad me on much more," he says, and then he +seized his weapons, and takes his horse and mounts, and rides to +Thorolfsfell. There he saw a great reek of coal smoke east of the +homestead, so he rides thither, and gets off his horse and ties him up, +but he goes where the smoke was thickest. Then he sees where the +charcoal pit is, and a man stands by it. He saw that he had thrust his +spear in the ground by him. Brynjolf goes along with the smoke right up +to him, but he was eager at his work, and saw him not. Brynjolf gave him +a stroke on the head with his axe, and he turned so quick round that +Brynjolf loosed his hold of the axe, and Atli grasped the spear, and +hurled it after him. Then Brynjolf cast himself down on the ground, but +the spear flew away over him. + +"Lucky for thee that I was not ready for thee," says Atli, "but now +Hallgerda will be well pleased, for thou wilt tell her of my death; but +it is a comfort to know that thou wilt have the same fate soon; but come +now, take thy axe which has been here." + +He answered him never a word, nor did he take the axe before he was +dead. Then he rode up to the house on Thorolfsfell, and told of the +slaying, and after that rode home and told Hallgerda. She sent men to +Bergthorsknoll, and let them tell Bergthora, that now Kol's slaying was +paid for. + +After that Hallgerda sent a man to the Thing to tell Gunnar of Atli's +killing. + +Gunnar stood up, and Kolskegg with him, and Kolskegg said-- + +"Unthrifty will Hallgerda's kinsmen be to thee." + +Then they go to see Njal, and Gunnar said-- + +"I have to tell thee of Atli's killing." He told him also who slew him, +and went on, "and now I will bid thee atonement for the deed, and thou +shall make the award thyself". + +Njal said--"We two have always meant never to come to strife about +anything; but still I cannot make him out a thrall". + +Gunnar said that was all right, and stretched out his hand. + +Njal named his witnesses, and they made peace on those terms. + +Skarphedinn said, "Hallgerda does not let our house-carles die of old +age". + +Gunnar said--"Thy mother will take care that blow goes for blow between +the houses". + +"Ay, ay," says Njal, "there will be enough of that work." + +After that Njal fixed the price at a hundred in silver, but Gunnar paid +it down at once. Many who stood by said that the award was high; Gunnar +got wroth, and said that a full atonement was often paid for those who +were no brisker men than Atli. + +With that they rode home from the Thing. + +Bergthora said to Njal when she saw the money--"Thou thinkest thou hast +fulfilled thy promise, but now my promise is still behind". + +"There is no need that thou shouldst fulfil it," says Njal. + +"Nay," says she, "thou hast guessed it would be so; and so it shall be." + +Hallgerda said to Gunnar-- + +"Hast thou paid a hundred in silver for Atli's slaying, and made him a +free man?" + +"He was free before," says Gunnar, "and besides, I will not make Njal's +household outlaws who have forfeited their rights." + +"There's not a pin to choose between you," she said, "for both of you +are so blate." + +"That's as things prove," says he. + +Then Gunnar was for a long time very short with her, till she gave way +to him; and now all was still for the rest of that year; in the spring +Njal did not increase his household, and now men ride to the Thing about +summer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +THE SLAYING OF BRYNJOLF THE UNRULY. + + +There was a man named Thord, he was surnamed Freedmanson. Sigtrygg was +his father's name, and he had been the freedman of Asgerd, and he was +drowned in Markfleet. That was why Thord was with Njal afterwards. He +was a tall man and a strong, and he had fostered all Njal's sons. He had +set his heart on Gudfinna Thorolf's daughter, Njal's kinswoman; she was +housekeeper at home there, and was then with child. + +Now Bergthora came to talk with Thord Freedmanson; she said-- + +"Thou shalt go to kill Brynjolf, Hallgerda's kinsman." + +"I am no man-slayer," he says, "but still I will do what ever thou +wilt." + +"This is my will," she says. + +After that he went up to Lithend, and made them call Hallgerda out, and +asked where Brynjolf might be. + +"What's thy will with him?" she says. + +"I want him to tell me where he has hidden Atli's body; I have heard say +that he has buried it badly." + +She pointed to him, and said he was down yonder in Acretongue. + +"Take heed," says Thord, "that the same thing does not befall him as +befell Atli." + +"Thou art no man-slayer," she says, "and so nought will come of it even +if ye two do meet." + +"Never have I seen man's blood, nor do I know how I should feel if I +did," he says, and gallops out of the "town" and down to Acretongue. + +Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, had heard their talk. + +"Thou goadest his mind much, Hallgerda," she says, "but I think him a +dauntless man, and that thy kinsman will find." + +They met on the beaten way, Thord and Brynjolf; and Thord said--"Guard +thee, Brynjolf, for I will do no dastard's deed by thee". + +Brynjolf rode at Thord, and smote at him with his axe. He smote at him +at the same time with his axe, and hewed in sunder the haft just above +Brynjolf s hands, and then hewed at him at once a second time, and +struck him on the collarbone, and the blow went straight into his trunk. +Then he fell from horseback, and was dead on the spot. + +Thord met Hallgerda'a herdsman, and gave out the slaying as done by his +hand, and said where he lay, and bade him tell Hallgerda of the slaying. +After that he rode home to Bergthorsknoll, and told Bergthora of the +slaying, and other people too. + +"Good luck go with thy hands," she said. + +The herdsman told Hallgerda of the slaying; she was snappish at it, and +said much ill would come of it, if she might have her way. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +GUNNAR AND NJAL MAKE PEACE ABOUT BRYNJOLF'S SLAYING. + + +Now these tidings come to the Thing, and Njal made them tell him the +tale thrice, and then he said-- + +"More men now become man-slayers than I weened." + +Skarphedinn spoke--"That man, though, must have been twice fey," he +says, "who lost his life by our foster-father's hand, who has never seen +man's blood. And many would think that we brothers would sooner have +done this deed with the turn of temper that we have." + +"Scant apace wilt thou have," says Njal, "ere the like befalls thee; but +need will drive thee to it." + +Then they went to meet Gunnar, and told him of the slaying. Gunnar spoke +and said that was little manscathe, "but yet he was a free man". + +Njal offered to make peace at once, and Gunnar said yes, and he was to +settle the terms himself. He made his award there and then, and laid it +at one hundred in silver. Njal paid down the money on the spot, and they +were at peace after that. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +SIGMUND COMES OUT TO ICELAND. + + +There was a man whose name was Sigmund. He was the son of Lambi, the son +of Sighvat the Red. He was a great voyager, and a comely and a courteous +man; tall too, and strong. He was a man of proud spirit, and a good +skald, and well trained in most feats of strength. He was noisy and +boisterous, and given to jibes and mocking. He made the land east in +Hornfirth. Skiolld was the name of his fellow-traveller; he was a +Swedish man, and ill to do with. They took horse and rode from the east +out of Hornfirth, and did not draw bridle before they came to Lithend, +in the Fleetlithe. Gunnar gave them a hearty welcome, for the bonds of +kinship were close between them. Gunnar begged Sigmund to stay there +that winter, and Sigmund said he would take the offer if Skiolld his +fellow might be there too. + +"Well, I have been so told about him," said Gunnar, "that he is no +better of thy temper; but as it is, thou rather needest to have it +bettered. This, too, is a bad house to stay at, and I would just give +both of you a bit of advice, my kinsmen, not to fire up at the egging on +of my wife Hallgerda; for she takes much in hand that is far from my +will." + +"His hands are clean who warns another," says Sigmund. + +"Then mind the advice given thee," says Gunnar, "for thou art sure to be +sore tried; and go along always with me, and lean upon my counsel." + +After that they were in Gunnar's company. Hallgerda was good to Sigmund; +and it soon came about that things grew so warm that she loaded him with +money, and tended him no worse than her own husband; and many talked +about that, and did not know what lay under it. + +One day Hallgerda said to Gunnar--"It is not good to be content with +that hundred in silver which thou tookest for my kinsman Brynjolf. I +shall avenge him if I may," she says. + +Gunnar said he had no mind to bandy words with her, and went away. He +met Kolskegg, and said to him, "Go and see Njal; and tell him that Thord +must beware of himself though peace has been made, for, methinks, there +is faithlessness somewhere". + +He rode off and told Njal, but Njal told Thord, and Kolskegg rode home, +and Njal thanked them for their faithfulness. + +Once on a time they two were out in the "town," Njal and Thord; a +he-goat was wont to go up and down in the "town," and no one was allowed +to drive him away. Then Thord spoke and said-- + +"Well, this _is_ a wondrous thing!" + +"What is it that thou see'st that seems after a wondrous fashion?" says +Njal. + +"Methinks the goat lies here in the hollow, and he is all one gore of +blood." + +Njal said that there was no goat there, nor anything else. + +"What is it then?" says Thord. + +"Thou must be a 'fey' man," says Njal, "and thou must have seen the +fetch that follows thee, and now be ware of thyself." + +"That will stand me in no stead," says Thord, "if death is doomed for +me." + +Then Hallgerda came to talk with Thrain Sigfus' son, and said--"I would +think thee my son-in-law indeed," she says, "if thou slayest Thord +Freedmanson". + +"I will not do that," he says, "for then I shall have the wrath of my +kinsman Gunnar; and besides, great things hang on this deed, for this +slaying would soon be avenged." + +"Who will avenge it?" she asks; "is it the beardless carle?" + +"Not so," says he; "his sons will avenge it." + +After that they talked long and low, and no man knew what counsel they +took together. + +Once it happened that Gunnar was not at home, but those companions were. +Thrain had come in from Gritwater, and then he and they and Hallgerda +sat out of doors and talked. Then Hallgerda said-- + +"This have ye two brothers in arms, Sigmund and Skiolld, promised to +slay Thord Freedmanson; but Thrain thou hast promised me that thou +wouldst stand by them when they did the deed." + +They all acknowledged that they had given her this promise. + +"Now I will counsel you how to do it," she says: "Ye shall ride east +into Hornfirth after your goods, and come home about the beginning of +the Thing, but if ye are at home before it begins, Gunnar will wish that +ye should ride to the Thing with him. Njal will be at the Thing and his +sons and Gunnar, but then ye two shall slay Thord." + +They all agreed that this plan should be carried out. After that they +busked them east to the Firth, and Gunnar was not aware of what they +were about, and Gunnar rode to the Thing. Njal sent Thord Freedmanson +away east under Eyjafell, and bade him be away there one night. So he +went east, but he could not get back from the east, for the Fleet had +risen so high that it could not be crossed on horseback ever so far up. +Njal waited for him one night, for he had meant him to have ridden with +him; and Njal said to Bergthora, that she must send Thord to the Thing +as soon as ever he came home. Two nights after, Thord came from the +east, and Bergthora told him that he must ride to the Thing, "but first +thou shalt ride up into Thorolfsfell and see about the farm there, and +do not be there longer than one or two nights." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE SLAYING OF THORD FREEDSMANSON. + + +Then Sigmund came from the east and those companions. Hallgerda told +them that Thord was at home, but that he was to ride straightway to the +Thing after a few nights' space. "Now ye will have a fair chance at +him," he says, "but if this goes off, ye will never get nigh him". Men +came to Lithend from Thorolfsfell, and told Hallgerda that Thord was +there. Hallgerda went to Thrain Sigfus' son, and his companions, and +said to him, "Now is Thord on Thorolfsfell, and now your best plan is to +fall on him and kill him as he goes home". + +"That we will do," says Sigmund. So they went out, and took their +weapons and horses and rode on the way to meet him. Sigmund said to +Thrain, "Now thou shalt have nothing to do with it; for we shall not +need all of us". + +"Very well, so I will," says he. + +Then Thord rode up to them a little while after, and Sigmund said to +him-- + +"Give thyself up," he says, "for now shalt thou die." + +"That shall not be," says Thord, "come thou to single combat with me." + +"That shall not be either," says Sigmund, "we will make the most of our +numbers; but it is not strange that Skarphedinn is strong, for it is +said that a fourth of a foster-child's strength comes from the +foster-father." + +"Thou wilt feel the force of that," says Thord, "for Skarphedinn will +avenge me." + +After that they fall on him, and he breaks a spear of each of them, so +well did he guard himself. Then Skiolld cut off his hand, and he still +kept them off with his other hand for some time, till Sigmund thrust him +through. Then he fell dead to earth. They threw over him turf and +stones; and Thrain said--"We have won an ill work, and Njal's sons will +take this slaying ill when they hear of it". + +They ride home and tell Hallgerda. She was glad to hear of the slaying, +but Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, said-- + +"It is said 'but a short while is hand fain of blow,' and so it will be +here; but still Gunnar will set thee free from this matter. But if +Hallgerda makes thee take another fly in thy mouth, then that will be +thy bane." + +Hallgerda sent a man to Bergthorsknoll, to tell the slaying, and another +man to the Thing, to tell it to Gunnar. Bergthora said she would not +fight against Hallgerda with ill worth about such a matter; "that," +quoth she, "would be no revenge for so great a quarrel". + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +NJAL AND GUNNAR MAKE PEACE FOR THE SLAYING OF THORD. + + +But when the messenger came to the Thing to tell Gunnar of the slaying, +then Gunnar said-- + +"This has happened ill, and no tidings could come to my ears which I +should think worse; but yet we will now go at once and see Njal. I still +hope he may take it well, though he be sorely tried." + +So they went to see Njal, and called him to come out and talk to them. +He went out at once to meet Gunnar, and they talked, nor were there any +more men by at first than Kolskegg. + +"Hard tidings have I to tell thee," says Gunnar; "the slaying of Thord +Freedmanson, and I wish to offer thee self-doom for the slaying." + +Njal held his peace some while, and then said-- + +"That is well offered, and I will take it; but yet it is to be looked +for, that I shall have blame from my wife or from my sons for that, for +it will mislike them much; but still I will run the risk, for I know +that I have to deal with a good man and true; nor do I wish that any +breach should arise in our friendship on my part." + +"Wilt thou let thy sons be by, pray?" says Gunnar. + +"I will not," says Njal, "for they will not break the peace which I +make, but if they stand by while we make it, they will not pull well +together with us." + +"So it shall be," says Gunnar. "See thou to it alone." + +Then they shook one another by the hand, and made peace well and +quickly. + +Then Njal said--"The award that I make is two hundred in silver, and +that thou wilt think much". + +"I do not think it too much," says Gunnar, and went home to his booth. + +Njal's sons came home, and Skarphedinn asked whence that great sum of +money came, which his father held in his hand. + +Njal said--"I tell you of your foster-father's Thord's slaying, and we +two, Gunnar and I, have now made peace in the matter, and he has paid an +atonement for him as for two men". + +"Who slew him?" says Skarphedinn. + +"Sigmund and Skiolld, but Thrain was standing near too," says Njal. + +"They thought they had need of much strength," says Skarphedinn, and +sang a song-- + + Bold in deeds of derring-do, + Burdeners of ocean's steeds, + Strength enough it seems they needed + All to slay a single man; + When shall we our hands uplift? + We who brandish burnished steel-- + Famous men erst reddened weapons, + When? if now we quiet sit? + +"Yes! when shall the day come when we shall lift our hands?" + +"That will not be long off," says Njal, "and then thou shalt not be +baulked; but still, methinks, I set great store on your not breaking +this peace that I have made." + +"Then we will not break it," says Skarphedinn, "but if anything arises +between us, then we will bear in mind the old feud." + +"Then I will ask you to spare no one," says Njal. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +SIGMUND MOCKS NJAL AND HIS SONS. + + +Now men ride home from the Thing; and when Gunnar came home, he said to +Sigmund-- + +"Thou art a more unlucky man than I thought, and turnest thy good gifts +to thine own ill. But still I have made peace for thee with Njal and his +sons; and now, take care that thou dost not let another fly come into +thy mouth. Thou art not at all after my mind, thou goest about with +jibes and jeers, with scorn and mocking; but that is not my turn of +mind. That is why thou gettest on so well with Hallgerda, because ye two +have your minds more alike." + +Gunnar scolded him a long time, and he answered him well, and said he +would follow his counsel more for the time to come than he had followed +it hitherto. Gunnar told him then they might get on together. Gunnar and +Njal kept up their friendship though the rest of their people saw little +of one another. It happened once that some gangrel women came to Lithend +from Bergthorsknoll; they were great gossips and rather spiteful +tongued. Hallgerda had a bower, and sate often in it, and there sate +with her daughter Thorgerda, and there too were Thrain and Sigmund, and +a crowd of women. Gunnar was not there nor Kolskegg. These gangrel women +went into the bower, and Hallgerda greeted them, and made room for them; +then she asked them for news, but they said they had none to tell. +Hallgerda asked where they had been over night; they said at +Bergthorsknoll. + +"What was Njal doing?" she says. + +"He was hard at work sitting still," they said. + +"What were Njal's sons doing?" she says; "they think themselves men at +any rate." + +"Tall men they are in growth," they say, "but as yet they are all +untried; Skarphedinn whetted an axe, Grim fitted a spearhead to the +shaft, Helgi rivetted a hilt on a sword, Hauskuld strengthened the +handle of a shield." + +"They must be bent on some great deed," says Hallgerda. + +"We do not know that," they say. + +"What were Njal's house-carles doing?" she asks. + +"We don't know what some of them were doing, but one was carting dung up +the hill-side." + +"What good was there in doing that?" she asks. + +"He said it made the swathe better there than any where else," they +reply. "Witless now is Njal," says Hallgerda, "though he knows how to +give counsel on every thing." + +"How so?" they ask. + +"I will only bring forward what is true to prove it," says she; "why +doesn't he make them cart dung over his beard that he may be like other +men? Let us call him 'the beardless carle': but his sons we will call +'dung-beardlings'; and now do pray give some stave about them, Sigmund, +and let us get some good by thy gift of song." + +"I am quite ready to do that," says he, and sang these verses-- + + Lady proud with hawk in hand. + Prithee why should dungbeard boys, + Reft of reason, dare to hammer + Handle fast on battle shield? + For these lads of loathly feature-- + Lady scattering swanbath's beams[20]-- + Shall not shun this ditty shameful + Which I shape upon them now. + + He the beardless carle shall listen + While I lash him with abuse, + Loon at whom our stomachs sicken. + Soon shall hear these words of scorn; + Far too nice for such base fellows + Is the name my bounty gives, + Eën my muse her help refuses, + Making mirth of dungbeard boys. + + Here I find a nickname fitting + For those noisome dungbeard boys-- + Loath am I to break my bargain + Linked with such a noble man-- + Knit we all our taunts together-- + Known to me is mind of man-- + Call we now with outburst common, + Him, that churl, the beardless carle. + +"Thou art a jewel indeed," says Hallgerda; "how yielding thou art to +what I ask!" + +Just then Gunnar came in. He had been standing outside the door of the +bower, and heard all the words that had passed. They were in a great +fright when they saw him come in, and then all held their peace, but +before there had been bursts of laughter. + +Gunnar was very wroth, and said to Sigmund, "thou art a foolish man, and +one that cannot keep to good advice, and thou revilest Njal's sons, and +Njal himself who is most worth of all; and this thou doest in spite of +what thou hast already done. Mind, this will be thy death. But if any +man repeats these words that thou hast spoken, or these verses that thou +hast made, that man shall be sent away at once, and have my wrath +beside." + +But they were all so sore afraid of him, that no one dared to repeat +those words. After that he went away, but the gangrel women talked among +themselves, and said that they would get a reward from Bergthora if they +told her all this. They went then away afterwards down thither, and took +Bergthora aside and told her the whole story of their own free will. + +Bergthora spoke and said, when men sate down to the board, "Gifts have +been given to all of you, father and sons, and ye will be no true men +unless ye repay them somehow". + +"What gifts are these?" asks Skarphedinn. + +"You, my sons," says Bergthora, "have got one gift between you all. Ye +are nick-named 'Dung-beardlings,' but my husband 'the beardless carle'." + +"Ours is no woman's nature," says Skarphedinn, "that we should fly into +a rage at every little thing." + +"And yet Gunnar was wroth for your sakes," says she, "and he is thought +to be good-tempered. But if ye do not take vengeance for this wrong, ye +will avenge no shame." + +"The carline, our mother, thinks this fine sport," says Skarphedinn, and +smiled scornfully as he spoke, but still the sweat burst out upon his +brow, and red flecks came over his cheeks, but that was not his wont. +Grim was silent and bit his lip. Helgi made no sign, and he said never a +word. Hauskuld went off with Bergthora; she came into the room again, +and fretted and foamed much. + +Njal spoke and said, "'slow and sure,' says the proverb, mistress! and +so it is with many things, though they try men's tempers, that there +are always two sides to a story, even when vengeance is taken". + +But at even when Njal was come into his bed, he heard that an axe came +against the panel and rang loudly, but there was another shut bed, and +there the shields were hung up, and he sees that they are away. He said, +"who have taken down our shields?" + +"Thy sons went out with them," says Bergthora. + +Njal pulled his shoes on his feet, and went out at once, and round to +the other side of the house, and sees that they were taking their course +right up the slope; he said, "whither away, Skarphedinn?" + +"To look after thy sheep," he answers. + +"You would not then be armed," said Njal, "if you meant that, and your +errand must be something else." + +Then Skarphedinn sang a song-- + + Squanderer of hoarded wealth, + Some there are that own rich treasure, + Ore of sea that clasps the earth, + And yet care to count their sheep; + Those who forge sharp songs of mocking, + Death songs, scarcely can possess + Sense of sheep that crop the grass; + Such as these I seek in fight; + +and said afterwards-- + +"We shall fish for salmon, father." + +"'Twould be well then if it turned out so that the prey does not get +away from you." + +They went their way, but Njal went to his bed, and he said to Bergthora, +"Thy sons were out of doors all of them, with arms, and now thou must +have egged them on to something". + +"I will give them my heartfelt thanks," said Bergthora, "if they tell me +the slaying of Sigmund." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +THE SLAYING OF SIGMUND AND SKIOLLD. + + +Now they, Njal's sons, fare up to Fleetlithe, and were that night under +the Lithe, and when the day began to break, they came near to Lithend. +That same morning both Sigmund and Skiolld rose up and meant to go to +the stud-horses; they had bits with them, and caught the horses that +were in the "town" and rode away on them. They found the stud-horses +between two brooks. Skarphedinn caught sight of them, for Sigmund was in +bright clothing. Skarphedinn said, "See you now the red elf yonder, +lads?" They looked that way, and said they saw him. + +Skarphedinn spoke again: "Thou, Hauskuld, shalt have nothing to do with +it, for thou wilt often be sent about alone without due heed; but I mean +Sigmund for myself; methinks that is like a man; but Grim and Helgi, +they shall try to slay Skiolld". + +Hauskuld sat him down, but they went until they came up to them. +Skarphedinn said to Sigmund-- + +"Take thy weapons and defend thyself; that is more needful now, than to +make mocking songs on me and my brothers." + +Sigmund took up his weapons, but Skarphedinn waited the while. Skiolld +turned against Grim and Helgi, and they fell hotly to fight. Sigmund had +a helm on his head, and a shield at his side, and was girt with a sword, +his spear was in his hand; now he turns against Skarphedinn, and thrusts +at once at him with his spear, and the thrust came on his shield. +Skarphedinn dashes the spearhaft in two, and lifts up his axe and hews +at Sigmund, and cleaves his shield down to below the handle. Sigmund +drew his sword and cut at Skarphedinn, and the sword cuts into his +shield, so that it stuck fast. Skarphedinn gave the shield such a quick +twist, that Sigmund let go his sword. Then Skarphedinn hews at Sigmund +with his axe, the "Ogress of war". Sigmund had on a corselet, the axe +came on his shoulder. Skarphedinn cleft the shoulder-blade right +through, and at the same time pulled the axe towards him, Sigmund fell +down on both knees, but sprang up again at once. + +"Thou hast lifted low to me already," says Skarphedinn, "but still thou +shalt fall upon thy mother's bosom ere we two part." + +"Ill is that then," says Sigmund. + +Skarphedinn gave him a blow on his helm, and after that dealt Sigmund +his death-blow. + +Grim cut off Skiolld's foot at the ankle-joint, but Helgi thrust him +through with his spear, and he got his death there and then. + +Skarphedinn saw Hallgerda's shepherd, just as he had hewn off Sigmund's +head; he handed the head to the shepherd, and bade him bear it to +Hallgerda, and said she would know whether that head had made jeering +songs about them, and with that he sang a song. + + Here! this head shall thou, that heapest + Hoards from ocean-caverns won,[21] + Bear to Hallgerd with my greeting, + Her that hurries men to fight; + Sure am I, O firewood splitter! + That yon spendthrift knows it well, + And will answer if it ever + Uttered mocking songs on us. + +The shepherd casts the head down as soon as ever they parted, for he +dared not do so while their eyes were on him. They fared along till they +met some men down by Markfleet, and told them the tidings. Skarphedinn +gave himself out as the slayer of Sigmund; and Grim and Helgi as the +slayers of Skiolld; then they fared home and told Njal the tidings. He +answers them-- + +"Good luck to your hands! Here no self-doom will come to pass as things +stand." + +Now we must take up the story, and say that the shepherd came home to +Lithend. He told Hallgerda the tidings. + +"Skarphedinn put Sigmund's head into my hands," he says, "and bade me +bring it thee; but I dared not do it, for I knew not how thou wouldst +like that." + +"'Twas ill that thou didst not do that," she says; "I would have brought +it to Gunnar, and then he would have avenged his kinsman, or have to +bear every man's blame." + +After that she went to Gunnar and said, "I tell thee of thy kinsman +Sigmund's slaying: Skarphedinn slew him, and wanted them to bring me the +head". + +"Just what might be looked for to befall him," says Gunnar, "for ill +redes bring ill luck, and both you and Skarphedinn have often done one +another spiteful turns". + +Then Gunnar went away; he let no steps be taken towards a suit for +manslaughter, and did nothing about it. Hallgerda often put him in mind +of it, and kept saying that Sigmund had fallen unatoned. Gunnar gave no +heed to that. + +Now three Things passed away, at each of which men thought that he +would follow up the suit: then a knotty point came on Gunnar's hands, +which he knew not how to set about, and then he rode to find Njal. He +gave Gunnar a hearty welcome. Gunnar said to Njal, "I am come to seek a +bit of good counsel at thy hands about a knotty point". + +"Thou art worthy of it," says Njal, and gave him counsel what to do. +Then Gunnar stood up and thanked him. Njal then spoke and said, and took +Gunnar by the hand, "Over long hath thy kinsman Sigmund been unatoned". +"He has been long ago atoned," says Gunnar, "but still I will not fling +back the honour offered me." + +Gunnar had never spoken an ill word of Njal's sons. Njal would have +nothing else than that Gunnar should make his own award in the matter. +He awarded two hundred in silver, but let Skiolld fall without a price. +They paid down all the money at once. + +Gunnar declared this their atonement at the Thingskala Thing, when most +men were at it, and laid great weight on the way in which they (Njal and +his sons) had behaved; he told too those bad words which cost Sigmund +his life, and no man was to repeat them or sing the verses, but if any +sung them, the man who uttered them was to fall without atonement. + +Both Gunnar and Njal gave each other their words that no such matters +should ever happen that they would not settle among themselves; and this +pledge was well kept ever after, and they were always friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +OF GIZUR THE WHITE AND GEIR THE PRIEST. + + +There was a man named Gizur the White; he was Teit's son; Kettlebjorn +the Old's son, of Mossfell. Gizur the White kept house at Mossfell, and +was a great chief. That man is also named in this story, whose name was +Geir the priest; his mother was Thorkatla, another daughter of +Kettlebjorn the Old of Mossfell. Geir kept house at Lithe. He and Gizur +backed one another in every matter. At that time Mord Valgard's son kept +house at Hof on the Rangrivervales; he was crafty and spiteful. Valgard +his father was then abroad, but his mother was dead. He was very envious +of Gunnar of Lithend. He was wealthy, so far as goods went, but had not +many friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +OF OTKELL IN KIRKBY. + + +There was a man named Otkell; he was the son of Skarf, the son of +Hallkell, who fought with Gorm of Gormness, and felled him on the +holm.[22] This Hallkell and Kettlebjorn the Old were brothers. + +Otkell kept house at Kirkby; his wife's name was Thorgerda; she was a +daughter of Mar, the son of Runolf, the son of Naddad of the Faroe +isles. Otkell was wealthy in goods. His son's name was Thorgeir; he was +young in years, and a bold dashing man. + +Skamkell was the name of another man; he kept house at another farm +called Hof; he was well off for money, but he was a spiteful man and a +liar; quarrelsome too, and ill to deal with. He was Otkell's friend. +Hallkell was the name of Otkell's brother; he was a tall strong man, and +lived there with Otkell; their brother's name was Hallbjorn the White; +he brought out to Iceland a thrall, whose name was Malcolm; he was Irish +and had not many friends. + +Hallbjorn went to stay with Otkell, and so did his thrall Malcolm. The +thrall was always saying that he should think himself happy if Otkell +owned him. Otkell was kind to him, and gave him a knife and belt, and a +full suit of clothes, but the thrall turned his hand to any work that +Otkell wished. + +Otkell wanted to make a bargain with his brother for the thrall; he said +he would give him the thrall, but said too, that he was a worse treasure +than he thought. And as soon as Otkell owned the thrall, then he did +less and less work. Otkell often said outright to Hallbjorn, that he +thought the thrall did little work; and he told Otkell that there was +worse in him yet to come. + +At that time came a great scarcity, so that men fell short both of meat +and hay, and that spread over all parts of Iceland. Gunnar shared his +hay and meat with many men; and all got them who came thither, so long +as his stores lasted. At last it came about that Gunnar himself fell +short both of hay and meat. Then Gunnar called on Kolskegg to go along +with him; he called too on Thrain Sigfus' son, and Lambi Sigurd's son. +They fared to Kirkby, and called Otkell out. He greeted them, and Gunnar +said, "It so happens that I am come to deal with thee for hay and meat, +if there be any left". + +Otkell answers, "There is store of both, but I will sell thee neither". + +"Wilt thou give me them then," says Gunnar, "and run the risk of my +paying thee back somehow?" + +"I will not do that either," says Otkell. + +Skamkell all the while was giving him bad counsel. + +Then Thrain Sigfus' son said, "It would serve him right if we take both +hay and meat and lay down the worth of them instead". + +Skamkell answered, "All the men of Mossfell must be dead and gone then, +if ye, sons of Sigfus, are to come and rob them". + +"I will have no hand in any robbery," says Gunnar. + +"Wilt thou buy a thrall of me?" says Otkell. + +"I'll not spare to do that," says Gunnar. After that Gunnar bought the +thrall, and fared away as things stood. + +Njal hears of this, and said, "Such things are ill done, to refuse to +let Gunnar buy; and it is not a good outlook for others if such men as +he cannot get what they want". + +"What's the good of thy talking so much about such a little matter?" +says Bergthora; "far more like a man would it be to let him have both +meat and hay, when thou lackest neither of them." + +"That is clear as day," says Njal, "and I will of a surety supply his +need somewhat." + +Then he fared up to Thorolfsfell, and his sons with him, and they bound +hay on fifteen horses; but on five horses they had meat. Njal came to +Lithend, and called Gunnar out. He greeted them kindly. + +"Here is hay and meat," said Njal, "which I will give thee; and my wish +is, that thou shouldst never look to any one else than to me if thou +standest in need of any thing." + +"Good are thy gifts," says Gunnar, "but methinks thy friendship is still +more worth, and that of thy sons." + +After that Njal fared home, and now the spring passes away. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +HOW HALLGERDA MAKES MALCOLM STEAL FROM KIRKBY. + + +Now Gunnar is about to ride to the Thing, but a great crowd of men from +the Side east turned in as guests at his house. + +Gunnar bade them come and be his guests again, as they rode back from +the Thing; and they said they would do so. + +Now they ride to the Thing, and Njal and his sons were there. That Thing +was still and quiet. + +Now we must take up the story, and say that Hallgerda comes to talk with +Malcolm the thrall. + +"I have thought of an errand to send thee on," she says; "thou shalt go +to Kirkby." + +"And what shall I do there?" he says. + +"Thou shalt steal from thence food enough to load two horses, and mind +and have butter and cheese; but thou shalt lay fire in the storehouse, +and all will think that it has arisen out of heedlessness, but no one +will think that there has been theft." + +"Bad have I been," said the thrall, "but never have I been a thief." + +"Hear a wonder!" says Hallgerda, "thou makest thyself good, thou that +hast been both thief and murderer; but thou shalt not dare to do aught +else than go, else will I let thee be slain." + +He thought he knew enough of her to be sure that she would so do if he +went not; so he took at night two horses and laid pack-saddles on them, +and went his way to Kirkby. The house-dog knew him and did not bark at +him, and ran and fawned on him. After that he went to the storehouse and +loaded the two horses with food out of it, but the storehouse he burnt, +and the dog he slew. + +He went up along by Rangriver, and his shoe-thong snapped; so he takes +his knife and makes the shoe right, but he leaves the knife and belt +lying there behind him. + +He fares till he comes to Lithend; then he misses the knife, but dares +not to go back. + +Now he brings Hallgerda the food, and she showed herself well pleased at +it. + +Next morning when men came out of doors at Kirkby there they saw great +scathe. Then a man was sent to the Thing to tell Otkell, he bore the +loss well, and said it must have happened because the kitchen was next +to the storehouse; and all thought that that was how it happened. + +Now men ride home from the Thing, and many rode to Lithend. Hallgerda +set food on the hoard, and in came cheese and butter. Gunnar knew that +such food was not to be looked for in his house, and asked Hallgerda +whence it came? + +"Thence," she says, "whence thou mightest well eat of it; besides, it is +no man's business to trouble himself with housekeeping." + +Gunnar got wroth and said, "Ill indeed is it if I am a partaker with +thieves"; and with that he gave her a slap on the cheek. + +She said she would bear that slap in mind and repay it if she could. + +So she went off and he went with her, and then all that was on the board +was cleared away, but flesh-meat was brought in instead, and all thought +that was because the flesh was thought to have been got in a better way. + +Now the men who had been at the Thing fare away. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +OF SKAMKELL'S EVIL COUNSEL. + + +Now we must tell of Skamkell. He rides after some sheep up along +Rangriver, and he sees something shining in the path. He finds a knife +and belt, and thinks he knows both of them. He fares with them to +Kirkby; Otkell was out of doors when Skamkell came. He spoke to him and +said-- + +"Knowest thou aught of these pretty things?" + +"Of a surety," says Otkell, "I know them." + +"Who owns them?" asks Skamkell. + +"Malcolm the thrall," says Otkell. + +"Then more shall see and know them than we two," says Skamkell, "for +true will I be to thee in counsel." + +They showed them to many men, and all knew them. Then Skamkell said-- + +"What counsel wilt thou now take?" + +"We shall go and see Mord Valgard's son," answers Otkell, "and seek +counsel of him." + +So they went to Hof, and showed the pretty things to Mord, and asked him +if he knew them? + +He said he knew them well enough, but what was there in that? "Do you +think you have a right to look for anything at Lithend?" + +"We think it hard for us," says Skamkell, "to know what to do, when such +mighty men have a hand in it." + +"That is so, sure enough," says Mord, "but yet I will get to know those +things out of Gunnar's household, which none of you will ever know." + +"We would give thee money," they say, "if thou wouldst search out this +thing." + +"That money I shall buy full dear," answered Mord, "but still, perhaps, +it may be that I will look at the matter." + +They gave him three marks of silver for lending them his help. + +Then he gave them this counsel, that women should go about from house to +house with small wares, and give them to the housewives, and mark what +was given them in return. + +"For," he says, "'tis the turn of mind of all men first to give away +what has been stolen, if they have it in their keeping, and so it will +be here also, if this hath happened by the hand of man. Ye shall then +come and show me what has been given to each in each house, and I shall +then be free from further share in this matter, if the truth comes to +light." + +To this they agreed, and went home afterwards. + +Mord sends women about the country, and they were away half a month. +Then they came back, and had big bundles. Mord asked where they had most +given them? + +They said that at Lithend most was given them, and Hallgerda had been +most bountiful to them. + +He asked what was given them there? + +"Cheese," say they. + +He begged to see it, and they showed it to him, and it was in great +slices. These he took and kept. + +A little after, Mord fared to see Otkell, and bade that he would bring +Thorgerda's cheese-mould; and when that was done, he laid the slices +down in it, and lo! they fitted the mould in every way. + +Then they saw, too, that a whole cheese had been given to them. + +Then Mord said, "Now may ye see that Hallgerda must have stolen the +cheese"; and they all passed the same judgment; and then Mord said, that +now he thought he was free of this matter. + +After that they parted. + +Shortly after Kolskegg fell to talking with Gunnar, and said-- + +"Ill is it to tell, but the story is in every man's mouth, that +Hallgerda must have stolen, and that she was at the bottom of all that +great scathe that befell at Kirkby." + +Gunnar said that he too thought that must be so. "But what is to be done +now?" + +Kolskegg answered, "That wilt think it thy most bounden duty to make +atonement for thy wife's wrong, and methinks it were best that thou +farest to see Otkell, and makest him a handsome offer." + +"This is well spoken," says Gunnar, "and so it shall be." + +A little after Gunnar sent after Thrain Sigfus' son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son, and they came at once. + +Gunnar told them whither he meant to go, and they were well pleased. +Gunnar rode with eleven men to Kirkby, and called Otkell out. Skamkell +was there too, and said, "I will go out with thee, and it will be best +now to have the balance of wit on thy side. And I would wish to stand +closest by thee when thou needest it most, and now this will be put to +the proof. Methinks it were best that thou puttest on an air of great +weight." + +Then they, Otkell and Skamkell, and Hallkell and Hallbjorn, went out all +of them. + +They greeted Gunnar, and he took their greeting well. Otkell asks +whither he meant to go? + +"No farther than here," says Gunnar, "and my errand hither is to tell +thee about that bad mishap--how it arose from the plotting of my wife +and that thrall whom I bought from thee." + +"'Tis only what was to be looked for," says Hallbjorn. + +"Now I will make thee a good offer," says Gunnar, "and the offer is +this, that the best men here in the country round settle the matter." + +"This is a fair-sounding offer," said Skamkell, "but an unfair and +uneven one. Thou art a man who has many friends among the householders, +but Otkell has not many friends." + +"Well," says Gunnar, "then I will offer thee that I shall make an award, +and utter it here on this spot, and so we will settle the matter, and my +good-will shall follow the settlement. But I will make thee an atonement +by paying twice the worth of what was lost." + +"This choice shalt thou not take," said Skamkell; "and it is unworthy to +give up to him the right to make his own award, when thou oughtest to +have kept it for thyself." + +So Otkell said, "I will not give up to thee, Gunnar, the right to make +thine own award." + +"I see plainly," said Gunnar, "the help of men who will be paid off for +it one day I daresay; but come now, utter an award for thyself." + +Otkell leant toward Skamkell and said, "What shall I answer now?" + +"This thou shalt call a good offer, but still put thy suit into the +hands of Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, and then many will say +this, that thou behavest like Hallkell, thy grandfather, who was the +greatest of champions." + +"Well offered is this, Gunnar," said Otkell, "but still my will is thou +wouldst give me time to see Gizur the white." + +"Do now whatever thou likest in the matter," said Gunnar; "but men will +say this, that thou couldst not see thine own honour when thou wouldst +have none of the choices I offer thee." + +Then Gunnar rode home, and when he had gone away, Hallbjorn said, "Here +I see how much man differs from man. Gunnar made thee good offers, but +thou wouldst take none of them; or how dost thou think to strive with +Gunnar in a quarrel, when no one is his match in fight. But now he is +still so kind-hearted a man that it may be he will let these offers +stand, though thou art only ready to take them afterwards. Methinks it +were best that thou farest to see Gizur the white and Geir the priest +now this very hour." + +Otkell let them catch his horse, and made ready in every way. Otkell +was not sharpsighted, and Skamkell walked on the way along with him, and +said to Otkell-- + +"Methought it strange that thy brother would not take this toil from +thee, and now I will make thee an offer to fare instead of thee, for I +know that the journey is irksome to thee." + +"I will take that offer," says Otkell, "but mind and be as truthful as +ever thou canst." + +"So it shall be," says Skamkell. + +Then Skamkell took his horse and cloak, but Otkell walks home. + +Hallbjorn was out of doors, and said to Otkell-- + +"Ill is it to have a thrall for one's bosom friend, and we shall rue +this for ever that thou hast turned back, and it is an unwise step to +send the greatest liar on an errand, of which one may so speak that +men's lives hang on it." + +"Thou wouldst be sore afraid," says Otkell, "if Gunnar had his bill +aloft, when thou art so scared now." + +"No one knows who will be most afraid then," said Hallbjorn; "but this +thou wilt have to own, that Gunnar does not lose much time in +brandishing his bill when he is wroth." + +"Ah!" said Otkell, "ye are all of you for yielding but Skamkell." + +And then they were both wroth. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +OF SKAMKELL'S LYING. + + +Skamkell came to Mossfell, and repeated all the offers to Gizur. + +"It so seems to me," says Gizur, "as though these have been bravely +offered; but why took he not these offers?" + +"The chief cause was," answers Skamkell, "that all wished to show thee +honour, and that was why he waited for thy utterance; besides, that is +best for all." + +So Skamkell stayed there the night over, but Gizur sent a man to fetch +Geir the priest; and he came there early. Then Gizur told him the story +and said-- + +"What course is to be taken now?" + +"As thou no doubt hast already made up thy mind--to make the best of the +business for both sides." + +"Now we will let Skamkell tell his tale a second time, and see how he +repeats it." + +So they did that, and Gizur said-- + +"Thou must have told this story right; but still I have seen thee to be +the wickedest of men, and there is no faith in faces if thou turnest out +well." + +Skamkell fared home, and rides first to Kirkby and calls Otkell out. He +greets Skamkell well, and Skamkell brought him the greeting of Gizur and +Geir. + +"But about this matter of the suit," he says, "there is no need to speak +softly, how that it is the will of both Gizur and Geir that this suit +should not be settled in a friendly way. They gave that counsel that a +summons should be set on foot, and that Gunnar should be summoned for +having partaken of the goods, but Hallgerda for stealing them." + +"It shall be done," said Otkell, "in everything as they have given +counsel." + +"They thought most of this," says Skamkell, "that thou hadst behaved so +proudly; but as for me, I made as great a man of thee in everything as I +could." + +Now Otkell tells all this to his brothers, and Hallbjorn said-- + +"This must be the biggest lie." + +Now the time goes on until the last of the summoning days before the +Althing came. + +Then Otkell called on his brothers and Skamkell to ride on the business +of the summons to Lithend. + +Hallbjorn said he would go, but said also that they would rue this +summoning as time went on. + +Now they rode twelve of them together to Lithend, but when they came +into the "town," there was Gunnar out of doors, and knew naught of their +coming till they had ridden right up to the house. + +He did not go indoors then, and Otkell thundered out the summons there +and then; but when they had made an end of the summoning Skamkell said-- + +"Is it all right, master?" + +"Ye know that best," says Gunnar, "but I will put thee in mind of this +journey one of these days, and of thy good help." + +"That will not harm us," says Skamkell, "if thy bill be not aloft." + +Gunnar was very wroth and went indoors, and told Kolskegg, and Kolskegg +said-- + +"Ill was it that we were not out of doors; they should have come here on +the most shameful journey, if we had been by." + +"Everything bides its time," says Gunnar; "but this journey will not +turn out to their honour." + +A little after Gunnar went and told Njal. + +"Let it not worry thee a jot," said Njal, "for this will be the greatest +honour to thee, ere this Thing comes to an end. As for us, we will all +back thee with counsel and force." + +Gunnar thanked him and rode home. + +Otkell rides to the Thing, and his brothers with him and Skamkell. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +OF GUNNAR. + + +Gunnar rode to the Thing and all the sons of Sigfus; Njal and his sons +too, they all went with Gunnar; and it was said that no band was so well +knit and hardy as theirs. + +Gunnar went one day to the booth of the Dalemen; Hrut was by the booth +and Hauskuld, and they greeted Gunnar well. Now Gunnar tells them the +whole story of the suit up to that time. + +"What counsel gives Njal?" asks Hrut. + +"He bade me seek you brothers," says Gunnar, "and said he was sure that +he and you would look at the matter in the same light." + +"He wishes then," says Hrut, "that I should say what I think for +kinship's sake; and so it shall be. Thou shalt challenge Gizur the white +to combat on the island, if they do not leave the whole award to thee; +but Kolskegg shall challenge Geir the Priest. As for Otkell and his +crew, men must be got ready to fall on them; and now we have such great +strength all of us together, that thou mayst carry out whatever thou +wilt." + +Gunnar went home to his booth and told Njal. + +"Just what I looked for," said Njal. + +Wolf Aurpriest got wind of this plan, and told Gizur, and Gizur said to +Otkell-- + +"Who gave thee that counsel that thou shouldst summon Gunnar?" + +"Skamkell told me that was the counsel of both Geir the priest and +thyself." + +"But where is that scoundrel," says Gizur, "who has thus lied?" + +"He lies sick up at our booth," says Otkell. + +"May he never rise from his bed," says Gizur, "Now we must all go to see +Gunnar, and offer him the right to make his own award; but I know not +whether he will take that now." + +Many men spoke ill of Skamkell, and he lay sick all through the Thing. + +Gizur and his friends went to Gunnar's booth; their coming was known, +and Gunnar was told as he sat in his booth, and then they all went out +and stood in array. + +Gizur the white came first, and after a while he spoke and said-- + +"This is our offer--that thou, Gunnar, makest thine own award in this +suit." + +"Then," says Gunnar, "it was no doubt far from thy counsel that I was +summoned." + +"I gave no such counsel," says Gizur, "neither I nor Geir." + +"Then thou must clear thyself of this charge by fitting proof." + +"What proof dost thou ask?" says Gizur. + +"That thou takest an oath," says Gunnar. + +"That I will do," says Gizur, "if thou wilt take the award into thine +own hands." + +"That was the offer I made a while ago," says Gunnar; "but now, +methinks, I have a greater matter to pass judgment on." + +"It will not be right to refuse to make thine own award," said Njal; +"for the greater the matter, the greater the honour in making it." + +"Well," said Gunnar, "I will do this to please my friends, and utter my +award; but I give Otkell this bit of advice, never to give me cause for +quarrel hereafter." + +Then Hrut and Hauskuld were sent for, and they came thither, and then +Gizur the White and Geir the priest took their oaths; but Gunnar made +his award, and spoke with no man about it, and afterwards he uttered it +as follows:-- + +"This is my award," he says; "first, I lay it down that the storehouse +must be paid for, and the food that was therein; but for the thrall, I +will pay thee no fine, for that thou hiddest his faults; but I award him +back to thee; for as the saying is, 'Birds of a feather flock most +together'. Then, on the other hand, I see that thou hast summoned me in +scorn and mockery, and for that I award to myself no less a sum than +what the house that was burnt and the stores in it were worth; but if ye +think it better that we be not set at one again, then I will let you +have your choice of that, but if so I have already made up my mind what +I shall do, and then I will fulfil my purpose." + +"What we ask," said Gizur, "is that thou shouldst not be hard on Otkell, +but we beg this of thee, on the other hand, that thou wouldst be his +friend." + +"That shall never be," said Gunnar, "so long as I live; but he shall +have Skamkell's friendship; on that he has long leant." + +"Well," answers Gizur, "we will close with thee in this matter, though +thou alone layest down the terms." + +Then all this atonement was made and hands were shaken on it, and Gunnar +said to Otkell-- + +"It were wiser to go away to thy kinsfolk; but if thou wilt be here in +this country, mind that thou givest me no cause of quarrel." + +"That is wholesome counsel," said Gizur; "and so he shall do." + +So Gunnar had the greatest honour from that suit, and afterwards men +rode home from the Thing. + +Now Gunnar sits in his house at home, and so things are quiet for a +while. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +OF RUNOLF, THE SON OF WOLF AURPRIEST. + + +There was a man named Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest, he kept house +at the Dale, east of Markfleet. He was Otkell's guest once when he rode +from the Thing. Otkell gave him an ox, all black, without a spot of +white, nine winters old. Runolf thanked him for the gift, and bade him +come and see him at home whenever he chose to go; and this bidding +stood over for some while, so that he had not paid the visit. Runolf +often sent men to him and put him in mind that he ought to come; and he +always said he would come, but never went. + +Now Otkell had two horses, dun coloured, with a black stripe down the +back; they were the best steeds to ride in all the country round, and so +fond of each other, that whenever one went before, the other ran after +him. + +There was an Easterling staying with Otkell, whose name was Audulf; he +had set his heart on Signy Otkell's daughter. Audulf was a tall man in +growth, and strong. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +HOW OTKELL RODE OVER GUNNAR. + + +It happened next spring that Otkell said that they would ride east to +the Dale, to pay Runolf a visit, and all showed themselves well pleased +at that. Skamkell and his two brothers, and Audulf and three men more, +went along with Otkell. Otkell rode one of the dun horses, but the other +ran loose by his side. They shaped their course east towards Markfleet; +and now Otkell gallops ahead, and now the horses race against each +other, and they break away from the path up towards the Fleetlithe. + +Now, Otkell goes faster than he wished, and it happened that Gunnar had +gone away from home out of his house all alone; and he had a corn-sieve +in one hand, but in the other a hand-axe. He goes down to his seed field +and sows his corn there, and had laid his cloak of fine stuff and his +axe down by his aide, and so he sows the corn a while. + +Now, it must be told how Otkell rides faster than he would. He had spurs +on his feet, and so he gallops down over the ploughed field, and neither +of them sees the other; and just as Gunnar stands upright, Otkell rides +down upon him, and drives one of the spurs into Gunnar's ear, and gives +him a great gash, and it bleeds at once much. + +Just then Otkell's companions rode up. + +"Ye may see, all of you," says Gunnar, "that thou hast drawn my blood, +and it is unworthy to go on so. First thou hast summoned me, but now +thou treadest me under foot, and ridest over me." + +Skamkell said, "Well it was no worse, master, but thou wast not one whit +less wroth at the Thing, when thou tookest the self-doom and clutchedst +thy bill." + +Gunnar said, "When we two next meet thou shalt see the bill." After that +they part thus, and Skamkell shouted out and said, "Ye ride hard, lads!" + +Gunnar went home, and said never a word to any one about what had +happened, and no one thought that this wound could have come by man's +doing. + +It happened, though, one day that he told it to his brother Kolskegg, +and Kolskegg said-- + +"This thou shalt tell to more men, so that it may not be said that thou +layest blame on dead men; for it will be gainsaid if witnesses do not +know beforehand what has passed between you." + +Then Gunnar told it to his neighbours, and there was little talk about +it at first. + +Otkell comes east to the Dale, and they get a hearty welcome there, and +sit there a week. + +Skamkell told Runolf all about their meeting with Gunnar, and how it had +gone off; and one man had happened to ask how Gunnar behaved. + +"Why," said Skamkell, "if it were a low-born man it would have been said +that he had wept." + +"Such things are ill spoken," says Runolf, "and when ye two next meet, +thou wilt have to own that there is no voice of weeping in his frame of +mind; and it will be well if better men have not to pay for thy spite. +Now it seems to me best when ye wish to go home that I should go with +you, for Gunnar will do me no harm." + +"I will not have that," says Otkell; "but I will ride across the Fleet +lower down." + +Runolf gave Otkell good gifts, and said they should not see one another +again. + +Otkell bade him then to bear his sons in mind if things turned out so. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +THE FIGHT AT RANGRIVER. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say that Gunnar was out of doors at +Lithend, and sees his shepherd galloping up to the yard. The shepherd +rode straight into the "town"; and Gunnar said, "Why ridest thou so +hard?" + +"I would be faithful to thee," said the man; "I saw men riding down +along Markfleet, eight of them together, and four of them were in +coloured clothes." + +Gunnar said, "That must be Otkell". + +The lad said, "I have often heard many temper-trying words of +Skamkell's; for Skamkell spoke away there East at Dale, and said that +thou sheddest tears when they rode over thee; but I tell it thee because +I cannot bear to listen to such speeches of worthless men". + +"We must not be word-sick," says Gunnar, "but from this day forth thou +shalt do no other work than what thou choosest for thyself." + +"Shall I say aught of this to Kolskegg thy brother?" asked the shepherd. + +"Go thou and sleep," says Gunnar; "I will tell Kolskegg." + +The lad laid him down and fell asleep at once, but Gunnar took the +shepherd's horse and laid his saddle on him; he took his shield, and +girded him with his sword, Oliver's gift; he sets his helm on his head; +takes his bill, and something sung loud in it, and his mother, Rannveig, +heard it. She went up to him and said, "Wrathful art thou now, my son, +and never saw I thee thus before". + +Gunnar goes out, and drives the butt of his spear into the earth, and +throws himself into the saddle, and rides away. + +His mother, Rannveig, went into the sitting-room, where there was a +great noise of talking. + +"Ye speak loud," she says, "but yet the bill gave a louder sound when +Gunnar went out." + +Kolskegg heard what she said, and spoke, "This betokens no small +tidings". + +"That is well," says Hallgerda, "now they will soon prove whether he +goes away from them weeping." + +Kolskegg takes his weapons and seeks him a horse, and rides after Gunnar +as fast as he could. + +Gunnar rides across Acretongue, and so to Geilastofna, and thence to +Rangriver, and down the stream to the ford at Hof. There were some women +at the milking-post there. Gunnar jumped off his horse and tied him up. +By this time the others were riding up towards him; there were flat +stones covered with mud in the path that led down to the ford. + +Gunnar called out to them and said, "Now is the time to guard +yourselves; here now is the bill, and here now ye will put it to the +proof whether I shed one tear for all of you". + +Then they all of them sprang off their horses' backs and made towards +Gunnar. Hallbjorn was the foremost. + +"Do not thou come on," says Gunnar; "thee last of all would I harm; but +I will spare no one if I have to fight to my life." + +"That I cannot do," says Hallbjorn; "thou wilt strive to kill my brother +for all that, and it is a shame if I sit idly by." And as he said this +he thrust at Gunnar with a great spear which he held in both hands. + +Gunnar threw his shield before the blow, but Hallbjorn pierced the +shield through. Gunnar thrust the shield down so hard that it stood fast +in the earth,[23] but he brandished his sword so quickly that no eye +could follow it, and he made a blow with the sword, and it fell on +Hallbjorn's arm above the wrist, so that it cut it off. + +Skamkell ran behind Gunnar's back and makes a blow at him with a great +axe. Gunnar turned short round upon him and parries the blow with the +bill, and caught the axe under one of its horns with such a wrench that +it flew out of Skamkell's hand away into the river. + +Then Gunnar sang a song. + + Once thou askedst, foolish fellow, + Of this man, this sea-horse racer, + When as fast as feet could foot it + Forth ye fled from farm of mine, + Whether that were rightly summoned? + Now with gore the spear we redden, + Battle-eager and avenge us + Thus on thee, vile source of strife. + +Gunnar gives another thrust with his bill, and through Skamkell, and +lifts him up and casts him down in the muddy path on his head. + +Audulf the Easterling snatches up a spear and launches it at Gunnar. +Gunnar caught the spear with his hand in the air, and hurled it back at +once, and it flew through the shield and the Easterling too, and so down +into the earth. + +Otkell smites at Gunnar with his sword, and aims at his leg just below +the knee, but Gunnar leapt up into the air and he misses him. Then +Gunnar thrusts at him the bill, and the blow goes through him. + +Then Kolskegg comes up, and rushes at once at Hallkell and dealt him his +death-blow with his short sword. There and then they slay eight men. + +A woman who saw all this, ran home and told Mord, and besought him to +part them. + +"They alone will be there," he says, "of whom I care not though they +slay one another." + +"Thou canst not mean to say that," she says, "for thy kinsman Gunnar, +and thy friend Otkell will be there." + +"Baggage that thou art," he says, "thou art always chattering," and so +he lay still indoors while they fought. + +Gunnar and Kolskegg rode home after this work, and they rode hard up +along the river bank, and Gunnar slipped off his horse and came down on +his feet. + +Then Kolskegg said, "Hard now thou ridest, brother!" + +"Ay," said Gunnar, "that was what Skamkell said when he uttered those +very words when they rode over me." + +"Well! thou hast avenged that now," says Kolskegg. + +"I would like to know," says Gunnar, "whether I am by so much the less +brisk and bold than other men, because I think more of killing men than +they?" + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +NJAL'S ADVICE TO GUNNAR. + + +Now those tidings are heard far and wide, and many say that they thought +they had not happened before it was likely. Gunnar rode to +Bergthorsknoll and told Njal of these deeds. + +Njal said, "Thou hast done great things, but thou hast been sorely +tried." + +"How will it now go henceforth?" says Gunnar. + +"Wilt thou that I tell thee what hath not yet come to pass?" asks Njal. +"Thou wilt ride to the Thing, and thou wilt abide by my counsel and get +the greatest honour from this matter. This will be the beginning of thy +manslayings." + +"But give me some cunning counsel," says Gunnar. + +"I will do that," says Njal: "never slay more than one man in the same +stock, and never break the peace which good men and true make between +thee and others, and least of all in such a matter as this." + +Gunnar said, "I should have thought there was more risk of that with +others than with me." + +"Like enough," says Njal, "but still thou shalt so think of thy quarrels +that, if that should come to pass of which I have warned thee, then thou +wilt have but a little while to live; but otherwise, thou wilt come to +be an old man." + +Gunnar said, "Dost thou know what will be thine own death?" + +"I know it," says Njal. + +"What?" asks Gunnar. + +"That," says Njal, "which all would be the last to think." + +After that Gunnar rode home. + +A man was sent to Gizur the white and Geir the priest, for they had the +blood-feud after Otkell. Then they had a meeting, and had a talk about +what was to be done; and they were of one mind that the quarrel should +be followed up at law. Then some one was sought who would take the suit +up, but no one was ready to do that. + +"It seems to me," says Gizur, "that now there are only two courses, that +one of us two undertakes the suit, and then we shall have to draw lots +who it shall be, or else the man will be unatoned. We may make up our +minds, too, that this will be a heavy suit to touch; Gunnar has many +kinsmen and is much beloved; but that one of us who does not draw the +lot shall ride to the Thing and never leave it until the suit comes to +an end." + +After that they drew lots, and Geir the priest drew the lot to take up +the suit. + +A little after, they rode from the west over the river, and came to the +spot where the meeting had been by Rangriver, and dug up the bodies, and +took witness to the wounds. After that they gave lawful notice and +summoned nine neighbours to bear witness in the suit. + +They were told that Gunnar was at home with about thirty men; then Geir +the priest asked whether Gizur would ride against him with one hundred +men. + +"I will not do that," says he, "though the balance of force is great on +our side." + +After that they rode back home. The news that the suit was set on foot +was spread all over the country, and the saying ran that the Thing would +be very noisy and stormy. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +GUNNAR AND GEIR THE PRIEST STRIVE AT THE THING. + + +There was a man named Skapti. He was the son of Thorod. That father and +son were great chiefs, and very well skilled in law. Thorod was thought +to be rather crafty and guileful. They stood by Gizur the white in every +quarrel. + +As for the Lithemen and the dwellers by Rangriver, they came in a great +body to the Thing. Gunnar was so beloved that all said with one voice +that they would back him. + +Now they all come to the Thing and fit up their booths. In company with +Gizur the white were these chiefs: Skapti Thorod's son, Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son, Oddi of Kidberg, and Halldor Ornolf's son. + +Now one day men went to the Hill of Laws, and then Geir the priest stood +up and gave notice that he had a suit of manslaughter against Gunnar for +the slaying of Otkell. Another suit of manslaughter he brought against +Gunnar for the slaying of Hallbjorn the white; then too he went on in +the same way as to the slaying of Audulf, and so too as to the slaying +of Skamkell. Then too he laid a suit of manslaughter against Kolskegg +for the slaying of Hallkell. + +And when he had given due notice of all his suits of manslaughter it was +said that he spoke well. He asked, too, in what Quarter court the suits +lay, and in what house in the district the defendants dwelt. After that +men went away from the Hill of Laws, and so the Thing goes on till the +day when the courts were to be set to try suits. Then either side +gathered their men together in great strength. + +Geir the priest and Gizur the white stood at the court of the men of +Rangriver looking north, and Gunnar and Njal stood looking south towards +the court. + +Geir the priest bade Gunnar to listen to his oath, and then he took the +oath, and afterwards declared his suit. + +Then he let men bear witness of the notice given of the suit; then he +called upon the neighbours who were to form the inquest to take their +seats; then he called on Gunnar to challenge the inquest; and then he +called on the inquest to utter their finding. Then the neighbours who +were summoned on the inquest went to the court and took witness, and +said that there was a bar to their finding in the suit as to Audulf's +slaying, because the next of kin who ought to follow it up was in +Norway, and so they had nothing to do with that suit. + +After that they uttered their finding in the suit as to Otkell, and +brought in Gunnar as truly guilty of killing him. + +Then Geir the priest called on Gunnar for his defence, and took witness +of all the steps in the suit which had been proved. + +Then Gunnar, in his turn, called on Geir the priest to listen to his +oath, and to the defence which he was about to bring forward in the +suit. Then he took the oath and said-- + +"This defence I make to this suit, that I took witness and outlawed +Otkell before my neighbours for that bloody wound which I got when +Otkell gave me a hurt with his spur; but thee, Geir the priest, I forbid +by a lawful protest made before a priest to pursue this suit, and so, +too, I forbid the judges to hear it; and with this I make all the steps +hitherto taken in this suit void and of none-effect. I forbid thee by a +lawful protest, a full, fair, and binding protest, as I have a right to +forbid thee by the common custom of the Thing and by the law of the +land. + +"Besides, I will tell thee something else which I mean to do," says +Gunnar. + +"What!" says Geir, "wilt thou challenge me to the island as thou art +wont, and not bear the law?" + +"Not that," says Gunnar; "I shall summon thee at the Hill of Laws for +that thou calledst those men on the inquest who had no right to deal +with Audulf's slaying, and I will declare thee for that guilty of +outlawry." + +Then Njal said, "Things must not take this turn, for the only end of it +will be that this strife will be carried to the uttermost. Each of you, +as it seems to me, has much on his side. There are some of these +manslaughters, Gunnar, about which thou canst say nothing to hinder the +court from finding thee guilty; but thou hast set on foot a suit against +Geir, in which he, too, must be found guilty. Thou too, Geir the priest, +shalt know that this suit of outlawry which hangs over thee shall not +fall to the ground if thou wilt not listen to my words." + +Thorod the priest said, "It seems to us as though the most peaceful way +would be that a settlement and atonement were come to in the suit. But +why sayest thou so little, Gizur the white?" + +"It seems to me," says Gizur, "as though we shall need to have strong +props for our suit; we may see, too, that Gunnar's friends stand near +him, and so the best turn for us that things can take will be that good +men and true should utter an award on the suit, if Gunnar so wills it." + +"I have ever been willing to make matters up," says Gunnar; "and, +besides, ye have much wrong to follow up, but still I think I was hard +driven to do as I did." + +And now the end of those suits was, by the counsel of the wisest men, +that all the suits were put to arbitration; six men were to make this +award, and it was uttered there and then at the Thing. + +The award was that Skamkell should be unatoned. The blood money for +Otkell's death was to be set off against the hurt Gunnar got from the +spur; and as for the rest of the manslaughters, they were paid for after +the worth of the men, and Gunnar's kinsmen gave money so that all the +fines might be paid up at the Thing. + +Then Geir the priest and Gizur the white went up and gave Gunnar pledges +that they would keep the peace in good faith. + +Gunnar rode home from the Thing, and thanked men for their help, and +gave gifts to many, and got the greatest honour from the suit. + +Now Gunnar sits at home in his honour. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +OF STARKAD AND HIS SONS. + + +There was a man named Starkad; he was a son of Bork the +waxytoothed-blade, the son of Thorkell clubfoot, who took the land round +about Threecorner as the first settler. His wife's name was Hallbera. +The sons of Starkad and Hallbera were these: Thorgeir and Bork and +Thorkell. Hildigunna the leech was their sister. + +They were very proud men in temper, hard-hearted and unkind. They +treated men wrongfully. + +There was a man named Egil; he was a son of Kol, who took land as a +settler between Storlek and Reydwater. The brother of Egil was Aunund of +Witchwood, father of Hall the strong, who was at the slaying of +Holt-Thorir with the sons of Kettle the smooth-tongued. + +Egil kept house at Sandgil; his sons were these: Kol and Ottar and Hauk. +Their mother's name was Steinvor; she was Starkad's sister. + +Egil's sons were tall and strifeful; they were most unfair men. They +were always on one side with Starkad's sons. Their sister was Gudruna +nightsun, and she was the best-bred of women. + +Egil had taken into his house two Easterlings; the one's name was Thorir +and the other's Thorgrim. They were not long come out hither for the +first time, and were wealthy and beloved by their friends; they were +well skilled in arms, too, and dauntless in everything. + +Starkad had a good horse of chesnut hue, and it was thought that no +horse was his match in fight. Once it happened that these brothers from +Sandgil were away under the Threecorner. They had much gossip about all +the householders in the Fleetlithe, and they fell at last to asking +whether there was any one that would fight a horse against them. + +But there were some men there who spoke so as to flatter and honour +them, that not only was there no one who would dare do that, but that +there was no one that had such a horse. + +Then Hildigunna answered, "I know that man who will dare to fight horses +with you". + +"Name him," they say. + +"Gunnar has a brown horse," she says, "and he will dare to fight his +horse against you, and against any one else." + +"As for you women," they say, "you think no one can be Gunnar's match; +but though Geir the priest or Gizur the white have come off with shame +from before him, still it is not settled that we shall fare in the same +way." + +"Ye will fare much worse," she says; and so there arose out of this the +greatest strife between them. Then Starkad said-- + +"My will is that ye try your hands on Gunnar last of all; for ye will +find it hard work to go against his good luck." + +"Thou wilt give us leave, though, to offer him a horse-fight?" + +"I will give you leave, if ye play him no trick." + +They said they would be sure to do what their father said. + +Now they rode to Lithend; Gunnar was at home, and went out, and Kolskegg +and Hjort went with him, and they gave them a hearty welcome, and asked +whither they meant to go? + +"No farther than hither," they say. "We are told that thou hast a good +horse, and we wish to challenge thee to a horse-fight." + +"Small stories can go about my horse," says Gunnar; "he is young and +untried in every way." + +"But still thou wilt be good enough to have the fight, for Hildigunna +guessed that thou wouldst be easy in matching thy horse." + +"How came ye to talk about that?" says Gunnar. + +"There were some men," say they, "who were sure that no one would dare +to fight his horse with ours." + +"I would dare to fight him," says Gunnar; "but I think that was +spitefully said." + +"Shall we look upon the match as made, then?" they asked. + +"Well, your journey will seem to you better if ye have your way in this; +but still I will beg this of you, that we so fight our horses that we +make sport for each other, but that no quarrel may arise from it, and +that ye put no shame upon me; but if ye do to me as ye do to others, +then there will be no help for it but that I shall give you such a +buffet as it will seem hard to you to put up with. In a word, I shall do +then just as ye do first." + +Then they ride home. Starkad asked how their journey had gone off; they +said that Gunnar had made their going good. + +"He gave his word to fight his horse, and we settled when and where the +horse-fight should be; but it was plain in everything that he thought he +fell short of us, and he begged and prayed to get off." + +"It will often be found," says Hildigunna, "that Gunnar is slow to be +drawn into quarrels, but a hard hitter if he cannot avoid them." + +Gunnar rode to see Njal, and told him of the horse-fight, and what words +had passed between them, "But how dost thou think the horse-fight will +turn out?" + +"Thou wilt be uppermost," says Njal, "but yet many a man's bane will +arise out of this fight." + +"Will my bane perhaps come out of it?" asks Gunnar. + +"Not out of this," says Njal; "but still they will bear in mind both the +old and the new feud who fate against thee, and thou wilt have naught +left, for it but to yield." + +Then Gunnar rode home. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +HOW GUNNAR'S HORSE FOUGHT. + + +Just then Gunnar heard of the death of his father-in-law Hauskuld; a few +nights after, Thorgerda, Thrain's wife, was delivered at Gritwater, and +gave birth to a boy child. Then she sent a man to her mother, and bade +her choose whether it should be called Glum or Hauskuld. She bade call +it Hauskuld. So that name was given to the boy. + +Gunnar and Hallgerda had two sons, the one's name was Hogni and the +other's Grani. Hogni was a brave man of few words, distrustful and slow +to believe, but truthful. + +Now men ride to the horse-fight, and a very great crowd is gathered +together there. Gunnar was there and his brothers, and the sons of +Sigfus. Njal and all his sons. There too was come Starkad and his sons, +and Egil and his sons, and they said to Gunnar that now they would lead +the horses together. + +Gunner said, "That was well". + +Skarphedinn said, "Wilt thou that I drive thy horse, kinsman Gunnar?" + +"I will not have that," says Gunnar. + +"It wouldn't be amiss though," says Skarphedinn; "we are hot-headed on +both sides." + +"Ye would say or do little," says Gunnar, "before a quarrel would spring +up; but with me it will take longer, though it will be all the same in +the end." + +After that the horses were led together; Gunnar busked him to drive his +horse, but Skarphedinn led him out. Gunnar was in a red kirtle, and had +about his loins a broad belt, and a great riding-rod in his hand. + +Then the horses run at one another, and bit each other long, so that +there was no need for any one to touch them, and that was the greatest +sport. + +Then Thorgeir and Kol made up their minds that they would push their +horse forward just as the horses rushed together, and see if Gunnar +would fall before him. + +Now the horses ran at one another again, and both Thorgeir and Kol ran +alongside their horse's flank. + +Gunnar pushes his horse against them, and what happened in a trice was +this, that Thorgeir and his brother fall down flat on their backs, and +their horse a-top of them. + +Then they spring up and rush at Gunnar, Gunnar swings himself free and +seizes Kol, casts him down on the field, so that he lies senseless, +Thorgeir Starkad's son smote Gunnar's horse such a blow that one of his +eyes started out. Gunnar smote Thorgeir with his riding-rod, and down +falls Thorgeir senseless; but Gunnar goes to his horse, and said to +Kolskegg, "Cut off the horse's head; he shall not live a maimed and +blemished beast". + +So Kolskegg cut the head off the horse. + +Then Thorgeir got on his feet and took his weapons, and wanted to fly at +Gunnar, but that was stopped, and there was a great throng and crush. + +Skarphedinn said, "This crowd wearies me, and it is far more manly that +men should fight it out with weapons"; and so he sang a song,-- + + At the Thing there is a throng; + Past all bounds the crowding comes; + Hard 'twill be to patch up peace + 'Twixt the men: this wearies me; + Worthier is it far for men + Weapons red with gore to stain; + I for one would sooner tame + Hunger huge of cub of wolf. + +Gunnar was still, so that one man held him, and spoke no ill words. + +Njal tried to bring about a settlement, or to get pledges of peace; but +Thorgeir said he would neither give nor take peace; far rather, he said, +would he see Gunnar dead for the blow. + +Kolskegg said, "Gunnar has before now stood too fast than that he should +have fallen for words alone, and so it will be again". + +Now men ride away from the horse-field, every one to his home. They make +no attack on Gunnar, and so that half-year passed away. At the Thing, +the summer after, Gunnar met Olaf the peacock, his cousin, and he asked +him to come and see him, but yet bade him beware of himself; "For," says +he, "they will do us all the harm they can, and mind and fare always +with many men at thy back". + +He gave him much good counsel beside, and they agreed that there should +be the greatest friendship between them. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +OF ASGRIM AND WOLF UGGIS' SON. + + +Asgrim Ellidagrim's son had a suit to follow up at the Thing against +Wolf Uggis' son. It was a matter of inheritance, Asgrim took it up in +such a way as was seldom his wont; for there was a bar to his suit, and +the bar was this, that he had summoned five neighbours to bear witness, +when he ought to have summoned nine. And now they have this as their +bar. + +Then Gunnar spoke and said, "I will challenge thee to single combat on +the island, Wolf Uggis' son, if men are not to get their rights by law; +and Njal and my friend Helgi would like that I should take some share in +defending thy cause, Asgrim, if they were not here themselves." + +"But," says Wolf, "this quarrel is not one between thee and me." + +"Still it shall be as good as though it were," says Gunnar. + +And the end of the suit was, that Wolf had to pay down all the money. + +Then Asgrim said to Gunnar, "I will ask thee to come and see me this +summer, and I will ever be with thee in lawsuits, and never against +thee". + +Gunnar rides home from the Thing, and a little while after, he and Njal +met, Njal besought Gunnar to be ware of himself, and said he had been +told that those away under the Threecorner meant to fall on him, and +bade him never go about with a small company, and always to have his +weapons with him. Gunnar said so it should be, and told him that Asgrim +had asked him to pay him a visit, "and I mean to go now this harvest." + +"Let no men know before thou farest how long thou wilt be away," said +Njal; "but, besides, I beg thee to let my sons ride with thee, and then +no attack will be made on thee." + +So they settled that among themselves. + +"Now the summer wears away till it was eight weeks to winter," and then +Gunnar says to Kolskegg, "Make thee ready to ride, for we shall ride to +a feast at Tongue". + +"Shall we say anything about it to Njal's sons?" said Kolskegg. + +"No," says Gunnar; "they shall fall into no quarrels for me." + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +AN ATTACK AGAINST GUNNAR AGREED ON. + + +They rode three together, Gunnar and his brothers. Gunnar had the bill +and his sword, Oliver's gift; but Kolskegg had his short sword; Hjort, +too, had proper weapons. + +Now they rode to Tongue, and Asgrim gave them a hearty welcome, and they +were there some while. At last they gave it out that they meant to go +home there and then. Asgrim gave them good gifts, and offered to ride +east with them, but Gunnar said there was no need of any such thing; and +so he did not go. + +Sigurd Swinehead was the name of a man who dwelt by Thurso water. He +came to the farm under the Threecorner, for he had given his word to +keep watch on Gunnar's doings, and so he went and told them of his +journey home; "and," quoth he, "there could never be a finer chance +than just now, when he has only two men with him". + +"How many men shall we need to have to lie in wait for him?" says +Starkad. + +"Weak men shall be as nothing before him," he says; "and it is not safe +to have fewer than thirty men." + +"Where shall we lie in wait?" + +"By Knafahills," he says; "there he will not see us before he comes on +us." + +"Go thou to Sandgil and tell Egil that fifteen of them must busk +themselves thence, and now other fifteen will go hence to Knafahills." + +Thorgeir said to Hildigunna, "This hand shall show thee Gunnar dead this +very night". + +"Nay, but I guess," says she, "that thou wilt hang thy head after ye two +meet." + +So those four, father and sons, fare away from the Threecorner, and +eleven men besides, and they fared to Knafahills, and lay in wait there. + +Sigurd Swinehead came to Sandgil and said, "Hither am I sent by Starkad +and his sons to tell thee, Egil, that ye, father and sons, must fare to +Knafahills to lie in wait for Gunnar". + +"How many shall we fare in all?" says Egil. + +"Fifteen, reckoning me," he says. + +Kol said, "Now I mean to try my hand on Kolskegg". + +"Then I think thou meanest to have a good deal on thy hands," says +Sigurd. + +Egil begged his Easterlings to fare with them. They said they had no +quarrel with Gunnar; "and besides," says Thorir, "ye seem to need much +help here, when a crowd of men shall go against three men". + +Then Egil went away and was wroth. + +Then the mistress of the house said to the Easterling: "In an evil hour +hath my daughter Gudruna humbled herself, and broken the point of her +maidenly pride, and lain by thy side as thy wife, when thou wilt not +dare to follow thy father-in-law, and thou must be a coward," she says. + +"I will go," he says, "with thy husband, and neither of us two shall +come back." + +After that he went to Thorgrim his messmate, and said, "Take thou now +the keys of my chests; for I shall never unlock them again. I bid thee +take for thine own whatever of our goods thou wilt; but sail away from +Iceland, and do not think of revenge for me. But if thou dost not leave +the land, it will be thy death." + +So the Easterling joined himself to their band. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +GUNNAR'S DREAM. + + +Now we must go back and say that Gunnar rides east over Thurso water, +but when he had gone a little way from the river he grew very drowsy, +and bade them lie down and rest there. + +They did so. He fell fast asleep, and struggled much as he slumbered. + +Then Kolskegg said, "Gunnar dreams now". But Hjort said, "I would like +to wake him". + +"That shall not be," said Kolskegg, "but he shall dream his dream out". + +Gunnar lay a very long while, and threw off his shield from him, and he +grew very warm. Kolskegg said, "What hast thou dreamt, kinsman?" + +"That have I dreamt," says Gunnar, "which if I had dreamt it there I +would never have ridden with so few men from Tongue." + +"Tell us thy dream," says Kolskegg. + +Then Gunnar sang a song. + + Chief, that chargest foes in fight! + Now I fear that I have ridden + Short of men from Tongue, this harvest; + Raven's fast I sure shall break. + Lord, that scatters Ocean's fire![24] + This at least, I long to say, + Kite with wolf shall fight for marrow, + Ill I dreamt with wandering thought. + +"I dreamt, methought, that I was riding on by Knafahills, and there I +thought I saw many wolves, and they all made at me; but I turned away +from them straight towards Rangriver, and then methought they pressed +hard on me on all sides, but I kept them at bay, and shot all those +that were foremost, till they came so close to me that I could not use +my bow against them. Then I took my sword, and I smote with it with one +hand, but thrust at them with my bill with the other. Shield myself then +I did not, and methought then I knew not what shielded me. Then I slew +many wolves, and thou, too, Kolskegg; but Hjort methought they pulled +down, and tore open his breast, and one methought had his heart in his +maw; but I grew so wroth that I hewed that wolf asunder just below the +brisket, and after that methought the wolves turned and fled. Now my +counsel is, brother Hjort, that thou ridest back west to Tongue." + +"I will not do that," says Hjort; "though I know my death is sure, I +will stand by thee still." + +Then they rode and came east by Knafahills, and Kolskegg said-- + +"Seest thou, kinsman! many spears stand up by the hills, and men with +weapons." + +"It does not take me unawares," says Gunnar, "that my dream comes true." + +"What is best to be done now?" says Kolskegg; "I guess thou wilt not run +away from them." + +"They shall not have that to jeer about," says Gunnar, "but we will ride +on down to the ness by Rangriver; there is some vantage ground there." + +Now they rode on to the ness, and made them ready there, and as they +rode on past them Kol called out and said-- + +"Whither art thou running to now, Gunnar?" + +But Kolskegg said, "Say the same thing farther on when this day has come +to an end". + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +THE SLAYING OF HJORT AND FOURTEEN MEN. + + +After that Starkad egged on his men, and then they turn down upon them +into the ness. Sigurd Swinehead came first and had a red targe, but in +his other hand he held a cutlass. Gunnar sees him and shoots an arrow at +him from his bow; he held the shield up aloft when he saw the arrow +flying high, and the shaft passes through the shield and into his eye, +and so came out at the nape of his neck, and that was the first man +slain. + +A second arrow Gunnar shot at Ulfhedinn, one of Starkad's men, and that +struck him about the middle and he fell at the feet of a yeoman, and the +yeoman over him. Kolskegg cast a stone and struck the yeoman on the +head, and that was his death-blow. + +Then Starkad said, "'Twill never answer our end that he should use his +bow, but let us come on well and stoutly". Then each man egged on the +other, and Gunnar guarded himself with his bow and arrows as long as he +could; after that he throws them down, and then he takes his bill and +sword and fights with both hands. There is long the hardest fight, but +still Gunnar and Kolskegg slew man after man. + +Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "I vowed to bring Hildigunna thy head, +Gunnar." + +Then Gunnar sang a song-- + + Thou, that battle-sleet down bringeth, + Scarce I trow thou speakest truth; + She, the girl with golden armlets, + Cannot care for such a gift; + But, O serpent's hoard despoiler! + If the maid must have my head-- + Maid whose wrist Rhine's fire[25] wreatheth, + Closer come to crash of spear. + +"She will not think that so much worth having," says Gunnar; "but still +to get it thou wilt have to come nearer!" + +Thorgeir said to his brothers-- + +"Let us run all of us upon him at once; he has no shield and we shall +have his life in our hands." + +So Bork and Thorkel both ran forward and were quicker than Thorgeir. +Bork made a blow at Gunnar, and Gunnar threw his bill so hard in the way +that the sword flew out of Bork's hand; then he sees Thorkel standing on +his other hand within stroke of sword. Gunnar was standing with his body +swayed a little on one side, and he makes a sweep with his sword, and +caught Thorkel on the neck, and off flew his head. + +Kol Egil's son said, "Let me get at Kolskegg," and turning to Kolskegg +he said, "This I have often said, that we two would be just about an +even match in fight". + +"That we can soon prove," says Kolskegg. + +Kol thrust at him with his spear; Kolskegg had just slain a man and had +his hands full, and so he could not throw his shield before the blow, +and the thrust came upon his thigh, on the outside of the limb and went +through it. + +Kolskegg turned sharp round, and strode towards him, and smote him with +his short sword on the thigh, and cut off his leg, and said, "Did it +touch thee or not?" + +"Now," says Kol, "I pay for being bare of my shield." + +So he stood a while on his other leg and looked at the stump. + +"Thou needest not to look at it," said Kolskegg; "'tis even as thou +seest, the leg is off." + +Then Kol fell down dead. + +But when Egil sees this, he runs at Gunnar and makes a cut at him; +Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill and struck him in the middle, and +Gunnar hoists him up on the bill and hurls him out into Rangriver. + +Then Starkad said, "Wretch that thou art indeed, Thorir Easterling, when +thou sittest by; but thy host and father-in-law Egil is slain." + +Then the Easterling sprung up and was very wroth. Hjort had been the +death of two men, and the Easterling leapt on him and smote him full on +the breast. Then Hjort fell down dead on the spot. + +Gunnar sees this and was swift to smite at the Easterling, and cuts him +asunder at the waist. + +A little while after Gunnar hurls the bill at Bork, and struck him in +the middle, and the bill went through him and stuck in the ground. + +Then Kolskegg cut off Hauk Egil's son's head, and Gunnar smites off +Otter's hand at the elbow-joint. Then Starkad said-- + +"Let us fly now. We have not to do with men!" + +Gunnar said, "Ye two will think it a sad story if there is naught on you +to show that ye have both been in the battle". + +Then Gunnar ran after Starkad and Thorgeir, and gave them each a wound. +After that they parted; and Gunnar and his brothers had then wounded +many men who got away from the field, but fourteen lost their lives, and +Hjort the fifteenth. + +Gunnar brought Hjort home, laid out on his shield, and he was buried in +a cairn there. Many men grieved for him, for he had many dear friends. + +Starkad came home, too, and Hildigunna dressed his wounds and +Thorgeir's, and said, "Ye would have given a great deal not to have +fallen out with Gunnar". + +"So we would," says Starkad. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +NJAL'S COUNSEL TO GUNNAR. + + +Steinvor, at Sandgil, besought Thorgrim the Easterling to take in hand +the care of her goods, and not to sail away from Iceland, and so to keep +in mind the death of his messmate and kinsman. + +"My messmate Thorir," said he, "foretold that I should fall by Gunnar's +hand if I stayed here in the land, and he must have foreseen that when +he foreknew his own death." + +"I will give thee," she says, "Gudruna my daughter to wife, and all my +goods into the bargain." + +"I knew not," he said, "that thou wouldest pay such a long price." + +After that they struck the bargain that he shall have her, and the +wedding feast was to be the next summer. + +Now Gunnar rides to Bergthorsknoll, and Kolskegg with him. Njal was out +of doors and his sons, and they went to meet Gunnar and gave them a +hearty welcome. After that they fell a-talking, and Gunnar said-- + +"Hither am I come to seek good counsel and help at thy hand." + +"That is thy due," said Njal. + +"I have fallen into a great strait," says Gunnar, "and slain many men, +and I wish to know what thou wilt make of the matter?" + +"Many will say this," said Njal, "that thou hast been driven into it +much against thy will; but now thou shalt give me time to take counsel +with myself." + +Then Njal went away all by himself, and thought over a plan, and came +back and said-- + +"Now have I thought over the matter somewhat, and it seems to me as +though this must be carried through--if it be carried through at +all--with hardihood and daring. Thorgeir has got my kinswoman Thorfinna +with child, and I will hand over to thee the suit for seduction. Another +suit of outlawry against Starkad I hand over also to thee, for having +hewn trees in my wood on the Threecorner ridge. Both these suits shalt +thou take up. Thou shalt fare too to the spot where ye fought, and dig +up the dead, and name witnesses to the wounds, and make all the dead +outlaws, for that they came against thee with that mind to give thee and +thy brothers wounds or swift death. But if this be tried at the Thing, +and it be brought up against thee that thou first gave Thorgeir a blow, +and so mayest neither plead thine own cause nor that of others, then I +will answer in that matter, and say that I gave thee back thy rights at +the Thingskala-Thing, so that thou shouldest be able to plead thine own +suit as well as that of others, and then there will be an answer to that +point. Thou shalt also go to see Tyrfing of Berianess, and he must hand +over to thee a suit against Aunund of Witchwood, who has the blood feud +after his brother Egil." + +Then first of all Gunnar rode home; but a few nights after Njal's sons +and Gunnar rode thither where the bodies were, and dug them up that were +buried there. Then Gunnar summoned them all as outlaws for assault and +treachery, and rode home after that. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. + +OF VALGARD AND MORD. + + +That same harvest Valgard the guileful came out to Iceland, and fared +home to Hof. Then Thorgeir went to see Valgard and Mord, and told them +what a strait they were in if Gunnar were to be allowed to make all +those men outlaws whom he had slain. + +Valgard said that must be Njal's counsel, and yet every thing had not +come out yet which he was likely to have taught him. + +Then Thorgeir begged those kinsmen for help and backing, but they held +out a long while, and at last asked for and got a large sum of money. + +That, too, was part of their plan, that Mord should ask for Thorkatla, +Gizur the white's daughter, and Thorgeir was to ride at once west across +the river with Valgard and Mord. + +So the day after they rode twelve of them together and came to Mossfell. +There they were heartily welcomed, and they put the question to Gizur +about the wooing, and the end of it was that the match should be made, +and the wedding feast was to be in half a month's space at Mossfell. + +They ride home, and after that they ride to the wedding, and there was a +crowd of guests to meet them, and it went off well. Thorkatla went home +with Mord and took the housekeeping in hand but Valgard went abroad +again the next summer. + +Now Mord eggs on Thorgeir to set his suit on foot against Gunnar, and +Thorgeir went to find Aunund; he bids him now to begin a suit for +manslaughter for his brother Egil and his sons; "but I will begin one +for the manslaughter of my brothers, and for the wounds of myself and my +father". + +He said he was quite ready to do that, and then they set out, and give +notice of the manslaughter, and summon nine neighbours who dwelt nearest +to the spot where the deed was done. This beginning of the suit was +heard of at Lithend; and then Gunnar rides to see Njal, and told him, +and asked what he wished them to do next. + +"Now," says Njal, "thou shalt summon those who dwell next to the spot, +and thy neighbours; and call men to witness before the neighbours, and +choose out Kol as the slayer in the manslaughter of Hjort thy brother: +for that is lawful and right; then thou shalt give notice of the suit +for manslaughter at Kol's hand, though he be dead. Then shall thou call +men to witness, and summon the neighbours to ride to the Althing to bear +witness of the fact, whether they, Kol and his companions, were on the +spot, and in onslaught when Hjort was slain. Thou shalt also summon +Thorgeir for the suit of seduction, and Aunund at the suit of Tyrfing." + +Gunnar now did in everything as Njal gave him counsel. This men thought +a strange beginning of suits, and now these matters come before the +Thing. Gunnar rides to the Thing, and Njal's sons and the sons of +Sigfus. Gunnar had sent messengers to his cousins and kinsmen, that they +should ride to the Thing, and come with as many men as they could, and +told them that this matter would lead to much strife. So they gathered +together in a great band from the west. + +Mord rode to the Thing and Runolf of the Dale, and those under the +Threecorner, and Aunund of Witchwood. But when they come to the Thing, +they join them in one company with Gizur the white and Geir the priest. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV. + +OF FINES AND ATONEMENTS. + + +Gunnar, and the sons of Sigfus, and Njal's sons, went altogether in one +band, and they marched so swiftly and closely that men who came in their +way had to take heed lest they should get a fall; and nothing was so +often spoken about over the whole Thing as these great lawsuits. + +Gunnar went to meet his cousins, and Olaf and his men greeted him well. +They asked Gunnar about the fight, but he told them all about it, and +was just in all he said; he told them, too, what steps he had taken +since. + +Then Olaf said, "'Tis worth much to see how close Njal stands by thee in +all counsel". + +Gunnar said he should never be able to repay that, but then he begged +them for help; and they said that was his due. + +Now the suits on both sides came before the court, and each pleads his +cause. + +Mord asked--"How it was that a man could have the right to set a suit on +foot who, like Gunnar, had already made himself an outlaw by striking +Thorgeir a blow?" + +"Wast thou," answered Njal, "at Thingskala-Thing last autumn?" + +"Surely I was," says Mord. + +"Heardest thou," asks Njal, "how Gunnar offered him full atonement? Then +I gave back Gunnar his right to do all lawful deeds." + +"That is right and good law," says Mord, "but how does the matter stand +if Gunnar has laid the slaying of Hjort at Kol's door, when it was the +Easterling that slew him?" + +"That was right and lawful," says Njal, "when he chose him as the slayer +before witnesses." + +"That was lawful and right, no doubt," says Mord; "but for what did +Gunnar summon them all as outlaws?" + +"Thou needest not to ask about that," says Njal, "when they went out to +deal wounds and manslaughter." + +"Yes," says Mord, "but neither befell Gunnar." + +"Gunnar's brothers," said Njal, "Kolskegg and Hjort, were there, and one +of them got his death and the other a flesh wound." + +"Thou speakest nothing but what is law," says Mord, "though it is hard +to abide by it." + +Then Hjallti Skeggis son of Thursodale, stood forth and said-- + +"I have had no share in any of your lawsuits; but I wish to know whether +thou wilt do something, Gunnar, for the sake of my words and +friendship." + +"What askest thou?" says Gunnar. + +"This," he says, "that ye lay down the whole suit to the award and +judgment of good men and true." + +"If I do so," said Gunnar, "then thou shalt never be against me, +whatever men I may have to deal with." + +"I will give my word to that," says Hjallti. + +After that he tried his best with Gunnar's adversaries, and brought it +about that they were all set at one again. And after that each side gave +the other pledges of peace; but for Thorgeir's wound came the suit for +seduction, and for the hewing in the wood, Starkad's wound. Thorgeir's +brothers were atoned for by half fines, but half fell away for the +onslaught on Gunnar. Egil's staying and Tyrfing's lawsuit were set off +against each other. For Hjort's slaying, the slaying of Kol and of the +Easterling were to come, and as for all the rest, they were atoned for +with half fines. + +Njal was in this award, and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Hjallti +Skeggi's son. + +Njal had much money out at interest with Starkad, and at Sandgil too, +and he gave it all to Gunnar to make up these fines. + +So many friends had Gunnar at the Thing, that he not only paid up there +and then all the fines on the spot, but gave besides gifts to many +chiefs who had lent him help; and he had the greatest honour from the +suit; and all were agreed in this, that no man was his match in all the +South Quarter. + +So Gunnar rides home from the Thing and sits there in peace, but still +his adversaries envied him much for his honour. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI. + +OF THORGEIR OTKELL'S SON. + + +Now we must tell of Thorgeir Otkell's son; he grew up to be a tall +strong man, true-hearted and guileless, but rather too ready to listen +to fair words. He had many friends among the best men, and was much +beloved by his kinsmen. + +Once on a time Thorgeir Starkad's son had been to see his kinsman Mord. + +"I can ill brook," he says, "that settlement of matters which we and +Gunnar had, but I have bought thy help so long as we two are above +ground; I wish thou wouldest think out some plan and lay it deep; this +is why I say it right out, because I know that thou art Gunnar's +greatest foe, and he too thine. I will much increase thine honour if +thou takest pains in this matter." + +"It will always seem as though I were greedy of gain, but so it must be. +Yet it will be hard to take care that thou mayest not seem to be a +truce-breaker, or peace-breaker, and yet carry out thy point. But now I +have been told that Kolskegg means to try a suit, and regain a fourth +part of Moeidsknoll, which was paid to thy father as an atonement for +his son. He has taken up this suit for his mother, but this too is +Gunnar's counsel, to pay in goods and not to let the land go. We must +wait till this comes about, and then declare that he has broken the +settlement made with you. He has also taken a cornfield from Thorgeir +Otkell's son, and so broken the settlement with him too. Thou shalt go +to see Thorgeir Otkell's son, and bring him into the matter with thee, +and then fall on Gunnar; but if ye fail in aught of this, and cannot get +him hunted down, still ye shall set on him over and over again, I must +tell thee that Njal has 'spaed' his fortune, and foretold about his +life, if he slays more than once in the same stock, that it would lead +him to his death, if it so fell out that he broke the settlement made +after the deed. Therefore shalt thou bring Thorgeir into the suit, +because he has already slain his father; and now, if ye two are together +in an affray, thou shalt shield thyself; but he will go boldly on, and +then Gunnar will slay him. Then he has slain twice in the same stock, +but thou shalt fly from the fight. And if this is to drag him to his +death he will break the settlement afterwards, and so we may wait till +then." + +After that Thorgeir goes home and tells his father secretly. Then they +agreed among themselves that they should work out this plot by stealth. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. + +OF THORGEIR STARKAD'S SON. + + +Sometime after Thorgeir Starkad's son fared to Kirkby to see his +namesake, and they went aside to speak, and talked secretly all day; but +at the end Thorgeir Starkad's son, gave his namesake a spear inlaid with +gold, and rode home afterwards; they made the greatest friendship the +one with the other. + +At the Thingskala-Thing in the autumn, Kolskegg laid claim to the land +at Moeidsknoll, but Gunnar took witness, and offered ready money, or +another piece of land at a lawful price to those under the Threecorner. + +Thorgeir took witness also, that Gunnar was breaking the settlement made +between them. + +After that the Thing was broken up, and so the next year wore away. + +Those namesakes were always meeting, and there was the greatest +friendship between them. Kolskegg spoke to Gunnar and said-- + +"I am told that there is great friendship between those namesakes, and +it is the talk of many men that they will prove untrue, and I would that +thou wouldst be ware of thyself." + +"Death will come to me when it will come," says Gunnar, "wherever I may +be, if that is my fate." + +Then they left off talking about it. + +About autumn, Gunnar gave out that they would work one week there at +home, and the next down in the isles, and so make an end of their +haymaking. At the same time, he let it be known that every man would +have to leave the house, save himself and the women. + +Thorgeir under Threecorner goes to see his namesake, but as soon as they +met they began to talk after their wont, and Thorgeir Starkad's son, +said-- + +"I would that we could harden our hearts and fall on Gunnar." + +"Well," says Thorgeir Otkell's son, "every struggle with Gunnar has had +but one end, that few have gained the day; besides, methinks it sounds +ill to be called a peace-breaker." + +"They have broken the peace, not we," says Thorgeir Starkad's son. +"Gunnar took away from thee thy cornfield; and he has taken Moeidsknoll +from my father and me." + +And so they settle it between them to fall on Gunnar; and then Thorgeir +said that Gunnar would be all alone at home in a few nights' space, "and +then thou shalt come to meet me with eleven men, but I will have as +many". + +After that Thorgeir rode home. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII. + +OF NJAL AND THOSE NAMESAKES. + + +Now when Kolskegg and the house-carles had been three nights in the +isles, Thorgeir Starkad's son had news of that, and sends word to his +namesake that he should come to meet him on Threecorner ridge. + +After that Thorgeir of the Threecorner busked him with eleven men; he +rides up on the ridge and there waits for his namesake. + +And now Gunnar is at home in his house, and those namesakes ride into a +wood hard by. There such a drowsiness came over them that they could do +naught else but sleep. So they hung their shields up in the boughs, and +tethered their horses, and laid their weapons by their sides. + +Njal was that night up in Thorolfsfell, and could not sleep at all, but +went out and in by turns. + +Thorhilda asked Njal why he could not sleep? + +"Many things now flit before my eyes," said he; "I see many fetches of +Gunnar's bitter foes, and what is very strange is this, they seem to be +mad with rage, and yet they fare without plan or purpose." + +A little after, a man rode up to the door and got off his horse's back +and went in, and there was come the shepherd of Thorhilda and her +husband. + +"Didst thou find the sheep?" she asked. + +"I found what might be more worth," said he. + +"What was that?" asked Njal. + +"I found twenty-four men up in the wood yonder; they had tethered their +horses, but slept themselves. Their shields they had hung up in the +boughs." + +But so closely had he looked at them that he told of all their weapons +and war-gear and clothes, and then Njal knew plainly who each of them +must have been, and said to him-- + +"'Twere good hiring if there were many such shepherds; and this shall +ever stand to thy good; but still I will send thee on an errand." + +He said at once he would go. + +"Thou shalt go," says Njal, "to Lithend and tell Gunnar that he must +fare to Gritwater, and then send after men; but I will go to meet with +those who are in the wood and scare them away. This thing hath well come +to pass, so that they shall gain nothing by this journey, but lose +much." + +The shepherd set off and told Gunnar as plainly as he could the whole +story. Then Gunnar rode to Gritwater and summoned men to him. + +Now it is to be told of Njal how he rides to meet these namesakes. + +"Unwarily ye lie here," he says, "or for what end shall this journey +have been made? And Gunnar is not a man to be trifled with. But if the +truth must be told then, this is the greatest treason. Ye shall also +know this, that Gunnar is gathering force, and he will come here in the +twinkling of an eye, and slay you all, unless ye ride away home." + +They bestirred them at once, for they were in great fear, and took their +weapons, and mounted their horses and galloped home under the +Threecorner. + +Njal fared to meet Gunnar and bade him not to break up his company. + +"But I will go and seek for an atonement; now they will be finely +frightened; but for this treason no less a sum shall be paid when one +has to deal with all of them, than shall be paid for the slaying of one +or other of those namesakes, though such a thing should come to pass. +This money I will take into my keeping, and so lay it out that it may be +ready to thy hand when thou hast need of it." + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX. + +OLAF THE PEACOCK'S GIFTS TO GUNNAR. + + +Gunnar thanked Njal for his aid, and Njal rode away under the +Threecorner, and told those namesakes that Gunnar would not break up his +band of men before he had fought it out with them. + +They began to offer terms for themselves, and were full of dread, and +bade Njal to come between them with an offer of atonement. + +Njal said that could only be if there were no guile behind. Then they +begged him to have a share in the award, and said they would hold to +what he awarded. + +Njal said he would make no award unless it were at the Thing, and unless +the best men were by; and they agreed to that. + +Then Njal came between them, so that they gave each other pledges of +peace and atonement. + +Njal was to utter the award, and to name as his fellows those whom he +chose. + +A little while after those namesakes met Mord Valgard's son, and Mord +blamed them much for having laid the matter in Njal's hands, when he was +Gunnar's great friend. He said that would turn out ill for them. + +Now men ride to the Althing after their wont, and now both sides are at +the Thing. + +Njal begged for a hearing, and asked all the best men who were come +thither, what right at law they thought Gunnar had against those +namesakes for their treason. They said they thought such a man had great +right on his side. + +Njal went on to ask, whether he had a right of action against all of +them, or whether the leaders had to answer for them all in the suit? + +They say that most of the blame would fall on the leaders, but a great +deal still on them all. + +"Many will say this," said Mord, "that it was not without a cause when +Gunnar broke the settlement made with those namesakes." + +"That is no breach of settlement," says Njal, "that any man should take +the law against another; for with law shall our land be built up and +settled, and with lawlessness wasted and spoiled." + +Then Njal tells them that Gunnar had offered land for Moeidsknoll, or +other goods. + +Then those namesakes thought they had been beguiled by Mord, and scolded +him much, and said that this fine was all his doing. + +Njal named twelve men as judges in the suit, and then every man paid a +hundred in silver who had gone out, but each of those namesakes two +hundred. + +Njal took this money into his keeping, but either side gave the other +pledges of peace, and Njal gave out the terms. + +Then Gunnar rode from the Thing west to the Dales, till he came to +Hjardarholt, and Olaf the peacock gave him a hearty welcome. There he +sat half a month, and rode far and wide about the Dales, and all +welcomed him with joyful hands. But at their parting Olaf said-- + +"I will give thee three things of price, a gold ring, and a cloak which +Moorkjartan the Erse king owned, and a hound that was given me in +Ireland; he is big, and no worse follower than a sturdy man. Besides, it +is part of his nature that he has man's wit, and he will bay at every +man whom he knows is thy foe, but never at thy friends; he can see, too, +in any man's face, whether he means thee well or ill, and he will lay +down his life to be true to thee. This hound's name is Sam." + +After that he spoke to the hound, "Now shalt thou follow Gunnar, and do +him all the service thou canst". + +The hound went at once to Gunnar and laid himself down at his feet. + +Olaf bade Gunnar to be ware of himself, and said he had many enviers, +"For now thou art thought to be a famous man throughout all the land". + +Gunnar thanked him for his gifts and good counsel, and rode home. + +Now Gunnar sits at home for some time, and all is quiet. + + + + +CHAPTER LXX. + +MORD'S COUNSEL. + + +A little after, those namesakes and Mord met, and they were not at all +of one mind. They thought they had lost much goods for Mord's sake, but +had got nothing in return; and they bade him set on foot some other plot +which might do Gunnar harm. + +Mord said so it should be. "But now this is my counsel, that thou, +Thorgeir Otkell's son shouldest beguile Ormilda, Gunnar's kinswoman; but +Gunnar will let his displeasure grow against thee at that, and then I +will spread that story abroad that Gunnar will not suffer thee to do +such things." + +"Then ye two shall some time after make an attack on Gunnar, but still +ye must not seek him at home, for there is no thinking of that while the +hound is alive." + +So they settled this plan among them that it should be brought about. + +Thorgeir began to turn his steps towards Ormilda, and Gunnar thought +that ill, and great dislike arose between them. + +So the winter wore away. Now comes the summer, and their secret meetings +went on oftener than before. + +As for Thorgeir of the Threecorner and Mord, they were always meeting; +and they plan an onslaught on Gunnar, when he rides down to the isles to +see after the work done by his house-carles. + +One day Mord was ware of it when Gunnar rode down to the isles, and sent +a man off under the Threecorner to tell Thorgeir that then would be the +likeliest time to try to fall on Gunnar. + +They bestirred them at once, and fare thence twelve together, but when +they came to Kirkby there they found thirteen men waiting for them. + +Then they made up their minds to ride down to Rangriver and lie in wait +there for Gunnar. + +But when Gunnar rode up from the isles, Kolskegg rode with him. Gunnar +had his bow and his arrows and his bill. Kolskegg had his short sword +and weapons to match. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXI. + +THE SLAYING OF THORGEIR OTKELL'S SON. + + +That token happened as Gunnar and his brother rode up towards Rangriver, +that much blood burst out on the bill. + +Kolskegg asked what that might mean. + +Gunnar says, "If such tokens took place in other lands, it was called +'wound-drops,' and Master Oliver told me also that this only happened +before great fights". + +So they rode on till they saw men sitting by the river on the other +side, and they had tethered their horses. + +Gunnar said, "Now we have an ambush". + +Kolskegg answered, "Long have they been faithless; but what is best to +be done now?" + +"We will gallop up alongside them to the ford," says Gunnar, "and there +make ready for them." + +The others saw that and turned at once towards them. + +Gunnar strings his bow, and takes his arrows and throws them on the +ground before him, and shoots as soon as ever they come within shot; by +that Gunnar wounded many men, but some he slew. + +Then Thorgeir Otkell's son spoke and said, "This is no use; let us make +for him as hard as we can". + +They did so, and first went Aunund the fair, Thorgeir's kinsman. Gunnar +hurled the bill at him, and it fell on his shield and clove it in twain, +but the bill rushed through Aunund. Augmund Shockhead rushed at Gunnar +behind his back. Kolskegg saw that and cut off at once both Augmund's +legs from under him, and hurled him out into Rangriver, and he was +drowned there and then. + +Then a hard battle arose; Gunnar cut with one hand and thrust with the +other. Kolskegg slew some men and wounded many. + +Thorgeir's Starkad's son called out to his namesake, "It looks very +little as though thou hadst a father to avenge". + +"True it is," he answers, "that I do not make much way, but yet thou +hast not followed in my footsteps; still I will not bear thy +reproaches." + +With that he rushes at Gunnar in great wrath, and thrust his spear +through his shield, and so on through his arm. + +Gunnar gave the shield such a sharp twist that the spearhead broke short +off at the socket. Gunnar sees that another man was come within reach of +his sword, and he smites at him and deals him his death-blow. After +that, he clutches his bill with both hands; just then Thorgeir Otkell's +son had come near him with a drawn sword, and Gunnar turns on him in +great wrath, and drives the bill through him, and lifts him up aloft, +and casts him out into Rangriver, and he drifts down towards the ford, +and stuck fast there on a stone; and the name of that ford has since +been Thorgeir's ford. + +Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "Let us fly now; no victory will be +fated to us this time". + +So they all turned and fled from the field. + +"Let us follow them up now," says Kolskegg, "and take thou thy bow and +arrows, and thou wilt come within bow-shot of Thorgeir Starkad's son." + +Then Gunnar sang a song. + + Reaver of rich river-treasure, + Plundered will our purses be, + Though to-day we wound no other + Warriors wight in play of spears; + Aye, if I for all these sailors + Lowly lying, fines must pay-- + This is why I hold my hand, + Hearken, brother dear, to me. + +"Our purses will be emptied," says Gunnar, "by the time that these are +atoned for who now lie here dead." + +"Thou wilt never lack money," says Kolskegg; "but Thorgier will never +leave off before he compasses thy death." + +Gunnar sung another song. + + Lord of water-skates[26] that skim + Sea-king's fields, more good as he, + Shedding wounds' red stream, must stand + In my way ere I shall wince. + I, the golden armlets' warder, + Snakelike twined around my wrist, + Ne'er shall shun a foeman's faulchion + Flashing bright in din of fight. + +"He, and a few more as good as he," says Gunnar, "must stand in my path +ere I am afraid of them." + +After that they ride home and tell the tidings. + +Hallgerda was well pleased to hear them, and praised the deed much. + +Rannveig said, "May be the deed is good; but somehow," she says, "I feel +too downcast about it to think that good can come of it". + + + + +CHAPTER LXXII. + +OF THE SUITS FOR MANSLAUGHTER AT THE THING. + + +These tidings were spread far and wide, and Thorgeir's death was a great +grief to many a man. Gizur the white and his men rode to the spot and +gave notice of the manslaughter, and called the neighbours on the +inquest to the Thing. Then they rode home west. + +Njal and Gunnar met and talked about the battle. Then Njal said to +Gunnar-- + +"Now be ware of thyself! Now hast thou slain twice in the same stock; +and so now take heed to thy behaviour, and think that it is as much as +thy life is worth, if thou dost not hold to the settlement that is +made." + +"Nor do I mean to break it in any way," says Gunnar, "but still I shall +need thy help at the Thing." + +"I will hold to my faithfulness to thee," said Njal, "till my death +day." + +Then Gunnar rides home. Now the Thing draws near; and each side gather a +great company; and it is a matter of much talk at the Thing how these +suits will end. + +Those two, Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, talked with each other +as to who should give notice of the suit of manslaughter after Thorgeir, +and the end of it was that Gizur took the suit on his hand, and gave +notice of it at the Hill of Laws, and spoke in these words:-- + +"I gave notice of a suit for assault laid down by law against Gunnar +Hamond's son; for that he rushed with an onslaught laid down by law on +Thorgeir Otkell's son, and wounded him with a body wound, which proved a +death wound, so that Thorgeir got his death. + +"I say on this charge he ought to become a convicted outlaw, not to be +fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or harboured in any need. + +"I say that his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to the men of +the Quarter, whose right it is by law to seize the goods of outlaws. + +"I give notice of this charge in the Quarter Court, into which this suit +ought by law to come. + +"I give this lawful notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill of +Laws. + +"I give notice now of this suit, and of full forfeiture and outlawry +against Gunnar Hamond's son." + +A second time Gizur took witness, and gave notice of a suit against +Gunnar Hamond's son, for that he had wounded Thorgeir Otkell's son with +a body wound which was a death wound, and from which Thorgeir got his +death, on such and such a spot when Gunnar first sprang on Thorgeir with +an onslaught, laid down by law. + +After that he gave notice of this declaration as he had done of the +first. Then he asked in what Quarter Court the suit lay, and in what +house in the district the defendant dwelt. + +When that was over men left the Hill of Laws, and all said that he spoke +well. + +Gunnar kept himself well in hand and said little or nothing. + +Now the Thing wears away till the day when the courts were to be set. + +Then Gunnar stood looking south by the court of the men of Rangriver, +and his men with him. + +Gizur stood looking north, and calls his witnesses, and bade Gunnar to +listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the suit, and to all the +steps and proofs which he meant to bring forward. After that he took his +oath, and then he brought forward the suit in the same shape before the +court, as he had given notice of it before. Then he made them bring +forward witness of the notice, then he bade the neighbours on the +inquest to take their seats, and called upon Gunnar to challenge the +inquest. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII. + +OF THE ATONEMENT. + + +Then Njal spoke and said-- + +"Now I can no longer sit still and take no part. Let us go to where the +neighbours sit on the inquest." + +They went thither and challenged four neighbours out of the inquest, but +they called on the five that were left to answer the following question +in Gunnar's favour "whether those namesakes had gone out with that mind +to the place of meeting to do Gunnar a mischief if they could?" + +But all bore witness at once that so it was. + +Then Njal called this a lawful defence to the suit, and said he would +bring forward proof of it unless they gave over the suit to arbitration. + +Then many chiefs joined in praying for an atonement, and so it was +brought about that twelve men should utter an award in the matter. + +Then either side went and handselled this settlement to the other. +Afterwards the award was made, and the sum to be paid settled, and it +was all to be paid down then and there at the Thing. + +But besides, Gunnar was to go abroad and Kolskegg with him, and they +were to be away three winters; but if Gunnar did not go abroad when he +had a chance of a passage, then he was to be slain by the kinsmen of +those whom he had killed. + +Gunnar made no sign, as though he thought the terms of atonement were +not good. He asked Njal for that money which he had handed over to him +to keep. Njal had laid the money out at interest and paid it down all at +once, and it just came to what Gunnar had to pay for himself. + +Now they ride home. Gunnar and Njal rode both together from the Thing, +and then Njal said to Gunnar-- + +"Take good care, messmate, that thou keepest to this atonement, and bear +in mind what we have spoken about; for though thy former journey abroad +brought thee to great honour, this will be a far greater honour to thee. +Thou wilt come back with great glory, and live to be an old man, and no +man here will then tread on thy heel; but if thou dost not fare away, +and so breakest thy atonement, then thou wilt be slain here in the land, +and that is ill knowing for those who are thy friends." + +Gunnar said he had no mind to break the atonement, and he rides home and +told them of the settlement. + +Rannveig said it was well that he fared abroad, for then they must find +some one else to quarrel. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV. + +KOLSKEGG GOES ABROAD. + + +Thrain Sigfus' son said to his wife that he meant to fare abroad that +summer. She said that was well. So he took his passage with Hogni the +white. + +Gunnar took his passage with Arnfin of the Bay; and Kolskegg was to go +with him. + +Grim And Helgi, Njal's sons, asked their father's leave to go abroad +too, and Njal said-- + +"This foreign voyage ye will find hard work, so hard that it will be +doubtful whether ye keep your lives; but still ye two will get some +honour and glory, but it is not unlikely that a quarrel will arise out +of your journey when ye come back." + +Still they kept on asking their father to let them go, and the end of it +was that he bade them go if they chose. + +Then they got them a passage with Bard the black, and Olaf Kettle's son +of Elda; and it is the talk of the whole country that all the better men +in that district were leaving it. + +By this time Gunnar's sons, Hogni and Grani, were grown up; they were +men of very different turn of mind. Grani had much of his mother's +temper, but Hogni was kind and good. + +Gunnar made men bear down the wares of his brother and himself to the +ship, and when all Gunnar's baggage had come down, and the ship was all +but "boun," then Gunnar rides to Bergthorsknoll, and to other homesteads +to see men, and thanked them all for the help they had given him. + +The day after he gets ready early for his journey to the ship, and told +all his people that he would ride away for good and all, and men took +that much to heart, but still they said that they looked to his coming +back afterwards. + +Gunnar threw his arms round each of the household when he was "boun," +and every one of them went out of doors with him; he leans on the butt +of his spear and leaps into the saddle, and he and Kolskegg ride away. + +They ride down along Markfleet, and just then Gunnar's horse tripped and +threw him off. He turned with his face up towards the Lithe and the +homestead at Lithend, and said-- + +"Fair is the Lithe; so fair that it has never seemed to me so fair; the +corn fields are white to harvest, and the home mead is mown; and now I +will ride back home, and not fare abroad at all." + +"Do not this joy to thy foes," says Kolskegg, "by breaking thy atonement, +for no man could think thou wouldst do thus, and thou mayst be sure that +all will happen as Njal has said." + +"I will not go away any whither," says Gunnar, "and so I would thou +shouldest do too." + +"That shall not be," says Kolskegg; "I will never do a base thing in +this, nor in anything else which is left to my good faith; and this is +that one thing that could tear us asunder; but tell this to my kinsmen +and to my mother, that I never mean to see Iceland again, for I shall +soon learn that thou art dead, brother, and then there will be nothing +left to bring me back." + +So they parted there and then. Gunnar rides home to Lithend, but +Kolskegg rides to the ship, and goes abroad. + +Hallgerda was glad to see Gunnar when he came home, but his mother said +little or nothing. + +Now Gunnar sits at home that fall and winter, and had not many men with +him. + +Now the winter leaves the farmyard. Olaf the peacock asked Gunnar and +Hallgerda to come and stay with him; but as for the farm, to put it into +the hands of his mother and his son Hogni. + +Gunnar thought that a good thing at first, and agreed to it, but when it +came to the point he would not do it. + +But at the Thing next summer, Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, gave +notice of Gunnar's outlawry at the Hill of Laws; and before the Thing +broke up Gizur summoned all Gunnar's foes to meet in the "Great +Rift".[27] He summoned Starkad under the Threecorner, and Thorgeir his +son; Mord and Valgard the guileful; Geir the priest and Hjalti Skeggi's +son; Thorbrand and Asbrand, Thorleik's sons; Eyjulf, and Aunund his son, +Aunund of Witchwood and Thorgrim the Easterling of Sandgil. + +Then Gizur spoke and said, "I will make you all this offer, that we go +out against Gunnar this summer and slay him". + +"I gave my word to Gunnar," said Hjalti, "here at the Thing, when he +showed himself most willing to yield to my prayer, that I would never be +in any attack upon him; and so it shall be." + +Then Hjalti went away, but those who were left behind made up their +minds to make an onslaught on Gunnar, and shook hands on the bargain, +and laid a fine on any one that left the undertaking. + +Mord was to keep watch and spy out when there was the best chance of +falling on him, and they were forty men in this league, and they thought +it would be a light thing for them to hunt down Gunnar, now that +Kolskegg was away, and Thrain and many other of Gunnar's friends. + +Men ride from the Thing, and Njal went to see Gunnar, and told him of +his outlawry, and how an onslaught was planned against him. + +"Me thinks thou art the best of friends," says Gunnar; "thou makest me +aware of what is meant." + +"Now," says Njal, "I would that Skarphedinn should come to thy house, +and my son Hauskuld; they will lay down their lives for thy life." + +"I will not," says Gunnar, "that thy sons should be slain for my sake, +and thou hast a right to look for other things from me." + +"All thy care will come to nothing," says Njal; "quarrels will turn +thitherward where my sons are as soon as thou art dead and gone." + +"That is not unlikely," says Gunnar, "but still it would mislike me that +they fell into them for me; but this one thing I will ask of thee, that +ye see after my son Hogni, but I say naught of Grani, for he does not +behave himself much after my mind." + +Njal rode home, and gave his word to do that. + +It is said that Gunnar rode to all meetings of men, and to all lawful +Things, and his foes never dared to fall on him. + +And so some time went on that he went about as a free and guiltless +man. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXV. + +THE RIDING TO LITHEND. + + +Next autumn Mord Valgard's son, sent word that Gunnar would be all alone +at home, but all his people would be down in the isles to make an end of +their haymaking. Then Gizur the white and Geir the priest rode east over +the rivers as soon as ever they heard that, and so east across the sands +to Hof. Then they sent word to Starkad under the Threecorner, and there +they all met who were to fall on Gunnar, and took counsel how they might +best bring it about. + +Mord said that they could not come on Gunnar unawares, unless they +seized the farmer who dwelt at the next homestead, whose name was +Thorkell, and made him go against his will with them to lay hands on the +hound Sam, and unless he went before them to the homestead to do this. + +Then they set out east for Lithend, but sent to fetch Thorkell. They +seized him and bound him, and gave him two choices--one that they would +slay him, or else he must lay hands on the hound; but he chooses rather +to save his life, and went with them. + +There was a beaten sunk road, between fences, above the farm yard at +Lithend, and there they halted with their band. Master Thorkell went up +to the homestead, and the tyke lay on the top of the house, and he +entices the dog away with him into a deep hollow in the path. Just then +the hound sees that there are men before them, and he leaps on Thorkell +and tears his belly open. + +Aunund of Witchwood smote the hound on the head with his axe, so that +the blade sunk into the brain. The hound gave such a great howl that +they thought it passing strange, and he fell down dead. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI. + +GUNNAR'S SLAYING. + + +Gunnar woke up in his hall and said-- + +"Thou hast been sorely treated, Sam, my fosterling, and this warning is +so meant that our two deaths will not be far apart." + +Gunnar's hall was made all of wood, and roofed with beams above, and +there were window-slits under the beams that carried the roof, and they +were fitted with shutters. + +Gunnar slept in a loft above the hall, and so did Hallgerda and his +mother. + +Now when they were come near to the house they knew not whether Gunnar +were at home, and bade that some one would go straight up to the house +and see if he could find out. But the rest sat them down on the ground. + +Thorgrim the Easterling went and began to climb up on the hall; Gunnar +sees that a red kirtle passed before the windowslit, and thrusts out the +bill, and smote him on the middle. Thorgrim's feet slipped from under +him, and he dropped his shield, and down he toppled from the roof. + +Then he goes to Gizur and his band as they sat on the ground. + +Gizur looked at him and said-- + +"Well, is Gunnar at home?" + +"Find that out for yourselves," said Thorgrim; "but this I am sure of, +that his bill is at home," and with that he fell down dead. + +Then they made for the buildings. Gunnar shot out arrows at them, and +made a stout defence, and they could get nothing done. Then some of them +got into the out-houses and tried to attack him thence, but Gunnar found +them out with his arrows there also, and still they could get nothing +done. + +So it went on for while, then they took a rest, and made a second +onslaught. Gunnar still shot out at them, and they could do nothing, and +fell off the second time. Then Gizur the white said- + +"Let us press on harder; nothing comes of our onslaught." + +Then they made a third bout of it, and were long at it, and then they +fell off again. + +Gunnar said, "There lies on arrow outside on the wall, and it is one of +their shafts; I will shoot at them with it, and it will be a shame to +them if they get a hurt from their own weapons". + +His mother said, "Do not so, my son; nor rouse them again when they have +already fallen off from the attack". + +But Gunnar caught up the arrow and shot it after them, and struck Eylif +Aunund's son, and he got a great wound; he was standing all by himself, +and they knew not that he was wounded. + +"Out came an arm yonder," says Gizur, "and there was a gold ring on it, +and took an arrow from the roof and they would not look outside for +shafts if there were enough in doors; and now ye shall make a fresh +onslaught." + +"Let us burn him house and all," said Mord. + +"That shall never be," says Gizur, "though I knew that my life lay on +it; but it is easy for thee to find out some plan, such a cunning man as +thou art said to be." + +Some ropes lay there on the ground, and they were often used to +strengthen the roof. Then Mord said--"Let us take the ropes and throw +one end over the end of the carrying beams, but let us fasten the other +end to these rocks and twist them tight with levers, and so pull the +roof off the hall." + +So they took the ropes and all lent a hand to carry this out, and before +Gunnar was aware of it, they had pulled the whole roof off the hall. + +Then Gunnar still shoots with his bow so that they could never come nigh +him. Then Mord said again that they must burn the house over Gunnar's +head. But Gizur said-- + +"I know not why thou wilt speak of that which no one else wishes, and +that shall never be." + +Just then Thorbrand Thorleik's son sprang up on the roof, and cuts +asunder Gunnar's bowstring. Gunnar clutches the bill with both hands, +and turns on him quickly and drives it through him, and hurls him down +on the ground. + +Then up sprung Asbrand his brother. Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill, +and he threw his shield before the blow, but the bill passed clean +through the shield and broke both his arms, and down he fell from the +wall. + +Gunnar had already wounded eight men and slain those twain.[28] By that +time Gunnar had got two wounds, and all men said that he never once +winced either at wounds or death. + +Then Gunnar said to Hallgerda, "Give me two locks of thy hair, and ye +two, my mother and thou, twist them together into a bowstring for me." + +"Does aught lie on it?" she says. + +"My life lies on it," he said; "for they will never come to close +quarters with me if I can keep them off with my bow." + +"Well!" she says, "now I will call to thy mind that slap on the face +which thou gavest me; and I care never a whit whether thou holdest out a +long while or a short." + +Then Gunnar sang a song-- + + Each who hurls the gory javelin + Hath some honour of his own, + Now my helpmeet wimple-hooded + Hurries all my fame to earth. + No one owner of a war-ship + Often asks for little things, + Woman, fond of Frodi's flour,[29] + Wends her hand as she is wont. + +"Every one has something to boast of," says Gunnar, "and I will ask thee +no more for this." + +"Thou behavest ill," said Rannveig, "and this shame shall long be had in +mind." + +Gunnar made a stout and bold defence, and now wounds other eight men +with such sore wounds that many lay at death's door. Gunnar keeps them +all off until he fell worn out with toil. Then they wounded him with +many and great wounds, but still he got away out of their hands, and +held his own against them a while longer, but at last it came about that +they slew him. + +Of this defence of his, Thorkell the Skald of Göta-Elf sang in the +verses which follow-- + + We have heard how south in Iceland + Gunnar guarded well himself, + Boldly battle's thunder wielding, + Fiercest Iceman on the wave; + Hero of the golden collar, + Sixteen with the sword he wounded; + In the shock that Odin loveth, + Two before him lasted death. + +But this is what Thormod Olaf's son sang-- + + None that scattered sea's bright sunbeams,[30] + Won more glorious fame than Gunnar, + So runs fame of old in Iceland, + Fitting fame of heathen men; + Lord of fight when helms were crashing, + Lives of foeman twain he took, + Wielding bitter steel he sorely + Wounded twelve, and four besides. + +Then Gizur spoke and said: "We have now laid low to earth a mighty +chief, and hard work has it been, and the fame of this defence of his +shall last as long as men live in this land". + +After that he went to see Rannveig and said, "Wilt thou grant us earth +here for two of our men who are dead, that they may lie in a cairn +here?" + +"All the more willingly for two," she says, "because I wish with all my +heart I had to grant it to all of you." + +"It must be forgiven thee," he says, "to speak thus, for thou hast had a +great loss." + +Then he gave orders that no man should spoil or rob anything there. + +After that they went away. + +Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "We may not be in our house at home +for the sons of Sigfus, unless thou Gizur or thou Geir be here south +some little while". + +"This shall be so," says Gizur, and they cast lots, and the lot fell on +Geir to stay behind. + +After that he came to the Point, and set up his house there; he had a +son whose name was Hroald; he was base born, and his mother's name was +Biartey; he boasted that he had given Gunnar his death-blow. Hroald was +at the Point with his father. + +Thorgeir Starkad's son boasted of another wound which he had given to +Gunnar. + +Gizur sat at home at Mossfell. Gunnar's slaying was heard of, and ill +spoken of throughout the whole country, and his death was a great grief +to many a man. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII. + +GUNNAR SINGS A SONG DEAD. + + +Njal could ill brook Gunnar's death, nor could the sons of Sigfus brook +it either. + +They asked whether Njal thought they had any right to give notice of a +suit of manslaughter for Gunnar, or to set the suit on foot. + +He said that could not be done, as the man had been outlawed; but said +it would be better worth trying to do something to wound their glory, +by slaying some men in vengeance after him. + +They cast a cairn over Gunnar, and made him sit upright in the cairn. +Rannveig would not hear of his bill being buried in the cairn, but said +he alone should have it as his own, who was ready to avenge Gunnar. So +no one took the bill. + +She was so hard on Hallgerda, that she was on the point of killing her; +and she said that she had been the cause of her son's slaying. + +Then Hallgerda fled away to Gritwater, and her son Grani with her, and +they shared the goods between them; Hogni was to have the land at +Lithend and the homestead on it, but Grani was to have the land let out +on lease. + +Now this token happened at Lithend, that the neat-herd and the +serving-maid were driving cattle by Gunnar's cairn. They thought that he +was merry, and that he was singing inside the cairn. They went home and +told Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, of this token, but she bade them go and +tell Njal. + +Then they went over to Bergthorsknoll and told Njal, but he made them +tell it three times over. + +After that, he had a long talk all alone with Skarphedinn; and +Skarphedinn took his weapons and goes with them to Lithend. + +Rannveig and Hogni gave him a hearty welcome, and were very glad to see +him. Rannveig asked him to stay there some time, and he said he would. + +He and Hogni were always together, at home and abroad. Hogni was a +brisk, brave man, well-bred and well-trained in mind and body, but +distrustful and slow to believe what he was told, and that was why they +dared not tell him of the token. + +Now those two, Skarphedinn and Hogni, were out of doors one evening by +Gunnar's cairn on the south side. The moon and stars were shining clear +and bright, but every now and then the clouds drove over them. Then all +at once they thought they saw the cairn standing open, and lo! Gunnar +had turned himself in the cairn and looked at the moon. They thought +they saw four lights burning in the cairn, and none of them threw a +shadow. They saw that Gunnar was merry, and he wore a joyful face. He +sang a song, and so loud, that it might have been heard though they had +been farther off. + + He that lavished rings in largesse, + When the fight's red rain-drops fell, + Bright of face, with heart-strings hardy, + Hogni's father met his fate; + Then his brow with helmet shrouding, + Bearing battle-shield, he spake, + "I will die the prop of battle, + Sooner die than yield an inch. + Yes, sooner die than yield an inch". + +After that the cairn was shut up again. + +"Wouldst thou believe these tokens if Njal or I told them to thee?" says +Skarphedinn. + +"I would believe them," he says, "if Njal told them, for it is said he +never lies." + +"Such tokens as these mean much," says Skarphedinn, "when he shows +himself to us, he who would sooner die than yield to his foes; and see +how he has taught us what we ought to do." + +"I shall be able to bring nothing to pass," says Hogni, "unless thou +wilt stand by me." + +"Now," says Skarphedinn, "will I bear in mind how Gunnar behaved after +the slaying of your kinsman Sigmund; now I will yield you such help as I +may. My father gave his word to Gunnar to do that whenever thou or thy +mother had need of it." + +After that they go home to Lithend. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVIII. + +GUNNAR OF LITHEND AVENGED. + + +"Now we shall set off at once," says Skarphedinn, "this very night; for +if they learn that I am here, they will be more wary of themselves." + +"I will fulfil thy counsel," says Hogni. + +After that they took their weapons when all men were in their beds. +Hogni takes down the bill, and it gave a sharp ringing sound. + +Rannveig sprang up in great wrath and said-- + +"Who touches the bill, when I forbade every one to lay hand on it?" + +"I mean," says Hogni, "to bring it to my father, that he may bear it +with him to Valhalla, and have it with him when the warriors meet." + +"Rather shalt thou now bear it," she answered, "and avenge thy father; +for the bill has spoken of one man's death or more." + +Then Hogni went out, and told Skarphedinn all the words that his +grandmother had spoken. + +After that they fare to the Point, and two ravens flew along with them +all the way. They came to the Point while it was still night. Then they +drove the flock before them up to the house, and then Hroald and Tjorfi +ran out and drove the flock up the hollow path, and had their weapons +with them. + +Skarphedinn sprang up and said, "Thou needest not to stand and think if +it be really as it seems. Men are here." + +Then Skarphedinn smites Tjorfi his death-blow. Hroald had a spear in his +hand, and Hogni rushes at him; Hroald thrusts at him, but Hogni hewed +asunder the spear-shaft with his bill, and drives the bill through him. + +After that they left them there dead, and turn away thence under the +Threecorner. + +Skarphedinn jumps up on the house and plucks the grass, and those who +were inside the house thought it was cattle that had come on the roof. +Starkad and Thorgeir took their weapons and upper clothing, and went out +and round about the fence of the yard. But when Starkad sees Skarphedinn +he was afraid, and wanted to turn back. + +Skarphedinn cut him down by the fence. Then Hogni comes against Thorgeir +and slays him with the bill. + +Thence they went to Hof, and Mord was outside in the field, and begged +for mercy, and offered them full atonement. + +Skarphedinn told Mord the slaying of those four men, and sang a song. + + Four who wielded warlike weapons + We have slain, all men of worth, + Them at once, gold-greedy fellow, + Thou shalt follow on the spot; + Let us press this pinch-purse so, + Pouring fear into his heart; + Wretch! reach out to Gunnar's son + Right to settle all disputes. + +"And the like journey," says Skarphedinn, "shalt thou also fare, or hand +over to Hogni the right to make his own award, if he will take these +terms." + +Hogni said his mind had been made up not to come to any terms with the +slayers of his father; but still at last he took the right to make his +own award from Mord. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIX. + +HOGNI TAKES AN ATONEMENT FOR GUNNAR'S DEATH. + + +Njal took a share in bringing those who had the blood-feud after Starkad +and Thorgeir to take an atonement, and a district meeting was called +together, and men were chosen to make the award, and every matter was +taken into account, even the attack on Gunnar, though he was an outlaw; +but such a fine as was awarded, all that Mord paid; for they did not +close their award against him before the other matter was already +settled, and then they set off one award against the other. + +Then they were all set at one again, but at the Thing there was great +talk, and the end of it was, that Geir the priest and Hogni were set at +one again, and that atonement they held to ever afterwards. + +Geir the priest dwelt in the Lithe till his death-day, and he is out of +the story. + +Njal asked as a wife for Hogni Alfeida the daughter of Weatherlid the +Skald, and she was given away to him. Their son was Ari, who sailed for +Shetland, and took him a wife there; from him is come Einar the +Shetlander, one of the briskest and boldest of men. + +Hogni kept up his friendship with Njal, and he is now out of the story. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXX. + +OF KOLSKEGG: HOW HE WAS BAPTISED. + + +Now it is to be told of Kolskegg how he comes to Norway, and is in the +Bay east that winter. But the summer after he fares east to Denmark, and +bound himself to Sweyn Forkbeard the Dane-king, and there he had great +honour. + +One night he dreamt that a man came to him; he was bright and +glistening, and he thought he woke him up. He spoke, and said to him-- + +"Stand up and come with me." + +"What wilt thou with me?" he asks. + +"I will get thee a bride, and thou shalt be my knight." + +He thought he said yea to that, and after that he woke up. + +Then he went to a wizard and told him the dream, but he read it so that +he should fare to southern lands and become God's knight. + +Kolskegg was baptised in Denmark, but still he could not rest there, but +fared east to Russia, and was there one winter. Then he fared thence out +to Micklegarth,[31] and there took service with the Emperor. The last +that was heard of him was, that he wedded a wife there, and was captain +over the Varangians, and stayed there till his death-day; and he, too, +is out of this story. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXI. + +OF THRAIN: HOW HE SLEW KOL. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say how Thrain Sigfus' son came to +Norway. They made the land north in Helgeland, and held on south to +Drontheim, and so to Hlada.[32] But as soon as Earl Hacon heard of that, +he sent men to them, and would know what men were in the ship. They came +back and told him who the men were. Then the Earl sent for Thrain +Sigfus' son, and he went to see him. The Earl asked of what stock he +might be. He said that he was Gunnar of Lithend's near kinsman. The Earl +said-- + +"That shall stand thee in good stead; for I have seen many men from +Iceland, but none his match." + +"Lord," said Thrain, "is it your will that I should be with you this +winter?" + +The Earl took to him, and Thrain was there that winter, and was thought +much of. + +There was a man named Kol, he was a great sea-rover. He was the son of +Asmund Ashside, east out of Smoland. He lay east in the Göta-Elf, and +had five ships, and much force. + +Thence Kol steered his course out of the river to Norway, and landed at +Fold,[33] in the bight of the "Bay," and came on Hallvard Soti unawares, +and found him in a loft. He kept them off bravely till they set fire to +the house, then he gave himself up; but they slew him, and took there +much goods, and sailed thence to Lödese.[34] + +Earl Hacon heard these tidings, and made them make Kol an outlaw over +all his realm, and set a price upon his head. + +Once on a time it so happened that the Earl began to speak thus-- + +"Too far off from us now is Gunnar of Lithend. He would slay my outlaw +if he were here; but now the Icelanders will slay him, and it is ill +that he hath not fared to us." + +Then Thrain Sigfus' son answered-- + +"I am not Gunnar, but still I am near akin to him, and I will undertake +this voyage." + +The Earl said, "I should be glad of that, and thou shalt be very well +fitted out for the journey". + +After that his son Eric began to speak, and said-- + +"Your word, father, is good to many men, but fulfilling it is quite +another thing. This is the hardest undertaking; for this sea-rover is +tough and ill to deal with, wherefore thou wilt need to take great +pains, both as to men and ships for this voyage." + +Thrain said, "I will set out on this voyage, though it looks ugly". + +After that the Earl gave him five ships, and all well trimmed and +manned. Along with Thrain was Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son. Gunnar was Thrain's brother's son, and had come to him young, and +each loved the other much. + +Eric, the Earl's son, went heartily along with them, and looked after +strength for them, both in men and weapons, and made such changes in +them as he thought were needful. After they were "boun," Eric got them a +pilot. Then they sailed south along the land; but wherever they came to +land, the Earl allowed them to deal with whatever they needed as their +own. + +So they held on east to Lödese, and then they heard that Kol was gone to +Denmark. Then they shaped their course south thither; but when they came +south to Helsingborg, they met men in a boat, who said that Kol was +there just before them, and would be staying there for a while. + +One day when the weather was good, Kol saw the ships as they sailed up +towards him, and said he had dreamt of Earl Hacon the night before, and +told his people he was sure these must be his men, and bade them all to +take their weapons. + +After that they busked them, and a fight arose; and they fought long, so +that neither side had the mastery. + +Then Kol sprang up on Thrain's ship, and cleared the gangways fast, and +slays many men. He had a gilded helm. + +Now Thrain sees that this is no good, and now he eggs on his men to go +along with him, but he himself goes first and meets Kol. + +Kol hews at him, and the blow fell on Thrain's shield, and cleft it down +from top to bottom. Then Kol got a blow on the arm from a stone, and +then down fell his sword. + +Thrain hews at Kol, and the stroke came on his leg so that it cut it +off. After that they slew Kol, and Thrain cut off his head, and they +threw the trunk over-board, but kept his head. + +There they took much spoil, and then they held on north to Drontheim, +and go to see the Earl. + +The Earl gave Thrain a hearty welcome, and he showed the Earl Kol's +head, but the Earl thanked him for that deed. + +Eric said it was worth more than words alone, and the Earl said so it +was, and bade them come along with him. + +They went thither, where the Earl had made them make a good ship that +was not made like a common long-ship. It had a vulture's head, and was +much carved and painted. + +"Thou art a great man for show, Thrain," said the Earl, "and so have +both of you, kinsmen, been, Gunnar and thou; and now I will give thee +this ship, but it is called the 'Vulture'. Along with it shall go my +friendship; and my will is that thou stayest with me as long as thou +wilt." + +He thanked him for his goodness, and said he had no longing to go to +Iceland just yet. + +The Earl had a journey to make to the marches of the land to meet the +Swede-king. Thrain went with him that summer, and was a shipmaster and +steered the Vulture, and sailed so fast that few could keep up with him, +and he was much envied. But it always came out that the Earl laid great +store on Gunnar, for he set down sternly all who tried Thrain's temper. + +So Thrain was all that winter with the Earl, but next spring the Earl +asked Thrain whether he would stay there or fare to Iceland; but Thrain +said he had not yet made up his mind, and said that he wished first to +know tidings from Iceland. + +The Earl said that so it should be as he thought it suited him best; and +Thrain was with the Earl. + +Then those tidings were heard from Iceland, which many thought great +news, the death of Gunnar of Lithend. Then the Earl would not that +Thrain should fare out to Iceland, and so there he stayed with him. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXII. + +NJAL'S SONS SAIL ABROAD. + + +Now it must be told how Njal's sons, Grim and Helgi, left Iceland the +same summer that Thrain and his fellows went away; and in the ship with +them were Olaf Kettle's son of Elda, and Bard the black. They got so +strong a wind from the north that they were driven south into the main; +and so thick a mist came over them that they could not tell whither they +were driving, and they were out a long while. At last they came to where +was a great ground sea, and thought then they must be near land. So then +Njal's sons asked Bard if he could tell at all to what land they were +likely to be nearest. + +"Many lands there are," said he, "which we might hit with the weather we +have had--the Orkneys, or Scotland, or Ireland." + +Two nights after, they saw land on both boards, and a great surf running +up in the firth. They cast anchor outside the breakers, and the wind +began to fall; and next morning it was calm. Then they see thirteen +ships coming out to them. + +Then Bard spoke and said, "What counsel shall we take now, for these men +are going to make an onslaught on us?" + +So they took counsel whether they should defend themselves or yield, but +before they could make up their minds, the Vikings were upon them. Then +each side asked the other their names, and what their leaders were +called. So the leaders of the chapmen told their names, and asked back +who led that host. One called himself Gritgard, and the other Snowcolf, +sons of Moldan of Duncansby in Scotland, kinsmen of Malcolm the Scot +king. + +"And now," says Gritgard, "we have laid down two choices, one that ye go +on shore, and we will take your goods; the other is, that we fall on you +and slay every man that we can catch." + +"The will of the chapmen," answers Helgi, "is to defend themselves." + +But the chapmen called out, "Wretch that thou art to speak thus! What +defence can we make? Lading is less than life." + +But Grim, he fell upon a plan to shout out to the Vikings, and would not +let them hear the bad choice of the chapmen. + +Then Bard and Olaf said, "Think ye not that these Icelanders will make +game of you sluggards; take rather your weapons and guard your goods". + +So they all seized their weapons, and bound themselves, one with +another, never to give up so long as they had strength to fight. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIII. + +OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON. + + +Then the Vikings shot at them and the fight began, and the chapmen guard +themselves well. Snowcolf sprang aboard and at Olaf, and thrust his +spear through his body, but Grim thrust at Snowcolf with his spear, and +so stoutly, that he fell over-board. Then Helgi turned to meet Grim, and +they too drove down all the Vikings as they tried to board, and Njal's +sons were ever where there was most need. Then the Vikings called out to +the chapmen and bade them give up, but they said they would never yield. +Just then some one looked seaward, and there they see ships coming from +the south round the Ness, and they were not fewer than ten, and they +row hard and steer thitherwards. Along their sides were shield on +shield, but on that ship that came first stood a man by the mast, who +was clad in a silken kirtle, and had a gilded helm, and his hair was +both fair and thick; that man had a spear inlaid with gold in his hand. + +He asked, "Who have here such an uneven game?" + +Helgi tells his name, and said that against them are Gritgard and +Snowcolf. + +"But who are your captains?" he asks. + +Helgi answered, "Bard the black, who lives, but the other, who is dead +and gone, was called Olaf". + +"Are ye men from Iceland?" says he. + +"Sure enough we are," Helgi answers. + +He asked whose sons they were, and they told him, then he knew them and +said-- + +"Well known names have ye all, father and sons both." + +"Who art thou?" asks Helgi. + +"My name is Kari, and I am Solmund's son." + +"Whence comest thou?" says Helgi. + +"From the Southern Isles." + +"Then thou art welcome," says Helgi, "if thou wilt give us a little +help." + +"I'll give ye all the help ye need," says Kari; "but what do ye ask?" + +"To fall on them," says Helgi. + +Kari says that so it shall be. So they pulled up to them, and then the +battle began the second time; but when they had fought a little while, +Kari springs up on Snowcolf's ship; he turns to meet him and smites at +him with his sword. Kari leaps nimbly backwards over a beam that lay +athwart the ship, and Snowcolf smote the beam so that both edges of the +sword were hidden. Then Kari smites at him, and the sword fell on his +shoulder, and the stroke was so mighty that he cleft in twain shoulder, +arm, and all, and Snowcolf got his death there and then. Gritgard hurled +a spear at Kari, but Kari saw it and sprang up aloft, and the spear +missed him. Just then Helgi and Grim came up both to meet Kari, and +Helgi springs on Gritgard and thrusts his spear through him, and that +was his death blow; after that they went round the whole ship on both +boards, and then men begged for mercy. So they gave them all peace, but +took all their goods. After that they ran all the ships out under the +islands. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIV. + +OF EARL SIGURD. + + +Sigurd was the name of an earl who ruled over the Orkneys; he was the +son of Hlodver, the son of Thorfinn the scull-splitter, the son of +Turf-Einar, the son of Rognvald, Earl of M[oe]ren, the son of Eystein +the noisy. Kari was one of Earl Sigurd's body-guard, and had just been +gathering scatts in the Southern Isles from Earl Gilli. Now Kari asks +them to go to Hrossey,[35] and said the Earl would take to them well. +They agreed to that, and went with Kari and came to Hrossey. Kari led +them to see the Earl, and said what men they were. + +"How came they," says the Earl, "to fall upon thee?" + +"I found them," says Kari, "in Scotland's Firths, and they were fighting +with the sons of Earl Moldan, and held their own so well that they threw +themselves about between the bulwarks, from side to side, and were +always there where the trial was greatest, and now I ask you to give +them quarters among your body-guard." + +"It shall be as thou choosest," says the Earl, "thou hast already taken +them so much by the hand." + +Then they were there with the Earl that winter, and were worthily +treated, but Helgi was silent as the winter wore on. The Earl could not +tell what was at the bottom of that, and asked why he was so silent, and +what was on his mind. + +"Thinkest thou it not good to be here?" + +"Good, methinks, it is here," he says. + +"Then what art thou thinking about?" asks the Earl. + +"Hast thou any realm to guard in Scotland?" asks Helgi. + +"So we think," says the Earl, "but what makes thee think about that, or +what is the matter with it?" + +"The Scots," says Helgi, "must have taken your steward's life, and +stopped all the messengers; that none should cross the Pentland Firth." + +"Hast thou the second sight?" said the Earl. + +"That has been little proved," answers Helgi. + +"Well," says the Earl, "I will increase thy honour if this be so, +otherwise thou shalt smart for it." + +"Nay," says Kari, "Helgi is not that kind of man, and like enough his +words are sooth, for his father has the second sight." + +After that the Earl sent men south to Straumey[36] to Arnljot, his +steward there, and after that Arnljot sent them across the Pentland +Firth, and they spied out and learnt that Earl Hundi and Earl Melsnati +had taken the life of Havard in Thraswick, Earl Sigurd's brother-in-law. +So Arnljot sent word to Earl Sigurd to come south with a great host and +drive those earls out of his realm, and as soon as the Earl heard that, +he gathered together a mighty host from all the isles. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXV. + +THE BATTLE WITH THE EARLS. + + +After that the Earl set out south with his host, and Kari went with him, +and Njal's sons too. They came south to Caithness. The Earl had these +realms in Scotland, Ross and Moray, Sutherland, and the Dales. There +came to meet them men from those realms, and said that the Earls were a +short way off with a great host. Then Earl Sigurd turns his host +thither, and the name of that place is Duncansness, above which they +met, and it came to a great battle between them. Now the Scots had let +some of their host go free from the main battle, and these took the +Earl's men in flank, and many men fell there till Njal's sons turned +against the foe, and fought with them and put them to flight; but still +it was a hard fight, and then Njal's sons turned back to the front by +the Earl's standard, and fought well. Now Kari turns to meet Earl +Melsnati, and Melsnati hurled a spear at him, but Kari caught the spear +and threw it back and through the Earl. Then Earl Hundi fled, but they +chased the fleers until they learnt that Malcolm was gathering a host at +Duncansby. Then the Earl took counsel with his men, and it seemed to all +the best plan to turn back, and not to fight with such a mighty land +force; so they turned back. But when the Earl came to Straumey they +shared the battle-spoil. After that he went north to Hrossey, and Njal's +sons and Kari followed him. Then the Earl made a great feast, and at +that feast he gave Kari a good sword, and a spear inlaid with gold; but +he gave Helgi a gold ring and a mantle, and Grim a shield and sword. +After that he took Helgi and Grim into his body-guard, and thanked them +for their good help. They were with the Earl that winter and the summer +after, till Kari went sea-roving; then they went with him, and harried +far and wide that summer, and everywhere won the victory. They fought +against Godred, King of Man, and conquered him; and after that they +fared back, and had gotten much goods. Next winter they were still with +the Earl, and when the spring came Njal's sons asked leave to go to +Norway. The Earl said they should go or not as they pleased, and he gave +them a good ship and smart men. As for Kari, he said he must come that +summer to Norway with Earl Hacon's scatts, and then they would meet; and +so it fell out that they gave each other their word to meet. After that +Njal's sons put out to sea and sailed for Norway, and made the land +north near Drontheim. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVI. + +HRAPP'S VOYAGE FROM ICELAND. + + +There was a man named Kolbein, and his surname was Arnljot's son; he was +a man from Drontheim; he sailed out to Iceland that same summer in which +Kolskegg and Njal's sons went abroad. He was that winter east in +Broaddale; but the spring after, he made his ship ready for sea in +Gautawick; and when men were almost "boun," a man rowed up to them in a +boat, and made the boat fast to the ship, and afterwards he went on +board the ship to see Kolbein. + +Kolbein asked that man for his name. + +"My name is Hrapp," says he. + +"What wilt thou with me?" says Kolbein. + +"I wish to ask thee to put me across the Iceland main." + +"Whose son art thou?" asks Kolbein. + +"I am a son of Aurgunleid, the son of Geirolf the fighter." + +"What need lies on thee," asked Kolbein, "to drive thee abroad?" + +"I have slain a man," says Hrapp. + +"What manslaughter was that," says Kolbein, "and what men have the +blood-feud?" + +"The men of Weaponfirth," says Hrapp, "but the man I slew was Aurlyg, +the son of Aurlyg, the son of Roger the white." + +"I guess this," says Kolbein, "that he will have the worst of it who +bears thee abroad." + +"I am the friend of my friend," said Hrapp, "but when ill is done to me +I repay it. Nor am I short of money to lay down for my passage." + +Then Kolbein took Hrapp on board, and a little while after a fair breeze +sprung up, and they sailed away on the sea. + +Hrapp ran short of food at sea, and then he sate him down at the mess of +those who were nearest to him. They sprang up with ill words, and so it +was that they came to blows, and Hrapp, in a trice, has two men under +him. + +Then Kolbein was told, and he bade Hrapp to come and share his mess, and +he accepted that. + +Now they come off the sea, and lie outside off Agdirness. + +Then Kolbein asked where that money was which he had offered to pay for +his fare? + +"It is out in Iceland," answers Hrapp. + +"Thou wilt beguile more men than me, I fear," says Kolbein; "but now I +will forgive thee all the fare." + +Hrapp bade him have thanks for that. "But what counsel dost thou give as +to what I ought to do?" + +"That first of all," he says, "that thou goest from the ship as soon as +ever thou canst, for all Easterlings will bear thee bad witness; but +there is yet another bit of good counsel which I will give thee, and +that is, never to cheat thy master." + +Then Hrapp went on shore with his weapons, and he had a great axe with +an iron-bound haft in his hand. + +He fares on and on till he comes to Gudbrand of the Dale. He was the +greatest friend of Earl Hacon. They two had a shrine between them, and +it was never opened but when the Earl came thither. That was the second +greatest shrine in Norway, but the other was at Hlada. + +Thrand was the name of Gudbrand's son, but his daughter's name was +Gudruna. + +Hrapp went in before Gudbrand, and hailed him well. He asked whence he +came and what was his name. Hrapp told him about himself, and how he +had sailed abroad from Iceland. + +After that he asks Gudbrand to take him into his household as a guest. + +"It does not seem," said Gudbrand, "to look on thee, as though thou wert +a man to bring good luck." + +"Methinks, then," says Hrapp, "that all I have heard about thee has been +great lies; for it is said that thou takest every one into thy house +that asks thee; and that no man is thy match for goodness and kindness, +far or near; but now I shall have to speak against that saying, if thou +dost not take me in." + +"Well, thou shalt stay here," said Gudbrand. + +"To what seat wilt thou show me?" says Hrapp. + +"To one on the lower bench, over against my high seat." + +Then Hrapp went and took his seat. He was able to tell of many things, +and so it was at first that Gudbrand and many thought it sport to listen +to him; but still it came about that most men thought him too much given +to mocking, and the end of it was that he took to talking alone with +Gudruna, so that many said that he meant to beguile her. + +But when Gudbrand was aware of that, he scolded her much for daring to +talk alone with him, and bade her beware of speaking aught to him if the +whole household did not hear it. She gave her word to be good at first, +but still it was soon the old story over again as to their talk. Then +Gudbrand got Asvard, his overseer, to go about with her, out of doors +and in, and to be with her wherever she went. One day it happened that +she begged for leave to go into the nut-wood for a pastime, and Asvard +went along with her. Hrapp goes to seek for them and found them, and +took her by the hand, and led her away alone. + +Then Asvard went to look for her, and found them both together stretched +on the grass in a thicket. + +He rushes at them, axe in air, and smote at Hrapp's leg, but Hrapp gave +himself a second turn, and he missed him. Hrapp springs on his feet as +quick as he can, and caught up his axe. Then Asvard wished to turn and +get away, but Hrapp hewed asunder his backbone. + +Then Gudruna said, "Now hast thou done that deed which will hinder thy +stay any Longer with my father; but still there is something behind +which he will like still less, for I go with child". + +"He shall not learn this from others," says Hrapp, "but I will go home +and tell him both these tidings." + +"Then," she says, "thou will not come away with thy life." + +"I will run the risk of that," he says. + +After that he sees her back to the other women, but he went home. +Gudbrand sat in his high seat, and there were few men in the hall. + +Hrapp went in before him, and bore his axe high. + +"Why is thine axe bloody?" asks Gudbrand. + +"I made it so by doing a piece of work on thy overseer Asvard's back," +says Hrapp. + +"That can be no good work," says Gudbrand; "thou must have slain him." + +"So it is, be sure," says Hrapp. + +"What did ye fall out about?" asks Gudbrand. + +"Oh!" says Hrapp, "what you would think small cause enough. He wanted to +hew off my leg." + +"What hast thou done first?" asked Gudbrand. + +"What he had no right to meddle with," says Hrapp. + +"Still thou wilt tell me what it was." + +"Well!" said Hrapp, "if thou must know, I lay by thy daughter's side, +and he thought that bad." + +"Up men!" cried Gudbrand, "and take him. He shall be slain out of hand." + +"Very little good wilt thou let me reap of my son-in-lawship," says +Hrapp, "but thou hast not so many men at thy back as to do that +speedily." + +Up they rose, but he sprang out of doors. They run after him, but he got +away to the wood, and they could not lay hold of him. + +Then Gudbrand gathers people, and lets the wood be searched; but they +find him not, for the wood was great and thick. + +Hrapp fares through the wood till he came to a clearing; there he found +a house, and saw a man outside cleaving wood. + +He asked that man for his name, and he said his name was Tofi. + +Tofi asked him for his name in turn, and Hrapp told him his true name. + +Hrapp asked why the householder had set up his abode so far from other +men? + +"For that here," he says, "I think I am less likely to have brawls with +other men." + +"It is strange how we beat about the bush in out talk," says Hrapp, "but +I will first tell thee who I am. I have been with Gudbrand of the Dale, +but I ran away thence because I slew his overseer; but now I know that +we are both of us bad men; for thou wouldst not have come hither away +from other men unless thou wert some man's outlaw. And now I give thee +two choices, either that I will tell where thou art,[37] or that we two +have between us, share and share alike, all that is here." + +"This is even as thou sayest," said the householder; "I seized and +carried off this woman who is here with me, and many men have sought for +me." + +Then he led Hrapp in with him; there was a small house there, but well +built. + +The master of the house told his mistress that he had taken Hrapp into +his company. + +"Most men will get ill luck from this man," she says; "but thou wilt +have thy way." + +So Hrapp was there after that. He was a great wanderer, and was never at +home. He still brings about meetings with Gudruna; her father and +brother, Thrand and Gudbrand, lay in wait for him, but they could never +get nigh him, and so all that year passed away. + +Gudbrand sent and told Earl Hacon what trouble he had had with Hrapp, +and the Earl let him be made an outlaw, and laid a price upon his head. +He said too, that he would go himself to look after him; but that passed +off, and the Earl thought it easy enough for them to catch him when he +went about so unwarily. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVII. + +THRAIN TOOK TO HRAPP. + + +That same summer Njal's sons fared to Norway from the Orkneys, as was +before written, and they were there at the fair during the summer. Then +Thrain Sigfus' son busked his ship for Iceland, and was all but "boun". +At that time Earl Hacon went to a feast at Gudbrand's house. That night +Killing-Hrapp came to the shrine of Earl Hacon and Gudbrand, and he went +inside the house, and there he saw Thorgerda Shrinebride sitting, and +she was as tall as a full-grown man. She had a great gold ring on her +arm, and a wimple on her head; he strips her of her wimple, and takes +the gold ring from off her. Then he sees Thor's car, and takes from him +a second gold ring; a third he took from Irpa; and then dragged them all +out, and spoiled them of all their gear. + +After that he laid fire to the shrine, and burnt it down, and then he +goes away just as it began to dawn. He walks across a ploughed field, +and there six men sprung up with weapons, and fall upon him at once; but +he made a stout defence, and the end of the business was that he slays +three men, but wounds Thrand to the death, and drives two to the woods, +so that they could bear no news to the Earl. He then went up to Thrand +and said-- + +"It is now in my power to slay thee if I will, but I will not do that; +and now I will set more store by the ties that are between us than ye +have shown to me." + +Now Hrapp means to turn back to the wood, but now he sees that men have +come between him and the wood, so he dares not venture to turn thither, +but lays him down in a thicket, and so lies there a while. + +Earl Hacon and Gudbrand went that morning early to the shrine and found +it burnt down; but the three gods were outside, stripped of all their +bravery. + +Then Gudbrand began to speak, and said-- + +"Much might is given to our gods, when here they have walked of +themselves out of the fire!" + +"The gods can have naught to do with it," says the Earl; "a man must +have burnt the shrine, and borne the gods out; but the gods do not +avenge everything on the spot. That man who has done this will no doubt +be driven away out of Valhalla, and never come in thither." + +Just then up ran four of the Earl's men, and told them ill tidings; for +they said they had found three men slain in the field, and Thrand +wounded to the death. + +"Who can have done this?" says the Earl. + +"Killing-Hrapp," they say. + +"Then he must have burnt down the shrine," says the Earl. + +They said they thought he was like enough to have done it. + +"And where may he be now?" says the Earl. + +They said that Thrand had told them that he had laid down in a thicket. + +The Earl goes thither to look for him, but Hrapp was off and away. Then +the Earl set his men to search for him, but still they could not find +him. So the Earl was in the hue and cry himself, but first he bade them +rest a while. + +Then the Earl went aside by himself, away from other men, and bade that +no man should follow him, and so he stays a while. He fell down on both +his knees, and held his hands before his eyes; after that he went back +to them, and then he said to them, "Come with me". + +So they went along with him. He turns short away from the path on which +they had walked before, and they came to a dell. There up sprang Hrapp +before them, and there it was that he had hidden himself at first. + +The Earl urges on his men to run after him, but Hrapp was so +swift-footed that they never came near him. Hrapp made for Hlada. There +both Thrain and Njal's sons lay "boun" for sea at the same time. Hrapp +runs to where Njal's sons are. + +"Help me, like good men and true," he said, "for the Earl will slay me." + +Helgi looked at him and said-- + +"Thou lookest like an unlucky man, and the man who will not take thee in +will have the best of it." + +"Would that the worst might befall you from me," says Hrapp. + +"I am the man," says Helgi, "to avenge me on thee for this as time rolls +on." + +Then Hrapp turned to Thrain Sigfus' son, and bade him shelter him. + +"What hast thou on thy hand?" says Thrain. + +"I have burnt a shrine under the Earl's eyes, and slain some men, and +now he will be here speedily, for he has joined in the hue and cry +himself." + +"It hardly beseems me to do this," says Thrain, "when the Earl has done +me so much good." + +Then he showed Thrain the precious things which he had borne out of the +shrine, and offered to give him the goods, but Thrain said he could not +take them unless he gave him other goods of the same worth for them. + +"Then," said Hrapp, "here will I take my stand, and here shall I be +slain before thine eyes, and then thou wilt have to abide by every man's +blame." + +Then they see the Earl and his band of men coming, and then Thrain took +Hrapp under his safeguard, and let them shove off the boat, and put out +to his ship. + +Then Thrain said, "Now this will be thy best hiding place, to knock out +the bottoms of two casks, and then thou shalt get into them". + +So it was done, and he got into the casks, and then they were lashed +together, and lowered over-board. + +Then comes the Earl with his band to Njal's sons, and asked if Hrapp had +come there. + +They said that he had come. + +The Earl asked whither he had gone thence. + +They said they had not kept eyes on him, and could not say. + +"He," said the Earl, "should have great honour from me who would tell me +where Hrapp was." + +Then Grim said softly to Helgi-- + +"Why should we not say. What know I whether Thrain will repay us with +any good?" + +"We should not tell a whit more for that," says Helgi, "when his life +lies at stake." + +"Maybe," said Grim, "the Earl will turn his vengeance on us, for he is +so wroth that some one will have to fall before him." + +"That must not move us," says Helgi, "but still we will pull our ship +out, and so away to sea as soon as ever we get a wind." + +So they rowed out under an isle that lay there, and wait there for a +fair breeze. + +The Earl went about among the sailors, and tried them all, but they, one +and all, denied that they knew aught of Hrapp. + +Then the Earl said, "Now we will go to Thrain, my brother-in-arms, and +he will give Hrapp up, if he knows anything of him". + +After that they took a long-ship and went off to the merchant ship. + +Thrain sees the Earl coming, and stands up and greets him kindly. The +Earl took his greeting well and spoke thus-- + +"We are seeking for a man whose name is Hrapp, and he is an Icelander. +He has done us all kind of ill; and now we will ask you to be good +enough to give him up, or to tell us where he is." + +"Ye know, Lord," said Thrain, "that I slew your outlaw, and then put my +life in peril, and for that I had of you great honour." + +"More honour shalt thou now have," says the Earl. + +Now Thrain thought within himself, and could not make up his mind how +the Earl would take it, so he denies that Hrapp is there, and bade the +Earl to look for him. He spent little time on that, and went on land +alone, away from other men, and was then very wroth, so that no man +dared to speak to him. + +"Show me to Njal's sons," said the Earl, "and I will force them to tell +me the truth." + +Then he was told that they had put out of the harbour. + +"Then there is no help for it," says the Earl, "but still there were two +water-casks alongside of Thrain's ship, and in them a man may well have +been hid, and if Thrain has hidden him, there he must be; and now we +will go a second time to see Thrain." + +Thrain sees that the Earl means to put off again and said-- + +"However wroth the Earl was last time, now he will be half as wroth +again, and now the life of every man on board the ship lies at stake." + +They all gave their words to hide the matter, for they were all sore +afraid. Then they took some sacks out of the lading, and put Hrapp down +into the hold in their stead, and other sacks that were tight were laid +over him. + +Now comes the Earl, just as they were done stowing Hrapp away. Thrain +greeted the Earl well. The Earl was rather slow to return it, and they +saw that the Earl was very wroth. + +Then said the Earl to Thrain-- + +"Give thou up Hrapp, for I am quite sure that thou hast hidden him." + +"Where shall I have hidden him, Lord?" says Thrain. + +"That thou knowest best," says the Earl; "but if I must guess, then I +think that thou hiddest him in the water-casks a while ago." + +"Well!" says Thrain, "I would rather not be taken for a liar, far sooner +would I that ye should search the ship." + +Then the Earl went on board the ship and hunted and hunted, but found +him not. + +"Dost thou speak me free now?" says Thrain. "Far from it," says the +Earl, "and yet I cannot tell why we cannot find him, but methinks I see +through it all when I come on shore, but when I come here, I can see +nothing." + +With that he made them row him ashore. He was so wroth that there was no +speaking to him. His son Sweyn was there with him, and he said, "A +strange turn of mind this to let guiltless men smart for one's wrath!" + +Then the Earl went away alone aside from other men, and after that he +went back to them at once, and said-- + +"Let us row out to them again," and they did so. + +"Where can he have been hidden?" says Sweyn. + +"There's not much good in knowing that," says the Earl, "for now he will +be away thence; two sacks lay there by the rest of the lading, and Hrapp +must have come into the lading in their place." + +Then Thrain began to speak, and said-- + +"They are running off the ship again, and they must mean to pay us +another visit. Now we will take him out of the lading, and stow other +things in his stead, but let the sacks still lie loose. They did so, and +then Thrain spoke-- + +"Now let us fold Hrapp in the sail." + +It was then brailed up to the yard, and they did so. + +Then the Earl comes to Thrain and his men, and he was very wroth, and +said, "Wilt thou now give up the man, Thrain?" and he is worse now than +before. + +"I would have given him up long ago," answers Thrain, "if he had been in +my keeping, or where can he have been?" + +"In the lading," says the Earl. + +"Then why did ye not seek him there?" says Thrain. + +"That never came into our mind," says the Earl. + +After that they sought him over all the ship, and found him not. + +"Will you now hold me free?" says Thrain. + +"Surely not," says the Earl, "for I know that thou hast hidden away the +man, though I find him not; but I would rather that thou shouldest be a +dastard to me than I to thee," says the Earl, and then they went on +shore. + +"Now," says the Earl, "I seem to see that Thrain has hidden away Hrapp +in the sail." + +Just then up sprung a fair breeze, and Thrain and his men sailed out to +sea. He then spoke these words which have long been held in mind since-- + + Let us make the Vulture fly, + Nothing now gars Thrain flinch. + +But when the Earl heard of Thrain's words, then he said-- + +"Tis not my want of foresight which caused this, but rather their +ill-fellowship, which will drag them both to death." + +Thrain was a short time out on the sea, and so came to Iceland, and +fared home to his house. Hrapp went along with Thrain, and was with him +that year; but the spring after, Thrain got him a homestead at +Hrappstede, and he dwelt there; but yet he spent most of his time At +Gritwater. He was thought to spoil everything there, and some men even +said that he was too good friends with Hallgerda, and that he led her +astray, but some spoke against that. + +Thrain gave the Vulture to his kinsman, Mord the reckless; that Mord +slew Oddi Haldor's son, east in Gautawick by Berufirth. + +All Thrain's kinsmen looked on him as a chief. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVIII. + +EARL HACON FIGHTS WITH NJAL'S SONS. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say how, when Earl Hacon missed +Thrain, he spoke to Sweyn his son, and said-- + +"Let us take four long-ships, and let us fare against Njal's sons and +slay them, for they must have known all about it with Thrain." + +"'Tis not good counsel," says Sweyn, "to throw the blame on guiltless +men, but to let him escape who is guilty." + +"I shall have my way in this," says the Earl. + +Now they hold on after Njal's sons, and seek for them, and find them +under an island. + +Grim first saw the Earl's ships and said to Helgi-- + +"Here are war ships sailing up, and I see that here is the Earl, and he +can mean to offer us no peace." + +"It is said," said Helgi, "that he is the boldest man who holds his own +against all comers, and so we will defend ourselves." + +They all bade him take the course he thought best, and then they took to +their arms. + +Now the Earl comes up and called out to them, And bade them give +themselves up. + +Helgi said that they would defend themselves so long as they could. + +Then the Earl offered peace and quarter to all who would neither defend +themselves nor Helgi; but Helgi was so much beloved that all said they +would rather die with him. + +Then the Earl and his men fall on them, but they defended themselves +well, and Njal's sons were ever where there was most need. The Earl +often offered peace, but they all made the same answer, and said they +would never yield. + +Then Aslak of Longisle pressed them hard, and came on board their ship +thrice. Then Grim said-- + +"Thou pressest on hard, and 'twere well that thou gettest what thou +seekest;" and with that he snatched up a spear and hurled it at him, and +hit him under the chin, and Aslak got his death wound there and then. + +A little after, Helgi slew Egil the Earl's banner-bearer. + +Then Sweyn, Earl Bacon's son, fell on them, and made men hem them in and +bear them down with shields, and so they were taken captive. + +The Earl was for letting them all be slain at once, but Sweyn said that +should not be, and said too that it was night. + +Then the Earl said, "Well, then, slay them to-morrow, but bind them fast +to-night". + +"So, I ween, it must be," says Sweyn; "but never yet have I met brisker +men than these, and I call it the greatest manscathe to take their +lives." + +"They have slain two of our briskest men," said the Earl, "and for that +they shall be slain." + +"Because they were brisker men themselves," says Sweyn; "but still in +this it must be done as thou wiliest." + +So they were bound and fettered. + +After that the Earl fell asleep; but when all men slept, Grim spoke to +Helgi, and said, "Away would I get if I could". + +"Let us try some trick then," says Helgi. + +Grim sees that there lies an axe edge up, so Grim crawled thither, and +gets the bowstring which bound him cut asunder against the axe, but +still he got great wounds on his arms. + +Then he set Helgi loose, and after that they crawled over the ship's +side, and got on shore, so that neither Hacon nor his men were ware of +them. Then they broke off their fetters and walked away to the other +side of the island. By that time it began to dawn. There they found a +ship, and knew that there was come Kari Solmund's son. They went at +once to meet him, and told him of their wrongs and hardships, and showed +him their wounds, and said the Earl would be then asleep. + +"Ill is it," said Karl, "that ye should suffer such wrongs for wicked +men; but what now would be most to your minds?" + +"To fall on the Earl," they say, "and slay him." + +"This will not be fated," says Kari; "but still ye do not lack heart, +but we will first know whether he is there now." + +After that they fared thither, and then the Earl was up and away. + +Then Kari sailed in to Hlada to meet the Earl, and brought him the +Orkney scatts; so the Earl said-- + +"Hast thou taken Njal's sons into thy keeping?" + +"So it is, sure enough," says Kari. + +"Wilt thou hand Njal's sons over to me?" asks the Earl. + +"No, I will not," said Kari. + +"Wilt thou swear this," says the Earl, "that thou wilt not fall on me +with Njal's sons?" + +Then Eric, the Earl's son, spoke and said-- + +"Such things ought not to be asked. Kari has always been our friend, and +things should not have gone as they have, had I been by. Njal's sons +should have been set free from all blame, but they should have had +chastisement who had wrought for it. Methinks now it would be more +seemly to give Njal's sons good gifts for the hardships and wrongs which +have been put upon them, and the wounds they have got." + +"So it ought to be, sure enough," says the Earl, "but I know not whether +they will take an atonement." + +Then the Earl said that Kari should try the feeling of Njal's sons as to +an atonement. + +After that Kari spoke to Helgi, and asked whether he would take any +amends from the Earl or not. + +"I will take them," said Helgi, "from his son Eric, but I will have +nothing to do with the Earl." + +Then Kari told Eric their answer. + +"So it shall be," says Eric. "He shall take the amends from me if he +thinks it better; and tell them this too, that I bid them to my house, +and my father shall do them no harm." + +This bidding they took, and went to Eric's house, and were with him till +Kari was ready to sail west across the sea to meet Earl Sigurd. + +Then Eric made a feast for Kari, and gave him gifts, and Njal's sons +gifts too. After that Kari fared west across the sea, and met Earl +Sigurd, and he greeted them very well, and they were with the Earl that +winter. + +But when the spring came, Kari asked Njal's sons to go on warfare with +him, but Grim said they would only do so if he would fare with them +afterwards out to Iceland. Kari gave his word to do that, and then they +fared with him a-sea-roving. They harried south about Anglesea and all +the Southern isles. Thence they held on to Cantyre, and landed there, +and fought with the landsmen, and got thence much goods, and so fared to +their ships. Thence they fared south to Wales, and harried there. Then +they held on for Man, and there they met Godred, and fought with him, +and got the victory, and slew Dungal the king's son. There they took +great spoil. Thence they held on north to Coll, and found Earl Gilli +there, and he greeted them well, and there they stayed with him a while. +The Earl fared with them to the Orkneys to meet Earl Sigurd, but next +spring Earl Sigurd gave away his sister Nereida to Earl Gilli, and then +he fared back to the Southern isles. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIX. + +NJAL'S SONS AND KARI COME OUT TO ICELAND. + + +That summer Kari and Njal's sons busked them for Iceland, and when they +were "all-boun" they went to see the Earl. The Earl gave them good +gifts, and they parted with great friendship. + +Now they put to sea and have a short passage, and they got a fine fair +breeze, and made the land at Eyrar. Then they got them horses and ride +from the ship to Bergthorsknoll, but when they came home all men were +glad to see them. They flitted home their goods and laid up the ship, +and Kari was there that winter with Njal. + +But the spring after, Kari asked for Njal's daughter, Helga, to wife, +and Helgi and Grim backed his suit; and so the end of it was that she +was betrothed to Kari, and the day for the wedding-feast was fixed, and +the feast was held half a month before mid-summer, and they were that +winter with Njal. + +Then Kari bought him land at Dyrholms, east away by Mydale, and set up a +farm there; they put in there a grieve and housekeeper to see after the +farm, but they themselves were ever with Njal. + + + + +CHAPTER XC. + +THE QUARREL OF NJAL'S SONS WITH THRAIN SIGFUS' SON. + + +Hrapp owned a farm at Hrappstede, but for all that he was always at +Gritwater, and he was thought to spoil everything there. Thrain was good +to him. + +Once on a time it happened that Kettle of the Mark was at +Bergthorsknoll; then Njal's sons told him of their wrongs and hardships, +and said they had much to lay at Thrain Sigfus' son's door, whenever +they chose to speak about it. + +Njal said it would be best that Kettle should talk with his brother +Thrain about it, and he gave his word to do so. + +So they gave Kettle breathing-time to talk to Thrain. + +A little after they spoke of the matter again to Kettle, but he said +that he would repeat few of the words that had passed between them, "for +it was pretty plain that Thrain thought I set too great store on being +your brother-in-law". + +Then they dropped talking about it, and thought they saw that things +looked ugly, and so they asked their father for his counsel as to what +was to be done, but they told him they would not let things rest as they +then stood. + +"Such things," said Njal, "are not so strange. It will be thought that +they are slain without a cause, if they are slain now, and my counsel +is, that as many men as may be should be brought to talk with them about +these things, that thus as many as we can find may be ear-witnesses if +they answer ill as to these things. Then Kari shall talk about them too, +for he is just the man with the right turn of mind for this; then the +dislike between you will grow and grow, for they will heap bad words on +bad words when men bring the matter forward, for they are foolish men. +It may also well be that it may be said that my sons are slow to take up +a quarrel, but ye shall bear that for the sake of gaining time, for +there are two sides to everything that is done, and ye can always pick a +quarrel; but still ye shall let so much of your purpose out, as to say +that if any wrong be put upon you that ye do mean something. But if ye +had taken counsel from me at first, then these things should never have +been spoken about at all, and then ye would have gotten no disgrace from +them; but now ye have the greatest risk of it, and so it will go on ever +growing and growing with your disgrace, that ye will never get rid of it +until ye bring yourselves into a strait, and have to fight your way out +with weapons; but in that there is a long and weary night in which ye +will have to grope your way." + +After that they ceased speaking about it; but the matter became the +daily talk of many men. + +One day it happened that those brothers spoke to Kari and bade him go to +Gritwater. Kari said he thought he might go elsewhither on a better +journey, but still he would go if that were Njal's counsel. So after +that Kari fares to meet Thrain, and then they talk over the matter, and +they did not each look at it in the same way. + +Kari comes home, and Njal's sons ask how things had gone between Thrain +and him. Kari said he would rather not repeat the words that had passed, +"but," he went on, "it is to be looked for that the like words will be +spoken when ye yourselves can hear them". + +Thrain had fifteen house-earles trained to arms in his house, and eight +of them rode with him whithersoever he went. Thrain was very fond of +show and dress, and always rode in a blue cloak, and had on a guilded +helm, and the spear--the Earl's gift--in his hand, and a fair shield, +and a sword at his belt. Along with him always went Gunnar Lambi's son, +and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Grani, Gunnar of Lithend's son. But nearest +of all to him went Killing-Hrapp. Lodinn was the name of his +serving-man, he too went with Thrain when he journeyed; Tjorvi was the +name of Loddin's brother, and he too was one of Thrain's band. The worst +of all, in their words against Njal's sons, were Hrapp and Grani; and it +was mostly their doing that no atonement was offered to them. + +Njal's sons often spoke to Kari that he should ride with them; and it +came to that at last, for he said it would be well that they heard +Thrain's answer. + +Then they busked them, four of Njal's sons, and Kari the fifth, and so +they fare to Gritwater. + +There was a wide porch in the homestead there, so that many men might +stand in it side by side. There was a woman out of doors, and she saw +their coming, and told Thrain of it; he bade them to go out into the +porch, and take their arms, and they did so. + +Thrain stood in mid-door, Killing-Hrapp and Grani Gunnar's son stood on +either hand of him; then next stood Gunnar Lambi's son, then Lodinn and +Tjorvi, then Lambi Sigurd's son; then each of the others took his place +right and left; for the house-earles were all at home. + +Skarphedinn and his men walk up from below, and he went first, then +Kari, then Hauskuld, then Grim, then Helgi. But when they had come up to +the door, then not a word of welcome passed the lips of those who stood +before them. + +"May we all be welcome here?" said Skarphedinn. + +Hallgerda stood in the porch, and had been talking low to Hrapp, then +she spoke out loud-- + +"None of those who are here will say that ye are welcome." + +Then Skarphedinn sang a song. + + Prop of sea-waves' fire,[38] thy fretting + Cannot cast a weight on us, + Warriors wight; yes, wolf and eagle + Willingly I feed to-day; + Carline thrust into the ingle, + Or a tramping whore, art thou; + Lord of skates that skim the sea-belt,[39] + Odin's mocking cup[40] I mix. + +"Thy words," said Skarphedinn, "will not be worth much, for thou art +either a hag, only fit to sit in the ingle, or a harlot." + +"These words of thine thou shalt pay for," she says, "ere thou farest +home." + +"Thee am I come to see, Thrain," said Helgi, "and to know if thou will +make me any amends for those wrongs and hardships which befell me for +thy sake in Norway." + +"I never knew," said Thrain, "that ye two brothers were wont to measure +your manhood by money; or, how long shall such a claim for amends stand +over?" + +"Many will say," says Helgi, "that thou oughtest to offer us atonement, +since thy life was at stake." + +Then Hrapp said, "'Twas just luck that swayed the balance, when he got +stripes who ought to bear them; and she dragged you under disgrace and +hardship, but us away from them." + +"Little good luck was there in that," says Helgi, "to break faith with +the Earl, and to take to thee instead." + +"Thinkest thou not that thou hast some amends to seek from me?" says +Hrapp, "I will atone thee in a way that, methinks, were fitting." + +"The only dealings we shall have," says Helgi, "will be those which will +not stand thee in good stead." + +"Don't bandy words with Hrapp," said Skarphedinn, "but give him a red +skin for a grey."[41] + +"Hold thy tongue, Skarphedinn," said Hrapp, "or I will not spare to +bring my axe on thy head." + +"'Twill be proved soon enough, I dare say," says Skarphedinn, "which of +us is to scatter gravel over the other's head." + +"Away with you home, ye 'Dung-beardlings!'" says Hallgerda, "and so we +will call you always from this day forth; but your father we will call +'the Beardless Carle'." + +They did not fare home before all who were there had made themselves +guilty of uttering those words, save Thrain; he forbade men to utter +them. + +Then Njal's sons went away, and fared till they came home; then they +told their father. + +"Did ye call any men to witness of those words?" says Njal. + +"We called none," says Skarphedinn; "we do not mean to follow that suit +up except on the battlefield." + +"No one will now think," says Bergthora, "that ye have the heart to lift +your weapons." + +"Spare thy tongue, mistress!" says Kari, "in egging on thy sons, for +they will be quite eager enough." + +After that they all talk long in secret, Njal and his sons, and Kari +Solmund's son, their brother-in-law. + + + + +CHAPTER XCI. + +THRAIN SIGFUS' SON'S SLAYING. + + +Now there was great talk about this quarrel of theirs, and all seemed to +know that it would not settle down peacefully. + +Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest, east in the Dale, was a great friend +of Thrain's, and had asked Thrain to come and see him, and it was +settled that he should come east when about three weeks or a month were +wanting to winter. + +Thrain bade Hrapp, and Grani, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son, and Lodinn, and Tjorvi, eight of them in all, to go on this journey +with him. Hallgerda and Thorgerda were to go too. At the same time +Thrain gave it out that he meant to stay in the Mark with his brother +Kettle, and said how many nights he meant to be away from home. + +They all of them had full arms. So they rode east across Markfleet, and +found there some gangrel women, and they begged them to put them across +the Fleet west on their horses, and they did so. + +Then they rode into the Dale, and had a hearty welcome; there Kettle of +the Mark met them, and there they sate two nights. + +Both Runolf and Kettle besought Thrain that he would make up his quarrel +with Njal's sons; but he said he would never pay any money, and answered +crossly, for he said he thought himself quite a match for Njal's sons +wherever they met. + +"So it may be," says Runolf; "but so far as I can see, no man has been +their match since Gunnar of Lithend died, and it is likelier that ye +will both drag one another down to death." + +Thrain said that was not to be dreaded. + +Then Thrain fared up into the Mark, and was there two nights more; after +that he rode down into the Dale, and was sent away from both houses with +fitting gifts. + +Now the Markfleet was then flowing between sheets of ice on both sides, +and there were tongues of ice bridging it across every here and there. + +Thrain said that he meant to ride home that evening, but Runolf said +that he ought not to ride home; he said, too, that it would be more wary +not to fare back as he had said he would before he left home. + +"That is fear, and I will none of it," answers Thrain. + +Now those gangrel women whom they had put across the Fleet came to +Bergthorsknoll, and Bergthora asked whence they came, but they answered, +"Away east under Eyjafell". + +"Then, who put you across Markfleet?" said Bergthora. + +"Those," said they, "who were the most boastful and bravest clad of +men." + +"Who?" asked Bergthora. + +"Thrain Sigfus' son," said they, "and his company, but we thought it +best to tell thee that they were so full-tongued and foul-tongued +towards this house, against thy husband and his sons." + +"Listeners do not often hear good of themselves," says Bergthora. After +that they went their way, and Bergthora gave them gifts on their going, +and asked them when Thrain might be coming home. + +They said that he would be from home four or five nights. + +After that Bergthora told her sons and her son-in-law Kari, and they +talked long and low about the matter. + +But that same morning, when Thrain and his men rode from the east, Njal +woke up early and heard how Skarphedinn's axe came against the panel. + +Then Njal rises up, and goes out, and sees that his sons are all there +with their weapons, and Karl, his son-in-law too. Skarphedinn was +foremost. He was in a blue cape, and had a targe, and his axe aloft on +his shoulder. Next to him went Helgi; he was in a red kirtle, had a helm +on his head, and a red shield, on which a hart was marked. Next to him +went Kari; he had on a silken jerkin, a gilded helm and shield, and on +it was drawn a lion. They were all in bright holiday clothes. + +Njal called out to Skarphedinn-- + +"Whither art thou going, kinsman?" + +"On a sheep hunt," he said. + +"So it was once before," said Njal, "but then ye hunted men." + +Skarphedinn laughed at that, and said-- + +"Hear ye what the old man says? He is not without his doubts." + +"When was it that thou spokest thus before?" asks Kari. + +"When I slew Sigmund the white," says Skarphedinn, "Gunnar of Lithend's +kinsman." + +"For what?" asks Kari. + +"He had slain Thord Freedmanson, my foster-father." + +Njal went home, but they fared up into the Redslips, and bided there; +thence they could see the others as soon as ever they rode from the east +out of the dale. + +There was sunshine that day and bright weather. + +Now Thrain and his men ride down out of the Dale along the river bank. + +Lambi Sigurd's son said-- + +"Shields gleam away yonder in the Redslips when the sun shines on them, +and there must be some men lying in wait there." + +"Then," says Thrain, "we will turn our way lower down the Fleet, and +then they will come to meet us if they have any business with us." + +So they turn down the Fleet. "Now they have caught sight of us," said +Skarphedinn, "for lo! they turn their path elsewhither, and now we have +no other choice than to run down and meet them." + +"Many men," said Kari, "would rather not lie in wait if the balance of +force were not more on their side than it is on ours; they are eight, +but we are five." + +Now they turn down along the Fleet, and see a tongue of ice bridging the +stream lower down and mean to cross there. + +Thrain and his men take their stand upon the ice away from the tongue, +and Thrain said-- + +"What can these men want? They are five, and we are eight." + +"I guess," said Lambi Sigurd's son, "that they would still run the risk +though more men stood against them." + +Thrain throws off his cloak, and takes off his helm. + +Now it happened to Skarphedinn, as they ran down along the Fleet, that +his shoe-string snapped asunder, and he stayed behind. + +"Why so slow, Skarphedinn?" quoth Grim. + +"I am tying my shoe," he says. + +"Let us get on ahead," says Kari; "methinks he will not be slower than +we." + +So they turn off to the tongue, and run as fast as they can. Skarphedinn +sprang up as soon as he was ready, and had lifted his axe, "the ogress +of war," aloft, and runs right down to the Fleet. But the Fleet was so +deep that there was no fording it for a long way up or down. + +A great sheet of ice had been thrown up by the flood on the other side +of the Fleet as smooth and slippery as glass, and there Thrain and his +men stood in the midst of the sheet. + +Skarphedinn takes a spring into the air, and leaps over the stream +between the icebanks, and does not check his course, but rushes still +onwards with a slide. The sheet of ice was very slippery, and so he went +as fast as a bird flies. Thrain was just about to put his helm on his +head; and now Skarphedinn bore down on them, and hews at Thrain with his +axe, "the ogress of war," and smote him on the head, and clove him down +to the teeth, so that his jaw-teeth fell out on the ice. This feat was +done with such a quick sleight that no one could get a blow at him; he +glided away from them at once at full speed. Tjorvi, indeed, threw his +shield before him on the ice, but he leapt over it, and still kept his +feet, and slid quite to the end of the sheet of ice. + +There Kari and his brothers came to meet him. + +"This was done like a man," says Kari. + +"Your share is still left," says Skarphedinn, and sang a song. + + To the strife of swords not slower, + After all, I came than you, + For with ready stroke the sturdy + Squanderer of wealth I felled; + But since Grim's and Helgi's sea-stag[42] + Norway's Earl erst took and stripped, + Now 'tis time for sea-fire bearers[43] + Such dishonour to avenge. + +And this other song he sang-- + + Swiftly down I dashed my weapon, + Gashing giant, byrnie-breacher,[44] + She, the noisy ogre's namesake,[45] + Soon with flesh the ravens glutted; + Now your words to Hrapp remember, + On broad ice now rouse the storm, + With dull crash war's eager ogress + Battle's earliest note hath sung. + +"That befits us well, and we wilt do it well," says Helgi. Then they +turn up towards them. Both Grim and Helgi see where Hrapp is, and they +turned on him at once. Hrapp hews at Grim there and then with his axe; +Helgi sees this and cuts at Hrapp's arm, and cut it off, and down fell +the axe. + +"In this," says Hrapp, "thou hast done a most needful work, for this +hand hath wrought harm and death to many a man." + +"And so here an end shall be put to it," says Grim; and with that he ran +him through with a spear, and then Hrapp fell down dead. + +Tjorvi turns against Kari and hurls a spear at him. Kari leapt up in the +air, and the spear flew below his feet. Then Kari rushes at him, and +hews at him on the breast with his sword, and the blow passed at once +into his chest, and he got his death there and then. + +Then Skarphedinn seizes both Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, +and said-- + +"Here have I caught two whelps! but what shall we do with them?" + +"It is in thy power," says Helgi, "to slay both or either of them, if +you wish them dead." + +"I cannot find it in my heart to do both--help Hogni and slay his +brother," says Skarphedinn. + +"Then the day will once come," says Helgi, "when thou wilt wish that +thou hadst slain him, for never will he be true to thee, nor will any +one of the others who are now here." + +"I shall not fear them," answers Skarphedinn. + +After that they gave peace to Grani Gunnar's son, and Gunnar Lambi's +son, and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Lodinn. + +After that they went down to the Fleet where Skarphedinn had leapt over +it, and Kari and the others measured the length of the leap with their +spear-shafts, and it was twelve ells (about eighteen feet, according to +the old Norse measure). + +Then they turned homewards, and Njal asked what tidings. + +They told him all just as it had happened, and Njal said-- + +"These are great tidings, and it is more likely that hence will come the +death of one of my sons, if not more evil." + +Gunnar Lambi's son bore the body of Thrain with him to Gritwater, and he +was laid in a cairn there. + + + + +CHAPTER XCII. + +KETTLE TAKES HAUSKULD AS HIS FOSTER-SON. + + +Kettle of the Mark had to wife Thorgerda, Njal's daughter, but he was +Thrain's brother, and he thought he was come into a strait, so he rode +to Njal's house, and asked whether he were willing to atone in any way +for Thrain's slaying? + +"I will atone for it handsomely," answered Njal; "and my wish is that +thou shouldst look after the matter with thy brothers who have to take +the price of the atonement, that they may be ready to join in it." + +Kettle said he would do so with all his heart, and Kettle rode home +first; a little after, he summoned all his brothers to Lithend, and then +he had a talk with them; and Hogni was on his side all through the talk; +and so it came about that men were chosen to utter the award; and a +meeting was agreed on, and the fair price of a man was awarded for +Thrain's slaying, and they all had a share in the blood-money who had a +lawful right to it. After that pledges of peace and good faith were +agreed to, and they were settled in the most sure and binding way. + +Njal paid down all the money out of hand well and bravely; and so things +were quiet for a while. + +One day Njal rode up into the Mark, and he and Kettle talked together +the whole day, Njal rode home at even, and no man knew of what they had +taken counsel. + +A little after Kettle fares to Gritwater, and he said to Thorgerda-- + +"Long have I loved my brother Thrain much, and now I will show it, for I +will ask Hauskuld Thrain's son to be my foster-child." + +"Thou shalt have thy choice of this," she says; "and thou shalt give +this lad all the help in thy power when he is grown up, and avenge him +if he is slain with weapons, and bestow money on him for his wife's +dower; and besides, thou shalt swear to do all this." + +Now Hauskuld fares home with Kettle, and is with him some time. + + + + +CHAPTER XCIII. + +NJAL TAKES HAUSKULD TO FOSTER. + + +Once on a time Njal rides up into the Mark, and he had a hearty welcome. +He was there that night, and in the evening Njal called out to the lad +Hauskuld, and he went up to him at once. + +Njal had a ring of gold on his hand, and showed it to the lad. He took +hold of the gold, and looked at it, and put it on his finger. + +"Wilt thou take the gold as a gift?" said Njal. + +"That I will," said the lad. + +"Knowest thou," says Njal, "what brought thy father to his death?" + +"I know," answers the lad, "that Skarphedinn slew him; but we need not +keep that in mind, when an atonement has been made for it, and a full +price paid for him." + +"Better answered than asked," said Njal; "and thou wilt live to be a +good man and true," he adds. + +"Methinks thy forecasting," says Hauskuld, "is worth having, for I know +that thou art foresighted and unlying." + +"Now I will offer to foster thee," said Njal, "if thou wilt take the +offer." + +He said he would be willing to take both that honour and any other good +offer which he might make. So the end of the matter was, that Hauskuld +fared home with Njal as his foster-son. + +He suffered no harm to come nigh the lad, and loved him much. Njal's +sons took him about with them, and did him honour in every way. And so +things go on till Hauskuld is full grown. He was both tall and strong; +the fairest of men to look on, and well-haired; blithe of speech, +bountiful, well-behaved; as well trained to arms as the best; fairspoken +to all men, and much beloved. + +Njal's sons and Hauskuld were never apart, either in word or deed. + + + + +CHAPTER XCIV. + +OF FLOSI THORD'S SON. + + +There was a man named Flosi, he was the son of Thord Freyspriest. Flosi +had to wife Steinvora, daughter of Hall of the Side. She was base born, +and her mother's name was Solvora, daughter of Herjolf the white. Flosi +dwelt at Swinefell, and was a mighty chief. He was tall of stature, and +strong withal, the most forward and boldest of men. His brother's name +was Starkad; he was not by the same mother as Flosi. + +The other brothers of Flosi were Thorgeir and Stein, Kolbein and Egil. +Hildigunna was the name of the daughter of Starkad Flosi's brother. She +was a proud, high-spirited maiden, and one of the fairest of women. She +was so skilful with her hands, that few women were equally skilful. She +was the grimmest and hardest-hearted of all women; but still a woman of +open hand and heart when any fitting call was made upon her. + + + + +CHAPTER XCV. + +OF HALL OF THE SIDE. + + +Hall was the name of a man who was called Hall of the Side. He was the +son of Thorstein Baudvar's son. Hall had to wife Joreida, daughter of +Thidrandi the wise. Thorstein was the name of Hall's brother, and he was +nick-named broadpaunch. His son was Kol, whom Kari slays in Wales. The +sons of Hall of the Side were Thorstein and Egil, Thorwald and Ljot, and +Thidrandi, whom, it is said, the goddesses slew. + +There was a man named Thorir, whose surname was Holt-Thorir; his sons +were these: Thorgeir Craggeir, and Thorleif crow, from whom the +Wood-dwellers are come, and Thorgrim the big. + + + + +CHAPTER XCVI. + +OF THE CHANGE OF FAITH. + + +There had been a change of rulers in Norway, Earl Hacon was dead and +gone, but in his stead was come Olaf Tryggvi's son. That was the end of +Earl Hacon, that Kark, the thrall, cut his throat at Rimul in +Gaulardale. + +Along with that was heard that there had been a change of faith in +Norway; they had cast off the old faith, but King Olaf had christened +the western lands, Shetland, and the Orkneys, and the Faroe Isles. + +Then many men spoke so that Njal heard it, that it was a strange and +wicked thing to throw off the old faith. + +Then Njal spoke and said-- + +"It seems to me as though this new faith must be much better, and he +will be happy who follows this rather than the other; and if those men +come out hither who preach this faith, then I will back them well." + +He went often alone away from other men and muttered to himself. + +That same harvest a ship came out into the firths east to Berufirth, at +a spot called Gautawick. The captain's name was Thangbrand. He was a son +of Willibald, a count of Saxony, Thangbrand was sent out hither by King +Olaf Tryggvi's son, to preach the faith. Along with him came that man of +Iceland whose name was Gudleif. Gudleif was a great man-slayer, and one +of the strongest of men, and hardy and forward in everything. + +Two brothers dwelt at Beruness; the name of the one was Thorleif, but +the other was Kettle. They were sons of Holmstein, the son of Auzur of +Broaddale. These brothers held a meeting, and forbade men to have any +dealings with them. This Hall of the Side heard. He dwelt at Thvattwater +in Alftafirth; he rode to the ship with twenty-nine men, and he fares at +once to find Thangbrand, and spoke to him and asked him-- + +"Trade is rather dull, is it not?" + +He answered that so it was. + +"Now will I say my errand," says Hall; "it is, that I wish to ask you +all to my house, and run the risk of my being able to get rid of your +wares for you." + +Thangbrand thanked him, and fared to Thvattwater that harvest. + +It so happened one morning that Thangbrand was out early and made them +pitch a tent on land, and sang mass in it, and took much pains with it, +for it was a great high day. + +Hall spoke to Thangbrand and asked, "In memory of whom keepest thou this +day?" + +"In memory of Michael the archangel," says Thangbrand. + +"What follows that angel?" asks Hall. + +"Much good," says Thangbrand. "He will weigh all the good that thou +doest, and he is so merciful, that whenever any one pleases him, he +makes his good deeds weigh more." + +"I would like to have him for my friend," says Hall. + +"That thou mayest well have," says Thangbrand, "only give thyself over +to him by God's help this very day." + +"I only make this condition," says Hall, "that thou givest thy word for +him that he will then become my guardian angel." + +"That I will promise," says Thangbrand. + +Then Hall was baptised, and all his household. + + + + +CHAPTER XCVII. + +OF THANGBRAND'S JOURNEYS. + + +The spring after Thangbrand set out to preach Christianity, and Hall +went with him. But when they came west across Lonsheath to Staffell, +there they found a man dwelling named Thorkell. He spoke most against +the faith, and challenged Thangbrand to single combat. Then Thangbrand +bore a rood-cross[46] before his shield, and the end of their combat was +that Thangbrand won the day and slew Thorkell. + +Thence they fared to Hornfirth and turned in as guests at Borgarhaven, +west of Heinabergs sand. There Hilldir the old dwelt,[47] and then +Hilldir and all his household took upon them the new faith. + +Thence they fared to Fellcombe, and went in as guests to Calffell. There +dwelt Kol Thorstein's son, Hall's kinsman, and he took upon him the +faith and all his house. + +Thence they fared to Swinefell, and Flosi only took the sign of the +cross, but gave his word to back them at the Thing. + +Thence they fared west to Woodcombe, and went in as guests at Kirkby. +There dwelt Surt Asbjorn's son, the son of Thorstein, the son of Kettle +the foolish. These had all of them been Christians from father to son. + +After that they fared out of Woodcombe on to Headbrink. By that time the +story of their journey was spread far and wide. There was a man named +Sorcerer-Hedinn who dwelt in Carlinedale. There heathen men made a +bargain with him that he should put Thangbrand to death with all his +company. He fared upon Arnstacksheath, and there made a great sacrifice +when Thangbrand was riding from the east. Then the earth burst asunder +under his horse, but he sprang off his horse and saved himself on the +brink of the gulf, but the earth swallowed up the horse and all his +harness, and they never saw him more. + +Then Thangbrand praised God. + + + + +CHAPTER XCVIII. + +OF THANGBRAND AND GUDLEIF. + + +Gudleif now searches for Sorcerer-Hedinn and finds him on the heath, and +chases him down into Carlinedale, and got within spearshot of him, and +shoots a spear at him and through him. + +Thence they fared to Dyrholms and held a meeting there, and preached the +faith there, and there Ingialld, the son of Thorsteinn Highbankawk, +became a Christian. + +Thence they fared to the Fleetlithe and preached the faith there. There +Weatherlid the Skald, and Ari his son, spoke most against the faith, and +for that they slew Weatherlid, and then this song was sung about it-- + + He who proved his blade on bucklers, + South went through the land to whet + Brand that oft hath felled his foeman, + 'Gainst the forge which foams with song;[48] + Mighty wielder of war's sickle + Made his sword's avenging edge + Hard on hero's helm-prop rattle,[49] + Skull of Weatherlid the Skald. + +Thence Thangbrand fared to Bergthorsknoll, and Njal took the faith and +all his house, but Mord and Valgard went much against it, and thence +they fared out across the rivers; so they went on into Hawkdale and +there they baptised Hall,[50] and he was then three winters old. + +Thence Thangbrand fared to Grimsness, there Thorwald the scurvy gathered +a band against him, and sent word to Wolf Uggi's son, that he must fare +against Thangbrand and slay him, and made this song on him-- + + To the wolf in Woden's harness, + Uggi's worthy warlike son, + I, steel's swinger dearly loving, + This my simple bidding send; + That the wolf of Gods[51] he chaseth,-- + Man who snaps at chink of gold-- + Wolf who base our Gods blasphemeth, + I the other wolf[52] will crush. + +Wolf sang another song in return-- + + Swarthy skarf from month that skimmeth + Of the man who speaks in song + Never will I catch, though surely + Wealthy warrior it hath sent; + Tender of the sea-horse snorting, + E'en though ill deeds are on foot, + Still to risk mine eyes are open; + Harmful 'tis to snap at flies.[53] + +"And," says he, "I don't mean to be made a catspaw by him, but let him +take heed lest his tongue twists a noose for his own neck." + +And after that the messenger fared back to Thorwald the scurvy and told +him Wolf's words. Thorwald had many men about him, and gave it out that +he would lie in wait for them on Bluewoodheath. + +Now those two, Thangbrand and Gudleif, ride out of Hawkdale, and there +they came upon a man who rode to meet them. That man asked for Gudleif, +and when he found him he said-- + +"Thou shalt gain by being the brother of Thorgil of Reykiahole, for I +will let thee know that they have set many ambushes, and this too, that +Thorwald the scurvy is now with his band At Hestbeck on Grimsness." + +"We shall not the less for all that ride to meet him," says Gudleif, and +then they turned down to Hestbeck. Thorwald was then come across the +brook, and Gudleif said to Thangbrand-- + +"Here is now Thorwald; let us rush on him now." Thangbrand shot a spear +through Thorwald, but Gudleif smote him on the shoulder and hewed his +arm off, and that was his death. + +After that they ride up to the Thing, and it was a near thing that the +kinsmen of Thorwald had fallen on Thangbrand, but Njal and the +eastfirthers stood by Thangbrand. + +Then Hjallti Skeggi's son sang this rhyme at the Hill of Laws-- + + Ever will I Gods blaspheme + Freyja methinks a dog does seem, + Freyja a dog? Aye! let them be + Both dogs together Odin and she.[54] + +Hjallti fared abroad that summer and Gizur the white with him, but +Thangbrand's ship was wrecked away east at Bulandsness, and the ship's +name was "Bison". + +Thangbrand and his messmate fared right through the west country, and +Steinvora, the mother of Ref the Skald, came against him; she preached +the heathen faith to Thangbrand and made him a long speech. Thangbrand +held his peace while she spoke, but made a long speech after her, and +turned all that she had said the wrong way against her. + +"Hast thou heard," she said, "how Thor challenged Christ to single +combat, and how he did not dare to fight with Thor?" + +"I have heard tell," says Thangbrand, "that Thor was naught but dust and +ashes, if God had not willed that he should live." + +"Knowest thou," she says, "who it was that shattered thy ship?" + +"What hast thou to say about that?" he asks. + +"That I will tell thee," she says. + + He that giant's offspring[55] slayeth + Broke the new-field's bison stout,[56] + Thus the Gods, bell's warder[57] grieving. + Crushed the falcon of the strand;[58] + To the courser of the causeway[59] + Little good was Christ I ween, + When Thor shattered ships to pieces + Gylfi's hart[60] no God could help. + +And again she sang another song-- + + Thangbrand's vessel from her moorings, + Sea-king's steed, Thor wrathful tore, + Shook and shattered all her timbers, + Hurled her broadside on the beach; + Ne'er again shall Viking's snow-shoe,[61] + On the briny billows glide, + For a storm by Thor awakened, + Dashed the bark to splinters small. + +After that Thangbrand and Steinvora parted, and they fared west to +Bardastrand. + + + + +CHAPTER XCIX. + +OF GEST ODDLEIF'S SON. + + +Gest Oddleif's son dwelt at Hagi on Bardastrand, He was one of the +wisest of men, so that he foresaw the fates and fortunes of men. He made +a feast for Thangbrand and his men. They fared to Hagi with sixty men. +Then it was said that there were two hundred heathen men to meet them, +and that a Baresark was looked for to come thither, whose name was +Otrygg, and all were afraid of him. Of him such great things as these +were said, that he feared neither fire nor sword, and the heathen men +were sore afraid at his coming. Then Thangbrand asked if men were +willing to take the faith, but all the heathen men spoke against it. + +"Well," says Thangbrand, "I will give you the means whereby ye shall +prove whether my faith is better. We will hallow two fires. The heathen +men shall hallow one and I the other, but a third shall he unhallowed; +and if the Baresark is afraid of the one that I hallow, but treads both +the others, then ye shall take the faith." + +"That is well-spoken," says Gest, "and I will agree to this for myself +and my household." + +And when Gest had so spoken, then many more agreed to it. + +Then it was said that the Baresark was coming up to the homestead, and +then the fires were made and burned strong. Then men took their arms and +sprang up on the benches, and so waited. + +The Baresark rushed in with his weapons. He comes into the room, and +treads at once the fire which the heathen men had hallowed, and so comes +to the fire that Thangbrand had hallowed, and dares not to tread it, but +said that he was on fire all over. He hews with his sword at the bench, +but strikes a cross-beam as he brandished the weapon aloft. Thangbrand +smote the arm of the Baresark with his crucifix, and so mighty a token +followed that the sword fell from the Baresark's hand. + +Then Thangbrand thrusts a sword into his breast, and Gudleif smote him +on the arm and hewed it off. Then many went up and slew the Baresark. + +After that Thangbrand asked if they would take the faith now? + +Gest said he had only spoken what he meant to keep to. + +Then Thangbrand baptised Gest and all his house and many others. Then +Thangbrand took counsel with Gest whether he should go any further west +among the firths, but Gest set his face against that, and said they were +a hard race of men there, and ill to deal with, "but if it be foredoomed +that this faith shall make its way, then it will be taken as law at the +Althing, and then all the chiefs out of the districts will be there". + +"I did all that I could at the Thing," says Thangbrand, "and it was very +uphill work." + +"Still thou hast done most of the work," says Gest, "though it may be +fated that others shall make Christianity law; but it is here as the +saying runs, 'No tree falls at the first stroke'." + +After that Gest gave Thangbrand good gifts, and he fared back south. +Thangbrand fared to the Southlander's Quarter, and so to the Eastfirths. +He turned in as a guest at Bergthorsknoll, and Njal gave him good gifts. +Thence he rode east to Alftafirth to meet Hall of the Side. He caused +his ship to be mended, and heathen man called it "Iron-basket". On board +that ship Thangbrand fared abroad, and Gudleif with him. + + + + +CHAPTER C. + +OF GIZUR THE WHITE AND HJALLTI. + + +That same summer Hjallti Skeggi's son was outlawed at the Thing for +blasphemy against the Gods. + +Thangbrand told King Olaf of all the mischief that the Icelanders had +done to him, and said that they were such sorcerers there that the earth +burst asunder under his horse and swallowed up the horse. + +Then King Olaf was so wroth that he made them seize all the men from +Iceland and set them in dungeons, and meant to slay them. + +Then they, Gizur the white and Hjallti, came up and offered to lay +themselves in pledge for those men, and fare out to Iceland and preach +the faith. The king took this well, and they got them all set free +again. + +Then Gizur and Hjallti busked their ship for Iceland, and were soon +"boun". They made the land at Eyrar when ten weeks of summer had passed; +they got them horses at once, but left other men to strip their ship. +Then they ride with thirty men to the Thing, and sent word to the +Christian men that they must be ready to stand by them. + +Hjallti stayed behind at Reydarmull, for he had heard that he had been +made an outlaw for blasphemy, but when they came to the "Boiling +Kettle"[62] down below the brink of the Rift,[63] there came Hjallti +after them, and said he would not let the heathen men see that he was +afraid of them. + +Then many Christian men rode to meet them, and they ride in battle +array to the Thing. The heathen men had drawn up their men in array to +meet them, and it was a near thing that the whole body of the Thing had +come to blows, but still it did not go so far. + + + + +CHAPTER CI. + +OF THORGEIR OF LIGHTWATER. + + +There was a man named Thorgeir who dwelt at Lightwater; he was the son +of Tjorfi, the son of Thorkel the long, the son of Kettle Longneck. His +mother's name was Thoruna, and she was the daughter of Thorstein, the +son of Sigmund, the son of Bard of the Nip. Gudrida was the name of his +wife; she was a daughter of Thorkel the black of Hleidrargarth. His +brother was Worm wallet-back, the father of Hlenni the old of Saurby. + +The Christian men set up their booths, and Gizur the white and Hjallti +were in the booths of the men from Mossfell. The day after both sides +went to the Hill of Laws, and each, the Christian men as well as the +heathen, took witness, and declared themselves out of the other's laws, +and then there was such an uproar on the Hill of Laws that no man could +hear the other's voice. + +After that men went away, and all thought things looked like the +greatest entanglement. The Christian men chose as their Speaker Hall of +the Side, but Hall went to Thorgeir, the priest of Lightwater, who was +the old Speaker of the law, and gave him three marks of silver to utter +what the law should be, but still that was most hazardous counsel, since +he was an heathen. + +Thorgeir lay all that day on the ground, and spread a cloak over his +head, so that no man spoke with him; but the day after men went to the +Hill of Laws, and then Thorgeir bade them be silent and listen, and +spoke thus-- + +"It seems to me as though our matters were come to a dead lock, if we +are not all to have one and the same law; for if there be a sundering of +the laws, then there will be a sundering of the peace, and we shall +never be able to live in the land. Now, I will ask both Christian men +and heathen whether they will hold to those laws which I utter". + +They all say they would. + +He said he wished to take an oath of them, and pledges that they would +hold to them, and they all said "yea" to that, and so he took pledges +from them. + +"This is the beginning of our laws," he said, "that all men shall be +Christian here in the land, and believe in one God, the Father, the Son, +and the Holy Ghost, but leave off all idol-worship, not expose children +to perish, and not eat horseflesh. It shall be outlawry if such things +are proved openly against any man; but if these things are done by +stealth, then it shall be blameless." + +But all this heathendom was all done away with within a few years' +space, so that those things were not allowed to be done either by +stealth or openly. + +Thorgeir then uttered the law as to keeping the Lord's day and fast +days, Yuletide and Easter, and all the greatest highdays and holidays. + +The heathen men thought they had been greatly cheated; but still the +true faith was brought into the law, and so all men became Christian +here in the land. + +After that men fare home from the Thing. + + + + +CHAPTER CII. + +THE WEDDING OF HAUSKULD, THE PRIEST OF WHITENESS. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say that Njal spoke thus to Hauskuld, +his foster-son, and said-- + +"I would seek thee a match." + +Hauskuld bade him settle the matter as he pleased, and asked whether he +was most likely to turn his eyes. + +"There is a woman called Hildigunna," answers Njal, "and she is the +daughter of Starkad, the son of Thord Freyspriest. She is the best match +I know of." + +"See thou to it, foster-father," said Hauskuld; "that shall be my choice +which thou choosest." + +"Then we will look thitherward," says Njal. + +A little while after, Njal called on men to go along with him. Then the +sons of Sigfus, and Njal's sons, and Kari Solmund's son, all of them +fared with him and they rode east to Swinefell. + +There they got a hearty welcome. + +The day after, Njal and Flosi went to talk alone, and the speech of Njal +ended thus, that he said-- + +"This is my errand here, that we have set out on a wooing-journey, to +ask for thy kinswoman Hildigunna." + +"At whose hand?" says Flosi. + +"At the hand of Hauskuld my foster-son," says Njal. + +"Such things are well meant," says Flosi, "but still ye run each of you +great risk, the one from the other; but what hast thou to say of +Hauskuld?" + +"Good I am able to say of him," says Njal; "and besides, I will lay down +as much money as will seem fitting to thy niece and thyself, if thou +wilt think of making this match." + +"We will call her hither," says Flosi, "and know how she looks on the +man." + +Then Hildigunna was called, and she came thither. + +Flosi told her of the wooing, but she said she was a proud-hearted +woman. + +"And I know not how things will turn out between me and men of like +spirit; but this, too, is not the least of my dislike, that this man has +no priesthood or leadership over men, but thou hast always said that +thou wouldest not wed me to a man who had not the priesthood." + +"This is quite enough," says Flosi, "if thou wilt not be wedded to +Hauskuld, to make me take no more pains about the match." + +"Nay!" she says, "I do not say that I will not be wedded to Hauskuld if +they can get him a priesthood or a leadership over men; but otherwise I +will have nothing to say to the match." + +"Then," said Njal, "I will beg thee to let this match stand over for +three winters, that I may see what I can do." + +Flosi said that so it should be. + +"I will only bargain for this one thing," says Hildigunna, "if this +match comes to pass, that we shall stay here away east." + +Njal said he would rather leave that to Hauskuld, but Hauskuld said that +he put faith in many men, but in none so much as his foster-father. + +Now they ride from the east. + +Njal sought to get a priesthood and leadership for Hauskuld, but no one +was willing to sell his priesthood, and now the summer passes away till +the Althing. + +There were great quarrels at the Thing that summer, and many a man then +did as was their wont, in faring to see Njal; but he gave such counsel +in men's lawsuits as was not thought at all likely, so that both the +pleadings and the defence came to naught, and out of that great strife +arose, when the lawsuits could not be brought to an end, and men rode +home from the Thing unatoned. + +Now things go on till another Thing comes. Njal rode to the Thing, and +at first all is quiet until Njal says that it is high time for men to +give notice of their suits. + +Then many said that they thought that came to little, when no man could +get his suit settled, even though the witnesses were summoned to the +Althing, "and so," say they, "we would rather seek our rights with point +and edge." + +"So it must not be," says Njal, "for it will never do to have no law in +the land. But yet ye have much to say on your side in this matter, and +it behoves us who know the law, and who are bound to guide the law, to +set men at one again, and to ensue peace. 'Twere good counsel, then, +methinks, that we call together all the chiefs and talk the matter +over." + +Then they go to the Court of Laws, and Njal spoke and said-- + +"Thee, Skapti Thorod's son and you other chiefs, I call on, and say, +that methinks our lawsuits have come into a deadlock, if we have to +follow up our suits in the Quarter Courts, and they get so entangled +that they can neither be pleaded nor ended. Methinks, it were wiser if +we had a Fifth Court, and there pleaded those suits which cannot be +brought to an end in the Quarter Courts." + +"How," said Skapti, "wilt thou name a Fifth Court, when the Quarter +Court is named for the old priesthoods, three twelves in each quarter?" + +"I can see help for that," says Njal, "by setting up new priesthoods, +and filling them with the men who are best fitted in each Quarter, and +then let those men who are willing to agree to it, declare themselves +ready to join the new priest's Thing." + +"Well," says Skapti, "we will take this choice; but what weighty suits +shall come before the court?" + +"These matters shall come before it," says Njal--"all matters of +contempt of the Thing, such as if men bear false witness, or utter a +false finding; hither, too, shall come all those suits in which the +Judges are divided in opinion in the Quarter Court; then they shall be +summoned to the Fifth Court; so, too, if men offer bribes, or take them, +for their help in suits. In this court all the oaths shall be of the +strongest kind, and two men shall follow every oath, who shall support +on their words of honour what the others swear. So it shall be also, if +the pleadings on one side are right in form, and the other wrong, that +the judgment shall be given for those that are right in form. Every suit +in this court shall be pleaded just as is now done in the Quarter Court, +save and except that when four twelves are named in the Fifth Court, +then the plaintiff shall name and set aside six men out of the court, +and the defendant other six; but if he will not set them aside, then the +plaintiff shall name them and set them aside as he has done with his own +six; but if the plaintiff does not set them aside, then the suit comes +to naught, for three twelves shall utter judgment on all suits. We shall +also have this arrangement in the Court of Laws, that those only shall +have the right to make or change laws who sit on the middle bench, and +to this bench those only shall be chosen who are wisest and best. There, +too, shall the Fifth Court sit; but if those who sit in the Court of +Laws are not agreed as to what they shall allow or bring in as law, then +they shall clear the court for a division, and the majority shall bind +the rest; but if any man who has a seat in the Court be outside the +Court of Laws and cannot get inside it, or thinks himself overborne in +the suit, then he shall forbid them by a protest, so that they can hear +it in the Court, and then he has made all their grants and all their +decisions void and of none effect, and stopped them by his protest." + +After that, Skapti Thorod's son brought the Fifth Court into the law, +and all that was spoken of before. Then men went to the Hill of Laws, +and men set up new priesthoods: in the Northlanders' Quarter were these +new priesthoods. The priesthood of the Melmen in Midfirth, and the +Laufesingers' priesthood in the Eyjafirth. + +Then Njal begged for a hearing, and spoke thus-- + +"It is known to many men what passed between my sons and the men of +Gritwater when they slew Thrain Sigfus' son. But for all that we settled +the matter; and now I have taken Hauskuld into my house, and planned a +marriage for him if he can get a priesthood anywhere; but no man will +sell his priesthood, and so I will beg you to give me leave to set up a +new priesthood at Whiteness for Hauskuld." + +He got this leave from all, and after that he set up the new priesthood +for Hauskuld; and he was afterwards called Hauskuld, the Priest of +Whiteness. + +After that, men ride home from the Thing, and Njal stayed but a short +time at home ere he rides east to Swinefell, and his sons with him, and +again stirs in the matter of the marriage with Flosi; but Flosi said he +was ready to keep faith with them in everything. + +Then Hildigunna was betrothed to Hauskuld, and the day for the wedding +feast was fixed, and so the matter ended. They then ride home, but they +rode again shortly to the bridal, and Flosi paid down all her goods and +money after the wedding, and all went off well. + +They fared home to Bergthorsknoll, and were there the next year, and all +went well between Hildigunna and Bergthora. But the next spring Njal +bought land in Ossaby, and hands it over to Hauskuld, and thither he +fares to his own abode. Njal got him all his household, and there was +such love between them all, that none of them thought anything that he +said or did any worth unless the others had a share in it. + +Hauskuld dwelt long at Ossaby, and each backed the other's honour, and +Njal's sons were always in Hauskuld's company. Their friendship was so +warm, that each house bade the other to a feast every harvest, and gave +each other great gifts; and so it goes on for a long while. + + + + +CHAPTER CIII. + +THE SLAYING OF HAUSKULD NJAL'S SON. + + +There was a man named Lyting; he dwelt at Samstede, and he had to wife a +woman named Steinvora; she was a daughter of Sigfus, and Thrain's +sister. Lyting was tall of growth and a strong man, wealthy in goods and +ill to deal with. + +It happened once that Lyting had a feast in his house at Samstede, and +he had bidden thither Hauskuld and the sons of Sigfus, and they all +came. There, too, was Grani Gunnar's son, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and +Lambi Sigurd's son. + +Hauskuld Njal's son and his mother had a farm at Holt, and he was +always riding to his farm from Bergthorsknoll, and his path lay by the +homestead at Samstede. Hauskuld had a son called Amund; he had been born +blind, but for all that he was tall and strong. Lyting had two +brothers--the one's name was Hallstein, and the other's Hallgrim. They +were the most unruly of men, and they were ever with their brother, for +other men could not bear their temper. + +Lyting was out of doors most of that day, but every now and then he went +inside his house. At last he had gone to his seat, when in came a woman +who had been out of doors, and she said-- + +"You were too far off to see outside how that proud fellow rode by the +farmyard!" + +"What proud fellow was that," says Lyting, "of whom thou speakest?" + +"Hauskuld Njal's son rode here by the yard," she says. + +"He rides often here by the farmyard," said Lyting, "and I can't say +that it does not try my temper; and now I will make thee an offer, +Hauskuld [Sigfus' son], to go along with thee if thou wilt avenge thy +father and slay Hauskuld Njal's son." + +"That I will not do," says Hauskuld, "for then I should repay Njal, my +foster father, evil for good, and mayst thou and thy feasts never thrive +henceforth." + +With that he sprang up away from the board, and made them catch his +horses, and rode home. + +Then Lyting said to Grani Gunnar's son-- + +"Thou wert by when Thrain was slain, and that will still be in thy mind; +and thou, too, Gunnar Lambi's son, and thou, Lambi Sigurd's son. Now, my +will is that we ride to meet him this evening, and slay him." + +"No," says Grani, "I will not fall on Njal's son, and so break the +atonement which good men and true have made." + +With like words spoke each man of them, and so, too, spoke all the sons +of Sigfus; and they took that counsel to ride away. + +Then Lyting said, when they had gone away-- + +"All men know that I have taken no atonement for my brother-in-law +Thrain, and I shall never be content that no vengeance--man for +man--shall be taken for him." + +After that he called on his two brothers to go with him, and three +house-carles as well. They went on the way to meet Hauskuld [Njal's son] +as he came back, and lay in wait for him north of the farmyard in a +pit; and there they bided till it was about mid-even [six o'clock +P.M.]. Then Hauskuld rode up to them. They jump up all of them +with their arms, and fall on him. Hauskuld guarded himself well, so that +for a long while they could not get the better of him; but the end of it +was at last that he wounded Lyting on the arm, and slew two of his +serving-men, and then fell himself. They gave Hauskuld sixteen wounds, +but they hewed not off the head from his body. They fared away into the +wood east of Rangriver, and hid themselves there. + +That same evening, Rodny's shepherd found Hauskuld dead, and went home +and told Rodny of her son's slaying. + +"Was he surely dead?" she asks; "was his head off?" + +"It was not," he says. + +"I shall know if I see," she says; "so take thou my horse and driving +gear." + +He did so, and got all things ready, and then they went thither where +Hauskuld lay. + +She looked at the wounds, and said-- + +"'Tis even as I thought, that he could not be quite dead, and Njal no +doubt can cure greater wounds." + +After that they took the body and laid it on the sledge and drove to +Bergthorsknoll, and drew it into the sheepcote, and made him sit upright +against the wall. + +Then they went both of them and knocked at the door, and a house-carle +went to the door. She steals in by him at once, and goes till she comes +to Njal's bed. + +She asked whether Njal were awake? He said he had slept up to that time, +but was then awake. + +"But why art thou come hither so early?" + +"Rise thou up," said Rodny, "from thy bed by my rival's side, and come +out, and she too, and thy sons, to see thy son Hauskuld." + +They rose and went out. + +"Let us take our weapons," said Skarphedinn, "and have them with us." + +Njal said naught at that, and they ran in and came out again armed. + +She goes first till they come to the sheepcote; she goes in and bade +them follow her. Then she lit a torch and held it up and said-- + +"Here, Njal, is thy son Hauskuld, and he hath gotten many wounds upon +him, and now he will need leechcraft." + +"I see death marks on him," said Njal, "but no signs of life; but why +hast thou not closed his eyes and nostrils? see, his nostrils are still +open!" + +"That duty I meant for Skarphedinn," she says. + +Then Skarphedinn went to close his eyes and nostrils, and said to his +father-- + +"Who, sayest thou, hath slain him?" + +"Lyting of Samstede and his brothers must have slain him," says Njal. + +Then Rodny said, "Into thy hands, Skarphedinn, I leave it to take +vengeance for thy brother, and I ween that thou wilt take it well, +though he be not lawfully begotten, and that thou wilt not be slow to +take it". + +"Wonderfully do ye men behave," said Bergthora, "when ye slay men for +small cause, but talk and tarry over such wrongs as this until no +vengeance at all is taken; and now tidings of this will soon come to +Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness, and he will be offering you +atonement, and you will grant him that, but now is the time to act about +it, if ye seek for vengeance." + +"Our mother eggs us on now with a just goading," said Skarphedinn, and +sang a song. + + Well we know the warrior's temper,[64] + One and all, well, father thine, + But atonement to the mother, + Snake-land's stem[65] and thee were base; + He that hoardeth ocean's fire[66] + Hearing this will leave his home; + Wound of weapon us hath smitten, + Worse the lot of those that wait! + +After that they all ran out of the sheepcote, but Rodny went indoors +with Njal, and was there the rest of the night. + + + + +CHAPTER CIV. + +THE SLAYING OF LYTING'S BROTHERS. + + +Now we must speak of Skarphedinn and his brothers, how they bend their +course up to Rangriver. Then Skarphedinn said-- + +"Stand we here and listen, and let us go stilly, for I hear the voices +of men up along the river's bank. But will ye, Helgi and Grim, deal with +Lyting single-handed, or with both his brothers?" + +They said they would sooner deal with Lyting alone. + +"Still," says Skarphedinn, "there is more game in him, and methinks it +were ill if he gets away, but I trust myself best for not letting him +escape." + +"We will take such steps," says Helgi, "if we get a chance at him, that +he shall not slip through our fingers." + +Then they went thitherward, Where they heard the voices of men, and see +where Lyting and his brothers are by a stream. + +Skarphedinn leaps over the stream at once, and alights on the sandy +brink on the other side. There upon it stands Hallgrim and his brother. +Skarphedinn smites at Hallgrim's thigh, so that he cut the leg clean +off, but he grasps Hallstein with his left hand. Lyting thrust at +Skarphedinn, but Helgi came up then and threw his shield before the +spear, and caught the blow on it. Lyting took up a stone and hurled it +at Skarphedinn, and he lost his hold on Hallstein. Hallstein sprang up +the sandy bank, but could get up it in no other way than by crawling on +his hands and knees. Skarphedinn made a side blow at him with his axe, +"the ogress of war," and hews asunder his backbone. Now Lyting turns and +flies, but Helgi and Grim both went after him, and each gave him a +wound, but still Lyting got across the river away from them, and so to +the horses, and gallops till he comes to Ossaby. + +Hauskuld was at home, and meets him at once. Lyting told him of these +deeds. + +"Such things were to be looked for by thee," says Hauskuld. "Thou hast +behaved like a madman, and here the truth of the old saw will be proved: +'but a short while is hand fain of blow'. Methinks what thou hast got to +look to now is whether thou wilt be able to save thy life or not." + +"Sure enough," says Lyting, "I had hard work to get away, but still I +wish now that thou wouldest get me atoned with Njal and his sons, so +that I might keep my farm." + +"So it shall be," says Hauskuld. + +After that Hauskuld made them saddle his horse, and rode to +Bergthorsknoll with five men. Njal's sons were then come home and had +laid them down to sleep. + +Hauskuld went at once to see Njal, and they began to talk. + +"Hither am I come," said Hauskuld to Njal, "to beg a boon on behalf of +Lyting, my uncle. He has done great wickedness against you and yours, +broken his atonement and slain thy son." + +"Lyting will perhaps think," said Njal, "that he has already paid a +heavy fine in the loss of his brothers, but if I grant him any terms, I +shall let him reap the good of my love for thee, and I will tell thee +before I utter the award of atonement, that Lyting's brothers shall fall +as outlaws. Nor shall Lyting have any atonement for his wounds, but on +the other hand, he shall pay the full blood-fine for Hauskuld." + +"My wish," said Hauskuld, "is, that thou shouldest make thine own +terms." + +"Well," says Njal, "then I will utter the award at once if thou wilt." + +"Wilt thou," says Hauskuld, "that thy sons should be by?" + +"Then we should be no nearer an atonement than we were before," says +Njal, "but they will keep to the atonement which I utter." + +Then Hauskuld said, "Let us close the matter then, and handsel him peace +on behalf of thy sons". + +"So it shall be," says Njal. "My will then is that he pays two hundred +in silver for the slaying of Hauskuld, but he may still dwell at +Samstede; and yet I think it were wiser if he sold his land and changed +his abode; but not for this quarrel; neither I nor my sons will break +our pledges of peace to him: but methinks it may be that some one may +rise up in this country against whom he may have to be on his guard. +Yet, lest it should seem that I make a man an outcast from his native +place, I allow him to be here in this neighbourhood, but in that case he +alone is answerable for what may happen." + +After that Hauskuld fared home, and Njal's sons woke up as he went, and +asked their father who had come, but he told them that his foster-son +Hauskuld had been there. + +"He must have come to ask a boon for Lyting then," said Skarphedinn. + +"So it was," says Njal + +"Ill was it then," says Grim. + +"Hauskuld could not have thrown his shield before him," says Njal, "if +thou hadst slain him, as it was meant thou shouldst." + +"Let us throw no blame on our father," says Skarphedinn. + +Now it is to be said that this atonement was kept between them +afterwards. + + + + +CHAPTER CV. + +OF AMUND THE BLIND. + +That event happened three winters after at the Thingskala-Thing that +Amund the blind was at the Thing; he was the son of Hauskuld Njal's son. +He made men lead him about among the booths, and so he came to the booth +inside which was Lyting of Samstede. He made them lead him into the +booth till he came before Lyting. + +"Is Lyting of Samstede here?" he asked. + +"What dost thou want?" says Lyting. + +"I want to know," says Amund, "what atonement thou wilt pay me for my +father, I am base-born, and I have touched no fine." + +"I have atoned for the slaying of thy father," says Lyting, "with a full +price, and thy father's father and thy father's brothers took the money; +but my brothers fell without a price as outlaws; and so it was that I +had both done an ill-deed, and paid dear for it." + +"I ask not," says Amund, "as to thy having paid an atonement to them. I +know that ye two are now friends, but I ask this, what atonement thou +wilt pay to me?" + +"None at all," says Lyting. + +"I cannot see," says Amund, "how thou canst have right before God, when +thou hast stricken me so near the heart; but all I can say is, that if I +were blessed with the sight of both my eyes, I would have either a money +fine for my father, or revenge man for man; and so may God judge between +us." + +After that he went out; but when he came to the door of the booth, he +turned short round towards the inside. Then his eyes were opened, and he +said-- + +"Praised be the Lord! now I see what His will is." + +With that he ran straight into the booth until he comes before Lyting, +and smites him with an axe on the head, so that it sunk in up to the +hammer, and gives the axe a pull towards him. + +Lyting fell forwards and was dead at once. + +Amund goes out to the door of the booth, and when he got to the very +same spot on which he had stood when his eyes were opened, lo! they were +shut again, and he was blind all his life after. + +Then he made them lead him to Njal and his sons, and he told them of +Lyting's slaying. + +"Thou mayest not be blamed for this," says Njal, "for such things are +settled by a higher power; but it is worth while to take warning from +such events, lest we cut any short who have such near claims as Amund +had." + +After that Njal offered an atonement to Lyting's kinsmen. Hauskuld the +Priest of Whiteness had a share in bringing Lyting's kinsmen to take the +fine, and then the matter was put to an award, and half the fines fell +away for the sake of the claim which he seemed to have on Lyting. + +After that men came forward with pledges of peace and good faith, and +Lyting's kinsmen granted pledges to Amund. Men rode home from the Thing; +and now all is quiet for a long while. + + + + +CHAPTER CVI. + +OF VALGARD THE GUILEFUL. + + +Valgard the guileful came back to Iceland that summer; he was then still +heathen. He fared to Hof to his son Mord's house, and was there the +winter over. He said to Mord-- + +"Here I have ridden far and wide all over the neighbourhood, and +methinks I do not know it for the same. I came to Whiteness, and there I +saw many tofts of booths and much ground levelled for building, I came +to Thingskala-Thing, and there I saw all our booths broken down. What is +the meaning of such strange things?" + +"New priesthoods," answers Mord, "have been set up here, and a law for +a Fifth Court, and men have declared themselves out of my Thing, and +have gone over to Hauskuld's Thing." + +"Ill hast thou repaid me," said Valgard, "for giving up to thee my +priesthood, when thou hast handled it so little like a man, and now my +wish is that thou shouldst pay them off by something that will drag them +all down to death; and this thou canst do by setting them by the ears by +tale-bearing, so that Njal's sons may slay Hauskuld; but there are many +who will have the blood-feud after him, and so Njal's sons will be slain +in that quarrel." + +"I shall never be able to get that done," says Mord. + +"I will give thee a plan," says Valgard; "thou shalt ask Njal's sons to +thy house, and send them away with gifts, but thou shalt keep thy +tale-bearing in the back ground until great friendship has sprung up +between you, and they trust thee no worse than their own selves. So wilt +thou be able to avenge thyself on Skarphedinn for that he took thy money +from thee after Gunnar's death; and in this wise, further on, thou wilt +be able to seize the leadership when they are all dead and gone." + +This plan they settled between them should be brought to pass; and Mord +said-- + +"I would, father, that thou wouldst take on thee the new faith. Thou art +an old man." + +"I will not do that," says Valgard. "I would rather that thou shouldst +cast off the faith, and see what follows then." + +Mord said he would not do that. Valgard broke crosses before Mord's +face, and all holy tokens. A little after Valgard took a sickness and +breathed his last, and he was laid in a cairn by Hof. + + + + +CHAPTER CVII. + +OF MORD AND NJAL'S SONS. + + +Some while after Mord rode to Bergthorsknoll and saw Skarphedinn there; +he fell into very fair words with them, and so he talked the whole day, +and said he wished to be good friends with them, and to see much of +them. + +Skarphedinn took it all well, but said he had never sought for anything +of the kind before. So it came about that he got himself into such +great friendship with them, that neither side thought they had taken any +good counsel unless the other had a share in it. + +Njal always disliked his coming thither, and it often happened that he +was angry with him. + +It happened one day that Mord came to Bergthorsknoll, and Mord said to +Njal's sons-- + +"I have made up my mind to give a feast yonder, and I mean to drink in +my heirship after my father, but to that feast I wish to bid you, Njal's +sons, and Kari; and at the same time I give you my word that ye shall +not fare away giftless." + +They promised to go, and now he fares home and makes ready the feast. He +bade to it many householders, and that feast was very crowded. + +Thither came Njal's sons and Kari. Mord gave Skarphedinn a brooch of +gold, and a silver belt to Kari, and good gifts to Grim and Helgi. + +They come home and boast of these gifts, and show them to Njal. He said +they would be bought full dear, "and take heed that ye do not repay the +giver in the coin which he no doubt wishes to get". + + + + +CHAPTER CVIII. + +OF THE SLANDER OF MORD VALGARD'S SON. + + +A little after Njal's sons and Hauskuld were to have their yearly +feasts, and they were the first to bid Hauskuld to come to them. + +Skarphedinn had a brown horse four winters old, both tall and sightly. +He was a stallion, and had never yet been matched in fight. That horse +Skarphedinn gave to Hauskuld, and along with him two mares. They all +gave Hauskuld gifts, and assured him of their friendship. + +After that Hauskuld bade them to his house at Ossaby, and had many +guests to meet them, and a great crowd. + +It happened that he had just then taken down his hall, but he had built +three out-houses, and there the beds were made. + +So all that were bidden came, and the feast went off very well. But +when men were to go home Hauskuld picked out good gifts for them, and +went a part of the way with Njal's sons. + +The sons of Sigfus followed him and all the crowd, and both sides said +that nothing should ever come between them to spoil their friendship. + +A little while after Mord came to Ossaby and called Hauskuld out to talk +with him, and they went aside and spoke. + +"What a difference in manliness there is," said Mord, "between thee and +Njal's sons! Thou gavest them good gifts, but they gave thee gifts with +great mockery." + +"How makest thou that out?" says Hauskuld. + +"They gave thee a horse which they called a 'dark horse,' and that they +did out of mockery at thee, because they thought thee too untried, I can +tell thee also that they envy thee the priesthood, Skarphedinn took it +up as his own at the Thing when thou camest not to the Thing at the +summoning of the Fifth Court, and Skarphedinn never means to let it go." + +"That is not true," says Hauskuld, "for I got it back at the Folkmote +last harvest." + +"Then that was Njal's doing," says Mord. "They broke, too, the atonement +about Lyting." + +"I do not mean to lay that at their door," says Hauskuld. + +"Well," says Mord, "thou canst not deny that when ye two, Skarphedinn +and thou, were going east towards Markfleet, an axe fell out from under +his belt, and he meant to have slain thee then and there." + +"It was his woodman's axe," says Hauskuld, "and I saw how he put it +under his belt; and now, Mord, I will just tell thee this right out, +that thou canst never say so much ill of Njal's sons as to make me +believe it; but though there were aught in it, and it were true as thou +sayest, that either I must slay them or they me, then would I far rather +suffer death at their hands than work them any harm. But as for thee, +thou art all the worse a man for having spoken this." + +After that Mord fares home. A little after Mord goes to see Njal's sons, +and he talks much with those brothers and Kari. + +"I have been told," says Mord, "that Hauskuld has said that thou, +Skarphedinn, hast broken the atonement made with Lyting; but I was made +aware also that he thought that thou hadst meant some treachery against +him when ye two fared to Markfleet. But still, methinks that was no less +treachery when he bade you to a feast at his house, and stowed you away +in an outhouse that was farthest from the house, and wood was then +heaped round the outhouse all night, and he meant to burn you all +inside; but it so happened that Hogni Gunnar's son came that night, and +naught came of their onslaught, for they were afraid of him. After that +he followed you on your way and great band of men with him, then he +meant to make another onslaught on you, and set Grani Gunnar's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son to kill thee; but their hearts failed them, and they +dared not to fall on thee." + +But when he had spoken thus, first of all they spoke against it, but the +end of it was that they believed him, and from that day forth a coldness +sprung up on their part towards Hauskuld, and they scarcely ever spoke +to him when they met; but Hauskuld showed them little deference, and so +things went on for a while. + +Next harvest Hauskuld fared east to Swinefell to a feast, and Flosi gave +him a hearty welcome. Hildigunna was there too. Then Flosi spoke to +Hauskuld and said-- + +"Hildigunna tells me that there is great coldness with you and Njal's +sons, and methinks that is ill, and I will beg thee not to ride west, +but I will get thee a homestead in Skaptarfell, and I will send my +brother, Thorgeir, to dwell at Ossaby." + +"Then some will say," says Hauskuld, "that I am flying thence for fear's +sake, and that I will not have said." + +"Then it is more likely that great trouble will arise," says Flosi. + +"Ill is that then," says Hauskuld, "for I would rather fall unatoned, +than that many should reap ill for my sake." + +Hauskuld busked him to ride home a few nights after, but Flosi gave him +a scarlet cloak, and it was embroidered with needlework down to the +waist. + +Hauskuld rode home to Ossaby, and now all is quiet for a while. + +Hauskuld was so much beloved that few men were his foes, but the same +ill-will went on between him and Njal's sons the whole winter through. + +Njal had taken as his foster-child, Thord, the son of Kari. He had also +fostered Thorhall, the son of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. Thorhall was a +strong man, and hardy both in body and mind, he had learnt so much law +that he was the third greatest lawyer in Iceland. + +Next spring was an early spring, and men are busy sowing their corn. + + + + +CHAPTER CIX. + +OF MORD AND NJAL'S SONS. + + +It happened one day that Mord came to Bergthorsknoll. He and Kari and +Njal's sons fell a-talking at once, and Mord slanders Hauskuld after his +wont, and has now many new tales to tell, and does naught but egg +Skarphedinn and them on to slay Hauskuld, and said he would be +beforehand with them if they did not fall on him at once. + +"I will let thee have thy way in this," says Skarphedinn, "if thou wilt +fare with us, and have some hand in it." + +"That I am ready to do," says Mord, and so they bound that fast with +promises, and he was to come there that evening. + +Bergthora asked Njal-- + +"What are they talking about out of doors?" + +"I am not in their counsels," says Njal, "but I was seldom left out of +them when their plans were good." + +Skarphedinn did not lie down to rest that evening, nor his brothers, nor +Kari. + +That same night, when it was well-nigh spent, came Mord Valgard's son, +and Njal's sons and Kari took their weapons and rode away. They fared +till they came to Ossaby, and bided there by a fence. The weather was +good, and the sun just risen. + + + + +CHAPTER CX. + +THE SLAYING OF HAUSKULD, THE PRIEST OF WHITENESS. + + +About that time Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness, awoke; he put on his +clothes, and threw over him his cloak, Flosi's gift. He took his +corn-sieve, and had his sword in his other hand, and walks towards the +fence, and sows the corn as he goes. + +Skarphedinn and his band had agreed that they would all give him a +wound. Skarphedinn sprang up from behind the fence, but when Hauskuld +saw him he wanted to turn away, then Skarphedinn ran up to him and +said-- + +"Don't try to turn on thy heel, Whiteness priest," and hews at him, and +the blow came on his head, and he fell on his knees. Hauskuld said these +words when he fell-- + +"God help me, and forgive you!" + +Then they all ran up to him and gave him wounds. + +After that Mord said-- + +"A plan comes into my mind." + +"What is that?" says Skarphedinn. + +"That I shall fare home as soon as I can, but after that I will fare up +to Gritwater, and tell them the tidings, and say 'tis an ill deed; but I +know surely that Thorgerda will ask me to give notice of the slaying, +and I will do that, for that will be the surest way to spoil their suit. +I will also send a man to Ossaby, and know how soon they take any +counsel in the matter, and that man will learn all these tidings thence, +and I will make believe that I have heard them from him." + +"Do so by all means," says Skarphedinn. + +Those brothers fared home, and Kari with them, and when they came home +they told Njal the tidings. + +"Sorrowful tidings are these," says Njal, "and such are ill to hear, for +sooth to say this grief touches me so nearly, that methinks it were +better to have lost two of my sons and that Hauskuld lived." + +"It is some excuse for thee," says Skarphedinn, "that thou art an old +man, and it is to be looked for that this touches thee nearly." + +"But this," says Njal, "no less than old age, is why I grieve, that I +know better than thou what will come after." + +"What will come after?" says Skarphedinn. + +"My death," says Njal, "and the death of my wife and of all my sons." + +"What dost thou foretell for me?" says Kari. + +"They will have hard work to go against thy good fortune, for thou wilt +be more than a match for all of them." + +This one thing touched Njal so nearly that he could never speak of it +without shedding tears. + + + + +CHAPTER CXI. + +OF HILDIGUNNA AND MORD VALGARD'S SON. + + +Hildigunna woke up and found that Hauskuld was away out of his bed. + +"Hard have been my dreams," she said, "and not good; but go and search +for _him_, Hauskuld." + +So they searched for him about the homestead and found him not. + +By that time she had dressed herself; then she goes and two men with +her, to the fence, and there they find Hauskuld slain. + +Just then, too, came up Mord Valgard's son's shepherd, and told her that +Njal's sons had gone down thence, "and," he said, "Skarphedinn called +out to me and gave notice of the slaying as done by him". + +"It were a manly deed," she says, "if one man had been at it." + +She took the cloak and wiped off all the blood with it, and wrapped the +gouts of gore up in it, and so folded it together and laid it up in her +chest. + +Now she sent a man up to Gritwater to tell the tidings thither, but Mord +was there before him, and had already told the tidings. There, too, was +come Kettle of the Mark. + +Thorgerda said to Kettle-- + +"Now is Hauskuld dead as we know, and now bear in mind what thou +promisedst to do when thou tookest him for thy foster-child." + +"It may well be," says Kettle, "that I promised very many things then, +for I thought not that these days would ever befall us that have now +come to pass; but yet I am come into a strait, for 'nose is next of kin +to eyes,' since I have Njal's daughter to wife." + +"Art thou willing, then," says Thorgerda, "that Mord should give notice +of the suit for the slaying?" + +"I know not that," says Kettle, "for methinks ill comes from him more +often than good." + +But as soon as ever Mord began to speak to Kettle he fared the same as +others, in that he thought as though Mord would be true to him, and so +the end of their council was that Mord should give notice of the +slaying, and get ready the suit in every way before the Thing. + +Then Mord fared down to Ossaby, and thither came nine neighbours who +dwelt nearest the spot. + +Mord had ten men with him. He shows the neighbours Hauskuld's wounds, +and takes witness to the hurts, and names a man as the dealer of every +wound save one; that he made as though he knew not who had dealt it, but +that wound he had dealt himself. But the slaying he gave notice of at +Skarphedinn's hand, and the wounds at his brothers' and Kari's. + +After that he called on nine neighbours who dwelt nearest the spot to +ride away from home to the Althing on the inquest. + +After that he rode home. He scarce ever met Njal's sons, and when he did +meet them, he was cross, and that was part of their plan. + +The slaying of Hauskuld was heard over all the land, and was ill-spoken +of. Njal's sons went to see Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and asked him for +aid. + +"Ye very well know that ye may look that I shall help you in all great +suits, but still my heart is heavy about this suit, for there are many +who have the blood feud, and this slaying is ill-spoken of over all the +land." + +Now Njal's sons fare home. + + + + +CHAPTER CXII. + +THE PEDIGREE OF GUDMUND THE POWERFUL. + + +There was a man named Gudmund the powerful, who dwelt at Modruvale in +Eyjafirth. He was the son of Eyjolf the son of Einar. Gudmund was a +mighty chief, wealthy in goods; he had in his house a hundred hired +servants. He overbore in rank and weight all the chiefs in the north +country, so that some left their homesteads, but some he put to death, +and some gave up their priesthoods for his sake, and from him are come +the greatest part of all the picked and famous families in the land, +such as "the Point-dwellers" and the "Sturlungs" and the "Hvamdwellers," +and the "Fleetmen," and Kettle the bishop, and many of the greatest men. + +Gudmund was a friend of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and so he hoped to get +his help. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIII. + +OF SNORRI THE PRIEST, AND HIS STOCK. + + +There was a man named Snorri, who was surnamed the Priest. He dwelt at +Helgafell before Gudruna Oswif's daughter bought the land of him, and +dwelt there till she died of old age; but Snorri then went and dwelt at +Hvamsfirth on Sælingdale's tongue. Thorgrim was the name of Snorri's +father, and he was a son of Thorstein codcatcher. Snorri was a great +friend of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and he looked for help there also. +Snorri was the wisest and shrewdest of all these men in Iceland who had +not the gift of foresight. He was good to his friends, but grim to his +foes. + +At that time there was a great riding to the Thing out of all the +Quarters, and men had many suits set on foot. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIV. + +OF FLOSI THORD'S SON. + + +Flosi hears of Hauskuld's slaying, and that brings him much grief and +wrath, but still he kept his feelings well in hand. He was told how the +suit had been set on foot, as has been said, for Hauskuld's slaying, and +he said little about it. He sent word to Hall of the Side, his +father-in-law, and to Ljot his son, that they must gather in a great +company at the Thing. Ljot was thought the most hopeful man for a chief +away there east. It had been foretold that if he could ride three +summers running to the Thing, and come safe and sound home, that then he +would be the greatest chief in all his family, and the oldest man. He +had then ridden one summer to the Thing, and now he meant to ride the +second time. + +Flosi sent word to Kol Thorstein's son, and Glum the son of Hilldir the +old, the son of Gerleif, the son of Aunund wallet-back, and to Modolf +Kettle's son, and they all rode to meet Flosi. + +Hall gave his word, too, to gather a great company, and Flosi rode till +he came to Kirkby, to Surt Asbjorn's son. Then Flosi sent after Kolbein +Egil's son, his brother's son, and he came to him there. Thence he rode +to Headbrink. There dwelt Thorgrim the showy, the son of Thorkel the +fair. Flosi begged him to ride to the Althing with him, and he said yea +to the journey, and spoke thus to Flosi-- + +"Often hast thou been more glad, master, than thou art now, but thou +hast some right to be so." + +"Of a truth," said Flosi, "that hath now come on my hands, which I would +give all my goods that it had never happened. Ill seed has been sown, +and so an ill crop will spring from it." + +Thence he rode over Arnstacksheath, and so to Solheim that evening. +There dwelt Lodmund Wolf's son, but he was a great friend of Flosi, and +there he stayed that night, and next morning Lodmund rode with him into +the Dale. + +There dwelt Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest. + +Flosi said to Runolf-- + +"Here we shall have true stories as to the slaying of Hauskuld, the +Priest of Whiteness. Thou art a truthful man, and hast got at the truth +by asking, and I will trust to all that thou tellest me as to what was +the cause of quarrel between them." + +"There is no good in mincing the matter," said Runolf, "but we must say +outright that he has been slain for less than no cause; and his death is +a great grief to all men. No one thinks it so much a loss as Njal, his +foster-father." + +"Then they will be ill off for help from men," says Flosi; "and they +will find no one to speak up for them." + +"So it will be," says Runolf, "unless it be otherwise foredoomed." + +"What has been done in the suit?" says Flosi. + +"Now the neighbours have been summoned on the inquest," says Runolf, +"and due notice given of the suit for manslaughter." + +"Who took that step?" asks Flosi. + +"Mord Valgard's son," says Runolf. + +"How far is that to be trusted?" says Flosi. + +"He is of my kin," says Runolf; "but still, if I tell the truth of him, +I must say that more men reap ill than good from him. But this one thing +I will ask of thee, Flosi, that thou givest rest to thy wrath, and +takest the matter up in such a way as may lead to the least trouble. For +Njal will make a good offer, and so will others of the best men." + +"Ride thou then to the Thing, Runolf," said Flosi, "and thy words shall +have much weight with me, unless things turn out worse than they +should." + +After that they cease speaking about it, and Runolf promised to go to +the Thing. + +Runolf sent word to Hatr the wise, his kinsman, and he rode thither at +once. + +Thence Flosi rode to Ossaby. + + + + +CHAPTER CXV. + +OF FLOSI AND HILDIGUNNA. + + +Hildigunna was out of doors, and said, "Now shall all the men of my +household be out of doors when Flosi rides into the yard; but the women +shall sweep the house and deck it with hangings, and make ready the +high-seat for Flosi." + +Then Flosi rode into the town, and Hildigunna turned to him and said-- + +"Come in safe and sound and happy kinsman, and my heart is fain at thy +coming hither." + +"Here," says Flosi, "we will break our fast, and then we will ride on." + +Then their horses were tethered, and Flosi went into the sitting-room +and sat him down, and spurned the high-seat away from him on the dais, +and said-- + +"I am neither king nor earl, and there is no need to make a high-seat +for me to sit on, nor is there any need to make a mock of me." + +Hildigunna was standing close by, and said-- + +"It is ill if it mislikes thee, for this we did with a whole heart." + +"If thy heart is whole towards me, then what I do will praise itself if +it be well done, but it will blame itself if it be ill done." + +Hildigunna laughed a cold laugh, and said-- + +"There is nothing new in that, we will go nearer yet ere we have done." + +She sat her down by Flosi, and they talked long and low. After that the +board was laid, and Flosi and his band washed their hands. Flosi looked +hard at the towel and saw that it was all in rags, and had one end torn +off. He threw it down on the bench and would not wipe himself with it, +but tore off a piece of the table-cloth, and wiped himself with that, +and then threw it to his men. + +After that Flosi sat down to the board and bade men eat. + +Then Hildigunna came into the room and went before Flosi, and threw her +hair off her eyes and wept. + +"Heavy-hearted art thou now, kinswoman," said Flosi, "when thou weepest, +but still it is well that thou shouldst weep for a good husband." + +"What vengeance or help shall I have of thee?" she says. + +"I will follow up thy suit," said Flosi, "to the utmost limit of the +law, or strive for that atonement which good men and true shall say that +we ought to have as full amends." + +"Hauskuld would avenge thee," she said, "if he had the blood-feud after +thee." + +"Thou lackest not grimness," answered Flosi, "and what thou wantest is +plain." + +"Arnor Ornolf's son, of Forswaterwood," said Hildigunna, "had done less +wrong towards Thord Frey's priest thy father; and yet thy brothers +Kolbein and Egil slew him at Skaptarfells-Thing." + +Then Hildigunna went back into the hall and unlocked her chest, and then +she took out the cloak, Flosi's gift, and in it Hauskuld had been slain, +and there she had kept it, blood and all. Then she went back into the +sitting room with the cloak; she went up silently to Flosi. Flosi had +just then eaten his full, and the board was cleared. Hildigunna threw +the cloak over Flosi, and the gore rattled down all over him. + +Then she spoke and said-- + +"This cloak, Flosi, thou gavest to Hauskuld, and now I will give it back +to thee; he was slain in it, and I call God and all good men to witness, +that I adjure thee, by all the might of thy Christ, and by thy manhood +and bravery, to take vengeance for all those wounds which he had on his +dead body, or else to be called every man's dastard." + +Flosi threw the cloak off him and hurled it into her lap, and said-- + +"Thou art the greatest hell-hag, and thou wishest that we should take +that course which will be the worst for all of us. But 'women's counsel +is ever cruel'." + +Flosi was so stirred at this, that sometimes he was bloodred in the +face, and sometimes ashy pale as withered grass, and sometimes blue as +death. + +Flosi and his men rode away; he rode to Holtford, and there waits for +the sons of Sigfus and other of his men. + +Ingialld dwelt at the Springs; he was the brother of Rodny, Hauskuld +Njal's son's mother. Ingialld had to wife Thraslauga, the daughter of +Egil, the son of Thord Frey's priest. Flosi sent word to Ingialld to +come to him, and Ingialld went at once, with fourteen men. They were all +of his household. Ingialld was a tall man and a strong, and slow to +meddle with other men's business, one of the bravest of men, and very +bountiful to his friends. + +Flosi greeted him well, and said to him, "Great trouble hath now come on +me and my brothers-in-law, and it is hard to see our way out of it; I +beseech thee not to part from my suit until this trouble is past and +gone." + +"I am come into a strait myself," said Ingialld, "for the sake of the +ties that there are between me and Njal and his sons, and other great +matters which stand in the way." + +"I thought," said Flosi, "when I gave away my brother's daughter to +thee, that thou gavest me thy word to stand by me in every suit." + +"It is most likely," says Ingialld, "that I shall do so, but still I +will now, first of all, ride home, and thence to the Thing." + + + + +CHAPTER CXVI. + +OF FLOSI AND MORD AND THE SONS OF SIGFUS. + + +The sons of Sigfus heard how Flosi was at Holtford, and they rode +thither to meet him, and there were Kettle of the Mark, and Lambi his +brother, Thorkell and Mord, the sons of Sigfus, Sigmund their brother, +and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, +and Vebrand Hamond's son. + +Flosi stood up to meet them, and greeted them gladly. So they went down +to the river. Flosi had the whole story from them about the slaying, and +there was no difference between them and Kettle of the Mark's story. + +Flosi spoke to Kettle of the Mark, and said-- + +"This now I ask of thee; how tightly are your hearts knit as to this +suit, thou and the other sons of Sigfus?" + +"My wish is," said Kettle, "that there should be peace between us, but +yet I have sworn an oath not to part from this suit till it has been +brought somehow to an end, and to lay my life on it." + +"Thou art a good man and true," said Flosi, "and it is well to have such +men with one." + +Then Grani Gunnar's son and Lambi Sigurd's son both spoke together, and +said-- + +"We wish for outlawry and death." + +"It is not given us," said Flosi, "both to share and choose, we must +take what we can get." + +"I have had it in my heart," says Grani, "ever since they slew Thrain by +Markfleet, and after that his son Hauskuld, never to be atoned with them +by a lasting peace, for I would willingly stand by when they were all +slain, every man of them." + +"Thou hast stood so near to them," said Flosi, "that thou mightest have +avenged these things hadst thou had the heart and manhood. Methinks thou +and many others now ask for what ye would give much money hereafter +never to have had a share in. I see this clearly, that though we slay +Njal or his sons, still they are men of so great worth, and of such good +family, that there will be such a blood feud and hue and cry after them, +that we shall have to fall on our knees before many a man, and beg for +help, ere we get an atonement and find our way out of this strait. Ye +may make up your minds, then, that many will become poor who before had +great goods, but some of you will lose both goods and life." + +Mord Valgard's Son rode to meet Flosi, and said he would ride to the +Thing with him with all his men. Flosi took that well, and raised a +matter of a wedding with him, that he should give away Rannveiga his +daughter to Starkad Flosi's brother's son, who dwelt at Staffell. Flosi +did this because he thought he would so make sure both of his +faithfulness and force. + +Mord took the wedding kindly, but handed the matter over to Gizur the +white, and bade him talk about it at the Thing. + +Mord had to wife Thorkatla, Gizur the white's daughter. + +They two, Mord and Flosi, rode both together to the Thing, and talked +the whole day, and no man knew aught of their counsel. + + + + +CHAPTER CXVII. + +NJAL AND SKARPHEDINN TALK TOGETHER. + + +Now, we must say how Njal said to Skarphedinn-- + +"What plan have ye laid down for yourselves, thou and thy brothers and +Kari?" + +"Little reck we of dreams in most matters," said Skarphedinn; "but if +thou must know, we shall ride to Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and +thence to the Thing; but what meanest thou to do about thine own +journey, father?" + +"I shall ride to the Thing," says Njal, "for it belongs to my honour not +to be severed from your suit so long as I live. I ween that many men +will have good words to say of me, and so I shall stand you in good +stead, and do you no harm." + +There, too, was Thorhall Asgrim's son, and Njal's foster-son. The sons +of Njal laughed at him because he was clad in a coat of russet, and +asked how long he meant to wear that? + +"I shall have thrown it off," he said, "when I have to follow up the +blood-feud for my foster father." + +"There will ever be most good in thee," said Njal, "when there is most +need of it." + +So they all busked them to ride away from home, and were nigh thirty men +in all, and rode till they came to Thursowater. Then came after them +Njal's kinsmen, Thorleif crow, and Thorgrim the big; they were +Holt-Thorir's sons, and offered their help and following to Njal's sons, +and they took that gladly. + +So they rode altogether across Thursowater, until they came on Laxwater +bank, and took a rest and baited their horses there, and there Hjallti's +Skeggi's son came to meet them, and Njal's sons fell to talking with +him, and they talked long and low. + +"Now, I will show," said Hjallti, "that I am not black-hearted; Njal has +asked me for help, and I have agreed to it, and given my word to aid +him; he has often given me and many others the worth of it in cunning +counsel." + +Hjallti tells Njal all about Flosi's doings. They sent Thorhall on to +Tongue to tell Asgrim that they would be there that evening; and Asgrim +made ready at once, and was out of doors to meet them when Njal rode +into the town. + +Njal was clad in a blue cape, and had a felt hat on his head, and a +small axe in his hand. Asgrim helped Njal off his horse, and led him and +sate him down in his own seat. After that they all went in, Njal's sons +and Kari. Then Asgrim went out. + +Hjallti wished to turn away, and thought there were too many there; but +Asgrim caught hold of his reins, and said he should never have his way +in riding off, and made men unsaddle their horses, and led Hjallti in +and sate him down by Njal's aide; but Thorleif and his brother sat on +the other bench and their men with them. + +Asgrim sate him down on a stool before Njal, and asked-- + +"What says thy heart about our matter?" + +"It speaks rather heavily," says Njal, "for I am afraid that we shall +have no lucky men with us in the suit; but I would, friend, that thou +shouldest send after all the men who belong to thy Thing, and ride to +the Althing with me." + +"I have always meant to do that," says Asgrim; "and this I will promise +thee at the same time--that I will never leave thy cause while I can get +any men to follow me." + +But all those who were in the house thanked him, and said, that was +bravely spoken. They were there that night, but the day after all +Asgrim's band came thither. + +And after that they all rode together till they come up on the +Thingfield, and fit up their booths. + + + + +CHAPTER CXVIII. + +ASGRIM AND NJAL'S SONS PRAY MEN FOR HELP. + + +By that time Flosi had come to the Thing, and filled all his booths. +Runolf filled the Dale-dwellers' booths, and Mord the booths of the men +from Rangriver. Hall of the Side had long since come from the east, but +scarce any of the other men; but still Hall of the Side had come with a +great band, and joined this at once to Flosi's company, and begged him +to take an atonement and to make peace. + +Hall was a wise man and good-hearted, Flosi answered him well in +everything, but gave way in nothing. + +Hall asked what men had promised him help? Flosi named Mord Valgard's +son, and said he had asked for his daughter at the hand of his kinsman +Starkad. + +Hall said she was a good match, but it was ill dealing with Mord, "and +that thou wilt put to the proof ere this Thing be over". + +After that they ceased talking. + +One day Njal and Asgrim had a long talk in secret. + +Then all at once Asgrim sprang up and said to Njal's sons-- + +"We must set about seeking friends, that we may not be overborne by +force; for this suit will be followed up boldly." + +Then Asgrim went out, and Helgi Njal's son next; then Kari Solmund's +son; then Grim Njal's son; then Skarphedinn; then Thorhall; then +Thorgrim the big; then Thorleif crow. + +They went to the booth of Gizur the white and inside it. Gizur stood up +to meet them, and bade them sit down and drink. + +"Not thitherward," says Asgrim, "tends our way, and we will speak our +errand out loud, and not mutter and mouth about it. What help shall I +have from thee, as thou art my kinsman?" + +"Jorunn my sister," said Gizur, "would wish that I should not shrink +from standing by thee; and so it shall be now and hereafter, that we +will both of us have the same fate." + +Asgrim thanked him, and went away afterwards. + +Then Skarphedinn asked, "Whither shall we go now?" + +"To the booths of the men of Olfus," says Asgrim. + +So they went thither, and Asgrim asked whether Skapti Thorod's son were +in the booth? He was told that he was. Then they went inside the booth. + +Skapti sate on the cross bench, and greeted Asgrim, and he took the +greeting well. + +Skapti offered Asgrim a seat by his side, but Asgrim said he should only +stay there a little while, "but still we have an errand to thee". + +"Let me hear it," says Skapti. + +"I wish to beg thee for thy help, that thou wilt stand by us in our +suit." + +"One thing I had hoped," says Skapti, "and that is, that neither you nor +your troubles would ever come into my dwelling." + +"Such things are ill-spoken," says Asgrim, "when a man is the last to +help others, when most lies on his aid." + +"Who is yon man," says Skapti, "before whom four men walk, a big burly +man, and pale-faced, unlucky-looking, well-knit, and troll-like?" + +"My name is Skarphedinn," he answers, "and thou hast often seen me at +the Thing; but in this I am wiser than thou, that I have no need to ask +what thy name is. Thy name is Skapti Thorod's son, but before thou +calledst thyself 'Bristle-poll,' after thou hadst slain Kettle of Elda; +then thou shavedst thy poll, and puttedst pitch on thy head, and then +thou hiredst thralls to cut up a sod of turf, and thou creptest +underneath it to spend the night. After that thou wentest to Thorolf +Lopt's son of Eyrar, and he took thee on board, and bore thee out here +in his meal sacks." + +After that Asgrim and his band went out, and Skarphedinn asked-- + +"Whither shall we go now?" + +"To Snorri the Priest's booth," says Asgrim. + +Then they went to Snorri's booth. There was a man outside before the +booth, and Asgrim asked whether Snorri were in the booth. + +The man said he was. + +Asgrim went into the booth, and all the others. Snorri was sitting on +the cross bench, and Asgrim went and stood before him, and hailed him +well. + +Snorri took his greeting blithely, and bade him sit down. + +Asgrim said he should be only a short time there, "but we have an errand +with thee". + +Snorri bade him tell it. + +"I would," said Asgrim, "that thou wouldst come with me to the court, +and stand by me with thy help, for thou art a wise man, and a great man +of business." + +"Suits fall heavy on us now," says Snorri the Priest, "and now many men +push forward against us, and so we are slow to take up the troublesome +suits of other men from other quarters." + +"Thou mayest stand excused," says Asgrim, "for thou art not in our debt +for any service." + +"I know," says Snorri, "that thou art a good man and true, and I will +promise thee this, that I will not be against thee, and not yield help +to thy foes." + +Asgrim thanked him, and Snorri the Priest asked-- + +"Who is that man before whom four go, pale-faced, and sharp-featured, +and who shows his front teeth, and has his axe aloft on his shoulder?" + +"My name is Hedinn," he says, "but some men call me Skarphedinn by my +full name; but what more hast thou to say to me?" + +"This," said Snorri the Priest, "that methinks thou art a well-knit, +ready-handed man, but yet I guess that the best part of thy good fortune +is past, and I ween thou hast not long to live." + +"That is well," says Skarphedinn, "for that is a debt we all have to +pay, but still it were more needful to avenge thy father than to +foretell my fate in this way." + +"Many have said that before," says Snorri, "and I will not be angry at +such words." + +After that they went out, and got no help there. Then they fared to the +booths of the men of Skagafirth. There Hafr the wealthy had his booth. +The mother of Hafr was named Thoruna, she was a daughter of Asbjorn +baldpate of Myrka, the son of Hrosbjorn. + +Asgrim and his band went into the booth, and Hafr sate in the midst of +it, and was talking to a man. + +Asgrim went up to him, and hailed him well; he took it kindly, and bade +him sit down. + +"This I would ask of thee," said Asgrim, "that thou wouldst grant me and +my sons-in-law help." + +Hafr answered sharp and quick, and said he would have nothing to do with +their troubles. + +"But still I must ask who that pale-faced man is before whom four men +go, so ill-looking, as though he had come out of the sea-crags." + +"Never mind, milksop that thou art!" said Skarphedinn, "who I am, for I +will dare to go forward wherever thou standest before me, and little +would I fear though such striplings were in my path. 'Twere rather thy +duty, too, to get back thy sister Swanlauga, whom Eydis ironsword and +his messmate Stediakoll took away out of thy house, but thou didst not +dare to do aught against them." + +"Let us go out," said Asgrim, "there is no hope of help here." + +Then they went out to the booths of men of Modruvale, and asked whether +Gudmund the powerful were in the booth, but they were told he was. + +Then they went into the booth. There was a high seat in the midst of it, +and there sate Gudmund the powerful. + +Asgrim went and stood before him, and hailed him. + +Gudmund took his greeting well, and asked him to sit down. + +"I will not sit," said Asgrim, "but I wish to pray thee for help, for +thou art a bold man and a mighty chief." + +"I will not be against thee," said Gudmund, "but if I see fit to yield +thee help, we may well talk of that afterwards," and so he treated them +well and kindly in every way. + +Asgrim thanked him for his words, and Gudmund said-- + +"There is one man in your band at whom I have gazed for awhile, and he +seems to me more terrible than most men that I have seen." + +"Which is he?" says Asgrim. + +"Four go before him," says Gudmund; "dark brown is his hair, and pale is +his face; tall of growth and sturdy. So quick and shifty in his +manliness, that I would rather have his following than that of ten other +men; but yet the man is unlucky-looking." + +"I know," said Skarphedinn, "that thou speakest at me, but it does not +go in the same way as to luck with me and thee. I have blame, indeed, +from the slaying of Hauskuld, the Whiteness priest, as is fair and +right; but both Thorkel foulmouth and Thorir Helgi's son spread abroad +bad stories about thee, and that has tried thy temper very much." + +Then they went out, and Skarphedinn said-- + +"Whither shall we go now?" + +"To the booths of the men of Lightwater," said Asgrim. + +There Thorkel foulmouth had set up his booth. + +Thorkel foulmouth had been abroad and worked his way to fame in other +lands. He had slain a robber east in Jemtland's wood, and then he fared +on east into Sweden, and was a messmate of Saurkvir the churl, and they +harried eastward ho; but to the east of Baltic side.[67] Thorkel had to +fetch water for them one evening; then he met a wild man of the +woods,[68] and struggled against him long; but the end of it was that he +slew the wild man. Thence he fared east into Adalsyssla, and there he +slew a flying fire-drake. After that he fared back to Sweden, and +thence to Norway, and so out to Iceland, and let these deeds of derring +do be carved over his shut bed, and on the stool before his high-seat. +He fought, too, on Lightwater way with his brothers against Gudmund the +powerful, and the men of Lightwater won the day. He and Thorir Helgi's +son spread abroad bad stories about Gudmund. Thorkel said there was no +man in Iceland with whom he would not fight in single combat, or yield +an inch to, if need were. He was called Thorkel foulmouth, because he +spared no one with whom he had to do either in word or deed. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIX. + +OF SKARPHEDINN AND THORKEL FOULMOUTH. + + +Asgrim and his fellows went to Thorkel foulmouth's booth, and Asgrim +said then to his companions, "This booth Thorkel foulmouth owns, a great +champion, and it were worth much to us to get his help. We must here +take heed in everything, for he is self-willed and bad tempered; and now +I will beg thee, Skarphedinn, not to let thyself be led into our talk." + +Skarphedinn smiled at that. He was so clad, he had on a blue kirtle and +gray breeks, and black shoes on his feet, coming high up his leg; he had +a silver belt about him, and that same axe in his hand with which he +slew Thrain, and which he called the "ogress of war," a round buckler, +and a silken band round his brow, and his hair was brushed back behind +his ears. He was the most soldier-like of men, and by that all men knew +him. He went in his appointed place, and neither before nor behind. + +Now they went into the booth and into its inner chamber. Thorkel sate in +the middle of the cross-bench, and his men away from him on all sides. +Asgrim hailed him, and Thorkel took the greeting well, and Asgrim said +to him-- + +"For this have we come hither, to ask help of thee, and that thou +wouldst come to the court with us." + +"What need can ye have of my help," said Thorkel, "when ye have already +gone to Gudmund; he must surely have promised thee his help?" + +"We could not get his help," says Asgrim. + +"Then Gudmund thought the suit likely to make him foes," said Thorkel; +"and so no doubt it will be, for such deeds are the worst that have ever +been done; nor do I know what can have driven you to come hither to me, +and to think that I should be easier to undertake your suit than +Gudmund, or that I would back a wrongful quarrel." + +Then Asgrim held his peace, and thought it would be hard work to win him +over. + +Then Thorkel went on and said, "Who is that big and ugly fellow, before +whom four men go, pale-faced and sharp-featured, and unlucky-looking, +and cross-grained?" + +"My name is Skarphedinn," said Skarphedinn, "and thou hast no right to +pick me out, a guiltless man, for thy railing. It never has befallen me +to make my father bow down before me, or to have fought against him, as +thou didst with thy father. Thou hast ridden little to the Althing, or +toiled in quarrels at it, and no doubt it is handier for thee to mind +thy milking pails at home than to be here at Axewater in idleness. But +stay, it were as well if thou pickedst out from thy teeth that steak of +mare's rump which thou atest ere thou rodest to the Thing, while thy +shepherd looked on all the while, and wondered that thou couldst work +such filthiness!" + +Then Thorkel sprang up in mickle wrath, and clutched his short sword and +said-- + +"This sword I got in Sweden when I slew the greatest champion, but since +then I have slain many a man with it, and as soon as ever I reach thee I +will drive it through thee, and thou shall take that for thy bitter +words." + +Skarphedinn stood with his axe aloft, and smiled scornfully and said-- + +"This axe I had in my hand when I leapt twelve ells across Markfleet, +and slew Thrain Sigfus' son, and eight of them stood before me, and none +of them could touch me. Never have I aimed weapon at man that I have not +smitten him." + +And with that he tore himself from his brothers, and Kari his +brother-in-law, and strode forward to Thorkel. + +Then Skarphedinn said-- + +"Now, Thorkel foulmouth, do one of these two things: sheathe thy sword +and sit thee down, or I drive the axe into thy head and cleave thee down +to the chine." + +Then Thorkel sate him down and sheathed the sword, and such a thing +never happened to him either before or since. + +Then Asgrim and his band go out, and Skarphedinn said-- + +"Whither shall we now go?" + +"Home to out booths," answered Asgrim. + +"Then we fare hack to our booths wearied of begging," says Skarphedinn. + +"In many places," said Asgrim, "hast thou been rather sharp-tongued, but +here now, in what Thorkel had a share methinks thou hast only treated +him as is fitting." + +Then they went home to their booths, and told Njal, word for word, all +that had been done. + +"Things," he said, "draw on to what must be." + +Now Gudmund the powerful heard what had passed between Thorkel and +Skarphedinn, and said-- + +"Ye all know how things fared between us and the men of Lightwater, but +I have never suffered such scorn and mocking at their hands as has +befallen Thorkel from Skarphedinn, and this is just as it should be." + +Then he said to Einar of Thvera, his brother, "Thou shalt go with all my +band, and stand by Njal's sons when the courts go out to try suits; but +if they need help next summer, then I myself will yield them help". + +Einar agreed to that, and sent and told Asgrim, and Asgrim said-- + +"There is no man like Gudmund for nobleness of mind," and then he told +it to Njal. + + + + +CHAPTER CXX. + +OF THE PLEADING OF THE SUIT. + + +The next day Asgrim, and Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and +Einar of Thvera, met together. There too was Mord Valgard's son; he had +then let the suit fall from his hand, and given it over to the sons of +Sigfus. + +Then Asgrim spoke. + +"Thee first I speak to about this matter, Gizur the white, and thee +Hjallti, and thee Einar, that I may tell you how the suit stands. It +will be known to all of you that Mord took up the suit, but the truth of +the matter is, that Mord was at Hauskuld's slaying, and wounded him with +that wound, for giving which no man was named. It seems to me, then, +that this suit must come to nought by reason of a lawful flaw." + +"Then we will plead it at once," says Hjallti. + +"It is not good counsel," said Thorhall Asgrim's son, "that this should +not be hidden until the courts are set." + +"How so?" asks Hjallti. + +"If," said Thorhall, "they knew now at once that the suit has been +wrongly set on foot, then they may still save the suit by sending a man +home from the Thing, and summoning the neighbours from home over again, +and calling on them to ride to the Thing, and then the suit will be +lawfully set on foot." + +"Thou art a wise man, Thorhall," say they, "and we will take thy +counsel." + +After that each man went to his booth. + +The sons of Sigfus gave notice of their suits at the Hill of Laws, and +asked in what Quarter Courts they lay, and in what house in the district +the defendants dwelt. But on the Friday night the courts were to go out +to try suits, and so the Thing was quiet up to that day. + +Many sought to bring about an atonement between them, but Flosi was +steadfast; but others were still more wordy, and things looked ill. + +Now the time comes when the courts were to go out, on the Friday +evening. Then the whole body of men at the Thing went to the courts. +Flosi stood south at the court of the men of Rangriver, and his band +with him. There with him was Hall of the Side, and Runolf of the Dale, +Wolf Aurpriest's son, and those other men who had promised Flosi help. + +But north of the court of the men of Rangriver stood Asgrim Ellidagrim's +son, and Gizur the white, Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Einar of Thvera. But +Njal's sons were at home at their booth, and Kari and Thorleif crow, and +Thorgeir Craggeir, and Thorgrim the big. They sate all with their +weapons, and their band looked safe from onslaught. + +Njal had already prayed the judges to go into the court, and now the +sons of Sigfus plead their suit. They took witness and bade Njal's sons +to listen to their oath; after that they took their oath, and then they +declared their suit; then they brought forward witness of the notice, +then they bade the neighbours on the inquest to take their seats, then +they called on Njal's sons to challenge the inquest. + +Then up stood Thorhall Asgrim's son, and took witness, and forbade the +inquest by a protest to utter their finding; and his ground was, that he +who had given notice of the suit was truly under the ban of the law, and +was himself an outlaw. + +"Of whom speakest thou this?" says Flosi. + +"Mord Valgard's son," said Thorhall, "fared to Hauslkuld's slaying with +Njal's sons, and wounded him with that wound for which no man was named +when witness was taken to the death-wounds; and ye can say nothing +against this, and so the suit comes to naught." + + + + +CHAPTER CXXI. + +OF THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT BETWEEN FLOSI AND NJAL. + + +Then Njal stood up and said-- + +"This I pray, Hall of the Side, and Flosi, and all the sons of Sigfus, +and all our men too, that ye will not go away, but listen to my words." + +They did so, and then he spoke thus-- + +"It seems to me as though this suit were come to naught, and it is +likely it should, for it hath sprung from an ill root. I will let you +all know that I loved Hauskuld more than my own sons, and when I heard +that he was slain, methought the sweetest light of my eyes was quenched, +and I would rather have lost all my sons, and that he were alive. Now I +ask thee, Hall of the Side, and thee Runolf of the Dale, and thee +Hjallti Skeggi's son, and thee Einar of Thvera, and thee Hafr the wise, +that I may be allowed to make an atonement for the slaying of Hauskuld +on my sons' behalf; and I wish that those men who are best fitted to do +so shall utter the award." + +Gizur, and Hafr, and Einar, spoke each on their own part, and prayed +Flosi to take an atonement, and promised him their friendship in return. + +Flosi answered them well in all things, but still did not give his word. + +Then Hall of the Side said to Flosi-- + +"Wilt thou now keep thy word, and grant me my boon which thou hast +already promised me, when I put beyond sea Thorgrim, the son of Kettle +the fat, thy kinsman, when he had slain Halli the red." + +"I will grant it thee, father-in-law," said Flosi, "for that alone wilt +thou ask which will make my honour greater than it erewhile was." + +"Then," said Hall, "my wish is that thou shouldst be quickly atoned, and +lettest good men and true make an award, and so buy the friendship of +good and worthy men." + +"I will let you all know," said Flosi, "that I will do according to the +word of Hall, my father-in-law, and other of the worthiest men, that he +and others of the best men on each side, lawfully named, shall make this +award. Methinks Njal is worthy that I should grant him this." + +Njal thanked him and all of them, and others who were by thanked them +too, and said that Flosi had behaved well. + +Then Flosi said-- + +"Now will I name my daysmen [arbitrators]--First, I name Hall, my +father-in-law; Auzur from Broadwater; Surt Asbjorn's son of Kirkby; +Modolf Kettle's son"--he dwelt then at Asar--"Hafr the wise; and Runolf +of the Dale; and it is scarce worth while to say that these are the +fittest men out of all my company." + +Now he bade Njal to name his daysmen, and then Njal stood up, and said-- + +"First of these I name, Asgrim Ellidagrim's son; and Hjallti Skeggi's +son; Gizur the white; Einar of Thvera; Snorri the priest; and Gudmund +the powerful." + +After that Njal and Flosi, and the sons of Sigfus shook hands, and Njal +pledged his hand on behalf of all his sons, and of Kari, his son-in-law, +that they would hold to what those twelve men doomed; and one might say +that the whole body of men at the Thing was glad at that. + +Then men were sent after Snorri and Gudmund, for they were in their +booths. + +Then it was given out that the judges in this award would sit in the +Court of Laws, but all the others were to go away. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXII. + +OF THE JUDGES. + + +Then Snorri the priest spoke thus--"Now are we here twelve judges to +whom these suits are handed over, now I will beg you all that we may +have no stumbling-blocks in these suits, so that they may not be +atoned". + +"Will ye," said Gudmund, "award either the lesser or the greater +outlawry? Shall they be banished from the district, or from the whole +land?" + +"Neither of them," says Snorri, "for those banishments are often ill +fulfilled, and men have been slain for that sake, and atonements broken, +but I will award so great a money fine that no man shall have had a +higher price here in the land than Hauskuld." + +They all spoke well of his words. + +Then they talked over the matter, and could not agree which should first +utter how great he thought the fine ought to be, and so the end of it +was that they cast lots, and the lot fell on Snorri to utter it. + +Then Snorri said, "I will not sit long over this, I will now tell you +what my utterance is, I will let Hauskuld be atoned for with triple +manfines, but that is six hundred in silver. Now ye shall change it, if +ye think it too much or too little." + +They said that they would change it in nothing. + +"This too shall be added," he said, "that all the money shall be paid +down here at the Thing." + +Then Gizur the white spoke and said-- + +"Methinks that can hardly be, for they will not have enough money to pay +their fines." + +"I know what Snorri wishes," said Gudmund the powerful, "he wants that +all we daysmen should give such a sum as our bounty will bestow, and +then many will do as we do." + +Hall of the Side thanked him, and said he would willingly give as much +as any one else gave, and then all the other daysmen agreed to that. + +After that they went away, and settled between them that Hall should +utter the award at the Court of Laws. + +So the bell was rung, and all men went to the Court of Laws, and Hall of +the Side stood up and spoke-- + +"In this suit, in which we have come to an award, we have been all well +agreed, and we have awarded six hundred in silver, and half this sum we +the daysmen will pay, but it must all be paid up here at the Thing. But +it is my prayer to all the people that each man will give something for +God's sake." + +All answered well to that, and then Hall took witness to the award, that +no one should be able to break it. + +Njal thanked them for their award, but Skarphedinn stood by, and held +his peace, and smiled scornfully. + +Then men went from the Court of Laws and to their booths, but the +daysmen gathered together in the freeman's church-yard the money which +they had promised to give. + +Njal's sons handed over that money which they had by them, and Kari did +the same, and that came to a hundred in silver. + +Njal took out that money which he had with him, and that was another +hundred in silver. + +So this money was all brought before the Court of Laws, and then men +gave so much, that not a penny was wanting. + +Then Njal took a silken scarf and a pair of boots and laid them on the +top of the heap. + +After that, Hall said to Njal, that he should go to fetch his sons, "but +I will go for Flosi, and now each must give the other pledges of peace". + +Then Njal went home to his booth, and spoke to his sons and said, "Now, +are our suits come into a fair way of settlement, now are we men atoned, +for all the money has been brought together in one place; and now either +side is to go and grant the other peace and pledges of good faith. I +will therefore ask you this, my sons, not to spoil these things in any +way." + +Skarphedinn stroked his brow, and smiled scornfully. So they all go to +the Court of Laws. + +Hall went to meet Flosi and said-- + +"Go thou now to the Court of Laws, for now all the money has been +bravely paid down, and it has been brought together in one place." + +Then Flosi bade the sons of Sigfus to go up with him, and they all went +out of their booths. They came from the east, but Njal went from the +west to the Court of Laws, and the sons with him. + +Skarphedinn went to the middle bench and stood there. + +Flosi went into the Court of Laws to look closely at his money, and +said-- + +"This money is both great and good, and well paid down, as was to be +looked for." + +After that he took up the scarf, and waved it, and asked-- + +"Who may have given this?" + +But no man answered him. + +A second time he waved the scarf, and asked-- + +"Who may have given this?" and laughed, but no man answered him. + +Then Flosi said-- + +"How is it that none of you knows who has owned this gear, or is it that +none dares to tell me?" + +"Who?" said Skarphedinn, "dost thou think, has given it?" + +"If thou must know," said Flosi, "then I will tell thee; I think that +thy father the 'Beardless Carle' must have given it, for many know not +who look at him whether he is more a man than a woman." + +"Such words are ill-spoken," said Skarphedinn, "to make game of him, an +old man, and no man of any worth has ever done so before. Ye may know, +too, that he is a man, for he has had sons by his wife, and few of our +kinsfolk have fallen unatoned by our house, so that we have not had +vengeance for them." + +Then Skarphedinn took to himself the silken scarf, but threw a pair of +blue breeks to Flosi, and said he would need them more. + +"Why," said Flosi, "should I need these more?" + +"Because," said Skarphedinn, "thou art the sweetheart of the Swinefell's +goblin, if, as men say, he does indeed turn thee into a woman every +ninth night." + +Then Flosi spurned the money, and said he would not touch a penny of it, +and then he said he would only have one of two things: either that +Hauskuld should fall unatoned, or they would have vengeance for him. + +Then Flosi would neither give nor take peace, and he said to the sons of +Sigfus-- + +"Go we now home; one fate shall befall us all." + +Then they went home to their booth, and Hall said-- + +"Here most unlucky men have a share in this suit." + +Njal and his sons went home to their booth, and Njal said-- + +"Now comes to pass what my heart told me long ago, that this suit would +fall heavy on us." + +"Not so," says Skarphedinn; "they can never pursue us by the laws of the +land." + +"Then that will happen," says Njal, "which will be worse for all of us." + +Those men who had given the money spoke about it, and said that they +should take it back; but Gudmund the powerful said-- + +"That shame I will never choose for myself, to take back what I have +given away, either here or elsewhere." + +"That is well spoken," they said; and then no one would take it back. + +Then Snorri the priest said, "My counsel is, that Gizur the white and +Hjallti Skeggi's son keep the money till the next Althing; my heart +tells me that no long time will pass ere there may be need to touch this +money". + +Hjallti took half the money and kept it safe, but Gizur took the rest. + +Then men went home to their booths. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXIII. + +AN ATTACK PLANNED ON NJAL AND HIS SONS. + + +Flosi summoned all his men up to the "Great Rift," and went thither +himself. + +So when all his men were come, there were one hundred and twenty of +them. + +Then Flosi spake thus to the sons of Sigfus-- + +"In what way shall I stand by you in this quarrel, which will be most to +your minds?" + +"Nothing will please us," said Gunnar Lambi's son, "until those +brothers, Njal's sons, are all slain." + +"This," said Flosi, "will I promise to you, ye sons of Sigfus, not to +part from this quarrel before one of us bites the dust before the other, +I will also know whether there be any man here who will not stand by us +in this quarrel." + +But they all said they would stand by him. + +Then Flosi said-- + +"Come now all to me, and swear an oath that no man will shrink from this +quarrel." + +Then all went up to Flosi and swore oaths to him; and then Flosi said-- + +"We will all of us shake hands on this, that he shall have forfeited +life and land who quits this quarrel ere it be over." + +These were the chiefs who were with Flosi:--Kol the son of Thorstein +broadpaunch, the brother's son of Hall of the Side, Hroald Auzur's son +from Broadwater, Auzur son of Anund wallet-back, Thorstein the fair the +son of Gerleif, Glum Hilldir's son, Modolf Kettle's son, Thorir the son +of Thord Illugi's son of Mauratongue, Kolbein and Egil Flosi's kinsmen, +Kettle Sigfus' son, and Mord his brother, Ingialld of the Springs, +Thorkel and Lambi, Grani Gunnar's son, Gunnar Lambi's son, and Sigmund +Sigfus' son, and Hroar from Hromundstede. + +Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus-- + +"Choose ye now a leader, whomsoever ye think best fitted; for some one +man must needs be chief over the quarrel." + +Then Kettle of the Mark answered-- + +"If the choice is to be left with us brothers, then we will soon choose +that this duty should fall on thee; there are many things which lead to +this. Thou art a man of great birth, and a mighty chief, stout of heart, +and strong of body, and wise withal, and so we think it best that thou +shouldst see to all that is needful in the quarrel." + +"It is most fitting," said Flosi, "that I should agree to undertake this +as your prayer asks; and now I will lay down the course which we shall +follow, and my counsel is, that each man ride home from the Thing and +look after his household during the summer, so long as men's haymaking +lasts. I, too, will ride home, and be at home this summer; but when that +Lord's day comes on which winter is eight weeks off, then I will let +them sing me a mass at home, and afterwards ride west across Loomnips +Sand; each of our men shall have two horses. I will not swell our +company beyond those which have now taken the oath, for we have enough +and to spare if all keep true tryst. I will ride all the Lord's day and +the night as well, but at even on the second day of the week, I shall +ride up to Threecorner ridge about mid-even. There shall ye then be all +come who have sworn an oath in this matter. But if there be any one who +has not come, and who has joined us in this quarrel, then that man shall +lose nothing save his life, if we may have our way." + +"How does that hang together," said Kettle, "that thou canst ride from +home on the Lord's day, and come the second day of the week to +Threecorner ridge?" + +"I will ride," said Flosi, "up from Skaptartongue, and north of the +Eyjafell Jokul, and so down into Godaland, and it may be done if I ride +fast. And now I will tell you my whole purpose, that when we meet there +all together, we shall ride to Bergthorsknoll with all our band, and +fall on Njal's sons with fire and sword, and not turn away before they +are all dead. Ye shall hide this plan, for our lives lie on it. And now +we will take to our horses and ride home." + +Then they all went to their booths. + +After that Flosi made them saddle his horses, and they waited for no +man, and rode home. + +Flosi would not stay to meet Hall his father-in-law, for he knew of a +surety that Hall would set his face against all strong deeds. + +Njal rode home from the Thing and his sons. They were at home that +summer. Njal asked Kari his son-in-law whether he thought at all of +riding east to Dyrholms to his own house. + +"I will not ride east," answered Kari, "for one fate shall befall me and +thy sons." + +Njal thanked him, and said that was only what was likely from him. There +were nearly thirty fighting men in Njal's house, reckoning the +house-carles. + +One day it happened that Rodny Hauskuld's daughter, the mother of +Hauskuld Njal's son, came to the Springs. Her brother Ingialld greeted +her well, but she would not take his greeting, but yet bade him go out +with her. Ingialld did so, and went out with her; and so they walked +away from the farmyard both together. Then she clutched hold of him and +they both sat down, and Rodny said-- + +"Is it true that thou hast sworn an oath to fall on Njal, and slay him +and his sons?" + +"True it is," said he. + +"A very great dastard art thou," she says, "thou, whom Njal hath thrice +saved from outlawry." + +"Still it hath come to this," says Ingialld, "that my life lies on it if +I do not this." + +"Not so," says she, "thou shalt live all the same, and be called a +better man, if thou betrayest not him to whom thou oughtest to behave +best." + +Then she took a linen hood out of her bag, it was clotted with blood all +over, and torn and tattered, and said, "This hood, Hauskuld Njal's son, +and thy sister's son, had on his head when they slew him; methinks, +then, it is ill owing to stand by those from whom this mischief sprang". + +"Well!" answers Ingialld, "so it shall be that I will not be against +Njal whatever follows after, but still I know that they will turn and +throw trouble on me." + +"Now mightest thou," said Rodny, "yield Njal and his sons great help, if +thou tellest him all these plans." + +"That I will not do," says Ingialld, "for then I am every man's dastard, +if I tell what was trusted to me in good faith; but it is a manly deed +to sunder myself from this quarrel when I know that there is a sure +looking for of vengeance; but tell Njal and his sons to beware of +themselves all this summer, for that will be good counsel, and to keep +many men about them." + +Then she fared to Bergthorsknoll, and told Njal all this talk; and Njal +thanked her, and said she had done well, "for there would be more +wickedness in his falling on me than of all men else". + +She fared home, but he told this to his sons. + +There was a carline at Bergthorsknoll, whose name was Saevuna. She was +wise in many things, and foresighted; but she was then very old, and +Njal's sons called her an old dotard, when she talked so much, but still +some things which she said came to pass. It fell one day that she took a +cudgel in her hand, and went up above the house to a stack of vetches. +She beat the stack of vetches with her cudgel, and wished it might never +thrive, "wretch that it was!" + +Skarphedinn laughed at her, and asked why she was so angry with the +vetch stack. + +"This stack of vetches," said the carline, "will be taken and lighted +with fire when Njal my master is burnt, house and all, and Bergthora my +foster-child. Take it away to the water, or burn it up as quick as you +can." + +"We will not do that," says Skarphedinn, "for something else will be got +to light a fire with, if that were foredoomed, though this stack were +not here." + +The carline babbled the whole summer about the vetch-stack that it +should be got indoors, but something always hindered it. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXIV. + +OF PORTENTS. + + +At Reykium on Skeid dwelt one Runolf Thorstein's son. His son's name was +Hildiglum. He went out on the night of the Lord's day, when nine weeks +were still to winter; he heard a great crash, so that he thought both +heaven and earth shook. Then he looked into the west "airt," and he +thought he saw thereabouts a ring of fiery hue, and within the ring a +man on a gray horse. He passed quickly by him, and rode hard. He had a +flaming firebrand in his hand, and he rode so close to him that he could +see him plainly. He was as black as pitch, and he sung this song with a +mighty voice-- + + Here I ride swift steed, + His flank flecked with rime, + Rain from his mane drips, + Horse mighty for harm; + Flames flare at each end, + Gall glows in the midst, + So fares it with Flosi's redes + As this flaming brand flies; + And so fares it with Flosi's redes + As this flaming brand flies. + +Then he thought he hurled the firebrand east towards the fells before +him, and such a blaze of fire leapt up to meet it that he could not see +the fells for the blaze. It seemed as though that man rode east among +the flames and vanished there. + +After that he went to his bed, and was senseless a long time, but at +last he came to himself. He bore in mind all that had happened, and told +his father, but he bade him tell it to Hjallti Skeggi's son. So he went +and told Hjallti, but he said he had seen "'the Wolfs ride,' and that +comes ever before great tidings". + + + + +CHAPTER CXXV. + +FLOSI'S JOURNEY FROM HOME. + + +Flosi busked him from the east when two months were still to winter, and +summoned to him all his men who had promised him help and company. Each +of them had two horses and good weapons, and they all came to +Swinefell, and were there that night. + +Flosi made them say prayers betimes on the Lord's day, and afterwards +they sate down to meat. He spoke to his household, and told them what +work each was to do while he was away. After that he went to his horses. + +Flosi and his men rode first west on the Sand.[69] Flosi bade them not +to ride too hard at first; but said they would do well enough at that +pace, and he bade all to wait for the others if any of them had need to +stop. They rode west to Woodcombe, and came to Kirkby. Flosi there bade +all men to come into the church, and pray to God, and men did so. + +After that they mounted their horses, and rode on the fell, and so to +Fishwaters, and rode a little to the west of the lakes, and so struck +down west on to the Sand.[70] Then they left Eyjafell Jokul on their +left hand, and so came down into Godaland, and so on to Markfleet, and +came about nones[71] on the second day of the week to Threecorner ridge, +and waited till mid-even. Then all had came thither save Ingialld of the +Springs. + +The sons of Sigfus spoke much ill of him, but Flosi bade them not blame +Ingialld when he was not by, "but we will pay him for this hereafter". + + + + +CHAPTER CXXVI. + +OF PORTENTS AT BERGTHORSKNOLL. + + +Now we must take up the story, and turn to Bergthorsknoll, and say that +Grim and Helgi go to Holar. They had children out at foster there, and +they told their mother that they should not come home that evening. They +were in Holar all the day, and there came some poor women and said they +had come from far. Those brothers asked them for tidings, and they said +they had no tidings to tell, "but still we might tell you one bit of +news". + +They asked what that might be, and bade them not hide it. They said so +it should be. + +"We came down out of Fleetlithe, and we saw all the sons of Sigfus +riding fully armed--they made for Threecorner ridge, and were fifteen in +company. We saw, too, Grani Gunnar's son and Gunnar Lambi's son, and +they were five in all. They took the same road, and one may say now that +the whole country-side is faring and flitting about." + +"Then," said Helgi Njal's son, "Flosi must have come from the east, and +they must have all gone to meet him, and we two, Grim, should be where +Skarphedinn is." + +Grim said so it ought to be, and they fared home. + +That same evening Bergthora spoke to her household, and said, "Now shall +ye choose your meat to-night, so that each may have what he likes best; +for this evening is the last that I shall set meat before my household". + +"That shall not be," they said. + +"It will be though," she says, "and I could tell you much more if I +would, but this shall be a token, that Grim and Helgi will be home ere +men have eaten their full to-night; and if this turns out so, then the +rest that I say will happen too." + +After that she set meat on the board, and Njal said, "Wondrously now it +seems to me. Methinks I see all round the room, and it seems as though +the gable wall were thrown down, but the whole board and the meat on it +is one gore of blood." + +All thought this strange but Skarphedinn, he bade men not be downcast, +nor to utter other unseemly sounds, so that men might make a story out +of them. + +"For it befits us surely more than other men to bear us well, and it is +only what is looked for from us." + +Grim and Helgi came home ere the board was cleared, and men were much +struck at that. Njal asked why they had returned so quickly, but they +told what they had heard. + +Njal bade no man go to sleep, but to beware of themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXVII. + +THE ONSLAUGHT ON BERGTHORSKNOLL. + + +Now Flosi speaks to his men-- + +"Now we will ride to Bergthorsknoll, and come thither before +supper-time." + +They do so. There was a dell in the knoll, and they rode thither, and +tethered their horses there, and stayed there till the evening was far +spent. + +Then Flosi said, "Now we will go straight up to the house, and keep +close, and walk slow, and see what counsel they will take". + +Njal stood out of doors, and his sons, and Kari and all the serving-men, +and they stood in array to meet them in the yard, and they were near +thirty of them. + +Flosi halted and said--"Now we shall see what counsel they take, for it +seems to me, if they stand out of doors to meet us, as though we should +never get the mastery over them". + +"Then is our journey bad," says Grani Gunnar's son, "if we are not to +dare to fall on them." + +"Nor shall that be," says Flosi; "for we will fall on them though they +stand out of doors; but we shall pay that penalty, that many will not go +away to tell which side won the day." + +Njal said to his men, "See ye now what a great band of men they have". + +"They have both a great and well-knit band," says Skarphedinn; "but this +is why they make a halt now, because they think it will be a hard +struggle to master us." + +"That cannot be why they halt," says Njal; "and my will is that our men +go indoors, for they had hard work to master Gunnar of Lithend, though +he was alone to meet them; but here is a strong house as there was +there, and they will be slow to come to close quarters." + +"This is not to be settled in that wise," says Skarphedinn, "for those +chiefs fell on Gunnar's house, who were so noble-minded, that they would +rather turn back than burn him, house and all; but these will fall on us +at once with fire, if they cannot get at us in any other way, for they +will leave no stone unturned to get the better of us; and no doubt they +think, as is not unlikely, that it will be their deaths if we escape +out of their hands. Besides, I am unwilling to let myself be stifled +indoors like a fox in his earth." + +"Now," said Njal, "as often it happens, my sons, ye set my counsel at +naught, and show me no honour, but when ye were younger ye did not so, +and then your plans were better furthered." + +"Let us do," said Helgi, "as our father wills; that will be best for +us." + +"I am not so sure of that," says Skarphedinn, "for now he is 'fey'; +but still I may well humour my father in this, by being burnt indoors +along with him, for I am not afraid of my death." + +Then he said to Kari, "Let us stand by one another well, brother-in-law, +so that neither parts from the other". + +"That I have made up my mind to do," says Kari; "but if it should be +otherwise doomed,--well! then it must be as it must be, and I shall not +be able to fight against it." + +"Avenge us, and we will avenge thee," says Skarphedinn, "if we live +after thee." + +Kari said so it should be. + +Then they all went in, and stood in array at the door. + +"Now are they all 'fey,'" said Flosi, "since they have gone indoors, and +we will go right up to them as quickly as we can, and throng as close as +we can before the door, and give heed that none of them, neither Kari +nor Njal's sons, get away; for that were our bane." + +So Flosi and his men came up to the house, and set men to watch round +the house, if there were any secret doors in it. But Flosi went up to +the front of the house with his men. + +Then Hroald Auzur's son ran up to where Skarphedinn stood, and thrust at +him. Skarphedinn hewed the spearhead off the shaft as he held it, and +made another stroke at him, and the axe fell on the top of the shield, +and dashed back the whole shield on Hroald's body, but the upper horn of +the axe caught him on the brow, and he fell at full length on his back, +and was dead at once. + +"Little chance had that one with thee, Skarphedinn," said Kari, "and +thou art our boldest." + +"I'm not so sure of that," says Skarphedinn, and he drew up his lips and +smiled. + +Kari, and Grim, and Helgi, threw out many spears, and wounded many men; +but Flosi and his men could do nothing. + +At last Flosi said, "We have already gotten great manscathe in our men; +many are wounded, and he slain whom we would choose last of all. It is +now clear that we shall never master them with weapons; many now there +be who are not so forward in fight as they boasted, and yet they were +those who goaded us on most. I say this most to Grani Gunnar's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son, who were the least willing to spare their foes. But +still we shall have to take to some other plan for ourselves, and now +there are but two choices left, and neither of them good. One is to turn +away, and that is our death; the other, to set fire to the house, and +burn them inside it; and that is a deed which we shall have to answer +for heavily before God, since we are Christian men ourselves; but still +we must take to that counsel." + + + + +CHAPTER CXXVIII. + +NJAL'S BURNING. + + +Now they took fire, and made a great pile before the doors. Then +Skarphedinn said. + +"What, lads! are ye lighting a fire, or are ye taking to cooking?" + +"So it shall be," answered Grani Gunnar's son; "and thou shalt not need +to be better done." + +"Thou repayest me," said Skarphedinn, "as one may look for from the man +that thou art. I avenged thy father, and thou settest most store by that +duty which is farthest from thee." + +Then the women threw whey on the fire, and quenched it as fast as they +lit it. Some, too, brought water, or slops. + +Then Kol Thorstein's son said to Flosi-- + +"A plan comes into my mind; I have seen a loft over the hall among the +crosstrees, and we will put the fire in there, and light it with the +vetch-stack that stands just above the house." + +Then they took the vetch-stack and set fire to it, and they who were +inside were not aware of it till the whole hall was ablaze over their +heads. + +Then Flosi and his men made a great pile before each of the doors, and +then the women folk who were inside began to weep and to wail. + +Njal spoke to them and said, "Keep up your hearts, nor utter shrieks, +for this is but a passing storm, and it will be long before ye have +another such; and put your faith in God, and believe that He is so +merciful that He will not let us burn both in this world and the next." + +Such words of comfort had he for them all, and others still more strong. + +Now the whole house began to blaze. Then Njal went to the door and +said-- + +"Is Flosi so near that he can hear my voice?" + +Flosi said that he could hear it. + +"Wilt thou," said Njal, "take an atonement from my sons, or allow any +men to go out?" + +"I will not," answers Flosi, "take any atonement from thy sons, and now +our dealings shall come to an end once for all, and I will not stir from +this spot till they are all dead; but I will allow the women and +children and house-carles to go out." + +Then Njal went into the house, and said to the folk-- + +"Now all those must go out to whom leave is given, and so go thou out +Thorhalla Asgrim's daughter, and all the people also with thee who may." + +Then Thorhalla said-- + +"This is another parting between me and Helgi than I thought of a while +ago; but still I will egg on my father and brothers to avenge this +manscathe which is wrought here." + +"Go, and good go with thee," said Njal, "for thou art a brave woman." + +After that she went out and much folk with her. + +Then Astrid of Deepback said to Helgi Njal's son-- + +"Come thou out with me, and I will throw a woman's cloak over thee, and +tire thy head with a kerchief." + +He spoke against it at first, but at last he did so at the prayer of +others. + +So Astrid wrapped the kerchief round Helgi's head, but Thorhilda, +Skarphedinn's wife, threw the cloak over him, and he went out between +them, and then Thorgerda Njal's daughter, and Helga her sister, and many +other folk went out too. + +But when Helgi came out Flosi said-- + +"That is a tall woman and broad across the shoulders that went yonder, +take her and hold her." + +But when Helgi heard that, he cast away the cloak. He had got his sword +under his arm, and hewed at a man, and the blow fell on his shield and +cut off the point of it, and the man's leg as well. Then Flosi came up +and hewed at Helgi's neck, and took off his head at a stroke. + +Then Flosi went to the door and called out to Njal, and said he would +speak with him and Bergthora. + +Now Njal does so, and Flosi said-- + +"I will offer thee, master Njal, leave to go out, for it is unworthy +that thou shouldst burn indoors." + +"I will not go out," said Njal, "for I am an old man, and little fitted +to avenge my sons, but I will not live in shame." + +Then Flosi said to Bergthora-- + +"Come thou out, housewife, for I will for no sake burn thee indoors." + +"I was given away to Njal young," said Bergthora, "and I have promised +him this, that we would both share the same fate." + +After that they both went back into the house. + +"What counsel shall we now take?" said Bergthora. + +"We will go to our bed," says Njal, "and lay us down; I have long been +eager for rest." + +Then she said to the boy Thord, Kari's son-- + +"Thee will I take out, and thou shalt not burn in here." + +"Thou hast promised me this, grandmother," says the boy, "that we should +never part so long as I wished to be with thee; but methinks it is much +better to die with thee and Njal than to live after you." + +Then she bore the boy to her bed, and Njal spoke to his steward and +said-- + +"Now shalt thou see where we lay us down, and how I lay us out, for I +mean not to stir an inch hence, whether reek or burning smart me, and so +thou wilt be able to guess where to look for our bones." + +He said he would do so. + +There had been an ox slaughtered and the hide lay there. Njal told the +steward to spread the hide over them, and he did so. + +So there they lay down both of them in their bed, and put the boy +between them. Then they signed themselves and the boy with the cross, +and gave over their souls into God's hand, and that was the last word +that men heard them utter. + +Then the steward took the hide and spread it over them, and went out +afterwards. Kettle of the Mark caught hold of him, and dragged him out, +he asked carefully after his father-in-law Njal, but the steward told +him the whole truth. Then Kettle said-- + +"Great grief hath been sent on us, when we have had to share such +ill-luck together." + +Skarphedinn saw how his father laid him down, and how he laid himself +out, and then he said-- + +"Our father goes early to bed, and that is what was to be looked for, +for he is an old man." + +Then Skarphedinn, and Kari, and Grim, caught the brands as fast as they +dropped down, and hurled them out at them, and so it went on a while. +Then they hurled spears in at them, but they caught them all as they +flew, and sent them back again. + +Then Flosi bade them cease shooting, "for all feats of arms will go hard +with us when we deal with them; ye may well wait till the fire overcomes +them". + +So they do that, and shoot no more. + +Then the great beams out of the roof began to fall, and Skarphedinn +said-- + +"Now must my father be dead, and I have neither heard groan nor cough +from him." + +Then they went to the end of the hall, and there had fallen down a +cross-beam inside which was much burnt in the middle. + +Kari spoke to Skarphedinn, and said--"Leap thou out here, and I will +help thee to do so, and I will leap out after thee, and then we shall +both get away if we set about it so, for hitherward blows all the +smoke." + +"Thou shalt leap first," said Skarphedinn; "but I will leap straightway +on thy heels." + +"That is not wise," says Kari, "for I can get out well enough elsewhere, +though it does not come about here." + +"I will not do that," says Skarphedinn; "leap thou out first, but I will +leap after thee at once." + +"It is bidden to every man," says Kari, "to seek to save his life while +he has a choice, and I will do so now; but still this parting of ours +will be in such wise that we shall never see one another more; for if I +leap out of the fire, I shall have no mind to leap back into the fire to +thee, and then each of us will have to fare his own way." + +"It joys me, brother-in-law," says Skarphedinn, "to think that if thou +gettest away thou wilt avenge me." + +Then Kari took up a blazing bench in his hand, and runs up along the +cross-beam, then he hurls the bench out at the roof, and it fell among +those who were outside. + +Then they ran away, and by that time all Kari's upper-clothing and his +hair were ablaze, then he threw himself down from the roof, and so crept +along with the smoke. + +Then one man said who was nearest-- + +"Was that a man that leapt out at the roof?" + +"Far from it," says another; "more likely it was Skarphedinn who hurled +a firebrand at us." + +After that they had no more mistrust. + +Kari ran till he came to a stream, and then, he threw himself down into +it, and so quenched the fire on him. + +After that he ran along under shelter of the smoke into a hollow, and +rested him there, and that has since been called Kari's Hollow. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXIX. + +SKARPHEDINN'S DEATH. + + +Now it is to be told of Skarphedinn that he runs out on the cross-beam +straight after Kari, but when he came to where the beam was most burnt, +then it broke down under him. Skarphedinn came down on his feet, and +tried again the second time, and climbs up the wall with a run, then +down on him came the wall-plate, and he toppled down again inside. + +Then Skarphedinn said--"Now one can see what will come;" and then he +went along the side wall. Gunnar Lambi's son leapt up on the wall and +sees Skarphedinn; he spoke thus-- + +"Weepest thou now, Skarphedinn?" + +"Not so," says Skarphedinn, "but true it is that the smoke makes one's +eyes smart, but is it as it seems to me, dost thou laugh?" + +"So it is surely," says Gunnar, "and I have never laughed since thou +slewest Thrain on Markfleet." + +Then Skarphedinn said--"He now is a keepsake for thee;" and with that +he took out of his purse the jaw-tooth which he had hewn out of Thrain, +and threw it at Gunnar, and struck him in the eye, so that it started +out and lay on his cheek. + +Then Gunnar fell down from the roof. + +Skarphedinn then went to his brother Grim, and they held one another by +the hand and trode the fire; but when they came to the middle of the +hall Grim fell down dead. + +Then Skarphedinn went to the end of the house, and then there was a +great crash, and down fell the roof. Skarphedinn was then shut in +between it and the gable, and so he could not stir a step thence. + +Flosi and his band stayed by the fire until it was broad daylight; then +came a man riding up to them. Flosi asked him for his name, but he said +his name was Geirmund, and that he was a kinsman of the sons of Sigfus. + +"Ye have done a mighty deed," he says. + +"Men," says Flosi, "will call it both a mighty deed and an ill deed, but +that can't be helped now." + +"How many men have lost their lives here?" asks Geirmund. + +"Here have died," says Flosi, "Njal and Bergthora and all their sons, +Thord Kari's son, Kari Solmund's son, but besides these we cannot say +for a surety, because we know not their names." + +"Thou tellest him now dead," said Geirmund, "with whom we have gossipped +this morning." + +"Who is that?" says Flosi. + +"We two," says Geirmund, "I and my neighbour Bard, met Kari Solmund's +son, and Bard gave him his horse, and his hair and his upper clothes +were burned off him." + +"Had he any weapons?" asks Flosi. + +"He had the sword 'Life-luller,'" says Geirmund, "and one edge of it was +blue with fire, and Bard and I said that it must have become soft, but +he answered thus, that he would harden it in the blood of the sons of +Sigfus or the other Burners." + +"What said he of Skarphedinn?" said Flosi. + +"He said both he and Grim were alive," answers Geirmund, "when they +parted; but he said that now they must be dead." + +"Thou hast told us a tale," said Flosi, "which bodes us no idle peace, +for that man hath now got away who comes next to Gunnar of Lithend in +all things; and now, ye sons of Sigfus, and ye other Burners, know +this, that such a great blood feud, and hue and cry will be made about +this burning, that it will make many a man headless, but some will lose +all their goods. Now I doubt much whether any man of you, ye sons of +Sigfus, will dare to stay in his house; and that is not to be wondered +at; and so I will bid you all to come and stay with me in the east, and +let us all share one fate." + +They thanked him for his offer, and said they would be glad to take it. + +Then Modolf Kettle's son sang a song. + + But one prop of Njal's house liveth, + All the rest inside are burnt, + All but one,--those bounteous spenders, + Sigfus' stalwart sons wrought this; + Son of Gollnir[72] now is glutted + Vengeance for brave Hauskuld's death, + Brisk flew fire through thy dwelling, + Bright flames blazed above thy roof. + +"We shall have to boast of something else than that Njal has been burnt +in his house," says Flosi, "for there is no glory in that." + +Then he went up on the gable, and Glum Hilldir's son, and some other +men. Then Glum said, "Is Skarphedinn dead, indeed?" But the others said +he must have been dead long ago. + +The fire sometimes blazed up fitfully and sometimes burned low, and then +they heard down in the fire beneath them that this song was sung-- + + Deep, I ween, ye Ogre offspring! + Devilish brood of giant birth, + Would ye groan with gloomy visage + Had the fight gone to my mind; + But my very soul it gladdens + That my friends[73] who now boast high, + Wrought not this foul deed, their glory, + Save with footsteps filled with gore. + +"Can Skarphedinn, think ye, have sung this song dead or alive?" said +Grani Gunnar's son. + +"I will go into no guesses about that," says Flosi. + +"We will look for Skarphedinn," says Grani, "and the other men who have +been here burnt inside the house." + +"That shall not be," says Flosi, "it is just like such foolish men as +thou art, now that men will be gathering force all over the country; and +when they do come, I trow the very same man who now lingers will be so +scared that he will not know which way to run; and now my counsel is +that we all ride away as quickly as ever we can." + +Then Flosi went hastily to his horse and all his men. + +Then Flosi said to Geirmund-- + +"Is Ingialld, thinkest thou, at home, at the Springs?" + +Geirmund said he thought he must be at home. + +"There now is a man," says Flosi, "who has broken his oath with us and +all good faith." + +Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus--"What course will ye now take +with Ingialld; will ye forgive him, or shall we now fall on him and slay +him?" + +They all answered that they would rather fall on him and slay him. + +Then Flosi jumped on his horse, and all the others, and they rode away. +Flosi rode first, and shaped his course for Rangriver, and up along the +river bank. + +Then he saw a man riding down on the other bank of the river, and he +knew that there was Ingialld of the Springs. Flosi calls out to him. +Ingialld halted and turned down to the river bank; and Flosi said to +him-- + +"Thou hast broken faith with us, and hast forfeited life and goods. Here +now are the sons of Sigfus, who are eager to slay thee; but methinks +thou hast fallen into a strait, and I will give thee thy life if thou +will hand over to me the right to make my own award." + +"I will sooner ride to meet Kari," said Ingialld, "than grant thee the +right to utter thine own award, and my answer to the sons of Sigfus is +this, that I shall be no whit more afraid of them than they are of me." + +"Bide thou there," says Flosi, "if thou art not a coward, for I will +send thee a gift." + +"I will bide of a surety," says Ingialld. + +Thorstein Kolbein's son, Flosi's brother's son, rode up by his side and +had a spear in his hand, he was one of the bravest of men, and the most +worthy of those who were with Flosi. + +Flosi snatched the spear from him, and launched it at Ingialld, and it +fell on his left side, and passed through the shield just below the +handle, and clove it all asunder, but the spear passed on into his +thigh just above the knee-pan, and so on into the saddle-tree, and there +stood fast. + +Then Flosi said to Ingialld-- + +"Did it touch thee?" + +"It touched me sure enough," says Ingialld, "but I call this a scratch +and not a wound." + +Then Ingialld plucked the spear out of the wound, and said to Flosi-- + +"Now bide thou, if thou art not a milksop." + +Then he launched the spear back over the river. Flosi sees that the +spear is coming straight for his middle, and then he backs his horse out +of the way, but the spear flew in front of Flosi's horse, and missed +him, but it struck Thorstein's middle, and down he fell at once dead off +his horse. + +Now Ingialld tuns for the wood, and they could not get at him. + +Then Flosi said to his men-- + +"Now have we gotten manscathe, and now we may know, when such things +befall us, into what a luckless state we have got. Now it is my counsel +that we ride up to Threecorner ridge; thence we shall be able to see +where men ride all over the country, for by this time they will have +gathered together a great band, and they will think that we have ridden +east to Fleetlithe from Threecorner ridge; and thence they will think +that we are riding north up on the fell, and so east to our own country, +and thither the greater part of the folk will ride after us; but some +will ride the coast road east to Selialandsmull, and yet they will think +there is less hope of finding us thitherward, but I will now take +counsel for all of us, and my plan is to ride up into Threecorner-fell, +and bide there till three suns have risen and set in heaven." + + + + +CHAPTER CXXX. + +OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON. + + +Now it is to be told of Kari Solmund's son that he fared away from that +hollow in which he had rested himself until he met Bard, and those words +passed between them which Geirmund had told. + +Thence Kari rode to Mord, and told him the tidings, and he was greatly +grieved. + +Kari said there were other things more befitting a man than to weep for +them dead, and bade him rather gather folk and come to Holtford. + +After that he rode into Thursodale to Hjallti Skeggi's son, and as he +went along Thurso water, he sees a man riding fast behind him. Kari +waited for the man, and knows that he was Ingialld of the Springs. He +sees that he is very bloody about the thigh; and Kari asked Ingialld who +had wounded him, and he told him. + +"Where met ye two?" says Kari. + +"By Rangwater side," says Ingialld, "and he threw a spear over at me." + +"Didst thou aught for it?" asks Kari. + +"I threw the spear back," says Ingialld, "and they said that it met a +man, and he was dead at once." + +"Knowest thou not," said Kari, "who the man was?" + +"Methought he was like Thorstein Flosi's brother's son," says Ingialld. + +"Good luck go with thy hand," says Kari. + +After that they rode both together to see Hjallti Skeggi's son, and told +him the tidings. He took these deeds ill, and said there was the +greatest need to ride after them and slay them all. + +After that he gathered men and roused the whole country; now he and Kari +and Ingialld ride with this band to meet Mord Valgard's son, and they +found him at Holtford, and Mord was there waiting for them with a very +great company. Then they parted the hue and cry; some fared the straight +road by the east coast to Selialandsmull, but some went up to +Fleetlithe, and other-some the higher road thence to Threecorner ridge, +and so down into Godaland. Thence they rode north to Sand. Some too rode +as far as Fishwaters, and there turned back. Some the coast road east to +Holt, and told Thorgeir the tidings, and asked whether they had not +ridden by there. + +"This is how it is," said Thorgeir, "though I am not a mighty chief, yet +Flosi would take other counsel than to ride under my eyes, when he has +slain Njal, my father's brother, and my cousins; and there is nothing +left for any of you but e'en to turn back again, for ye should have +hunted longer nearer home; but tell this to Kari, that he must ride +hither to me and be here with me if he will; but though he will not +come hither east, still I will look after his farm at Dyrholms if he +will, but tell him too that I will stand by him and ride with him to the +Althing. And he shall also know this, that we brothers are the next of +kin to follow up the feud, and we mean so to take up the suit, that +outlawry shall follow and after that revenge, man for man, if we can +bring it about; but I do not go with you now, because I know naught will +come of it, and they will now be as wary as they can of themselves." + +Now they ride back, and all met at Hof and talked there among +themselves, and said that they had gotten disgrace since they had not +found them. Mord said that was not so. Then many men were eager that +they should fare to Fleetlithe, and pull down the homesteads of all +those who had been at those deeds, but still they listened for Mord's +utterance. + +"That," he said, "would be the greatest folly." They asked why he said +that. + +"Because," he said, "if their houses stand, they will be sure to visit +them to see their wives; and then, as time rolls on, we may hunt them +down there; and now ye shall none of you doubt that I will be true to +thee Kari, and to all of you, and in all counsel, for I have to answer +for myself." + +Hjallti bade him do as he said. Then Hjallti bade Kari to come and stay +with him; he said he would ride thither first. They told him what +Thorgeir had offered him, and he said he would make use of that offer +afterwards, but said his heart told him it would be well if there were +many such. + +After that the whole band broke up. + +Flosi and his men saw all these tidings from where they were on the +fell; and Flosi said-- + +"Now we will take our horses and ride away, for now it will be some +good." + +The sons of Sigfus asked whether it would be worth while to get to their +homes and tell the news. + +"It must be Mord's meaning," says Flosi, "that ye will visit your wives; +and my guess is, that his plan is to let your houses stand unsacked; but +my plan is that not a man shall part from the other, but all ride east +with me." + +So every man took that counsel, and then they all rode east and north of +the Jokul, and so on till they came to Swinefell. + +Flosi sent at once men out to get in stores, so that nothing might fall +short. + +Flosi never spoke about the deed, but no fear was found in him, and he +was at home the whole winter till Yule was over. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXI. + +NJAL'S AND BERGTHORA'S BONES FOUND. + + +Kari bade Hjallti to go and search for Njal's bones, "for all will +believe in what thou sayest and thinkest about them". + +Hjallti said he would be most willing to bear Njal's bones to church; so +they rode thence fifteen men. They rode east over Thurso-water, and +called on men there to come with them till they had one hundred men, +reckoning Njal's neighbours. + +They came to Bergthorsknoll at mid-day. + +Hjallti asked Kari under what part of the house Njal might be lying, but +Kari showed them to the spot, and there was a great heap of ashes to dig +away. There they found the hide underneath, and it was as though it were +shrivelled with the fire. They raised up the hide, and lo! they were +unburnt under it. All praised God for that, and thought it was a great +token. + +Then the boy was taken up who had lain between them, and of him a finger +was burnt off which he had stretched out from under the hide. + +Njal was borne out, and so was Bergthora, and then all men went to see +their bodies. + +Then Hjallti said--"What like look to you these bodies?" + +They answered, "We will wait for thy utterance". + +Then Hjallti said, "I shall speak what I say with all freedom of speech. +The body of Bergthora looks as it was likely she would look, and still +fair; but Njal's body and visage seem to me so bright that I have never +seen any dead man's body so bright as this." + +They all said they thought so too. + +Then they sought for Skarphedinn, and the men of the household showed +them to the spot where Flosi and his men heard the song sung, and there +the roof had fallen down by the gable, and there Hjallti said that they +should look. Then they did so, and found Skarphedinn's body there, and +he had stood up hard by the gable-wall, and his legs were burnt off him +right up to the knees, but all the rest of him was unburnt. He had +bitten through his under lip, his eyes were wide open and not swollen +nor starting out of his head; he had driven his axe into the gable-wall +so hard that it had gone in up to the middle of the blade, and that was +why it was not softened. + +After that the axe was broken out of the wall, and Hjallti took up the +axe, and said-- + +"This is a rare weapon, and few would be able to wield it." + +"I see a man," said Kari, "who shall bear the axe." + +"Who is that?" says Hjallti. + +"Thorgeir Craggeir," says Kari, "he whom I now think to be the greatest +man in all their family." + +Then Skarphedinn was stripped of his clothes, for they were unburnt; he +had laid his hands in a cross, and the right hand uppermost. They found +marks on him; one between his shoulders and the other on his chest, and +both were branded in the shape of a cross, and men thought that he must +have burnt them in himself. + +All men said that they thought that it was better to be near Skarphedinn +dead than they weened, for no man was afraid of him. + +They sought for the bones of Grim, and found them in the midst of the +hall. They found, too, there, right over-against him under the side +wall, Thord Freedmanson; but in the weaving-room they found Saevuna the +carline, and three men more. In all they found there the bones of nine +souls. Now they carried the bodies to the church, and then Hjallti rode +home and Kari with him. A swelling came on Ingialld's leg, and then he +fared to Hjallti, and was healed there, but still he limped ever +afterwards. + +Kari rode to Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. By that time Thorhalla +was come home, and she had already told the tidings. Asgrim took Kari by +both hands, and bade him be there all that year. Kari said so it should +be. + +Asgrim asked besides all the folk who had been in the house at +Bergthorsknoll to stay with him. Kari said that was well offered, and +said he would take it on their behalf. + +Then all the folk were flitted thither. + +Thorhall Asgrim's son was so startled when he was told that his +foster-father Njal was dead, and that he had been burnt in his house, +that he swelled all over, and a stream of blood burst out of both his +ears, and could not be staunched, and he fell into a swoon, and then it +was staunched. + +After that he stood up, and said he had behaved like a coward, "but I +would that I might be able to avenge this which has befallen me on some +of those who burnt him". + +But when others said that no one would think this a shame to him, he +said he could not stop the mouths of the people from talking about it. + +Asgrim asked Kari what trust and help he thought he might look for from +those east of the rivers. Kari said that Mord Valgard's son, and +Hjallti, Skeggi's son, would yield him all the help they could, and so, +too, would Thorgeir Craggeir, and all those brothers. + +Asgrim said that was great strength. + +"What strength shall we have from thee?" says Kari. + +"All that I can give," says Asgrim, "and I will lay down my life on it." + +"So do," says Kari. + +"I have also," says Asgrim, "brought Gizur the white into the suit, and +have asked his advice how we shall set about it." + +"What advice did he give?" asks Kari. + +"He counselled," answers Asgrim, "'that we should hold us quite still +till spring, but then ride east and set the suit on foot against Flosi +for the manslaughter of Helgi, and summon the neighbours from their +homes, and give due notice at the Thing of the suits for the burning, +and summon the same neighbours there too on the inquest before the +court. I asked Gizur who should plead the suit for manslaughter, but he +said that Mord should plead it whether he liked it or not, and now,' he +went on, 'it shall fall most heavily on him that up to this time all the +suits he has undertaken have had the worst ending. Kari shall also be +wroth whenever he meets Mord, and so, if he be made to fear on one side, +and has to look to me on the other, then he will undertake the duty.'" + +Then Kari said, "We will follow thy counsel as long as we can, and thou +shalt lead us". + +It is to be told of Kari that he could not sleep of nights. Asgrim woke +up one night and heard that Kari was awake, and Asgrim said--"Is it that +thou canst not sleep at night?" + +Then Kari sang this song-- + + Bender of the bow of battle, + Sleep will not my eyelids seal, + Still my murdered messmates' bidding + Haunts my mind the livelong night; + Since the men their brands abusing + Burned last autumn guileless Njal, + Burned him house and home together, + Mindful am I of my hurt. + +Kari spoke of no men so often as of Njal and Skarphedinn, and Bergthora +and Helgi. He never abused his foes, and never threatened them. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXII. + +FLOSI'S DREAM. + + +One night it so happened that Flosi struggled much in his sleep. Glum +Hilldir's son woke him up, and then Flosi said-- + +"Call me Kettle of the Mark." + +Kettle came thither, and Flosi said, "I will tell thee my dream". + +"I am ready to hear it," says Kettle. + +"I dreamt," says Flosi, "that methought I stood below Loom-nip, and went +out and looked up to the Nip, and all at once it opened, and a man came +out of the Nip, and he was clad in goatskins, and had an iron staff in +his hand. He called, as he walked, on many of my men, some sooner and +some later, and named them by name. First he called Grim the Red my +kinsman, and Arni Kol's son. Then methought something strange followed, +methought he called Eyjolf Bolverk's son, and Ljot son of Hall of the +Side, and some six men more. Then he held his peace awhile. After that +he called five men of our band, and among them were the sons of Sigfus, +thy brothers; then he called other six men, and among them were Lambi, +and Modolf, and Glum. Then he called three men. Last of all he called +Gunnar Lambi's son, and Kol Thorstein's son. After that he came up to +me; I asked him 'what news'. He said he had tidings enough to tell. Then +I asked him for his name, but he called himself Irongrim. I asked him +whither he was going; he said he had to fare to the Althing. 'What +shalt thou do there?' I said. 'First I shall challenge the inquest,' he +answers, 'and then the courts, then clear the field for fighters.' After +that he sang this song-- + + "'Soon a man death's snake-strokes dealing + High shall lift his head on earth, + Here amid the dust low rolling + Battered brainpans men shall see: + Now upon the hills in hurly + Buds the blue steel's harvest bright; + Soon the bloody dew of battle + Thigh-deep through the ranks shall rise.' + +"Then he shouted with such a mighty shout that methought everything near +shook, and dashed down his staff, and there was a mighty crash. Then he +went back into the fell, but fear clung to me; and now I wish thee to +tell me what thou thinkest this dream is." + +"It is my foreboding," says Kettle, "that all those who were called must +be 'fey'. It seems to me good counsel that we tell this dream to no man +just now." + +Flosi said so it should be. Now the winter passes away till Yule was +over. Then Flosi said to his men-- + +"Now I mean that we should fare from home, for methinks we shall not be +able to have an idle peace. Now we shall fare to pray for help, and now +that will come true which I told you, that we should have to bow the +knee to many ere this quarrel were ended." + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXIII. + +OF FLOSI'S JOURNEY AND HIS ASKING FOR HELP. + + +After that they busked them from home all together. Flosi was in +long-hose because he meant to go on foot, and then he knew that it would +seem less hard to the others to walk. + +Then they fared from home to Knappvale, but the evening after to +Broadwater, and then to Calffell, thence by Bjornness to Hornfirth, +thence to Staffell in Lon, and then to Thvattwater to Hall of the Side. + +Flosi had to wife Steinvora, his daughter. + +Hall gave them a very hearty welcome, and Flosi said to Hall-- + +"I will ask thee, father-in-law, that thou wouldst ride to the Thing +with me with all thy Thingmen." + +"Now," answered Hall, "it has turned out as the saw says, 'but a short +while is hand fain of blow'; and yet it is one and the same man in thy +band who now hangs his head, and who then goaded thee on to the worst of +deeds when it was still undone. But my help I am bound to lend thee in +all such places as I may." + +"What counsel dost thou give me," said Flosi, "in the strait in which I +now am?" + +"Thou shalt fare," said Hall, "north, right up to Weaponfirth, and ask +all the chiefs for aid, and thou wilt yet need it all before the Thing +is over." + +Flosi stayed there three nights, and rested him, and fared thence east +to Geitahellna, and so to Berufirth; there they were the night. Thence +they fared east to Broaddale in Haydale. There Hallbjorn the strong +dwelt. He had to wife Oddny the sister of Saurli Broddhelgi's son, and +Flosi had a hearty welcome there. + +Hallbjorn asked how far north among the firths Flosi meant to go. He +said he meant to go as far as Weaponfirth. Then Flosi took a purse of +money from his belt, and said he would give it to Hallbjorn. He took the +money, but yet said he had no claim on Flosi for gifts, but still I +would be glad to know in what thou wilt that I repay thee. + +"I have no need of money," says Flosi, "but I wish thou wouldst ride to +the Thing with me, and stand by me in my quarrel, but still I have no +ties or kinship to tell towards thee." + +"I will grant thee that," said Hallbjorn, "to ride to the Thing with +thee, and to stand by thee in thy quarrel as I would by my brother." + +Flosi thanked him, and Hallbjorn asked much about the Burning, but they +told him all about it at length. + +Thence Flosi fared to Broaddale's heath, and so to Hrafnkelstede, there +dwelt Hrafnkell, the son of Thorir, the son of Hrafnkell Raum. Flosi had +a hearty welcome there, and sought for help and a promise to ride to the +Thing from Hrafnkell, but he stood out a long while, though the end of +it was that he gave his word that his son Thorir should ride with all +their Thingmen, and yield him such help as the other priests of the same +district. + +Flosi thanked him and fared away to Bersastede. There Holmstein son of +Bersi the wise dwelt, and he gave Flosi a very hearty welcome. Flosi +begged him for help. Holmstein said he had been long in his debt for +help. + +Thence they fared to Waltheofstede--there Saurli Broddhelgi's son, +Bjarni's brother, dwelt. He had to wife Thordisa, a daughter of Gudmund +the powerful, of Modruvale. They had a hearty welcome there. But next +morning Flosi raised the question with Saurli that he should ride to the +Althing with him, and bid him money for it. + +"I cannot tell about that," says Saurli, "so long as I do not know on +which side my father-in-law Gudmund the powerful stands, for I mean to +stand by him on whichever side he stands." + +"Oh!" said Flosi, "I see by thy answer that a woman rules in this +house." + +Then Flosi stood up and bade his men take their upper clothing and +weapons, and then they fared away, and got no help there. So they fared +below Lagarfleet and over the heath to Njardwick; there two brothers +dwelt, Thorkel the allwise, and Thorwalld his brother; they were sons of +Kettle, the son of Thidrandi the wise, the son of Kettle rumble, son of +Thorir Thidrandi. The mother of Thorkel the allwise and Thorwalld was +Yngvillda, daughter of Thorkel the wise. Flosi got a hearty welcome +there; he told those brothers plainly of his errand, and asked for their +help; but they put him off until he gave three marks of silver to each +of them for their aid; then they agreed to stand by Flosi. + +Their mother Yngvillda was by when they gave their words to ride to the +Althing, and wept. Thorkel asked why she wept; and she answered-- + +"I dreamt that thy brother Thorwalld was clad in a red kirtle, and +methought it was so tight as though it were sewn on him; methought too +that he wore red hose on his legs and feet, and bad shoethongs were +twisted round them; methought it ill to see when I knew he was so +uncomfortable, but I could do naught for him." + +They laughed and told her she had lost her wits, and said her babble +should not stand in the way of their ride to the Thing. + +Flosi thanked them kindly, and fared thence to Weaponfirth and came to +Hof. There dwelt Bjarni Broddhelgi's son. Bjarni took Flosi by both +hands, and Flosi bade Bjarni money for his help. + +"Never," says Bjarni, "have I sold my manhood or help for bribes, but +now that thou art in need of help, I will do thee a good turn for +friendship's sake, and ride to the Thing with thee, and stand by thee as +I would by my brother." + +"Then thou hast thrown a great load of debt on my hands," said Flosi, +"but still I looked for as much from thee." + +Thence Flosi and his men fared to Crosswick. Thorkel Geiti's son was a +great friend of his. Flosi told him his errand, and Thorkel said it was +but his duty to stand by him in every way in his power, and not to part +from his quarrel. Thorkel gave Flosi good gifts at parting. + +Thence they fared north to Weaponfirth and up into the Fleetdale +country, and turned in as guests at Holmstein's, the son of Bersi the +wise. Flosi told him that all had backed him in his need and business +well, save Saurli Broddhelgi's son. Holmstein said the reason of that +was that he was not a man of strife. Holmstein gave Flosi good gifts. + +Flosi fared up Fleetdale, and thence south on the fell across Oxenlava +and down Swinehorndale, and so out by Alftafirth to the west, and did +not stop till he came to Thvattwater to his father-in-law Hall's house. +There he stayed half a month, and his men with him and rested him. + +Flosi asked Hall what counsel he would now give him, and what he should +do next, and whether he should change his plans. + +"My counsel," said Hall, "is this, that thou goest home to thy house, +and the sons of Sigfus with thee, but that they send men to set their +homesteads in order. But first of all fare home, and when ye ride to the +Thing, ride all together, and do not scatter your band. Then let the +sons of Sigfus go to see their wives on the way. I too will ride to the +Thing, and Ljot my son with all our Thingmen, and stand by thee with +such force as I can gather to me." + +Flosi thanked him, and Hall gave him good gifts at parting. + +Then Flosi went away from Thvattwater, and nothing is to be told of his +journey till he comes home to Swinefell. There he stayed at home the +rest of the winter, and all the summer right up to the Thing. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXIV. + +OF THORHALL AND KARI. + + +Thorhall Asgrim's son, and Kari Solmund's son, rode one day to Mossfell +to see Gizur the white; he took them with both hands, and there they +were at his house a very long while. Once it happened as they and Gizur +talked of Njal's burning, that Gizur said it was very great luck that +Kari had got away. Then a song came into Kari's mouth. + + I who whetted helmet-hewer,[74] + I who oft have burnished brand, + From the fray went all unwilling + When Njal's rooftree crackling roared; + Out I leapt when bands of spearmen + Lighted there a blaze of flame! + Listen men unto my moaning, + Mark the telling of my grief. + +Then Gizur said, "It must be forgiven thee that thou art mindful, and so +we will talk no more about it just now". + +Kari says that he will ride home; and Gizur said "I will now make a +clean breast of my counsel to thee. Thou shalt not ride home, but still +thou shalt ride away, and east under Eyjafell, to see Thorgeir Craggeir, +and Thorleif crow. They shall ride from the east with thee. They are the +next of kin in the suit, and with them shall ride Thorgrim the big, +their brother. Ye shall ride to Mord Valgard's son's house, and tell him +this message from me, that he shall take up the suit for manslaughter +for Helgi Njal's son against Flosi. But if he utters any words against +this, then shalt thou make thyself most wrathful, and make believe as +though thou wouldst let thy axe fall on his head; and in the second +place, thou shalt assure him of my wrath if he shows any ill will. Along +with that shalt thou say, that I will send and fetch away my daughter +Thorkatla, and make her come home to me; but that he will not abide, for +he loves her as the very eyes in his head." + +Kari thanked him for his counsel. Kari spoke nothing of help to him, for +he thought he would show himself his good friend in this as in other +things. + +Thence Kari rode east over the rivers, and so to Fleetlithe, and east +across Markfleet, and so on to Selialandsmull. So they ride east to +Holt. + +Thorgeir welcomed them with the greatest kindliness. He told them of +Flosi's journey, and how great help he had got in the east firths. + +Kari said it was no wonder that he, who had to answer for so much, +should ask for help for himself. + +Then Thorgeir said, "The better things go for them, the worse it shall +be for them; we will only follow them up so much the harder". + +Kari told Thorgeir of Gizur's advice. After that they ride from the east +to Rangrivervale to Mord Valgard's son's house. He gave them a hearty +welcome. Kari told him the message of Gizur his father-in-law. He was +slow to take the duty on him, and said it was harder to go to law with +Flosi than with any other ten men. + +"Thou behavest now as he [Gizur] thought," said Kari; "for thou art a +bad bargain in every way; thou art both a coward and heartless, but the +end of this shall be as is fitting, that Thorkatla shall fare home to +her father." + +She busked her at once, and said she had long been "boun" to part from +Mord. Then he changed his mood and his words quickly, and begged off +their wrath, and took the suit upon him at once. + +"Now," said Kari, "thou hast taken the suit upon thee, see that thou +pleadest it without fear, for thy life lies on it." + +Mord said he would lay his whole heart on it to do this well and +manfully. + +After that Mord summoned to him nine neighbours--they were all near +neighbours to the spot where the deed was done. Then Mord took Thorgeir +by the hand and named two witnesses to bear witness, "that Thorgeir +Thorir's son hands me over a suit for manslaughter against Flosi Thord's +son, to plead it for the slaying of Helgi Njal's son, with all those +proofs which have to follow the suit. Thou handest over to me this suit +to plead and to settle, and to enjoy all rights in it, as though I were +the rightful next of kin. Thou handest it over to me by law, and I take +it from thee by law." + +A second time Mord named his witnesses, "to bear witness," said he, +"that I give notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's +son, for that he dealt Helgi Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow +wound, which proved a death wound; and from which Helgi got his death. I +give notice of this before five witnesses"--here he named them all by +name--"I give this lawful notice, I give notice of a suit which Thorgeir +Thorir's son has handed over to me." + +Again he named witnesses to "bear witness that I give notice of a brain, +of a body, or a marrow wound against Flosi Thord's son, for that wound +which proved a death wound, but Helgi got his death therefrom on such +and such a spot, when Flosi Thord's son first rushed on Helgi Njal's son +with an assault laid down by law. I give notice of this before five +neighbours "--then he named them all by name--"I give this lawful +notice. I give notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed +over to me." + +Then Mord named his witnesses again "to bear witness," said he, "that I +summon these nine neighbours who dwell nearest the spot"--here he named +them all by name--"to ride to the Althing, and to sit on the inquest to +find whether Flosi Thord's son rushed with an assault laid down by law +on Helgi Njal's son, on that spot where Flosi Thord's son dealt Helgi +Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death +wound, and from which Helgi got his death. I call on you to utter all +those words which ye are bound to find by law, and which I shall call on +you to utter before the court, and which belong to this suit; I call +upon you by a lawful summons--I call on you so that ye may yourselves +hear--I call on you in the suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed +over to me." + +Again Mord named his witnesses, "to bear witness, that I summon these +nine neighbours who dwell nearest to the spot to ride to the Althing, +and to sit on an inquest to find whether Flosi Thord's son wounded Helgi +Njal's son with a brain, or body, or marrow wound, which proved a death +wound, and from which Helgi got his death, on that spot where Flosi +Thord's son first rushed on Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid down +by law. I call on you to utter all those words which ye are bound to +find by law, and which I shall call on you to utter before the court, +and which belong to this suit I call upon you by a lawful summons--I +call on you so that ye may yourselves hear--I call on you in the suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over to me." + +Then Mord said-- + +"Now is the suit set on foot as ye asked, and now I will pray thee, +Thorgeir Craggeir, to come to me when thou ridest to the Thing, and then +let us both ride together, each with our band, and keep as close as we +can together, for my band shall be ready by the very beginning of the +Thing, and I will be true to you in all things." + +They showed themselves well pleased at that, and this was fast bound by +oaths, that no man should sunder himself from another till Kari willed +it, and that each of them should lay down his life for the other's life. +Now they parted with friendship, and settled to meet again at the Thing. + +Now Thorgeir rides back east, but Kari rides west over the rivers till +he came to Tongue, to Asgrim's house. He welcomed them wonderfully well, +and Kari told Asgrim all Gizur the white's plan, and of the setting on +foot of the suit. + +"I looked for as much from him," says Asgrim, "that he would behave +well, and now he has shown it." + +Then Asgrim went on-- + +"What heardest thou from the east of Flosi?" + +"He went east all the way to Weaponfirth," answers Kari, "and nearly all +the chiefs have promised to ride with him to the Althing, and to help +him. They look, too, for help from the Reykdalesmen, and the men of +Lightwater, and the Axefirthers." + +Then they talked much about it, and so the time passes away up to the +Althing. + +Thorhall Asgrim's son took such a hurt in his leg that the foot above +the ankle was as big and swollen as a woman's thigh, and he could not +walk save with a staff. He was a man tall in growth, and strong and +powerful, dark of hue in hair and skin, measured and guarded in his +speech, and yet hot and hasty tempered. He was the third greatest lawyer +in all Iceland. + +Now the time comes that men should ride from home to the Thing, Asgrim +said to Kari-- + +"Thou shalt ride at the very beginning of the Thing, and fit up our +booths, and my son Thorhall with thee. Thou wilt treat him best and +kindest, as he is footlame, but we shall stand in the greatest need of +him at this Thing. With you two, twenty men more shall ride." + +After that they made ready for their journey, and then they rode to the +Thing, and set up their booths, and fitted them out well. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXV. + +OF FLOSI AND THE BURNERS. + + +Flosi rode from the east and those hundred and twenty men who had been +at the Burning with him. They rode till they came to Fleetlithe. Then +the sons of Sigfus looked after their homesteads and tarried there that +day, but at even they rode west over Thurso-water, and slept there that +night. But next morning early they saddled their horses and rode off on +their way. + +Then Flosi said to his men-- + +"Now will we ride to Tongue to Asgrim to breakfast, and trample down his +pride a little." + +They said that were well done. They rode till they had a short way to +Tongue. Asgrim stood out of doors, and some men with him. They see the +band as soon as ever they could do so from the house. Then Asgrim's men +said-- + +"There must be Thorgeir Craggeir." + +"Not he," said Asgrim. "I think so all the more because these men fare +with laughter and wantonness; but such kinsmen of Njal as Thorgeir is +would not smile before some vengeance is taken for the Burning, and I +will make another guess, and maybe ye will think that unlikely. My +meaning is, that it must be Flosi and the Burners with him, and they +must mean to humble us with insults, and we will now go indoors all of +us." + +Now they do so, and Asgrim made them sweep the house and put up the +hangings, and set the boards and put meat on them. He made them place +stools along each bench all down the room. + +Flosi rode into the "town," and bade men alight from their horses and go +in. They did so, and Flosi and his men went into the hall, Asgrim sate +on the cross-bench on the dais. Flosi looked at the benches and saw that +all was made ready that men needed to have. Asgrim gave them no +greeting, but said to Flosi-- + +"The boards are set, so that meat may be free to those that need it." + +Flosi sat down to the board, and all his men; but they laid their arms +up against the wainscot. They sat on the stools who found no room on +the benches; but four men stood with weapons just before where Flosi sat +while they ate. + +Asgrim kept his peace during the meat, but was as red to look on as +blood. + +But when they were full, some women cleared away the boards, while +others brought in water to wash their hands. Flosi was in no greater +hurry than if he had been at home. There lay a pole-axe in the corner of +the dais. Asgrim caught it up with both hands, and ran up to the rail at +the edge of the dais, and made a blow at Flosi's head. Glum Hilldir's +son happened to see what he was about to do, and sprang up at once, and +got hold of the axe above Asgrim's hands, and turned the edge at once on +Asgrim; for Glum was very strong. Then many more men ran up and seized +Asgrim, but Flosi said that no man was to do Asgrim any harm, "for we +put him to too hard a trial, and he only did what he ought, and showed +in that that he had a big heart". + +Then Flosi said to Asgrim, "Here, now, we shall part safe and sound, and +meet at the Thing, and there begin our quarrel over again". + +"So it will be," says Asgrim; "and I would wish that, ere this Thing be +over, ye should have to take in some of your sails." + +Flosi answered him never a word, and then they went out, and mounted +their horses, and rode away. They rode till they came to Laugarwater, +and were there that night; but next morning they rode on to Baitvale, +and baited their horses there, and there many bands rode to meet them. +There was Hall of the Side, and all the Eastfirthers. Flosi greeted them +well, and told them of his journeys and dealings with Asgrim. Many +praised him for that, and said such things were bravely done. + +Then Hall said, "I look on this in another way than ye do, for methinks +it was a foolish prank; they were sure to bear in mind their griefs, +even though they were not reminded of them anew; but those men who try +others so heavily must look for all evil". + +It was seen from Hall's way that he thought this deed far too strong. +They rode thence all together, till they came to the Upper Field, and +there they set their men in array, and rode down on the Thing. + +Flosi had made them fit out Byrgir's booth ere he rode to the Thing; but +the Eastfirthers rode to their own booths. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXVI. + +OF THORGEIR CRAGGEIR. + + +Thorgeir Craggeir rode from the east with much people. His brothers were +with him, Thorleif crow and Thorgrim the big. They came to Hof, to Mord +Valgard's son's house, and bided there till he was ready. Mord had +gathered every man who could bear arms, and they could see nothing about +him but that he was most steadfast in everything, and now they rode +until they came west across the rivers. Then they waited for Hjallti +Skeggi's son. He came after they had waited a short while, and they +greeted him well, and rode afterwards all together till they came to +Reykia in Bishop's-tongue, and bided there for Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, +and he came to meet them there. Then they rode west across Bridgewater. +Then Asgrim told them all that had passed between him and Flosi; and +Thorgeir said-- + +"I would that we might try their bravery ere the Thing closes." + +They rode until they came to Baitvale. There Gizur the white came to +meet them with a very great company, and they fell to talking together. +Then they rode to the Upper Field, and drew up all their men in array +there, and so rode to the Thing. + +Flosi and his men all took to their arms, and it was within an ace that +they would fall to blows. But Asgrim and his friends and their followers +would have no hand in it, and rode to their booths; and now all was +quiet that day, so that they had naught to do with one another. Thither +were come chiefs from all the Quarters of the land; there had never been +such a crowded Thing before, that men could call to mind. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXVII. + +OF EYJOLF BOLVERK'S SON. + + +There was a man named Eyjolf. He was the son of Bolverk, the son of +Eyjolf the guileful, of Otterdale. Eyjolf was a man of great rank, and +best skilled in law of all men, so that some said he was the third best +lawyer in Iceland. He was the fairest in face of all men, tall and +strong, and there was the making of a great chief in him. He was greedy +of money, like the rest of his kinsfolk. + +One day Flosi went to the booth of Bjarni Broddhelgi's son. Bjarni took +him by both hands, and sat Flosi down by his side. They talked about +many things, and at last Flosi said to Bjarni-- + +"What counsel shall we now take?" + +"I think," answered Bjarni, "that it is now hard to say what to do, but +the wisest thing seems to me to go round and ask for help, since they +are drawing strength together against you. I will also ask thee, Flosi, +whether there be any very good lawyer in your band; for now there are +but two courses left; one to ask if they will take an atonement, and +that is not a bad choice, but the other is to defend the suit at law, if +there be any defence to it, though that will seem to be a bold course; +and this is why I think this last ought to be chosen, because ye have +hitherto fared high and mightily, and it is unseemly now to take a lower +course." + +"As to thy asking about lawyers," said Flosi, "I will answer thee at +once that there is no such man in our band; nor do I know where to look +for one except it be Thorkel Geiti's son, thy kinsman." + +"We must not reckon on him," said Bjarni, "for though he knows something +of law, he is far too wary, and no man need hope to have him as his +shield; but he will back thee as well as any man who backs thee best, +for he has a stout heart; besides, I must tell thee that it will be that +man's bane who undertakes the defence in this suit for the Burning, but +I have no mind that this should befall my kinsman Thorkel, so ye must +turn your eyes elsewhither." + +Flosi said he knew nothing about who were the best lawyers. + +"There is a man named Eyjolf," said Bjarni; "he is Bolverk's son, and he +is the best lawyer in the Westfirther's Quarter; but you will need to +give him much money if you are to bring him into the suit, but still we +must not stop at that. We must also go with our arms to all law +business, and be most wary of ourselves, but not meddle with them before +we are forced to fight for our lives. And now I will go with thee, and +set out at once on our begging for help, for now methinks the peace will +be kept but a little while longer." + +After that they go out of the booth, and to the booths of the +Axefirthers. Then Bjarni talks with Lyting and Bleing, and Hroi +Arnstein's son, and he got speedily whatever he asked of them. Then they +fared to see Kol, the son of Killing-Skuti, and Eyvind Thorkel's son, +the son of Askel the priest, and asked them for their help; but they +stood out a long while, but the end of it was that they took three marks +of silver for it, and so went into the suit with them. + +Then they went to the booths of the men of Lightwater, and stayed there +some time. Flosi begged the men of Lightwater for help, but they were +stubborn and hard to win over, and then Flosi said, with much wrath, "Ye +are ill-behaved! ye are grasping and wrongful at home in your own +country, and ye will not help men at the Thing, though they need it. No +doubt you will be held up to reproach at the Thing, and very great blame +will be laid on you if ye bare not in mind that scorn and those biting +words which Skarphedinn hurled at you men of Lightwater." + +But on the other hand, Flosi dealt secretly with them, and bade them +money for their help, and so coaxed them over with fair words, until it +came about that they promised him their aid, and then became so +steadfast that they said they would fight for Flosi, if need were. + +Then Bjarni said to Flosi-- + +"Well done! well done! Thou art a mighty chief, and a bold outspoken +man, and reckest little what thou sayest to men." + +After that they fared away west across the river, and so to the +Hladbooth. They saw many men outside before the booth. There was one man +who had a scarlet cloak over his shoulders, and a gold band round his +head, and an axe studded with silver in his hand. + +"This is just right," said Bjarni, "here now is the man I spoke of, +Eyjolf Bolverk's son, if thou wilt see him, Flosi." + +Then they went to meet Eyjolf, and hailed him. Eyjolf knew Bjarni at +once, and greeted him well. Bjarni took Eyjolf by the hand, and led him +up into the "Great Rift". Flosi's and Bjarni's men followed after, and +Eyjolf's men went also with him. They bade them stay upon the lower +brink of the Rift, and look about them, but Flosi, and Bjarni, and +Eyjolf went on till they came to where the path leads down from the +upper brink of the Rift. + +Flosi said it was a good spot to sit down there, for they could see +around them far and wide. Then they sat them down there. They were four +of them together, and no more. + +Then Bjarni spoke to Eyjolf, and said-- + +"Thee, friend, have we come to see, for we much need thy help in every +way." + +"Now," said Eyjolf, "there is good choice of men here at the Thing, and +ye will not find it hard to fall on those who will be a much greater +strength to you than I can be." + +"Not so," said Bjarni, "Thou hast many things which show that there is +no greater man than thou at the Thing; first of all, that thou art so +well-born, as all those men are who are sprung from Ragnar hairybreeks; +thy forefathers, too, have always stood first in great suits, both here +at the Thing, and at home in their own country, and they have always had +the best of it; we think, therefore, it is likely that thou wilt be +lucky in winning suits, like thy kinsfolk." + +"Thou speakest well, Bjarni," said Eyjolf; "but I think that I have +small share in all this that thou sayest." + +Then Flosi said-- + +"There is no need beating about the bush as to what we have in mind. We +wish to ask for thy help, Eyjolf, and that thou wilt stand by us in our +suits, and go to the court with us, and undertake the defence, if there +be any, and plead it for us, and stand by us in all things that may +happen at this Thing." + +Eyjolf jumped up in wrath, and said that no man had any right to think +that he could make a catspaw of him, or drag him on if he had no mind to +go himself. + +"I see, too, now," he says, "what has led you to utter all those fair +words with which ye began to speak to me." + +Then Hallbjorn the strong caught hold of him and sate him down by his +side, between him and Bjarni, and said-- + +"No tree falls at the first stroke, friend, but sit here awhile by us." + +Then Flosi drew a gold ring off his arm. + +"This ring will I give thee, Eyjolf, for thy help and friendship, and so +show thee that I will not befool thee. It will be best for thee to take +the ring, for there is no man here at the Thing to whom I have ever +given such a gift." + +The ring was such a good one, and so well made, that it was worth twelve +hundred yards of russet stuff. + +Hallbjorn drew the ring on Eyjolf's arm; and Eyjolf said-- + +"It is now most fitting that I should take the ring, since thou behavest +so handsomely; and now thou mayest make up thy mind that I will +undertake the defence, and do all things needful." + +"Now," said Bjarni, "ye behave handsomely on both sides, and here are +men well fitted to be witnesses, since I and Hallbjorn are here, that +thou hast undertaken the suit." + +Then Eyjolf arose, and Flosi too, and they took one another by the hand; +and so Eyjolf undertook the whole defence of the suit off Flosi's hands, +and so, too, if any suit arose out of the defence, for it often happens +that what is a defence in one suit, is a plaintiff's plea in another. So +he took upon him all the proofs and proceedings which belonged to those +suits, whether they were to be pleaded before the Quarter Court or the +Fifth Court. Flosi handed them over in lawful form, and Eyjolf took them +in lawful form, and then he said to Flosi and Bjarni. + +"Now I have undertaken this defence just as ye asked, but my wish it is +that ye should still keep it secret at first; but if the matter comes +into the Fifth Court, then be most careful not to say that ye have given +goods for my help." + +Then Flosi went home to his booth, and Bjarni with him, but Eyjolf went +to the booth of Snorri the priest, and sate down by him, and they talked +much together. + +Snorri the priest caught hold of Eyjolf's arm, and turned up the sleeve, +and sees that he had a great ring of gold on his arm. Then Snorri the +priest said-- + +"Pray, was this ring bought or given?" + +Eyjolf was put out about it, and had never a word to say. Then Snorri +said-- + +"I see plainly that thou must have taken it as a gift, and may this ring +not be thy death!" + +Eyjolf jumped up and went away, and would not speak about it; and Snorri +said, as Eyjolf arose-- + +"It is very likely that thou wilt know what kind of gift thou hast taken +by the time this Thing is ended." + +Then Eyjolf went to his booth. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXVIII. + +OF ASGRIM, AND GIZUR, AND KARI. + + +Now Asgrim Ellidagrim's son talks to Gizur the white, and Kari Solmund's +son, and to Hjallti Skeggi's son, Mord Valgard's son, and Thorgeir +Craggeir, and says-- + +"There is no need to have any secrets here, for only those men are by +who know all our counsel. Now I will ask you if ye know anything of +their plans, for if you do, it seems to me that we must take fresh +counsel about our own plans." + +"Snorri the priest," answers Gizur the white, "sent a man to me, and +bade him tell me that Flosi had gotten great help from the Northlanders; +but that Eyjolf Bolverk's son, his kinsman, had had a gold ring given +him by some one, and made a secret of it, and Snorri said it was his +meaning that Eyjolf Bolverk's son must be meant to defend the suit at +law, and that the ring must have been given him for that." + +They were all agreed that it must be so. Then Gizur spoke to them-- + +"Now has Mord Valgard's son, my son-in-law, undertaken a suit, which all +must think most hard, to prosecute Flosi; and now my wish is that ye +share the other suits amongst you, for now it will soon be time to give +notice of the suits at the Hill of Laws. We shall need also to ask for +more help." + +Asgrim said so it should be, "but we will beg thee to go round with us +when we ask for help". Gizur said he would be ready to do that. + +After that Gizur picked out all the wisest men of their company to go +with him as his backers. There was Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Asgrim, and +Kari, and Thorgeir Craggeir. + +Then Gizur the white said-- + +"Now will we first go to the booth of Skapti Thorod's son," and they do +so. Gizur the white went first, then Hjallti, then Kari, then Asgrim, +then Thorgeir Craggeir, and then his brothers. + +They went into the booth. Skapti sat on the cross-bench on the dais, and +when he saw Gizur the white he rose up to meet him, and greeted him and +all of them well, and bade Gizur to sit down by him, and he does so. +Then Gizur said to Asgrim-- + +"Now shalt thou first raise the question of help with Skapti, but I will +throw in what I think good." + +"We are come hither," said Asgrim, "for this sake, Skapti, to seek help +and aid at thy hand." + +"I was thought to be hard to win the last time," said Skapti, "when I +would not take the burden of your trouble on me." + +"It is quite another matter now," said Gizur. "Now the feud is for +master Njal and mistress Bergthora, who were burnt in their own house +without a cause, and for Njal's three sons, and many other worthy men, +and thou wilt surely never be willing to yield no help to men, or to +stand by thy kinsmen and connections." + +"It was in my mind," answers Skapti, "when Skarphedinn told me that I +had myself borne tar on my own head, and cut up a sod of turf and crept +under it, and when he said that I had been so afraid that Thorolf Lopt's +son of Eyrar bore me abroad in his ship among his meal-sacks, and so +carried me to Iceland, that I would never share in the blood feud for +his death." + +"Now there is no need to bear such things in mind," said Gizur the +white, "for he is dead who said that, and thou wilt surely grant me +this, though thou wouldst not do it for other men's sake." + +"This quarrel," says Skapti, "is no business of thine, except thou +choosest to be entangled in it along with them." + +Then Gizur was very wrath, and said-- + +"Thou art unlike thy father, though he was thought not to be quite +clean-handed; yet was he ever helpful to men when they needed him most." + +"We are unlike in temper," said Skapti. "Ye two, Asgrim and thou, think +that ye have had the lead in mighty deeds; thou, Gizur the white, +because thou overcamest Gunnar of Lithend; but Asgrim, for that he slew +Gauk, his foster-brother." + +"Few," said Asgrim, "bring forward the better if they know the worse, +but many would say that I slew not Gauk ere I was driven to it. There is +some excuse for thee for not helping us, but none for heaping reproaches +on us; and I only wish before this Thing is out that thou mayest get +from this suit the greatest disgrace, and that there may be none to make +thy shame good." + +Then Gizur and his men stood up all of them, and went out, and so on to +the booth of Snorri the priest. + +Snorri sat on the cross-bench in his booth; they went into the booth, +and he knew the men at once, and stood up to meet them, and bade them +all welcome, and made room for them to sit by him. + +After that, they asked one another the news of the day. + +Then Asgrim spoke to Snorri, and said-- + +"For that am I and my kinsman Gizur come hither, to ask thee for thy +help." + +"Thou speakest of what thou mayest always be forgiven for asking, for +help in the blood-feud after such connections as thou hadst. We, too, +got many wholesome counsels from Njal, though few now bear that in mind; +but as yet I know not of what ye think ye stand most in need." + +"We stand most in need," answers Asgrim, "of brisk lads and good +weapons, if we fight them here at the Thing." + +"True it is," said Snorri, "that much lies on that, and it is likeliest +that ye will press them home with daring, and that they will defend +themselves so in likewise, and neither of you will allow the other's +right. Then ye will not bear with them and fall on them, and that will +be the only way left; for then they will seek to pay you off with shame +for manscathe, and with dishonour for loss of kin." + +It was easy to see that he goaded them on in everything. + +Then Gizur the white said-- + +"Thou speakest well, Snorri, and thou behavest ever most like a chief +when most lies at stake." + +"I wish to know," said Asgrim, "in what way thou wilt stand by us if +things turn out as thou sayest." + +"I will show thee those marks of friendship," said Snorri, "on which all +your honour will hang, but I will not go with you to the court. But if +ye fight here on the Thing, do not fall on them at all unless ye are all +most steadfast and dauntless, for you have great champions against you. +But if ye are over-matched, ye must let yourselves be driven hither +towards us, for I shall then have drawn up my men in array hereabouts, +and shall be ready to stand by you. But if it falls out otherwise, and +they give way before you, my meaning is that they will try to run for a +stronghold in the 'Great Rift'. But if they come thither, then ye will +never get the better of them. Now I will take that on my hands, to draw +up my men there, and guard the pass to the stronghold, but we will not +follow them whether they turn north or south along the river. And when +you have slain out of their band about as many as I think ye will be +able to pay blood-fines for, and yet keep your priesthoods and abodes, +then I will run up with all my men and part you. Then ye shall promise +to do us I bid you, and stop the battle, if I on my part do what I have +now promised." + +Gizur thanked him kindly, and said that what he had said was just what +they all needed, and then they all went out. + +"Whither shall we go now?" said Gizur. + +"To the Northlanders' booth," said Asgrim. + +Then they fared thither. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXIX. + +OF ASGRIM AND GUDMUND. + + +And when they came into the booth then they saw where Gudmund the +powerful sate and talked with Einer Conal's son, his foster-child; he +was a wise man. + +Then they come before him, and Gudmund welcomed them very heartily, and +made them clear the booth for them, that they might all be able to sit +down. + +Then they asked what tidings, and Asgrim said-- + +"There is no need to mutter what I have to say. We wish, Gudmund, to ask +for thy steadfast help." + +"Have ye seen any other chiefs before?" said Gudmund. + +They said they had been to see Skapti Thorod's son and Snorri the +priest, and told him quietly how they had fared with each of them. + +Then Gudmund said-- + +"Last time I behaved badly and meanly to you. Then I was stubborn, but +now ye shall drive your bargain with me all the more quickly because I +was more stubborn then, and now I will go myself with you to the court +with all my Thingmen, and stand by you in all such things as I can, and +fight for you though this be needed, and lay down my life for your +lives. I will also pay Skapti out in this way, that Thorstein gapemouth +his son shall be in the battle on our side, for he will not dare to do +aught else than I will, since he has Jodisa my daughter to wife, and +then Skapti will try to part us." + +They thanked him, and talked with him long and low afterwards, so that +no other men could hear. + +Then Gudmund bade them not to go before the knees of any other chiefs, +for he said that would be little-hearted. + +"We will now run the risk with the force that we have. Ye must go with +your weapons to all law-business, but not fight as things stand." + +Then they went all of them home to their booths, and all this was at +first with few men's knowledge. + +So now the Thing goes on. + + + + +CHAPTER CXL. + +OF THE DECLARATIONS OF THE SUITS. + + +It was one day that men went to the Hill of Laws, and the chiefs were so +placed that Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Gizur the white, and Gudmund +the powerful, and Snorri the priest, were on the upper hand by the Hill +of Laws; but the Eastfirthers stood down below. + +Mord Valgard's son stood next to Gizur his father-in-law; he was of all +men the readiest-tongued. + +Gizur told him that he ought to give notice of the suit for +manslaughter, and bade him speak up, so that all might hear him well. + +Then Mord took witness and said--"I take witness to this that I give +notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's son, for +that he rushed at Helgi Njal's son and dealt him a brain, or a body, or +a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his +death. I say that in this suit he ought to be made a guilty man, an +outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or +harboured in any need. I say that all his goods are forfeited, half to +me, and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a right by law to take +his forfeited goods. I give notice of this suit for manslaughter in the +Quarter Court into which this suit ought by law to come. I give notice +of this lawful notice; I give notice in the hearing of all men on the +Hill of Laws; I give notice of this suit to be pleaded this summer, and +of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son; I give notice of a suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over to me." + +Then a great shout was uttered at the Hill of Laws, that Mord spoke well +and boldly. + +Then Mord begun to speak a second time. + +"I take you to witness to this," says he, "that I give notice of a suit +against Flosi Thord's son, I give notice for that he wounded Helgi +Njal's son with a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a +death-wound, and from which Helgi got his death on that spot where Flosi +Thord's son had first rushed on Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid +down by law. I say that thou, Flosi, ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be +helped or harboured in any need. I say that all thy goods are forfeited, +half to me and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a right by law +to take the goods which have been forfeited by thee. I give notice of +this suit in the Quarter Court into which it ought by law to come; I +give notice of this lawful notice; I give notice of it in the hearing of +all men on the Hill of Laws; I give notice of this suit to be pleaded +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son, I give +notice of the suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son hath handed over to me." + +After that Mord sat him down. + +Flosi listened carefully, but said never a word the while. + +Then Thorgeir Craggeir stood up and took witness, and said--"I take +witness to this, that I give notice of a suit against Glum Hilldir's +son, in that he took firing and lit it, and bore it to the house at +Bergthorsknoll, when they were burned inside it, to wit, Njal Thorgeir's +son, and Bergthora Skarphedinn's daughter, and all those other men who +were burned inside it there and then. I say that in this suit he ought +to be made a guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, +not to be helped or harboured in any need. I say that all his goods are +forfeited, half to me, and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a +right by law to take his forfeited goods; I give notice of this suit in +the Quarter Court into which it ought by law to come. I give notice in +the hearing of all men on the Hill of Laws. I give notice of this suit +to be pleaded this summer, and of full outlawry against Glum Hilldir's +son." + +Kari Solmund's son declared his suits against Kol Thorstein's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, and it was the common talk +of men that he spoke wondrous well. + +Thorleif crow declared his suit against all the sons of Sigfus, but +Thorgrim the big, his brother, against Modolf Kettle's son, and Lambi +Sigurd's son, and Hroar Hamond's son, brother of Leidolf the strong. + +Asgrim Ellidagrim's son declared his suit against Leidolf and Thorstein +Geirleif's son. Arni Kol's son, and Grim the red. + +And they all spoke well. + +After that other men gave notice of their suits, and it was far on in +the day that it went on so. + +Then men fared home to their booths. + +Eyjolf Bolverk's son went to his booth with Flosi; they passed east +around the booth, and Flosi said to Eyjolf-- + +"See'st thou any defence in these suits?" + +"None," says Eyjolf. + +"What counsel is now to be taken?" says Flosi. + +"I will give thee a piece of advice," said Eyjolf. "Now thou shalt hand +over thy priesthood to thy brother Thorgeir, but declare that thou hast +joined the Thing of Askel the priest the son of Thorkettle, north away +in Reykiardale; but if they do not know this, then may be that this will +harm them, for they will be sure to plead their suit in the +Eastfirther's court, but they ought to plead it in the Northlanders' +court, and they will overlook that, and it is a Fifth Court matter +against them if they plead their suit in another court than that in +which they ought, and then we will take that suit up, but not until we +have no other choice left." + +"May be," said Flosi, "that we shall get the worth of the ring." + +"I don't know that," says Eyjolf; "but I will stand by thee at law, so +that men shall say that there never was a better defence. Now, we must +send for Askel, but Thorgeir shall come to thee at once, and a man with +him." + +A little while after Thorgeir came, and then he took on him Flosi's +leadership and priesthood. + +By that time Askel was come thither too, and then Flosi declared that he +had joined his Thing, and this was with no man's knowledge save theirs. + +Now all is quiet till the day when the courts were to go out to try +suits. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLI. + +NOW MEN GO TO THE COURTS. + + +Now the time passes away till the courts were to go out to try suits. +Both sides then made them ready to go thither, and armed them. Each side +put war-tokens on their helmets. + +Then Thorhall Asgrim's son said-- + +"Walk hastily in nothing, father mine, and do everything as lawfully and +rightly as ye can, but if ye fall into any strait let me know as quickly +as ye can, and then I will give you counsel." + +Asgrim and the others looked at him, and his face was as though it were +all blood, but great teardrops gushed out of his eyes. He bade them +bring him his spear, that had been a gift to him from Skarphedinn, and +it was the greatest treasure. + +Asgrim said as they went away-- + +"Our kinsman Thorhall was not easy in his mind as we left him behind in +the booth, and I know not what he will be at." + +Then Asgrim said again-- + +"Now we will go to Mord Valgard's son, and think of naught else but the +suit, for there is more sport in Flosi than in very many other men." + +Then Asgrim sent a man to Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and +Gudmund the powerful. Now they all came together, and went straight to +the court of Eastfirthers. They went to the court from the south, but +Flosi and all the Eastfirthers with him went to it from the north. There +were also the men of Reykdale and the Axefirthers with Flosi. There, +too, was Eyjolf Bolverk's son. Flosi looked at Eyjolf, and said-- + +"All now goes fairly, and may be that it will not be far off from thy +guess." + +"Keep thy peace about it," says Eyjolf, "and then we shall be sure to +gain our point." + +Now Mord took witness, and bade all those men who had suits of outlawry +before the court to cast lots who should first plead or declare his +suit, and who next, and who last; he bade them by a lawful bidding +before the court, so that the judges heard it. Then lots were cast as +to the declarations, and he, Mord, drew the lot to declare his suit +first. + +Now Mord Valgard's son took witness the second time, and said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I except all mistakes in words in my +pleading, whether they be too many or wrongly spoken, and I claim the +right to amend all my words until I have put them into proper lawful +shape. I take witness to myself of this." + +Again Mord said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or any other man +who has undertaken the defence made over to him by Flosi, to listen for +him to my oath, and to my declaration of my suit, and to all the proofs +and proceedings which I am about to bring forward against him; I bid him +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may hear it +across the court." + +Again Mord Valgard's son said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I take an oath on the book, a lawful +until, and I say it before God, that I will so plead this suit in the +most truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know; and +that I will bring forward all my proofs in due form, and utter them +faithfully so long as I am in this suit." + +After that he spoke in these words-- + +"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second; +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of an assault laid +down by law against Flosi Thord's son, on that spot where he, Flosi +Thord's son, rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's +son, when Flosi Thord's son, wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or a +body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be +helped or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were +forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the +right by law to take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of +the suit in the Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; +I gave notice of that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave +notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed heard it. Then +lots were cast as to the declarations, and he, Mord, drew the lot to +declare his suit first". + +Now Mord Valgard's son took witness the second time, and said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I except all mistakes in words in my +pleading, whether they be too many or wrongly spoken, and I claim the +right to amend all my words until I have put them into proper lawful +shape. I take witness to myself of this." + +Again Mord said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or any other man +who has undertaken the defence made over to him by Flosi, to listen for +him to my oath, and to my declaration of my suit, and to all the proofs +and proceedings which I am about to bring forward against him; I bid him +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may hear it +across the court." + +Again Mord Valgard's son said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I take an oath on the book, a lawful oath, +and I say it before God, that I will so plead this suit in the most +truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know; and that +I will bring forward all my proofs in due form, and utter them +faithfully so long as I am in this suit." + +After that he spoke in these words-- + +"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second; +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of an assault laid +down by law against Flosi Thord's son, on that spot where he, Flosi +Thord's son, rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's +son, when Flosi Thord's son, wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or a +body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be +helped or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were +forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the +right by law to take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of +the suit in the Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; +I gave notice of that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave +notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to me; and +I had all these words in my notice which I have now used in this +declaration of my suit. I now declare this suit of outlawry in this +shape before the court of the Eastfirthers over the head of John, as I +uttered it when I gave notice of it." + +Then Mord spoke again-- + +"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second. +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of a suit against +Flosi Thord's son for that he wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or +a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not he fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped +or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were forfeited, half +to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the right by law to +take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of the suit in the +Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; I gave notice of +that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill +of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now this summer, and +of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave notice of a suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to me; and I had all these +words in my notice which I have now used in this declaration of my suit. +I now declare this suit of outlawry in this shape before the court of +the Eastfirthers over the head of John, as I uttered it when I gave +notice of it." + +Then Mord's witnesses to the notice came before the court, and spake so +that one uttered their witness, but both confirmed it by their common +consent in this form, "I bear witness that Mord called Thorodd as his +first witness, and me as his second, and my name is Thorbjorn"--then he +named his father's name--"Mord called us two as his witnesses that he +gave notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's son +when he rushed on Helgi Njal's son, in that spot where Flosi Thord's son +dealt Helgi Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, that +proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his death. He said that +Flosi ought to be made in this suit a guilty man, an outlaw, not to be +fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or harboured by any man; he +said that all his goods were forfeited, half to himself and half to the +men of the Quarter who have the right by law to take the goods which he +had forfeited; he gave notice of the suit in the Quarter Court into +which the suit ought by law to come; he gave notice of that lawful +notice; he gave notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill of Laws; he +gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now this summer, and of full +outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. He gave notice of a suit which +Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to him. He used all those words in +his notice which he used in the declaration of his suit, and which we +have used in bearing witness; we have now borne our witness rightly and +lawfully, and we are agreed in bearing it; we bear this witness in this +shape before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John,[75] as Mord +uttered it when he gave his notice." + +A second time they bore their witness of the notice before the court, +and put the wounds first and the assault last, and used all the same +words as before, and bore their witness in this shape before the +Eastfirthers' Court just as Mord uttered them when he gave his notice. + +Then Mord's witnesses to the handing over of the suit went before the +court, and one uttered their witness, and both confirmed it by common +consent, and spoke in these words--"That those two, Mord Valgard's son +and Thorgeir Thorir's son, took them to witness that Thorgeir Thorir's +son handed over a suit for manslaughter to Mord Valgard's son against +Flosi Thord's son for the laying of Helgi Njal's son; he handed over to +him then the suit, with all the proofs and proceedings which belonged to +the suit, he handed it over to him to plead and to settle, and to make +use of all rights as though he were the rightful next of kin; Thorgeir +handed it over lawfully, and Mord took it lawfully". + +They bore this witness of the handing over of the suit in this shape +before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John, just as Mord or +Thorgeir had called them as witnesses to prove. + +They made all these witnesses swear an oath ere they bore witness, and +the judges too. + +Again Mord Valgard's son took witness. + +"I take witness to this," said he, "that I bid those nine neighbours +whom I summoned when I laid this suit against Flosi Thord's son, to take +their seats west on the river-bank, and I call on the defendant to +challenge this inquest, I call on him by a lawful bidding before the +court so that the judges may hear." + +Again Mord took witness. + +"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or that other man +who has the defence handed over to him, to challenge the inquest which I +have caused to take their seats west on the river-bank. I bid thee by a +lawful bidding before the court so that the judges may hear." + +Again Mord took witness. + +"I take witness to this, that now are all the first steps and proofs +brought forward which belong to the suit. Summons to hear my oath, oath +taken, suit declared, witness borne to the notice, witness borne to the +handing over of the suit, the neighbours on the inquest bidden to take +their seats, and the defendant bidden to challenge the inquest. I take +this witness to these steps and proofs which are now brought forward, +and also to this that I shall not be thought to have left the suit +though I go away from the court to look up proofs, or on other +business." + +Now Flosi and his men went thither where the neighbours on the inquest +sate. + +Then Flosi said to his men-- + +"The sons of Sigfus must know best whether these are the rightful +neighbours to the spot who are here summoned." + +Kettle of the Mark answered-- + +"Here is that neighbour who held Mord at the font when he was baptised, +but another is his second cousin by kinship." + +Then they reckoned up his kinship, and proved it with an oath. + +Then Eyjolf took witness that the inquest should do nothing till it was +challenged. + +A second time Eyjolf took witness-- + +"I take witness to this," said he, "that I challenge both these men out +of the inquest, and set them aside"--here he named them by name, and +their fathers as well--"for this sake, that one of them is Mord's second +cousin by kinship, but the other for gossipry,[76] for which sake it is +lawful to challenge a neighbour on the inquest; ye two are for a lawful +reason incapable of uttering a finding, for now a lawful challenge has +overtaken you, therefore I challenge and set you aside by the rightful +custom of pleading at the Althing, and by the law of the land; I +challenge you in the cause which Flosi Thord's son has handed over to +me." + +Now all the people spoke out, and said that Mord's suit had come to +naught, and all were agreed in this that the defence was better than the +prosecution. + +Then Asgrim said to Mord-- + +"The day is not yet their own, though they think now that they have +gained a great step; but now some one shall go to see Thorhall my son, +and know what advice he gives us." + +Then a trusty messenger was sent to Thorhall, and told him as plainly as +he could how far the suit had gone, and how Flosi and his men thought +they had brought the finding of the inquest to a dead lock. + +"I will so make it out," says Thorhall, "that this shall not cause you +to lose the suit; and tell them not to believe it, though quirks and +quibbles be brought against them, for that wiseacre Eyjolf has now +overlooked something. But now thou shalt go back as quickly as thou +canst, and say that Mord Valgard's son must go before the court, and +take witness that their challenge has come to naught," and then he told +him step by step how they must proceed. + +The messenger came and told them Thorhall's advice. + +Then Mord Valgard's son went to the court and took witness. "I take +witness to this," said he, "that I make Eyjolf's challenge void and of +none effect; and my ground is, that he challenged them not for their +kinship to the true plaintiff, the next of kin, but for their kinship to +him who pleaded the suit; I take this witness to myself, and to all +those to whom this witness will be of use." + +After that he brought that witness before the court. + +Now he went whither the neighbours sate on the inquest, and bade those +to sit down again who had risen up, and said they were rightly called on +to share in the finding of the inquest. + +Then all said that Thorhall had done great things, and all thought the +prosecution better than the defence. + +Then Flosi said to Eyjolf--"Thinkest thou that this is good law?" + +"I think so, surely," he says, "and beyond a doubt we overlooked this; +but still we will have another trial of strength with them." + +Then Eyjolf took witness. "I take witness to this," said he, "that I +challenge these two men out of the inquest"--here he named them +both--"for that sake that they are lodgers, but not householders; I do +not allow you two to sit on the inquest, for now a lawful challenge has +overtaken you; I challenge you both and set you aside out of the +inquest, by the rightful custom of the Althing and by the law of the +land." + +Now Eyjolf said he was much mistaken if that could be shaken; and then +all said that the defence was better than the prosecution. + +Now all men praised Eyjolf, and said there was never a man who could +cope with him in lawcraft. + +Mord Valgard's son and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son now sent a man to +Thorhall to tell him how things stood; but when Thorhall heard that, he +asked what goods they owned, or if they were paupers? + +The messenger said that one gained his livelihood by keeping milch-kine, +and "he has both cows and ewes at his abode; but the other has a third +of the land which he and the freeholder farm, and finds his own food; +and they have one hearth between them, he and the man who lets the land, +and one shepherd". + +Then Thorhall said-- + +"They will fare now as before, for they must have made a mistake, and I +will soon upset their challenge, and this though Eyjolf had used such +big words that it was law." + +Now Thorhall told the messenger plainly, step by step, how they must +proceed; and the messenger came back and told Mord and Asgrim all the +counsel that Thorhall bad given. + +Then Mord went to the court and took witness, "I take witness to this, +that I bring to naught Eyjolf Bolverk's son's challenge, for that he has +challenged those men out of the inquest who have a lawful right to lie +there; every man has a right to sit on an inquest of neighbours, who +owns three hundreds in land or more, though he may have no dairy-stock; +and he too has the same right who lives by dairy-stock worth the same +sum, though he leases no land." + +Then he brought this witness before the court, and then he went whither +the neighbours on the inquest were, and bade them sit down, and said +they were rightfully among the inquest. + +Then there was a great shout and cry, and then all men said that Flosi's +and Eyjolf's cause was much shaken, and now men were of one mind as to +this, that the prosecution was better than the defence. + +Then Flosi said to Eyjolf-- + +"Can this be law?" + +Eyjolf said he had not wisdom enough to know that for a surety, and then +they sent a man to Skapti, the Speaker of the Law, to ask whether it +were good law, and he sent them back word that it was surely good law, +though few knew it. + +Then this was told to Flosi, and Eyjolf Bolverk's son asked the sons of +Sigfus as to the other neighbours who were summoned thither. + +They said there were four of them who were wrongly summoned; "for those +sit now at home who were nearer neighbours to the spot". + +Then Eyjolf took witness that he challenged all those four men out of +the inquest, and that he did it with lawful form of challenge. After +that he said to the neighbours-- + +"Ye are bound to render lawful justice to both sides, and now ye shall +go before the court when ye are called, and take witness that ye find +that bar to uttering your finding; that ye are but five summoned to +utter your finding, but that ye ought to be nine; and now Thorhall may +prove and carry his point in every suit, if he can cure this flaw in +this suit." + +And now it was plain in everything that Flosi and Eyjolf were very +boastful; and there was a great cry that now the suit for the Burning +was quashed, and that again the defence was better than the prosecution. + +Then Asgrim spoke to Mord-- + +"They know not yet of what to boast ere we have seen my son Thorhall. +Njal told me that he had so taught Thorhall law, that he would turn out +the best lawyer in Iceland when ever it were put to the proof." + +Then a man was sent to Thorhall to tell him how things stood, and of +Flosi's and Eyjolf's boasting, and the cry of the people that the suit +for the Burning was quashed in Mord's bands. + +"It will be well for them," says Thorhall, "if they get not disgrace +from this. Thou shalt go and tell Mord to take witness, and swear an +oath, that the greater part of the inquest is rightly summoned, and then +he shall bring that witness before the court, and then he may set the +prosecution on its feet again; but he will have to pay a fine of three +marks for every man that he has wrongly summoned; but he may not be +prosecuted for that at this Thing; and now thou shalt go back." + +He does so, and told Mord and Asgrim all, word for word, that Thorhall +had said. + +Then Mord went to the court, and took witness, and swore an oath that +the greater part of the inquest was rightly summoned, and said then that +he had set the prosecution on its feet again, and then he went on, "and +so our foes shall have honour from something else than from this, that +we have here taken a great false step". + +Then there was a great roar that Mord handled the suit well; but it was +said that Flosi and his men betook them only to quibbling and wrong. + +Flosi asked Eyjolf if this could be good law, but he said he could not +surely tell, but said the Lawman must settle this knotty point. + +Then Thorkel Geiti's son went on their behalf to tell the Lawman how +things stood, and asked whether this were good law that Mord had said. + +"More men are great lawyers now," says Skapti, "than I thought I must +tell thee, then, that this is such good law in all points, that there is +not a word to say against it; but still I thought that I alone would +know this, now that Njal was dead, for he was the only man I ever knew +who knew it." + +Then Thorkel went back to Flosi and Eyjolf, and said that this was good +law. + +Then Mord Valgard's son went to the court and took witness. "I take +witness to this," he said, "that I bid those neighbours on the inquest +in the suit which I set on foot against Flosi Thord's son now to utter +their finding, and to find it either against him or for him; I bid them +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may bear it +across the court." + +Then the neighbours on Mord's inquest went to the court, and one uttered +their finding, but all confirmed it by their consent; and they spoke +thus, word for word-- + +"Mord Valgard's son summoned nine of us thanes on this inquest, but here +we stand five of us, but four have been challenged and set aside, and +now witness has been borne as to the absence of the four who ought to +have uttered this finding along with us, and now we are bound by law to +utter our finding. We were summoned to bear this witness, whether Flosi +Thord's son rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's +son, on that spot where Flosi Thord's son wounded Helgi Njal's son with +a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death wound, and +from which Helgi got his death. He summoned us to utter all those words +which it was lawful for us to utter, and which he should call on us to +answer before the court, and which belong to this suit; he summoned us, +so that we heard what he said; he summoned us in a suit which Thorgeir +Thorir's son had handed over to him, and now we have all sworn an oath, +and found our lawful finding, and are all agreed, and we utter our +finding against Flosi, and we say that he is truly guilty in this suit. +We nine men on this inquest of neighbours so shapen, utter this our +finding before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John, as Mord +summoned us to do; but this is the finding of all of us." + +Again a second time they uttered their finding against Flosi, and +uttered it first about the wounds, and last about the assault, but all +their other words they uttered just as they had before uttered their +finding against Flosi, and brought him in truly guilty in the suit. + +Then Mord Valgard's son went before the court, and took witness that +those neighbours whom he had summoned in the suit which he had set on +foot against Flosi Thord's son had now uttered their finding, and +brought him in truly guilty in the suit; he took witness to this for his +own part, or for those who might wish to make use of this witness. + +Again a second time Mord took witness and said-- + +"I take witness to this that I call on Flosi, or that man who has to +undertake the lawful defence which he has handed over to him, to begin +his defence to this suit which I have set on foot against him, for now +all the steps and proofs have been brought forward which belong by law +to this suit; all witness borne, the finding of the inquest uttered and +brought in, witness taken to the finding, and to all the steps which +have gone before; but if any such thing arises in their lawful defence +which I need to turn into a suit against them, then I claim the right to +set that suit on foot against them. I bid this my lawful bidding before +the court, so that the judges may hear." + +"It gladdens me now, Eyjolf," said Flosi, "in my heart to think what a +wry face they will make, and how their pates will tingle when thou +bringest forward our defence." + + + + +CHAPTER CXLII. + +OF EYJOLF BOLVERK'S SON. + + +Then Eyjolf Bolverk's son went before the court, and took witness to +this-- + +"I take witness that this is a lawful defence in this cause, that ye +have pleaded the suit in the Eastfirthers' Court, when ye ought to have +pleaded it in the Northlanders' Court; for Flosi has declared himself +one of the Thingmen of Askel the priest; and here now are those two +witnesses who were by, and who will bear witness that Flosi handed over +his priesthood to his brother Thorgeir, but afterwards declared himself +one of Askel the priest's Thingmen. I take witness to this for my own +part, and for those who may need to make use of it." + +Again Eyjolf took witness--"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I +bid Mord who pleads this suit, or the next of kin, to listen to my oath, +and to my declaration of the defence which I am about to bring forward; +I bid him by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may +hear me". + +Again Eyjolf took witness-- + +"I take witness to this, that I swear an oath on the book, a lawful +oath, and say it before God, that I will so defend this cause, in the +most truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know, and +so fulfil all lawful duties which belong to me at this Thing." + +Then Eyjolf said-- + +"These two men I take to witness that I bring forward this lawful +defence that this suit was pleaded in another Quarter Court, than that +in which it ought to have been pleaded; and I say that for this sake +their suit has come to naught; I utter this defence in this shape before +the Eastfirthers' Court." + +After that he let all the witness be brought forward which belonged to +the defence, and then he took witness to all the steps in the defence to +prove that they had all been duly taken. + +After that Eyjolf again took witness and said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I forbid the judges, by a lawful protest +before the priest, to utter judgment in the suit of Mord and his +friends, for now a lawful defence has been brought before the court. I +forbid you by a protest made before a priest; by a full, fair, and +binding protest; as I have a right to forbid you by the common custom of +the Althing, and by the law of the land." + +After that he called on the judges to pronounce for the defence. + +Then Asgrim and his friends brought on the other suits for the Burning, +and those suits took their course. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLIII. + +THE COUNSEL OF THORHALL ASGRIM'S SON. + + +Now Asgrim and his friends sent a man to Thorhall, and let him be told +in what a strait they had come. + +"Too far off was I now," answers Thorhall, "for this cause might still +not have taken this turn if I had been by. I now see their course that +they must mean to summon you to the Fifth Court for contempt of the +Thing. They must also mean to divide the Eastfirthers' Court in the suit +for the Burning, so that no judgment may be given, for now they behave +so as to show that they will stay at no ill. Now shalt thou go back to +them as quickly as thou canst, and say that Mord must summon them both, +both Flosi and Eyjolf, for having brought money into the Fifth Court, +and make it a case of lesser outlawry. Then he shall summon them with a +second summons for that they have brought forward that witness which had +nothing to do with their cause, and so were guilty of contempt of the +Thing; and tell them that I say this, that if two suits for lesser +outlawry hang over one and the same man, that he shall be adjudged a +thorough outlaw at once. And for this ye must set your suits on foot +first, that then ye will first go to trial and judgment." + +Now the messenger went his way back and told Mord and Asgrim. + +After that they went to the Hill of Laws, and Mord Valgard's son took +witness. + +"I take witness to this that I summon Flosi Thord's son, for that he +gave money for his help here at the Thing to Eyjolf Bolverk's son. I say +that he ought on this charge to be made a guilty outlaw, for this sake +alone to be forwarded or to be allowed the right of frithstow +[sanctuary], if his fine and bail are brought forward at the execution +levied on his house and goods, but else to become a thorough outlaw. I +say all his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the +Quarter who have the right by law to take his goods after he has been +outlawed. I summon this cause before the Fifth Court, whither the cause +ought to come by law; I summon it to be pleaded now and to full +outlawry. I summon with a lawful summons. I summon in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws." + +With a like summons he summoned Eyjolf Bolverk's son, for that he had +taken and received the money, and he summoned him for that sake to the +Fifth Court. + +Again a second time he summoned Flosi and Eyjolf, for that sake that +they had brought forward that witness at the Thing which had nothing +lawfully to do with the cause of the parties, and had so been guilty of +contempt of the Thing; and he laid the penalty for that at lesser +outlawry. + +Then they went away to the Court of Laws, there the Fifth Court was then +set. + +Now when Mord and Asgrim had gone away, then the judges in the +Eastfirthers' Court could not agree how they should give judgment, for +some of them wished to give judgment for Flosi, but some for Mord and +Asgrim. Then Flosi and Eyjolf tried to divide the court, and there they +stayed, and lost time over that while the summoning at the Hill of Laws +was going on. A little while after Flosi and Eyjolf were told that they +had been summoned at the Hill of Laws into the Fifth Court, each of them +with two summons. Then Eyjolf said-- + +"In an evil hour have we loitered here while they have been before us in +quickness of summoning. Now hath come out Thorhall's cunning, and no man +is his match in wit. Now they have the first right to plead their cause +before the court, and that was everything for them; but still we will go +to the Hill of Laws, and set our suit on foot against them, though that +will now stand us in little stead." + +Then they fared to the Hill of Laws, and Eyjolf summoned them for +contempt of the Thing. + +After that they went to the Fifth Court. + +Now we must say that when Mord and Asgrim came to the Fifth Court, Mord +took witness and bade them listen to his oath and the declaration of +his suit, and to all those proofs and steps which he meant to bring +forward against Flosi and Eyjolf. He bade them by a lawful bidding +before the court, so that the judges could hear him across the court. + +In the Fifth Court vouchers had to follow the oaths of the parties, and +they had to take an oath after them. + +Mord took witness. + +"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I take a Fifth Court oath. I +pray God so to help me in this light and in the next, as I shall plead +this suit as I know to be most truthful, and just, and lawful. I believe +with all my heart that Flosi is truly guilty in this suit, if I may +bring forward my proofs; and I have not brought money into this court in +this suit, and I will not bring it. I have not taken money, and I will +not take it, neither for a lawful nor for an unlawful end." + +The men who were Mord's vouchers then went two of them before the court, +and took witness to this-- + +"We take witness that we take an oath on the book, a lawful oath; we +pray God so to help us two in this light and in the next, as we lay it +on our honour that we believe with all our hearts that Mord will so +plead this suit as he knows to be most truthful, and most just, and most +lawful, and that he hath not brought money into this court in this suit +to help himself, and that he will not offer it, and that he hath not +taken money, nor will he take it, either for a lawful or unlawful end." + +Mord had summoned nine neighbours who lived next to the Thingfield on +the inquest in the suit, and then Mord took witness, and declared those +four suits which he had set on foot against Flosi and Eyjolf; and Mord +used all those words in his declaration that he had used in his summons. +He declared his suits for outlawry in the same shape before the Fifth +Court as he had uttered them when he summoned the defendants. + +Mord took witness, and bade those nine neighbours on the inquest to take +their seats west on the river-bank. + +Mord took witness again, and bade Flosi and Eyjolf to challenge the +inquest. + +They went up to challenge the inquest, and looked narrowly at them, but +could get none of them set aside; then they went away as things stood, +and were very ill pleased with their case. + +Then Mord took witness, and bade those nine neighbours whom he had +before called on the inquest, to utter their finding, and to bring it in +either for or against Flosi. + +Then the neighbours on Mord's inquest came before the court, and one +uttered the finding, but all the rest confirmed it by their consent. +They had all taken the Fifth Court oath, and they brought in Flosi as +truly guilty in the suit, and brought in their finding against him. They +brought it in in such a shape before the Fifth Court over the head of +the same man over whose head Mord had already declared his suit. After +that they brought in all those findings which they were bound to bring +in in all the other suits, and all was done in lawful form. + +Eyjolf Bolverk's son and Flosi watched to find a flaw in the +proceedings, but could get nothing done. + +Then Mord Valgard's son took witness. "I take witness," said he, "to +this, that these nine neighbours whom I called on these suits which I +have had hanging over the heads of Flosi Thord's son, and Eyjolf +Bolverk's son, have now uttered their finding, and have brought them in +truly guilty in these suits." + +He took this witness for his own part. + +Again Mord took witness. + +"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or +that other man who has taken his lawful defence in hand, now to begin +their defence; for now all the steps and proofs have been brought +forward in the suit, summons to listen to oaths, oaths taken, suit +declared, witness taken to the summons, neighbours called on to take +their seats on the inquest, defendant called on to challenge the +inquest, finding uttered, witness taken to the finding." + +He took this witness to all the steps that had been taken in the suit. + +Then that man stood up over whose head the suit had been declared and +pleaded, and summed up the case. He summed up first how Mord had bade +them listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the suit, and to all +the steps and proofs in it; then he summed up next how Mord took his +oath and his vouchers theirs; then he summed up how Mord pleaded his +suit, and used the very words in his summing up that Mord had before +used in declaring and pleading his suit, and which he had used in his +summons, and he said that the suit came before the Fifth Court in the +same shape as it was when he uttered it at the summoning. Then he summed +up that men had borne witness to the summoning, and repeated all those +words that Mord had used in his summons, and which they had used in +bearing their witness, "and which I now," he said, "have used in my +summing up, and they bore their witness in the same shape before the +Fifth Court as he uttered them at the summoning". After that he summed +up that Mord bade the neighbours on the inquest to take their seats, +then he told next of all how he bade Flosi to challenge the inquest, or +that man who had undertaken this lawful defence for him; then he told +how the neighbours went to the court, and uttered their finding, and +brought in Flosi truly guilty in the suit, and how they brought in the +finding of an inquest of nine men in that shape before the Fifth Court. +Then he summed up how Mord took witness to all the steps in the suit, +and how he had bidden the defendant to begin his defence. + +After that Mord Valgard's son took witness. "I take witness," he said, +"to this, that I forbid Flosi Thord's son, or that other man who has +undertaken the lawful defence for him, to set up his defence; for now +are all the steps taken which belong to the suit, when the case has been +summed up and the proofs repeated." + +After that the foreman added these words of Mord to his summing up. + +Then Mord took witness, and prayed the judges to give judgment in this +suit. + +Then Gizur the white said, "Thou wilt have to do more yet, Mord, for +four twelves can have no right to pass judgment." + +Now Flosi said to Eyjolf, "What counsel is to be taken now?" + +Then Eyjolf said, "Now we must make the best of a bad business; but +still, we will bide our time, for now I guess that they will make a +false step in their suit, for Mord prayed for judgment at once in the +suit, but they ought to call and set aside six men out of the court, and +after that they ought to offer us to call and set aside six other men, +but we will not do that, for then they ought to call and set aside those +six men, and they will perhaps overlook that; then all their case has +come to naught if they do not do that, for three twelves have to judge +in every cause". + +"Thou art a wise man, Eyjolf," said Flosi, "so that few can come nigh +thee." + +Mord Valgard's son took witness. + +"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I call and set aside these six +men out of the court"--and named them all by name--"I do not allow you +to sit in the court; I call you out and set you aside by the rightful +custom of the Althing, and the law of the land." + +After that he offered Eyjolf and Flosi, before witnesses, to call out by +name and set aside other six men, but Flosi and Eyjolf would not call +them out. + +Then Mord made them pass judgment in the cause; but when the judgment +was given, Eyjolf took witness, and said that all their judgment had +come to naught, and also everything else that had been done, and his +ground was that three twelves and one half had judged, when three only +ought to have given judgment. + +"And now we will follow up our suits before the Fifth Court," said +Eyjolf, "and make them outlaws." + +Then Gizur the white said to Mord Valgard's son-- + +"Thou hast made a very great mistake in taking such a false step, and +this is great ill-luck; but what counsel shall we now take, kinsman +Asgrim?" says Gizur. + +Then Asgrim said--"Now we will send a man to my son Thorhall, and know +what counsel he will give us". + + + + +CHAPTER CXLIV. + +BATTLE AT THE ALTHING. + + +Now Snorri the priest hears how the causes stood, and then he begins to +draw up his men in array below the "Great Rift," between it and +Hadbooth, and laid down beforehand to his men how they were to behave. + +Now the messenger comes to Thorhall Asgrim's son, and tells him how +things stood, and how Mord Valgard's son and his friends would all be +made outlaws, and the suits for manslaughter be brought to naught. + +But when he heard that, he was so shocked at it that he could not utter +a word. He jumped up then from his bed, and clutched with both hands his +spear, Skarphedinn's gift, and drove it through his foot; then flesh +clung to the spear, and the eye of the boil too, for he had cut it +clean out of the foot, but a torrent of blood and matter poured out, so +that it fell in a stream along the floor. Now he went out of the booth +unhalting, and walked so hard that the messenger could not keep up with +him, and so he goes until he came to the Fifth Court. There he met Grim +the red, Flosi's kinsman, and as soon as ever they met, Thorhall thrust +at him with the spear, and smote him on the shield and clove it in +twain, but the spear passed right through him, so that the point came +out between his shoulders. Thorhall cast him off his spear. + +Then Kari Solmund's son caught sight of that, and said to Asgrim-- + +"Here, now, is come Thorhall thy son, and has straightway slain a man, +and this is a great shame, if he alone shall have the heart to avenge +the Burning." + +"That shall not be," says Asgrim, "but let us turn on them now." + +Then there was a mighty cry all over the host, and then they shouted +their war-cries. + +Flosi and his friends then turned against their foes, and both sides +egged on their men fast. + +Kari Solmund's son turned now thither where Arni Kol's son and Hallbjorn +the strong were in front, and as soon as ever Hallbjorn saw Kari, he +made a blow at him, and aimed at his leg, but Kari leapt up into the +air, and Hallbjorn missed him. Kari turned on Arni Kol's son and cut at +him, and smote him on the shoulder, and cut asunder the shoulder blade +and collar bone, and the blow went right down into his breast, and Arni +fell down dead at once to earth. + +After that he hewed at Hallbjorn and caught him on the shield, and the +blow passed through the shield, and so down and cut off his great toe. +Holmstein hurled a spear at Kari, but he caught it in the air, and sent +it back, and it was a man's death in Flosi's band. + +Thorgeir Craggeir came up to where Hallbjorn the strong was in front, +and Thorgeir made such a spear-thrust at him with his left hand that +Hallbjorn fell before it, and had hard work to get on his feet again, +and turned away from the fight there and then. Then Thorgeir met +Thorwalld Kettle rumble's son, and hewed at him at once with the axe, +"the ogress of war," which Skarphedinn had owned. Thorwalld threw his +shield before him, and Thorgeir hewed the shield and cleft it from top +to bottom, but the upper horn of the axe made its way into his breast, +and passed into his trunk, and Thorwalld fell and was dead at once. + +Now it must be told how Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Thorhall his son, +Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Gizur the white, made an onslaught where Flosi +and the sons of Sigfus, and the other Burners were; then there was a +very hard fight, and the end of it was that they pressed on so hard, +that Flosi and his men gave way before them. Gudmund the powerful, and +Mord Valgard's son, and Thorgeir Craggeir, made their onslaught where +the Axefirthers and Eastfirthers, and the men of Reykdale stood, and +there too there was a very hard fight. + +Kari Solmund's son came up where Bjarni Broddhelgi's son had the lead. +Kari caught up a spear and thrust at him, and the blow fell on his +shield. Bjarni slipped the shield on one side of him, else it had gone +straight through him. Then he cut at Kari and aimed at his leg, but Kari +drew back his leg and turned short round on his heel, and Bjarni missed +him. Kari cut at once at him, and then a man ran forward and threw his +shield before Bjarni. Kari cleft the shield in twain, and the point of +the sword caught his thigh, and ripped up the whole leg down to the +ankle. That man fell there and then, and was ever after a cripple so +long as he lived. + +Then Kari clutched his spear with both hands, and turned on Bjarni and +thrust at him; he saw he had no other chance but to throw himself down +side-long away from the blow, but as soon as ever Bjarni found his feet, +away he fell back out of the fight. + +Thorgeir Craggeir and Gizur the white fell on there where Holmstein the +son of Bersi the wise, and Thorkel Geiti's son were leaders, and the end +of the struggle was, that Holmstein and Thorkel gave way, and then arose +a mighty hooting after them from the men of Gudmund the powerful. + +Thorwalld Tjorfi's son of Lightwater got a great wound; he was shot in +the forearm, and men thought that Halldor Gudmund the powerful's son had +hurled the spear, but he bore that wound about with him all his life +long, and got no atonement for it. + +Now there was a mighty throng. But though we hear tell of some of the +deeds that were done, still there are far many more of which men have +handed down no stories. + +Flosi had told them that they should make for the stronghold in the +Great Rift if they were worsted, "for there," said he, "they will only +be able to attack us on one side". But the band which Hall of the Side +and his son Ljot led, had fallen away out of the fight before the +onslaught of that father and son, Asgrim and Thorhall. They turned down +east of Axewater, and Hall said-- + +"This is a sad state of things when the whole host of men at the Thing +fight, and I would, kinsman Ljot, that we begged us help even though +that be brought against us by some men, and that we part them. Thou +shalt wait for me at the foot of the bridge, and I will go to the booths +and beg for help." + +"If I see," said Ljot, "that Flosi and his men need help from our men, +then I will at once run up and aid them." + +"Thou wilt do in that as thou pleasest," says Hall, "but I pray thee to +wait for me here." + +Now flight breaks out in Flosi's band, and they all fly west across +Axewater; but Asgrim and Gizur the white went after them and all their +host. Flosi and his men turned down between the river and the Outwork +booth. Snorri the priest had drawn up his men there in array, so thick +that they could not pass that way, and Snorri the priest called out then +to Flosi-- + +"Why are ye in such haste, or who chase you?" + +"Thou askest not this," answered Flosi, "because thou dost not know it +already; but whose fault is it that we cannot get to the stronghold in +the Great Rift?" + +"It is not my fault," says Snorri, "but it is quite true that I know +whose fault it is, and I will tell thee if thou wilt; it is the fault of +Thorwalld cropbeard and Kol." + +They were both then dead, but they had been the worst men in all Flosi's +band. + +Again Snorri said to his men-- + +"Now do both, cut at them and thrust at them, and drive them away hence, +they will then hold out but a short while here, if the others attack +them from below; but then ye shall not go after them, but let both sides +shift for themselves." + +The son of Skapti Thorod's son was Thorstein gapemouth, as was written +before, he was in the battle with Gudmund the powerful, his +father-in-law, and as soon as Skapti knew that, he went to the booth of +Snorri the priest, and meant to beg for help to part them; but just +before he had got as far as the door of Snorri's booth, there the battle +was hottest of all. Asgrim and his friends and his men were just coming +up thither, and then Thorhall said to his father Asgrim-- + +"See there now is Skapti Thorod's son, father." + +"I see him, kinsman," said Asgrim, and then he shot a spear at Skapti, +and struck him just below where the calf was fattest, and so through +both his legs. Skapti fell at the blow, and could not get up again, and +the only counsel they could take who were by, was to drag Skapti flat on +his face into the booth of a turf-cutter. + +Then Asgrim and his men came up so fast that Flosi and his men gave way +before them south along the river to the booths of the men of Modruvale. +There there was a man outside one booth whose name was Solvi; he was +boiling broth in a great kettle, and had just then taken the meat out, +and the broth was boiling as hotly as it could. + +Solvi cast his eyes on the Eastfirthers us they fled, and they were then +just over against him, and then he said--"Can all these cowards who fly +here be Eastfirthers, and yet Thorkel Geiti's son, he ran by as fast as +any one of them, and very great lies have been told about him when men +say that he is all heart, but now no one ran faster than he". + +Hallbjorn the strong was near by them, and said-- + +"Thou shalt not have it to say that we are all cowards." + +And with that he caught hold of him, and lifted him up aloft, and thrust +him head down into the broth-kettle. Solvi died at once; but then a rush +was made at Hallbjorn himself, and he had to turn and fly. + +Flosi threw a spear at Bruni Haflidi's son, and caught him at the waist, +and that was his bane; he was one of Gudmund the powerful's band. + +Thorstein Hlenni's son took the spear out of the wound, and hurled it +back at Flosi, and hit him on the leg, and he got a great wound and +fell; he rose up again at once. + +Then they passed on to the Waterfirther's booth, and then Hall and Ljot +came from the east across the river, with all their band; but just when +they came to the lava, a spear was hurled out of the band of Gudmund the +powerful, and it struck Ljot in the middle, and he fell down dead at +once; and it was never known surely who had done that manslaughter. + +Flosi and his men turned up round the Waterfirther's booth, and then +Thorgeir Craggeir said to Kari Solmund's son-- + +"Look, yonder now is Eyjolf Bolverk's son, if thou hast a mind to pay +him off for the ring." + +"That I ween is not far from my mind," says Kari, and snatched a spear +from a man, and hurled it at Eyjolf, and it struck him in the waist, and +went through him, and Eyjolf then fell dead to earth. + +Then there was a little lull in the battle, and then Snorri the priest +came up with his band, and Skapti was there in his company, and they ran +in between them, and so they could not get at one another to fight. + +Then Hall threw in his people with theirs, and was for parting them +there and then, and so a truce was set, and was to be kept throughout +the Thing, and then the bodies were laid out and borne to the church, +and the wounds of those men were bound up who were hurt. + +The day after men went to the Hill of Laws. Then Hall of the Side stood +up and asked for a hearing, and got it at once; and he spoke thus-- + +"Here there have been hard happenings in lawsuits and loss of life at +the Thing, and now I will show again that I am little-hearted, for I +will now ask Asgrim and the others who take the lead in these suits, +that they grant us an atonement on even terms;" and so he goes on with +many fair words. + +Kari Solmund's son said-- + +"Though all others take an atonement in their quarrels, yet will I take +no atonement in my quarrel; for ye will wish to weigh these manslayings +against the Burning, and we cannot bear that." + +In the same way spoke Thorgeir Craggeir. + +Then Skapti Thorod's son stood up and said-- + +"Better had it been for thee, Kari, not to have run away from thy +father-in-law and thy brothers-in-law, than now to sneak out of this +atonement." + +Then Kari sang these verses-- + + Warrior wight that weapon wieldest + Spare thy speering why we fled, + Oft for less falls hail of battle, + Forth we fled to wreak revenge; + Who was he, faint-hearted foeman, + Who, when tongues of steel sung high, + Stole beneath the booth for shelter, + While his beard blushed red for shame? + + Many fetters Skapti fettered + When the men, the Gods of fight, + From the fray fared all unwilling + Where the skald scarce held his shield; + Then the suttlers dragged the lawyer + Stout in scolding to their booth, + Laid him low amongst the riffraff, + How his heart then quaked for fear. + + Men who skim the main on sea stag + Well in this ye showed your sense, + Making game about the Burning, + Mocking Helgi, Grim, and Njal; + Now the moor round rocky Swinestye,[77] + As men run and shake their shields, + With another grunt shall rattle + When this Thing is past and gone. + +Then there was great laughter. Snorri the priest smiled, and sang this +between his teeth, but so that many heard-- + + Skill hath Skapti us to tell + Whether Asgrim's shaft flew well; + Holmstein hurried swift to flight, + Thorstein turned him soon to fight. + +Now men burst out in great fits of laughter. + +Then Hall of the Side said-- + +"All men know what a grief I have suffered in the loss of my son Ljot; +many will think that he would be valued dearest of all those men who +have fallen here; but I will do this for the sake of an atonement--I +will put no price on my son, and yet will come forward and grant both +pledges and peace to those who are my adversaries. I beg thee, Snorri +the priest, and other of the best men, to bring this about, that there +may be an atonement between us." + +Now he sits him down, and a great hum in his favour followed, and all +praised his gentleness and good-will. + +Then Snorri the priest stood up and made a long and clever speech, and +begged Asgrim and the others who took the lead in the quarrel to look +towards an atonement. + +Then Asgrim said-- + +"I made up my mind when Flosi made an inroad on my house that I would +never be atoned with him; but now Snorri the priest, I will take an +atonement from him for thy word's sake and other of our friends." + +In the same way spoke Thorleif crow and Thorgrim the big, that they were +willing to be atoned, and they urged in every way their brother Thorgeir +Craggeir to take an atonement also; but he hung back, and says he would +never part from Kari. + +Then Gizur the white said-- + +"Now Flosi must see that he must make his choice, whether he will be +atoned on the understanding that some will be out of the atonement." + +Flosi says he will take that atonement; "and methinks it is so much the +better," he says, "that I have fewer good men and true against me". + +Then Gudmund the powerful said-- + +"I will offer to hansel peace on my behalf for the slayings that have +happened here at the Thing, on the understanding that the suit for the +Burning is not to fall to the ground." + +In the same way spoke Gizur the white and Hjallti Skeggi's son, Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son and Mord Valgard's son. + +In this way the atonement came about, and then hands were shaken on it, +and twelve men were to utter the award; and Snorri the priest was the +chief man in the award, and others with him. Then the manslaughters were +set off the one against the other, and those men who were over and above +were paid for in fines. They also made an award in the suit about the +Burning. + +Njal was to be atoned for with a triple fine, and Bergthora with two. +The slaying of Skarphedinn was to be set off against that of Hauskuld +the Whiteness priest. Both Grim and Helgi were to be paid for with +double fines; and one full man-fine should be paid for each of those who +had been burnt in the house. + +No atonement was taken for the slaying of Thord Kari's son. + +It was also in the award that Flosi and all the Burners should go abroad +into banishment, and none of them was to sail the same summer unless he +chose; but if he did not sail abroad by the time that three winters were +spent, then he and all the Burners were to become thorough outlaws. And +it was also said that their outlawry might be proclaimed either at the +Harvest-Thing or Spring-Thing, whichever men chose; and Flosi was to +stay abroad three winters. + +As for Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son. Glum Hilldir's son, +and Kol Thorstein's son, they were never to be allowed to come back. + +Then Flosi was asked if he would wish to have a price put upon his +wound, but he said he would not take bribes for his hurt. + +Eyjolf Bolverk's son had no fine awarded for him, for his unfairness and +wrongfulness. + +And now the settlement and atonement was handselled, and was well kept +afterwards. + +Asgrim and his friends gave Snorri the priest good gifts, and he had +great honour from these suits. + +Skapti got a fine for his hurt. + +Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, +asked Gudmund the powerful to come and see them at home. He accepted the +bidding, and each of them gave him a gold ring. + +Now Gudmund rides home north, and had praise from every man for the part +he had taken in these quarrels. + +Thorgeir Craggeir asked Kari to go along with him, but yet first of all +they rode with Gudmund right up to the fells north. Kari gave Gudmund a +golden brooch, but Thorgeir gave him a silver belt, and each was the +greatest treasure. So they parted with the utmost friendship, and +Gudmund is out of this story. + +Kari and Thorgeir rode south from the fell, and down to the Rapes,[78] +and so to Thurso-water. + +Flosi, and the Burners along with him, rode east to Fleetlithe, and he +allowed the sons of Sigfus to settle their affairs at home. Then Flosi +heard that Thorgeir and Kari had ridden north with Gudmund the powerful, +and so the Burners thought that Kari and his friend must mean to stay in +the north country; and then the sons of Sigfus asked leave to go east +under Eyjafell to get in their money, for they had money out on call at +Headbrink. Flosi gave them leave to do that, but still bade them be ware +of themselves, and be as short a time about it as they could. + +Then Flosi rode up by Godaland, and so north of Eyjafell Jokul, and did +not draw bridle before he came home east to Swinefell. + +Now it must be said that Hall of the Side had suffered his son to fall +without a fine, and did that for the sake of an atonement, but then the +whole host of men at the Thing agreed to pay a fine for him, and the +money so paid was not less than eight hundred in silver, but that was +four times the price of a man; but all the others who had been with +Flosi got no fines paid for their hurts, and were very ill pleased at +it. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLV. + +OF KARI AND THORGEIR. + + +Those two, Kari Solmund's and Thorgeir Craggeir, rode that day east +across Markfleet, and so on east to Selialandsmull. They found there +some women. The wives knew them, and said to them-- + +"Ye two are less wanton than the sons of Sigfus yonder, but still ye +fare unwarily." + +"Why do ye talk thus of the sons of Sigfus, or what do ye know about +them?" + +"They were last night," they said, "at Raufarfell, and meant to get to +Myrdale to-night, but still we thought they must have some fear of you, +for they asked when he would be likely to come home." + +Then Kari and Thorgeir went on their way and spurred their horses. + +"What shall we lay down for ourselves to do now," said Thorgeir, "or +what is most to thy mind? Wilt thou that we ride on their track?" + +"I will not hinder this," answers Kari, "nor will I say what ought to be +done, for it may often be that those live Long who are slain with words +alone;[79] but I well know what thou meanest to take on thyself, thou +must mean to take on thy hands eight men, and after all that is less +than it was when thou slewest those seven in the sea-crags,[80] and let +thyself down by a rope to get at them; but it is the way with all you +kinsmen, that ye always wish to be doing some famous feat, and now I can +do no less than stand by thee and have my share in the story. So now we +two alone will ride after them, for I see that thou hast so made up thy +mind." + +After that they rode east by the upper way, and did not pass by Holt, +for Thorgeir would not that any blame should be laid at his brother's +door for what might be done. + +Then they rode east to Myrdale, and there they met a man who had +turf-panniers on his horse. He began to speak thus-- + +"Too few men, messmate Thorgeir, hast thou now in thy company." + +"How is that?" says Thorgeir. + +"Why," said the other, "because the prey is now before thy hand. The +sons of Sigfus rode by a while ago, and mean to sleep the whole day east +in Carlinedale, for they mean to go no farther to-night than to +Headbrink." + +After that they rode on their way east on Arnstacks heath, and there is +nothing to be told of their journey before they came to +Carlinedale-water. + +The stream was high, and now they rode up along the river, for they saw +their horses with saddles. They rode now thitherward, and saw that there +were men asleep in a dell and their spears were standing upright in the +ground a little below them. They took the spears from them, and threw +them into the river. + +Then Thorgeir said-- + +"Wilt thou that we wake them?" + +"Thou hast not asked this," answers Kari, "because thou hast not already +made up thy mind not to fall on sleeping men, and so to slay a shameful +manslaughter." + +After that they shouted to them, and then they all awoke and grasped at +their arms. + +They did not fall on them till they were armed. + +Thorgeir Craggeir runs thither where Thorkel Sigfus' son stood, and just +then a man ran behind his back, but before he could do Thorgeir any +hurt, Thorgeir lifted the axe, "the ogress of war," with both hands, and +dashed the hammer of the axe with a back-blow into the head of him that +stood behind him, so that his skull was shattered to small bits. + +"Slain is this one," said Thorgeir; and down the man fell at once, and +was dead. + +But when he dashed the axe forward, he smote Thorkel on the shoulder, +and hewed it off, arm and all. + +Against Kari came Mord Sigfus' son, and Sigmund Sigfus' son, and Lambi +Sigurd's son; the last ran behind Kari's back, and thrust at him with a +spear; Kari caught sight of him, and leapt up as the blow fell, and +stretched his legs far apart, and so the blow spent itself on the +ground, but Kari jumped down on the spear-shaft, and snapped it in +sunder. He had a spear in one hand, and a sword in the other, but no +shield. He thrust with the right hand at Sigmund Sigfus' son, and smote +him on his breast, and the spear came out between his shoulders, and +down he fell and was dead at once. With his left hand he made a cut at +Mord, and smote him on the hip, and cut it asunder, and his backbone +too; he fell flat on his lace, and was dead at once. + +After that he turned sharp round on his heel like a whipping-top, and +made at Lambi Sigurd's son, but he took the only way to save himself, +and that was by running away as hard as he could. + +Now Thorgeir turns against Leidolf the strong, and each hewed at the +other at the same moment, and Leidolf's blow was so great that it shore +off that part of the shield on which it fell. + +Thorgeir had hewn with "the ogress of war," holding it with both hands, +and the lower horn fell on the shield and clove it in twain, but the +upper caught the collar bone and cut it in two, and tore on down into +the breast and trunk. Kari came up just then, and cut off Leidolf's leg +at mid-thigh, and then Leidolf fell and died at once. + +Kettle of the Mark said--"We will now run for our horses, for we cannot +hold our own here, for the overbearing strength of these men". + +Then they ran for their horses, and leapt on their backs; and Thorgeir +said-- + +"Wilt thou that we chase them? if so, we shall yet slay some of them." + +"He rides last," says Kari, "whom I would not wish to slay, and that is +Kettle of the Mark, for we have two sisters to wife; and besides, he has +behaved best of all of them as yet in our quarrels." + +Then they got on their horses, and rode till they came home to Holt. +Then Thorgeir made his brothers fare away east to Skoga, for they had +another farm there, and because Thorgeir would not that his brothers +should be called truce-breakers. + +Then Thorgeir kept many men there about him, so that there were never +fewer than thirty fighting men there. + +Then there was great joy there, and men thought Thorgeir had grown much +greater, and pushed himself on; both he and Kari too. Men long kept in +mind this hunting of theirs, how they two rode upon fifteen men and slew +those five, but put those ten to flight who got away. + +Now it is to be told of Kettle, that they rode as they best might till +they came home to Swinefell, and told how bad their journey had been. + +Flosi said it was only what was to be looked for; "and this is a warning +that ye should never do the like again". + +Flosi was the merriest of men, and the best of hosts, and it is so said +that he had most of the chieftain in him of all the men of his time. + +He was at home that summer, and the winter too. + +But that winter, after Yule, Hall of the Side came from the east, and +Kol his son. Flosi was glad at his coming, and they often talked about +the matter of the Burning. Flosi said they had already paid a great +fine, and Hall said it was pretty much what he had guessed would come of +Flosi's and his friends' quarrel. Then he asked him what counsel he +thought best to be taken, and Hall answers-- + +"The counsel I give is, that thou beest atoned with Thorgeir if there be +a choice, and yet he will be hard to bring to take any atonement." + +"Thinkest thou that the manslaughters will then be brought to an end?" +asks Flosi. + +"I do not think so," says Hall; "but you will have to do with fewer foes +if Kari be left alone; but if thou art not atoned with Thorgeir, then +that will be thy bane." + +"What atonement shall we offer him?" asks Flosi. + +"You will all think that atonement hard," says Hall, "which he will +take, for he will not hear of an atonement unless he be not called on to +pay any fine for what he has just done, but he will have fines for Njal +and his sons, so far as his third share goes." + +"That is a hard atonement," says Flosi. + +"For thee at least," says Hall, "that atonement is not hard, for thou +hast not the blood-feud after the sons of Sigfus; their brothers have +the blood-feud, and Hamond the halt after his son; but thou shalt now +get an atonement from Thorgeir, for I will now ride to his house with +thee, and Thorgeir will in anywise receive me well; but no man of those +who are in this quarrel will dare to sit in his house on Fleetlithe if +they are out of the atonement, for that will be their bane; and, indeed, +with Thorgeir's turn of mind, it is only what must be looked for." + +Now the sons of Sigfus were sent for, and they brought this business +before them; and the end of their speech was, on the persuasion of Hall, +that they all thought what he said right, and were ready to be atoned. + +Grani Gunnar's son and Gunnar Lambi's son said-- + +"It will be in our power, if Kari be left alone behind, to take care +that he be not less afraid of us than we of him." + +"Easier said than done," says Hall, "and ye will find it a dear bargain +to deal with him. Ye will have to pay a heavy fine before you have done +with him." + +After that they ceased speaking about it. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLVI. + +THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT WITH THORGEIR CRAGGEIR. + + +Hall of the Side and his son Kol, seven of them in all, rode west over +Loomnip's Sand, and so west over Arnstacksheath, and did not draw bridle +till they came into Myrdale. There they asked whether Thorgeir would be +at home at Holt, and they were told that they would find him at home. + +The men asked whither Hall meant to go. + +"Thither to Holt," he said. + +They said they were sure he went on a good errand. + +He stayed there some while and baited their horses, and after that they +mounted their horses and rode to Solheim about even, and they were there +that night, but the day-after they rode to Holt. + +Thorgeir was out of doors, and Kari too, and their men, for they had +seen Hall's coming. He rode in a blue cape, and had a little axe studded +with silver in his hand; but when they came into the "town," Thorgeir +went to meet him, and helped him off his horse, and both he and Kari +kissed him and led him in between them into the sitting-room, and sate +him down in the high seat on the dais, and they asked him tidings about +many things. + +He was there that night. Next morning Hall raised the question of the +atonement with Thorgeir, and told him what terms they offered him; and +he spoke about them with many fair and kindly words. + +"It may be well known to thee," answers Thorgeir, "that I said I would +take no atonement from the Burners." + +"That was quite another matter then," says Hall; "ye were then wroth +with fight, and, besides, ye have done great deeds in the way of +manslaying since." + +"I daresay ye think so," says Thorgeir, "but what atonement do ye offer +to Kari?" + +"A fitting atonement shall be offered him," says Hall, "if he will take +it." + +Then Kari said-- + +"I pray this of thee, Thorgeir, that thou wilt be atoned, for thy lot +cannot be better than good." + +"Methinks," says Thorgeir, "it is ill done to take an atonement, and +sunder myself from thee, unless thou takest the same atonement as I." + +"I will not take any atonement," says Kari, "but yet I say that we have +avenged the Burning; but my son, I say, is still unavenged, and I mean +to take that on myself alone, and see what I can get done." + +But Thorgeir would take no atonement before Kari said that he would take +it ill if he were not atoned. Then Thorgeir handselled a truce to Flosi +and his men, as a step to a meeting for atonement; but Hall did the same +on behalf of Flosi and the sons of Sigfus. + +But ere they parted, Thorgeir gave Hall a gold ring and a scarlet cloak, +but Kari gave him a silver brooch, and there were hung to it four +crosses of gold. Hall thanked them kindly for their gifts, and rode away +with the greatest honour. He did not draw bridle till he came to +Swinefell, and Flosi gave him a hearty welcome. Hall told Flosi all +about his errand and the talk he had with Thorgeir, and also that +Thorgeir would not take the atonement till Kari told him he would +quarrel with him if he did not take it; but that Kari would take no +atonement. + +"There are few men like Kari," said Flosi, "and I would that my mind +were shapen altogether like his." + +Hall and Kol stayed there some while, and afterwards they rode west at +the time agreed on to the meeting for atonement, and met at Headbrink, +as had been settled between them. + +Then Thorgeir came to meet them from the west, and then they talked over +their atonement, and all went off as Hall had said. + +Before the atonement, Thorgeir said that Kari should still have the +right to be at his house all the same if he chose. + +"And neither side shall do the others any harm at my house; and I will +not have the trouble of gathering in the fines from each of the Burners; +but my will is that Flosi alone shall be answerable for them to me, but +he must get them in from his followers. My will also is that all that +award which was made at the Thing about the Burning shall be kept and +held to; and my will also is, Flosi, that thou payest me up my third +share in unclipped coin." + +Flosi went quickly into all these terms. + +Thorgeir neither gave up the banishment nor the outlawry. + +Now Flosi and Hall rode home east, and then Hall said to Flosi-- + +"Keep this atonement well, son-in-law, both as to going abroad and the +pilgrimage to Rome,[81] and the fines, and then thou wilt be thought a +brave man, though thou hast stumbled into this misdeed, if thou +fulfillest handsomely all that belongs to it." + +Flosi said it should be so. + +Now Hall rode home east, but Flosi rode home to Swinefell, and was at +home afterwards. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLVII. + +KARI COMES TO BJORN'S HOUSE IN THE MARK. + + +Thorgeir Craggeir rode home from the peace-meeting, and Kari asked +whether the atonement had come about. Thorgeir said that they now fully +atoned. + +Then Kari took his horse and was for riding away. + +"Thou hast no need to ride away," says Thorgeir, "for it was laid down +in our atonement that thou shouldst be here as before if thou chosest." + +"It shall not be so, cousin, for as soon as ever I slay a man they will +be sure to say that thou wert in the plot with me, and I will not have +that; but I wish this, that thou wouldst let me hand over in trust to +thee my goods, and the estates of me and my wife Helga Njal's daughter, +and my three daughters, and then they will not be seized by those +adversaries of mine." + +Thorgeir agreed to what Kari wished to ask of him, and then Thorgeir had +Kari's goods handed over to him in trust. + +After that Kari rode away. He had two horses and his weapons and outer +clothing, and some ready money in gold and silver. + +Now Kari rode west by Selialandsmull and up along Markfleet, and so on +up into Thorsmark. There there are three farms all called "Mark". At the +midmost farm dwelt that man whose name was Bjorn, and his surname was +Bjorn the white; he was the son of Kadal, the son of Bjalfi. Bjalfi had +been the freedman of Asgerda, the mother of Njal and Holt-Thorir; Bjorn +had to wife Valgerda, she was the daughter of Thorbrand, the son of +Asbrand. Her mother's name was Gudlauga, she was a sister of Hamond, the +father of Gunnar of Lithend; she was given away to Bjorn for his money's +sake, and she did not love him much, but yet they had children together, +and they had enough and to spare in the house. + +Bjorn was a man who was always boasting and praising himself, but his +housewife thought that bad. He was sharpsighted and swift of foot. + +Thither Kari turned in as a guest, and they took him by both hands, and +he was there that night. But the next morning Kari said to Bjorn-- + +"I wish thou wouldst take me in, for I should think myself well housed +here with thee. I would too that thou shouldst be with me in my +journeyings, as thou art a sharpsighted, swift-footed man, and besides I +think thou wouldst be dauntless in an onslaught." + +"I can't blame myself," says Bjorn, "for wanting either sharp sight, or +dash, or any other bravery; but no doubt thou camest hither because all +thy other earths are stopped. Still, at thy prayer, Kari, I will not +look on thee as an everyday man; I will surely help thee in all that +thou askest." + +"The trolls take thy boasting and bragging," said his housewife, "and +thou shouldst not utter such stuff and silliness to any one than +thyself. As for me, I will willingly give Kari meat and other good +things, which I know will be useful to him; but on Bjorn's hardihood, +Kari, thou shalt not trust, for I am afraid that thou wilt find it quite +otherwise than he says." + +"Often hast thou thrown blame upon me," said Bjorn, "but for all that I +put so much faith in myself that though I am put to the trial I will +never give way to any man; and the best proof of it is this, that few +try a tussle with me because none dare to do so." + +Kari was there some while in hiding, and few men knew of it. + +Now men think that Kari must have ridden to the north country to see +Gudmund the powerful, for Kari made Bjorn tell his neighbours that he +had met Kari on the beaten track, and that he rode thence up into +Godaland, and so north to Goose-sand, and then north to Gudmund the +powerful at Modruvale. + +So that story was spread over all the country. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLVIII. + +OF FLOSI AND THE BURNERS. + + +Now Flosi spoke to the Burners, his companions-- + +"It will no longer serve our turn to sit still, for now we shall have to +think of our going abroad and of our fines, and of fulfilling our +atonement as bravely as we can, and let us take a passage wherever it +seems most likely to get one." + +They bade him see to all that. Then Flosi said-- + +"We will ride east to Hornfirth; for there that ship is laid up, which +is owned by Eyjolf nosy, a man from Drontheim, but he wants to take to +him a wife here, and he will not get the match made unless he settles +himself down here. We will buy the ship of him, for we shall have many +men and little freight. The ship is big and will take us all." + +Then they ceased talking of it. + +But a little after they rode east, and did not stop before they came +east to Bjornness in Hornfirth, and there they found Eyjolf, for he had +been there as a guest that winter. + +There Flosi and his men had a hearty welcome, and they were there the +night. Next morning Flosi dealt with the captain for the ship, but he +said he would not be hard to sell the ship if he could get what he +wanted for her. Flosi asked him in what coin he wished to be paid for +her; the Easterling says he wanted land for her near where he then was. + +Then Eyjolf told Flosi all about his dealings with his host, and Flosi +says he will pull an oar with him, so that his marriage bargain might be +struck, and buy the ship of him afterwards. The Easterling was glad at +that. Flosi offered him land at Borgarhaven, and now the Easterling +holds on with his suit to his host when Flosi was by, and Flosi threw in +a helping word, so that the bargain was brought about between them. + +Flosi made over the land at Borgarhaven to the Easterling, but shook +hands on the bargain for the ship. He got also from the Easterling +twenty hundreds in wares, and that was also in their bargain for the +land. + +Now Flosi rode back home. He was so beloved by his men that their wares +stood free to him to take either on loan or gift, just as he chose. + +He rode home to Swinefell, and was at home a while. + +Then Flosi sent Kol Thorstein's son and Gunnar Lambi's son east to +Hornfirth. They were to be there by the ship, and to fit her out, and +set up booths, and sack the wares, and get all things together that were +needful. + +Now we must tell of the sons of Sigfus how they say to Flosi that they +will ride west to Fleetlithe to set their houses in order, and get wares +thence, and such other things as they needed. "Kari is not there now to +be guarded against," they say, "if he is in the north country as is +said." + +"I know not," answers Flosi, "as to such stories, whether there be any +truth in what is said of Kari's journeyings; methinks, we have often +been wrong in believing things which are nearer to learn than this. My +counsel is that ye go many of you together, and part as little as ye +can, and be as wary of yourselves as ye may. Thou, too, Kettle of the +Mark, shalt bear in mind that dream which I told thee, and which thou +prayedst me to hide; for many are those in thy company who were then +called." + +"All must come to pass as to man's life," said Kettle, "as it is +foredoomed; but good go with thee for thy warning." + +Now they spoke no more about it. + +After that the sons of Sigfus busked them and those men with them who +were meant to go with them. They were eight in all, and then they rode +away, and ere they went they kissed Flosi, and he bade them farewell, +and said he and some of those who rode away would not see each other +more. But they would not let themselves be hindered. They rode now on +their way, and Flosi said that they should take his wares in Middleland, +and carry them east, and do the same in Landsbreach and Woodcombe. + +After that they rode to Skaptartongue, and so on the fell, and north of +Eyjafell Jokul, and down into Godaland, and so down into the woods in +Thorsmark. + +Bjorn of the Mark caught sight of them coming, and went at once to meet +them. + +Then they greeted each other well, and the sons of Sigfus asked after +Kari Solmund's son. + +"I met Kari," said Bjorn, "and that is now very long since; he rode +hence north on Goose-sand, and meant to go to Gudmund the powerful, and +methought if he were here now, he would stand in awe of you, for he +seemed to be left all alone." + +Grani Gunnar's son said-- + +"He shall stand more in awe of us yet before we have done with him, and +he shall learn that as soon as ever he comes within spearthrow of us; +but as for us, we do not fear him at all, now that he is all alone." + +Kettle of the Mark bade them be still, and bring out no big words. + +Bjorn asked when they would be coming back. + +"We shall stay near a week in Fleetlithe," said they; and so they told +him when they should be riding back on the fell. + +With that they parted. + +Now the sons of Sigfus rode to their homes, and their households were +glad to see them. They were there near a week. + +Now Bjorn comes home and sees Kari, and told him all about the doings of +the sons of Sigfus, and their purpose. + +Kari said he had shown in this great faithfulness to him, and Bjorn +said-- + +"I should have thought there was more risk of any other man's failing in +that than of me if I had pledged my help or care to any one." + +"Ah," said his mistress, "but you may still be bad and yet not be so bad +as to be a traitor to thy master." + +Kari stayed there six nights after that. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLIX. + +OF KARI AND BJORN. + + +Now Kari talks to Bjorn and says-- + +"We shall ride east across the fell and down into Skaptartongue, and +fare stealthily over Flosi's country, for I have it in my mind to get +myself carried abroad east in Alftafirth." + +"This is a very riskful journey," said Bjorn, "and few would have the +heart to take it save thou and I." + +"If thou backest Kari ill," said his housewife, "know this, that thou +shalt never come afterwards into my bed, and my kinsmen shall share our +goods between us." + +"It is likelier, mistress," said he, "that thou wilt have to look out +for something else than this if thou hast a mind to part from me; for I +will bear my own witness to myself what a champion and daredevil I am +when weapons clash." + +Now they rode that day east on the fell to the north of the Jokul, but +never on the highway, and so down into Skaptartongue, and above all the +homesteads to Skaptarwater, and led their horses into a dell, but they +themselves were on the look-out, and had so placed themselves that they +could not be seen. + +Then Kari said to Bjorn-- + +"What shall we do now if they ride down upon us here from the fell?" + +"Are there not but two things to be done," said Bjorn; "one to ride away +from them north under the crags, and so let them ride by us, or to wait +and see if any of them lag behind, and then to fall on them." + +They talked much about this, and one while Bjorn was for flying as fast +as he could in every word he spoke, and at another for staying and +fighting it out with them, and Kari thought this the greatest sport. + +The sons of Sigfus rode from their homes the same day that they had +named to Bjorn. They came to the Mark and knocked at the door there, and +wanted to see Bjorn; but his mistress went to the door and greeted them. +They asked at once for Bjorn, and she said he had ridden away down under +Eyjafell, and so east under Selialandsmull, and on east to Holt, "for he +has some money to call in thereabouts," she said. + +They believed this, for they knew that Bjorn had money out at call +there. + +After that they rode east on the fell, and did not stop before they came +to Skaptartongue, and so rode down along Skaptarwater, and baited their +horses just where Kari had thought they would. Then they split their +band. Kettle of the Mark rode east into Middleland, and eight men with +him, but the others laid them down to sleep, and were not ware of aught +until Kari and Bjorn came up to them. A little ness ran out there into +the river; into it Kari went and took his stand, and bade Bjorn stand +back to back with him, and not to put himself too forward, "but give me +all the help thou canst". + +"Well," says Bjorn, "I never had it in my head that any man should stand +before me as a shield, but still as things are thou must have thy way; +but for all that, with my gift of wit and my swiftness I may be of some +use to thee, and not harmless to our foes." + +Now they all rose up and ran at them, and Modolf Kettle's son was +quickest of them, and thrust at Kari with his spear. Kari had his shield +before him, and the blow fell on it, and the spear stuck fast in the +shield. Then Kari twists the shield so smartly, that the spear snapped +short off, and then he drew his sword and smote at Modolf; but Modolf +made a cut at him too, and Kari's sword fell on Modolf's hilt, and +glanced off it on to Modolph's wrist, and took the arm off, and down it +fell, and the sword too. Then Kari's sword passed on into Modolf's side, +and between his ribs, and so Modolf fell down and was dead on the spot. + +Grani Gunnar's son snatched up a spear and hurled it at Kari, but Kari +thrust down his shield so hard that the point stood fast in the ground, +but with his left hand he caught the spear in the air, and hurled it +back at Grani, and caught up his shield again at once with his left +hand. Grani had his shield before him, and the spear came on the shield +and passed right through it, and into Grani's thigh just below the small +guts, and through the limb, and so on, pinning him to the ground, and he +could not get rid of the spear before his fellows drew him off it, and +carried him away on their shields, and laid him down in a dell. + +There was a man who ran up to Kari's side, and meant to cut off his leg, +but Bjorn cut off that man's arm, and sprang back again behind Kari, and +they could not do him any hurt. Kari made a sweep at that same man with +his sword, and cut him asunder at the waist. + +Then Lambi Sigfus' son rushed at Kari, and hewed at him with his sword. +Kari caught the blow sideways on his shield, and the sword would not +bite; then Kari thrust at Lambi with his sword just below the breast, so +that the point came out between his shoulders, and that was his +death-blow. + +Then Thorstein Geirleif's son rushed at Kari, and thought to take him in +flank, but Kari caught sight of him, and swept at him with his sword +across the shoulders, so that the man was cleft asunder at the chine. + +A little while after he gave Gunnar of Skal, a good man and true, his +death-blow. As for Bjorn, he had wounded three men who had tried to give +Kari wounds, and yet he was never so far forward that he was in the +least danger, nor was he wounded, nor was either of those companions +hurt in that fight, but all those that got away were wounded. + +Then they ran for their horses, and galloped them off across +Skaptarwater as hard as they could; and they were so scared that they +stopped at no house, nor did they dare to stay and tell the tidings +anywhere. + +Kari and Bjorn hooted and shouted after them as they galloped off. So +they rode east to Woodcombe, and did not draw bridle till they came to +Swinefell. + +Flosi was not at home when they came thither, and that was why no hue +and cry was made thence after Kari. + +This journey of theirs was thought most shameful by all men. + +Kari rode to Skal, and gave notice of these manslayings as done by his +hand; there, too, he told them of the death of their master and five +others, and of Grani's wound, and said it would be better to bear him to +the house if he were to live. + +Bjorn said he could not bear to slay him, though he said he was worthy +of death; but those who answered him said they were sure few had bitten +the dust before him. But Bjorn told them he had it now in his power to +make as many of the Sidemen as he chose bite the dust; to which they +said it was a bad look out. + +Then Kari and Bjorn ride away from the house. + + + + +CHAPTER CL. + +MORE OF KARI AND BJORN. + + +Then Kari asked Bjorn-- + +"What counsel shall we take now? Now I will try what thy wit is worth." + +"Dost thou think now," answered Bjorn, "that much lies on our being as +wise as ever we can?" + +"Ay," said Kari, "I think so surely." + +"Then our counsel is soon taken," says Bjorn. "We will cheat them all as +though they were giants; and now we will make as though we were riding +north on the fell, but as soon as ever we are out of sight behind the +brae, we will turn down along Skaptarwater, and hide us there where we +think handiest, so long as the hue and cry is hottest, if they ride +after us." + +"So will we do," said Kari; "and this I had meant to do all along." + +"And so you may put it to the proof," said Bjorn, "that I am no more of +an everyday body in wit than I am in bravery." + +Now Kari and his companion rode as they had purposed down along +Skaptarwater, till they came where a branch of the stream ran away to +the south-east; then they turned down along the middle branch, and did +not draw bridle till they came into Middleland, and on that moor which +is called Kringlemire; it has a stream of lava all around it. + +Then Kari said to Bjorn that he must watch their horses, and keep a good +look-out; "but as for me," he says, "I am heavy with sleep". + +So Bjorn watched the horses, but Kari lay him down, and slept but a very +short while ere Bjorn waked him up again, and he had already led their +horses together, and they were by their side. Then Bjorn said to Kari-- + +"Thou standest in much need of me, though! A man might easily have run +away from thee if he had not been as brave-hearted as I am; for now thy +foes are riding upon thee, and so thou must up and be doing." + +Then Kari went away under a jutting crag, and Bjorn said-- + +"Where shall I stand now?" + +"Well!" answers Kari, "now there are two choices before thee; one is, +that thou standest at my back and have my shield to cover thyself with, +if it can be of any use to thee; and the other is, to get on thy horse +and ride away as fast as thou canst." + +"Nay," says Bjorn, "I will not do that, and there are many things +against it; first of all, may be, if I ride away, some spiteful tongues +might begin to say that I ran away from thee for faintheartedness; and +another thing is, that I well know what game they will think there is in +me, and so they will ride after me, two or three of them, and then I +should be of no use or help to thee after all. No! I will rather stand +by thee and keep them off so long as it is fated." + +Then they had not long to wait ere horses with pack-saddles were driven +by them over the moor, and with them went three men. + +Then Kari said-- + +"These men see us not." + +"Then let us suffer them to ride on," said Bjorn. + +So those three rode on past them; but the six others then came riding +right up to them, and they all leapt off their horses straightway in a +body, and turned on Kari and his companion. + +First, Glum Hilldir's son rushed at them, and thrust at Kari with a +spear; Kari turned short round on his heel, and Glum missed him, and the +blow fell against the rock. Bjorn sees that, and hewed at once the head +off Glum's spear. Kari leant on one side and smote at Glum with his +sword, and the blow fell on his thigh, and took off the limb high up in +the thigh, and Glum died at once. + +Then Vebrand and Asbrand the sons of Thorbrand ran up to Kari, but Kari +flew at Vebrand and thrust his sword through him, but afterwards he +hewed off both of Asbrand's feet from under him. + +In this bout both Kari and Bjorn were wounded. + +Then Kettle of the Mark rushed at Kari, and thrust at him with his +spear. Kari threw up his leg, and the spear stuck in the ground, and +Kari leapt on the spear-shaft, and snapped it in sunder. + +Then Kari grasped Kettle in his arms, and Bjorn ran up just then, and +wanted to slay him, but Kari said-- + +"Be still now. I will give Kettle peace; for though it may be that +Kettle's life is in my power, still I will never slay him." + +Kettle answers never a word, but rode away after his companions, and +told those the tidings who did not know them already. + +They told also these tidings to the men of the Hundred, and they +gathered together at once a great force of armed men, and went +straightway up all the water-courses, and so far up on the fell that +they were three days in the chase; but after that they turned back to +their own homes, but Kettle and his companions rode east to Swinefell, +and told the tidings there. + +Flosi was little stirred at what had befallen them, but said no one +could tell whether things would stop there, "for there is no man like +Kari of all that are now left in Iceland". + + + + +CHAPTER CLI. + +OF KARI AND BJORN AND THORGEIR. + + +Now we must tell of Bjorn and Kari that they ride down on the Sand, and +lead their horses under the banks where the wild oats grew, and cut the +oats for them, that they might not die of hunger. Kari made such a near +guess, that he rode away thence at the very time that they gave over +seeking for him. He rode by night up through the Hundred, and after that +he took to the fell; and so on all the same way as they had followed +when they rode east, and did not stop till they came to Midmark. + +Then Bjorn said to Kari-- + +"Now shalt thou be my great friend before my mistress, for she will +never believe one word of what I say; but everything lies on what you +do, so now repay me for the good following which I have yielded to +thee." + +"So it shall be; never fear," says Kari. + +After that they ride up to the homestead, and then the mistress asked +them what tidings, and greeted them well. + +"Our troubles have rather grown greater, old lass!" + +She answered little, and laughed; and then the mistress went on to ask-- + +"How did Bjorn behave to thee, Kari?" + +"Bare is back," he answers, "without brother behind it, and Bjorn +behaved well to me. He wounded three men, and, besides, he is wounded +himself, and he stuck as close to me as he could in everything." + +They were three nights there, and after that they rode to Holt to +Thorgeir, and told him alone these tidings, for those tidings had not +yet been heard there. + +Thorgeir thanked him, and it was quite plain that he was glad at what he +heard. He asked Kari what now was undone which he meant to do. + +"I mean," answers Kari, "to kill Gunnar Lambi's son and Kol Thorstein's +son, if I can get a chance. Then we have slain fifteen men, reckoning +those five whom we two slew together. But one boon I will now ask of +thee." + +Thorgeir said he would grant him whatever he asked. + +"I wish, then, that thou wilt take under thy safeguard this man whose +name is Bjorn, and who has been in these slayings with me, and that thou +wilt change farms with him, and give him a farm ready stocked here close +by thee, and so hold thy hand over him that no vengeance may befall him; +but all this will be an easy matter for thee who art such a chief." + +"So it shall be," says Thorgeir. + +Then he gave Bjorn a ready-stocked farm at Asolfskal, but he took the +farm in the Mark into his own hands. Thorgeir flitted all Bjorn's +household stuff and goods to Asolfskal, and all his live stock; and +Thorgeir settled all Bjorn's quarrels for him, and he was reconciled to +them with a full atonement. So Bjorn was thought to be much more of a +man than he had been before. + +Then Kari rode away, and did not draw rein till he came west to Tongue +to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. He gave Kari a most hearty welcome, and Kari +told him of all the tidings that had happened in these slayings. + +Asgrim was well pleased at them, and asked what Kari meant to do next. + +"I mean," said Kari, "to fare abroad after them, and so dog their +footsteps and slay them, if I can get at them." + +Asgrim said there was no man like him for bravery and hardihood. + +He was there some nights, and after that he rode to Gizur the white, and +he took him by both hands. Kari stayed there some while, and then he +told Gizur that he wished to ride down to Eyrar. + +Gizur gave Kari a good sword at parting. + +Now he rode down to Eyrar, and took him a passage with Kolbein the +black; he was an Orkneyman and an old friend of Kari, and he was the +most forward and brisk of men. + +He took Kari by both hands, and said that one fate should befall both of +them. + + + + +CHAPTER CLII. + +FLOSI GOES ABROAD. + + +Now Flosi rides east to Hornfirth, and most of the men in his Thing +followed him, and bore his wares east, as well as all his stores and +baggage which he had to take with him. + +After that they busked them for their voyage, and fitted out their ship. + +Now Flosi stayed by the ship until they were "boun". But as soon as ever +they got a fair wind they put out to sea. They had a long passage and +hard weather. + +Then they quite lost their reckoning, and sailed on and on, and all at +once three great waves broke over their ship, one after the other. Then +Flosi said they must be near some land, and that this was a +ground-swell. A great mist was on them, but the wind rose so that a +great gale overtook them, and they scarce knew where they were before +they were dashed on shore at dead of night, and the men were saved, but +the ship was dashed all to pieces, and they could not save their goods. + +Then they had to look for shelter and warmth for themselves, and the day +after they went up on a height. The weather was then good. + +Flosi asked if any man knew this land, and there were two men of their +crew who had fared thither before, and said they were quite sure they +knew it, and, say they-- + +"We are come to Hrossey in the Orkneys." + +"Then we might have made a better landing," said Flosi, "for Grim and +Helgi, Njal's sons, whom I slew, were both of them of Earl Sigurd +Hlodver's son's bodyguard." + +Then they sought for a hiding-place, and spread moss over themselves, +and so lay for a while, but not for long, ere Flosi spoke and said-- + +"We will not lie here any longer until the landsmen are ware of us." + +Then they arose, and took counsel, and then Flosi said to his men-- + +"We will go all of us and give ourselves up to the Earl; for there is +naught else to do, and the Earl has our lives at his pleasure if he +chooses to seek for them." + +Then they all went away thence, and Flosi said that they must tell no +man any tidings of their voyage, or what manner of men they were, before +he told them to the Earl. + +Then they walked on until they met men who showed them to the town, and +then they went in before the Earl, and Flosi and all the others hailed +him. + +The Earl asked what men they might be, and Flosi told his name, and said +out of what part of Iceland he was. + +The Earl had already heard of the Burning, and so he knew the men at +once, and then the Earl asked Flosi--"What hast thou to tell me about +Helgi Njal's son, my henchman?" + +"This," said Flosi, "that I hewed off his head." + +"Take them all," said the Earl. + +Then that was done, and just then in came Thorstein, son of Hall of the +Side. Flosi had to wife Steinvora, Thorstein's sister. Thorstein was one +of Earl Sigurd's bodyguard, but when he saw Flosi seized and held, he +went in before the Earl, and offered for Flosi all the goods he had. + +The Earl was very wroth a long time, but at last the end of it was, by +the prayer of good men and true, joined to those of Thorstein, for he +was well backed by friends, and many threw in their word with his, that +the Earl took an atonement from them, and gave Flosi and all the rest of +them peace. The Earl held to that custom of mighty men that Flosi took +that place in his service which Helgi Njal's son had filled. + +So Flosi was made Earl Sigurd's henchman, and he soon won his way to +great love with the Earl. + + + + +CHAPTER CLIII. + +KARI GOES ABROAD. + + +Those messmates Kari and Kolbein the black put out to sea from Eyrar +half a month later than Flosi and his companions from Hornfirth. + +They got a fine fair wind, and were but a short time out. The first land +they made was the Fair Isle; it lies between Shetland and the Orkneys. +There that man whose name was David the white took Kari into his house, +and he told him all that he had heard for certain about the doings of +the Burners. He was one of Kari's greatest friends, and Kari stayed +with him for the winter. + +There they heard tidings from the west out of the Orkneys of all that +was done there. + +Earl Sigurd bade to his feast at Yule Earl Gilli, his brother-in-law, +out of the Southern Isles; he had to wife Swanlauga, Earl Sigurd's +sister; and then too came to see Earl Sigurd that king from Ireland +whose name was Sigtrygg. He was a son of Olaf rattle, but his mother's +name was Kormlada; she was the fairest of all women, and best gifted in +everything that was not in her own power, but it was the talk of men +that she did all things ill over which she had any power. + +Brian was the name of the king who first had her to wife, but they were +then parted. He was the best-natured of all kings. He had his seat in +Connaught, in Ireland; his brother's name was Wolf the quarrelsome, the +greatest champion and warrior; Brian's foster-child's name was +Kerthialfad. He was the son of King Kylfi, who had many wars with King +Brian, and fled away out of the land before him, and became a hermit; +but when King Brian went south on a pilgrimage, then he met King Kylfi, +and then they were atoned, and King Brian took his son Kerthialfad to +him, and loved him more than his own sons. He was then full grown when +these things happened, and was the boldest of all men. + +Duncan was the name of the first of King Brian's sons; the second was +Margad; the third, Takt, whom we call Tann, he was the youngest of them; +but the elder sons of King Brian were full grown, and the briskest of +men. + +Kormlada was not the mother of King Brian's children, and so grim was +she against King Brian after their parting, that she would gladly have +him dead. + +King Brian thrice forgave all his outlaws the same fault, but if they +misbehaved themselves oftener, then he let them be judged by the law; +and from this one may mark what a king he must have been. + +Kormlada egged on her son Sigtrygg very much to kill King Brian, and she +now sent him to Earl Sigurd to beg for help. + +King Sigtrygg came before Yule to the Orkneys, and there, too, came Earl +Gilli, as was written before. + +The men were so placed that King Sigtrygg sat in a high seat in the +middle, but on either side of the king sat one of the earls. The men of +King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli sate on the inner side away from him, but +on the outer side away from Earl Sigurd, sate Flosi and Thorstein, son +of Hall of the Side, and the whole hall was full. + +Now King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli wished to hear of these tidings which +had happened at the Burning, and so, also, what had befallen since. + +Then Gunnar Lambi's son was got to tell the tale, and a stool was set +for him to sit upon. + + + + +CHAPTER CLIV. + +GUNNAR LAMBI'S SON'S SLAYING. + + +Just at that very time Kari and Kolbein and David the white came to +Hrossey unawares to all men. They went straightway up on land, but a few +men watched their ship. + +Kari and his fellows went straight to the Earl's homestead, and came to +the hall about drinking time. + +It so happened that just then Gunnar was telling the story of the +Burning, but they were listening to him meanwhile outside. This was on +Yule-day itself. + +Now King Sigtrygg asked-- + +"How did Skarphedinn bear the Burning?" + +"Well at first for a long time," said Gunnar, "but still the end of it +was that he wept." And so he went on giving an unfair leaning in his +story, but every now and then he laughed out loud. + +Kari could not stand this, and then he ran in with his sword drawn, and +sang this song-- + + Men of might, in battle eager, + Boast of burning Njal's abode, + Have the Princes heard how sturdy + Seahorse racers sought revenge? + Hath not since, on foemen holding + High the shield's broad orb aloft, + All that wrong been fully wroken? + Raw flesh ravens got to tear. + +So he ran in up the hall, and smote Gunnar Lambi's son on the neck with +such a sharp blow, that his head spun off on to the board before the +king and the earls, and the board was all one gore of blood, and the +Earl's clothing too. + +Earl Sigurd knew the man that had done the deed, and called out-- + +"Seize Kari and kill him." + +Kari had been one of Earl Sigurd's bodyguard, and he was of all men most +beloved by his friends; and no man stood up a whit more for the Earl's +speech. + +"Many would say, Lord," said Kari, "that I have done this deed on your +behalf, to avenge your henchman." + +Then Flosi said--"Kari hath not done this without a cause; he is in no +atonement with us, and he only did what he had a right to do". + +So Kari walked away, and there was no hue and cry after him. Kari fared +to his ship, and his fellows with him. The weather was then good, and +they sailed off at once south to Caithness, and went on shore at +Thraswick to the house of a worthy man whose name was Skeggi, and with +him they stayed a very long while. + +Those behind in the Orkneys cleansed the board, and bore out the dead +man. + +The Earl was told that they had set sail south for Scotland, and King +Sigtrygg said-- + +"This was a mighty bold fellow, who dealt his stroke so stoutly, and +never thought twice about it!" + +Then Earl Sigurd answered-- + +"There is no man like Kari for dash and daring." + +Now Flosi undertook to tell the story of the Burning, and he was fair to +all; and therefore what he said was believed. + +Then King Sigtrygg stirred in his business with Earl Sigurd, and bade +him go to the war with him against King Brian. + +The Earl was long steadfast, but the end of it was that he let the king +have his way, but said he must have his mother's hand for his help, and +be king in Ireland, if they slew Brian. But all his men besought Earl +Sigurd not to go into the war, but it was all no good. + +So they parted on the understanding that Earl Sigurd gave his word to +go; but King Sigtrygg promised him his mother and the kingdom. + +It was so settled that Earl Sigurd was to come with all his host to +Dublin by Palm Sunday. + +Then King Sigtrygg fared south to Ireland, and told his mother Kormlada +that the Earl had undertaken to come, and also what he had pledged +himself to grant him. + +She showed herself well pleased at that, but said they must gather +greater force still. + +Sigtrygg asked whence this was to be looked for? + +She said there were two vikings lying off the west of Man; and that they +had thirty ships, and, she went on, "they are men of such hardihood that +nothing can withstand them. The one's name is Ospak, and the other's +Brodir. Thou shalt fare to find them, and spare nothing to get them into +thy quarrel, whatever price they ask." + +Now King Sigtrygg fares and seeks the vikings, and found them lying +outside off Man; King Sigtrygg brings forward his errand at once, but +Brodir shrank from helping him until he, King Sigtrygg, promised him the +kingdom and his mother, and they were to keep this such a secret that +Earl Sigurd should know nothing about it; Brodir too was to come to +Dublin on Palm Sunday. + +So King Sigtrygg fared home to his mother, and told her how things +stood. + +After that those brothers, Ospak and Brodir, talked together, and then +Brodir told Ospak all that he and Sigtrygg had spoken of, and bade him +fare to battle with him against King Brian, and said he set much store +on his going. + +But Ospak said he would not fight against so good a king. + +Then they were both wroth, and sundered their band at once. Ospak had +ten ships and Brodir twenty. + +Ospak was a heathen, and the wisest of all men. He laid his ships inside +in a sound, but Brodir lay outside him. + +Brodir had been a Christian man and a mass-deacon by consecration, but +he had thrown off his faith and become God's dastard, and now worshipped +heathen fiends, and he was of all men most skilled in sorcery. He had +that coat of mail on which no steel would bite. He was both tall and +strong, and had such long locks that he tucked them under his belt. His +hair was black. + + + + +CHAPTER CLV. + +OF SIGNS AND WONDERS. + + +It so happened one night that a great din passed over Brodir and his +men, so that they all woke, and sprang up and put on their clothes. + +Along with that came a shower of boiling blood. + +Then they covered themselves with their shields, but for all that many +were scalded. + +This wonder lasted all till day, and a man had died on board every ship. + +Then they slept during the day, but the second night there was again a +din, and again they all sprang up. Then swords leapt out of their +sheaths, and axes and spears flew about in the air and fought. + +The weapons pressed them so hard that they had to shield themselves, but +still many were wounded, and again a man died out of every ship. + +This wonder lasted all till day. + +Then they slept again the day after. + +But the third night there was a din of the same kind, and then ravens +flew at them, and it seemed to them as though their beaks and claws were +of iron. + +The ravens pressed them so hard that they had to keep them off with +their swords, and covered themselves with their shields, and so this +went on again till day, and then another man had died in every ship. + +Then they went to sleep first of all, but when Brodir woke up, he drew +his breath painfully, and bade them put off the boat. "For," he said, "I +will go to see Ospak." + +Then he got into the boat and some men with him, but when he found Ospak +he told him of the wonders which had befallen them, and bade him say +what he thought they boded. + +Ospak would not tell him before he pledged him peace, and Brodir +promised him peace, but Ospak still shrank from telling him till night +fell. + +Then Ospak spoke and said--"When blood rained on you, therefore shall ye +shed many men's blood, both of your own and others. But when ye heard a +great din, then ye must have been shown the crack of doom, and ye shall +all die speedily. But when weapons fought against you, that must forbode +a battle; but when ravens pressed you, that marks the devils which ye +put faith in, and who will drag you all down to the pains of hell." + +Then Brodir was so wroth that he could answer never a word, but he went +at once to his men, and made them lay his ships in a line across the +sound, and moor them by bearing their cables on shore at either end of +the line, and meant to slay them all next morning. + +Ospak saw all their plan, and then he vowed to take the true faith, and +to go to King Brian, and follow him till his death-day. + +Then he took that counsel to lay his ships in a line, and punt them +along the shore with poles, and cut the cables of Brodir's ships. Then +the ships of Brodir's men began to fall aboard of one another when they +were all fast asleep; and so Ospak and his men got out of the firth, and +so west to Ireland, and came to Connaught. + +Then Ospak told King Brian all that he had learnt, and took baptism, and +gave himself over into the king's hand. + +After that King Brian made them gather force over all his realm, and the +whole host was to come to Dublin in the week before Palm Sunday. + + + + +CHAPTER CLVI. + +BRIAN'S BATTLE. + + +Earl Sigurd Hlodver's son busked him from the Orkneys, and Flosi offered +to go with him. + +The Earl would not have that, since he had his pilgrimage to fulfil. + +Flosi offered fifteen men of his band to go on the voyage, and the Earl +accepted them, but Flosi fared with Earl Gilli to the Southern Isles. + +Thorstein, the Son of Hall of the Side, went along with Earl Sigurd, and +Hrafn the red, and Erling of Straumey. + +He would not that Hareck should go, but said he would be sure to be the +first to tell him the tidings of his voyage. + +The Earl came with all his host on Palm Sunday to Dublin, and there too +was come Brodir with all his host. + +Brodir tried by sorcery how the fight would go, but the answer ran thus, +that if the fight were on Good Friday King Brian would fall but win the +day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were against +him. + +Then Brodir said that they must not fight before the Friday. + +On the fifth day of the week a man rode up to Kormlada and her company +on an apple-grey horse, and in his hand he held a halberd; he talked +long with them. + +King Brian came with all his host to the Burg, and on the Friday the +host fared out of the Burg, and both armies were drawn up in array. + +Brodir was on one wing of the battle, but King Sigtrygg on the other. + +Earl Sigurd was in the mid battle. + +Now it must be told of King Brian that he would not fight on the +fast-day, and so a shieldburg[82] was thrown round him, and his host was +drawn up in array in front of it. + +Wolf the quarrelsome was on that wing of the battle against which Brodir +stood; but on the other wing, where Sigtrygg stood against them, were +Ospak and his sons. + +But in mid battle was Kerthialfad, and before him the banners were +borne. + +Now the wings fall on one another, and there was a very hard fight, +Brodir went through the host of the foe, and felled all the foremost +that stood there, but no steel would bite on his mail. + +Wolf the quarrelsome turned then to meet him, and thrust at him thrice +so hard that Brodir fell before him at each thrust, and was well-nigh +not getting on his feet again; but as soon as ever he found his feet, he +fled away into the wood at once. + +Earl Sigurd had a hard battle against Kerthialfad, and Kerthialfad came +on so fast that he laid low all who were in the front rank, and he broke +the array of Earl Sigurd right up to his banner, and slew the +banner-bearer. + +Then he got another man to bear the banner, and there was again a hard +fight. + +Kerthialfad smote this man too his death blow at once, and so on one +after the other all who stood near him. + +Then Earl Sigurd called on Thorstein the son of Hall of the Side, to +bear the banner, and Thorstein was just about to lift the banner, but +then Asmund the white said-- + +"Don't bear the banner! for all they who bear it get their death." + +"Hrafn the red!" called out Earl Sigurd, "bear thou the banner." + +"Bear thine own devil thyself," answered Hrafn. + +Then the Earl said-- + +"'Tis fittest that the beggar should bear the bag;" and with that he +took the banner from the staff and put it under his cloak. + +A little after Asmund the white was slain, and then the Earl was pierced +through with a spear. + +Ospak had gone through all the battle on his wing, he had been sore +wounded, and lost both his sons ere King Sigtrygg fled before him. + +Then flight broke out throughout all the host. + +Thorstein Hall of the Side's son stood still while all the others fled, +and tied his shoe-string. Then Kerthialfad asked why he ran not as the +others. + +"Because," said Thorstein, "I can't get home to-night, since I am at +home out in Iceland." + +Kerthialfad gave him peace. + +Hrafn the red was chased out into a certain river; he thought he saw +there the pains of hell down below him, and he thought the devils wanted +to drag him to them. + +Then Hrafn said-- + +"Thy dog,[83] Apostle Peter! hath run twice to Rome, and he would run +the third time if thou gavest him leave." + +Then the devils let him loose, and Hrafn got across the river. + +Now Brodir saw that King Brian's men were chasing the fleers, and that +there were few men by the shieldburg. + +Then he rushed out of the wood, and broke through the shieldburg, and +hewed at the king. + +The lad Takt threw his arm in the way, and the stroke took it off and +the king's head too, but the king's blood came on the lad's stump, and +the stump was healed by it on the spot. + +Then Brodir called out with a loud voice-- + +"Now let man tell man that Brodir felled Brian." + +Then men ran after those who were chasing the fleers, and they were told +that King Brian had fallen, and then they turned back straightway, both +Wolf the quarrelsome and Kerthialfad. + +Then they threw a ring round Brodir and his men, and threw branches of +trees upon them, and so Brodir was taken alive. + +Wolf the quarrelsome cut open his belly, and led him round and round the +trunk of a tree, and so wound all his entrails out of him, and he did +not die before they were all drawn out of him. + +Brodir's men were slain to a man. + +After that they took King Brian's body and laid it out. The king's head +had grown fast to the trunk. + +Fifteen men of the Burners fell in Brian's battle, and there, too, fell +Halldor the son of Gudmund the powerful, and Erling of Straumey. + +On Good Friday that event happened in Caithness that a man whose name +was Daurrud went out. He saw folk riding twelve together to a bower, and +there they were all lost to his sight. He went to that bower and looked +in through a window slit that was in it, and saw that there were women +inside, and they had set up a loom. Men's heads were the weights, but +men's entrails were the warp and wed, a sword was the shuttle, and the +reels were arrows. + +They sang these songs, and he learnt them by heart-- + + ~THE WOOF OF WAR.~ + + See! warp is stretched + For warriors' fall, + Lo! weft in loom + 'Tis wet with blood; + Now fight foreboding, + 'Neath friends' swift fingers, + Our gray woof waxeth + With war's alarms, + Our warp bloodred, + Our weft corseblue. + + This woof is y-woven + With entrails of men, + This warp is hardweighted + With heads of the slain, + Spears blood-besprinkled + For spindles we use, + Our loom ironbound, + And arrows our reels; + With swords for our shuttles + This war-woof we work; + So weave we, weird sisters, + Our warwinning woof. + + Now War-winner walketh + To weave in her turn. + Now Swordswinger steppeth, + Now Swiftstroke, now Storm; + When they speed the shuttle + How spear-heads shall flash! + Shields crash, and helmgnawer[84] + On harness bite hard! + + Wind we, wind swiftly + Our warwinning woof. + Woof erst for king youthful + Foredoomed as his own, + Forth now we will ride, + Then through the ranks rushing + Be busy where friends + Blows blithe give and take. + + Wind we, wind swiftly + Our warwinning woof, + After that let us steadfastly + Stand by the brave king; + Then men shall mark mournful + Their shields red with gore, + How Swordstroke and Spearthrust + Stood stout by the prince. + + Wind we, wind swiftly + Our warwinning woof; + When sword-bearing rovers + To banners rush on, + Mind, maidens, we spare not + One life in the fray! + We corse-choosing sisters + Have charge of the slain. + + Now new-coming nations + That island shall rule. + Who on outlying headlands + Abode ere the fight; + I say that King mighty + To death now is done, + Now low before spearpoint + That Earl bows his head. + + Soon over all Ersemen + Sharp sorrow shall fall, + That woe to those warriors + Shall wane nevermore; + Our woof now is woven. + Now battle-field waste, + O'er land and o'er water + War tidings shall leap. + + Now surely 'tis gruesome + To gaze all around, + When bloodred through heaven + Drives cloudrack o'er head; + Air soon shall be deep hued + With dying men's blood + When this our spaedom + Comes speedy to pass. + + So cheerily chant we + Charms for the young king, + Come maidens lift loudly + His warwinning lay; + Let him who now listens + Learn well with his ears, + And gladden brave swordsmen + With bursts of war's song. + + Now mount we our horses, + Now bare we our brands, + Now haste we hard, maidens, + Hence far, far away. + +Then they plucked down the woof and tore it asunder, and each kept what +she had hold of. + +Now Daurrud goes away from the slit, and home; but they got on their +steeds and rode six to the south, and the other six to the north. + +A like event befell Brand Gneisti's son in the Faroe Isles. + +At Swinefell, in Iceland, blood came on the priest's stole on Good +Friday, so that he had to put it off. + +At Thvattwater the priest thought he saw on Good Friday a long deep of +the sea hard by the altar, and there he saw many awful sights, and it +was long ere he could sing the prayers. + +This event happened in the Orkneys, that Hareck thought he saw Earl +Sigurd, and some men with him. Then Hareck took his horse and rode to +meet the Earl. Men saw that they met and rode under a brae, but they +were never seen again, and not a scrap was ever found of Hareck. + +Earl Gilli in the Southern Isles dreamed that a man came to him and +said his name was Hostfinn, and told him he was come from Ireland. + +The Earl thought he asked him for tidings thence, and then he sang this +song-- + + I have been where warriors wrestled, + High in Erin sang the sword, + Boss to boss met many bucklers. + Steel rung sharp on rattling helm; + I can tell of all their struggle; + Sigurd fell in flight of spears; + Brian fell, but kept his kingdom + Ere he lost one drop of blood. + +Those two, Flosi and the Earl, talked much of this dream. A week after, +Hrafn the red came thither, and told them all the tidings of Brian's +battle, the fall of the king, and of Earl Sigurd, and Brodir, and all +the Vikings. + +"What," said Flosi, "hast thou to tell me of my men?" + +"They all fell there," says Hrafn, "but thy brother-in-law Thorstein +took peace from Kerthialfad, and is now with him." + +Flosi told the Earl that he would now go away, "for we have our +pilgrimage south to fulfil". + +The Earl bade him go as he wished, and gave him a ship and all else that +he needed, and much silver. + +Then they sailed to Wales, and stayed there a while. + + + + +CHAPTER CLVII. + +THE SLAYING OF KOL THORSTEIN'S SON. + + +Kari Solmund's son told master Skeggi that he wished he would get him a +ship. So master Skeggi gave Kari a long-ship, fully trimmed and manned, +and on board it went Kari, and David the white, and Kolbein the black. + +Now Kari and his fellows sailed south through Scotland's Firths, and +there they found men from the Southern Isles. They told Kari the tidings +from Ireland, and also that Flosi was gone to Wales, and his men with +him. + +But when Kari heard that, he told his messmates that he would hold on +south to Wales, to fall in with Flosi and his band. So he bade them then +to part from his company, if they liked it better, and said that he +would not wish to beguile any man into mischief, because he thought he +had not yet had revenge enough on Flosi and his band. + +All chose to go with him; and then he sails south to Wales, and there +they lay in hiding in a creek out of the way. + +That morning Kol Thorstein's son went into the town to buy silver. He of +all the Burners had used the bitterest words. Kol had talked much with a +mighty dame, and he had so knocked the nail on the head, that it was all +but fixed that he was to have her, and settle down there. + +That same morning Kari went also into the town. He came where Kol was +telling the silver. + +Kari knew him at once, and ran at him with his drawn sword and smote him +on the neck; but he still went on telling the silver, and his head +counted "ten" just as it spun off the body. + +Then Kari said-- + +"Go and tell this to Flosi, that Kari Solmund's son hath slain Kol +Thorstein's son. I give notice of this slaying as done by my hand." + +Then Kari went to his ship, and told his shipmates of the manslaughter. + +Then they sailed north to Beruwick, and laid up their ship, and fared up +into Whitherne in Scotland, and were with Earl Malcolm that year. + +But when Flosi heard of Kol's slaying, he laid out his body, and +bestowed much money on his burial. + +Flosi never uttered any wrathful words against Kari. + +Thence Flosi fared south across the sea and began his pilgrimage, and +went on south, and did not stop till he came to Rome. There he got so +great honour that he took absolution from the Pope himself, and for that +he gave a great sum of money. + +Then he fared back again by the east road, and stayed long in towns, and +went in before mighty men, and had from them great honour. + +He was in Norway the winter after, and was with Earl Eric till he was +ready to sail, and the Earl gave him much meal, and many other men +behaved handsomely to him. + +Now he sailed out to Iceland, and ran into Hornfirth, and thence fared +home to Swinefell. He had then fulfilled all the terms of his atonement, +both in fines and foreign travel. + + + + +CHAPTER CLVIII. + +OF FLOSI AND KARI. + + +Now it is to be told of Kari that the summer after he went down to his +ship and sailed south across the sea, and began his pilgrimage in +Normandy, and so went south and got absolution and fared back by the +western way, and took his ship again in Normandy, and sailed in her +north across the sea to Dover in England. + +Thence he sailed west, round Wales, and so north, through Scotland's +Firths, and did not stay his course till he came to Thraswick in +Caithness, to master Skeggi's house. + +There he gave over the ship of burden to Kolbein and David, and Kolbein +sailed in that ship to Norway, but David stayed behind in the Fair Isle. + +Kari was that winter in Caithness. In this winter his housewife died out +in Iceland. + +The next summer Kari busked him for Iceland. Skeggi gave him a ship of +burden, and there were eighteen of them on board her. + +They were rather late "boun," but still they put to sea, and had a long +passage, but at last they made Ingolf's Head. There their shin was +dashed all to pieces, but the men's lives were saved. Then, too, a gale +of wind came on them. + +Now they ask Kari what counsel was to be taken; but he said their best +plan was to go to Swinefell and put Flosi's manhood to the proof. + +So they went right up to Swinefell in the storm. Flosi was in the hall. +He knew Kari as soon as ever he came into the hall, and sprang up to +meet him, and kissed him, and sate him down in the high-seat by his +side. + +Flosi asked Kari to be there that winter, and Kari took his offer. Then +they were atoned with a full atonement. + +Then Flosi gave away his brother's daughter Hildigunna, whom Hauskuld +the priest of Whiteness had had to wife, to Kari, and they dwelt first +of all at Broadwater. + +Men say that the end of Flosi's life was, that he fared abroad, when he +had grown old, to seek for timber to build him a hall; and he was in +Norway that winter, but the next summer he was late "boun"; and men told +him that his ship was not seaworthy. + +Flosi said she was quite good enough for an old and death-doomed man, +and bore his goods on shipboard and put out to sea. But of that ship no +tidings were ever heard. + +These were the children of Kari Solmund's son and Helga Njal's +daughter--Thorgerda and Ragneida, Valgerda, and Thord who was burnt in +Njal's house. But the children of Hildigunna and Kari were these, +Starkad, and Thord, and Flosi. + +The son of Burning-Flosi was Kolbein, who has been the most famous man +of any of that stock. + +And here we end the STORY of BURNT NJAL. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Guðbrandr Vigfússon.] + +[Footnote 2: This word is invented like Laxdæla, Gretla, and others, to +escape the repetition or the word Saga, after that of the person or +place to which the story belongs. It combines the idea of the subject +and the telling in one word.] + +[Footnote 3: Many particulars mentioned in the Saga as wonderful are no +wonders to us. Thus in the case of Gunnar's bill, when we are told that +it gave out a strange sound before great events, this probably only +means that the shaft on which it was mounted was of some hard ringing +wood unknown in the north. It was a foreign weapon, and if the shaft +were of lance wood, the sounds it gave out when brandished or shaken +would be accounted for at once without a miracle.] + +[Footnote 4: There can be no doubt that it was considered a grave +offence to public morality to tell a Saga untruthfully. Respect to +friends and enemies alike, when they were dead and gone, demanded that +the histories of their lives, and especially of their last moments, +should be told as the events had actually happened. Our own Saga affords +a good illustration of this, and shows at the same time how a Saga +naturally arose out of great events. When King Sigtrygg was Earl +Sigurd's guest at Yule, and Flosi and the other Burners were about the +Earl's court, the Irish king wished to hear the story of the Burning, +and Gunnar Lambi's son was put forward to tell it at the feast on +Christmas day. It only added to Kari's grudge against him to hear Gunnar +tell the story with such a false leaning, when he gave it out that +Skarphedinn had wept for fear of the fire, and the vengeance which so +speedily overtook the false teller was looked upon as just retribution. +But when Flosi took up the story, he told it fairly and justly for both +sides, "and therefore," says the Saga, "what he said was believed".] + +[Footnote 5: Öresound, the gut between Denmark and Sweden, at the +entrance of the Baltic, commonly called in English, The Sound.] + +[Footnote 6: That is, he came from what we call the Western Isles or +Hebrides. The old appellation still lingers in "Sodor (i.e. the South +isles) and Man".] + +[Footnote 7: This means that Njal was one of those gifted beings who, +according to the firm belief of that age, had a more than human insight +into things about to happen. It answers very nearly to the Scottish +"second sight".] + +[Footnote 8: Lord of rings, a periphrasis for a chief, that is, Mord.] + +[Footnote 9: Earth's offspring, a periphrasis for woman, that is, Unna.] + +[Footnote 10: "Oyce," a north country word for the mouth of a river, +from the Icelandic _ós_] + +[Footnote 11: "The Bay," the name given to the great bay in the east of +Norway, the entrance of which from the North Sea is the Cattegat, and at +the end of which is the Christiania Firth. The name also applies to the +land round the Bay, which thus formed a district, the boundary of which, +on the one side, was the promontory called Lindesnæs, or the Naze, and +on the other, the Göta-Elf, the river on which the Swedish town of +Gottenburg stands, and off the mouth of which lies the island of +Hisingen, mentioned shortly after.] + +[Footnote 12: Permia, the country one comes to after doubling the North +Cape.] + +[Footnote 13: A town at the mouth of the Christiania Firth. It was a +great place for traffic in early times, and was long the only mart in +the south-east of Norway.] + +[Footnote 14: Rill of wolf--stream of blood.] + +[Footnote 15: A province of Sweden.] + +[Footnote 16: An island in the Baltic, off the coast of Esthonia.] + +[Footnote 17: Endil's courser--periphrasis for a ship.] + +[Footnote 18: Sigar's storm--periphrasis for a sea-fight.] + +[Footnote 19: Grieve, i.e., bailiff, head workman.] + +[Footnote 20: Swanbath's beams, periphrasis for gold.] + +[Footnote 21: "Thou, that heapest hoards," etc.--merely a periphrasis +for man, and scarcely fitting, except in irony, to a splitter of +firewood.] + +[Footnote 22: That is, slew him in a duel.] + +[Footnote 23: This shows that the shields were oblong, running down to a +point.] + +[Footnote 24: "Ocean's fire," a periphrasis for "gold". The whole line +is a periphrasis for "bountiful chief".] + +[Footnote 25: "Rhine's fire," a periphrasis for gold.] + +[Footnote 26: "Water-skates," a periphrasis for ships.] + +[Footnote 27: "Great Rift," Almannagjá--The great volcanic rift, or +"geo," as it would be called in Orkney and Shetland, which bounds the +plain of the Althing on one side.] + +[Footnote 28: Thorgrim Easterling and Thorbrand.] + +[Footnote 29: "Frodi's flour," a periphrasis for gold.] + +[Footnote 30: "Sea's bright sunbeams," a periphrasis for gold.] + +[Footnote 31: Constantinople.] + +[Footnote 32: Hlada or Lada, and sometimes in the plural Ladir, was the +old capital of Drontheim, before Nidaios--the present Drontheim--was +founded. Drontheim was originally the name of the country round the +firth of the same name, and is not used in the old Sagas for a town.] + +[Footnote 33: The country round the Christiania Firth, at the top of the +"Bay".] + +[Footnote 34: A town in Sweden on the Göta-Elf.] + +[Footnote 35: The mainland of Orkney, now Pomona.] + +[Footnote 36: Now Stroma, in the Pentland Firth.] + +[Footnote 37: By so doing Hrapp would have cleared himself of his own +outlawry.] + +[Footnote 38: "Prop of sea-waves' fire," a periphrasis for a woman that +bears gold on her arm.] + +[Footnote 39: "Skates that skim," etc., a periphrasis for ships.] + +[Footnote 40: "Odin's mocking cup," mocking songs.] + +[Footnote 41: An allusion to the Beast Epic, where the cunning fox +laughs at the flayed condition of his stupid foes, the wolf and bear. We +should say, "Don't stop to speak with him, but rather beat him black and +blue".] + +[Footnote 42: "Sea-stag," periphrasis for ship.] + +[Footnote 43: "Sea-fire bearers," the bearers of gold, men, that is, +Helgi and Grim.] + +[Footnote 44: "Byrnie-breacher," piercer of coats of mail.] + +[Footnote 45: "Noisy ogre's namesake," an allusion to the name of +Skarphedinn's axe, "the ogress of war".] + +[Footnote 46: Rood-cross, a crucifix.] + +[Footnote 47: His son was Glum who fared to the burning with Flosi.] + +[Footnote 48: "Forge which foams with song," the poet's head, in which +songs are forged, and gush forth like foaming mead.] + +[Footnote 49: "Hero's helm-prop," the hero's, man's, head which supports +his helm.] + +[Footnote 50: It is needless to say that this Hall was not Hall of the +Side.] + +[Footnote 51: "Wolf of Gods," the "_caput lupinum_," the outlaw of +heaven, the outcast from Valhalla, Thangbrand.] + +[Footnote 52: "The other wolf," Gudleif.] + +[Footnote 53: "Swarthy skarf," the skarf, or _pelecanus cardo_, the +cormorant. He compares the message of Thorwald to the cormorant shimming +over the waves, and says he will never take it. "Snap at flies," a very +common Icelandic metaphor from fish rising to a fly.] + +[Footnote 54: Maurer thinks the allusion is here to some mythological +legend on Odin's adventures which has not come dawn to us.] + +[Footnote 55: "He that giant's," etc., Thor.] + +[Footnote 56: "Mew-field's bison," the sea-going ship, which sails over +he plain of the sea-mew.] + +[Footnote 57: "Bell's warder," the Christian priest whose bell-ringing +formed part of the rites of the new faith.] + +[Footnote 58: "Falcon of the strand," ship.] + +[Footnote 59: "Courser of the causeway," ship.] + +[Footnote 60: "Gylfi's hart," ship.] + +[Footnote 61: "Viking's snow-shoe," sea-king's ship.] + +[Footnote 62: "Boiling Kettle," This was a hver, or hot spring.] + +[Footnote 63: This was the "Raven's Rift," opposite to the "Great Rift" +on the other side of the Thingfield.] + +[Footnote 64: "Warrior's temper," the temper of Hauskuld of Whiteness.] + +[Footnote 65: "Snake-land's stem," a periphrasis for woman, Rodny.] + +[Footnote 66: "He that hoardeth ocean's fire," a periphrasis for man, +Hauskuld of Whiteness.] + +[Footnote 67: "Baltic side." This probably means a part of the Finnish +coast in the Gulf of Bothnia.] + +[Footnote 68: "Wild man of the woods." In the original Finngálkn, a +fabulous monster, half man and half beast.] + +[Footnote 69: "Sand," Skeidará sand.] + +[Footnote 70: "Sand," Mælifell's sand.] + +[Footnote 71: "Nones," the well-known canonical hour of the day, the +ninth hour from six A.M., that is, about three o'clock P.M., when one of +the church services took place.] + +[Footnote 72: "Son of Gollnir," Njal, who was the son of Thorgeir +Gelling or Gollnir.] + +[Footnote 73: "My friends," ironically of course.] + +[Footnote 74: "Helmet-hewer," sword.] + +[Footnote 75: John for a man, and Gudruna for a woman, were standing +names in the Formularies of the Icelandic code, answering to the "M or +N" in our Liturgy, or to those famous fictions of English Law. "John Doe +and Richard Roe".] + +[Footnote 76: "Gossipry," that is, because they were gossips, _God's +sib_, relations by baptism.] + +[Footnote 77: "Swinestye," ironically for Swinefell, where Flosi lived.] + +[Footnote 78: This is the English equivalent for the Icelandic Hrepp, a +district. It still lingers in "the Rape of Bramber," and other districts +in Sussex and the south-east.] + +[Footnote 79: "With words alone," The English proverb, "Threatened men +live long".] + +[Footnote 80: "Sea crags." Hence Thorgeir got his surname "Craggeir".] + +[Footnote 81: "Pilgrimage to Rome." This condition had not been +mentioned before.] + +[Footnote 82: "Shieldburg" that is, a ring of men holding their shields +locked together.] + +[Footnote 83: "Thy dog," etc. Meaning that he would go a third time on a +pilgrimage to Rome If St. Peter helped him out of this strait.] + +[Footnote 84: "Helmgnawer," the sword that bites helmets.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The story of Burnt Njal, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL *** + +***** This file should be named 17919-8.txt or 17919-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/1/17919/ + +Produced by National Library of Iceland and Cornell +University Library via www.sagnanet.is, Jóhannes Birgir +Jensson, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed +Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The story of Burnt Njal + From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga + +Author: Anonymous + +Translator: George Webbe Dasent + +Release Date: March 4, 2006 [EBook #17919] +Last Updated: October 18, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL *** + + + + +Produced by National Library of Iceland and Cornell +University Library via www.sagnanet.is, Jóhannes Birgir +Jensson, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed +Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="trans-note"> + Transcriber's Note: This is a translation from Icelandic and there are inconsistencies +in punctuation which have been left as they were in the original. + </div> + + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/img001.png" alt="Book Cover" title="Book Cover" /></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/img003.png" alt="GUNNAR REFUSES TO LEAVE HOME" title="GUNNAR REFUSES TO LEAVE HOME" /></div> +<h4><span class="smcap">Gunnar Refuses to Leave Home</span> <a href='#Page_133'><i>p</i>. 133</a></h4> + +<p>"<i>Fair is Lithe: so fair that it has never seemed to me so fair; the +corn fields are white to harvest, and the home mead is mown: and now I +will ride back home, and not fare abroad at all.</i>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h1>The Story of Burnt Njal</h1> + + +<h3>From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga</h3> + + +<h3>By the late<br />Sir George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L.</h3> + + +<p class='center'><i>With a Prefatory Note, and the Introduction, Abridged, from the +Original Edition of 1861</i></p> + + +<p class='center'>New York E. P. Dutton & Co.<br /> +London Grant Richards<br /> +1900</p> + + + +<p class='center'><span class="smcap">THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS LIMITED</span></p> + + +<p class='center'><i>The design of the cover made by the late James Drummond, R.S.A., +combines the chief weapons mentioned in</i> The Story of Burnt Njal: +<i>Gunnar's bill, Skarphedinn's axe, and Kari's sword, bound together by +one of the great silver rings found in a Viking's hoard in Orkney.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h3>PREFATORY NOTE TO THE ONE-VOLUME EDITION.</h3> + + +<p><i><span class="smcap">Sir George Dasent's</span> translation of the Njals Saga, under the +title</i> The Story of Burnt Njal, <i>which is reprinted in this volume, was +published by Messrs. Edmonston & Douglas in</i> 1861. <i>That edition was in +two volumes, and was furnished by the author with maps and plans; with a +lengthy introduction dealing with Iceland's history, religion and social +life; with an appendix and an exhaustive index. Copies of this edition +can still be obtained from Mr. David Douglas of Edinburgh.</i></p> + +<p><i>The present reprint has been prepared in order that this incomparable +Saga may become accessible to those readers with whom a good story is +the first consideration and its bearing upon a nation's history a +secondary one—or is not considered at all. For</i> Burnt Njal <i>may be +approached either as a historical document, or as a pure narrative of +elemental natures, of strong passions; and of heroic feats of strength. +Some of the best fighting in literature is to be found between its +covers. Sir George Dasent's version in its capacity as a learned work +for the study has had nearly forty years of life; it is now offered +afresh simply as a brave story for men who have been boys and for boys +who are going to be men.</i></p> + +<p><i>We lay down the book at the end having added to our store of good +memories the record of great deeds and great hearts, and to our gallery +of heroes strong and admirable men worthy to stand beside the strong and +admirable men of the Iliad—Gunnar of Lithend and Skarphedinn, Njal and +Kari, Helgi and Kolskegg, beside Telamonian Aias and Patroclus, Achilles +and Hector, Ulysses and Idomeneus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span> In two respects these Icelanders win +more of our sympathy than the Greeks and Trojans; for they, like +ourselves, are of Northern blood, and in their mighty strivings are +unassisted by the gods.</i></p> + +<p><i>In the present volume Sir George Dasent's preface has been shortened, +and his introduction, which everyone who is interested in old Icelandic +life and history should make a point of reading in the original edition, +has been considerably abridged. The three appendices, treating of the +Vikings, Queen Gunnhillda, and money and currency in the tenth century, +have been also exised, and with them the index. There remains the Saga +itself (not a word of Sir George Dasent's simple, forcible, clean prose +having been touched), with sufficient introductory matter to assist the +reader to its fuller appreciation.</i></p> + +<p><i>Sir George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L., the translator of the Njals Saga, was +born in</i> 1817 <i>at St. Vincent in the West Indies, of which island his +father was Attorney-General. He was educated at Westminster School, and +at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he was distinguished both as a fine +athlete and a good classic. He took his degree in</i> 1840, <i>and on coming +to London showed an early tendency towards literature and literary +society. The Sterlings were connected with the island of' St. Vincent, +and as Dasent and John Sterling became close friends, he was a constant +guest at Captain Sterlings house in Knightsbridge, which was frequented +by many who afterwards rose to eminence in the world of letters, +including Carlyle, to whom Dasent dedicated his first book, Dasent's +appointment in</i> 1842 <i>as private secretary to Sir James Cartwright, the +British Envoy to the court of Sweden, took him to Stockholm, where under +the advice of Jacob Grimm, whom he had met in Denmark, he began that +study of Scandinavian literature which has enriched English literature +bu the present work, and by the</i> Norse Tales, Gísli the Outlaw, <i>and +other valuable translations and memoirs. On settling in London again in</i> +1845 <i>he joined the</i> Times <i>staff as assistant editor to the great +Delane, who had been his friend at Oxford, and whose sister he married +in the following year. Dasent retained the post during the paper's most +brilliant period. In</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span> 1870 <i>Mr. Gladstone offered him a Civil Service +Commissionership, which he accepted and held until his retirement in</i> +1892, <i>at which time he was the Commission's official head. He was +knighted "for public services" in</i> 1876, <i>having been created a knight +of the Danish order of the Dannebrög many years earlier.</i></p> + +<p><i>In addition, to his Scandinavian work, Sir George Dasent wrote several +novels, of which</i> The Annals of an Eventful Life <i>was at once the most +popular and the best. He died greatly respected in</i> 1896.</p> + +<p class='author'>E. V. LUCAS.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SIR GEORGE DASENT'S PREFACE</h2> + +<h4>(<span class="smcap">Abridged</span>.)</h4> + + +<p>What is a Saga? A Saga is a story, or telling in prose, +sometimes mixed with verse. There are many kinds of Sagas, of all +degrees of truth. There are the mythical Sagas, in which the wondrous +deeds of heroes of old time, half gods and half men, as Sigurd and +Ragnar, are told as they were handed down from father to son in the +traditions of the Northern race. Then there are Sagas recounting the +history of the kings of Norway and other countries, of the great line of +Orkney Jarls, and of the chiefs who ruled in Faroe. These are all more +or less trustworthy, and, in general, far worthier of belief than much +that passes for the early history of other races. Again, there are Sagas +relating to Iceland, narrating the lives, and feuds, and ends of mighty +chiefs, the heads of the great families which dwelt in this or that +district of the island. These were told by men who lived on the very +spot, and told with a minuteness and exactness, as to time and place, +that will bear the strictest examination. Such a Saga is that of Njal, +which we now lay before our readers in an English garb. Of all the Sagas +relating to Iceland, this tragic story bears away the palm for +truthfulness and beauty. To use the words of one well qualified to +judge, it is, as compared with all similar compositions, as gold to +brass.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Like all the Sagas which relate to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg xii]</a></span> the same period of +Icelandic story, Njala<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> was not written down till about 100 years +after the events which are described in it had happened. In the +meantime, it was handed down by word of mouth, told from Althing to +Althing, at Spring Thing, and Autumn Leet, at all great gatherings of +the people, and over many a fireside, on sea strand or river bank, or up +among the dales and hills, by men who had learnt the sad story of Njal's +fate, and who could tell of Gunnar's peerlessness and Hallgerda's +infamy, of Bergthora's helpfulness, of Skarphedinn's hastiness, of +Flosi's foul deed, and Kurt's stern revenge. We may be sure that as soon +as each event recorded in the Saga occurred, it was told and talked +about as matter of history, and when at last the whole story was +unfolded and took shape, and centred round Njal, that it was handed down +from father to son, as truthfully and faithfully as could ever be the +case with any public or notorious matter in local history. But it is not +on Njala alone that we have to rely for our evidence of its genuineness. +There are many other Sagas relating to the same period, and handed down +in like manner, in which the actors in our Saga are incidentally +mentioned by name, and in which the deeds recorded of them are +corroborated. They are mentioned also in songs and Annals, the latter +being the earliest written records which belong to the history of the +island, while the former were more easily remembered, from the +construction of the verse. Much passes for history in other lands on far +slighter grounds, and many a story in Thucydides or Tacitus, or even in +Clarendon or Hume, is believed on evidence not one-tenth part so +trustworthy as that which supports the narratives of these Icelandic +story-tellers of the eleventh century. That with occurrences of +undoubted truth, and minute particularity as to time and place, as to +dates and distance, are intermingled wild superstitions on several +occasions, will startle no reader of the smallest judgment. All ages, +our own not excepted, have their superstitions,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> and to suppose that a +story told in the eleventh century,—when phantoms, and ghosts, and +wraiths, were implicitly believed in, and when dreams, and warnings, and +tokens, were part of every man's creed—should be wanting in these marks +of genuineness, is simply to require that one great proof of its +truthfulness should be wanting, and that, in order to suit the spirit of +our age, it should lack something which was part and parcel of popular +belief in the age to which it belonged. To a thoughtful mind, therefore, +such stories as that of Swan's witchcraft, Gunnar's song in his cairn, +the Wolf's ride before the Burning, Flosi's dream, the signs and tokens +before Brian's battle, and even Njal's weird foresight, on which the +whole story hangs, will be regarded as proofs rather for than against +its genuineness.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>But it is an old saying, that a story never loses in telling, and so we +may expect it must have been with this story. For the facts which the +Saga-teller related he was bound to follow the narrations of those who +had gone before him, and if he swerved to or fro in this respect, public +opinion and notorious fame was there to check and contradict him.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> But +the way in which he told the facts was his own, and thus it comes that +some Sagas are better told than others, as the feeling and power of the +narrator<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> were above those of others. To tell a story truthfully was +what was looked for from all men in those days; but to tell it properly +and gracefully, and so to clothe the facts in fitting diction, was given +to few, and of those few the Saga teller who first threw Njala into its +present shape, was one of the first and foremost.</p> + +<p>With the change of faith and conversion of the Icelanders to +Christianity, writing, and the materials for writing, first came into +the land, about the year 1000. There is no proof that the earlier or +Runic alphabet, which existed in heathen times, was ever used for any +other purposes than those of simple monumental inscriptions, or of short +legends on weapons or sacrificial vessels, or horns and drinking cups. +But with the Roman alphabet came not only a readier means of expressing +thought, but also a class of men who were wont thus to express +themselves.... Saga after Saga was reduced to writing, and before the +year 1200 it is reckoned that all the pieces of that kind of composition +which relate to the history of Icelanders previous to the introduction +of Christianity had passed from the oral into the written shape. Of all +those Sagas, none were so interesting as Njal, whether as regarded the +length of the story, the number and rank of the chiefs who appeared in +it as actors, and the graphic way in which the tragic tale was told. As +a rounded whole, in which each part is finely and beautifully polished, +in which the two great divisions of the story are kept in perfect +balance and counterpoise, in which each person who appears is left free +to speak in a way which stamps him with a character of his own, while +all unite in working towards a common end, no Saga had such claims on +public attention as Njala, and it is certain none would sooner have been +committed to writing. The latest period, therefore, that we can assign +as the date at which our Saga was moulded into its present shape is the +year 1200....</p> + +<p>It was a foster-father's duty, in old times, to rear and cherish the +child which he had taken from the arms of its natural parents, his +superiors in rank. And so may this work, which the translator has taken +from the house of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id="Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span> Icelandic scholars, his masters in knowledge, and +which he has reared and fostered so many years under an English roof, go +forth and fight the battle of life for itself, and win fresh fame for +those who gave it birth. It will be reward enough for him who has first +clothed it in an English dress if his foster-child adds another leaf to +that evergreen wreath of glory which crowns the brows of Iceland's +ancient worthies.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Broad Sanctuary.</span></p> + +<p><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><i>Christmas Eve</i>, 1860.</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>It will be seen that in most cases the names of places throughout +the Saga have been turned into English, either in whole or in part, +as "Lithend" for "Lfaðrendi," and "Bergthorsknoll" for +"Bergthorshvól". The translator adopted this course to soften the +ruggedness of the original names for the English reader, but in +every case the Icelandic name, with its English rendering, will be +found in the maps. The surnames and nicknames have also been turned +into English—an attempt which has not a little increased the toil +of translation. Great allowance must be made for these renderings, +as those nicknames often arose out of circumstances of which we +know little or nothing. Of some, such as "Thorgeir Craggeir," and +"Thorkel foulmouth," the Saga itself explains the origin. In a +state of society where so many men bore the same name, any +circumstance or event in a man's life, as well as any peculiarity +in form or feature, or in temper and turn of mind, gave rise to a +surname or nickname, which clung to him through life as a +distinguishing mark. The Post Office in the United States is said +to give persons in the same district, with similar names, an +initial of identification, which answers the same purpose, as the +Icelandic nickname, thus: "John <i>P</i> Smith."—"John <i>Q</i> Smith". As a +general rule the translator has withstood the temptation to use old +English words. "Busk" and "boun" he pleads guilty to, because both +still linger in the language understood by few. "Busk" is a +reflective formed from 'eat búa sik,' "to get oneself ready," and +"boun" is the past participle of the active form "búa, búinn," to +get ready. When the leader in Old Ballads says—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">"Busk ye, busk ye,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 2em;">My bonny, bonny men,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>he calls on his followers to equip themselves; when they are thus +equipped they are "boun". A bride "busks" herself for the bridal; +when she is dressed she is "boun". In old times a ship was "busked" +for a voyage; when she was filled and ready for sea she was +"boun"—whence come our outward "bound" and homeward "bound". These +with "redes" for counsels or plans are almost the only words in the +translation which are not still in everyday use.</p></div><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span></p><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="SIR_GEORGE_DASENTS_INTRODUCTION" id="SIR_GEORGE_DASENTS_INTRODUCTION"></a>SIR GEORGE DASENT'S INTRODUCTION.</h2> + +<h4>(<span class="smcap">Abridged</span>).</h4> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">The Northmen in Iceland.</span></h3> + +<p>The men who colonized Iceland towards the end of the ninth century of +the Christian æra, were of no savage or servile race. They fled from the +overbearing power of the king, from that new and strange doctrine of +government put forth by Harold Fairhair, 860-933, which made them the +king's men at all times, instead of his only at certain times for +special service, which laid scatts and taxes on their lands, which +interfered with vested rights and world-old laws, and allowed the +monarch to meddle and make with the freemen's allodial holdings. As we +look at it now, and from another point of view, we see that what to them +was unbearable tyranny was really a step in the great march of +civilization and progress, and that the centralization and consolidation +of the royal authority, according to Charlemagne's system, was in time +to be a blessing to the kingdoms of the north. But to the freeman it was +a curse. He fought against it as long as he could; worsted over and over +again, he renewed the struggle, and at last, when the isolated efforts, +which were the key-stone of his edifice of liberty, were fruitless, he +sullenly withdrew from the field, and left the land of his fathers, +where, as he thought, no free-born man could now care to live. Now it is +that we hear of him in Iceland, where Ingolf was the first settler in +the year 874, and was soon followed by many of his countrymen. Now, too, +we hear of him in all lands. Now France<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xviii" id="Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span>—now Italy—now Spain, feel +the fury of his wrath, and the weight of his arm. After a time, but not +until nearly a century has passed, he spreads his wings for a wider +flight, and takes service under the great emperor at Byzantium, or +Micklegarth—the great city, the town of towns—and fights his foes from +whatever quarter they come. The Moslem in Sicily and Asia, the +Bulgarians and Slavonians on the shores of the Black Sea and in Greece, +well know the temper of the Northern steel, which has forced many of +their chosen champions to bite the dust. Wherever he goes the Northman +leaves his mark, and to this day the lion at the entrance to the arsenal +at Venice is scored with runes which tell of his triumph.</p> + +<p>But of all countries, what were called the Western Lands were his +favourite haunt. England, where the Saxons were losing their old dash +and daring, and settling down into a sluggish sensual race; Ireland, the +flower of Celtic lands, in which a system of great age and undoubted +civilization was then fast falling to pieces, afforded a tempting +battlefield in the everlasting feuds between chief and chief; Scotland, +where the power of the Picts was waning, while that of the Scots had not +taken firm hold on the country, and most of all the islands in the +Scottish Main, Orkney, Shetland, and the outlying Faroe Isles;—all +these were his chosen abode. In those islands he took deep root, +established himself on the old system, shared in the quarrels of the +chiefs and princes of the Mainland, now helped Pict and now Scot, roved +the seas and made all ships prizes, and kept alive his old grudge +against Harold Fairhair and the new system by a long series of piratical +incursions on the Norway coast. So worrying did these Viking cruises at +last become, that Harold, who meantime had steadily pursued his policy +at home, and forced all men to bow to his sway or leave the land, +resolved to crush the wasps that stung him summer after summer in their +own nest. First of all he sent Kettle flatnose, a mighty chief, to +subdue the foe; but though Kettle waged successful war, he kept what he +won for himself. It was the old story of setting a thief to catch a +thief; and Harold found that if he was to have his work done to his mind +he must do it himself. He called on his chiefs to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg xix]</a></span> follow him, levied a +mighty force, and, sailing suddenly with a fleet which must have seemed +an armada in those days, he fell upon the Vikings in Orkney and +Shetland, in the Hebrides and Western Isles, in Man and Anglesey, in the +Lewes and Faroe—wherever he could find them he followed them up with +fire and sword. Not once, but twice he crossed the sea after them, and +tore them out so thoroughly, root and branch, that we hear no more of +these lands as a lair of Vikings, but as the abode of Norse Jarls and +their udallers (freeholders) who look upon the new state of things at +home as right and just, and acknowledge the authority of Harold and his +successors by an allegiance more or less dutiful at different times, but +which was never afterwards entirely thrown off.</p> + +<p>It was just then, just when the unflinching will of Harold had taught +this stern lesson to his old foes, and arising in most part out of that +lesson, that the great rush of settlers to Iceland took place. We have +already seen that Ingolf and others had settled in Iceland from 874 +downwards, but it was not until nearly twenty years afterwards that the +island began to be thickly peopled. More than half of the names of the +first colonists contained in the venerable Landnáma Book—the Book of +Lots, the Doomsday of Iceland, and far livelier reading than that of the +Conqueror—are those of Northmen who had been before settled in the +British Isles. Our own country then was the great stepping-stone between +Norway and Iceland; and this one fact is enough to account for the close +connection which the Icelanders ever afterwards kept up with their +kinsmen who had remained behind in the islands of the west....</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Superstitions of the Race.</span></h3> + +<p>The Northman had many superstitions. He believed in good giants and bad +giants, in dark elves and bright elves, in superhuman beings who tilled +the wide gulf which existed between himself and the gods. He believed, +too, in wraiths and fetches and guardian spirits, who followed +particular persons, and belonged to certain families—a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg xx]</a></span> belief which +seems to have sprung from the habit of regarding body and soul as two +distinct beings, which at certain times took each a separate bodily +shape. Sometimes the guardian spirit or fylgja took a human shape; at +others its form took that of some animal fancied to foreshadow the +character of the man to whom it belonged. Thus it becomes a bear, a +wolf, an ox, and even a fox, in men. The fylgjur of women were fond of +taking the shape of swans. To see one's own fylgja was unlucky, and +often a sign that a man was "fey," or death-doomed. So, when Thord +Freedmanson tells Njal that he sees the goat wallowing in its gore in +the "town" of Bergthorsknoll, the foresighted man tells him that he has +seen his own fylgja, and that he must be doomed to die. Finer and nobler +natures often saw the guardian spirits of others. Thus Njal saw the +fylgjur of Gunnar's enemies, which gave him no rest the livelong night, +and his weird feeling is soon confirmed by the news brought by his +shepherd. From the fylgja of the individual it was easy to rise to the +still more abstract notion of the guardian spirits of a family, who +sometimes, if a great change in the house is about to begin, even show +themselves as hurtful to some member of the house. He believed also that +some men had more than one shape; that they could either take the shapes +of animals, as bears or wolves, and so work mischief; or that, without +undergoing bodily change, an access of rage and strength came over them, +and more especially towards night, which made them more than a match for +ordinary men. Such men were called hamrammir, "shape-strong," and it was +remarked that when the fit left them they were weaker than they had been +before.</p> + +<p>This gift was looked upon as something "uncanny," and it leads us at +once to another class of men, whose supernatural strength was regarded +as a curse to the community. These were the Baresarks. What the +hamrammir men were when they were in their fits the Baresarks almost +always were. They are described as being always of exceeding, and when +their fury rose high, of superhuman strength. They too, like the +hamrammir men, were very tired when the fits passed off. What led to +their fits is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxi" id="Page_xxi">[Pg xxi]</a></span> hard to say. In the case of the only class of men like +them nowadays, that of the Malays running a-muck, the intoxicating fumes +of bangh or arrack are said to be the cause of their fury. One thing, +however, is certain, that the Baresark, like his Malay brother, was +looked upon as a public pest, and the mischief which they caused, +relying partly no doubt on their natural strength, and partly on the +hold which the belief in their supernatural nature had on the mind of +the people, was such as to render their killing a good work.</p> + +<p>Again, the Northman believed that certain men were "fast" or "hard"; +that no weapons would touch them or wound their skin; that the mere +glance of some men's eyes would turn the edge of the best sword; and +that some persons had the power of withstanding poison. He believed in +omens and dreams and warnings, in signs and wonders and tokens; he +believed in good luck and bad luck, and that the man on whom fortune +smiled or frowned bore the marks of her favour or displeasure on his +face; he believed also in magic and sorcery, though he loathed them as +unholy rites. With one of his beliefs our story has much to do, though +this was a belief in good rather than in evil. He believed firmly that +some men had the inborn gift, not won by any black arts, of seeing +things and events beforehand. He believed, in short, in what is called +in Scotland "second sight". This was what was called being "forspár" or +"framsýnn," "foretelling" and "foresighted ". Of such men it was said +that their "words could not be broken". Njal was one of these men; one +of the wisest and at the same time most just and honourable of men. This +gift ran in families, for Helgi Njal's son had it, and it was beyond a +doubt one of the deepest-rooted of all their superstitions.</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Social Principles.</span></h3> + +<p>Besides his creed and these beliefs the new settler brought with him +certain fixed social principles, which we shall do well to consider +carefully in the outset.... First and foremost came the father's right +of property in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxii" id="Page_xxii">[Pg xxii]</a></span> children. This right is common to the infancy of all +communities, and exists before all law. We seek it in vain in codes +which belong to a later period, but it has left traces of itself in all +codes, and, abrogated in theory, still often exists in practice. We find +it in the Roman law, and we find it among the Northmen. Thus it was the +father's right to rear his children or not at his will. As soon as it +was born, the child was laid upon the bare ground; and until the father +came and looked at it, heard and saw that it was strong in lung and +limb, lifted it in his arms, and handed it over to the women to be +reared, its fate hung in the balance, and life or death depended on the +sentence of its sire. After it had passed safely through that ordeal, it +was duly washed, signed with Thor's holy hammer, and solemnly received +into the family. If it were a weakly boy, and still more often, if it +were a girl, no matter whether she were strong or weak, the infant was +exposed to die by ravening beasts, or the inclemency of the climate. +Many instances occur of children so exposed, who, saved by some kindly +neighbour, and fostered beneath a stranger's roof, thus contracted ties +reckoned still more binding than blood itself. So long as his children +remained under his roof, they were their father's own. When the sons +left the paternal roof, they were emancipated, and when the daughters +were married they were also free, but the marriage itself remained till +the latest times a matter of sale and barter in deed as well as name. +The wife came into the house, in the patriarchal state, either stolen or +bought from her nearest male relations; and though in later times when +the sale took place it was softened by settling part of the dower and +portion on the wife, we shall do well to bear in mind, that originally +dower was only the price paid by the suitor to the father for his good +will; while portion, on the other hand, was the sum paid by the father +to persuade a suitor to take a daughter off his hands. Let us remember, +therefore, that in those times, as Odin was supreme in Asgard as the +Great Father of Gods and men, so in his own house every father of the +race that revered Odin was also sovereign and supreme.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxiii" id="Page_xxiii">[Pg xxiii]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the second place, as the creed of the race was one that adored the +Great Father as the God of Battles; as it was his will that turned the +fight; nay, as that was the very way in which he chose to call his own +to himself,—it followed, that any appeal to arms was looked upon as an +appeal to God. Victory was indeed the sign of a rightful cause, and he +that won the day remained behind to enjoy the rights which he had won in +fair fight, but he that lost it, if he fell bravely and like a man, if +he truly believed his quarrel just, and brought it without guile to the +issue of the sword, went by the very manner of his death to a better +place. The Father of the Slain wanted him, and he was welcomed by the +Valkyries, by Odin's corse-choosers, to the festive board in Valhalla. +In every point of view, therefore, war and battle was a holy thing, and +the Northman went to the battlefield in the firm conviction that right +would prevail. In modern times, while we appeal in declarations of war +to the God of Battles, we do it with the feeling that war is often an +unholy thing, and that Providence is not always on the side of strong +battalions. The Northman saw Providence on both sides. It was good to +live, if one fought bravely, but it was also good to die, if one fell +bravely. To live bravely and to die bravely, trusting in the God of +Battles, was the warrior's comfortable creed.</p> + +<p>But this feeling was also shown in private life. When two tribes or +peoples rushed to war, there Odin, the warrior's god, was sure to be +busy in the fight, turning the day this way or that at his will; but he +was no less present in private war, where in any quarrel man met man to +claim or to defend a right. There, too, he turned the scale and swayed +the day, and there too an appeal to arms was regarded as an appeal to +heaven. Hence arose another right older than all law, the right of +duel—of wager of battle, as the old English law called it. Among the +Northmen it underlaid all their early legislation, which, as we shall +see, aimed rather at regulating and guiding it, by making it a part and +parcel of the law, than at attempting to check at once a custom which +had grown up with the whole faith of the people, and which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxiv" id="Page_xxiv">[Pg xxiv]</a></span> was regarded +as a right at once so time-honoured and so holy.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, we must never forget that, as it is the Christian's duty to +forgive his foes, and to be patient and long-suffering under the most +grievous wrongs so it was the heathen's bounden duty to avenge all +wrongs, and most of all those offered to blood relations, to his kith +and kin, to the utmost limit of his power. Hence arose the constant +blood-feuds between families, of which we shall hear so much in our +story, but which we shall fail fully to understand, unless we keep in +view, along with this duty of revenge, the right or property which all +heads of houses had in their relations. Out of these twofold rights, of +the right of revenge and the right of property, arose that strange +medley of forbearance and blood-thirstiness which stamps the age. +Revenge was a duty and a right, but property was no less a right; and so +it rested with the father of a family either to take revenge, life for +life, or to forego his vengeance, and take a compensation in goods or +money for the loss he had sustained in his property. Out of this latter +view arose those arbitrary tariffs for wounds or loss of life, which +were gradually developed more or less completely in all the Teutonic and +Scandinavian races, until every injury to life or limb had its +proportionate price, according to the rank which the injured person bore +in the social scale. These tariffs, settled by the heads of houses, are, +in fact, the first elements of the law of nations; but it must be +clearly understood that it always rested with the injured family either +to follow up the quarrel by private war, or to call on the man who had +inflicted the injury to pay a fitting fine. If he refused, the feud +might be followed up on the battlefield, in the earliest times, or in +later days, either by battle or by law. Of the latter mode of +proceeding, we shall have to speak at greater length farther on; for the +present, we content ourselves with indicating these different modes of +settling a quarrel in what we have called the patriarchal state.</p> + +<p>A fourth great principle of his nature was the conviction of the +worthlessness and fleeting nature of all worldly goods. One thing alone +was firm and unshaken,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxv" id="Page_xxv">[Pg xxv]</a></span> the stability of well-earned fame. "Goods +perish, friends perish, a man himself perishes, but fame never dies to +him that hath won it worthily." "One thing I know that never dies, the +judgment passed on every mortal man." Over all man's life hung a blind, +inexorable fate, a lower fold of the same gloomy cloud that brooded over +Odin and the Æsir. Nothing could avert this doom. When his hour came, a +man must meet his death, and until his hour came he was safe. It might +strike in the midst of the highest happiness, and then nothing could +avert the evil, but until it struck he would come safe through the +direst peril. This fatalism showed itself among this vigorous pushing +race in no idle resignation. On the contrary, the Northman went boldly +to meet the doom which he felt sure no effort of his could turn aside, +but which he knew, if he met it like a man, would secure him the only +lasting thing on earth—a name famous in songs and story. Fate must be +met then, but the way in which it was met, that rested with a man +himself, that, at least, was in his own power; there he might show his +free will; and thus this principle, which might seem at first to be +calculated to blunt his energies and weaken his strength of mind, really +sharpened and hardened them in a wonderful way, for it left it still +worth everything to a man to fight this stern battle of life well and +bravely, while its blind inexorable nature allowed no room for any +careful weighing of chances or probabilities, or for any anxious prying +into the nature of things doomed once for all to come to pass. To do +things like a man, without looking to the right or left, as Kari acted +when he smote off Gunnar's head in Earl Sigurd's hall, was the +Northman's pride. He must do them openly too, and show no shame for what +he had done. To kill a man and say that you had killed him, was +manslaughter; to kill him and not to take it on your hand was murder. To +kill men at dead of night was also looked on as murder. To kill a foe +and not bestow the rights of burial on his body by throwing sand or +gravel over him, was also looked on as murder. Even the wicked Thiostolf +throws gravel over Glum in our Saga, and Thord Freedmanson's complaint +against Brynjolf the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxvi" id="Page_xxvi">[Pg xxvi]</a></span> unruly was that he had buried Atli's body badly. +Even in killing a foe there was an open gentlemanlike way of doing it, +to fail in which was shocking to the free and outspoken spirit of the +age. Thorgeir Craggeir and the gallant Kari wake their foes and give +them time to arm themselves before they fall upon them; and Hrapp, too, +the thorough Icelander of the common stamp, "the friend of his friends +and the foe of his foes," stalks before Gudbrand and tells him to his +face the crimes which he has committed. Robbery and piracy in a good +straightforward wholesale way were honoured and respected; but to steal, +to creep to a man's abode secretly at dead of night and spoil his goods, +was looked upon as infamy of the worst kind. To do what lay before him +openly and like a man, without fear of either foes, fiends, or fate; to +hold his own and speak his mind, and seek fame without respect of +persons; to be free and daring in all his deeds; to be gentle and +generous to his friends and kinsmen; to be stern and grim to his foes, +but even towards them to feel bound to fulfil all bounden duties; to be +as forgiving to some as he was unyielding and unforgiving to others. To +be no truce-breaker, nor talebearer nor backbiter. To utter nothing +against any man that he would not dare to tell him to his face. To turn +no man from his door who sought food or shelter, even though he were a +foe—these were other broad principles of the Northman's life, further +features of that steadfast faithful spirit which he brought with him to +his new home....</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Daily Life in Njal's Time.</span></h3> + +<p>In the tenth century the homesteads of the Icelanders consisted of one +main building, in which the family lived by day and slept at night, and +of out-houses for offices and farm-buildings, all opening on a yard. +Sometimes these out-buildings touched the main building, and had doors +which opened into it, but in most cases they stood apart, and for +purposes of defence, no small consideration in those days, each might be +looked upon as a separate house.</p> + +<p>The main building of the house was the stofa, or sitting and sleeping +room. In the abodes of chiefs and great men,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxvii" id="Page_xxvii">[Pg xxvii]</a></span> this building had great +dimensions, and was then called a skáli, or hall. It was also called +eldhús, or eldáskáli, from the great fires which burned in it.... It had +two doors, the men's or main door, and the women's or lesser door. Each +of these doors opened into a porch of its own, andyri, which was often +wide enough, in the case of that into which the men's door opened, as we +see in Thrain's house at Grit water, to allow many men to stand in it +abreast. It was sometimes called forskáli. Internally the hall consisted +of three divisions, a nave and two low side aisles. The walls of these +aisles were of stone, and low enough to allow of their being mounted +with ease, as we see happened both with Gunner's skáli, and with Njal's. +The centre division or nave on the other hand, rose high above the +others on two rows of pillars. It was of timber, and had an open work +timber roof. The roofs of the side aisles were supported by posts as +well as by rafters and cross-beams leaning against the pillars of the +nave. It was on one of these cross-beams, after it had fallen down from +the burning roof, that Kari got on to the side wall and leapt out, while +Skarphedinn, when the burnt beam snapped asunder under his weight, was +unable to follow him. There were fittings of wainscot along the walls of +the side aisles, and all round between the pillars of the inner row, +supporting the roof of the nave, ran a wainscot panel. In places the +wainscot was pierced by doors opening into sleeping places shut off from +the rest of the hall on all sides for the heads of the family. In other +parts of the passages were sleeping places and beds not so shut off, for +the rest of the household. The women servants slept in the passage +behind the dais at one end of the hall. Over some halls there were upper +chambers or lofts, in one of which Gunnar of Lithend slept, and from +which he made his famous defence.</p> + +<p>We have hitherto treated only of the passages and recesses of the side +aisles. The whole of the nave within the wainscot, between the inner +round pillars, was filled by the hall properly so called. It had long +hearths for fires in the middle, with louvres above to let out the +smoke. On either side nearest to the wainscot, and in some cases +touching it,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxviii" id="Page_xxviii">[Pg xxviii]</a></span> was a row of benches; in each of these was a high seat, if +the hall was that of a great man, that on the south side being the +owner's seat. Before these seats were tables, boards, which, however, do +not seem, any more than our early Middle Age tables, to have been always +kept standing, but were brought in with, and cleared away after, each +meal. On ordinary occasions, one row of benches on each side sufficed; +but when there was a great feast, or a sudden rush of unbidden guests, +as when Flosi paid his visit to Tongue to take down Asgrim's pride, a +lower kind of seats, or stools were brought in, on which the men of +lowest rank sat, and which were on the outside of the tables, nearest to +the fire. At the end of the hall, over against the door, was a raised +platform or dais, on which also was sometimes a high seat and benches. +It was where the women eat at weddings, as we see from the account of +Hallgerda's wedding, in our Saga, and from many other passages.</p> + +<p>In later times the seat of honour was shifted from the upper bench to +the dais; and this seems to have been the case occasionally with kings +and earls In Njal's time, if we may judge from the passage in the Saga, +where Hildigunna fits up a high seat on the dais for Flosi, which he +spurns from under him with the words, that he was "neither king nor +earl," meaning that he was a simple man, and would have nothing to do +with any of those new-fashions. It was to the dais that Asgrim betook +himself when Flosi paid him his visit, and unless Asgrim's hall was much +smaller than we have any reason to suppose would be the case in the +dwelling of so great a chief, Flosi must have eaten his meal not far +from the dais, in order to allow of Asgrim's getting near enough to aim +a blow at him with a pole-axe from the rail at the edge of the platform. +On high days and feast days, part of the hall was hung with tapestry, +often of great worth and beauty, and over the hangings all along the +wainscot, were carvings such as those which ... our Saga tells us +Thorkel Foulmouth had carved on the stool before his high seat and over +his shut bed, in memory of those deeds of "derring do" which he had +performed in foreign lands.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxix" id="Page_xxix">[Pg xxix]</a></span></p> + +<p>Against the wainscot in various parts of the hall, shields and weapons +were hung up. It was the sound of Skarphedinn's axe against the wainscot +that woke up Njal and brought him out of his shut bed, when his sons set +out on their hunt after Sigmund the white and Skiolld.</p> + +<p>Now let us pass out of the skáli by either door, and cast our eyes at +the high gables with their carved projections, and we shall understand +at a glance how it was that Mord's counsel to throw ropes round the ends +of the timbers, and then to twist them tight with levers and rollers, +could only end, if carried out, in tearing the whole roof off the house. +It was then much easier work for Gunnar's foes to mount up on the +side-roofs as the Easterling, who brought word that his bill was at +home, had already done, and thence to attack him in his sleeping loft +with safety to themselves, after his bowstring had been cut.</p> + +<p>Some homesteads, like those of Gunnar at Lithend, and Gísli and his +brother at Hol in Hawkdale, in the West Firths, had bowers, ladies' +chambers, where the women eat and span, and where, in both the houses +that we have named, gossip and scandal was talked with the worst +results. These bowers stood away from the other buildings....</p> + +<p>Every Icelandic homestead was approached by a straight road which led up +to the yard round which the main building and its out-houses and +farm-buildings stood. This was fenced in on each side by a wall of +stones or turf. Near the house stood the "town" or home fields where +meadow hay was grown, and in favoured positions where corn would grow, +there were also enclosures of arable land near the house. On the uplands +and marshes more hay was grown. Hay was the great crop in Iceland; for +the large studs of horses and great herds of cattle that roamed upon the +hills and fells in summer needed fodder in the stable and byre in +winter, when they were brought home. As for the flocks of sheep, they +seem to have been reckoned and marked every autumn, and milked and shorn +in summer; but to have fought it out with nature on the hill-side all +the year round as they best could. Hay, therefore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxx" id="Page_xxx">[Pg xxx]</a></span> was the main staple, +and haymaking the great end and aim of an Icelandic farmer.... Gunnar's +death in our Saga may be set down to the fact that all his men were away +in the Landisles finishing their haymaking. Again, Flosi, before the +Burning, bids all his men go home and make an end of their haymaking, +and when that is over, to meet and fall on Njal and his sons. Even the +great duty of revenge gives way to the still more urgent duty of +providing fodder for the winter store. Hayneed, to run short of hay, was +the greatest misfortune that could befall a man, who with a fine herd +and stud, might see both perish before his eyes in winter. Then it was +that men of open heart and hand, like Gunnar, helped their tenants and +neighbours, often, as we see in Gunnar's case, till they had neither hay +nor food enough left for their own household, and had to buy or borrow +from those that had. Then, too, it was that the churl's nature came out +in Otkell and others, who having enough and to spare, would not part +with their abundance for love or money.</p> + +<p>These men were no idlers. They worked hard, and all, high and low, +worked. In no land does the dignity of labour stand out so boldly. The +greatest chiefs sow and reap, and drive their sheep, like Glum, the +Speaker's brother, from the fells. The mightiest warriors were the +handiest carpenters and smiths. Gísli Súr's son knew every corner of his +foeman's house, because he had built it with his own hands while they +were good friends. Njal's sons are busy at armourer's work, like the +sons of the mythical Ragnar before them, when the news comes to them +that Sigmund has made a mock of them in his songs. Gunnar sows his corn +with his arms by his side, when Otkell rides over him; and Hauskuld the +Whiteness priest is doing the same work when he is slain. To do +something, and to do it well, was the Icelander's aim in life, and in no +land does laziness like that of Thorkell meet with such well deserved +reproach. They were early risers and went early to bed, though they +could sit up late if need were. They thought nothing of long rides +before they broke their fast. Their first meal was at about seven +o'clock, and though they may have taken a morsel of food<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxi" id="Page_xxxi">[Pg xxxi]</a></span> during the +day, we hear of no other regular daily meal till evening, when between +seven and eight again they had supper. While the men laboured on the +farm or in the smithy, threw nets for fish in the teeming lakes and +rivers, or were otherwise at work during the day, the women, and the +housewife, or mistress of the house, at their head, made ready the food +for the meals, carded wool, and sewed or wove or span. At meal-time the +food seems to have been set on the board by the women, who waited on the +men, and at great feasts, such as Gunnar's wedding, the wives of his +nearest kinsmen, and of his dearest friend, Thorhillda Skaldtongue, +Thrain's wife, and Bergthora, Njal's wife, went about from board to +board waiting on the guests.</p> + +<p>In everyday life they were a simple sober people, early to bed and early +to rise—ever struggling with the rigour of the climate. On great +occasions, as at the Yule feasts in honour of the gods, held at the +temples, or at "arvel," "heir-ale," feasts, when heirs drank themselves +into their father's land and goods, or at the autumn feasts, which +friends and kinsmen gave to one another, there was no doubt great mirth +and jollity, much eating and hard drinking of mead and fresh-brewed ale; +but these drinks are not of a very heady kind, and one glass of spirits +in our days would send a man farther on the road to drunkenness than +many a horn of foaming mead. They were by no means that race of +drunkards and hard livers which some have seen fit to call them.</p> + +<p>Nor were these people such barbarians as some have fancied, to whom it +is easier to rob a whole people of its character by a single word than +to take the pains to inquire into its history. They were bold warriors +and bolder sailors. The voyage between Iceland and Norway, or Iceland +and Orkney, was reckoned as nothing; but from the west firths of +Iceland, Eric the Red—no ruffian as he has been styled, though he had +committed an act of manslaughter—discovered Greenland; and from +Greenland the hardy seafarers pushed on across the main, till they made +the dreary coast of Labrador. Down that they ran until they came at last +to Vineland the good, which took its name from the grapes that grew +there. From the accounts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxii" id="Page_xxxii">[Pg xxxii]</a></span> given of the length of the days in that land, +it is now the opinion of those best fitted to judge on such matters, +that this Vineland was no other than some part of the North American +continent near Rhode Island or Massachusetts, in the United States. +Their ships were half-decked, high out of the water at stem and stern, +low in the waist, that the oars might reach the water, for they were +made for rowing as well as for sailing. The after-part had a poop. The +fore-part seems to have been without deck, but loose planks were laid +there for men to stand on. A distinction was made between long-ships or +ships of war, made long for speed, and ... ships of burden, which were +built to carry cargo. The common complement was thirty rowers, which in +warships made sometimes a third and sometimes a sixth of the crew. All +round the warships, before the fight began, shield was laid on shield, +on a rim or rail, which ran all round the bulwarks, presenting a mark +like the hammocks of our navy, by which a long-ship could be at once +detected. The bulwarks in warships could be heightened at pleasure, and +this was called "to girdle the ship for war". The merchant ships often +carried heavy loads of meal and timber from Norway, and many a one of +these half-decked yawls no doubt foundered, like Flosi's unseaworthy +ship, under the weight of her heavy burden of beams and planks, when +overtaken by the autumnal gales on that wild sea. The passages were +often very long, more than one hundred days is sometimes mentioned as +the time spent on a voyage between Norway and Iceland.</p> + +<p>As soon as the ship reached the land, she ran into some safe bay or +creek, the great landing places on the south and south-east coasts being +Eyrar, "The Eres," as such spots are still called in some parts of the +British Isles, that is, the sandy beaches opening into lagoons which +line the shore of the marsh district called Flói; and Hornfirth, whence +Flosi and the Burners put to sea after their banishment. There the ship +was laid up in a slip, made for her, she was stripped and made snug for +the winter, a roof of planks being probably thrown over her, while the +lighter portions of her cargo were carried on pack-saddles up the +country. The timber seems to have been floated up the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxiii" id="Page_xxxiii">[Pg xxxiii]</a></span> firths and rivers +as near as it could be got to its destination, and then dragged by +trains of horses to the spot where it was to be used.</p> + +<p>Some of the cargo—the meal, and cloth and arms—was wanted at home; +some of it was sold to neighbours either for ready money or on trust, it +being usual to ask for the debt either in coin or in kind, the spring +after. Sometimes the account remained outstanding for a much longer +time. Among these men whose hands were so swift to shed blood, and in +that state of things which looks so lawless, but which in truth was +based upon fixed principles of justice and law, the rights of property +were so safe, that men like Njal went lending their money to overbearing +fellows like Starkad under Threecorner for years, on condition that he +should pay a certain rate of interest. So also Gunnar had goods and +money out at interest, out of which he wished to supply Unna's wants. In +fact the law of debtor and creditor, and of borrowing money at usance, +was well understood in Iceland, from the very first day that the +Northmen set foot on its shores.</p> + +<p>If we examine the condition of the sexes in this state of society, we +shall find that men and women met very nearly on equal terms. If any +woman is shocked to read how Thrain Sigfus' son treated his wife, in +parting from her, and marrying a new one, at a moment's warning, she +must be told that Gudruna, in Laxdæla, threatened one of her three +husbands with much the same treatment, and would have put her threat +into execution if he had not behaved as she commanded him. In our Saga, +too, the gudewife of Bjorn the boaster threatens him with a separation +if he does not stand faithfully by Kari; and in another Saga of equal +age and truthfulness, we hear of one great lady who parted from her +husband, because, in playfully throwing a pillow of down at her, he +unwittingly struck her with his finger. In point of fact, the customary +law allowed great latitude to separations, at the will of either party, +if good reason could be shown for the desired change. It thought that +the worst service it could render to those whom it was intended to +protect would be to force two people to live together against their +will, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxiv" id="Page_xxxiv">[Pg xxxiv]</a></span> even against the will of only one of them, if that person +considered him or herself, as the case might be, ill-treated or +neglected. Gunnar no doubt could have separated himself from Hallgerda +for her thieving, just as Hallgerda could have parted from Gunnar for +giving her that slap in the face; but they lived on, to Gunnar's cost +and Hallgerda's infamy. In marriage contracts the rights of brides, like +Unna the great heiress of the south-west, or Hallgerda the flower of the +western dales, were amply provided for. In the latter case it was a +curious fact that this wicked woman retained possession of Laugarness, +near Reykjavik, which was part of her second husband Glum's property, to +her dying day, and there, according to constant tradition, she was +buried in a cairn which is still shown at the present time, and which is +said to be always green, summer and winter alike. Where marriages were +so much matter of barter and bargain, the father's will went for so much +and that of the children for so little, love matches were comparatively +rare; and if the songs of Gunnlaugr snaketongue and Kormak have +described the charms of their fair ones, and the warmth of their passion +in glowing terms, the ordinary Icelandic marriage of the tenth century +was much more a matter of business, in the first place, than of love. +Though strong affection may have sprung up afterwards between husband +and wife, the love was rather a consequence of the marriage than the +marriage a result of the love.</p> + +<p>When death came it was the duty of the next of kin to close the eyes and +nostrils of the departed, and our Saga, in that most touching story of +Rodny's behaviour after the death of her son Hauskuld, affords an +instance of the custom. When Njal asks why she, the mother, as next of +kin, had not closed the eyes and nostrils of the corpse, the mother +answers, "That duty I meant for Skarphedinn". Skarphedinn then performs +the duty, and, at the same time, undertakes the duty of revenge. In +heathen times the burial took place on a "how" or cairn, in some +commanding position near the abode of the dead, and now came another +duty. This was the binding on of the "hellshoes," which the deceased was +believed to need in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxv" id="Page_xxxv">[Pg xxxv]</a></span> heathen times on his way either to Valhalla's +bright hall of warmth and mirth, or to Hell's dark realm of cold and +sorrow. That duty over, the body was laid in the cairn with goods and +arms, sometimes as we see was the case with Gunnar in a sitting posture; +sometimes even in a ship, but always in a chamber formed of baulks of +timber or blocks of stone, over which earth and gravel were piled....</p> + + +<h3><span class="smcap">Conclusion</span>.</h3> + +<p>We are entitled to ask in what work of any age are the characters so +boldly, and yet so delicately, drawn [as in this Saga]? Where shall we +match the goodness and manliness of Gunnar, struggling with the storms +of fate, and driven on by the wickedness of Hallgerda into quarrel after +quarrel, which were none of his own seeking, but led no less surely to +his own end? Where shall we match Hallgerda herself—that noble frame, +so fair and tall, and yet with so foul a heart, the abode of all great +crimes, and also the lurking place of tale-bearing and thieving? Where +shall we find parallels to Skarphedinn's hastiness and readiness, as axe +aloft he leapt twelve ells across Markfleet, and glided on to smite +Thrain his death-blow on the slippery ice? where for Bergthora's love +and tenderness for her husband, she who was given young to Njal, and +could not find it in her heart to part from him when the house blazed +over their heads? where for Kari's dash and gallantry, the man who dealt +his blows straightforward, even in the Earl's hall, and never thought +twice about them? where for Njal himself, the man who never dipped his +hands in blood, who could unravel all the knotty points of the law; who +foresaw all that was coming, whether for good or ill, for friend or for +foe; who knew what his own end would be, though quite powerless to avert +it; and when it came, laid him down to his rest, and never uttered sound +or groan, though the flames roared loud around him? Nor are the minor +characters less carefully drawn, the scolding tongue of Thrain's first +wife, the mischief-making Thiostolf with his pole-axe, which divorced +Hallgerda's first husband, Hrut's swordsmanship, Asgrim's dignity, +Gizur's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxvi" id="Page_xxxvi">[Pg xxxvi]</a></span> good counsel, Snorri's common sense and shrewdness, Gudmund's +grandeur, Thorgeir's thirst for fame, Kettle's kindliness, Ingialld's +heartiness, and, though last not least, Bjorn's boastfulness, which his +gudewife is ever ready to cry down—are all sketched with a few sharp +strokes which leave their mark for once and for ever on the reader's +mind. Strange! were it not that human nature is herself in every age, +that such forbearance and forgiveness as is shown by Njal and Hauskuld +and Hall, should have shot up out of that social soil, so stained and +steeped with the blood-shedding of revenge. Revenge was the great duty +of Icelandic life, yet Njal is always ready to make up a quarrel, though +he acknowledges the duty, when he refuses in his last moments to outlive +his children, whom he feels himself unable to revenge. The last words of +Hauskuld, when he was foully assassinated through the tale-bearing of +Mord, were, "God help me and forgive you"; nor did the beauty of a +Christian spirit ever shine out more brightly than in Hall, who, when +his son Ljot, the flower of his flock, fell full of youth, and strength, +and promise, in chance-medley at the battle on the Thingfield, at once +for the sake of peace gave up the father's and the freeman's dearest +rights, those of compensation and revenge, and allowed his son to fall +unatoned in order that peace might be made. This struggle between the +principle of an old system now turned to evil, and that of a new state +of things which was still fresh and good, between heathendom as it sinks +into superstition, and Christianity before it has had time to become +superstitious, stands strongly forth in the latter part of the Saga; but +as yet the new faith can only assert its forbearance and forgiveness in +principle. It has not had time, except in some rare instances, to bring +them into play in daily life. Even in heathen times such a deed as that +by which Njal met his death, to hem a man in within his house and then +to burn it and him together, to choke a freeman, as Skarphedinn says, +like a fox in his earth, was quite against the free and open nature of +the race; and though instances of such foul deeds occur besides those +two great cases of Blundkettle and Njal, still they were always looked +upon as atrocious crimes and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxvii" id="Page_xxxvii">[Pg xxxvii]</a></span> punished accordingly. No wonder, +therefore, then that Flosi, after the Change of Faith, when he makes up +his mind to fire Njal's house, declares the deed to be one for which +they would have to answer heavily before God, "seeing that we are +Christian men ourselves"....</p> + +<p>One word and we must bring this introduction to an end; it is merely to +point out how calmly and peacefully the Saga ends, with the perfect +reconciliation of Kari and Flosi, those generous foes, who throughout +the bitter struggle in which they were engaged always treated each other +with respect. It is a comfort to find, after the whole fitful story has +been worked out, after passing from page to page, every one of which +reeks with gore, to find that after all there were even in that +bloodthirsty Iceland of the tenth century such things as peaceful old +age and happy firesides, and that men like Flosi and Kari, who had both +shed so much blood, one in a good and the other in a wicked cause, +should after all die, Flosi on a trading voyage, an Icelandic Ulysses, +in an unseaworthy ship, good enough, as he said, for an old and +death-doomed man, Kari at home, well stricken in years, blessed with a +famous and numerous offspring, and a proud but loving wife.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxix" id="Page_xxxix">[Pg xxxix]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xxxviii" id="Page_xxxviii">[Pg xxxviii]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="ICELANDIC_CHRONOLOGY" id="ICELANDIC_CHRONOLOGY"></a>ICELANDIC CHRONOLOGY.</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="ICELANDIC CHRONOLOGY."> +<tr><td align='left'>A.D. 850. Birth of Harold fairhair.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>860. Harold fairhair comes to the throne.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>870. Harold fairhair sole King in Norway.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>871. Ingolf sets out for Iceland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>872. Battle of Hafrsfirth (Hafrsfjöðr).</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>874. Ingolf and Leif go to settle in Iceland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>877. Kettle hæng goes to Iceland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>880-884. Harold fairhair roots out the Vikings in the west.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>888. Fall of Thorstein the red in Scotland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>890-900. Rush of settlers from the British Isles to Iceland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>892. Aud the deeply wealthy comes to Iceland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>900-920. The third period of the Landnámstide.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>920. Harold fairhair shares the kingdom with his sons.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>923. Hrut Hauskuld's brother born.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>929. Althing established.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>930. Hrafn Kettle hæng's son Speaker of the Law.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>930-935. Njal born.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>930. The Fleetlithe feud begins.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>933. Death of Harold fairhair.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>940. End of the Fleetlithe feud; Fiddle Mord a man of rank;</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Hamond Gunnar's son marries Mord's sister Rannveiga.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>941. Fall of King Eric Bloodaxe.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>c. 945. Gunnar of Lithend born.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>955-960. Njal's sons born.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>959. Glum marries Hallgerda.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>960. Fall of King Hacon; Athelstane's foster-child, Harold</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Grayfell, King in Norway.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>963. Hrut goes abroad.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>965. Hrut returns to Iceland and marries Unna Mord's daughter.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>968. Unna parts from Hrut.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>969. Fiddle Mord and Hrut strive at the Althing; Fall of King</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Harold Grayfell; Earl Hacon rules in Norway.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>970-971. Fiddle Mord's death; Gunnar and Hrut strive at the Althing.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>972. Gunnar of Lithend goes abroad.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xl" id="Page_xl">[Pg xl]</a></span>974. Gunnar returns to Iceland.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>974. Gunnar's marriage with Hallgerda.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>975. The slaying of Swart.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>976. The slaying of Kol.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>977. The slaying of Atli.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>978. The slaying of Brynjolf the unruly and Thord Freedmanson.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>979. The slaying of Sigmund the white.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>983. Hallgerda steals from Otkell at Kirkby.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>984. The suit for the theft settled at the Althing.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>985. Otkell rides over Gunnar in the spring; fight at Rangriver</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">just before the Althing; at the Althing Geir the priest</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">and Gunnar strive; in the autumn Hauskuld Dale-Kolli's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">son, Gunnar's father-in-law, dies; birth of Hauskuld</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Thrain's son.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>986. The fight at Knafahills, and death of Hjort Gunnar's brother.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>987. The suit for those slain at Knafahills settled at the Althing.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>988. Gunnar goes west to visit Olaf the peacock.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>989. Slaying of Thorgeir Otkell's son before, and banishment of</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Gunnar at, the Althing; Njal's sons, Helgi and Grim,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">and Thrain Sigfus' son, go abroad.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>990. Gunnar slain at Lithend.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>992. Thrain returns to Iceland with Hrapp; Njal's sons ill-treated</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">by Earl Hacon for his sake.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>994. Njal's sons return to Iceland, bringing Kari with them.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>995. Death of Earl Hacon; Olaf Tryggvi's son King of Norway.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>996. Skarphedinn slays Thrain.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>997. Thangbrand sent by King Olaf to preach Christianity in</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Iceland.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>998. Slaying of Arnor of Forswaterwood by Flosi's brothers at</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Skaptarfells Thing; Thangbrand's missionary journey;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Gizur and Hjallti go abroad.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>999. Hjallti Skeggi's son found guilty of blasphemy against the</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Gods at the Althing; Thangbrand returns to Norway.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1000. Gizur and Hjallti return to Iceland; the Change of Faith</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">and Christianity brought into the law at the Althing on</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">St. John's day, 24th June; fall of King Olaf Tryggvi's</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">son at Svoldr, 9th September.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1001. Thorgeir the priest of Lightwater gives up the Speakership</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">of the Law.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1002. Grim of Mossfell Speaker of the Law.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1003. Grim lays down the Speakership.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1003 or 1004. Skapti Thorod's son Speaker of the Law; the Fifth Court</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">established; Hauskuld Thrain's son marries Hildigunna</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Flosi's niece and has one of the new priesthoods at</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Whiteness.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1006. Duels abolished in legal matters; slaying of Hauskuld</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">Njal's son by Lyting and his brothers.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1009. Amund the blind slays Lyting; Valgard the guileful comes</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">back to Iceland; his evil counsel to Mord; Mord begins</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">to backbite and slander Hauskuld and Njal's sons to one</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">another.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1111. Hauskald the Whiteness priest slain early in the spring;</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">suit for his manslaughter at the Althing; Njal's Burning</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xli" id="Page_xli">[Pg xli]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 3em;">the autumn after.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1112. The suit for the Burning and battle at the Althing; Flosi</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 3em;">and the Burners banished; Kari and Thorgeir Craggeir</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left:3em;">carry on the feud.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1113. Flosi goes abroad with the Burners, and Kari follows them;</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left:3em;">Flosi and Kari in Orkney.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1114. Brian's battle on Good Friday; Flosi goes to Rome.</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1115. Flosi returns from Rome to Norway, and stays with Earl</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left:3em;">Eric, Earl Hacon's son.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1116. Flosi returns to Iceland; Kari goes to Rome and returns to</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left:3em;">Caithness; his wife Helga dies out in Iceland.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>1117. Kari returns to Iceland, id reconciled with Flosi,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left:3em;">and marries Hildigunna Hauskuld's widow.</span></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xliii" id="Page_xliii">[Pg xliii]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xlii" id="Page_xlii">[Pg xlii]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="SIR GEORGE DASENT'S INTRODUCTION."> +<tr><td><a href="#SIR_GEORGE_DASENTS_INTRODUCTION">SIR GEORGE DASENT'S INTRODUCTION.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td>The Northmen in Iceland—Superstitions of the Race—Social + Principles—Daily Life in Njal's Time—Conclusion.</td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +<tr><td><a href="#ICELANDIC_CHRONOLOGY">ICELANDIC CHRONOLOGY.</a></td></tr> +<tr><td colspan="3"> </td></tr> +</table></div> +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="TABLE OF CONTENTS."> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Fiddle Mord</td><td align='left'>1</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td><td align='left'>Hrut Woos Unna</td><td align='left'>2</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td><td align='left'>Hrut and Gunnhillda, Kings' Mother</td><td align='left'>4</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Hrut's Cruise</td><td align='left'>7</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td><td align='left'>Atli Arnvid Son's Slaying</td><td align='left'>8</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td><td align='left'>Hrut Sails out to Iceland</td><td align='left'>10</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td><td align='left'>Unna separates from Hrut</td><td align='left'>13</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Mord claims his Goods from Hrut</td><td align='left'>15</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td><td align='left'>Thorwald gets Hallgerda to Wife</td><td align='left'>17</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></td><td align='left'>Hallgerda's Wedding</td><td align='left'>19</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></td><td align='left'>Thorwald's Slaying</td><td align='left'>20</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></td><td align='left'>Thiostolf's Flight</td><td align='left'>22</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Glum's Wooing</td><td align='left'>25</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Glum's Wedding</td><td align='left'>28</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></td><td align='left'>Thiostolf goes to Glum's House</td><td align='left'>29</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Glum's Sheep Hunt</td><td align='left'>30</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Glum's Slaying</td><td align='left'>31</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Fiddle Mord's Death</td><td align='left'>34</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar comes into the Story</td><td align='left'>34</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Njal and His Children</td><td align='left'>35</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.</a></td><td align='left'>Unna goes to See Gunnar</td><td align='left'>35</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal's Advice</td><td align='left'>37</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Huckster Hedinn</td><td align='left'>39</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar and Hrut Strive at the Thing</td><td align='left'>42</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.</a></td><td align='left'>Unna's Second Wedding</td><td align='left'>44</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Asgrim and his Children</td><td align='left'>45</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Helgi Njal's Son's Wooing</td><td align='left'>45</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Hallvard comes out to Iceland</td><td align='left'>46</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar goes Abroad</td><td align='left'>47</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar goes a-sea-roving</td><td align='left'>48</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXI">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar goes to King Harold Gorm's Son and Earl Hacon</td><td align='left'>52</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXII">CHAPTER XXXII.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar comes out to Iceland</td><td align='left'>53</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIII">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar's Wooing</td><td align='left'>54</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIV">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thrain Sigfus' Son</td><td align='left'>57</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXV">CHAPTER XXXV.</a></td><td align='left'>The Visit to Bergthorsknoll</td><td align='left'>59</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVI">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Kol Slew Swart</td><td align='left'>60</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVII">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Kol, whom Atli Slew</td><td align='left'>63</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXVIII">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Killing of Atli the Thrall</td><td align='left'>65</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XXXIX">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Brynjolf the Unruly</td><td align='left'>69</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XL">CHAPTER XL.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar and Njal make Peace about Brynjolf's Slaying</td><td align='left'>70</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLI">CHAPTER XLI.</a></td><td align='left'>Sigmund comes out to Iceland</td><td align='left'>71</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLII">CHAPTER XLII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Thord Freedmanson</td><td align='left'>73</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIII">CHAPTER XLIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal and Gunnar make Peace for the Slaying of Thord</td><td align='left'>74</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIV">CHAPTER XLIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Sigmund Mocks Njal and his Sons</td><td align='left'>76</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLV">CHAPTER XLV.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Sigmund and Skiolld</td><td align='left'>79</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVI">CHAPTER XLVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Gizur The White and Geir the Priest</td><td align='left'>82</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVII">CHAPTER XLVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Otkell in Kirkby</td><td align='left'>83</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLVIII">CHAPTER XLVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>How Hallgerda makes Malcolm Steal from Kirkby</td><td align='left'>85</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XLIX">CHAPTER XLIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Skamkell's Evil Counsel</td><td align='left'>86</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_L">CHAPTER L.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Skamkell's Lying</td><td align='left'>90</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LI">CHAPTER LI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Gunnar</td><td align='left'>92</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LII">CHAPTER LII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Runolf, the Son of Wolf Aurpriest</td><td align='left'>94</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LIII">CHAPTER LIII.</a></td><td align='left'>How Otkell Rode over Gunnar</td><td align='left'>95</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LIV">CHAPTER LIV.</a></td><td align='left'>The Fight at Rangriver</td><td align='left'>97</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LV">CHAPTER LV.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal's Advice to Gunnar</td><td align='left'>99</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LVI">CHAPTER LVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar and Geir the Priest Strive at the Thing</td><td align='left'>101</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LVII">CHAPTER LVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Starkad and his Sons</td><td align='left'>104</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LVIII">CHAPTER LVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Njals Counsel to Gunnar</td><td align='left'>115</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LIX">CHAPTER LIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar's Dream</td><td align='left'>111</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LX">CHAPTER LX.</a></td><td align='left'>An Attack against Gunnar agreed on</td><td align='left'>109</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXI">CHAPTER LXI.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar's Dream</td><td align='left'>111</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXII">CHAPTER LXII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Hjort and Fourteen Men</td><td align='left'>112</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXIII">CHAPTER LXIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Njals Counsel to Gunnar</td><td align='left'>115</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXIV">CHAPTER LXIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Valgard and Mord</td><td align='left'>116</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXV">CHAPTER LXV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Fines and Atonements</td><td align='left'>118</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXVI">CHAPTER LXVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thorgeir Otkell's Son</td><td align='left'>120</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXVII">CHAPTER LXVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thorgeir Starkad's Son</td><td align='left'>121</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXVIII">CHAPTER LXVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Njal and those Namesakes</td><td align='left'>122</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXIX">CHAPTER LXIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Olaf the Peacock's Gifts to Gunnar</td><td align='left'>124</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXX">CHAPTER LXX.</a></td><td align='left'>Mord's Counsel</td><td align='left'>126</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXI">CHAPTER LXXI.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Thorgeir Otkell's Son</td><td align='left'>127</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXII">CHAPTER LXXII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of the Suits for Manslaughter at the Thing</td><td align='left'>129</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXIII">CHAPTER LXXIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of the Atonement</td><td align='left'>130</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXIV">CHAPTER LXXIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Kolskegg goes Abroad</td><td align='left'>132</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXV">CHAPTER LXXV.</a></td><td align='left'>The Riding to Lithend</td><td align='left'>135</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXVI">CHAPTER LXXVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar's Slaying</td><td align='left'>135</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXVII">CHAPTER LXXVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar Sings a Song Dead</td><td align='left'>139</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXVIII">CHAPTER LXXVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar of Lithend Avenged</td><td align='left'>141</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXIX">CHAPTER LXXIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Hogni takes an Atonement for Gunnar's Death</td><td align='left'>143</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXX">CHAPTER LXXX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Kolskegg: How he was Baptised</td><td align='left'>143</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXI">CHAPTER LXXXI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thrain: How he Slew Kol</td><td align='left'>144</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXII">CHAPTER LXXXII.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal's Sons Sail Abroad</td><td align='left'>147</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXIII">CHAPTER LXXXIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Kari Solmund's Son</td><td align='left'>148</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXIV">CHAPTER LXXXIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Earl Sigurd</td><td align='left'>150</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXV">CHAPTER LXXXV.</a></td><td align='left'>The Battle with the Earls</td><td align='left'>151</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXVI">CHAPTER LXXXVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Hrapp's Voyage from Iceland</td><td align='left'>152</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXVII">CHAPTER LXXXVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Thrain took to Hrapp</td><td align='left'>156</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXVIII">CHAPTER LXXXVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Earl Hacon Fights with Njal's Sons</td><td align='left'>162</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_LXXXIX">CHAPTER LXXXIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal's Sons and Kari come out to Iceland</td><td align='left'>165</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XC">CHAPTER XC.</a></td><td align='left'>The Quarrel of Njal's Sons with Thrain Sigfus' Son</td><td align='left'>166</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCI">CHAPTER XCI.</a></td><td align='left'>Thrain Sigfus' Son's Slaying</td><td align='left'>170</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCII">CHAPTER XCII.</a></td><td align='left'>Kettle takes Hauskuld as his Foster-Son</td><td align='left'>175</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCIII">CHAPTER XCIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal takes Hauskuld to Foster</td><td align='left'>176</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCIV">CHAPTER XCIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Flosi Thord's Son</td><td align='left'>177</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCV">CHAPTER XCV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Hall of the Side</td><td align='left'>177</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCVI">CHAPTER XCVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of the Change of Faith</td><td align='left'>178</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCVII">CHAPTER XCVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thangbrand's Journeys</td><td align='left'>179</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCVIII">CHAPTER XCVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thangbrand and Gudleif</td><td align='left'>180</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XCIX">CHAPTER XCIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Gest Oddleif's Son</td><td align='left'>183</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_C">CHAPTER C.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Gizur the White and Hjallti</td><td align='left'>185</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CI">CHAPTER CI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thorgeir of Lightwater</td><td align='left'>186</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CII">CHAPTER CII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Wedding of Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness</td><td align='left'>187</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CIII">CHAPTER CIII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Hauskuld Njal's Son</td><td align='left'>191</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CIV">CHAPTER CIV.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Lyting's Brothers</td><td align='left'>195</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CV">CHAPTER CV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Amund the Blind</td><td align='left'>197</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CVI">CHAPTER CVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Valgard the Guileful</td><td align='left'>198"</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CVII">CHAPTER CVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Mord and Njal's Sons</td><td align='left'>199</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CVIII">CHAPTER CVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of The Slander of Mord Valgard's Son</td><td align='left'>200</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CIX">CHAPTER CIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Mord and Njal's Sons</td><td align='left'>203</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CX">CHAPTER CX.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Hauskuld, the Priest Whiteness</td><td align='left'>203</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXI">CHAPTER CXI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Hildigunna and Mord Valgard's Son</td><td align='left'>205</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXII">CHAPTER CXII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Pedigree of Gudmund the Powerful</td><td align='left'>206</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXIII">CHAPTER CXIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Snorri the Priest and his Stock</td><td align='left'>207</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXIV">CHAPTER CXIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Flosi Thord's Son</td><td align='left'>207</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXV">CHAPTER CXV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Flosi and Hildigunna</td><td align='left'>209</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXVI">CHAPTER CXVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Flosi and Mord and the Sons of Sigfus</td><td align='left'>211</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXVII">CHAPTER CXVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal and Skarphedinn Talk Together</td><td align='left'>213</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXVIII">CHAPTER CXVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Asgrim and Njal's Sons pray Men for Help</td><td align='left'>214</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXIX">CHAPTER CXIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Skarphedinn and Thorkel Foulmouth</td><td align='left'>219</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXX">CHAPTER CXX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of the Pleading of the Suit</td><td align='left'>221</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXI">CHAPTER CXXI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of the Award of Atonement between Flosi and Njal</td><td align='left'>223</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXII">CHAPTER CXXII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of the Judges</td><td align='left'>225</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXIII">CHAPTER CXXIII.</a></td><td align='left'>An Attack planned on Njal and his Sons</td><td align='left'>228</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXIV">CHAPTER CXXIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Portents</td><td align='left'>232</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXV">CHAPTER CXXV.</a></td><td align='left'>Flosi's Journey from Home</td><td align='left'>232</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXVI">CHAPTER CXXVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Portents at Bergthorsknoll</td><td align='left'>233</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXVII">CHAPTER CXXVII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Onslaught on Bergthorsknoll</td><td align='left'>235</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXVIII">CHAPTER CXXVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal's Burning</td><td align='left'>237</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXIX">CHAPTER CXXIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Skarphedinn's Death</td><td align='left'>241</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXX">CHAPTER CXXX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Kari Solmund's Son</td><td align='left'>245</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXI">CHAPTER CXXXI.</a></td><td align='left'>Njal's and Bergthora's Bones Found</td><td align='left'>248</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXII">CHAPTER CXXXII.</a></td><td align='left'>Flosi's Dream</td><td align='left'>251</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXIII">CHAPTER CXXXIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Flosi's Journey and his Asking for Help</td><td align='left'>252</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXIV">CHAPTER CXXXIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thorhall and Kari</td><td align='left'>256</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXV">CHAPTER CXXXV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Flosi and the Burners</td><td align='left'>260</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXVI">CHAPTER CXXXVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Thorgeir Craggeir</td><td align='left'>262</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXVII">CHAPTER CXXXVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Eyjolf Bolverk's Son</td><td align='left'>262</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXVIII">CHAPTER CXXXVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Asgrim, and Gizur, and Kari</td><td align='left'>267</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXXXIX">CHAPTER CXXXIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Asgrim and Gudmund</td><td align='left'>270</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXL">CHAPTER CXL.</a></td><td align='left'>Of the Declarations of the Suits</td><td align='left'>271</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLI">CHAPTER CXLI.</a></td><td align='left'>Now Men go to the Courts</td><td align='left'>274</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLII">CHAPTER CXLII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Eyjolf Bolverk's Son</td><td align='left'>284</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLIII">CHAPTER CXLIII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Counsel of Thorhall Asgrim's Son</td><td align='left'>285</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLIV">CHAPTER CXLIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Battle at the Althing</td><td align='left'>290</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLV">CHAPTER CXLV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Kari and Thorgeir</td><td align='left'>299</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLVI">CHAPTER CXLVI.</a></td><td align='left'>The Award of Atonement with Thorgeir Craggeir</td><td align='left'>303</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLVII">CHAPTER CXLVII.</a></td><td align='left'>Kari comes to Bjorn's House in the Mark</td><td align='left'>305</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLVIII">CHAPTER CXLVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Flosi and the Burners</td><td align='left'>307</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CXLIX">CHAPTER CXLIX.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Kari and Bjorn</td><td align='left'>309</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CL">CHAPTER CL.</a></td><td align='left'>More of Kari and Bjorn</td><td align='left'>312</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CLI">CHAPTER CLI.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Kari, and Bjorn, and Thorgeir</td><td align='left'>315</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CLII">CHAPTER CLII.</a></td><td align='left'>Flosi goes Abroad</td><td align='left'>317</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CLIII">CHAPTER CLIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Kari goes Abroad</td><td align='left'>318</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CLIV">CHAPTER CLIV.</a></td><td align='left'>Gunnar Lambi's Son's Slaying</td><td align='left'>320</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CLV">CHAPTER CLV.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Signs and Wonders</td><td align='left'>323</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CLVI">CHAPTER CLVI.</a></td><td align='left'>Brian's Battle</td><td align='left'>324</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CLVII">CHAPTER CLVII.</a></td><td align='left'>The Slaying of Kol Thorstein's Son</td><td align='left'>330</td></tr> +<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_CLVIII">CHAPTER CLVIII.</a></td><td align='left'>Of Flosi and Kari</td><td align='left'>332</td></tr> +</table></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>OF FIDDLE MORD.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Mord whose surname was Fiddle; he was the son of +Sigvat the Red, and he dwelt at the "Vale" in the Rangrivervales. He was +a mighty chief, and a great taker up of suits, and so great a lawyer +that no judgments were thought lawful unless he had a hand in them. He +had an only daughter, named Unna. She was a fair, courteous and gifted +woman, and that was thought the best match in all the Rangrivervales.</p> + +<p>Now the story turns westward to the Broadfirth dales, where, at +Hauskuldstede, in Laxriverdale, dwelt a man named Hauskuld, who was +Dalakoll's son, and his mother's name was Thorgerda. He had a brother +named Hrut, who dwelt at Hrutstede; he was of the same mother as +Hauskuld, but his father's name was Heriolf. Hrut was handsome, tall and +strong, well skilled in arms, and mild of temper; he was one of the +wisest of men—stern towards his foes, but a good counsellor on great +matters. It happened once that Hauskuld bade his friends to a feast, and +his brother Hrut was there, and sat next him. Hauskuld had a daughter +named Hallgerda, who was playing on the floor with some other girls. She +was fair of face and tall of growth, and her hair was as soft as silk; +it was so long, too, that it came down to her waist. Hauskuld called out +to her, "Come hither to me, daughter". So she went up to him, and he +took her by the chin, and kissed her; and after that she went away.</p> + +<p>Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, "What dost thou think of this maiden? Is she +not fair?" Hrut held his peace. Hauskuld said the same thing to him a +second time, and then Hrut answered, "Fair enough is this maid, and many +will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> smart for it, but this I know not, whence thief's eyes have come +into our race". Then Hauskuld was wroth, and for a time the brothers saw +little of each other.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>HRUT WOOS UNNA.</h3> + + +<p>It happened once that those brothers, Hauskuld and Hrut, rode to the +Althing, and there was much people at it. Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, +"One thing I wish, brother, and that is, that thou wouldst better thy +lot and woo thyself a wife."</p> + +<p>Hrut answered, "That has been long on my mind, though there always +seemed to be two sides to the matter; but now I will do as thou wishest; +whither shall we turn our eyes?"</p> + +<p>Hauskuld answered, "Here now are many chiefs at the Thing, and there is +plenty of choice, but I have already set my eyes on a spot where a match +lies made to thy hand. The woman's name is Unna, and she is a daughter +of Fiddle Mord one of the wisest of men. He is here at the Thing, and +his daughter too, and thou mayest see her if it pleases thee."</p> + +<p>Now the next day, when men were going to the High Court, they saw some +well-dressed women standing outside the booths of the men from the +Rangrivervales, Then Hauskuld said to Hrut—</p> + +<p>"Yonder now is Unna, of whom I spoke; what thinkest thou of her?"</p> + +<p>"Well," answered Hrut; "but yet I do not know whether we should get on +well together."</p> + +<p>After that they went to the High Court, where Fiddle Mord was laying +down the law as was his wont, and alter he had done he went home to his +booth.</p> + +<p>Then Hauskuld and Hrut rose, and went to Mord's booth. They went in and +found Mord sitting in the innermost part of the booth, and they bade him +"good day". He rose to meet them, and took Hauskuld by the hand and made +him sit down by his side, and Hrut sat next to Hauskuld, So after they +had talked much of this and that, at last Hauskuld said, "I have a +bargain to speak to thee about; Hrut wishes to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> become thy son-in-law, +and buy thy daughter, and I, for my part, will not be sparing in the +matter".</p> + +<p>Mord answered, "I know that thou art a great chief, but thy brother is +unknown to me".</p> + +<p>"He is a better man than I," answered Hauskuld.</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt need to lay down a large sum with him, for she is heir to all +I leave behind me," said Mord.</p> + +<p>"There is no need," said Hauskuld, "to wait long before thou hearest +what I give my word he shall have. He shall have Kamness and Hrutstede, +up as far as Thrandargil, and a trading-ship beside, now on her voyage."</p> + +<p>Then said Hrut to Mord, "Bear in mind, now, husband, that my brother has +praised me much more than I deserve for love's sake; but if after what +thou hast heard, thou wilt make the match, I am willing to let thee lay +down the terms thyself".</p> + +<p>Mord answered, "I have thought over the terms; she shall have sixty +hundreds down, and this sum shall be increased by a third more in thine +house, but if ye two have heirs, ye shall go halves in the goods".</p> + +<p>Then said Hrut, "I agree to these terms, and now let us take witness". +After that they stood up and shook hands, and Mord betrothed his +daughter Unna to Hrut, and the bridal feast was to be at Mord's house, +half a month after Midsummer.</p> + +<p>Now both sides ride home from the Thing, and Hauskuld and Hrut ride +westward by Hallbjorn's beacon. Then Thiostolf, the son of Biorn +Gullbera of Reykiardale, rode to meet them, and told them how a ship had +come out from Norway to the White River, and how aboard of her was +Auzur, Hrut's father's brother, and he wished Hrut to come to him as +soon as ever he could. When Hrut heard this, he asked Hauskuld to go +with him to the ship, so Hauskuld went with his brother, and when they +reached the ship, Hrut gave his kinsman Auzur a kind and hearty welcome. +Auzur asked them into his booth to drink, so their horses were +unsaddled, and they went in and drank, and while they were drinking, +Hrut said to Auzur, "Now, kinsman, thou must ride west with me, and stay +with me this winter."</p> + +<p>"That cannot be, kinsman, for I have to tell thee the death of thy +brother Eyvind, and he has left thee his heir at the Gula Thing, and now +thy foes will seize thy heritage, unless thou comest to claim it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What's to be done now, brother?" said Hrut to Hauskuld, "for this seems +a hard matter, coming just as I have fixed my bridal day."</p> + +<p>"Thou must ride south," said Hauskuld, "and see Mord, and ask him to +change the bargain which ye two have made, and to let his daughter sit +for thee three winters as thy betrothed, but I will ride home and bring +down thy wares to the ship."</p> + +<p>Then said Hrut, "My wish is that thou shouldest take meal and timber, +and whatever else thou needest out of the lading". So Hrut had his +horses brought out, and he rode south, while Hauskuld rode home west. +Hrut came east to the Rangrivervales to Mord, and had a good welcome, +and he told Mord all his business, and asked his advice what he should +do.</p> + +<p>"How much money is this heritage?" asked Mord, and Hrut said it would +come to a hundred marks, if he got it all.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Mord, "that is much when set against what I shall leave +behind me, and thou shalt go for it, if thou wilt."</p> + +<p>After that they broke their bargain, and Unna was to sit waiting for +Hrut three years as his betrothed. Now Hrut rides back to the ship, and +stays by her during the summer, till she was ready to sail, and Hauskuld +brought down all Hrut's wares and money to the ship, and Hrut placed all +his other property in Hauskuld's hands to keep for him while he was +away. Then Hauskuld rode home to his house, and a little while after +they got a fair wind and sail away to sea. They were out three weeks, +and the first land they made was Hern, near Bergen, and so sail eastward +to the Bay.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>HRUT AND GUNNHILLDA, KINGS MOTHER.</h3> + + +<p>At that time Harold Grayfell reigned in Norway; he was the son of Eric +Bloodaxe, who was the son of Harold Fairhair; his mother's name was +Gunnhillda, a daughter of Auzur Toti, and they had their abode east, at +the King's Crag. Now the news was spread, how a ship had come thither +east into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> Bay, and as soon as Gunnhillda heard of it, she asked +what men from Iceland were aboard, and they told her Hrut was the man's +name, Auzur's brother's son. Then Gunnhillda said, "I see plainly that +he means to claim his heritage, but there is a man named Soti, who has +laid his hands on it".</p> + +<p>After that she called her waiting-man, whose name was Augmund, and +said—</p> + +<p>"I am going to send thee to the Bay to find out Auzur and Hint, and tell +them that I ask them both to spend this winter with me. Say, too, that I +will be their friend, and if Hrut will carry out my counsel, I will see +after his suit, and anything else he takes in hand, and I will speak a +good word, too, for him to the king."</p> + +<p>After that he set off and found them; and as soon as they knew that he +was Gunnhillda's servant, they gave him good welcome. He took them aside +and told them his errand, and after that they talked over their plans by +themselves. Then Auzur said to Hrut—</p> + +<p>"Methinks, kinsman, here is little need for long talk, our plans are +ready made for us; for I know Gunnhillda's temper; as soon as ever we +say we will not go to her she will drive us out of the land, and take +all our goods by force; but if we go to her, then she will do us such +honour as she has promised."</p> + +<p>Augmund went home, and when he saw Gunnhillda, he told her how his +errand had ended, and that they would come, and Gunnhillda said—</p> + +<p>"It is only what was to be looked for; for Hrut is said to be a wise and +well-bred man; and now do thou keep a sharp look out, and tell me as +soon as ever they come to the town."</p> + +<p>Hrut and Auzur went east to the King's Crag, and when they reached the +town, their kinsmen and friends went out to meet and welcome them. They +asked, whether the king were in the town, and they told them he was. +After that they met Augmund, and he brought them a greeting from +Gunnhillda, saying, that she could not ask them to her house before they +had seen the king, lest men should say, "I make too much of them". Still +she would do all she could for them, and she went on, "tell Hrut to be +outspoken before the king, and to ask to be made one of his body-guard"; +"and here," said Augmund, "is a dress of honour which she sends to thee, +Hrut, and in it thou must go in before the king". After that he went +away.</p> + +<p>The next day Hrut said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Let us go before the king."</p> + +<p>"That may well be," answered Auzur.</p> + +<p>So they went, twelve of them together, and all of them friends or +kinsmen, and came into the hall where the king sat over his drink. Hrut +went first and bade the king "good day," and the king, looking +steadfastly at the man who was well-dressed, asked him his name. So he +told his name.</p> + +<p>"Art thou an Icelander?" said the king.</p> + +<p>He answered, "Yes".</p> + +<p>"What drove thee hither to seek us?"</p> + +<p>Then Hrut answered—</p> + +<p>"To see your state, lord; and, besides, because I have a great matter of +inheritance here in the land, and I shall have need of your help, if I +am to get my rights."</p> + +<p>The king said—</p> + +<p>"I have given my word that every man shall have lawful justice here in +Norway; but hast thou any other errand in seeking me?"</p> + +<p>"Lord!" said Hrut, "I wish you to let me live in your court, and become +one of your men."</p> + +<p>At this the king holds his peace, but Gunnhillda said—</p> + +<p>"It seems to me as if this man offered you the greatest honour, for me +thinks if there were many such men in the body-guard, it would be well +filled."</p> + +<p>"Is he a wise man?" asked the king.</p> + +<p>"He is both wise and willing," said she.</p> + +<p>"Well," said the king, "methinks my mother wishes that thou shouldst +have the rank for which thou askest, but for the sake of our honour and +the custom of the land, come to me in half a month's time, and then thou +shalt be made one of my body-guard. Meantime, my mother will take care +of thee, but then come to me."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnhillda said to Augmund—</p> + +<p>"Follow them to my house, and treat them well."</p> + +<p>So Augmund went out, and they went with him, and he brought them to a +hall built of stone, which was hung with the most beautiful tapestry, +and there too was Gunnhillda's high-seat.</p> + +<p>Then Augmund said to Hrut—</p> + +<p>"Now will be proved the truth of all that I said to thee from +Gunnhillda. Here is her high-seat, and in it thou shalt sit, and this +seat thou shalt hold, though she comes herself into the hall."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + +<p>After that he made them good cheer, and they had sat down but a little +while when Gunnhillda came in. Hrut wished to jump up and greet her.</p> + +<p>"Keep thy seat!" she says, "and keep it too all the time thou art my +guest."</p> + +<p>Then she sat herself down by Hrut, and they fell to drink, and at even +she said—</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt be in the upper chamber with me to-night, and we two +together."</p> + +<p>"You shall have your way," he answers.</p> + +<p>After that they went to sleep, and she locked the door inside. So they +slept that night, and in the morning fell to drinking again. Thus they +spent their life all that half-month, and Gunnhillda said to the men who +were there—</p> + +<p>"Ye shall lose nothing except your lives if you say to any one a word of +how Hrut and I are going on."</p> + +<p>[When the half-month was over] Hrut gave her a hundred ells of household +woollen and twelve rough cloaks, and Gunnhillda thanked him for his +gifts. Then Hrut thanked her and gave her a kiss and went away. She bade +him "farewell". And next day he went before the king with thirty men +after him and bade the king "good-day". The king said—</p> + +<p>"Now, Hrut, thou wilt wish me to carry out towards thee what I +promised."</p> + +<p>So Hrut was made one of the king's body-guard, and he asked, "Where +shall I sit?"</p> + +<p>"My mother shall settle that," said the king.</p> + +<p>Then she got him a seat in the highest room, and he spent the winter +with the king in much honour.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>OF HRUT'S CRUISE.</h3> + + +<p>When the spring came he asked about Soti, and found out he had gone +south to Denmark with the inheritance. Then Hrut went to Gunnhillda and +tells her what Soti had been about. Gunnhillda said—</p> + +<p>"I will give thee two long-ships, full manned, and along with them the +bravest men. Wolf the Unwashed, our overseer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> of guests; but still go +and see the king before thou settest off."</p> + +<p>Hrut did so; and when he came before the king, then he told the king of +Soti's doings, and how he had a mind to hold on after him.</p> + +<p>The king said, "What strength has my mother handed over to thee?"</p> + +<p>"Two long-ships and Wolf the Unwashed to lead the men," says Hrut.</p> + +<p>"Well given," says the king. "Now I will give thee other two ships, and +even then thou'lt need all the strength thou'st got."</p> + +<p>After that he went down with Hrut to the ship, and said "fare thee +well". Then Hrut sailed away south with his crews.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>ATLI ARNVID SON'S SLAYING.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Atli, son of Arnvid, Earl of East Gothland. He had +kept back the taxes from Hacon Athelstane's foster child, and both +father and son had fled away from Jemtland to Gothland. After that, Atli +held on with his followers out of the Mælar by Stock Sound, and so on +towards Denmark, and now he lies out in Öresound.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> He is an outlaw +both of the Dane-King and of the Swede-King. Hrut held on south to the +Sound, and when he came into it he saw many ships in the Sound. Then +Wolf said—</p> + +<p>"What's best to be done now, Icelander?"</p> + +<p>"Hold on our course," says Hrut, "'for nothing venture, nothing have'. +My ship and Auzur's shall go first, but thou shalt lay thy ship where +thou likest."</p> + +<p>"Seldom have I had others as a shield before me," says Wolf, and lays +his galley side by side with Hrut's ship; and so they hold on through +the Sound. Now those who are in the Sound see that ships are coming up +to them, and they tell Atli.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p>He answered, "Then maybe there'll be gain to be got".</p> + +<p>After that men took their stand on board each ship; "but my ship," says +Atli, "shall be in the midst of the fleet".</p> + +<p>Meantime Hrut's ships ran on, and as soon as either side could hear the +other's hail, Atli stood up and said—</p> + +<p>"Ye fare unwarily. Saw ye not that war-ships were in the Sound? But +what's the name of your chief?"</p> + +<p>Hrut tells his name.</p> + +<p>"Whose man art thou?" says Atli.</p> + +<p>"One of king Harold Grayfell's body-guard."</p> + +<p>Atli said, "'Tis long since any love was lost between us, father and +son, and your Norway kings".</p> + +<p>"Worse luck for thee," says Hrut.</p> + +<p>"Well," says Atli, "the upshot of our meeting will be, that thou shalt +not be left alive to tell the tale;" and with that he caught up a spear +and hurled it at Hrut's ship, and the man who stood before it got his +death. After that the battle began, and they were slow in boarding +Hrut's ship. Wolf, he went well forward, and with him it was now cut, +now thrust. Atli's bowman's name was Asolf; he sprung up on Hrut's ship, +and was four men's death before Hrut was ware of him; then he turned +against him, and when they met, Asolf thrust at and through Hrut's +shield, but Hrut cut once at Asolf, and that was his death-blow. Wolf +the Unwashed saw that stroke, and called out—</p> + +<p>"Truth to say, Hrut, thou dealest big blows, but thou'st much to thank +Gunnhillda for."</p> + +<p>"Something tells me," says Hrut, "that thou speakest with a 'fey' +mouth."</p> + +<p>Now Atli sees a bare place for a weapon on Wolf, and shot a spear +through him, and now the battle grows hot: Atli leaps up on Hrut's ship, +and clears it fast round about, and now Auzur turns to meet him, and +thrust at him, but fell down full length on his back, for another man +thrust at him. Now Hrut turns to meet Atli: he cut at once at Hrut's +shield, and clove it all in two, from top to point; just then Atli got a +blow on his hand from a stone, and down fell his sword. Hrut caught up +the sword, and cut his foot from under him. After that he dealt him his +death-blow. There they took much goods, and brought away with them two +ships which were best, and stayed there only a little while. But +meantime Soti and his crew had sailed past them, and he held on his +course back to Norway, and made the land at Limgard's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> side. There Soti +went on shore, and there he met Augmund, Gunnhillda's page; he knew him +at once, and asks—</p> + +<p>"How long meanest thou to be here?"</p> + +<p>"Three nights," says Soti.</p> + +<p>"Whither away, then?" says Augmund.</p> + +<p>"West, to England," says Soti, "and never to come back again to Norway +while Gunnhillda's rule is in Norway."</p> + +<p>Augmund went away, and goes and finds Gunnhillda, for she was a little +way off at a feast, and Gudred, her son, with her. Augmund told +Gunnhillda what Soti meant to do, and she begged Gudred to take his +life. So Gudred set off at once, and came unawares on Soti, and made +them lead up the country, and hang him there. But the goods he took, and +brought them to his mother, and she got men to carry them all down to +the King's Crag, and after that she went thither herself.</p> + +<p>Hrut came back towards autumn, and had gotten great store of goods. He +went at once to the king, and had a hearty welcome. He begged them to +take whatever they pleased of his goods, and the king took a third. +Gunnhillda told Hrut how she had got hold of the inheritance, and had +Soti slain. He thanked her, and gave her half of all he had.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>HRUT SAILS OUT TO ICELAND.</h3> + + +<p>Hrut stayed with the king that winter in good cheer, but when spring +came he grew very silent. Gunnhillda finds that out, and said to him +when they two were alone together—</p> + +<p>"Art thou sick at heart?"</p> + +<p>"So it is," said Hrut, "as the saying runs—'Ill goes it with those who +are born on a barren land'."</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou to Iceland?" she asks.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered.</p> + +<p>"Hast thou a wife out there?" she asked; and he answers, "No".</p> + +<p>"But I am sure that is true," she says; and so they ceased talking about +the matter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> + +<p>[Shortly after] Hrut went before the king and bade him "good day"; and +the king said, "What dost thou want now, Hrut?"</p> + +<p>"I am come to ask, lord, that you give me leave to go to Iceland."</p> + +<p>"Will thine honour be greater there than here?" asks the king.</p> + +<p>"No, it will not," said Hrut; "but every one must win the work that is +set before him."</p> + +<p>"It is pulling a rope against a strong man," said Gunnhillda, "so give +him leave to go as best suits him."</p> + +<p>There was a bad harvest that year in the land, yet Gunnhillda gave Hrut +as much meal as he chose to have; and now he busks him to sail out to +Iceland, and Auzur with him; and when they were all-boun, Hrut went to +find the king and Gunnhillda. She led him aside to talk alone, and said +to him—</p> + +<p>"Here is a gold ring which I will give thee;" and with that she clasped +it round his wrist.</p> + +<p>"Many good gifts have I had from thee," said Hrut.</p> + +<p>Then she put her hands round his neck and kissed him, and said—</p> + +<p>"If I have as much power over thee as I think, I lay this spell on thee +that thou mayest never have any pleasure in living with that woman on +whom thy heart is set in Iceland, but with other women thou mayest get +on well enough, and now it is like to go well with neither of us;—but +thou hast not believed what I have been saying."</p> + +<p>Hrut laughed when he heard that, and went away; after that he came +before the king and thanked him; and the king spoke kindly to him, and +bade him "farewell". Hrut went straight to his ship, and they had a fair +wind all the way until they ran into Borgarfirth.</p> + +<p>As soon as the ship was made fest to the land, Hrut rode west home, but +Auzur stayed by the ship to unload her, and lay her up. Hrut rode +straight to Hauskuldstede, and Hauskuld gave him a hearty welcome, and +Hrut told him all about his travels. After that they sent men east +across the rivers to tell Fiddle Mord to make ready for the bridal +feast; but the two brothers rode to the ship, and on the way Hauskuld +told Hrut how his money matters stood, and his goods had gained much +since he was away. Then Hrut said—</p> + +<p>"The reward is less worth than it ought to be, but I will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> give thee as +much meal as thou needst for thy household next winter."</p> + +<p>Then they drew the ship on land on rollers, and made her snug in her +shed, but all the wares on board her they carried away into the Dales +westward. Hrut stayed at home at Hrutstede till winter was six weeks +off, and then the brothers made ready, and Auzur with them, to ride to +Hrut's wedding. Sixty men ride with them, and they rode east till they +came to Rangriver plains. There they found a crowd of guests, and the +men took their seats on benches down the length of the hall, but the +women were seated on the cross benches on the dais, and the bride was +rather downcast. So they drank out the feast and it went off well. Mord +pays down his daughter's portion, and she rides west with her husband +and his train. So they ride till they reach home. Hrut gave over +everything into her hands inside the house, and all were pleased at +that; but for all that she and Hrut did not pull well together as man +and wife, and so things went on till spring, and when spring came Hrut +had a journey to make to the Westfirths, to get in the money for which +he had sold his wares; but before he set off his wife says to him—</p> + +<p>"Dost thou mean to be back before men ride to the Thing?"</p> + +<p>"Why dost thou ask?" said Hrut.</p> + +<p>"I will ride to the Thing," she said, "to meet my father."</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," said he, "and I will ride to the Thing along with +thee."</p> + +<p>"Well and good," she says.</p> + +<p>After that Hrut rode from home west to the Firths, got in all his money, +and laid it out anew, and rode home again. When he came home he busked +him to ride to the Thing, and made all his neighbours ride with him. His +brother Hauskuld rode among the rest. Then Hrut said to his wife—</p> + +<p>"If thou hast as much mind now to go to the Thing as thou saidst a while +ago, busk thyself and ride along with me."</p> + +<p>She was not slow in getting herself ready, and then they all rode to the +Thing. Unna went to her father's booth, and he gave her a hearty +welcome, but she seemed somewhat heavy-hearted, and when he saw that he +said to her—</p> + +<p>"I have seen thee with a merrier face. Hast thou anything on thy mind?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<p>She began to weep, and answered nothing. Then he said to her again, "Why +dost thou ride to the Thing, if thou wilt not tell me thy secret? Dost +thou dislike living away there in the west?"</p> + +<p>Then she answered him—</p> + +<p>"I would give all I own in the world that I had never gone thither."</p> + +<p>"Well!" said Mord, "I'll soon get to the bottom of this." Then he sends +men to fetch Hauskuld and Hrut, and they came straightway; and when they +came in to see Mord, he rose up to meet them and gave them a hearty +welcome, and asked them to sit down. Then they talked a long time in a +friendly way, and at last Mord said to Hauskuld—</p> + +<p>"Why does my daughter think so ill of life in the west yonder?"</p> + +<p>"Let her speak out," said Hrut, "if she has anything to lay to my +charge."</p> + +<p>But she brought no charge against him. Then Hrut made them ask his +neighbours and household how he treated her, and all bore him good +witness, saying that she did just as she pleased in the house.</p> + +<p>Then Mord said, "Home thou shalt go, and be content with thy lot; for +all the witness goes better for him than for thee".</p> + +<p>After that Hrut rode home from the Thing, and his wife with him, and all +went smoothly between them that summer; but when spring came it was the +old story over again, and things grew worse and worse as the spring went +on. Hrut had again a journey to make west to the Firths, and gave out +that he would not ride to the Althing, but Unna his wife said little +about it. So Hrut went away west to the Firths.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>UNNA SEPARATES FROM HRUT.</h3> + + +<p>Now the time for the Thing was coming on, Unna spoke to Sigmund Auzur's +son, and asked if he would ride to the Thing with her; he said he could +not ride if his kinsman Hrut set his face against it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well!" says she, "I spoke to thee because I have better right to ask +this from thee than from any one else."</p> + +<p>He answered, "I will make a bargain with thee: thou must promise to ride +back west with me, and to have no underhand dealings against Hrut or +myself".</p> + +<p>So she promised that, and then they rode to the Thing. Her father Mord +was at the Thing, and was very glad to see her, and asked her to stay in +his booth white the Thing lasted, and she did so.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Mord, "what hast thou to tell me of thy mate, Hrut?"</p> + +<p>Then she sung him a song, in which she praised Hrut's liberality, but +said he was not master of himself. She herself was ashamed to speak out.</p> + +<p>Mord was silent a short time, and then said—</p> + +<p>"Thou hast now that on thy mind I see, daughter, which thou dost not +wish that any one should know save myself, and thou wilt trust to me +rather than any one else to help thee out of thy trouble."</p> + +<p>Then they went aside to talk, to a place where none could overhear what +they said; and then Mord said to his daughter—</p> + +<p>"Now tell me all that is between you two, and don't make more of the +matter than it is worth."</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," she answered, and sang two songs, in which she +revealed the cause of their misunderstanding; and when Mord pressed her +to speak out, she told him how she and Hrut could not live together, +because he was spell-bound, and that she wished to leave him.</p> + +<p>"Thou didst right to tell me all this," said Mord, "and now I will give +thee a piece of advice, which will stand thee in good stead, if thou +canst carry it out to the letter. First of all, thou must ride home from +the Thing, and by that time thy husband will have come back, and will be +glad to see thee; thou must he blithe and buxom to him, and he will +think a good change has come over thee, and thou must show no signs of +coldness or ill-temper, but when spring comes thou must sham sickness, +and take to thy bed. Hrut will not lose time in guessing what thy +sickness can be, nor will he scold thee at all, but he will rather beg +every one to take all the care they can of thee. After that he will set +off west to the Firths, and Sigmund with him, for he will have to flit +all his goods home from the Firths west, and he will be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> away till the +summer is far spent. But when men ride to the Thing, and after all have +ridden from the Dales that mean to ride thither, then thou must rise +from thy bed and summon men to go along with thee to the Thing; and when +thou art all-boun, then shalt thou go to thy bed, and the men with thee +who are to bear thee company, and thou shalt take witness before thy +husband's bed, and declare thyself separated from him by such a lawful +separation as may hold good according to the judgment of the Great +Thing, and the laws of the land; and at the man's door [the main door of +the house] thou shalt take the same witness. After that ride away, and +ride over Laxriverdale Heath, and so on over Holtbeacon Heath; for they +will look for thee by way of Hrutfirth. And so ride on till thou comest +to me; then I will see after the matter. But into his hands thou shalt +never come more."</p> + +<p>Now she rides home from the Thing, and Hrut had come back before her, +and made her hearty welcome. She answered him kindly, and was blithe and +forbearing towards him. So they lived happily together that half-year; +but when spring came she fell sick, and kept her bed. Hrut set off west +to the Firths, and bade them tend her well before he went. Now, when the +time for the Thing comes, she busked herself to ride away, and did in +every way as had been laid down for her; and then she rides away to the +Thing. The country folk looked for her, but could not find her. Mord +made his daughter welcome, and asked her if she had followed his advice; +and she says, "I have not broken one tittle of it".</p> + +<p>Then she went to the Hill of Laws, and declared herself separated from +Hrut; and men thought this strange news. Unna went home with her father, +and never went west from that day forward.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>MORD CLAIMS HIS GOODS FROM HRUT.</h3> + + +<p>Hrut came home, and knit his brows when he heard his wife was gone, but +yet kept his feelings well in hand, and stayed at home all that +half-year, and spoke to no one on the matter. Next summer he rode to the +Thing, with his brother Hauskuld,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> and they had a great following. But +when he came to the Thing, he asked whether Fiddle Mord were at the +Thing, and they told him he was; and all thought they would come to +words at once about their matter, but it was not so. At last, one day +when the brothers and others who were at the Thing went to the Hill of +Laws, Mord took witness and declared that he had a money-suit against +Hrut for his daughter's dower, and reckoned the amount at ninety +hundreds in goods, calling on Hrut at the same time to pay and hand it +over to him, and asking for a fine of three marks. He laid the suit in +the Quarter Court, into which it would come by law, and gave lawful +notice, so that all who stood on the Hill of Laws might hear.</p> + +<p>But when he had thus spoken, Hrut said—</p> + +<p>"Thou hast undertaken this suit, which belongs to thy daughter, rather +for the greed of gain and love of strife than in kindliness and +manliness. But I shall have something to say against it; for the goods +which belong to me are not yet in thy hands. Now, what I have to say is +this, and I say it out, so that all who hear me on this hill may bear +witness: I challenge thee to fight on the island; there on one side +shall be laid all thy daughter's dower, and on the other I will lay down +goods worth as much, and whoever wins the day shall have both dower and +goods; but if thou wilt not fight with me, then thou shalt give up all +claim to these goods."</p> + +<p>Then Mord held his peace, and took counsel with his friends about going +to fight on the island, and Jorund the priest gave him an answer.</p> + +<p>"There is no need for thee to come to ask us for counsel in this matter, +for thou knowest if thou fightest with Hrut thou wilt lose both life and +goods. He has a good cause, and is besides mighty in himself and one of +the boldest of men."</p> + +<p>Then Mord spoke out, that he would not fight with Hrut, and there arose +a great shout and hooting on the hill, and Mord got the greatest shame +by his suit.</p> + +<p>After that men ride home from the Thing, and those brothers Hauskuld and +Hrut ride west to Reykiardale, and turned in as guests at Lund, where +Thiostolf, Biorn Gullbera's son, then dwelt. There had been much rain +that day, and men got wet, so long-fires were made down the length of +the hall. Thiostolf, the master of the house, sat between Hauskuld and +Hrut, and two boys, of whom Thiostolf had the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> rearing, were playing on +the floor, and a girl was playing with them. They were great +chatterboxes, for they were too young to know better. So one of them +said—</p> + +<p>"Now, I will be Mord, and summon thee to lose thy wife because thou hast +not been a good husband to her."</p> + +<p>Then the other answered—</p> + +<p>"I will be Hrut, and I call on thee to give up all claim to thy goods, +if thou darest not to fight with me."</p> + +<p>This they said several times, and all the household burst out laughing. +Then Hauskuld got wroth, and struck the boy who called himself Mord with +a switch, and the blow fell on his face, and graced the skin.</p> + +<p>"Get out with thee," said Hauskuld to the boy, "and make no game of us;" +but Hrut said, "Come hither to me," and the boy did so. Then Hrut drew a +ring from his finger and gave it to him, and said—</p> + +<p>"Go away, and try no man's temper henceforth."</p> + +<p>Then the boy went away saying—</p> + +<p>"Thy manliness I will bear in mind all my life."</p> + +<p>From this matter Hrut got great praise, and after that they went home; +and that was the end of Mord's and Hrut's quarrel.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>THORWALD GETS HALLGERDA TO WIFE.</h3> + + +<p>Now, it must be told how Hallgerda, Hauskuld's daughter, grows up, and +is the fairest of women to look on; she was tall of stature, too, and +therefore she was called "Longcoat". She was fair-haired, and had so +much of it that she could hide herself in it; but she was lavish and +hard-hearted. Her foster-father's name was Thiostolf; he was a South +islander<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> by stock; he was a strong man, well skilled in arms, and had +slain many men, and made no atonement in money for one of them. It was +said, too, that his rearing had not bettered Hallgerda's temper.</p> + +<p>There was a man named Thorwald; he was Oswif's son,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> and dwelt out on +Middlefells strand, under the Fell. He was rich and well to do, and +owned the islands called Bear-isles, which lie out in Broadfirth, whence +he got meal and stock fish. This Thorwald was a strong and courteous +man, though somewhat hasty in temper. Now, it fell out one day that +Thorwald and his father were talking together of Thorwald's marrying, +and where he had best look for a wife, and it soon came out that he +thought there wasn't a match fit for him far or near.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Oswif, "wilt thou ask for Hallgerda Longcoat, Hauskuld's +daughter?"</p> + +<p>"Yes! I will ask for her," said Thorwald.</p> + +<p>"But that is not a match that will suit either of you," Oswif went on to +say, "for she has a will of her own, and thou art stern-tempered and +unyielding."</p> + +<p>"For all that I will try my luck there," said Thorwald, "so it's no good +trying to hinder me."</p> + +<p>"Ay!" said Oswif, "and the risk is all thine own."</p> + +<p>After that they set off on a wooing journey to Hauskuldstede, and had a +hearty welcome. They were not long in telling Hauskuld their business, +and began to woo; then Hauskuld answered—</p> + +<p>"As for you, I know how you both stand in the world, but for my own part +I will use no guile towards you. My daughter has a hard temper, but as +to her looks and breeding you can both see for yourselves."</p> + +<p>"Lay down the terms of the match," answered Thorwald, "for I will not +let her temper stand in the way of our bargain."</p> + +<p>Then they talked over the terms of the bargain, and Hauskuld never asked +his daughter what she thought of it, for his heart was set on giving her +away, and so they came to an understanding as to the terms of the match. +After that Thorwald betrothed himself to Hallgerda, and rode away home +when the matter was settled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>HALLGERDA'S WEDDING.</h3> + + +<p>Hauskuld told Hallgerda of the bargain he had made, and she said—</p> + +<p>"Now that has been put to the proof which I have all along been afraid +of, that thou lovest me not so much as thou art always saying, when thou +hast not thought it worth while to tell me a word of all this matter. +Besides, I do not think the match as good a one as thou hast always +promised me."</p> + +<p>So she went on, and let them know in every way that she thought she was +thrown away.</p> + +<p>Then Hauskuld said—</p> + +<p>"I do not set so much store by thy pride as to let it stand in the way +of my bargains; and my will, not thine, shall carry the day if we fell +out on any point."</p> + +<p>"The pride of all you kinsfolk is great," she said, "and so it is not +wonderful if I have some of it."</p> + +<p>With that she went away, and found her foster-father Thiostolf, and told +him what was in store for her, and was very heavy-hearted. Then +Thiostolf said—</p> + +<p>"Be of good cheer, for thou wilt be married a second time, and then they +will ask thee what thou thinkest of the match; for I will do in all +things as thou wishest, except in what touches thy father or Hrut."</p> + +<p>After that they spoke no more of the matter, and Hauskuld made ready the +bridal feast, and rode off to ask men to it. So he came to Hrutstede and +called Hrut out to speak with him. Hrut went out, and they began to +talk, and Hauskuld told him the whole story of the bargain, and bade him +to the feast, saying—</p> + +<p>"I should be glad to know that thou dost not feel hurt though I did not +tell thee when the bargain was being made."</p> + +<p>"I should be better pleased," said Hrut, "to have nothing at all to do +with it; for this match will bring luck neither to him nor to her; but +still I will come to the feast if thou thinkest it will add any honour +to thee."</p> + +<p>"Of course I think so," said Hauskuld, and rode off home.</p> + +<p>Oswif and Thorwald also asked men to come, so that no fewer than one +hundred guests were asked.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a man named Swan, who dwelt in Bearfirth, which lies north +from Steingrimsfirth. This Swan was a great wizard, and he was +Hallgerda's mother's brother. He was quarrelsome, and hard to deal with, +but Hallgerda asked him to the feast, and sends Thiostolf to him; so he +went, and it soon got to friendship between him and Swan.</p> + +<p>Now men come to the feast, and Hallgerda sat upon the cross-bench, and +she was a very merry bride. Thiostolf was always talking to her, though +he sometimes found time to speak to Swan, and men thought their talking +strange. The feast went off well, and Hauskuld paid down Hallgerda's +portion with the greatest readiness. After he had done that, he said to +Hrut—</p> + +<p>"Shall I bring out any gifts beside?"</p> + +<p>"The day will come," answered Hrut, "when thou wilt have to waste thy +goods for Hallgerda's sake, so hold thy hand now."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>THORWALD'S SLAYING.</h3> + + +<p>Thorwald rode home from the bridal feast, and his wife with him, and +Thiostolf, who rode by her horse's side, and still talked to her in a +low voice. Oswif turned to his son and said—</p> + +<p>"Art thou pleased with thy match? and how went it when ye talked +together?"</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, "she showed all kindness to me. Thou mightst see that +by the way she laughs at every word I say."</p> + +<p>"I don't think her laughter so hearty as thou dost," answered Oswif, +"but this will be put to the proof by and by."</p> + +<p>So they ride on till they come home, and at night she took her seat by +her husband's side, and made room for Thiostolf next herself on the +inside. Thiostolf and Thorwald had little to do with each other, and few +words were thrown away between them that winter, and so time went on. +Hallgerda was prodigal and grasping, and there was nothing that any of +their neighbours had that she must not have too, and all that she had, +no matter whether it were her own or belonged to others, she waited. But +when the spring came there was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> scarcity in the house, both of meal +and stock fish, so Hallgerda went up to Thorwald and said—</p> + +<p>"Thou must not be sitting indoors any longer, for we want for the house +both meal and fish."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Thorwald, "I did not lay in less for the house this year +than I laid in before, and then it used to last till summer."</p> + +<p>"What care I," said Hallgerda, "if thou and thy father have made your +money by starving yourselves."</p> + +<p>Then Thorwald got angry and gave her a blow on the face and drew blood, +and went away and called his men and ran the skiff down to the shore. +Then six of them jumped into her and rowed out to the Bear-isles, and +began to load her with meal and fish.</p> + +<p>Meantime it is said that Hallgerda sat out of doors heavy at heart. +Thiostolf went up to her and saw the wound on her face, and said—</p> + +<p>"Who has been playing thee this sorry trick?"</p> + +<p>"My husband Thorwald," she said, "and thou stoodst aloof, though thou +wouldst not if thou hadst cared at all for me."</p> + +<p>"Because I knew nothing about it," said Thiostolf, "but I will avenge +it."</p> + +<p>Then he went away down to the shore and ran out a six-oared boat, and +held in his hand a great axe that he had with a haft overlaid with iron. +He steps into the boat and rows out to the Bear-isles, and when he got +there all the men had rowed away but Thorwald and his followers, and he +stayed by the skiff to load her, while they brought the goods down to +him. So Thiostolf came up just then and jumped into the skiff and began +to load with him, and after a while he said—</p> + +<p>"Thou canst do but little at this work, and that little thou dost +badly."</p> + +<p>"Thinkest thou thou canst do it better?" said Thorwald.</p> + +<p>"There's one thing to be done which I can do better than thou," said +Thiostolf, and then he went on—</p> + +<p>"The woman who is thy wife has made a bad match, and you shall not live +much longer together."</p> + +<p>Then Thorwald snatched up a fishing-knife that lay by him, and made a +stab at Thiostolf; he had lifted his axe to his shoulder and dashed it +down. It came on Thorwald's arm and crushed the wrist, but down fell the +knife. Then Thiostolf lifted up his axe a second time and gave Thorwald +a blow on the head, and he fell dead on the spot.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>THIOSTOLF'S FLIGHT.</h3> + + +<p>While this was going on, Thorwald's men came down with their load, but +Thiostolf was not slow in his plans. He hewed with both hands at the +gunwale of the skiff and cut it down about two planks; then he leapt +into his boat, but the dark blue sea poured into the skiff, and down she +went with all her freight. Down too sank Thorwald's body, so that his +men could not see what had been done to him, but they knew well enough +that he was dead, Thiostolf rowed away up the firth, but they shouted +after him wishing him ill luck. He made them no answer, but rowed on +till he got home, and ran the boat up on the beach, and went up to the +house with his axe, all bloody as it was, on his shoulder. Hallgerda +stood out of doors, and said—</p> + +<p>"Thine axe is bloody; what hast thou done?"</p> + +<p>"I have done now what will cause thee to be wedded a second time."</p> + +<p>"Thou tellest me then that Thorwald is dead?" she said.</p> + +<p>"So it is," said he, "and now look out for my safety."</p> + +<p>"So I will," she said; "I will send thee north to Bearfirth, to +Swanshol, and Swan, my kinsman, will receive thee with open arms. He is +so mighty a man that no one will seek thee thither."</p> + +<p>So he saddled a horse that she had, and jumped on his back, and rode off +north to Bearfirth, to Swanshol, and Swan received him with open arms, +and said—</p> + +<p>"That's what I call a man who does not stick at trifles! And now I +promise thee if they seek thee here, they shall get nothing but the +greatest shame."</p> + +<p>Now, the story goes back to Hallgerda, and how she behaved. She called +on Liot the black, her kinsman, to go with her, and bade him saddle +their horses, for she said—"I will ride home to my father".</p> + +<p>While he made ready for their journey, she went to her chests and +unlocked them, and called all the men of her house about her, and gave +each of them some gift; but they all grieved at her going. Now she rides +home to her father; and he received her well, for as yet he had not +heard the news. But Hrut said to Hallgerda<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Why did not Thorwald come with thee?" and she answered—</p> + +<p>"He is dead."</p> + +<p>Then Said Hauskuld—</p> + +<p>"That was Thiostolf's doing?"</p> + +<p>"It was," she said.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Hauskuld, "Hrut was not for wrong when he told me that this +bargain would draw mickle misfortune after it. But there's no good in +troubling one's self about a thing that's done and gone."</p> + +<p>Now the story must go back to Thorwald's mates, how there they ate, and +how they begged the loan of a boat to get to the mainland. So a boat was +lent them at once, and they rowed up the firth to Reykianess, and found +Oswif, and told him these tidings.</p> + +<p>He said, "Ill luck is the end of ill redes, and now I see how it has all +gone. Hallgerda must have sent Thiostolf to Bearfirth, but she herself +must have ridden home to her father. Let us now gather folk and follow +him up thither north." So they did that, and went about asking for help, +and got together many men. And then they all rode off to Steingrims +river, and so on to Liotriverdale and Selriverdale, till they came to +Bearfirth.</p> + +<p>Now Swan began to speak, and gasped much. "Now Oswif's fetches are +seeking us out." Then up sprung Thiostolf, but Swan said, "Go thou out +with me, there won't be need of much". So they went out both of them, +and Swan took a goatskin and wrapped it about his own head, and said, +"Become mist and fog, become fright and wonder mickle to all those who +seek thee".</p> + +<p>Now, it must be told how Oswif, his friends, and his men are riding +along the ridge; then came a great mist against them, and Oswif said, +"This is Swan's doing; 'twere well if nothing worse followed". A little +after a mighty darkness came before their eyes, so that they could see +nothing, and then they fell off their horses' backs, and lost their +horses, and dropped their weapons, and went over head and ears into +bogs, and some went astray into the wood, till they were on the brink of +bodily harm. Then Oswif said, "If I could only find my horse and +weapons, then I'd turn back"; and he had scarce spoken these words than +they saw somewhat, and found their horses and weapons. Then many still +egged the others on to look after the chase once more; and so they did, +and at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> once the same wonders befell them, and so they fared thrice. +Then Oswif said, "Though the course be not good, let us still turn back. +Now, we will take counsel a second time, and what now pleases my mind +best, is to go and find Hauskuld, and ask atonement for my son; for +there's hope of honour where there's good store of it."</p> + +<p>So they rode thence to the Broadfirth dales, and there is nothing to be +told about them till they come to Hauskuldstede, and Hrut was there +before them. Oswif called out Hauskuld and Hrut, and they both went out +and bade him good-day. After that they began to talk. Hauskuld asked +Oswif whence he came. He said he had set out to search for Thiostolf, +but couldn't find him. Hauskuld said he must have gone north to +Swanshol, "and thither it is not every man's lot to go to find him".</p> + +<p>"Well," says Oswif, "I am come hither for this, to ask atonement for my +son from thee."</p> + +<p>Hauskuld answered—"I did not slay thy son, nor did I plot his death; +still it may be forgiven thee to look for atonement somewhere".</p> + +<p>"Nose is next of kin, brother, to eyes," said Hrut, "and it is needful +to stop all evil tongues, and to make him atonement for his son, and so +mend thy daughter's state, for that will only be the case when this suit +is dropped, and the less that is said about it the better it will be."</p> + +<p>Hauskuld said—"Wilt thou undertake the award?"</p> + +<p>"That I will," says Hrut, "nor will I shield thee at all in my award; +for if the truth must be told thy daughter planned his death."</p> + +<p>Then Hrut held his peace some little while, and afterwards he stood up, +and said to Oswif—"Take now my hand in handsel as a token that thou +lettest the suit drop".</p> + +<p>So Oswif stood up and said—"This is not an atonement on equal terms +when thy brother utters the award, but still thou (speaking to Hrut) +hast behaved so well about it that I trust thee thoroughly to make it" +Then he stood up and took Hauskuld's hand, and came to an atonement in +the matter, on the understanding that Hrut was to make up his mind and +utter the award before Oswif went away. After that, Hrut made his award, +and said—"For the slaying of Thorwald I award two hundred in +silver"—that was then thought a good price for a man—"and thou shalt +pay it down at once, brother, and pay it too with an open hand".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span></p> + +<p>Hauskuld did so, and then Hrut said to Oswif—"I will give thee a good +cloak which I brought with me from foreign lands".</p> + +<p>He thanked him for his gift, and went home well pleased at the way in +which things had gone.</p> + +<p>After that Hauskuld and Hrut came to Oswif to share the goods, and they +and Oswif came to a good agreement about that too, and they went home +with their share of the goods, and Oswif is now out of our story. +Hallgerda begged Hauskuld to let her come back home to him, and he gave +her leave, and for a long time there was much talk about Thorwald's +slaying. As for Hallgerda'a goods they went on growing till they were +worth a great sum.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>GLUM'S WOOING.</h3> + + +<p>Now three brothers are named in the story. One was called Thorarin, the +second Ragi, and the third Glum. They were the sons of Olof the Halt, +and were men of much worth and of great wealth in goods. Thorarin's +surname was Ragi's brother; he had the Speakership of the Law after Rafn +Heing's son. He was a very wise man, and lived at Varmalek, and he and +Glum kept house together. Glum had been long abroad; he was a tall, +strong, handsome man. Ragi their brother was a great man-slayer. Those +brothers owned in the south Engey and Laugarness. One day the brothers +Thorarin and Glum were talking together, and Thorarin asked Glum whether +he meant to go abroad, as was his wont.</p> + +<p>He answered—"I was rather thinking now of leaving off trading voyages".</p> + +<p>"What hast thou then in thy mind? Wilt thou woo thee a wife?"</p> + +<p>"That I will," says he, "if I could only get myself well matched."</p> + +<p>Then Thorarin told off all the women who were unwedded in Borgarfirth, +and asked him if he would have any of these—"Say the word, and I will +ride with thee!"</p> + +<p>But Glum answered—"I will have none of these".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Say then the name of her thou wishest to have," says Thorarin.</p> + +<p>Glum answered—"If thou must know, her name is Hallgerda, and she is +Hauskuld's daughter away west in the dales".</p> + +<p>"Well," says Thorarin, "'tis not with thee as the saw says, 'be warned +by another's woe'; for she was wedded to a man, and she plotted his +death."</p> + +<p>Glum said—"May be such ill-luck will not befall her a second time, and +sure I am she will not plot my death. But now, if thou wilt show me any +honour, ride along with me to woo her."</p> + +<p>Thorarin said—"There's no good striving against it, for what must be is +sure to happen". Glum often talked the matter over with Thorarin, but he +put it off a long time. At last it came about that they gathered men +together and rode off ten in company, west to the dales, and came to +Hauskuldstede. Hauskuld gave them a hearty welcome, and they stayed +there that night. But early next morning, Hauskuld sends Hrut, and he +came thither at once; and Hauskuld was out of doors when he rode into +the "town". Then Hauskuld told Hrut what men had come thither.</p> + +<p>"What may it be they want?" asked Hrut</p> + +<p>"As yet," says Hauskuld, "they have not let out to me that they have any +business."</p> + +<p>"Still," says Hrut, "their business must be with thee. They will ask the +hand of thy daughter, Hallgerda. If they do, what answer wilt thou +make?"</p> + +<p>"What dost thou advise me to say?" says Hauskuld.</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt answer well," says Hrut; "but still make a clean breast of +all the good and all the ill thou knowest of the woman."</p> + +<p>But while the brothers were talking thus, out came the guests. Hauskuld +greeted them well, and Hrut bade both Thorarin and his brothers good +morning. After that they all began to talk, and Thorarin said—</p> + +<p>"I am come hither, Hauskuld, with my brother Glum on this errand, to ask +for Hallgerda thy daughter, at the hand of my brother Glum. Thou must +know that he is a man of worth."</p> + +<p>"I know well," says Hauskuld, "that ye are both of you powerful and +worthy men; but I must tell you right out, that I chose a husband for +her before, and that turned out most unluckily for us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thorarin answered—"We will not let that stand in the way of the +bargain; for one oath shall not become all oaths, and this may prove to +be a good match, though that turned out ill; besides Thiostolf had most +hand in spoiling it".</p> + +<p>Then Hrut spoke: "Now I will give you a bit of advice—this: if ye will +not let all this that has already happened to Hallgerda stand in the way +of the match, mind you do not let Thiostolf go south with her if the +match comes off, and that he is never there longer than three nights at +a time, unless Glum gives him leave, but fall an outlaw by Glum's hand +without atonement if he stay there longer. Of course, it shall be in +Glum's power to give him leave; but he will not if he takes my advice. +And now this match, shall not be fulfilled, as the other was, without +Hallgerda's knowledge. She shall now know the whole course of this +bargain, and see Glum, and herself settle whether she will have him or +not; and then she will not be able to lay the blame on others if it does +not turn out well. And all this shall be without craft or guile."</p> + +<p>Then Thorarin said—"Now, as always, it will prove best if thy advice be +taken".</p> + +<p>Then they sent for Hallgerda, and she came thither, and two women with +her. She had on a cloak of rich blue wool, and under it a scarlet +kirtle, and a silver girdle round her waist, but her hair came down on +both sides of her bosom, and she had turned the locks up under her +girdle. She sat down between Hrut and her father, and she greeted them +all with kind words, and spoke well and boldly, and asked what was the +news. After that she ceased speaking.</p> + +<p>Then Glum said—"There has been some talk between thy father and my +brother Thorarin and myself about a bargain. It was that I might get +thee, Hallgerda, if it be thy will, as it is theirs; and now, if thou +art a brave woman, thou wilt say right out whether the match is at all +to thy mind; but if thou hast anything in thy heart against this bargain +with us, then we will not say anything more about it."</p> + +<p>Hallgerda said—"I know well that you are men of worth and might, ye +brothers. I know too that now I shall be much better wedded than I was +before; but what I want to know is, what you have said already about the +match, and how far you have given your words in the matter. But so far +as I now see of thee, I think I might love thee well if we can but hit +it off as to temper."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span></p> + +<p>So Glum himself told her all about the bargain, and left nothing out, +and then he asked Hauskuld and Hrut whether he had repeated it right. +Hauskuld said he had; and then Hallgerda said—"Ye have dealt so well +with me in this matter, my father and Hrut, that I will do what ye +advise, and this bargain shall be struck as ye have settled it".</p> + +<p>Then Hrut said—"Methinks it were best that Hauskuld and I should name +witnesses, and that Hallgerda should betroth herself, if the Lawman +thinks that right and lawful".</p> + +<p>"Right and lawful it is," says Thorarin.</p> + +<p>After that Hallgerda's goods were valued, and Glum was to lay down as +much against them, and they were to go shares, half and half, in the +whole. Then Glum bound himself to Hallgerda as his betrothed, and they +rode away home south; but Hauskuld was to keep the wedding-feast at his +house. And now all is quiet till men ride to the wedding.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>GLUM'S WEDDING.</h3> + + +<p>Those brothers gathered together a great company, and they were all +picked men. They rode west to the dales and came to Hauskuldstede, and +there they found a great gathering to meet them. Hauskuld and Hrut, and +their friends, filled one bench, and the bridegroom the other. Hallgerda +sat upon the cross-bench on the dais, and behaved well. Thiostolf went +about with his axe raised in air, and no one seemed to know that he was +there, and so the wedding went off well. But when the feast was over, +Hallgerda went away south with Glum and his brothers. So when they came +south to Varmalek, Thorarin asked Hallgerda if she would undertake the +housekeeping, "No, I will not," she said. Hallgerda kept her temper down +that winter, and they liked her well enough. But when the spring came, +the brothers talked about their property, and Thorarin said—"I will +give up to you the house at Varmalek, for that is readiest to your hand, +and I will go down south to Laugarness and live there, but Engey we will +have both of us in common".</p> + +<p>Glum was willing enough to do that. So Thorarin went<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> down to the south +of that district, and Glum and his wife stayed behind there, and lived +in the house at Varmalek.</p> + +<p>Now Hallgerda got a household about her; she was prodigal in giving, and +grasping in getting. In the summer she gave birth to a girl. Glum asked +her what name it was to have.</p> + +<p>"She shall be called after my father's mother, and her name shall be +Thorgerda," for she came down from Sigurd Fafnir's-bane on the father's +side, according to the family pedigree.</p> + +<p>So the maiden was sprinkled with water, and had this name given her, and +there she grew up, and got like her mother in looks and feature. Glum +and Hallgerda agreed well together, and so it went on for a while. About +that time these tidings were heard from the north and Bearfirth, how +Swan had rowed out to fish in the spring, and a great storm came down on +him from the east, and how he was driven ashore at Fishless, and he and +his men were there lost. But the fishermen who were at Kalback thought +they saw Swan go into the fell at Kalbackshorn, and that he was greeted +well; but some spoke against that story, and said there was nothing in +it. But this all knew that he was never seen again either alive or dead. +So when Hallgerda heard that, she thought she had a great loss in her +mother's brother. Glum begged Thorarin to change lands with him, but he +said he would not; "but," said he, "if I outlive you, I mean to have +Varmalek to myself". When Glum told this to Hallgerda, she said, +"Thorarin has indeed a right to expect this from us".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>THIOSTOLF GOES TO GLUM'S HOUSE.</h3> + + +<p>Thiostolf had beaten one of Hauskuld's house-carles, so he drove him +away. He took his horse and weapons, and said to Hauskuld—</p> + +<p>"Now, I will go away and never come back."</p> + +<p>"All will be glad at that," says Hauskuld.</p> + +<p>Thiostolf rode till he came to Varmalek, and there he got<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> a hearty +welcome from Hallgerda, and not a bad one from Glum. He told Hallgerda +how her father had driven him away, and begged her to give him her help +and countenance. She answered him by telling him she could say nothing +about his staying there before she had seen Glum about it.</p> + +<p>"Does it go well between you?" he says.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she says, "our love runs smooth enough."</p> + +<p>After that she went to speak to Glum, and threw her arms round his neck +and said—</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou grant me a boon which I wish to ask of thee?"</p> + +<p>"Grant it I will," he says, "if it be right and seemly; but what is it +thou wishest to ask?"</p> + +<p>"Well," she said, "Thiostolf has been driven away from the west, and +what I want thee to do is to let him stay here; but I will not take it +crossly if it is not to thy mind."</p> + +<p>Glum said—"Now that thou behavest so well, I will grant thee thy boon; +but I tell thee, if he takes to any ill he shall be sent off at once".</p> + +<p>She goes then to Thiostolf and tells him, and he answered—</p> + +<p>"Now, thou art still good, as I had hoped."</p> + +<p>After that he was there, and kept himself down a little white, but then +it was the old story, he seemed to spoil all the good he found; for he +gave way to no one save to Hallgerda alone, but she never took his side +in his brawls with others. Thorarin, Glum's brother, blamed him for +letting him be there, and said ill luck would come of it, and all would +happen as had happened before if he were there. Glum answered him well +and kindly, but still kept on in his own way.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>GLUM'S SHEEP HUNT.</h3> + + +<p>Now once on a time when autumn came, it happened that men had hard work +to get their flocks home, and many of Glum's wethers were missing. Then +Glum said to Thiostolf—</p> + +<p>"Go thou up on the fell with my house-carles and see if ye cannot find +out anything about the sheep."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Tis no business of mine," says Thiostolf, "to hunt up sheep, and this +one thing is quite enough to hinder it. I won't walk in thy thralls' +footsteps. But go thyself, and then I'll go with thee."</p> + +<p>About this they had many words. The weather was good, and Hallgerda was +sitting out of doors. Glum went up to her and said—</p> + +<p>"Now Thiostolf and I have had a quarrel, and we shall not live much +longer together." And so he told her all that they had been talking +about.</p> + +<p>Then Hallgerda spoke up for Thiostolf, and they had many words about +him. At last Glum gave her a blow with his hand, and said—</p> + +<p>"I will strive no longer with thee," and with that he went away.</p> + +<p>Now she loved him much, and could not calm herself, but wept out loud. +Thiostolf went up to her and said—</p> + +<p>"This is sorry sport for thee, and so it must not be often again."</p> + +<p>"Nay," she said, "but thou shalt not avenge this, nor meddle at all +whatever passes between Glum and me."</p> + +<p>He went off with a spiteful grin.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>GLUM'S SLAYING.</h3> + + +<p>Now Glum called men to follow him, and Thiostolf got ready and went with +them. So they went up South Reykiardale and then up along by Baugagil +and so south to Crossfell. But some of his band he sent to the +Sulafells, and they all found very many sheep. Some of them, too, went +by way of Scoradale, and it came about at last that those twain, Glum +and Thiostolf, were left alone together. They went south from Crossfell +and found there a flock of wild sheep, and they went from the south +towards the fell, and tried to drive them down; but still the sheep got +away from them up on the fell. Then each began to scold the other, and +Thiostolf said at last that Glum had no strength save to tumble about in +Hallgerda's arms.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Glum said—</p> + +<p>"'A man's foes are those of his own house.' Shall I take upbraiding from +thee, runaway thrall as thou art?"</p> + +<p>Thiostolf said—</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt soon have to own that I am no thrall, for I will not yield +an inch to thee."</p> + +<p>Then Glum got angry, and cut at him with his hand-axe, but he threw his +axe in the way, and the blow fell on the haft with a downward stroke and +bit into it about the breadth of two fingers. Thiostolf cut at him at +once with his axe, and smote him on the shoulder, and the stroke hewed +asunder the shoulderbone and collarbone, and the wound bled inwards. +Glum grasped at Thiostolf with his left hand so fast that he fell; but +Glum could not hold him, for death came over him. Then Thiostolf covered +his body with stones, and took off his gold ring. Then he went straight +to Varmalek. Hallgerda was sitting out of doors, and saw that his axe +was bloody. He said—</p> + +<p>"I know not what thou wilt think of it, but I tell thee Glum is slain."</p> + +<p>"That must be thy deed?" she says.</p> + +<p>"So it is," he says.</p> + +<p>She laughed and said—</p> + +<p>"Thou dost not stand for nothing in this sport."</p> + +<p>"What thinkest thou is best to be done now?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Go to Hrut, my father's brother," she said, "and let him see about +thee."</p> + +<p>"I do not know," says Thiostolf, "whether this is good advice; but still +I will take thy counsel in this matter."</p> + +<p>So he took his horse, and rode west to Hrutstede that night. He binds +his horse at the back of the house, and then goes round to the door, and +gives a great knock. After that he walks round the house, north about. +It happened that Hrut was awake. He sprang up at once, and put on his +jerkin and pulled on his shoes. Then he took up his sword, and wrapped a +cloak about his left arm, up as far as the elbow. Men woke up just as he +went out; there he saw a tall stout man at the back of the house, and +knew it was Thiostolf. Hrut asked him what news.</p> + +<p>"I tell thee Glum is slain," says Thiostolf.</p> + +<p>"Who did the deed?" says Hrut.</p> + +<p>"I slew him," says Thiostolf.</p> + +<p>"Why rodest thou hither?" says Hrut.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Hallgerda sent me to thee," says Thiostolf.</p> + +<p>"Then she has no hand in this deed," says Hrut, and drew his sword. +Thiostolf saw that, and would not be behind hand, so he cuts at Hrut at +once. Hrut got out of the way of the stroke by a quick turn, and at the +same time struck the back of the axe so smartly with a side-long blow of +his left hand, that it flew out of Thiostolf's grasp. Then Hrut made a +blow with the sword in his right hand at Thiostolf's leg, just above the +knee, and cut it almost off so that it hung by a little piece, and +sprang in upon him at the same time, and thrust him hard back. After +that he smote him on the head, and dealt him his death-blow. Thiostolf +fell down on his back at full length, and then out came Hrut's men, and +saw the tokens of the deed. Hrut made them take Thiostolf away, and +throw stones over his body, and then he went to find Hauskuld, and told +him of Glum's slaying, and also of Thiostolf's. He thought it harm that +Glum was dead and gone, but thanked him for killing Thiostolf. A little +while after, Thorarin Ragi's brother hears of his brother Glum's death, +then he rides with eleven men behind him west to Hauskuldstede, and +Hauskuld welcomed him with both hands, and he is there the night. +Hauskuld sent at once for Hrut to come to him, and he went at once, and +next day they spoke much of the slaying of Glum, and Thorarin +said—"Wilt thou make me any atonement for my brother, for I have had a +great loss?"</p> + +<p>Hauskuld answered—"I did not slay thy brother, nor did my daughter plot +his death; but as soon as ever Hrut knew it he slew Thiostolf".</p> + +<p>Then Thorarin held his peace, and thought the matter had taken a bad +turn. But Hrut said—"Let us make his journey good; he has indeed had a +heavy loss, and if we do that we shall be well spoken of. So let us give +him gifts, and then he will be our friend ever afterwards."</p> + +<p>So the end of it was that those brothers gave him gifts, and he rode +back south. He and Hallgerda changed homesteads in the spring, and she +went south to Laugarness and he to Varmalek. And now Thorarin is out of +the story.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>FIDDLE MORD'S DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>Now it must be told how Fiddle Mord took a sickness and breathed his +last; and that was thought great scathe. His daughter Unna took all the +goods he left behind him. She was then still unmarried the second time. +She was very lavish, and unthrifty of her property; so that her goods +and ready money wasted away, and at last she had scarce anything left +but land and stock.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR COMES INTO THE STORY.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man whose name was Gunnar. He was one of Unna's kinsmen, and +his mother's name was Rannveig. Gunnar's father was named Hamond. Gunnar +Hamond's son dwelt at Lithend, in the Fleetlithe. He was a tall man in +growth, and a strong man—best skilled in arms of all men. He could cut +or thrust or shoot if he chose as well with his left as with his right +hand, and he smote so swiftly with his sword, that three seemed to flash +through the air at once. He was the best shot with the bow of all men, +and never missed his mark. He could leap more than his own height, with +all his war-gear, and as far backwards as forwards. He could swim like a +seal, and there was no game in which it was any good for anyone to +strive with him; and so it has been said that no man was his match. He +was handsome of feature, and fair skinned. His nose was straight, and a +little turned up at the end. He was blue-eyed and bright-eyed, and +ruddy-cheeked. His hair thick, and of good hue, and hanging down in +comely curls. The most courteous of men was he, of sturdy frame and +strong will, bountiful and gentle, a fast friend, but hard to please +when making them. He was wealthy in goods. His brother's name was +Kolskegg; he was a tall strong man, a noble fellow, and undaunted in +everything. Another brother's name was Hjort; he was then in his +childhood. Orm Skogarnef was a base-born brother of Gunnar's; he does +not come into this story. Arnguda was the name of Gunnar's sister. +Hroar, the priest at Tongue, had her to wife.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h3>OF NJAL AND HIS CHILDREN.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man whose name was Njal. He was the son of Thorgeir Gelling, +the son of Thorolf. Njal's mother's name was Asgerda. Njal dwelt at +Bergthorsknoll in the land-isles; he had another homestead on +Thorolfsfell. Njal was wealthy in goods, and handsome of face; no beard +grew on his chin. He was so great a lawyer, that his match was not to be +found. Wise too he was, and foreknowing and foresighted.<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Of good +counsel, and ready to give it, and all that he advised men was sure to +be the best for them to do. Gentle and generous, he unravelled every +man's knotty points who came to see him about them. Bergthora was his +wife's name; she was Skarphedinn's daughter, a very high-spirited, +brave-hearted woman, but somewhat hard-tempered. They had six children, +three daughters and three sons, and they all come afterwards into this +story.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h3>UNNA GOES TO SEE GUNNAR.</h3> + + +<p>Now it must be told how Unna had lost all her ready money. She made her +way to Lithend, and Gunnar greeted his kinswoman well. She stayed there +that night, and the next morning they sat out of doors and talked. The +end of their talk was that she told him how heavily she was pressed for +money.</p> + +<p>"This is a bad business," he said.</p> + +<p>"What help wilt thou give me out of my distress?" she asked.</p> + +<p>He answered—"Take as much money as thou needest from what I have out at +interest".</p> + +<p>"Nay," she said, "I will not waste thy goods."</p> + +<p>"What then dost thou wish?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I wish thee to get back my goods out of Hrut's hands," she answered.</p> + +<p>"That, methinks, is not likely," said he, "when thy father could not get +them back, and yet he was a great lawyer, but I know little about law."</p> + +<p>She answered—"Hrut pushed that matter through rather by boldness than +by law; besides, my father was old, and that was why men thought it +better not to drive things to the uttermost. And now there is none of my +kinsmen to take this suit up if thou hast not daring enough."</p> + +<p>"I have courage enough," he replied, "to get these goods back; but I do +not know how to take the suit up."</p> + +<p>"Well!" she answered, "go and see Njal of Bergthorsknoll, he will know +how to give thee advice. Besides, he is a great friend of thine."</p> + +<p>"'Tis like enough he will give me good advice, as he gives it to every +one else," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>So the end of their talk was, that Gunnar undertook her cause, and gave +her the money she needed for her housekeeping, and after that she went +home.</p> + +<p>Now Gunnar rides to see Njal, and he made him welcome, and they began to +talk at once.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar said—"I am come to seek a bit of good advice from thee".</p> + +<p>Njal replied—"Many of my friends are worthy of this, but still I think +I would take more pains for none than for thee".</p> + +<p>Gunnar said—"I wish to let thee know that I have undertaken to get +Unna's goods back from Hrut".</p> + +<p>"A very hard suit to undertake," said Njal, "and one very hazardous how +it will go; but still I will get it up for thee in the way I think +likeliest to succeed, and the end will be good if thou breakest none of +the rules I lay down; if thou dost, thy life is in danger."</p> + +<p>"Never fear; I will break none of them," said Gunnar.</p> + +<p>Then Njal held his peace for a little while, and after that he spoke as +follows:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>—</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL'S ADVICE.</h3> + + +<p>"I have thought over the suit, and it will do so. Thou shalt ride from +home with two men at thy back. Over all thou shalt have a great rough +cloak, and under that, a russet kirtle of cheap stuff, and under all, +thy good clothes. Thou must take a small axe in thy hand, and each of +you must have two horses, one fat, the other lean. Thou shalt carry +hardware and smith's work with thee hence, and ye must ride off early +to-morrow morning, and when ye are come across Whitewater westwards, +mind and slouch thy hat well over thy brows. Then men will ask who is +this tall man, and thy mates shall say—'Here is Huckster Hedinn the +Big, a man from Eyjafirth, who is going about with smith's work for +sale'. This Hedinn is ill-tempered and a chatterer—a fellow who thinks +he alone knows everything. Very often he snatches back his wares, and +flies at men if everything is not done as he wishes. So thou shalt ride +west to Borgarfirth offering all sorts of wares for sale, and be sure +often to cry off thy bargains, so that it will be noised abroad that +Huckster Hedinn is the worst of men to deal with, and that no lies have +been told of his bad behaviour. So thou shalt ride to Northwaterdale, +and to Hrutfirth, and Laxriverdale, till thou comest to Hauskuldstede. +There thou must stay a night, and sit in the lowest place, and hang thy +head down. Hauskuld will tell them all not to meddle nor make with +Huckster Hedinn, saying he is a rude unfriendly fellow. Next morning +thou must be off early and go to the farm nearest Hrutstede. There thou +must offer thy goods for sale, praising up all that is worst, and +tinkering up the faults. The master of the house will pry about and find +out the faults. Thou must snatch the wares away from him, and speak ill +to him. He will say—'Twas not to be hoped that thou wouldst behave well +to him, when thou behavest ill to every one else. Then thou shalt fly at +him, though it is not thy wont, but mind and spare thy strength, that +thou mayest not be found out. Then a man will be sent to Hrutstede to +tell Hrut he had best come and part you. He will come at once and ask +thee to his house, and thou must accept his offer. Thou shalt greet +Hrut, and he will answer well. A place will be given thee on the lower +bench<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> over against Hrut's high-seat. He will ask if thou art from the +North, and thou shalt answer that thou art a man of Eyjafirth. He will +go on to ask if there are very many famous men there. 'Shabby fellows +enough and to spare,' thou must answer. 'Dost thou know Reykiardale and +the parts about?' he will ask. To which thou must answer—'I know all +Iceland by heart'.</p> + +<p>"Are there any stout champions left in Reykiardale?' he will ask. +'Thieves and scoundrels,' thou shalt answer. Then Hrut will smile and +think it sport to listen. You two will go on to talk of the men in the +Eastfirth Quarter, and thou must always find something to say against +them. At last your talk will come to Rangrivervale, and then thou must +say, there is small choice of men left in those parts since Fiddle Mord +died. At the same time sing some stave to please Hrut, for I know thou +art a skald. Hrut will ask what makes thee say there is never a man to +come in Mord's place; and then thou must answer, that he was so wise a +man and so good a taker up of suits, that he never made a false step in +upholding his leadership. He will ask—'Dost thou know how matters fared +between me and him?'</p> + +<p>"'I know all about it,' thou must reply, 'he took thy wife from thee, +and thou hadst not a word to say.'</p> + +<p>"Then Hrut will ask—'Dost thou not think it was some disgrace to him +when he could not get back his goods, though he set the suit on foot?'</p> + +<p>"'I can answer thee that well enough,' thou must say, 'Thou challengedst +him to single combat; but he was old, and so his friends advised him not +to fight with thee, and then they let the suit fall to the ground.'</p> + +<p>"'True enough," Hrut will say. 'I said so, and that passed for law among +foolish men; but the suit might have been taken up again at another +Thing if he had the heart.'</p> + +<p>"'I know all that,' thou must say.</p> + +<p>"Then he will ask—'Dost thou know anything about law?"</p> + +<p>"'Up in the North I am thought to know something about it,' thou shalt +say. 'But still I should like thee to tell me how this suit should be +taken up.'</p> + +<p>"'What suit dost thou mean?' he will ask.</p> + +<p>"'A suit,' thou must answer, 'which does not concern me. I want to know +how a man must set to work who wishes to get back Unna's dower.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then Hrut will say—'In this suit I must be summoned so that I can hear +the summons, or I must be summoned here in my lawful house'.</p> + +<p>"'Recite the summons, then,' thou must say, and I will say it after +thee.'</p> + +<p>"Then Hrut will summon himself; and mind and pay great heed to every +word he says. After that Hrut will bid thee repeat the summons, and thou +must do so, and say it all wrong, so that no more than every other word +is right.</p> + +<p>"Then Hrut will smile and not mistrust thee, but say that scarce a word +is right. Thou must throw the blame on thy companions, and say they put +thee out, and then thou must ask him to say the words first, word by +word, and to let thee say the words after him. He will give thee leave, +and summon himself in the suit, and thou shalt summon after him there +and then, and this time say every word right. When it is done, ask Hrut +if that were rightly summoned, and he will answer 'there is no flaw to +be found in it'. Then thou shalt say in a loud voice, so that thy +companions may hear—</p> + +<p>"'I summon thee in the suit which Unna Mord's daughter has made over to +me with her plighted hand.'</p> + +<p>"But when men are sound asleep, you shall rise and take your bridles and +saddles, and tread softly, and go out of the house, and put your saddles +on your fat horses in the fields, and so ride off on them, but leave the +others behind you. You must ride up into the hills away from the home +pastures and stay there three nights, for about so long will they seek +you. After that ride home south, riding always by night and resting by +day. As for us we will then ride this summer to the Thing, and help thee +in thy suit." So Gunnar thanked Njal, and first of all rode home.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h3>HUCKSTER HEDINN.</h3> + + +<p>Gunnar rode from home two nights afterwards, and two men with him; they +rode along until they got on Bluewoodheath, and then men on horseback +met them and asked who that tall man might be of whom so little was +seen. But his com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>panions said it was Huckster Hedinn. Then the others +said a worse was not to be looked for behind, when such a man as he went +before. Hedinn at once made as though he would have set upon them, but +yet each went their way. So Gunnar went on doing everything as Njal had +laid it down for him, and when he came to Hauskuldstede he stayed there +the night, and thence he went down the dale till he came to the next +farm to Hrutstede. There he offered his wares for sale, and Hedinn fell +at once upon the farmer. This was told to Hrut, and he sent for Hedinn, +and Hedinn went at once to see Hrut, and had a good welcome. Hrut seated +him over against himself, and their talk went pretty much as Njal had +guessed; but when they came to talk of Rangrivervale, and Hrut asked +about the men there, Gunnar sung this stave—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Men in sooth are slow to find,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So the people speak by stealth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Often this hath reached my ears,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All through Rangar's rolling vales.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still I trow that Fiddle Mord,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tried his hand in fight of yore;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sure was never gold-bestower,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Such a man for might and wit.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Then Hrut said, "Thou art a skald, Hedinn. But hast thou never heard how +things went between me and Mord?" Then Hedinn sung another stave—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Once I ween I heard the rumour,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How the Lord of rings<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> bereft thee;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From thine arms earth's offspring<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> tearing,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Trickful he and trustful thou.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then the men, the buckler-bearers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Begged the mighty gold-begetter,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sharp sword oft of old he reddened,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Not to stand in strife with thee.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>So they went on, till Hrut, in answer told him how the suit must be +taken up, and recited the summons. Hedinn repeated it all wrong, and +Hrut burst out laughing, and had no mistrust. Then he said, Hrut must +summon once more, and Hrut did so. Then Hedinn repeated the summons a +second time, and this time right, and called his companions to witness +how he summoned Hrut in a suit which Unna Mord's daughter had made over +to him with her plighted hand. At night he went to sleep like other men, +but as soon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> as ever Hrut was sound asleep, they took their clothes and +arms, and went out and came to their horses, and rode off across the +river, and so up along the bank by Hiardarholt till the dale broke off +among the hills, and so there they are upon the fells between +Laxriverdale and Hawkdale, having got to a spot where no one could find +them unless he had fallen on them by chance.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld wakes up that night at Hauskuldstede, and roused all his +household, "I will tell you my dream," he said. "I thought I saw a great +bear go out of this house, and I knew at once this beast's match was not +to be found; two cubs followed him, wishing well to the bear, and they +all made for Hrutstede, and went into the house there. After that I +woke. Now I wish to ask if any of you saw aught about yon tall man."</p> + +<p>Then one man answered him—"I saw how a golden fringe and a bit of +scarlet cloth peeped out at his arm, and on his right arm he had a ring +of gold".</p> + +<p>Hauskuld said—"This beast is no man's fetch, but Gunnar's of Lithend, +and now methinks I see all about it. Up! let us ride to Hrutstede." And +they did so. Hrut lay in his locked bed, and asks who have come there? +Hauskuld tells who he is, and asked what guests might be there in the +house.</p> + +<p>"Only Huckster Hedinn is here," says Hrut.</p> + +<p>"A broader man across the back, it will be, I fear," says Hauskuld, "I +guess here must have been Gunnar of Lithend."</p> + +<p>"Then there has been a pretty trial of cunning," says Hrut.</p> + +<p>"What has happened?" says Hauskuld.</p> + +<p>"I told him how to take up Unna's suit, and I summoned myself and he +summoned after, and now he can use this first step in the suit, and it +is right in law."</p> + +<p>"There has, indeed, been a great falling off of wit on one side," said +Hauskuld, "and Gunnar cannot have planned it all by himself; Njal must +be at the bottom of this plot, for there is not his match for wit in all +the land."</p> + +<p>Now they look for Hedinn, but he is already off and away; after that +they gathered folk, and looked for them three days, but could not find +them. Gunnar rode south from the fell to Hawkdale and so east of Skard, +and north to Holtbeaconheath, and so on until he got home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR AND HRUT STRIVE AT THE THING.</h3> + + +<p>Gunnar rode to the Althing, and Hrut and Hauskuld rode thither too with +a very great company. Gunnar pursues his suit, and began by calling on +his neighbours to bear witness, but Hrut and his brother had it in their +minds to make an onslaught on him, but they mistrusted their strength.</p> + +<p>Gunnar next went to the court of the men of Broadfirth, and bade Hrut +listen to his oath and declaration of the cause of the suit, and to all +the proofs which he was about to bring forward. After that he took his +oath, and declared his case. After that he brought forward his witnesses +of the summons, along with his witnesses that the suit had been handed +over to him. All this time Njal was not at the court. Now Gunnar pursued +his suit till he called on the defendant to reply. Then Hrut took +witness, and said the suit was naught, and that there was a flaw in the +pleading; he declared that it had broken down because Gunnar had failed +to call those three witnesses which ought to have been brought before +the court. The first, that which was taken before the marriage-bed, the +second, before the man's door, the third, at the Hill of Laws. By this +time Njal was come to the court and said the suit and pleading might +still he kept alive if they chose to strive in that way.</p> + +<p>"No," says Gunnar, "I will not have that; I will do the same to Hrut as +he did to Mord my kinsman;—or, are those brothers Hrut and Hauskuld so +near that they may hear my voice?"</p> + +<p>"Hear it we can," says Hrut. "What dost thou wish?"</p> + +<p>Gunnar said—"Now all men here present be ear-witnesses, that I +challenge thee Hrut to single combat, and we shall fight to-day on the +holm, which is here in Axewater. But if thou wilt not fight with me, +then pay up all the money this very day."</p> + +<p>After that Gunnar sung a stave—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yes, so must it be, this morning—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now my mind is full of fire—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hrut with me on yonder island</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raises roar of helm and shield.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All that hear my words bear witness,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warriors grasping Woden's guard,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Unless the wealthy wight down payeth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dower of wife with flowing veil.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> + +<p>After that Gunnar went away from the court with all his followers. Hrut +and Hauskuld went home too, and the suit was never pursued nor defended +from that day forth. Hrut said, as soon as he got inside the booth, +"This has never happened to me before, that any man has offered me +combat and I have shunned it".</p> + +<p>"Then thou must mean to fight," says Hauskuld, "but that shall not be if +I have my way; for thou comest no nearer to Gunnar than Mord would have +come to thee, and we had better both of us pay up the money to Gunnar."</p> + +<p>After that the brothers asked the householders of their own country what +they would lay down, and they one and all said they would lay down as +much as Hrut wished.</p> + +<p>"Let us go then," says Hauskuld, "to Gunner's booth, and pay down the +money out of hand." That was told to Gunnar, and he went out into the +doorway of the booth, and Hauskuld said—</p> + +<p>"Now it is thine to take the money."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said—</p> + +<p>"Pay it down, then, for I am ready to take it."</p> + +<p>So they paid down the money truly out of hand, and then Hauskuld +said—"Enjoy it now, as thou hast gotten it". Then Gunnar sang another +stave—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Men who wield the blade of battle</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hoarded wealth may well enjoy,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Guileless gotten this at least,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Golden meed I fearless take;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But if we for woman's quarrel,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warriors born to brandish sword,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Glut the wolf with manly gore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Worse the lot of both would be.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Hrut answered—"Ill will be thy meed for this".</p> + +<p>"Be that as it may," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>Then Hauskuld and his brother went home to their booth, and he had much +upon his mind, and said to Hrut—</p> + +<p>"Will this unfairness of Gunnar's never be avenged?"</p> + +<p>"Not so," says Hrut; "'twill be avenged on him sure enough, but we shall +have no share nor profit in that vengeance. And after all it is most +likely that he will turn to our stock to seek for friends."</p> + +<p>After that they left off speaking of the matter. Gunnar showed Njal the +money, and he said—"The suit has gone off well".</p> + +<p>"Ay," says Gunnar, "but it was all thy doing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now men rode home from the Thing, and Gunnar got very great honour from +the suit. Gunnar handed over all the money to Unna, and would have none +of it, but said he thought he ought to look for more help from her and +her kin hereafter than from other men. She said, so it should be.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h3>UNNA'S SECOND WEDDING.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Valgard, he kept house at Hof by Rangriver, he was +the son of Jorund the Priest, and his brother was Wolf Aurpriest. Those +brothers. Wolf Aurpriest, and Valgard the guileful, set off to woo Unna, +and she gave herself away to Valgard without the advice of any of her +kinsfolk. But Gunnar and Njal, and many others thought ill of that, for +he was a cross-grained man and had few friends. They begot between them +a son, whose name was Mord, and he is long in this story. When he was +grown to man's estate, he worked ill to his kinsfolk, but worst of all +to Gunnar. He was a crafty man in his temper, but spiteful in his +counsels.</p> + +<p>Now we will name Njal's sons. Skarphedinn was the eldest of them. He was +a tall man in growth and strong withal; a good swordsman; he could swim +like a seal, the swiftest-footed of men, and bold and dauntless; he had +a great flow of words and quick utterance; a good skald too; but still +for the most part he kept himself well in hand; his hair was dark brown, +with crisp curly locks; he had good eyes; his features were sharp, and +his face ashen pale, his nose turned up and his front teeth stuck out, +and his mouth was very ugly. Still he was the most soldier-like of men.</p> + +<p>Grim was the name of Njal's second son. He was fair of face and wore his +hair long. His hair was dark, and he was comelier to look on than +Skarphedinn. A tall strong man.</p> + +<p>Helgi was the name of Njal's third son. He too was fair of face and had +fine hair. He was a strong man and well-skilled in arms. He was a man of +sense and knew well how to behave. They were all unwedded at that time, +Njal's sons.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld was the fourth of Njal's sons. He was base-born. His mother was +Rodny, and she was Hauskuld's daughter, the sister of Ingialld of the +Springs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p> + +<p>Njal asked Skarphedinn one day if he would take to himself a wife. He +bade his father settle the matter. Then Njal asked for his hand +Thorhilda, the daughter of Ranvir of Thorolfsfell, and that was why they +had another homestead there after that. Skarphedinn got Thorhilda, but +he stayed still with his father to the end. Grim wooed Astrid of +Deepback; she was a widow and very wealthy. Grim got her to wife, and +yet lived on with Njal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF ASGRIM AND HIS CHILDREN.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Asgrim. He was Ellidagrim's son. The brother of +Asgrim Ellidagrim's son was Sigfus.</p> + +<p>Asgrim had two sons, and both of them were named Thorhall. They were +both hopeful men. Grim was the name of another of Asgrim's sons, and +Thorhalla was his daughter's name. She was the fairest of women, and +well behaved.</p> + +<p>Njal came to talk with his son Helgi, and said, "I have thought of a +match for thee, if thou wilt follow my advice".</p> + +<p>"That I will surely," says he, "for I know that thou both meanest me +well, and canst do well for me; but whither hast thou turned thine +eyes?"</p> + +<p>"We will go and woo Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's daughter, for that is the +best choice we can make."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h3>HELGI NJAL'S SON'S WOOING.</h3> + + +<p>A little after they rode out across Thurso water, and fared till they +came into Tongue. Asgrim was at home, and gave them a hearty welcome; +and they were there that night. Next morning they began to talk, and +then Njal raised the question of the wooing, and asked for Thorhalla for +his son Helgi's hand. Asgrim answered that well, and said there were no +men with whom he would be more willing to make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> this bargain than with +them. They fell a-talking then about terms, and the end of it was that +Asgrim betrothed his daughter to Helgi, and the bridal day was named. +Gunnar was at that feast, and many other of the best men. After the +feast Njal offered to foster in his house Thorhall, Asgrim's son, and he +was with Njal long after. He loved Njal more than his own father. Njal +taught him law, so that he became the greatest lawyer in Iceland in +those days.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>HALLVARD COMES OUT TO ICELAND.</h3> + + +<p>There came a ship out from Norway, and ran into Arnbæl's Oyce,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> and +the master of the ship was Hallvard, the white, a man from the Bay.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> +He went to stay at Lithend, and was with Gunnar that winter, and was +always asking him to fare abroad with him. Gunnar spoke little about it, +but yet said more unlikely things might happen; and about spring he went +over to Bergthorsknoll to find out from Njal whether he thought it a +wise step in him to go abroad.</p> + +<p>"I think it is wise," says Njal; "they will think thee there an +honourable man, as thou art."</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou perhaps take my goods into thy keeping while I am away, for I +wish my brother Kolskegg to fare with me; but I would that thou shouldst +see after my household along with my mother."</p> + +<p>"I will not throw anything in the way of that," says Njal; "lean on me +in this thing as much as thou likest."</p> + +<p>"Good go with thee for thy words," says Gunnar, and he rides then home.</p> + +<p>The Easterling [the Norseman Hallvard] fell again to talk with Gunnar +that he should fare abroad. Gunnar asked if he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> had ever sailed to other +lands? He said he had sailed to every one of them that lay between +Norway and Russia, and so, too, I have sailed to Biarmaland.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<p>"Wilt thou sail with me eastward ho?" says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"That I will of a surety," says he.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar made up his mind to sail abroad with him. Njal took all +Gunnar's goods into his keeping.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR GOES ABROAD.</h3> + + +<p>So Gunnar fared abroad, and Kolskegg with him. They sailed first to +Tönsberg,<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> and were there that winter. There had then been a shift of +rulers in Norway, Harold Grayfell was then dead, and so was Gunnhillda. +Earl Hacon the Bad, Sigurd's son, Hacon's son, Gritgarth's son, then +ruled the realm. The mother of Hacon was Bergliot, the daughter of Earl +Thorir. Her mother was Olof harvest-heal. She was Harold Fair-hair's +daughter.</p> + +<p>Hallvard asks Gunnar if he would make up his mind to go to Earl Hacon?</p> + +<p>"No; I will not do that," says Gunnar. "Hast thou ever a long-ship?"</p> + +<p>"I have two," he says.</p> + +<p>"Then I would that we two went on warfare; and let us get men to go with +us."</p> + +<p>"I will do that," says Hallvard.</p> + +<p>After that they went to the Bay, and took with them two ships, and +fitted them out thence. They had good choice of men, for much praise was +said of Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"Whither wilt thou first fare?" says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"I wish to go south-east to Hisingen, to see my kinsman Oliver," says +Hallvard.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou want of him?" says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>He answered—"He is a fine brave fellow, and he will be sure to get us +some more strength for our voyage".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then let us go thither," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>So, as soon as they were "boun," they held on east to Hisingen, and had +there a hearty welcome. Gunnar had only been there a short time ere +Oliver made much of him. Oliver asks about his voyage, and Hallvard says +that Gunnar wishes to go a-warfaring to gather goods for himself.</p> + +<p>"There's no use thinking of that," says Oliver, "when ye have no force."</p> + +<p>"Well," says Hallvard, "then you may add to it."</p> + +<p>"So I do mean to strengthen Gunnar somewhat," says Oliver; "and though +thou reckonest thyself my kith and kin, I think there is more good in +him."</p> + +<p>"What force, now, wilt thou add to ours?" he asks.</p> + +<p>"Two long-ships, one with twenty, and the other with thirty seats for +rowers."</p> + +<p>"Who shall man them?" asks Hallvard.</p> + +<p>"I will man one of them with my own house-carles, and the freemen around +shall man the other. But still I have found out that strife has come +into the river, and I know not whether ye two will be able to get away; +for <i>they</i> are in the river."</p> + +<p>"Who?" says Hallvard.</p> + +<p>"Brothers twain," says Oliver; "one's name is Vandil and the other's +Karli, sons of Sjolf the Old, east away out of Gothland."</p> + +<p>Hallvard told Gunnar that Oliver had added some ships to theirs, and +Gunnar was glad at that. They busked them for their voyage thence, till +they were "all-boun". Then Gunnar and Hallvard went before Oliver, and +thanked him; he bade them fare warily for the sake of those brothers.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXX" id="CHAPTER_XXX"></a>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR GOES A-SEA-ROVING.</h3> + + +<p>So Gunnar held on out of the river, and he and Kolskegg were both on +board one ship. But Hallvard was on board another. Now, they see the +ships before them, and then Gunnar spoke, and said—</p> + +<p>"Let us be ready for anything if they turn towards us! but else let us +have nothing to do with them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>So they did that, and made all ready on board their ships. The others +patted their ships asunder, and made a fareway between the ships. Gunnar +fared straight on between the ships, but Vandil caught up a +grappling-iron, and cast it between their ships and Gunnar's ship, and +began at once to drag it towards him.</p> + +<p>Oliver had given Gunnar a good sword; Gunnar now drew it, and had not +yet put on his helm. He leapt at once on the forecastle of Vandil's +ship, and gave one man his death-blow. Karli ran his ship alongside the +other side of Gunnar's ship, and hurled a spear athwart the deck, and +aimed at him about the waist. Gunnar sees this, and turned him about so +quickly, that no eye could follow him, and caught the spear with his +left hand, and hurled it back at Karli's ship, and that man got his +death who stood before it. Kolskegg snatched up a grapnel and casts it +at Karli's ship, and the fluke fell inside the hold, and went out +through one of the planks, and in rushed the coal-blue sea, and all the +men sprang on board other ships.</p> + +<p>Now Gunnar leapt back to his own ship, and then Hallvard came up, and +now a great battle arose. They saw now that their leader was +unflinching, and every man did as well as he could. Sometimes Gunnar +smote with the sword, and sometimes he hurled the spear, and many a man +had his bane at his hand. Kolskegg backed him well. As for Karli, he +hastened in a ship to his brother Vandil, and thence they fought that +day. During the day Kolskegg took a rest on Gunnar's ship, and Gunnar +sees that. Then he sung a song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For the eagle ravine-eager,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raven of my race, to-day</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Better surely hast thou catered,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord of gold, than for thyself;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here the morn come greedy ravens,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Many a rill of wolf<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> to sup,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But thee burning thirst down-beareth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prince of battle's Parliament!</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>After that Kolskegg took a beaker full of mead, and drank it off and +went on fighting afterwards; and so it came about that those brothers +sprang up on the ship of Vandil and his brother, and Kolskegg went on +one side, and Gunnar on the other. Against Gunnar came Vandil, and smote +at once at him with his sword, and the blow fell on his shield. Gunnar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +gave the shield a twist as the sword pierced it, and broke it short off +at the hilt. Then Gunnar smote back at Vandil, and three swords seemed +to be aloft, and Vandil could not see how to shun the blow. Then Gunnar +cut both his legs from under him, and at the same time Kolskegg ran +Karli through with a spear. After that they took great war spoil.</p> + +<p>Thence they held on south to Denmark, and thence east to Smoland,<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> +and had victory wherever they went. They did not come back in autumn. +The next summer they held on to Reval, and fell in there with +sea-rovers, and fought at once, and won the fight. After that they +steered east to Osel,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and lay there somewhile under a ness. There +they saw a man coming down from the ness above them; Gunnar went on +shore to meet the man, and they had a talk. Gunnar asked him his name, +and he said it was Tofi. Gunnar asked again what he wanted.</p> + +<p>"Thee I want to see," says the man. "Two warships lie on the other side +under the ness, and I will tell thee who command them: two brothers are +the captains—one's name is Hallgrim, and the other's Kolskegg. I know +them to be mighty men of war; and I know too that they have such good +weapons that the like are not to be had. Hallgrim has a bill which he +had made by seething-spells; and this is what the spells say, that no +weapon shall give him his death-blow save that bill. That thing follows +it too that it is known at once when a man is to be slain with that +bill, for something sings in it so loudly that it may be heard a long +way off—such a strong nature has that bill in it."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar sang a song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soon shall I that spearhead seize,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And the bold sea-rover slay,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Him whose blows on headpiece ring,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heaper up of piles of dead.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then on Endil's courser<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> bounding,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'er the sea-depths I will ride,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While the wretch who spells abuseth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Life shall lose in Sigar's storm.<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Kolskegg has a short sword; that is also the best of weapons. Force, +too, they have—a third more than ye. They have also much goods, and +have stowed them away on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> land, and I know clearly where they are. But +they have sent a spy-ship off the ness, and they know all about you. Now +they are getting themselves ready as fast as they can; and as soon as +they are 'boun,' they mean to run out against you. Now you have either +to row away at once, or to busk yourselves as quickly as ye can; but if +ye win the day, then I will lead you to all their store of goods."</p> + +<p>Gunnar gave him a golden finger-ring, and went afterwards to his men and +told them that war-ships lay on the other side of the ness, "and they +know all about us; so let us take to our arms, and busk us well, for now +there is gain to be got".</p> + +<p>Then they busked them; and just when they were boun they see ships +coming up to them. And now a fight sprung up between them, and they +fought long, and many men fell. Gunnar slew many a man. Hallgrim and his +men leapt on board Gunnar's ship, Gunnar turns to meet him, and Hallgrim +thrust at him with his bill. There was a boom athwart the ship, and +Gunnar leapt nimbly back over it, Gunnar's shield was just before the +boom, and Hallgrim thrust his bill into it, and through it, and so on +into the boom. Gunnar cut at Hallgrim's arm hard, and lamed the forearm, +but the sword would not bite. Then down fell the bill, and Gunnar seized +the bill, and thrust Hallgrim through, and then sang a song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Slain is he who spoiled the people,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lashing them with flashing steel:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Heard have I how Hallgrim's magic</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Helm-rod forged in foreign land;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All men know, of heart-strings doughty,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How this bill hath come to me,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deft in fight, the wolf's dear feeder.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death alone us two shall part.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And that vow Gunnar kept, in that he bore the bill while he lived. Those +namesakes [the two Kolskeggs] fought together, and it was a near thing +which would get the better of it. Then Gunnar came up, and gave the +other Kolskegg his death-blow. After that the sea-rovers begged for +mercy. Gunnar let them have that choice, and he let them also count the +slain, and take the goods which the dead men owned, but he gave the +others whom he spared their arms and their clothing, and bade them be +off to the lands that fostered them. So they went off and Gunnar took +all the goods that were left behind.</p> + +<p>Tofi came to Gunnar after the battle, and offered to lead him to that +store of goods which the sea-rovers had stowed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> away, and said that it +was both better and larger than that which they had already got.</p> + +<p>Gunnar said he was willing to go, and so he went ashore, and Tofi before +him, to a wood, and Gunnar behind him. They came to a place where a +great heap of wood was piled together. Tofi says the goods were under +there, then they tossed off the wood, and found under it both gold and +silver, clothes and good weapons. They bore those goods to the ships, +and Gunnar asks Tofi in what way he wished him to repay him.</p> + +<p>Tofi answered, "I am a Dansk man by race, and I wish thou wouldst bring +me to my kinsfolk".</p> + +<p>Gunnar asks why he was there away east?</p> + +<p>"I was taken by sea-rovers," says Tofi, "and they put me on land here in +Osel, and here I have been ever since."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXI" id="CHAPTER_XXXI"></a>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR GOES TO KING HAROLD GORM'S SON AND EARL HACON.</h3> + + +<p>Gunnar took Tofi on board, and said to Kolskegg and Hallvard, "Now we +will hold our course for the north lands".</p> + +<p>They were well pleased at that, and bade him have his way. So Gunnar +sailed from the east with much goods. He had ten ships, and ran in with +them to Heidarby in Denmark. King Harold Gorm's son was there up the +country, and he was told about Gunnar, and how too that there was no man +his match in all Iceland. He sent men to him to ask him to come to him, +and Gunnar went at once to see the king, and the king made him a hearty +welcome, and sat him down next to himself. Gunnar was there half a +month. The king made himself sport by letting Gunnar prove himself in +divers feats of strength against his men, and there were none that were +his match even in one feat.</p> + +<p>Then the king said to Gunnar, "It seems to me as though thy peer is not +to be found far or near," and the king offered to get Gunnar a wife, and +to raise him to great power if he would settle down there.</p> + +<p>Gunnar thanked the king for his offer and said—"I will first of all +sail back to Iceland to see my friends and kinsfolk".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then thou wilt never come back to us," says the king.</p> + +<p>"Fate will settle that, lord," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>Gunnar gave the king a good long-ship, and much goods besides, and the +king gave him a robe of honour, and golden-seamed gloves, and a fillet +with a knot of gold on it, and a Russian hat.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar fared north to Hisingen. Oliver welcomed him with both +hands, and he gave back to Oliver his ships, with their lading, and said +that was his share of the spoil. Oliver took the goods, and said Gunnar +was a good man and true, and bade him stay with him some while. Hallvard +asked Gunnar if he had a mind to go to see Earl Hacon. Gunnar said that +was near his heart, "for now I am somewhat proved, but then I was not +tried at all when thou badest me do this before".</p> + +<p>After that they fared north to Drontheim to see Earl Hacon, and he gave +Gunnar a hearty welcome, and bade him stay with him that winter, and +Gunnar took that offer, and every man thought him a man of great worth. +At Yule the Earl gave him a gold ring.</p> + +<p>Gunnar set his heart on Bergliota, the Earl's kinswoman, and it was +often to be seen from the Earl's way, that he would have given her to +him to wife if Gunnar had said anything about that.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXII" id="CHAPTER_XXXII"></a>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR COMES OUT TO ICELAND.</h3> + + +<p>When the spring came, the Earl asks Gunnar what course he meant to take. +He said he would go to Iceland. The Earl said that had been a bad year +for grain, "and there will be little sailing out to Iceland, but still +thou shalt have meal and timber both in thy ship".</p> + +<p>Gunnar fitted out his ship as early as he could, and Hallvard fared out +with him and Kolskegg. They came out early in the summer, and made +Arnbæl's Oyce before the Thing met.</p> + +<p>Gunnar rode home from the ship, but got men to strip her and lay her up. +But when they came home all men were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> glad to see them. They were blithe +and merry to their household, nor had their haughtiness grown while they +were away.</p> + +<p>Gunnar asks if Njal were at home; and he was told that he was at home; +then he let them saddle his horse, and those brothers rode over to +Bergthorsknoll.</p> + +<p>Njal was glad at their coming, and begged them to stay there that night, +and Gunnar told him of his voyages.</p> + +<p>Njal said he was a man of the greatest mark, "and thou hast been much +proved; but still thou wilt be more tried hereafter; for many will envy +thee".</p> + +<p>"With all men I would wish to stand well," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"Much bad will happen," says Njal, "and thou wilt always have some +quarrel to ward off."</p> + +<p>"So be it, then," says Gunnar, "so that I have a good ground on my +side."</p> + +<p>"So will it be too," says Njal, "if thou hast not to smart for others."</p> + +<p>Njal asked Gunnar if he would ride to the Thing. Gunnar said he was +going to ride thither, and asks Njal whether he were going to ride; but +he said he would not ride thither, "and if I had my will thou wouldst do +the like".</p> + +<p>Gunnar rode home, and gave Njal good gifts, and thanked him for the care +he had taken of his goods, Kolskegg urged him on much to ride to the +Thing, saying, "There thy honour will grow, for many will flock to see +thee there".</p> + +<p>"That has been little to my mind," says Gunnar, "to make a show of +myself; but I think it good and right to meet good and worthy men."</p> + +<p>Hallvard by this time was also come thither, and offered to ride to the +Thing with them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR'S WOOING.</h3> + + +<p>So Gunnar rode, and they all rode. But when they came to the Thing they +were so well arrayed that none could match them in bravery; and men came +out of every booth to wonder at them. Gunnar rode to the booths of the +men of Rangriver, and was there with his kinsmen. Many men came to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +Gunnar, and ask tidings of him; and he was easy and merry to all men, +and told them all they wished to hear.</p> + +<p>It happened one day that Gunnar went away from the Hill of Laws, and +passed by the booths of the men from Mossfell; then he saw a woman +coming to meet him, and she was in goodly attire; but when they met she +spoke to Gunnar at once. He took her greeting well, and asks what woman +she might be. She told him her name was Hallgerda, and said she was +Hauskuld's daughter, Dalakoll's son. She spoke up boldly to him, and +bade him tell her of his voyages; but he said he would not gainsay her a +talk. Then they sat them down and talked. She was so clad that she had +on a red kirtle, and had thrown over her a scarlet cloak trimmed with +needlework down to the waist. Her hair came down to her bosom, and was +both fair and full. Gunnar was clad in the scarlet clothes which King +Harold Gorm's son had given him; he had also the gold ring on his arm +which Earl Hacon had given him.</p> + +<p>So they talked long out loud, and at last it came about that he asked +whether she were unmarried. She said, so it was, "and there are not many +who would run the risk of that".</p> + +<p>"Thinkest thou none good enough for thee?"</p> + +<p>"Not that," she says, "but I am said to be hard to please in husbands."</p> + +<p>"How wouldst thou answer were I to ask for thee?"</p> + +<p>"That can not be in thy mind," she says.</p> + +<p>"It is though," says he.</p> + +<p>"If thou hast any mind that way, go and see my father."</p> + +<p>After that they broke off their talk.</p> + +<p>Gunnar went straightway to the Dalesmen's booths, and met a man outside +the doorway, and asks whether Hauskuld were inside the booth?</p> + +<p>The man says that he was. Then Gunnar went in, and Hauskuld and Hrut +made him welcome. He sat down between them, and no one could find out +from their talk that there had ever been any misunderstanding between +them. At last Gunnar's speech turned thither; how these brothers would +answer if he asked for Hallgerda?</p> + +<p>"Well," says Hauskuld, "if that is indeed thy mind."</p> + +<p>Gunnar says that he is in earnest, "but we so parted last time, that +many would think it unlikely that we should ever be bound together".</p> + +<p>"How thinkest thou, kinsman Hrut?" says Hauskuld.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span></p> + +<p>Hrut answered, "Methinks this is no even match".</p> + +<p>"How dost thou make that out?" says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>Hrut spoke—"In this wise will I answer thee about this matter, as is +the very truth. Thou art a brisk brave man, well to do, and unblemished; +but she is much mixed up with ill report, and I will not cheat thee in +anything."</p> + +<p>"Good go with thee for thy words," says Gunnar, "but still I shall hold +that for true, that the old feud weighs with ye, if ye will not let me +make this match."</p> + +<p>"Not so," says Hrut, "'tis more because I see that thou art unable to +help thyself; but though we make no bargain, we would still be thy +friends."</p> + +<p>"I have talked to her about it," says Gunnar, "and it is not far from +her mind."</p> + +<p>Hrut says—"I know that you have both set your hearts on this match; +and, besides, ye two are those who run the most risk as to how it turns +out".</p> + +<p>Hrut told Gunnar unasked all about Hallgerda's temper, and Gunnar at +first thought that there was more than enough that was wanting; but at +last it came about that they struck a bargain.</p> + +<p>Then Hallgerda was sent for, and they talked over the business when she +was by, and now, as before, they made her betroth herself. The bridal +feast was to be at Lithend, and at first they were to set about it +secretly; but the end after all was that every one knew of it.</p> + +<p>Gunnar rode home from the Thing, and came to Bergthorsknoll, and told +Njal of the bargain he had made. He took it heavily.</p> + +<p>Gunnar asks Njal why he thought this so unwise?</p> + +<p>"Because from her," says Njal, "will arise all kind of ill if she comes +hither east."</p> + +<p>"Never shall she spoil our friendship," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"Ah! but yet that may come very near," says Njal; "and, besides, thou +wilt have always to make atonement for her."</p> + +<p>Gunnar asked Njal to the wedding, and all those as well whom he wished +should be at it from Njal's house.</p> + +<p>Njal promised to go; and after that Gunnar rode home, and then rode +about the district to bid men to his wedding.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<h3>OF THRAIN SIGFUS' SON.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Thrain, he was the son of Sigfus, the son of +Sighvat the Red. He kept house at Gritwater on Fleetlithe. He was +Gunnar's kinsman, and a man of great mark. He had to wife Thorhilda +Skaldwife; she had a sharp tongue of her own, and was giving to jeering. +Thrain loved her little. He and his wife were bidden to the wedding, and +she and Bergthora, Skarphedinn's daughter, Njal's wife, waited on the +guests with meat and drink.</p> + +<p>Kettle was the name of the second son of Sigfus; he kept house in the +Mark, east of Markfleet. He had to wife Thorgerda, Njal's daughter. +Thorkell was the name of the third son of Sigfus; the fourth's name was +Mord; the fifth's Lambi; the sixth's Sigmund; the seventh's Sigurd. +These were all Gunnar's kinsmen, and great champions. Gunnar bade them +all to the wedding.</p> + +<p>Gunnar had also bidden Valgard the guileful, and Wolf Aurpriest, and +their sons Runolf and Mord.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld and Hrut came to the wedding with a very great company, and the +sons of Hauskuld, Torleik, and Olof, were there; the bride, too, came +along with them, and her daughter Thorgerda came also, and she was one +of the fairest of women; she was then fourteen winters old. Many other +women were with her, and besides there were Thorkatla Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son's daughter, and Njal's two daughters, Thorgerda and +Helga.</p> + +<p>Gunnar had already many guests to meet them, and he thus arranged his +men. He sat on the middle of the bench, and on the inside, away from +him, Thrain Sigfus' son, then Wolf Aurpriest, then Valgard the guileful, +then Mord and Runolf, then the other sons of Sigfus, Lambi sat outermost +of them.</p> + +<p>Next to Gunnar on the outside, away from him, sat Njal, then +Skarphedinn, then Helgi, then Grim, then Hauskuld Njal's son, then Hafr +the Wise, then Ingialld from the Springs, then the sons of Thorir from +Holt away east. Thorir would sit outermost of the men of mark, for every +one was pleased with the seat he got.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld, the bride's father, sat on the middle of the bench over +against Gunnar, but his sons sat on the inside<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> away from him; Hrut sat +on the outside away from Hauskuld, but it is not said how the others +were placed. The bride sat in the middle of the cross-bench on the dais; +but on one hand of her sat her daughter Thorgerda, and on the other +Thorkatla Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's daughter.</p> + +<p>Thorhillda went about waiting on the guests, and Bergthora bore the meat +on the board.</p> + +<p>Now Thrain Sigfus' son kept staring at Thorgerda Glum's daughter; his +wife Thorhillda saw this, and she got wroth, and made a couplet upon +him.</p> + +<p>"Thrain," she says,</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Gaping mouths are no wise good,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1.3em;">Goggle eyne are in thy head,"</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>He rose at once up from the board, and said he would put Thorhillda +away, "I will not bear her jibes and jeers any longer;" and he was so +quarrelsome about this, that he would not be at the feast unless she +were driven away. And so it was, that she went away; and now each man +sat in his place, and they drank and were glad.</p> + +<p>Then Thrain began to speak—"I will not whisper about that which is in +my mind. This I will ask thee, Hauskuld Dalakoll's son, wilt thou give +me to wife Thorgerda, thy kinswoman?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know that," says Hauskuld; "methinks thou art ill parted from +the one thou hadst before. But what kind of man is he, Gunnar?"</p> + +<p>Gunnar answers—"I will not say aught about the man, because he is near +of kin; but say thou about him, Njal," says Gunnar, "for all men will +believe it".</p> + +<p>Njal spoke, and said—"That is to be said of this man, that the man is +well to do for wealth, and a proper man in all things. A man, too, of +the greatest mark; so that ye may well make this match with him."</p> + +<p>Then Hauskuld spoke—"What thinkest thou we ought to do, kinsman Hrut?"</p> + +<p>"Thou mayst make the match, because it is an even one for her," says +Hrut.</p> + +<p>Then they talk about the terms of the bargain, and are soon of one mind +on all points.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar stands up, and Thrain too, and they go to the cross-bench. +Gunnar asked that mother and daughter whether they would say yes to this +bargain. They said they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> would find no fault with it, and Hallgerda +betrothed her daughter. Then the places of the women were shifted again, +and now Thorhalla sate between the brides. And now the feast sped on +well, and when it was over, Hauskuld and his company ride west, but the +men of Rangriver rode to their own abode. Gunnar gave many men gifts, +and that made him much liked.</p> + +<p>Hallgerda took the housekeeping under her, and stood up for her rights +in word and deed. Thorgerda took to housekeeping at Gritwater, and was a +good housewife.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXV" id="CHAPTER_XXXV"></a>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<h3>THE VISIT TO BERGTHORSKNOLL.</h3> + + +<p>Now it was the custom between Gunnar and Njal, that each made the other +a feast, winter and winter about, for friendship's sake; and it was +Gunnar's turn to go to feast at Njal's. So Gunnar and Hallgerda set off +for Bergthorsknoll, and when they got there Helgi and his wife were not +at home. Njal gave Gunnar and his wife a hearty welcome, and when they +had been there a little while, Helgi came home with Thorhalla his wife. +Then Bergthora went up to the cross-bench, and Thorhalla with her, and +Bergthora said to Hallgerda—</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt give place to this woman."</p> + +<p>She answered—"To no one will I give place, for I will not be driven +into the corner for any one".</p> + +<p>"I shall rule here," said Bergthora, After that Thorhalla sat down, and +Bergthora went round the table with water to wash the guests' hands. +Then Hallgerda took hold of Bergthora's hand, and said—</p> + +<p>"There's not much to choose, though, between you two. Thou hast +hangnails on every finger, and Njal is beardless."</p> + +<p>"That's true," says Bergthora, "yet neither of us finds fault with the +other for it; but Thorwald, thy husband, was not beardless, and yet thou +plottedst his death."</p> + +<p>Then Hallgerda said—"It stands me in little stead to have the bravest +man in Iceland if thou dost not avenge this, Gunnar!"</p> + +<p>He sprang up and strode across away from the board, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> said—"Home I +will go, and it were more seemly that thou shouldest wrangle with those +of thine own household, and not under other men's roofs; but as for +Njal, I am his debtor for much honour, and never will I be egged on by +thee like a fool".</p> + +<p>After that they set off home.</p> + +<p>"Mind this, Bergthora," said Hallgerda, "that we shall meet again."</p> + +<p>Bergthora said she should not be better off for that. Gunnar said +nothing at all, but went home to Lithend, and was there at home all the +winter. And now the summer was running on towards the Great Thing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVI" id="CHAPTER_XXXVI"></a>CHAPTER XXXVI.</h2> + +<h3>KOL SLEW SWART.</h3> + + +<p>Gunnar rode away to the Thing, but before he rode from home he said to +Hallgerda—"Be good now while I am away, and show none of thine ill +temper in anything with which my friends have to do".</p> + +<p>"The trolls take thy friends," says Hallgerda.</p> + +<p>So Gunnar rode to the Thing, and saw it was not good to come to words +with her. Njal rode to the Thing too, and all his sons with him.</p> + +<p>Now it must be told of what tidings happened at home. Njal and Gunnar +owned a wood in common at Redslip; they had not shared the wood, but +each was wont to hew in it as he needed, and neither said a word to the +other about that. Hallgerda's grieve's<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> name was Kol; he had been +with her long, and was one of the worst of men. There was a man named +Swart; he was Njal's and Bergthora's house-carle; they were very fond of +him. Now Bergthora told him that he must go up into Redslip and hew +wood; but she said—"I will get men to draw home the wood".</p> + +<p>He said he would do the work She set him to win; and so he went up into +Redslip, and was to be there a week.</p> + +<p>Some gangrel men came to Lithend from the east across Markfleet, and +said that Swart had been in Redslip, and hewn wood, and done a deal of +work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So," says Hallgerda, "Bergthora must mean to rob me in many things, but +I'll take care that he does not hew again."</p> + +<p>Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, heard that, and said—"There have been good +housewives before now, though they never set their hearts on +manslaughter".</p> + +<p>Now the night wore away, and early next morning Hallgerda came to speak +to Kol, and said—"I have thought of some work for thee"; and with that +she put weapons into his hands, and went on to say—"Fare thou to +Redslip; there wilt thou find Swart".</p> + +<p>"What shall I do to him?" he says.</p> + +<p>"Askest thou that when thou art the worst of men?" she says. "Thou shalt +kill him."</p> + +<p>"I can get that done," he says, "but 'tis more likely that I shall lose +my own life for it."</p> + +<p>"Everything grows big in thy eyes," she says, "and thou behavest ill to +say this after I have spoken up for thee in everything. I must get +another man to do this if thou darest not."</p> + +<p>He took the axe, and was very wroth, and takes a horse that Gunnar +owned, and rides now till he comes east of Markfleet. There he got off +and bided in the wood, till they had carried down the firewood, and +Swart was left alone behind. Then Kol sprang on him, and said—"More +folk can hew great strokes than thou alone"; and so he laid the axe on +his head, and smote him his death-blow, and rides home afterwards, and +tells Hallgerda of the slaying.</p> + +<p>She said—"I shall take such good care of thee, that no harm shall come +to thee".</p> + +<p>"May be so," says he, "but I dreamt all the other way as I slept ere I +did the deed."</p> + +<p>Now they come up into the wood, and find Swart slain, and bear him home. +Hallgerda sent a man to Gunnar at the Thing to tell him of the slaying. +Gunnar said no hard words at first of Hallgerda to the messenger, and +men knew not at first whether he thought well or ill of it. A little +after he stood up, and bade his men go with him: they did so, and fared +to Njal's booth. Gunnar sent a man to fetch Njal, and begged him to come +out. Njal went out at once, and he and Gunnar fell a-talking, and Gunnar +said—</p> + +<p>"I have to tell thee of the slaying of a man, and my wife and my grieve +Kol were those who did it; but Swart, thy house-carle, fell before +them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>Njal held his peace while he told him the whole story. Then Njal spoke—</p> + +<p>"Thou must take heed not to let her have her way in everything."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said—"Thou thyself shall settle the terms".</p> + +<p>Njal spoke again—"'Twill be hard work for thee to atone for all +Hallgerda's mischief; and somewhere else there will be a broader trail +to follow than this which we two now have a share in, and yet, even here +there will be much awanting before all be well; and herein we shall need +to bear in mind the friendly words that passed between us of old; and +something tells me that thou wilt come well out of it, but still thou +wilt be sore tried".</p> + +<p>Then Njal took the award into his own hands from Gunnar, and said—</p> + +<p>"I will not push this matter to the uttermost; thou shalt pay twelve +ounces of silver; but I will add this to my award, that if anything +happens from our homestead about which thou hast to utter an award, thou +wilt not be less easy in thy terms".</p> + +<p>Gunnar paid up the money out of hand, and rode home afterwards. Njal, +too, came home from the Thing, and his sons. Bergthora saw the money, +and said—</p> + +<p>"This is very justly settled; but even as much money shall be paid for +Kol as time goes on."</p> + +<p>Gunnar came home from the Thing and blamed Hallgerda. She said, better +men lay unatoned in many places, Gunnar said, she might have her way in +beginning a quarrel, "but how the matter is to be settled rests with +me".</p> + +<p>Hallgerda was for ever chattering of Swart's slaying, but Bergthora +liked that ill. Once Njal and her sons went up to Thorolfsfell to see +about the housekeeping there, but that selfsame day this thing happened +when Bergthora was out of doors: she sees a man ride up to the house on +a black horse. She stayed there and did not go in, for she did not know +the man. That man had a spear in his hand, and was girded with a short +sword. She asked this man his name.</p> + +<p>"Atli is my name," says he.</p> + +<p>She asked whence he came.</p> + +<p>"I am an Eastfirther," he says.</p> + +<p>"Whither shalt thou go?" she says.</p> + +<p>"I am a homeless man," says he, "and I thought to see Njal and +Skarphedinn, and know if they would take me in."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"What work is handiest to thee?" says she.</p> + +<p>"I am a man used to field-work," he says, "and many things else come +very handy to me; but I will not hide from thee that I am a man of hard +temper and it has been many a man's lot before now to bind up wounds at +my hand."</p> + +<p>"I do not blame thee," she says, "though thou art no milksop."</p> + +<p>Atli said—"Hast thou any voice in things here?"</p> + +<p>"I am Njal's wife," she says, "and I have as much to say to our +housefolk as he."</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou take me in then?" says he.</p> + +<p>"I will give thee thy choice of that," says she. "If thou wilt do all +the work that I set before thee, and that though I wish to send thee +where a man's life is at stake."</p> + +<p>"Thou must have so many men at thy beck," says he, "that thou wilt not +need me for such work."</p> + +<p>"That I will settle as I please," she says.</p> + +<p>"We will strike a bargain on these terms," says he.</p> + +<p>Then she took him into the household. Njal and his sons came home and +asked Bergthora what man that might be?</p> + +<p>"He is thy house-carle," she says, "and I took him in." Then she went on +to say he was no sluggard at work.</p> + +<p>"He will be a great worker enough, I daresay," says Njal, "but I do not +know whether he will be such a good worker."</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn was good to Atli.</p> + +<p>Njal and his sons ride to the Thing in the course of the summer; Gunnar +was also at the Thing.</p> + +<p>Njal took out a purse of money.</p> + +<p>"What money is that, father?"</p> + +<p>"Here is the money that Gunnar paid me for our house-carle last summer."</p> + +<p>"That will come to stand thee in some stead," says Skarphedinn, and +smiled as he spoke.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF KOL, WHOM ATLI SLEW.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must take up the story, and say that Atli asked Bergthora what +work he should do that day.</p> + +<p>"I have thought of some work for thee," she says;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> "thou shall go and +look for Kol until thou find him; for now shalt thou slay him this very +day, if thou wilt do my will."</p> + +<p>"This work is well fitted," says Atli, "for each of us two are bad +fellows; but still I will so lay myself out for him that one or other of +us shall die."</p> + +<p>"Well mayest thou fare," she says, "and thou shalt not do this deed for +nothing."</p> + +<p>He took his weapons and his horse, and rode up to Fleetlithe, and there +met men who were coming down from Lithend. They were at home east in the +Mark. They asked Atli whither he meant to go? He said he was riding to +look for an old jade. They said that was a small errand for such a +workman, "but still 'twould be better to ask those who have been about +last night".</p> + +<p>"Who are they?" says he.</p> + +<p>"Killing-Kol," say they, "Hallgerda's house-carle, fared from the fold +just now, and has been awake all night."</p> + +<p>"I do not know whether I dare to meet him," says Atli, "he is +bad-tempered, and may be that I shall let another's wound be my +warning."</p> + +<p>"Thou bearest that look beneath the brows as though thou wert no +coward," they said, and showed him where Kol was.</p> + +<p>Then he spurred his horse and rides fast, and when he meets Kol, Atli +said to him—</p> + +<p>"Go the pack-saddle bands well?"</p> + +<p>"That's no business of thine, worthless fellow, nor of any one else +whence thou comest."</p> + +<p>Atli said—"Thou hast something behind that is earnest work, but that is +to die".</p> + +<p>After that Atli thrust at him with his spear, and struck him about his +middle. Kol swept at him with his axe, but missed him, and fell off his +horse, and died at once.</p> + +<p>Atli rode till he met some of Hallgerda's workmen, and said, "Go ye up +to the horse yonder, and look to Kol, for he has fallen off, and is +dead".</p> + +<p>"Hast thou slain him?" say they.</p> + +<p>"Well, 'twill seem to Hallgerda as though he has not fallen by his own +hand."</p> + +<p>After that Atli rode home and told Bergthora; she thanked him for this +deed, and for the words which he had spoken about it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I do not know," says he, "what Njal will think of this."</p> + +<p>"He will take it well upon his hands," she says, "and I will tell thee +one thing as a token of it, that he has earned away with him to the +Thing the price of that thrall which we took last spring, and that money +will now serve for Kol; but though peace be made thou must still beware +of thyself, for Hallgerda will keep no peace."</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou send at all a man to Njal to tell him of the slaying?"</p> + +<p>"I will not," she says, "I should like it better that Kol were +unatoned."</p> + +<p>Then they stopped talking about it.</p> + +<p>Hallgerda was told of Kol's slaying, and of the words that Atli had +said. She said Atli should be paid off for them. She sent a man to the +Thing to tell Gunnar of Kol's slaying; he answered little or nothing, +and sent a man to tell Njal. He too made no answer, but Skarphedinn +said—</p> + +<p>"Thralls are men of more mettle than of yore; they used to fly at each +other and fight, and no one thought much harm of that; but now they will +do naught but kill," and as he said this he smiled.</p> + +<p>Njal pulled down the purse of money which hung up in the booth, and went +out; his sons went with him to Gunnar's booth.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn said to a man who was in the doorway of the booth—</p> + +<p>"Say thou to Gunnar that my father wants to see him."</p> + +<p>He did so, and Gunnar went out at once and gave Njal a hearty welcome. +After that they began to talk.</p> + +<p>"'Tis ill done," says Njal, "that my housewife should have broken the +peace, and let thy house-carle be slain."</p> + +<p>"She shall not have blame for that," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"Settle the award thyself," says Njal.</p> + +<p>"So I will do," say Gunnar, "and I value those two men at an even price, +Swart and Kol. Thou shalt pay me twelve ounces in silver."</p> + +<p>Njal took the purse of money and handed it to Gunnar. Gunnar knew the +money, and saw it was the same that he had paid Njal. Njal went away to +his booth, and they were just as good friends as before. When Njal came +home, he blamed Bergthora; but she said she would never give way to +Hallgerda. Hallgerda was very cross with Gunnar,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> because he had made +peace for Kol's slaying, Gunnar told her he would never break with Njal +or his sons, and she flew into a great rage; but Gunnar took no heed of +that, and so they sat for that year, and nothing noteworthy happened.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_XXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER XXXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE KILLING OF ATLI THE THRALL.</h3> + + +<p>Next spring Njal said to Atli—"I wish that thou wouldst change thy +abode to the east firths, so that Hallgerda may not put an end to thy +life".</p> + +<p>"I am not afraid of that," says Atli, "and I will willingly stay at home +if I have the choice."</p> + +<p>"Still that is less wise," says Njal.</p> + +<p>"I think it better to lose my life in thy house than to change my +master; but this I will beg of thee, if I am slain, that a thrall's +price shall not be paid for me."</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt be atoned for as a free man; but perhaps Bergthora will make +thee a promise which she will fulfil, that revenge, man for man, shall +be taken for thee."</p> + +<p>Then he made up his mind to be a hired servant there.</p> + +<p>Now it must be told of Hallgerda that she sent a man west to Bearfirth, +to fetch Brynjolf the Unruly, her kinsman. He was a base son of Swan, +and he was one of the worst of men. Gunnar knew nothing about it. +Hallgerda said he was well fitted to be a grieve. So Brynjolf came from +the west, and Gunnar asked what he was to do there? He said he was going +to stay there.</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt not better our household," says Gunnar, "after what has been +told me of thee, but I will not turn away any of Hallgerda's kinsmen, +whom she wishes to be with her."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said little, but was not unkind to him, and so things went on +till the Thing. Gunnar rides to the Thing and Kolskegg rides too, and +when they came to the Thing they and Njal met, for he and his sons were +at the Thing, and all went well with Gunnar and them.</p> + +<p>Bergthora said to Atli—"Go thou up into Thorolfsfell and work there a +week".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span></p> + +<p>So he went up thither, and was there on the sly, and burnt charcoal in +the wood.</p> + +<p>Hallgerda said to Brynjolf—"I have been told Atli is not at home, and +he must be winning work on Thorolfsfell".</p> + +<p>"What thinkest thou likeliest that he is working at?" says he.</p> + +<p>"At something in the wood," she says.</p> + +<p>"What shall I do to him?" he asks.</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt kill him," says she.</p> + +<p>He was rather slow in answering her, and Hallgerda said—</p> + +<p>"'Twould grow less in Thiostolf's eyes to kill Atli if he were alive."</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt have no need to goad me on much more," he says, and then he +seized his weapons, and takes his horse and mounts, and rides to +Thorolfsfell. There he saw a great reek of coal smoke east of the +homestead, so he rides thither, and gets off his horse and ties him up, +but he goes where the smoke was thickest. Then he sees where the +charcoal pit is, and a man stands by it. He saw that he had thrust his +spear in the ground by him. Brynjolf goes along with the smoke right up +to him, but he was eager at his work, and saw him not. Brynjolf gave him +a stroke on the head with his axe, and he turned so quick round that +Brynjolf loosed his hold of the axe, and Atli grasped the spear, and +hurled it after him. Then Brynjolf cast himself down on the ground, but +the spear flew away over him.</p> + +<p>"Lucky for thee that I was not ready for thee," says Atli, "but now +Hallgerda will be well pleased, for thou wilt tell her of my death; but +it is a comfort to know that thou wilt have the same fate soon; but come +now, take thy axe which has been here."</p> + +<p>He answered him never a word, nor did he take the axe before he was +dead. Then he rode up to the house on Thorolfsfell, and told of the +slaying, and after that rode home and told Hallgerda. She sent men to +Bergthorsknoll, and let them tell Bergthora, that now Kol's slaying was +paid for.</p> + +<p>After that Hallgerda sent a man to the Thing to tell Gunnar of Atli's +killing.</p> + +<p>Gunnar stood up, and Kolskegg with him, and Kolskegg said—</p> + +<p>"Unthrifty will Hallgerda's kinsmen be to thee."</p> + +<p>Then they go to see Njal, and Gunnar said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"I have to tell thee of Atli's killing." He told him also who slew him, +and went on, "and now I will bid thee atonement for the deed, and thou +shall make the award thyself".</p> + +<p>Njal said—"We two have always meant never to come to strife about +anything; but still I cannot make him out a thrall".</p> + +<p>Gunnar said that was all right, and stretched out his hand.</p> + +<p>Njal named his witnesses, and they made peace on those terms.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn said, "Hallgerda does not let our house-carles die of old +age".</p> + +<p>Gunnar said—"Thy mother will take care that blow goes for blow between +the houses".</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay," says Njal, "there will be enough of that work."</p> + +<p>After that Njal fixed the price at a hundred in silver, but Gunnar paid +it down at once. Many who stood by said that the award was high; Gunnar +got wroth, and said that a full atonement was often paid for those who +were no brisker men than Atli.</p> + +<p>With that they rode home from the Thing.</p> + +<p>Bergthora said to Njal when she saw the money—"Thou thinkest thou hast +fulfilled thy promise, but now my promise is still behind".</p> + +<p>"There is no need that thou shouldst fulfil it," says Njal.</p> + +<p>"Nay," says she, "thou hast guessed it would be so; and so it shall be."</p> + +<p>Hallgerda said to Gunnar—</p> + +<p>"Hast thou paid a hundred in silver for Atli's slaying, and made him a +free man?"</p> + +<p>"He was free before," says Gunnar, "and besides, I will not make Njal's +household outlaws who have forfeited their rights."</p> + +<p>"There's not a pin to choose between you," she said, "for both of you +are so blate."</p> + +<p>"That's as things prove," says he.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar was for a long time very short with her, till she gave way +to him; and now all was still for the rest of that year; in the spring +Njal did not increase his household, and now men ride to the Thing about +summer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXXIX" id="CHAPTER_XXXIX"></a>CHAPTER XXXIX.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF BRYNJOLF THE UNRULY.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Thord, he was surnamed Freedmanson. Sigtrygg was +his father's name, and he had been the freedman of Asgerd, and he was +drowned in Markfleet. That was why Thord was with Njal afterwards. He +was a tall man and a strong, and he had fostered all Njal's sons. He had +set his heart on Gudfinna Thorolf's daughter, Njal's kinswoman; she was +housekeeper at home there, and was then with child.</p> + +<p>Now Bergthora came to talk with Thord Freedmanson; she said—</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt go to kill Brynjolf, Hallgerda's kinsman."</p> + +<p>"I am no man-slayer," he says, "but still I will do what ever thou +wilt."</p> + +<p>"This is my will," she says.</p> + +<p>After that he went up to Lithend, and made them call Hallgerda out, and +asked where Brynjolf might be.</p> + +<p>"What's thy will with him?" she says.</p> + +<p>"I want him to tell me where he has hidden Atli's body; I have heard say +that he has buried it badly."</p> + +<p>She pointed to him, and said he was down yonder in Acretongue.</p> + +<p>"Take heed," says Thord, "that the same thing does not befall him as +befell Atli."</p> + +<p>"Thou art no man-slayer," she says, "and so nought will come of it even +if ye two do meet."</p> + +<p>"Never have I seen man's blood, nor do I know how I should feel if I +did," he says, and gallops out of the "town" and down to Acretongue.</p> + +<p>Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, had heard their talk.</p> + +<p>"Thou goadest his mind much, Hallgerda," she says, "but I think him a +dauntless man, and that thy kinsman will find."</p> + +<p>They met on the beaten way, Thord and Brynjolf; and Thord said—"Guard +thee, Brynjolf, for I will do no dastard's deed by thee".</p> + +<p>Brynjolf rode at Thord, and smote at him with his axe. He smote at him +at the same time with his axe, and hewed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> in sunder the haft just above +Brynjolf s hands, and then hewed at him at once a second time, and +struck him on the collarbone, and the blow went straight into his trunk. +Then he fell from horseback, and was dead on the spot.</p> + +<p>Thord met Hallgerda'a herdsman, and gave out the slaying as done by his +hand, and said where he lay, and bade him tell Hallgerda of the slaying. +After that he rode home to Bergthorsknoll, and told Bergthora of the +slaying, and other people too.</p> + +<p>"Good luck go with thy hands," she said.</p> + +<p>The herdsman told Hallgerda of the slaying; she was snappish at it, and +said much ill would come of it, if she might have her way.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XL" id="CHAPTER_XL"></a>CHAPTER XL.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR AND NJAL MAKE PEACE ABOUT BRYNJOLF'S SLAYING.</h3> + + +<p>Now these tidings come to the Thing, and Njal made them tell him the +tale thrice, and then he said—</p> + +<p>"More men now become man-slayers than I weened."</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn spoke—"That man, though, must have been twice fey," he +says, "who lost his life by our foster-father's hand, who has never seen +man's blood. And many would think that we brothers would sooner have +done this deed with the turn of temper that we have."</p> + +<p>"Scant apace wilt thou have," says Njal, "ere the like befalls thee; but +need will drive thee to it."</p> + +<p>Then they went to meet Gunnar, and told him of the slaying. Gunnar spoke +and said that was little manscathe, "but yet he was a free man".</p> + +<p>Njal offered to make peace at once, and Gunnar said yes, and he was to +settle the terms himself. He made his award there and then, and laid it +at one hundred in silver. Njal paid down the money on the spot, and they +were at peace after that.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLI" id="CHAPTER_XLI"></a>CHAPTER XLI.</h2> + +<h3>SIGMUND COMES OUT TO ICELAND.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man whose name was Sigmund. He was the son of Lambi, the son +of Sighvat the Red. He was a great voyager, and a comely and a courteous +man; tall too, and strong. He was a man of proud spirit, and a good +skald, and well trained in most feats of strength. He was noisy and +boisterous, and given to jibes and mocking. He made the land east in +Hornfirth. Skiolld was the name of his fellow-traveller; he was a +Swedish man, and ill to do with. They took horse and rode from the east +out of Hornfirth, and did not draw bridle before they came to Lithend, +in the Fleetlithe. Gunnar gave them a hearty welcome, for the bonds of +kinship were close between them. Gunnar begged Sigmund to stay there +that winter, and Sigmund said he would take the offer if Skiolld his +fellow might be there too.</p> + +<p>"Well, I have been so told about him," said Gunnar, "that he is no +better of thy temper; but as it is, thou rather needest to have it +bettered. This, too, is a bad house to stay at, and I would just give +both of you a bit of advice, my kinsmen, not to fire up at the egging on +of my wife Hallgerda; for she takes much in hand that is far from my +will."</p> + +<p>"His hands are clean who warns another," says Sigmund.</p> + +<p>"Then mind the advice given thee," says Gunnar, "for thou art sure to be +sore tried; and go along always with me, and lean upon my counsel."</p> + +<p>After that they were in Gunnar's company. Hallgerda was good to Sigmund; +and it soon came about that things grew so warm that she loaded him with +money, and tended him no worse than her own husband; and many talked +about that, and did not know what lay under it.</p> + +<p>One day Hallgerda said to Gunnar—"It is not good to be content with +that hundred in silver which thou tookest for my kinsman Brynjolf. I +shall avenge him if I may," she says.</p> + +<p>Gunnar said he had no mind to bandy words with her, and went away. He +met Kolskegg, and said to him, "Go and see Njal; and tell him that Thord +must beware of himself though peace has been made, for, methinks, there +is faithlessness somewhere".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>He rode off and told Njal, but Njal told Thord, and Kolskegg rode home, +and Njal thanked them for their faithfulness.</p> + +<p>Once on a time they two were out in the "town," Njal and Thord; a +he-goat was wont to go up and down in the "town," and no one was allowed +to drive him away. Then Thord spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"Well, this <i>is</i> a wondrous thing!"</p> + +<p>"What is it that thou see'st that seems after a wondrous fashion?" says +Njal.</p> + +<p>"Methinks the goat lies here in the hollow, and he is all one gore of +blood."</p> + +<p>Njal said that there was no goat there, nor anything else.</p> + +<p>"What is it then?" says Thord.</p> + +<p>"Thou must be a 'fey' man," says Njal, "and thou must have seen the +fetch that follows thee, and now be ware of thyself."</p> + +<p>"That will stand me in no stead," says Thord, "if death is doomed for +me."</p> + +<p>Then Hallgerda came to talk with Thrain Sigfus' son, and said—"I would +think thee my son-in-law indeed," she says, "if thou slayest Thord +Freedmanson".</p> + +<p>"I will not do that," he says, "for then I shall have the wrath of my +kinsman Gunnar; and besides, great things hang on this deed, for this +slaying would soon be avenged."</p> + +<p>"Who will avenge it?" she asks; "is it the beardless carle?"</p> + +<p>"Not so," says he; "his sons will avenge it."</p> + +<p>After that they talked long and low, and no man knew what counsel they +took together.</p> + +<p>Once it happened that Gunnar was not at home, but those companions were. +Thrain had come in from Gritwater, and then he and they and Hallgerda +sat out of doors and talked. Then Hallgerda said—</p> + +<p>"This have ye two brothers in arms, Sigmund and Skiolld, promised to +slay Thord Freedmanson; but Thrain thou hast promised me that thou +wouldst stand by them when they did the deed."</p> + +<p>They all acknowledged that they had given her this promise.</p> + +<p>"Now I will counsel you how to do it," she says: "Ye shall ride east +into Hornfirth after your goods, and come home about the beginning of +the Thing, but if ye are at home before it begins, Gunnar will wish that +ye should ride<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> to the Thing with him. Njal will be at the Thing and his +sons and Gunnar, but then ye two shall slay Thord."</p> + +<p>They all agreed that this plan should be carried out. After that they +busked them east to the Firth, and Gunnar was not aware of what they +were about, and Gunnar rode to the Thing. Njal sent Thord Freedmanson +away east under Eyjafell, and bade him be away there one night. So he +went east, but he could not get back from the east, for the Fleet had +risen so high that it could not be crossed on horseback ever so far up. +Njal waited for him one night, for he had meant him to have ridden with +him; and Njal said to Bergthora, that she must send Thord to the Thing +as soon as ever he came home. Two nights after, Thord came from the +east, and Bergthora told him that he must ride to the Thing, "but first +thou shalt ride up into Thorolfsfell and see about the farm there, and +do not be there longer than one or two nights."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLII" id="CHAPTER_XLII"></a>CHAPTER XLII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF THORD FREEDSMANSON.</h3> + + +<p>Then Sigmund came from the east and those companions. Hallgerda told +them that Thord was at home, but that he was to ride straightway to the +Thing after a few nights' space. "Now ye will have a fair chance at +him," he says, "but if this goes off, ye will never get nigh him". Men +came to Lithend from Thorolfsfell, and told Hallgerda that Thord was +there. Hallgerda went to Thrain Sigfus' son, and his companions, and +said to him, "Now is Thord on Thorolfsfell, and now your best plan is to +fall on him and kill him as he goes home".</p> + +<p>"That we will do," says Sigmund. So they went out, and took their +weapons and horses and rode on the way to meet him. Sigmund said to +Thrain, "Now thou shalt have nothing to do with it; for we shall not +need all of us".</p> + +<p>"Very well, so I will," says he.</p> + +<p>Then Thord rode up to them a little while after, and Sigmund said to +him—</p> + +<p>"Give thyself up," he says, "for now shalt thou die."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That shall not be," says Thord, "come thou to single combat with me."</p> + +<p>"That shall not be either," says Sigmund, "we will make the most of our +numbers; but it is not strange that Skarphedinn is strong, for it is +said that a fourth of a foster-child's strength comes from the +foster-father."</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt feel the force of that," says Thord, "for Skarphedinn will +avenge me."</p> + +<p>After that they fall on him, and he breaks a spear of each of them, so +well did he guard himself. Then Skiolld cut off his hand, and he still +kept them off with his other hand for some time, till Sigmund thrust him +through. Then he fell dead to earth. They threw over him turf and +stones; and Thrain said—"We have won an ill work, and Njal's sons will +take this slaying ill when they hear of it".</p> + +<p>They ride home and tell Hallgerda. She was glad to hear of the slaying, +but Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, said—</p> + +<p>"It is said 'but a short while is hand fain of blow,' and so it will be +here; but still Gunnar will set thee free from this matter. But if +Hallgerda makes thee take another fly in thy mouth, then that will be +thy bane."</p> + +<p>Hallgerda sent a man to Bergthorsknoll, to tell the slaying, and another +man to the Thing, to tell it to Gunnar. Bergthora said she would not +fight against Hallgerda with ill worth about such a matter; "that," +quoth she, "would be no revenge for so great a quarrel".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIII" id="CHAPTER_XLIII"></a>CHAPTER XLIII.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL AND GUNNAR MAKE PEACE FOR THE SLAYING OF THORD.</h3> + + +<p>But when the messenger came to the Thing to tell Gunnar of the slaying, +then Gunnar said—</p> + +<p>"This has happened ill, and no tidings could come to my ears which I +should think worse; but yet we will now go at once and see Njal. I still +hope he may take it well, though he be sorely tried."</p> + +<p>So they went to see Njal, and called him to come out and talk to them. +He went out at once to meet Gunnar, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> they talked, nor were there any +more men by at first than Kolskegg.</p> + +<p>"Hard tidings have I to tell thee," says Gunnar; "the slaying of Thord +Freedmanson, and I wish to offer thee self-doom for the slaying."</p> + +<p>Njal held his peace some while, and then said—</p> + +<p>"That is well offered, and I will take it; but yet it is to be looked +for, that I shall have blame from my wife or from my sons for that, for +it will mislike them much; but still I will run the risk, for I know +that I have to deal with a good man and true; nor do I wish that any +breach should arise in our friendship on my part."</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou let thy sons be by, pray?" says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"I will not," says Njal, "for they will not break the peace which I +make, but if they stand by while we make it, they will not pull well +together with us."</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," says Gunnar. "See thou to it alone."</p> + +<p>Then they shook one another by the hand, and made peace well and +quickly.</p> + +<p>Then Njal said—"The award that I make is two hundred in silver, and +that thou wilt think much".</p> + +<p>"I do not think it too much," says Gunnar, and went home to his booth.</p> + +<p>Njal's sons came home, and Skarphedinn asked whence that great sum of +money came, which his father held in his hand.</p> + +<p>Njal said—"I tell you of your foster-father's Thord's slaying, and we +two, Gunnar and I, have now made peace in the matter, and he has paid an +atonement for him as for two men".</p> + +<p>"Who slew him?" says Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>"Sigmund and Skiolld, but Thrain was standing near too," says Njal.</p> + +<p>"They thought they had need of much strength," says Skarphedinn, and +sang a song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bold in deeds of derring-do,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burdeners of ocean's steeds,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Strength enough it seems they needed</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All to slay a single man;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When shall we our hands uplift?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We who brandish burnished steel—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Famous men erst reddened weapons,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When? if now we quiet sit?</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Yes! when shall the day come when we shall lift our hands?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That will not be long off," says Njal, "and then thou shalt not be +baulked; but still, methinks, I set great store on your not breaking +this peace that I have made."</p> + +<p>"Then we will not break it," says Skarphedinn, "but if anything arises +between us, then we will bear in mind the old feud."</p> + +<p>"Then I will ask you to spare no one," says Njal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIV" id="CHAPTER_XLIV"></a>CHAPTER XLIV.</h2> + +<h3>SIGMUND MOCKS NJAL AND HIS SONS.</h3> + + +<p>Now men ride home from the Thing; and when Gunnar came home, he said to +Sigmund—</p> + +<p>"Thou art a more unlucky man than I thought, and turnest thy good gifts +to thine own ill. But still I have made peace for thee with Njal and his +sons; and now, take care that thou dost not let another fly come into +thy mouth. Thou art not at all after my mind, thou goest about with +jibes and jeers, with scorn and mocking; but that is not my turn of +mind. That is why thou gettest on so well with Hallgerda, because ye two +have your minds more alike."</p> + +<p>Gunnar scolded him a long time, and he answered him well, and said he +would follow his counsel more for the time to come than he had followed +it hitherto. Gunnar told him then they might get on together. Gunnar and +Njal kept up their friendship though the rest of their people saw little +of one another. It happened once that some gangrel women came to Lithend +from Bergthorsknoll; they were great gossips and rather spiteful +tongued. Hallgerda had a bower, and sate often in it, and there sate +with her daughter Thorgerda, and there too were Thrain and Sigmund, and +a crowd of women. Gunnar was not there nor Kolskegg. These gangrel women +went into the bower, and Hallgerda greeted them, and made room for them; +then she asked them for news, but they said they had none to tell. +Hallgerda asked where they had been over night; they said at +Bergthorsknoll.</p> + +<p>"What was Njal doing?" she says.</p> + +<p>"He was hard at work sitting still," they said.</p> + +<p>"What were Njal's sons doing?" she says; "they think themselves men at +any rate."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Tall men they are in growth," they say, "but as yet they are all +untried; Skarphedinn whetted an axe, Grim fitted a spearhead to the +shaft, Helgi rivetted a hilt on a sword, Hauskuld strengthened the +handle of a shield."</p> + +<p>"They must be bent on some great deed," says Hallgerda.</p> + +<p>"We do not know that," they say.</p> + +<p>"What were Njal's house-carles doing?" she asks.</p> + +<p>"We don't know what some of them were doing, but one was carting dung up +the hill-side."</p> + +<p>"What good was there in doing that?" she asks.</p> + +<p>"He said it made the swathe better there than any where else," they +reply. "Witless now is Njal," says Hallgerda, "though he knows how to +give counsel on every thing."</p> + +<p>"How so?" they ask.</p> + +<p>"I will only bring forward what is true to prove it," says she; "why +doesn't he make them cart dung over his beard that he may be like other +men? Let us call him 'the beardless carle': but his sons we will call +'dung-beardlings'; and now do pray give some stave about them, Sigmund, +and let us get some good by thy gift of song."</p> + +<p>"I am quite ready to do that," says he, and sang these verses—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady proud with hawk in hand.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prithee why should dungbeard boys,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reft of reason, dare to hammer</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Handle fast on battle shield?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For these lads of loathly feature—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady scattering swanbath's beams<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall not shun this ditty shameful</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which I shape upon them now.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He the beardless carle shall listen</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While I lash him with abuse,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Loon at whom our stomachs sicken.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soon shall hear these words of scorn;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Far too nice for such base fellows</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Is the name my bounty gives,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Eën my muse her help refuses,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Making mirth of dungbeard boys.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here I find a nickname fitting</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For those noisome dungbeard boys—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Loath am I to break my bargain</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Linked with such a noble man—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Knit we all our taunts together—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Known to me is mind of man—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Call we now with outburst common,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Him, that churl, the beardless carle.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Thou art a jewel indeed," says Hallgerda; "how yielding thou art to +what I ask!"</p> + +<p>Just then Gunnar came in. He had been standing outside the door of the +bower, and heard all the words that had passed. They were in a great +fright when they saw him come in, and then all held their peace, but +before there had been bursts of laughter.</p> + +<p>Gunnar was very wroth, and said to Sigmund, "thou art a foolish man, and +one that cannot keep to good advice, and thou revilest Njal's sons, and +Njal himself who is most worth of all; and this thou doest in spite of +what thou hast already done. Mind, this will be thy death. But if any +man repeats these words that thou hast spoken, or these verses that thou +hast made, that man shall be sent away at once, and have my wrath +beside."</p> + +<p>But they were all so sore afraid of him, that no one dared to repeat +those words. After that he went away, but the gangrel women talked among +themselves, and said that they would get a reward from Bergthora if they +told her all this. They went then away afterwards down thither, and took +Bergthora aside and told her the whole story of their own free will.</p> + +<p>Bergthora spoke and said, when men sate down to the board, "Gifts have +been given to all of you, father and sons, and ye will be no true men +unless ye repay them somehow".</p> + +<p>"What gifts are these?" asks Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>"You, my sons," says Bergthora, "have got one gift between you all. Ye +are nick-named 'Dung-beardlings,' but my husband 'the beardless carle'."</p> + +<p>"Ours is no woman's nature," says Skarphedinn, "that we should fly into +a rage at every little thing."</p> + +<p>"And yet Gunnar was wroth for your sakes," says she, "and he is thought +to be good-tempered. But if ye do not take vengeance for this wrong, ye +will avenge no shame."</p> + +<p>"The carline, our mother, thinks this fine sport," says Skarphedinn, and +smiled scornfully as he spoke, but still the sweat burst out upon his +brow, and red flecks came over his cheeks, but that was not his wont. +Grim was silent and bit his lip. Helgi made no sign, and he said never a +word. Hauskuld went off with Bergthora; she came into the room again, +and fretted and foamed much.</p> + +<p>Njal spoke and said, "'slow and sure,' says the proverb, mistress! and +so it is with many things, though they try<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> men's tempers, that there +are always two sides to a story, even when vengeance is taken".</p> + +<p>But at even when Njal was come into his bed, he heard that an axe came +against the panel and rang loudly, but there was another shut bed, and +there the shields were hung up, and he sees that they are away. He said, +"who have taken down our shields?"</p> + +<p>"Thy sons went out with them," says Bergthora.</p> + +<p>Njal pulled his shoes on his feet, and went out at once, and round to +the other side of the house, and sees that they were taking their course +right up the slope; he said, "whither away, Skarphedinn?"</p> + +<p>"To look after thy sheep," he answers.</p> + +<p>"You would not then be armed," said Njal, "if you meant that, and your +errand must be something else."</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn sang a song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Squanderer of hoarded wealth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Some there are that own rich treasure,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ore of sea that clasps the earth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And yet care to count their sheep;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Those who forge sharp songs of mocking,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Death songs, scarcely can possess</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sense of sheep that crop the grass;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Such as these I seek in fight;</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>and said afterwards—</p> + +<p>"We shall fish for salmon, father."</p> + +<p>"'Twould be well then if it turned out so that the prey does not get +away from you."</p> + +<p>They went their way, but Njal went to his bed, and he said to Bergthora, +"Thy sons were out of doors all of them, with arms, and now thou must +have egged them on to something".</p> + +<p>"I will give them my heartfelt thanks," said Bergthora, "if they tell me +the slaying of Sigmund."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLV" id="CHAPTER_XLV"></a>CHAPTER XLV.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF SIGMUND AND SKIOLLD.</h3> + + +<p>Now they, Njal's sons, fare up to Fleetlithe, and were that night under +the Lithe, and when the day began to break, they came near to Lithend. +That same morning both Sig<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>mund and Skiolld rose up and meant to go to +the stud-horses; they had bits with them, and caught the horses that +were in the "town" and rode away on them. They found the stud-horses +between two brooks. Skarphedinn caught sight of them, for Sigmund was in +bright clothing. Skarphedinn said, "See you now the red elf yonder, +lads?" They looked that way, and said they saw him.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn spoke again: "Thou, Hauskuld, shalt have nothing to do with +it, for thou wilt often be sent about alone without due heed; but I mean +Sigmund for myself; methinks that is like a man; but Grim and Helgi, +they shall try to slay Skiolld".</p> + +<p>Hauskuld sat him down, but they went until they came up to them. +Skarphedinn said to Sigmund—</p> + +<p>"Take thy weapons and defend thyself; that is more needful now, than to +make mocking songs on me and my brothers."</p> + +<p>Sigmund took up his weapons, but Skarphedinn waited the while. Skiolld +turned against Grim and Helgi, and they fell hotly to fight. Sigmund had +a helm on his head, and a shield at his side, and was girt with a sword, +his spear was in his hand; now he turns against Skarphedinn, and thrusts +at once at him with his spear, and the thrust came on his shield. +Skarphedinn dashes the spearhaft in two, and lifts up his axe and hews +at Sigmund, and cleaves his shield down to below the handle. Sigmund +drew his sword and cut at Skarphedinn, and the sword cuts into his +shield, so that it stuck fast. Skarphedinn gave the shield such a quick +twist, that Sigmund let go his sword. Then Skarphedinn hews at Sigmund +with his axe, the "Ogress of war". Sigmund had on a corselet, the axe +came on his shoulder. Skarphedinn cleft the shoulder-blade right +through, and at the same time pulled the axe towards him, Sigmund fell +down on both knees, but sprang up again at once.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast lifted low to me already," says Skarphedinn, "but still thou +shalt fall upon thy mother's bosom ere we two part."</p> + +<p>"Ill is that then," says Sigmund.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn gave him a blow on his helm, and after that dealt Sigmund +his death-blow.</p> + +<p>Grim cut off Skiolld's foot at the ankle-joint, but Helgi thrust him +through with his spear, and he got his death there and then.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span></p> + +<p>Skarphedinn saw Hallgerda's shepherd, just as he had hewn off Sigmund's +head; he handed the head to the shepherd, and bade him bear it to +Hallgerda, and said she would know whether that head had made jeering +songs about them, and with that he sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here! this head shall thou, that heapest</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hoards from ocean-caverns won,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bear to Hallgerd with my greeting,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Her that hurries men to fight;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sure am I, O firewood splitter!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That yon spendthrift knows it well,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And will answer if it ever</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uttered mocking songs on us.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>The shepherd casts the head down as soon as ever they parted, for he +dared not do so while their eyes were on him. They fared along till they +met some men down by Markfleet, and told them the tidings. Skarphedinn +gave himself out as the slayer of Sigmund; and Grim and Helgi as the +slayers of Skiolld; then they fared home and told Njal the tidings. He +answers them—</p> + +<p>"Good luck to your hands! Here no self-doom will come to pass as things +stand."</p> + +<p>Now we must take up the story, and say that the shepherd came home to +Lithend. He told Hallgerda the tidings.</p> + +<p>"Skarphedinn put Sigmund's head into my hands," he says, "and bade me +bring it thee; but I dared not do it, for I knew not how thou wouldst +like that."</p> + +<p>"'Twas ill that thou didst not do that," she says; "I would have brought +it to Gunnar, and then he would have avenged his kinsman, or have to +bear every man's blame."</p> + +<p>After that she went to Gunnar and said, "I tell thee of thy kinsman +Sigmund's slaying: Skarphedinn slew him, and wanted them to bring me the +head".</p> + +<p>"Just what might be looked for to befall him," says Gunnar, "for ill +redes bring ill luck, and both you and Skarphedinn have often done one +another spiteful turns".</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar went away; he let no steps be taken towards a suit for +manslaughter, and did nothing about it. Hallgerda often put him in mind +of it, and kept saying that Sigmund had fallen unatoned. Gunnar gave no +heed to that.</p> + +<p>Now three Things passed away, at each of which men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> thought that he +would follow up the suit: then a knotty point came on Gunnar's hands, +which he knew not how to set about, and then he rode to find Njal. He +gave Gunnar a hearty welcome. Gunnar said to Njal, "I am come to seek a +bit of good counsel at thy hands about a knotty point".</p> + +<p>"Thou art worthy of it," says Njal, and gave him counsel what to do. +Then Gunnar stood up and thanked him. Njal then spoke and said, and took +Gunnar by the hand, "Over long hath thy kinsman Sigmund been unatoned". +"He has been long ago atoned," says Gunnar, "but still I will not fling +back the honour offered me."</p> + +<p>Gunnar had never spoken an ill word of Njal's sons. Njal would have +nothing else than that Gunnar should make his own award in the matter. +He awarded two hundred in silver, but let Skiolld fall without a price. +They paid down all the money at once.</p> + +<p>Gunnar declared this their atonement at the Thingskala Thing, when most +men were at it, and laid great weight on the way in which they (Njal and +his sons) had behaved; he told too those bad words which cost Sigmund +his life, and no man was to repeat them or sing the verses, but if any +sung them, the man who uttered them was to fall without atonement.</p> + +<p>Both Gunnar and Njal gave each other their words that no such matters +should ever happen that they would not settle among themselves; and this +pledge was well kept ever after, and they were always friends.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVI" id="CHAPTER_XLVI"></a>CHAPTER XLVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF GIZUR THE WHITE AND GEIR THE PRIEST.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Gizur the White; he was Teit's son; Kettlebjorn +the Old's son, of Mossfell. Gizur the White kept house at Mossfell, and +was a great chief. That man is also named in this story, whose name was +Geir the priest; his mother was Thorkatla, another daughter of +Kettlebjorn the Old of Mossfell. Geir kept house at Lithe. He and Gizur +backed one another in every matter. At that time Mord Valgard's son kept +house at Hof on the Rangrivervales; he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> was crafty and spiteful. Valgard +his father was then abroad, but his mother was dead. He was very envious +of Gunnar of Lithend. He was wealthy, so far as goods went, but had not +many friends.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVII" id="CHAPTER_XLVII"></a>CHAPTER XLVII.</h2> + +<h3>OF OTKELL IN KIRKBY.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Otkell; he was the son of Skarf, the son of +Hallkell, who fought with Gorm of Gormness, and felled him on the +holm.<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> This Hallkell and Kettlebjorn the Old were brothers.</p> + +<p>Otkell kept house at Kirkby; his wife's name was Thorgerda; she was a +daughter of Mar, the son of Runolf, the son of Naddad of the Faroe +isles. Otkell was wealthy in goods. His son's name was Thorgeir; he was +young in years, and a bold dashing man.</p> + +<p>Skamkell was the name of another man; he kept house at another farm +called Hof; he was well off for money, but he was a spiteful man and a +liar; quarrelsome too, and ill to deal with. He was Otkell's friend. +Hallkell was the name of Otkell's brother; he was a tall strong man, and +lived there with Otkell; their brother's name was Hallbjorn the White; +he brought out to Iceland a thrall, whose name was Malcolm; he was Irish +and had not many friends.</p> + +<p>Hallbjorn went to stay with Otkell, and so did his thrall Malcolm. The +thrall was always saying that he should think himself happy if Otkell +owned him. Otkell was kind to him, and gave him a knife and belt, and a +full suit of clothes, but the thrall turned his hand to any work that +Otkell wished.</p> + +<p>Otkell wanted to make a bargain with his brother for the thrall; he said +he would give him the thrall, but said too, that he was a worse treasure +than he thought. And as soon as Otkell owned the thrall, then he did +less and less work. Otkell often said outright to Hallbjorn, that he +thought the thrall did little work; and he told Otkell that there was +worse in him yet to come.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> + +<p>At that time came a great scarcity, so that men fell short both of meat +and hay, and that spread over all parts of Iceland. Gunnar shared his +hay and meat with many men; and all got them who came thither, so long +as his stores lasted. At last it came about that Gunnar himself fell +short both of hay and meat. Then Gunnar called on Kolskegg to go along +with him; he called too on Thrain Sigfus' son, and Lambi Sigurd's son. +They fared to Kirkby, and called Otkell out. He greeted them, and Gunnar +said, "It so happens that I am come to deal with thee for hay and meat, +if there be any left".</p> + +<p>Otkell answers, "There is store of both, but I will sell thee neither".</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou give me them then," says Gunnar, "and run the risk of my +paying thee back somehow?"</p> + +<p>"I will not do that either," says Otkell.</p> + +<p>Skamkell all the while was giving him bad counsel.</p> + +<p>Then Thrain Sigfus' son said, "It would serve him right if we take both +hay and meat and lay down the worth of them instead".</p> + +<p>Skamkell answered, "All the men of Mossfell must be dead and gone then, +if ye, sons of Sigfus, are to come and rob them".</p> + +<p>"I will have no hand in any robbery," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou buy a thrall of me?" says Otkell.</p> + +<p>"I'll not spare to do that," says Gunnar. After that Gunnar bought the +thrall, and fared away as things stood.</p> + +<p>Njal hears of this, and said, "Such things are ill done, to refuse to +let Gunnar buy; and it is not a good outlook for others if such men as +he cannot get what they want".</p> + +<p>"What's the good of thy talking so much about such a little matter?" +says Bergthora; "far more like a man would it be to let him have both +meat and hay, when thou lackest neither of them."</p> + +<p>"That is clear as day," says Njal, "and I will of a surety supply his +need somewhat."</p> + +<p>Then he fared up to Thorolfsfell, and his sons with him, and they bound +hay on fifteen horses; but on five horses they had meat. Njal came to +Lithend, and called Gunnar out. He greeted them kindly.</p> + +<p>"Here is hay and meat," said Njal, "which I will give thee; and my wish +is, that thou shouldst never look to any one else than to me if thou +standest in need of any thing."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Good are thy gifts," says Gunnar, "but methinks thy friendship is still +more worth, and that of thy sons."</p> + +<p>After that Njal fared home, and now the spring passes away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLVIII" id="CHAPTER_XLVIII"></a>CHAPTER XLVIII.</h2> + +<h3>HOW HALLGERDA MAKES MALCOLM STEAL FROM KIRKBY.</h3> + + +<p>Now Gunnar is about to ride to the Thing, but a great crowd of men from +the Side east turned in as guests at his house.</p> + +<p>Gunnar bade them come and be his guests again, as they rode back from +the Thing; and they said they would do so.</p> + +<p>Now they ride to the Thing, and Njal and his sons were there. That Thing +was still and quiet.</p> + +<p>Now we must take up the story, and say that Hallgerda comes to talk with +Malcolm the thrall.</p> + +<p>"I have thought of an errand to send thee on," she says; "thou shalt go +to Kirkby."</p> + +<p>"And what shall I do there?" he says.</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt steal from thence food enough to load two horses, and mind +and have butter and cheese; but thou shalt lay fire in the storehouse, +and all will think that it has arisen out of heedlessness, but no one +will think that there has been theft."</p> + +<p>"Bad have I been," said the thrall, "but never have I been a thief."</p> + +<p>"Hear a wonder!" says Hallgerda, "thou makest thyself good, thou that +hast been both thief and murderer; but thou shalt not dare to do aught +else than go, else will I let thee be slain."</p> + +<p>He thought he knew enough of her to be sure that she would so do if he +went not; so he took at night two horses and laid pack-saddles on them, +and went his way to Kirkby. The house-dog knew him and did not bark at +him, and ran and fawned on him. After that he went to the storehouse and +loaded the two horses with food out of it, but the storehouse he burnt, +and the dog he slew.</p> + +<p>He went up along by Rangriver, and his shoe-thong snapped;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> so he takes +his knife and makes the shoe right, but he leaves the knife and belt +lying there behind him.</p> + +<p>He fares till he comes to Lithend; then he misses the knife, but dares +not to go back.</p> + +<p>Now he brings Hallgerda the food, and she showed herself well pleased at +it.</p> + +<p>Next morning when men came out of doors at Kirkby there they saw great +scathe. Then a man was sent to the Thing to tell Otkell, he bore the +loss well, and said it must have happened because the kitchen was next +to the storehouse; and all thought that that was how it happened.</p> + +<p>Now men ride home from the Thing, and many rode to Lithend. Hallgerda +set food on the hoard, and in came cheese and butter. Gunnar knew that +such food was not to be looked for in his house, and asked Hallgerda +whence it came?</p> + +<p>"Thence," she says, "whence thou mightest well eat of it; besides, it is +no man's business to trouble himself with housekeeping."</p> + +<p>Gunnar got wroth and said, "Ill indeed is it if I am a partaker with +thieves"; and with that he gave her a slap on the cheek.</p> + +<p>She said she would bear that slap in mind and repay it if she could.</p> + +<p>So she went off and he went with her, and then all that was on the board +was cleared away, but flesh-meat was brought in instead, and all thought +that was because the flesh was thought to have been got in a better way.</p> + +<p>Now the men who had been at the Thing fare away.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XLIX" id="CHAPTER_XLIX"></a>CHAPTER XLIX.</h2> + +<h3>OF SKAMKELL'S EVIL COUNSEL.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must tell of Skamkell. He rides after some sheep up along +Rangriver, and he sees something shining in the path. He finds a knife +and belt, and thinks he knows both of them. He fares with them to +Kirkby; Otkell was out of doors when Skamkell came. He spoke to him and +said—</p> + +<p>"Knowest thou aught of these pretty things?"</p> + +<p>"Of a surety," says Otkell, "I know them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Who owns them?" asks Skamkell.</p> + +<p>"Malcolm the thrall," says Otkell.</p> + +<p>"Then more shall see and know them than we two," says Skamkell, "for +true will I be to thee in counsel."</p> + +<p>They showed them to many men, and all knew them. Then Skamkell said—</p> + +<p>"What counsel wilt thou now take?"</p> + +<p>"We shall go and see Mord Valgard's son," answers Otkell, "and seek +counsel of him."</p> + +<p>So they went to Hof, and showed the pretty things to Mord, and asked him +if he knew them?</p> + +<p>He said he knew them well enough, but what was there in that? "Do you +think you have a right to look for anything at Lithend?"</p> + +<p>"We think it hard for us," says Skamkell, "to know what to do, when such +mighty men have a hand in it."</p> + +<p>"That is so, sure enough," says Mord, "but yet I will get to know those +things out of Gunnar's household, which none of you will ever know."</p> + +<p>"We would give thee money," they say, "if thou wouldst search out this +thing."</p> + +<p>"That money I shall buy full dear," answered Mord, "but still, perhaps, +it may be that I will look at the matter."</p> + +<p>They gave him three marks of silver for lending them his help.</p> + +<p>Then he gave them this counsel, that women should go about from house to +house with small wares, and give them to the housewives, and mark what +was given them in return.</p> + +<p>"For," he says, "'tis the turn of mind of all men first to give away +what has been stolen, if they have it in their keeping, and so it will +be here also, if this hath happened by the hand of man. Ye shall then +come and show me what has been given to each in each house, and I shall +then be free from further share in this matter, if the truth comes to +light."</p> + +<p>To this they agreed, and went home afterwards.</p> + +<p>Mord sends women about the country, and they were away half a month. +Then they came back, and had big bundles. Mord asked where they had most +given them?</p> + +<p>They said that at Lithend most was given them, and Hallgerda had been +most bountiful to them.</p> + +<p>He asked what was given them there?</p> + +<p>"Cheese," say they.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> + +<p>He begged to see it, and they showed it to him, and it was in great +slices. These he took and kept.</p> + +<p>A little after, Mord fared to see Otkell, and bade that he would bring +Thorgerda's cheese-mould; and when that was done, he laid the slices +down in it, and lo! they fitted the mould in every way.</p> + +<p>Then they saw, too, that a whole cheese had been given to them.</p> + +<p>Then Mord said, "Now may ye see that Hallgerda must have stolen the +cheese"; and they all passed the same judgment; and then Mord said, that +now he thought he was free of this matter.</p> + +<p>After that they parted.</p> + +<p>Shortly after Kolskegg fell to talking with Gunnar, and said—</p> + +<p>"Ill is it to tell, but the story is in every man's mouth, that +Hallgerda must have stolen, and that she was at the bottom of all that +great scathe that befell at Kirkby."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said that he too thought that must be so. "But what is to be done +now?"</p> + +<p>Kolskegg answered, "That wilt think it thy most bounden duty to make +atonement for thy wife's wrong, and methinks it were best that thou +farest to see Otkell, and makest him a handsome offer."</p> + +<p>"This is well spoken," says Gunnar, "and so it shall be."</p> + +<p>A little after Gunnar sent after Thrain Sigfus' son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son, and they came at once.</p> + +<p>Gunnar told them whither he meant to go, and they were well pleased. +Gunnar rode with eleven men to Kirkby, and called Otkell out. Skamkell +was there too, and said, "I will go out with thee, and it will be best +now to have the balance of wit on thy side. And I would wish to stand +closest by thee when thou needest it most, and now this will be put to +the proof. Methinks it were best that thou puttest on an air of great +weight."</p> + +<p>Then they, Otkell and Skamkell, and Hallkell and Hallbjorn, went out all +of them.</p> + +<p>They greeted Gunnar, and he took their greeting well. Otkell asks +whither he meant to go?</p> + +<p>"No farther than here," says Gunnar, "and my errand hither is to tell +thee about that bad mishap—how it arose from the plotting of my wife +and that thrall whom I bought from thee."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p> + +<p>"'Tis only what was to be looked for," says Hallbjorn.</p> + +<p>"Now I will make thee a good offer," says Gunnar, "and the offer is +this, that the best men here in the country round settle the matter."</p> + +<p>"This is a fair-sounding offer," said Skamkell, "but an unfair and +uneven one. Thou art a man who has many friends among the householders, +but Otkell has not many friends."</p> + +<p>"Well," says Gunnar, "then I will offer thee that I shall make an award, +and utter it here on this spot, and so we will settle the matter, and my +good-will shall follow the settlement. But I will make thee an atonement +by paying twice the worth of what was lost."</p> + +<p>"This choice shalt thou not take," said Skamkell; "and it is unworthy to +give up to him the right to make his own award, when thou oughtest to +have kept it for thyself."</p> + +<p>So Otkell said, "I will not give up to thee, Gunnar, the right to make +thine own award."</p> + +<p>"I see plainly," said Gunnar, "the help of men who will be paid off for +it one day I daresay; but come now, utter an award for thyself."</p> + +<p>Otkell leant toward Skamkell and said, "What shall I answer now?"</p> + +<p>"This thou shalt call a good offer, but still put thy suit into the +hands of Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, and then many will say +this, that thou behavest like Hallkell, thy grandfather, who was the +greatest of champions."</p> + +<p>"Well offered is this, Gunnar," said Otkell, "but still my will is thou +wouldst give me time to see Gizur the white."</p> + +<p>"Do now whatever thou likest in the matter," said Gunnar; "but men will +say this, that thou couldst not see thine own honour when thou wouldst +have none of the choices I offer thee."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar rode home, and when he had gone away, Hallbjorn said, "Here +I see how much man differs from man. Gunnar made thee good offers, but +thou wouldst take none of them; or how dost thou think to strive with +Gunnar in a quarrel, when no one is his match in fight. But now he is +still so kind-hearted a man that it may be he will let these offers +stand, though thou art only ready to take them afterwards. Methinks it +were best that thou farest to see Gizur the white and Geir the priest +now this very hour."</p> + +<p>Otkell let them catch his horse, and made ready in every<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> way. Otkell +was not sharpsighted, and Skamkell walked on the way along with him, and +said to Otkell—</p> + +<p>"Methought it strange that thy brother would not take this toil from +thee, and now I will make thee an offer to fare instead of thee, for I +know that the journey is irksome to thee."</p> + +<p>"I will take that offer," says Otkell, "but mind and be as truthful as +ever thou canst."</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," says Skamkell.</p> + +<p>Then Skamkell took his horse and cloak, but Otkell walks home.</p> + +<p>Hallbjorn was out of doors, and said to Otkell—</p> + +<p>"Ill is it to have a thrall for one's bosom friend, and we shall rue +this for ever that thou hast turned back, and it is an unwise step to +send the greatest liar on an errand, of which one may so speak that +men's lives hang on it."</p> + +<p>"Thou wouldst be sore afraid," says Otkell, "if Gunnar had his bill +aloft, when thou art so scared now."</p> + +<p>"No one knows who will be most afraid then," said Hallbjorn; "but this +thou wilt have to own, that Gunnar does not lose much time in +brandishing his bill when he is wroth."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Otkell, "ye are all of you for yielding but Skamkell."</p> + +<p>And then they were both wroth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_L" id="CHAPTER_L"></a>CHAPTER L.</h2> + +<h3>OF SKAMKELL'S LYING.</h3> + + +<p>Skamkell came to Mossfell, and repeated all the offers to Gizur.</p> + +<p>"It so seems to me," says Gizur, "as though these have been bravely +offered; but why took he not these offers?"</p> + +<p>"The chief cause was," answers Skamkell, "that all wished to show thee +honour, and that was why he waited for thy utterance; besides, that is +best for all."</p> + +<p>So Skamkell stayed there the night over, but Gizur sent a man to fetch +Geir the priest; and he came there early. Then Gizur told him the story +and said—</p> + +<p>"What course is to be taken now?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>"As thou no doubt hast already made up thy mind—to make the best of the +business for both sides."</p> + +<p>"Now we will let Skamkell tell his tale a second time, and see how he +repeats it."</p> + +<p>So they did that, and Gizur said—</p> + +<p>"Thou must have told this story right; but still I have seen thee to be +the wickedest of men, and there is no faith in faces if thou turnest out +well."</p> + +<p>Skamkell fared home, and rides first to Kirkby and calls Otkell out. He +greets Skamkell well, and Skamkell brought him the greeting of Gizur and +Geir.</p> + +<p>"But about this matter of the suit," he says, "there is no need to speak +softly, how that it is the will of both Gizur and Geir that this suit +should not be settled in a friendly way. They gave that counsel that a +summons should be set on foot, and that Gunnar should be summoned for +having partaken of the goods, but Hallgerda for stealing them."</p> + +<p>"It shall be done," said Otkell, "in everything as they have given +counsel."</p> + +<p>"They thought most of this," says Skamkell, "that thou hadst behaved so +proudly; but as for me, I made as great a man of thee in everything as I +could."</p> + +<p>Now Otkell tells all this to his brothers, and Hallbjorn said—</p> + +<p>"This must be the biggest lie."</p> + +<p>Now the time goes on until the last of the summoning days before the +Althing came.</p> + +<p>Then Otkell called on his brothers and Skamkell to ride on the business +of the summons to Lithend.</p> + +<p>Hallbjorn said he would go, but said also that they would rue this +summoning as time went on.</p> + +<p>Now they rode twelve of them together to Lithend, but when they came +into the "town," there was Gunnar out of doors, and knew naught of their +coming till they had ridden right up to the house.</p> + +<p>He did not go indoors then, and Otkell thundered out the summons there +and then; but when they had made an end of the summoning Skamkell said—</p> + +<p>"Is it all right, master?"</p> + +<p>"Ye know that best," says Gunnar, "but I will put thee in mind of this +journey one of these days, and of thy good help."</p> + +<p>"That will not harm us," says Skamkell, "if thy bill be not aloft."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gunnar was very wroth and went indoors, and told Kolskegg, and Kolskegg +said—</p> + +<p>"Ill was it that we were not out of doors; they should have come here on +the most shameful journey, if we had been by."</p> + +<p>"Everything bides its time," says Gunnar; "but this journey will not +turn out to their honour."</p> + +<p>A little after Gunnar went and told Njal.</p> + +<p>"Let it not worry thee a jot," said Njal, "for this will be the greatest +honour to thee, ere this Thing comes to an end. As for us, we will all +back thee with counsel and force."</p> + +<p>Gunnar thanked him and rode home.</p> + +<p>Otkell rides to the Thing, and his brothers with him and Skamkell.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LI" id="CHAPTER_LI"></a>CHAPTER LI.</h2> + +<h3>OF GUNNAR.</h3> + + +<p>Gunnar rode to the Thing and all the sons of Sigfus; Njal and his sons +too, they all went with Gunnar; and it was said that no band was so well +knit and hardy as theirs.</p> + +<p>Gunnar went one day to the booth of the Dalemen; Hrut was by the booth +and Hauskuld, and they greeted Gunnar well. Now Gunnar tells them the +whole story of the suit up to that time.</p> + +<p>"What counsel gives Njal?" asks Hrut.</p> + +<p>"He bade me seek you brothers," says Gunnar, "and said he was sure that +he and you would look at the matter in the same light."</p> + +<p>"He wishes then," says Hrut, "that I should say what I think for +kinship's sake; and so it shall be. Thou shalt challenge Gizur the white +to combat on the island, if they do not leave the whole award to thee; +but Kolskegg shall challenge Geir the Priest. As for Otkell and his +crew, men must be got ready to fall on them; and now we have such great +strength all of us together, that thou mayst carry out whatever thou +wilt."</p> + +<p>Gunnar went home to his booth and told Njal.</p> + +<p>"Just what I looked for," said Njal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p> + +<p>Wolf Aurpriest got wind of this plan, and told Gizur, and Gizur said to +Otkell—</p> + +<p>"Who gave thee that counsel that thou shouldst summon Gunnar?"</p> + +<p>"Skamkell told me that was the counsel of both Geir the priest and +thyself."</p> + +<p>"But where is that scoundrel," says Gizur, "who has thus lied?"</p> + +<p>"He lies sick up at our booth," says Otkell.</p> + +<p>"May he never rise from his bed," says Gizur, "Now we must all go to see +Gunnar, and offer him the right to make his own award; but I know not +whether he will take that now."</p> + +<p>Many men spoke ill of Skamkell, and he lay sick all through the Thing.</p> + +<p>Gizur and his friends went to Gunnar's booth; their coming was known, +and Gunnar was told as he sat in his booth, and then they all went out +and stood in array.</p> + +<p>Gizur the white came first, and after a while he spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"This is our offer—that thou, Gunnar, makest thine own award in this +suit."</p> + +<p>"Then," says Gunnar, "it was no doubt far from thy counsel that I was +summoned."</p> + +<p>"I gave no such counsel," says Gizur, "neither I nor Geir."</p> + +<p>"Then thou must clear thyself of this charge by fitting proof."</p> + +<p>"What proof dost thou ask?" says Gizur.</p> + +<p>"That thou takest an oath," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"That I will do," says Gizur, "if thou wilt take the award into thine +own hands."</p> + +<p>"That was the offer I made a while ago," says Gunnar; "but now, +methinks, I have a greater matter to pass judgment on."</p> + +<p>"It will not be right to refuse to make thine own award," said Njal; +"for the greater the matter, the greater the honour in making it."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Gunnar, "I will do this to please my friends, and utter my +award; but I give Otkell this bit of advice, never to give me cause for +quarrel hereafter."</p> + +<p>Then Hrut and Hauskuld were sent for, and they came thither, and then +Gizur the White and Geir the priest took their oaths; but Gunnar made +his award, and spoke with no man about it, and afterwards he uttered it +as follows:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"This is my award," he says; "first, I lay it down that the storehouse +must be paid for, and the food that was therein; but for the thrall, I +will pay thee no fine, for that thou hiddest his faults; but I award him +back to thee; for as the saying is, 'Birds of a feather flock most +together'. Then, on the other hand, I see that thou hast summoned me in +scorn and mockery, and for that I award to myself no less a sum than +what the house that was burnt and the stores in it were worth; but if ye +think it better that we be not set at one again, then I will let you +have your choice of that, but if so I have already made up my mind what +I shall do, and then I will fulfil my purpose."</p> + +<p>"What we ask," said Gizur, "is that thou shouldst not be hard on Otkell, +but we beg this of thee, on the other hand, that thou wouldst be his +friend."</p> + +<p>"That shall never be," said Gunnar, "so long as I live; but he shall +have Skamkell's friendship; on that he has long leant."</p> + +<p>"Well," answers Gizur, "we will close with thee in this matter, though +thou alone layest down the terms."</p> + +<p>Then all this atonement was made and hands were shaken on it, and Gunnar +said to Otkell—</p> + +<p>"It were wiser to go away to thy kinsfolk; but if thou wilt be here in +this country, mind that thou givest me no cause of quarrel."</p> + +<p>"That is wholesome counsel," said Gizur; "and so he shall do."</p> + +<p>So Gunnar had the greatest honour from that suit, and afterwards men +rode home from the Thing.</p> + +<p>Now Gunnar sits in his house at home, and so things are quiet for a +while.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LII" id="CHAPTER_LII"></a>CHAPTER LII.</h2> + +<h3>OF RUNOLF, THE SON OF WOLF AURPRIEST.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest, he kept house +at the Dale, east of Markfleet. He was Otkell's guest once when he rode +from the Thing. Otkell gave him an ox, all black, without a spot of +white, nine winters old. Runolf thanked him for the gift, and bade him +come and see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> him at home whenever he chose to go; and this bidding +stood over for some while, so that he had not paid the visit. Runolf +often sent men to him and put him in mind that he ought to come; and he +always said he would come, but never went.</p> + +<p>Now Otkell had two horses, dun coloured, with a black stripe down the +back; they were the best steeds to ride in all the country round, and so +fond of each other, that whenever one went before, the other ran after +him.</p> + +<p>There was an Easterling staying with Otkell, whose name was Audulf; he +had set his heart on Signy Otkell's daughter. Audulf was a tall man in +growth, and strong.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIII" id="CHAPTER_LIII"></a>CHAPTER LIII.</h2> + +<h3>HOW OTKELL RODE OVER GUNNAR.</h3> + + +<p>It happened next spring that Otkell said that they would ride east to +the Dale, to pay Runolf a visit, and all showed themselves well pleased +at that. Skamkell and his two brothers, and Audulf and three men more, +went along with Otkell. Otkell rode one of the dun horses, but the other +ran loose by his side. They shaped their course east towards Markfleet; +and now Otkell gallops ahead, and now the horses race against each +other, and they break away from the path up towards the Fleetlithe.</p> + +<p>Now, Otkell goes faster than he wished, and it happened that Gunnar had +gone away from home out of his house all alone; and he had a corn-sieve +in one hand, but in the other a hand-axe. He goes down to his seed field +and sows his corn there, and had laid his cloak of fine stuff and his +axe down by his aide, and so he sows the corn a while.</p> + +<p>Now, it must be told how Otkell rides faster than he would. He had spurs +on his feet, and so he gallops down over the ploughed field, and neither +of them sees the other; and just as Gunnar stands upright, Otkell rides +down upon him, and drives one of the spurs into Gunnar's ear, and gives +him a great gash, and it bleeds at once much.</p> + +<p>Just then Otkell's companions rode up.</p> + +<p>"Ye may see, all of you," says Gunnar, "that thou hast drawn my blood, +and it is unworthy to go on so. First thou<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> hast summoned me, but now +thou treadest me under foot, and ridest over me."</p> + +<p>Skamkell said, "Well it was no worse, master, but thou wast not one whit +less wroth at the Thing, when thou tookest the self-doom and clutchedst +thy bill."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said, "When we two next meet thou shalt see the bill." After that +they part thus, and Skamkell shouted out and said, "Ye ride hard, lads!"</p> + +<p>Gunnar went home, and said never a word to any one about what had +happened, and no one thought that this wound could have come by man's +doing.</p> + +<p>It happened, though, one day that he told it to his brother Kolskegg, +and Kolskegg said—</p> + +<p>"This thou shalt tell to more men, so that it may not be said that thou +layest blame on dead men; for it will be gainsaid if witnesses do not +know beforehand what has passed between you."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar told it to his neighbours, and there was little talk about +it at first.</p> + +<p>Otkell comes east to the Dale, and they get a hearty welcome there, and +sit there a week.</p> + +<p>Skamkell told Runolf all about their meeting with Gunnar, and how it had +gone off; and one man had happened to ask how Gunnar behaved.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Skamkell, "if it were a low-born man it would have been said +that he had wept."</p> + +<p>"Such things are ill spoken," says Runolf, "and when ye two next meet, +thou wilt have to own that there is no voice of weeping in his frame of +mind; and it will be well if better men have not to pay for thy spite. +Now it seems to me best when ye wish to go home that I should go with +you, for Gunnar will do me no harm."</p> + +<p>"I will not have that," says Otkell; "but I will ride across the Fleet +lower down."</p> + +<p>Runolf gave Otkell good gifts, and said they should not see one another +again.</p> + +<p>Otkell bade him then to bear his sons in mind if things turned out so.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIV" id="CHAPTER_LIV"></a>CHAPTER LIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE FIGHT AT RANGRIVER.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must take up the story, and say that Gunnar was out of doors at +Lithend, and sees his shepherd galloping up to the yard. The shepherd +rode straight into the "town"; and Gunnar said, "Why ridest thou so +hard?"</p> + +<p>"I would be faithful to thee," said the man; "I saw men riding down +along Markfleet, eight of them together, and four of them were in +coloured clothes."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said, "That must be Otkell".</p> + +<p>The lad said, "I have often heard many temper-trying words of +Skamkell's; for Skamkell spoke away there East at Dale, and said that +thou sheddest tears when they rode over thee; but I tell it thee because +I cannot bear to listen to such speeches of worthless men".</p> + +<p>"We must not be word-sick," says Gunnar, "but from this day forth thou +shalt do no other work than what thou choosest for thyself."</p> + +<p>"Shall I say aught of this to Kolskegg thy brother?" asked the shepherd.</p> + +<p>"Go thou and sleep," says Gunnar; "I will tell Kolskegg."</p> + +<p>The lad laid him down and fell asleep at once, but Gunnar took the +shepherd's horse and laid his saddle on him; he took his shield, and +girded him with his sword, Oliver's gift; he sets his helm on his head; +takes his bill, and something sung loud in it, and his mother, Rannveig, +heard it. She went up to him and said, "Wrathful art thou now, my son, +and never saw I thee thus before".</p> + +<p>Gunnar goes out, and drives the butt of his spear into the earth, and +throws himself into the saddle, and rides away.</p> + +<p>His mother, Rannveig, went into the sitting-room, where there was a +great noise of talking.</p> + +<p>"Ye speak loud," she says, "but yet the bill gave a louder sound when +Gunnar went out."</p> + +<p>Kolskegg heard what she said, and spoke, "This betokens no small +tidings".</p> + +<p>"That is well," says Hallgerda, "now they will soon prove whether he +goes away from them weeping."</p> + +<p>Kolskegg takes his weapons and seeks him a horse, and rides after Gunnar +as fast as he could.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gunnar rides across Acretongue, and so to Geilastofna, and thence to +Rangriver, and down the stream to the ford at Hof. There were some women +at the milking-post there. Gunnar jumped off his horse and tied him up. +By this time the others were riding up towards him; there were flat +stones covered with mud in the path that led down to the ford.</p> + +<p>Gunnar called out to them and said, "Now is the time to guard +yourselves; here now is the bill, and here now ye will put it to the +proof whether I shed one tear for all of you".</p> + +<p>Then they all of them sprang off their horses' backs and made towards +Gunnar. Hallbjorn was the foremost.</p> + +<p>"Do not thou come on," says Gunnar; "thee last of all would I harm; but +I will spare no one if I have to fight to my life."</p> + +<p>"That I cannot do," says Hallbjorn; "thou wilt strive to kill my brother +for all that, and it is a shame if I sit idly by." And as he said this +he thrust at Gunnar with a great spear which he held in both hands.</p> + +<p>Gunnar threw his shield before the blow, but Hallbjorn pierced the +shield through. Gunnar thrust the shield down so hard that it stood fast +in the earth,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> but he brandished his sword so quickly that no eye +could follow it, and he made a blow with the sword, and it fell on +Hallbjorn's arm above the wrist, so that it cut it off.</p> + +<p>Skamkell ran behind Gunnar's back and makes a blow at him with a great +axe. Gunnar turned short round upon him and parries the blow with the +bill, and caught the axe under one of its horns with such a wrench that +it flew out of Skamkell's hand away into the river.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Once thou askedst, foolish fellow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of this man, this sea-horse racer,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When as fast as feet could foot it</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forth ye fled from farm of mine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whether that were rightly summoned?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now with gore the spear we redden,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Battle-eager and avenge us</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus on thee, vile source of strife.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Gunnar gives another thrust with his bill, and through Skamkell, and +lifts him up and casts him down in the muddy path on his head.</p> + +<p>Audulf the Easterling snatches up a spear and launches it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> at Gunnar. +Gunnar caught the spear with his hand in the air, and hurled it back at +once, and it flew through the shield and the Easterling too, and so down +into the earth.</p> + +<p>Otkell smites at Gunnar with his sword, and aims at his leg just below +the knee, but Gunnar leapt up into the air and he misses him. Then +Gunnar thrusts at him the bill, and the blow goes through him.</p> + +<p>Then Kolskegg comes up, and rushes at once at Hallkell and dealt him his +death-blow with his short sword. There and then they slay eight men.</p> + +<p>A woman who saw all this, ran home and told Mord, and besought him to +part them.</p> + +<p>"They alone will be there," he says, "of whom I care not though they +slay one another."</p> + +<p>"Thou canst not mean to say that," she says, "for thy kinsman Gunnar, +and thy friend Otkell will be there."</p> + +<p>"Baggage that thou art," he says, "thou art always chattering," and so +he lay still indoors while they fought.</p> + +<p>Gunnar and Kolskegg rode home after this work, and they rode hard up +along the river bank, and Gunnar slipped off his horse and came down on +his feet.</p> + +<p>Then Kolskegg said, "Hard now thou ridest, brother!"</p> + +<p>"Ay," said Gunnar, "that was what Skamkell said when he uttered those +very words when they rode over me."</p> + +<p>"Well! thou hast avenged that now," says Kolskegg.</p> + +<p>"I would like to know," says Gunnar, "whether I am by so much the less +brisk and bold than other men, because I think more of killing men than +they?"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LV" id="CHAPTER_LV"></a>CHAPTER LV.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL'S ADVICE TO GUNNAR.</h3> + + +<p>Now those tidings are heard far and wide, and many say that they thought +they had not happened before it was likely. Gunnar rode to +Bergthorsknoll and told Njal of these deeds.</p> + +<p>Njal said, "Thou hast done great things, but thou hast been sorely +tried."</p> + +<p>"How will it now go henceforth?" says Gunnar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Wilt thou that I tell thee what hath not yet come to pass?" asks Njal. +"Thou wilt ride to the Thing, and thou wilt abide by my counsel and get +the greatest honour from this matter. This will be the beginning of thy +manslayings."</p> + +<p>"But give me some cunning counsel," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"I will do that," says Njal: "never slay more than one man in the same +stock, and never break the peace which good men and true make between +thee and others, and least of all in such a matter as this."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said, "I should have thought there was more risk of that with +others than with me."</p> + +<p>"Like enough," says Njal, "but still thou shalt so think of thy quarrels +that, if that should come to pass of which I have warned thee, then thou +wilt have but a little while to live; but otherwise, thou wilt come to +be an old man."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said, "Dost thou know what will be thine own death?"</p> + +<p>"I know it," says Njal.</p> + +<p>"What?" asks Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"That," says Njal, "which all would be the last to think."</p> + +<p>After that Gunnar rode home.</p> + +<p>A man was sent to Gizur the white and Geir the priest, for they had the +blood-feud after Otkell. Then they had a meeting, and had a talk about +what was to be done; and they were of one mind that the quarrel should +be followed up at law. Then some one was sought who would take the suit +up, but no one was ready to do that.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," says Gizur, "that now there are only two courses, that +one of us two undertakes the suit, and then we shall have to draw lots +who it shall be, or else the man will be unatoned. We may make up our +minds, too, that this will be a heavy suit to touch; Gunnar has many +kinsmen and is much beloved; but that one of us who does not draw the +lot shall ride to the Thing and never leave it until the suit comes to +an end."</p> + +<p>After that they drew lots, and Geir the priest drew the lot to take up +the suit.</p> + +<p>A little after, they rode from the west over the river, and came to the +spot where the meeting had been by Rangriver, and dug up the bodies, and +took witness to the wounds. After that they gave lawful notice and +summoned nine neighbours to bear witness in the suit.</p> + +<p>They were told that Gunnar was at home with about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> thirty men; then Geir +the priest asked whether Gizur would ride against him with one hundred +men.</p> + +<p>"I will not do that," says he, "though the balance of force is great on +our side."</p> + +<p>After that they rode back home. The news that the suit was set on foot +was spread all over the country, and the saying ran that the Thing would +be very noisy and stormy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVI" id="CHAPTER_LVI"></a>CHAPTER LVI.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR AND GEIR THE PRIEST STRIVE AT THE THING.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Skapti. He was the son of Thorod. That father and +son were great chiefs, and very well skilled in law. Thorod was thought +to be rather crafty and guileful. They stood by Gizur the white in every +quarrel.</p> + +<p>As for the Lithemen and the dwellers by Rangriver, they came in a great +body to the Thing. Gunnar was so beloved that all said with one voice +that they would back him.</p> + +<p>Now they all come to the Thing and fit up their booths. In company with +Gizur the white were these chiefs: Skapti Thorod's son, Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son, Oddi of Kidberg, and Halldor Ornolf's son.</p> + +<p>Now one day men went to the Hill of Laws, and then Geir the priest stood +up and gave notice that he had a suit of manslaughter against Gunnar for +the slaying of Otkell. Another suit of manslaughter he brought against +Gunnar for the slaying of Hallbjorn the white; then too he went on in +the same way as to the slaying of Audulf, and so too as to the slaying +of Skamkell. Then too he laid a suit of manslaughter against Kolskegg +for the slaying of Hallkell.</p> + +<p>And when he had given due notice of all his suits of manslaughter it was +said that he spoke well. He asked, too, in what Quarter court the suits +lay, and in what house in the district the defendants dwelt. After that +men went away from the Hill of Laws, and so the Thing goes on till the +day when the courts were to be set to try suits. Then either side +gathered their men together in great strength.</p> + +<p>Geir the priest and Gizur the white stood at the court of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> the men of +Rangriver looking north, and Gunnar and Njal stood looking south towards +the court.</p> + +<p>Geir the priest bade Gunnar to listen to his oath, and then he took the +oath, and afterwards declared his suit.</p> + +<p>Then he let men bear witness of the notice given of the suit; then he +called upon the neighbours who were to form the inquest to take their +seats; then he called on Gunnar to challenge the inquest; and then he +called on the inquest to utter their finding. Then the neighbours who +were summoned on the inquest went to the court and took witness, and +said that there was a bar to their finding in the suit as to Audulf's +slaying, because the next of kin who ought to follow it up was in +Norway, and so they had nothing to do with that suit.</p> + +<p>After that they uttered their finding in the suit as to Otkell, and +brought in Gunnar as truly guilty of killing him.</p> + +<p>Then Geir the priest called on Gunnar for his defence, and took witness +of all the steps in the suit which had been proved.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar, in his turn, called on Geir the priest to listen to his +oath, and to the defence which he was about to bring forward in the +suit. Then he took the oath and said—</p> + +<p>"This defence I make to this suit, that I took witness and outlawed +Otkell before my neighbours for that bloody wound which I got when +Otkell gave me a hurt with his spur; but thee, Geir the priest, I forbid +by a lawful protest made before a priest to pursue this suit, and so, +too, I forbid the judges to hear it; and with this I make all the steps +hitherto taken in this suit void and of none-effect. I forbid thee by a +lawful protest, a full, fair, and binding protest, as I have a right to +forbid thee by the common custom of the Thing and by the law of the +land.</p> + +<p>"Besides, I will tell thee something else which I mean to do," says +Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"What!" says Geir, "wilt thou challenge me to the island as thou art +wont, and not bear the law?"</p> + +<p>"Not that," says Gunnar; "I shall summon thee at the Hill of Laws for +that thou calledst those men on the inquest who had no right to deal +with Audulf's slaying, and I will declare thee for that guilty of +outlawry."</p> + +<p>Then Njal said, "Things must not take this turn, for the only end of it +will be that this strife will be carried to the uttermost. Each of you, +as it seems to me, has much on his side. There are some of these +manslaughters, Gunnar, about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> which thou canst say nothing to hinder the +court from finding thee guilty; but thou hast set on foot a suit against +Geir, in which he, too, must be found guilty. Thou too, Geir the priest, +shalt know that this suit of outlawry which hangs over thee shall not +fall to the ground if thou wilt not listen to my words."</p> + +<p>Thorod the priest said, "It seems to us as though the most peaceful way +would be that a settlement and atonement were come to in the suit. But +why sayest thou so little, Gizur the white?"</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," says Gizur, "as though we shall need to have strong +props for our suit; we may see, too, that Gunnar's friends stand near +him, and so the best turn for us that things can take will be that good +men and true should utter an award on the suit, if Gunnar so wills it."</p> + +<p>"I have ever been willing to make matters up," says Gunnar; "and, +besides, ye have much wrong to follow up, but still I think I was hard +driven to do as I did."</p> + +<p>And now the end of those suits was, by the counsel of the wisest men, +that all the suits were put to arbitration; six men were to make this +award, and it was uttered there and then at the Thing.</p> + +<p>The award was that Skamkell should be unatoned. The blood money for +Otkell's death was to be set off against the hurt Gunnar got from the +spur; and as for the rest of the manslaughters, they were paid for after +the worth of the men, and Gunnar's kinsmen gave money so that all the +fines might be paid up at the Thing.</p> + +<p>Then Geir the priest and Gizur the white went up and gave Gunnar pledges +that they would keep the peace in good faith.</p> + +<p>Gunnar rode home from the Thing, and thanked men for their help, and +gave gifts to many, and got the greatest honour from the suit.</p> + +<p>Now Gunnar sits at home in his honour.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVII" id="CHAPTER_LVII"></a>CHAPTER LVII.</h2> + +<h3>OF STARKAD AND HIS SONS.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Starkad; he was a son of Bork the +waxytoothed-blade, the son of Thorkell clubfoot, who took the land round +about Threecorner as the first settler. His wife's name was Hallbera. +The sons of Starkad and Hallbera were these: Thorgeir and Bork and +Thorkell. Hildigunna the leech was their sister.</p> + +<p>They were very proud men in temper, hard-hearted and unkind. They +treated men wrongfully.</p> + +<p>There was a man named Egil; he was a son of Kol, who took land as a +settler between Storlek and Reydwater. The brother of Egil was Aunund of +Witchwood, father of Hall the strong, who was at the slaying of +Holt-Thorir with the sons of Kettle the smooth-tongued.</p> + +<p>Egil kept house at Sandgil; his sons were these: Kol and Ottar and Hauk. +Their mother's name was Steinvor; she was Starkad's sister.</p> + +<p>Egil's sons were tall and strifeful; they were most unfair men. They +were always on one side with Starkad's sons. Their sister was Gudruna +nightsun, and she was the best-bred of women.</p> + +<p>Egil had taken into his house two Easterlings; the one's name was Thorir +and the other's Thorgrim. They were not long come out hither for the +first time, and were wealthy and beloved by their friends; they were +well skilled in arms, too, and dauntless in everything.</p> + +<p>Starkad had a good horse of chesnut hue, and it was thought that no +horse was his match in fight. Once it happened that these brothers from +Sandgil were away under the Threecorner. They had much gossip about all +the householders in the Fleetlithe, and they fell at last to asking +whether there was any one that would fight a horse against them.</p> + +<p>But there were some men there who spoke so as to flatter and honour +them, that not only was there no one who would dare do that, but that +there was no one that had such a horse.</p> + +<p>Then Hildigunna answered, "I know that man who will dare to fight horses +with you".</p> + +<p>"Name him," they say.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Gunnar has a brown horse," she says, "and he will dare to fight his +horse against you, and against any one else."</p> + +<p>"As for you women," they say, "you think no one can be Gunnar's match; +but though Geir the priest or Gizur the white have come off with shame +from before him, still it is not settled that we shall fare in the same +way."</p> + +<p>"Ye will fare much worse," she says; and so there arose out of this the +greatest strife between them. Then Starkad said—</p> + +<p>"My will is that ye try your hands on Gunnar last of all; for ye will +find it hard work to go against his good luck."</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt give us leave, though, to offer him a horse-fight?"</p> + +<p>"I will give you leave, if ye play him no trick."</p> + +<p>They said they would be sure to do what their father said.</p> + +<p>Now they rode to Lithend; Gunnar was at home, and went out, and Kolskegg +and Hjort went with him, and they gave them a hearty welcome, and asked +whither they meant to go?</p> + +<p>"No farther than hither," they say. "We are told that thou hast a good +horse, and we wish to challenge thee to a horse-fight."</p> + +<p>"Small stories can go about my horse," says Gunnar; "he is young and +untried in every way."</p> + +<p>"But still thou wilt be good enough to have the fight, for Hildigunna +guessed that thou wouldst be easy in matching thy horse."</p> + +<p>"How came ye to talk about that?" says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"There were some men," say they, "who were sure that no one would dare +to fight his horse with ours."</p> + +<p>"I would dare to fight him," says Gunnar; "but I think that was +spitefully said."</p> + +<p>"Shall we look upon the match as made, then?" they asked.</p> + +<p>"Well, your journey will seem to you better if ye have your way in this; +but still I will beg this of you, that we so fight our horses that we +make sport for each other, but that no quarrel may arise from it, and +that ye put no shame upon me; but if ye do to me as ye do to others, +then there will be no help for it but that I shall give you such a +buffet as it will seem hard to you to put up with. In a word, I shall do +then just as ye do first."</p> + +<p>Then they ride home. Starkad asked how their journey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> had gone off; they +said that Gunnar had made their going good.</p> + +<p>"He gave his word to fight his horse, and we settled when and where the +horse-fight should be; but it was plain in everything that he thought he +fell short of us, and he begged and prayed to get off."</p> + +<p>"It will often be found," says Hildigunna, "that Gunnar is slow to be +drawn into quarrels, but a hard hitter if he cannot avoid them."</p> + +<p>Gunnar rode to see Njal, and told him of the horse-fight, and what words +had passed between them, "But how dost thou think the horse-fight will +turn out?"</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt be uppermost," says Njal, "but yet many a man's bane will +arise out of this fight."</p> + +<p>"Will my bane perhaps come out of it?" asks Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"Not out of this," says Njal; "but still they will bear in mind both the +old and the new feud who fate against thee, and thou wilt have naught +left, for it but to yield."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar rode home.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LVIII" id="CHAPTER_LVIII"></a>CHAPTER LVIII.</h2> + +<h3>HOW GUNNAR'S HORSE FOUGHT.</h3> + + +<p>Just then Gunnar heard of the death of his father-in-law Hauskuld; a few +nights after, Thorgerda, Thrain's wife, was delivered at Gritwater, and +gave birth to a boy child. Then she sent a man to her mother, and bade +her choose whether it should be called Glum or Hauskuld. She bade call +it Hauskuld. So that name was given to the boy.</p> + +<p>Gunnar and Hallgerda had two sons, the one's name was Hogni and the +other's Grani. Hogni was a brave man of few words, distrustful and slow +to believe, but truthful.</p> + +<p>Now men ride to the horse-fight, and a very great crowd is gathered +together there. Gunnar was there and his brothers, and the sons of +Sigfus. Njal and all his sons. There too was come Starkad and his sons, +and Egil and his sons, and they said to Gunnar that now they would lead +the horses together.</p> + +<p>Gunner said, "That was well".</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn said, "Wilt thou that I drive thy horse, kinsman Gunnar?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I will not have that," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"It wouldn't be amiss though," says Skarphedinn; "we are hot-headed on +both sides."</p> + +<p>"Ye would say or do little," says Gunnar, "before a quarrel would spring +up; but with me it will take longer, though it will be all the same in +the end."</p> + +<p>After that the horses were led together; Gunnar busked him to drive his +horse, but Skarphedinn led him out. Gunnar was in a red kirtle, and had +about his loins a broad belt, and a great riding-rod in his hand.</p> + +<p>Then the horses run at one another, and bit each other long, so that +there was no need for any one to touch them, and that was the greatest +sport.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir and Kol made up their minds that they would push their +horse forward just as the horses rushed together, and see if Gunnar +would fall before him.</p> + +<p>Now the horses ran at one another again, and both Thorgeir and Kol ran +alongside their horse's flank.</p> + +<p>Gunnar pushes his horse against them, and what happened in a trice was +this, that Thorgeir and his brother fall down flat on their backs, and +their horse a-top of them.</p> + +<p>Then they spring up and rush at Gunnar, Gunnar swings himself free and +seizes Kol, casts him down on the field, so that he lies senseless, +Thorgeir Starkad's son smote Gunnar's horse such a blow that one of his +eyes started out. Gunnar smote Thorgeir with his riding-rod, and down +falls Thorgeir senseless; but Gunnar goes to his horse, and said to +Kolskegg, "Cut off the horse's head; he shall not live a maimed and +blemished beast".</p> + +<p>So Kolskegg cut the head off the horse.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir got on his feet and took his weapons, and wanted to fly at +Gunnar, but that was stopped, and there was a great throng and crush.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn said, "This crowd wearies me, and it is far more manly that +men should fight it out with weapons"; and so he sang a song,—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">At the Thing there is a throng;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Past all bounds the crowding comes;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hard 'twill be to patch up peace</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Twixt the men: this wearies me;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Worthier is it far for men</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weapons red with gore to stain;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I for one would sooner tame</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hunger huge of cub of wolf.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gunnar was still, so that one man held him, and spoke no ill words.</p> + +<p>Njal tried to bring about a settlement, or to get pledges of peace; but +Thorgeir said he would neither give nor take peace; far rather, he said, +would he see Gunnar dead for the blow.</p> + +<p>Kolskegg said, "Gunnar has before now stood too fast than that he should +have fallen for words alone, and so it will be again".</p> + +<p>Now men ride away from the horse-field, every one to his home. They make +no attack on Gunnar, and so that half-year passed away. At the Thing, +the summer after, Gunnar met Olaf the peacock, his cousin, and he asked +him to come and see him, but yet bade him beware of himself; "For," says +he, "they will do us all the harm they can, and mind and fare always +with many men at thy back".</p> + +<p>He gave him much good counsel beside, and they agreed that there should +be the greatest friendship between them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LIX" id="CHAPTER_LIX"></a>CHAPTER LIX.</h2> + +<h3>OF ASGRIM AND WOLF UGGIS' SON.</h3> + + +<p>Asgrim Ellidagrim's son had a suit to follow up at the Thing against +Wolf Uggis' son. It was a matter of inheritance, Asgrim took it up in +such a way as was seldom his wont; for there was a bar to his suit, and +the bar was this, that he had summoned five neighbours to bear witness, +when he ought to have summoned nine. And now they have this as their +bar.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar spoke and said, "I will challenge thee to single combat on +the island, Wolf Uggis' son, if men are not to get their rights by law; +and Njal and my friend Helgi would like that I should take some share in +defending thy cause, Asgrim, if they were not here themselves."</p> + +<p>"But," says Wolf, "this quarrel is not one between thee and me."</p> + +<p>"Still it shall be as good as though it were," says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>And the end of the suit was, that Wolf had to pay down all the money.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Asgrim said to Gunnar, "I will ask thee to come and see me this +summer, and I will ever be with thee in lawsuits, and never against +thee".</p> + +<p>Gunnar rides home from the Thing, and a little while after, he and Njal +met, Njal besought Gunnar to be ware of himself, and said he had been +told that those away under the Threecorner meant to fall on him, and +bade him never go about with a small company, and always to have his +weapons with him. Gunnar said so it should be, and told him that Asgrim +had asked him to pay him a visit, "and I mean to go now this harvest."</p> + +<p>"Let no men know before thou farest how long thou wilt be away," said +Njal; "but, besides, I beg thee to let my sons ride with thee, and then +no attack will be made on thee."</p> + +<p>So they settled that among themselves.</p> + +<p>"Now the summer wears away till it was eight weeks to winter," and then +Gunnar says to Kolskegg, "Make thee ready to ride, for we shall ride to +a feast at Tongue".</p> + +<p>"Shall we say anything about it to Njal's sons?" said Kolskegg.</p> + +<p>"No," says Gunnar; "they shall fall into no quarrels for me."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LX" id="CHAPTER_LX"></a>CHAPTER LX.</h2> + +<h3>AN ATTACK AGAINST GUNNAR AGREED ON.</h3> + + +<p>They rode three together, Gunnar and his brothers. Gunnar had the bill +and his sword, Oliver's gift; but Kolskegg had his short sword; Hjort, +too, had proper weapons.</p> + +<p>Now they rode to Tongue, and Asgrim gave them a hearty welcome, and they +were there some while. At last they gave it out that they meant to go +home there and then. Asgrim gave them good gifts, and offered to ride +east with them, but Gunnar said there was no need of any such thing; and +so he did not go.</p> + +<p>Sigurd Swinehead was the name of a man who dwelt by Thurso water. He +came to the farm under the Threecorner, for he had given his word to +keep watch on Gunnar's doings, and so he went and told them of his +journey home; "and,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> quoth he, "there could never be a finer chance +than just now, when he has only two men with him".</p> + +<p>"How many men shall we need to have to lie in wait for him?" says +Starkad.</p> + +<p>"Weak men shall be as nothing before him," he says; "and it is not safe +to have fewer than thirty men."</p> + +<p>"Where shall we lie in wait?"</p> + +<p>"By Knafahills," he says; "there he will not see us before he comes on +us."</p> + +<p>"Go thou to Sandgil and tell Egil that fifteen of them must busk +themselves thence, and now other fifteen will go hence to Knafahills."</p> + +<p>Thorgeir said to Hildigunna, "This hand shall show thee Gunnar dead this +very night".</p> + +<p>"Nay, but I guess," says she, "that thou wilt hang thy head after ye two +meet."</p> + +<p>So those four, father and sons, fare away from the Threecorner, and +eleven men besides, and they fared to Knafahills, and lay in wait there.</p> + +<p>Sigurd Swinehead came to Sandgil and said, "Hither am I sent by Starkad +and his sons to tell thee, Egil, that ye, father and sons, must fare to +Knafahills to lie in wait for Gunnar".</p> + +<p>"How many shall we fare in all?" says Egil.</p> + +<p>"Fifteen, reckoning me," he says.</p> + +<p>Kol said, "Now I mean to try my hand on Kolskegg".</p> + +<p>"Then I think thou meanest to have a good deal on thy hands," says +Sigurd.</p> + +<p>Egil begged his Easterlings to fare with them. They said they had no +quarrel with Gunnar; "and besides," says Thorir, "ye seem to need much +help here, when a crowd of men shall go against three men".</p> + +<p>Then Egil went away and was wroth.</p> + +<p>Then the mistress of the house said to the Easterling: "In an evil hour +hath my daughter Gudruna humbled herself, and broken the point of her +maidenly pride, and lain by thy side as thy wife, when thou wilt not +dare to follow thy father-in-law, and thou must be a coward," she says.</p> + +<p>"I will go," he says, "with thy husband, and neither of us two shall +come back."</p> + +<p>After that he went to Thorgrim his messmate, and said, "Take thou now +the keys of my chests; for I shall never unlock them again. I bid thee +take for thine own whatever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> of our goods thou wilt; but sail away from +Iceland, and do not think of revenge for me. But if thou dost not leave +the land, it will be thy death."</p> + +<p>So the Easterling joined himself to their band.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXI" id="CHAPTER_LXI"></a>CHAPTER LXI.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR'S DREAM.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must go back and say that Gunnar rides east over Thurso water, +but when he had gone a little way from the river he grew very drowsy, +and bade them lie down and rest there.</p> + +<p>They did so. He fell fast asleep, and struggled much as he slumbered.</p> + +<p>Then Kolskegg said, "Gunnar dreams now". But Hjort said, "I would like +to wake him".</p> + +<p>"That shall not be," said Kolskegg, "but he shall dream his dream out".</p> + +<p>Gunnar lay a very long while, and threw off his shield from him, and he +grew very warm. Kolskegg said, "What hast thou dreamt, kinsman?"</p> + +<p>"That have I dreamt," says Gunnar, "which if I had dreamt it there I +would never have ridden with so few men from Tongue."</p> + +<p>"Tell us thy dream," says Kolskegg.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Chief, that chargest foes in fight!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now I fear that I have ridden</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Short of men from Tongue, this harvest;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raven's fast I sure shall break.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord, that scatters Ocean's fire!<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This at least, I long to say,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Kite with wolf shall fight for marrow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ill I dreamt with wandering thought.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"I dreamt, methought, that I was riding on by Knafahills, and there I +thought I saw many wolves, and they all made at me; but I turned away +from them straight towards Rangriver, and then methought they pressed +hard on me on all sides,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> but I kept them at bay, and shot all those +that were foremost, till they came so close to me that I could not use +my bow against them. Then I took my sword, and I smote with it with one +hand, but thrust at them with my bill with the other. Shield myself then +I did not, and methought then I knew not what shielded me. Then I slew +many wolves, and thou, too, Kolskegg; but Hjort methought they pulled +down, and tore open his breast, and one methought had his heart in his +maw; but I grew so wroth that I hewed that wolf asunder just below the +brisket, and after that methought the wolves turned and fled. Now my +counsel is, brother Hjort, that thou ridest back west to Tongue."</p> + +<p>"I will not do that," says Hjort; "though I know my death is sure, I +will stand by thee still."</p> + +<p>Then they rode and came east by Knafahills, and Kolskegg said—</p> + +<p>"Seest thou, kinsman! many spears stand up by the hills, and men with +weapons."</p> + +<p>"It does not take me unawares," says Gunnar, "that my dream comes true."</p> + +<p>"What is best to be done now?" says Kolskegg; "I guess thou wilt not run +away from them."</p> + +<p>"They shall not have that to jeer about," says Gunnar, "but we will ride +on down to the ness by Rangriver; there is some vantage ground there."</p> + +<p>Now they rode on to the ness, and made them ready there, and as they +rode on past them Kol called out and said—</p> + +<p>"Whither art thou running to now, Gunnar?"</p> + +<p>But Kolskegg said, "Say the same thing farther on when this day has come +to an end".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXII" id="CHAPTER_LXII"></a>CHAPTER LXII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF HJORT AND FOURTEEN MEN.</h3> + + +<p>After that Starkad egged on his men, and then they turn down upon them +into the ness. Sigurd Swinehead came first and had a red targe, but in +his other hand he held a cutlass. Gunnar sees him and shoots an arrow at +him from his bow; he held the shield up aloft when he saw the arrow +flying high,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> and the shaft passes through the shield and into his eye, +and so came out at the nape of his neck, and that was the first man +slain.</p> + +<p>A second arrow Gunnar shot at Ulfhedinn, one of Starkad's men, and that +struck him about the middle and he fell at the feet of a yeoman, and the +yeoman over him. Kolskegg cast a stone and struck the yeoman on the +head, and that was his death-blow.</p> + +<p>Then Starkad said, "'Twill never answer our end that he should use his +bow, but let us come on well and stoutly". Then each man egged on the +other, and Gunnar guarded himself with his bow and arrows as long as he +could; after that he throws them down, and then he takes his bill and +sword and fights with both hands. There is long the hardest fight, but +still Gunnar and Kolskegg slew man after man.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "I vowed to bring Hildigunna thy head, +Gunnar."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar sang a song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou, that battle-sleet down bringeth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Scarce I trow thou speakest truth;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She, the girl with golden armlets,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cannot care for such a gift;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But, O serpent's hoard despoiler!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If the maid must have my head—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Maid whose wrist Rhine's fire<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> wreatheth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Closer come to crash of spear.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"She will not think that so much worth having," says Gunnar; "but still +to get it thou wilt have to come nearer!"</p> + +<p>Thorgeir said to his brothers—</p> + +<p>"Let us run all of us upon him at once; he has no shield and we shall +have his life in our hands."</p> + +<p>So Bork and Thorkel both ran forward and were quicker than Thorgeir. +Bork made a blow at Gunnar, and Gunnar threw his bill so hard in the way +that the sword flew out of Bork's hand; then he sees Thorkel standing on +his other hand within stroke of sword. Gunnar was standing with his body +swayed a little on one side, and he makes a sweep with his sword, and +caught Thorkel on the neck, and off flew his head.</p> + +<p>Kol Egil's son said, "Let me get at Kolskegg," and turning to Kolskegg +he said, "This I have often said, that we two would be just about an +even match in fight".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That we can soon prove," says Kolskegg.</p> + +<p>Kol thrust at him with his spear; Kolskegg had just slain a man and had +his hands full, and so he could not throw his shield before the blow, +and the thrust came upon his thigh, on the outside of the limb and went +through it.</p> + +<p>Kolskegg turned sharp round, and strode towards him, and smote him with +his short sword on the thigh, and cut off his leg, and said, "Did it +touch thee or not?"</p> + +<p>"Now," says Kol, "I pay for being bare of my shield."</p> + +<p>So he stood a while on his other leg and looked at the stump.</p> + +<p>"Thou needest not to look at it," said Kolskegg; "'tis even as thou +seest, the leg is off."</p> + +<p>Then Kol fell down dead.</p> + +<p>But when Egil sees this, he runs at Gunnar and makes a cut at him; +Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill and struck him in the middle, and +Gunnar hoists him up on the bill and hurls him out into Rangriver.</p> + +<p>Then Starkad said, "Wretch that thou art indeed, Thorir Easterling, when +thou sittest by; but thy host and father-in-law Egil is slain."</p> + +<p>Then the Easterling sprung up and was very wroth. Hjort had been the +death of two men, and the Easterling leapt on him and smote him full on +the breast. Then Hjort fell down dead on the spot.</p> + +<p>Gunnar sees this and was swift to smite at the Easterling, and cuts him +asunder at the waist.</p> + +<p>A little while after Gunnar hurls the bill at Bork, and struck him in +the middle, and the bill went through him and stuck in the ground.</p> + +<p>Then Kolskegg cut off Hauk Egil's son's head, and Gunnar smites off +Otter's hand at the elbow-joint. Then Starkad said—</p> + +<p>"Let us fly now. We have not to do with men!"</p> + +<p>Gunnar said, "Ye two will think it a sad story if there is naught on you +to show that ye have both been in the battle".</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar ran after Starkad and Thorgeir, and gave them each a wound. +After that they parted; and Gunnar and his brothers had then wounded +many men who got away from the field, but fourteen lost their lives, and +Hjort the fifteenth.</p> + +<p>Gunnar brought Hjort home, laid out on his shield, and he was buried in +a cairn there. Many men grieved for him, for he had many dear friends.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> + +<p>Starkad came home, too, and Hildigunna dressed his wounds and +Thorgeir's, and said, "Ye would have given a great deal not to have +fallen out with Gunnar".</p> + +<p>"So we would," says Starkad.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIII" id="CHAPTER_LXIII"></a>CHAPTER LXIII.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL'S COUNSEL TO GUNNAR.</h3> + + +<p>Steinvor, at Sandgil, besought Thorgrim the Easterling to take in hand +the care of her goods, and not to sail away from Iceland, and so to keep +in mind the death of his messmate and kinsman.</p> + +<p>"My messmate Thorir," said he, "foretold that I should fall by Gunnar's +hand if I stayed here in the land, and he must have foreseen that when +he foreknew his own death."</p> + +<p>"I will give thee," she says, "Gudruna my daughter to wife, and all my +goods into the bargain."</p> + +<p>"I knew not," he said, "that thou wouldest pay such a long price."</p> + +<p>After that they struck the bargain that he shall have her, and the +wedding feast was to be the next summer.</p> + +<p>Now Gunnar rides to Bergthorsknoll, and Kolskegg with him. Njal was out +of doors and his sons, and they went to meet Gunnar and gave them a +hearty welcome. After that they fell a-talking, and Gunnar said—</p> + +<p>"Hither am I come to seek good counsel and help at thy hand."</p> + +<p>"That is thy due," said Njal.</p> + +<p>"I have fallen into a great strait," says Gunnar, "and slain many men, +and I wish to know what thou wilt make of the matter?"</p> + +<p>"Many will say this," said Njal, "that thou hast been driven into it +much against thy will; but now thou shalt give me time to take counsel +with myself."</p> + +<p>Then Njal went away all by himself, and thought over a plan, and came +back and said—</p> + +<p>"Now have I thought over the matter somewhat, and it seems to me as +though this must be carried through—if it be carried through at +all—with hardihood and daring.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> Thorgeir has got my kinswoman Thorfinna +with child, and I will hand over to thee the suit for seduction. Another +suit of outlawry against Starkad I hand over also to thee, for having +hewn trees in my wood on the Threecorner ridge. Both these suits shalt +thou take up. Thou shalt fare too to the spot where ye fought, and dig +up the dead, and name witnesses to the wounds, and make all the dead +outlaws, for that they came against thee with that mind to give thee and +thy brothers wounds or swift death. But if this be tried at the Thing, +and it be brought up against thee that thou first gave Thorgeir a blow, +and so mayest neither plead thine own cause nor that of others, then I +will answer in that matter, and say that I gave thee back thy rights at +the Thingskala-Thing, so that thou shouldest be able to plead thine own +suit as well as that of others, and then there will be an answer to that +point. Thou shalt also go to see Tyrfing of Berianess, and he must hand +over to thee a suit against Aunund of Witchwood, who has the blood feud +after his brother Egil."</p> + +<p>Then first of all Gunnar rode home; but a few nights after Njal's sons +and Gunnar rode thither where the bodies were, and dug them up that were +buried there. Then Gunnar summoned them all as outlaws for assault and +treachery, and rode home after that.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIV" id="CHAPTER_LXIV"></a>CHAPTER LXIV.</h2> + +<h3>OF VALGARD AND MORD.</h3> + + +<p>That same harvest Valgard the guileful came out to Iceland, and fared +home to Hof. Then Thorgeir went to see Valgard and Mord, and told them +what a strait they were in if Gunnar were to be allowed to make all +those men outlaws whom he had slain.</p> + +<p>Valgard said that must be Njal's counsel, and yet every thing had not +come out yet which he was likely to have taught him.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir begged those kinsmen for help and backing, but they held +out a long while, and at last asked for and got a large sum of money.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> + +<p>That, too, was part of their plan, that Mord should ask for Thorkatla, +Gizur the white's daughter, and Thorgeir was to ride at once west across +the river with Valgard and Mord.</p> + +<p>So the day after they rode twelve of them together and came to Mossfell. +There they were heartily welcomed, and they put the question to Gizur +about the wooing, and the end of it was that the match should be made, +and the wedding feast was to be in half a month's space at Mossfell.</p> + +<p>They ride home, and after that they ride to the wedding, and there was a +crowd of guests to meet them, and it went off well. Thorkatla went home +with Mord and took the housekeeping in hand but Valgard went abroad +again the next summer.</p> + +<p>Now Mord eggs on Thorgeir to set his suit on foot against Gunnar, and +Thorgeir went to find Aunund; he bids him now to begin a suit for +manslaughter for his brother Egil and his sons; "but I will begin one +for the manslaughter of my brothers, and for the wounds of myself and my +father".</p> + +<p>He said he was quite ready to do that, and then they set out, and give +notice of the manslaughter, and summon nine neighbours who dwelt nearest +to the spot where the deed was done. This beginning of the suit was +heard of at Lithend; and then Gunnar rides to see Njal, and told him, +and asked what he wished them to do next.</p> + +<p>"Now," says Njal, "thou shalt summon those who dwell next to the spot, +and thy neighbours; and call men to witness before the neighbours, and +choose out Kol as the slayer in the manslaughter of Hjort thy brother: +for that is lawful and right; then thou shalt give notice of the suit +for manslaughter at Kol's hand, though he be dead. Then shall thou call +men to witness, and summon the neighbours to ride to the Althing to bear +witness of the fact, whether they, Kol and his companions, were on the +spot, and in onslaught when Hjort was slain. Thou shalt also summon +Thorgeir for the suit of seduction, and Aunund at the suit of Tyrfing."</p> + +<p>Gunnar now did in everything as Njal gave him counsel. This men thought +a strange beginning of suits, and now these matters come before the +Thing. Gunnar rides to the Thing, and Njal's sons and the sons of +Sigfus. Gunnar had sent messengers to his cousins and kinsmen, that they +should ride to the Thing, and come with as many men as they could, and +told them that this matter would lead to much strife. So they gathered +together in a great band from the west.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mord rode to the Thing and Runolf of the Dale, and those under the +Threecorner, and Aunund of Witchwood. But when they come to the Thing, +they join them in one company with Gizur the white and Geir the priest.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXV" id="CHAPTER_LXV"></a>CHAPTER LXV.</h2> + +<h3>OF FINES AND ATONEMENTS.</h3> + + +<p>Gunnar, and the sons of Sigfus, and Njal's sons, went altogether in one +band, and they marched so swiftly and closely that men who came in their +way had to take heed lest they should get a fall; and nothing was so +often spoken about over the whole Thing as these great lawsuits.</p> + +<p>Gunnar went to meet his cousins, and Olaf and his men greeted him well. +They asked Gunnar about the fight, but he told them all about it, and +was just in all he said; he told them, too, what steps he had taken +since.</p> + +<p>Then Olaf said, "'Tis worth much to see how close Njal stands by thee in +all counsel".</p> + +<p>Gunnar said he should never be able to repay that, but then he begged +them for help; and they said that was his due.</p> + +<p>Now the suits on both sides came before the court, and each pleads his +cause.</p> + +<p>Mord asked—"How it was that a man could have the right to set a suit on +foot who, like Gunnar, had already made himself an outlaw by striking +Thorgeir a blow?"</p> + +<p>"Wast thou," answered Njal, "at Thingskala-Thing last autumn?"</p> + +<p>"Surely I was," says Mord.</p> + +<p>"Heardest thou," asks Njal, "how Gunnar offered him full atonement? Then +I gave back Gunnar his right to do all lawful deeds."</p> + +<p>"That is right and good law," says Mord, "but how does the matter stand +if Gunnar has laid the slaying of Hjort at Kol's door, when it was the +Easterling that slew him?"</p> + +<p>"That was right and lawful," says Njal, "when he chose him as the slayer +before witnesses."</p> + +<p>"That was lawful and right, no doubt," says Mord; "but for what did +Gunnar summon them all as outlaws?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Thou needest not to ask about that," says Njal, "when they went out to +deal wounds and manslaughter."</p> + +<p>"Yes," says Mord, "but neither befell Gunnar."</p> + +<p>"Gunnar's brothers," said Njal, "Kolskegg and Hjort, were there, and one +of them got his death and the other a flesh wound."</p> + +<p>"Thou speakest nothing but what is law," says Mord, "though it is hard +to abide by it."</p> + +<p>Then Hjallti Skeggis son of Thursodale, stood forth and said—</p> + +<p>"I have had no share in any of your lawsuits; but I wish to know whether +thou wilt do something, Gunnar, for the sake of my words and +friendship."</p> + +<p>"What askest thou?" says Gunnar.</p> + +<p>"This," he says, "that ye lay down the whole suit to the award and +judgment of good men and true."</p> + +<p>"If I do so," said Gunnar, "then thou shalt never be against me, +whatever men I may have to deal with."</p> + +<p>"I will give my word to that," says Hjallti.</p> + +<p>After that he tried his best with Gunnar's adversaries, and brought it +about that they were all set at one again. And after that each side gave +the other pledges of peace; but for Thorgeir's wound came the suit for +seduction, and for the hewing in the wood, Starkad's wound. Thorgeir's +brothers were atoned for by half fines, but half fell away for the +onslaught on Gunnar. Egil's staying and Tyrfing's lawsuit were set off +against each other. For Hjort's slaying, the slaying of Kol and of the +Easterling were to come, and as for all the rest, they were atoned for +with half fines.</p> + +<p>Njal was in this award, and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Hjallti +Skeggi's son.</p> + +<p>Njal had much money out at interest with Starkad, and at Sandgil too, +and he gave it all to Gunnar to make up these fines.</p> + +<p>So many friends had Gunnar at the Thing, that he not only paid up there +and then all the fines on the spot, but gave besides gifts to many +chiefs who had lent him help; and he had the greatest honour from the +suit; and all were agreed in this, that no man was his match in all the +South Quarter.</p> + +<p>So Gunnar rides home from the Thing and sits there in peace, but still +his adversaries envied him much for his honour.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXVI" id="CHAPTER_LXVI"></a>CHAPTER LXVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF THORGEIR OTKELL'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must tell of Thorgeir Otkell's son; he grew up to be a tall +strong man, true-hearted and guileless, but rather too ready to listen +to fair words. He had many friends among the best men, and was much +beloved by his kinsmen.</p> + +<p>Once on a time Thorgeir Starkad's son had been to see his kinsman Mord.</p> + +<p>"I can ill brook," he says, "that settlement of matters which we and +Gunnar had, but I have bought thy help so long as we two are above +ground; I wish thou wouldest think out some plan and lay it deep; this +is why I say it right out, because I know that thou art Gunnar's +greatest foe, and he too thine. I will much increase thine honour if +thou takest pains in this matter."</p> + +<p>"It will always seem as though I were greedy of gain, but so it must be. +Yet it will be hard to take care that thou mayest not seem to be a +truce-breaker, or peace-breaker, and yet carry out thy point. But now I +have been told that Kolskegg means to try a suit, and regain a fourth +part of Moeidsknoll, which was paid to thy father as an atonement for +his son. He has taken up this suit for his mother, but this too is +Gunnar's counsel, to pay in goods and not to let the land go. We must +wait till this comes about, and then declare that he has broken the +settlement made with you. He has also taken a cornfield from Thorgeir +Otkell's son, and so broken the settlement with him too. Thou shalt go +to see Thorgeir Otkell's son, and bring him into the matter with thee, +and then fall on Gunnar; but if ye fail in aught of this, and cannot get +him hunted down, still ye shall set on him over and over again, I must +tell thee that Njal has 'spaed' his fortune, and foretold about his +life, if he slays more than once in the same stock, that it would lead +him to his death, if it so fell out that he broke the settlement made +after the deed. Therefore shalt thou bring Thorgeir into the suit, +because he has already slain his father; and now, if ye two are together +in an affray, thou shalt shield thyself; but he will go boldly on, and +then Gunnar will slay him. Then he has slain twice in the same stock, +but thou shalt fly from the fight. And if this is to drag him to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> his +death he will break the settlement afterwards, and so we may wait till +then."</p> + +<p>After that Thorgeir goes home and tells his father secretly. Then they +agreed among themselves that they should work out this plot by stealth.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXVII" id="CHAPTER_LXVII"></a>CHAPTER LXVII.</h2> + +<h3>OF THORGEIR STARKAD'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Sometime after Thorgeir Starkad's son fared to Kirkby to see his +namesake, and they went aside to speak, and talked secretly all day; but +at the end Thorgeir Starkad's son, gave his namesake a spear inlaid with +gold, and rode home afterwards; they made the greatest friendship the +one with the other.</p> + +<p>At the Thingskala-Thing in the autumn, Kolskegg laid claim to the land +at Moeidsknoll, but Gunnar took witness, and offered ready money, or +another piece of land at a lawful price to those under the Threecorner.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir took witness also, that Gunnar was breaking the settlement made +between them.</p> + +<p>After that the Thing was broken up, and so the next year wore away.</p> + +<p>Those namesakes were always meeting, and there was the greatest +friendship between them. Kolskegg spoke to Gunnar and said—</p> + +<p>"I am told that there is great friendship between those namesakes, and +it is the talk of many men that they will prove untrue, and I would that +thou wouldst be ware of thyself."</p> + +<p>"Death will come to me when it will come," says Gunnar, "wherever I may +be, if that is my fate."</p> + +<p>Then they left off talking about it.</p> + +<p>About autumn, Gunnar gave out that they would work one week there at +home, and the next down in the isles, and so make an end of their +haymaking. At the same time, he let it be known that every man would +have to leave the house, save himself and the women.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir under Threecorner goes to see his namesake, but as soon as they +met they began to talk after their wont, and Thorgeir Starkad's son, +said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"I would that we could harden our hearts and fall on Gunnar."</p> + +<p>"Well," says Thorgeir Otkell's son, "every struggle with Gunnar has had +but one end, that few have gained the day; besides, methinks it sounds +ill to be called a peace-breaker."</p> + +<p>"They have broken the peace, not we," says Thorgeir Starkad's son. +"Gunnar took away from thee thy cornfield; and he has taken Moeidsknoll +from my father and me."</p> + +<p>And so they settle it between them to fall on Gunnar; and then Thorgeir +said that Gunnar would be all alone at home in a few nights' space, "and +then thou shalt come to meet me with eleven men, but I will have as +many".</p> + +<p>After that Thorgeir rode home.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXVIII" id="CHAPTER_LXVIII"></a>CHAPTER LXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF NJAL AND THOSE NAMESAKES.</h3> + + +<p>Now when Kolskegg and the house-carles had been three nights in the +isles, Thorgeir Starkad's son had news of that, and sends word to his +namesake that he should come to meet him on Threecorner ridge.</p> + +<p>After that Thorgeir of the Threecorner busked him with eleven men; he +rides up on the ridge and there waits for his namesake.</p> + +<p>And now Gunnar is at home in his house, and those namesakes ride into a +wood hard by. There such a drowsiness came over them that they could do +naught else but sleep. So they hung their shields up in the boughs, and +tethered their horses, and laid their weapons by their sides.</p> + +<p>Njal was that night up in Thorolfsfell, and could not sleep at all, but +went out and in by turns.</p> + +<p>Thorhilda asked Njal why he could not sleep?</p> + +<p>"Many things now flit before my eyes," said he; "I see many fetches of +Gunnar's bitter foes, and what is very strange is this, they seem to be +mad with rage, and yet they fare without plan or purpose."</p> + +<p>A little after, a man rode up to the door and got off his horse's back +and went in, and there was come the shepherd of Thorhilda and her +husband.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Didst thou find the sheep?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"I found what might be more worth," said he.</p> + +<p>"What was that?" asked Njal.</p> + +<p>"I found twenty-four men up in the wood yonder; they had tethered their +horses, but slept themselves. Their shields they had hung up in the +boughs."</p> + +<p>But so closely had he looked at them that he told of all their weapons +and war-gear and clothes, and then Njal knew plainly who each of them +must have been, and said to him—</p> + +<p>"'Twere good hiring if there were many such shepherds; and this shall +ever stand to thy good; but still I will send thee on an errand."</p> + +<p>He said at once he would go.</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt go," says Njal, "to Lithend and tell Gunnar that he must +fare to Gritwater, and then send after men; but I will go to meet with +those who are in the wood and scare them away. This thing hath well come +to pass, so that they shall gain nothing by this journey, but lose +much."</p> + +<p>The shepherd set off and told Gunnar as plainly as he could the whole +story. Then Gunnar rode to Gritwater and summoned men to him.</p> + +<p>Now it is to be told of Njal how he rides to meet these namesakes.</p> + +<p>"Unwarily ye lie here," he says, "or for what end shall this journey +have been made? And Gunnar is not a man to be trifled with. But if the +truth must be told then, this is the greatest treason. Ye shall also +know this, that Gunnar is gathering force, and he will come here in the +twinkling of an eye, and slay you all, unless ye ride away home."</p> + +<p>They bestirred them at once, for they were in great fear, and took their +weapons, and mounted their horses and galloped home under the +Threecorner.</p> + +<p>Njal fared to meet Gunnar and bade him not to break up his company.</p> + +<p>"But I will go and seek for an atonement; now they will be finely +frightened; but for this treason no less a sum shall be paid when one +has to deal with all of them, than shall be paid for the slaying of one +or other of those namesakes, though such a thing should come to pass. +This money I will take into my keeping, and so lay it out that it may be +ready to thy hand when thou hast need of it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXIX" id="CHAPTER_LXIX"></a>CHAPTER LXIX.</h2> + +<h3>OLAF THE PEACOCK'S GIFTS TO GUNNAR.</h3> + + +<p>Gunnar thanked Njal for his aid, and Njal rode away under the +Threecorner, and told those namesakes that Gunnar would not break up his +band of men before he had fought it out with them.</p> + +<p>They began to offer terms for themselves, and were full of dread, and +bade Njal to come between them with an offer of atonement.</p> + +<p>Njal said that could only be if there were no guile behind. Then they +begged him to have a share in the award, and said they would hold to +what he awarded.</p> + +<p>Njal said he would make no award unless it were at the Thing, and unless +the best men were by; and they agreed to that.</p> + +<p>Then Njal came between them, so that they gave each other pledges of +peace and atonement.</p> + +<p>Njal was to utter the award, and to name as his fellows those whom he +chose.</p> + +<p>A little while after those namesakes met Mord Valgard's son, and Mord +blamed them much for having laid the matter in Njal's hands, when he was +Gunnar's great friend. He said that would turn out ill for them.</p> + +<p>Now men ride to the Althing after their wont, and now both sides are at +the Thing.</p> + +<p>Njal begged for a hearing, and asked all the best men who were come +thither, what right at law they thought Gunnar had against those +namesakes for their treason. They said they thought such a man had great +right on his side.</p> + +<p>Njal went on to ask, whether he had a right of action against all of +them, or whether the leaders had to answer for them all in the suit?</p> + +<p>They say that most of the blame would fall on the leaders, but a great +deal still on them all.</p> + +<p>"Many will say this," said Mord, "that it was not without a cause when +Gunnar broke the settlement made with those namesakes."</p> + +<p>"That is no breach of settlement," says Njal, "that any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> man should take +the law against another; for with law shall our land be built up and +settled, and with lawlessness wasted and spoiled."</p> + +<p>Then Njal tells them that Gunnar had offered land for Moeidsknoll, or +other goods.</p> + +<p>Then those namesakes thought they had been beguiled by Mord, and scolded +him much, and said that this fine was all his doing.</p> + +<p>Njal named twelve men as judges in the suit, and then every man paid a +hundred in silver who had gone out, but each of those namesakes two +hundred.</p> + +<p>Njal took this money into his keeping, but either side gave the other +pledges of peace, and Njal gave out the terms.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar rode from the Thing west to the Dales, till he came to +Hjardarholt, and Olaf the peacock gave him a hearty welcome. There he +sat half a month, and rode far and wide about the Dales, and all +welcomed him with joyful hands. But at their parting Olaf said—</p> + +<p>"I will give thee three things of price, a gold ring, and a cloak which +Moorkjartan the Erse king owned, and a hound that was given me in +Ireland; he is big, and no worse follower than a sturdy man. Besides, it +is part of his nature that he has man's wit, and he will bay at every +man whom he knows is thy foe, but never at thy friends; he can see, too, +in any man's face, whether he means thee well or ill, and he will lay +down his life to be true to thee. This hound's name is Sam."</p> + +<p>After that he spoke to the hound, "Now shalt thou follow Gunnar, and do +him all the service thou canst".</p> + +<p>The hound went at once to Gunnar and laid himself down at his feet.</p> + +<p>Olaf bade Gunnar to be ware of himself, and said he had many enviers, +"For now thou art thought to be a famous man throughout all the land".</p> + +<p>Gunnar thanked him for his gifts and good counsel, and rode home.</p> + +<p>Now Gunnar sits at home for some time, and all is quiet.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXX" id="CHAPTER_LXX"></a>CHAPTER LXX.</h2> + +<h3>MORD'S COUNSEL.</h3> + + +<p>A little after, those namesakes and Mord met, and they were not at all +of one mind. They thought they had lost much goods for Mord's sake, but +had got nothing in return; and they bade him set on foot some other plot +which might do Gunnar harm.</p> + +<p>Mord said so it should be. "But now this is my counsel, that thou, +Thorgeir Otkell's son shouldest beguile Ormilda, Gunnar's kinswoman; but +Gunnar will let his displeasure grow against thee at that, and then I +will spread that story abroad that Gunnar will not suffer thee to do +such things."</p> + +<p>"Then ye two shall some time after make an attack on Gunnar, but still +ye must not seek him at home, for there is no thinking of that while the +hound is alive."</p> + +<p>So they settled this plan among them that it should be brought about.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir began to turn his steps towards Ormilda, and Gunnar thought +that ill, and great dislike arose between them.</p> + +<p>So the winter wore away. Now comes the summer, and their secret meetings +went on oftener than before.</p> + +<p>As for Thorgeir of the Threecorner and Mord, they were always meeting; +and they plan an onslaught on Gunnar, when he rides down to the isles to +see after the work done by his house-carles.</p> + +<p>One day Mord was ware of it when Gunnar rode down to the isles, and sent +a man off under the Threecorner to tell Thorgeir that then would be the +likeliest time to try to fall on Gunnar.</p> + +<p>They bestirred them at once, and fare thence twelve together, but when +they came to Kirkby there they found thirteen men waiting for them.</p> + +<p>Then they made up their minds to ride down to Rangriver and lie in wait +there for Gunnar.</p> + +<p>But when Gunnar rode up from the isles, Kolskegg rode with him. Gunnar +had his bow and his arrows and his bill. Kolskegg had his short sword +and weapons to match.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXI" id="CHAPTER_LXXI"></a>CHAPTER LXXI.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF THORGEIR OTKELL'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>That token happened as Gunnar and his brother rode up towards Rangriver, +that much blood burst out on the bill.</p> + +<p>Kolskegg asked what that might mean.</p> + +<p>Gunnar says, "If such tokens took place in other lands, it was called +'wound-drops,' and Master Oliver told me also that this only happened +before great fights".</p> + +<p>So they rode on till they saw men sitting by the river on the other +side, and they had tethered their horses.</p> + +<p>Gunnar said, "Now we have an ambush".</p> + +<p>Kolskegg answered, "Long have they been faithless; but what is best to +be done now?"</p> + +<p>"We will gallop up alongside them to the ford," says Gunnar, "and there +make ready for them."</p> + +<p>The others saw that and turned at once towards them.</p> + +<p>Gunnar strings his bow, and takes his arrows and throws them on the +ground before him, and shoots as soon as ever they come within shot; by +that Gunnar wounded many men, but some he slew.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir Otkell's son spoke and said, "This is no use; let us make +for him as hard as we can".</p> + +<p>They did so, and first went Aunund the fair, Thorgeir's kinsman. Gunnar +hurled the bill at him, and it fell on his shield and clove it in twain, +but the bill rushed through Aunund. Augmund Shockhead rushed at Gunnar +behind his back. Kolskegg saw that and cut off at once both Augmund's +legs from under him, and hurled him out into Rangriver, and he was +drowned there and then.</p> + +<p>Then a hard battle arose; Gunnar cut with one hand and thrust with the +other. Kolskegg slew some men and wounded many.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir's Starkad's son called out to his namesake, "It looks very +little as though thou hadst a father to avenge".</p> + +<p>"True it is," he answers, "that I do not make much way, but yet thou +hast not followed in my footsteps; still I will not bear thy +reproaches."</p> + +<p>With that he rushes at Gunnar in great wrath, and thrust his spear +through his shield, and so on through his arm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gunnar gave the shield such a sharp twist that the spearhead broke short +off at the socket. Gunnar sees that another man was come within reach of +his sword, and he smites at him and deals him his death-blow. After +that, he clutches his bill with both hands; just then Thorgeir Otkell's +son had come near him with a drawn sword, and Gunnar turns on him in +great wrath, and drives the bill through him, and lifts him up aloft, +and casts him out into Rangriver, and he drifts down towards the ford, +and stuck fast there on a stone; and the name of that ford has since +been Thorgeir's ford.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "Let us fly now; no victory will be +fated to us this time".</p> + +<p>So they all turned and fled from the field.</p> + +<p>"Let us follow them up now," says Kolskegg, "and take thou thy bow and +arrows, and thou wilt come within bow-shot of Thorgeir Starkad's son."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Reaver of rich river-treasure,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Plundered will our purses be,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Though to-day we wound no other</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warriors wight in play of spears;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aye, if I for all these sailors</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lowly lying, fines must pay—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This is why I hold my hand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hearken, brother dear, to me.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Our purses will be emptied," says Gunnar, "by the time that these are +atoned for who now lie here dead."</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt never lack money," says Kolskegg; "but Thorgier will never +leave off before he compasses thy death."</p> + +<p>Gunnar sung another song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord of water-skates<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> that skim</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sea-king's fields, more good as he,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shedding wounds' red stream, must stand</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In my way ere I shall wince.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I, the golden armlets' warder,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snakelike twined around my wrist,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ne'er shall shun a foeman's faulchion</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flashing bright in din of fight.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"He, and a few more as good as he," says Gunnar, "must stand in my path +ere I am afraid of them."</p> + +<p>After that they ride home and tell the tidings.</p> + +<p>Hallgerda was well pleased to hear them, and praised the deed much.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span></p> + +<p>Rannveig said, "May be the deed is good; but somehow," she says, "I feel +too downcast about it to think that good can come of it".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXII" id="CHAPTER_LXXII"></a>CHAPTER LXXII.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE SUITS FOR MANSLAUGHTER AT THE THING.</h3> + + +<p>These tidings were spread far and wide, and Thorgeir's death was a great +grief to many a man. Gizur the white and his men rode to the spot and +gave notice of the manslaughter, and called the neighbours on the +inquest to the Thing. Then they rode home west.</p> + +<p>Njal and Gunnar met and talked about the battle. Then Njal said to +Gunnar—</p> + +<p>"Now be ware of thyself! Now hast thou slain twice in the same stock; +and so now take heed to thy behaviour, and think that it is as much as +thy life is worth, if thou dost not hold to the settlement that is +made."</p> + +<p>"Nor do I mean to break it in any way," says Gunnar, "but still I shall +need thy help at the Thing."</p> + +<p>"I will hold to my faithfulness to thee," said Njal, "till my death +day."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar rides home. Now the Thing draws near; and each side gather a +great company; and it is a matter of much talk at the Thing how these +suits will end.</p> + +<p>Those two, Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, talked with each other +as to who should give notice of the suit of manslaughter after Thorgeir, +and the end of it was that Gizur took the suit on his hand, and gave +notice of it at the Hill of Laws, and spoke in these words:—</p> + +<p>"I gave notice of a suit for assault laid down by law against Gunnar +Hamond's son; for that he rushed with an onslaught laid down by law on +Thorgeir Otkell's son, and wounded him with a body wound, which proved a +death wound, so that Thorgeir got his death.</p> + +<p>"I say on this charge he ought to become a convicted outlaw, not to be +fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or harboured in any need.</p> + +<p>"I say that his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> the men of +the Quarter, whose right it is by law to seize the goods of outlaws.</p> + +<p>"I give notice of this charge in the Quarter Court, into which this suit +ought by law to come.</p> + +<p>"I give this lawful notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill of +Laws.</p> + +<p>"I give notice now of this suit, and of full forfeiture and outlawry +against Gunnar Hamond's son."</p> + +<p>A second time Gizur took witness, and gave notice of a suit against +Gunnar Hamond's son, for that he had wounded Thorgeir Otkell's son with +a body wound which was a death wound, and from which Thorgeir got his +death, on such and such a spot when Gunnar first sprang on Thorgeir with +an onslaught, laid down by law.</p> + +<p>After that he gave notice of this declaration as he had done of the +first. Then he asked in what Quarter Court the suit lay, and in what +house in the district the defendant dwelt.</p> + +<p>When that was over men left the Hill of Laws, and all said that he spoke +well.</p> + +<p>Gunnar kept himself well in hand and said little or nothing.</p> + +<p>Now the Thing wears away till the day when the courts were to be set.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar stood looking south by the court of the men of Rangriver, +and his men with him.</p> + +<p>Gizur stood looking north, and calls his witnesses, and bade Gunnar to +listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the suit, and to all the +steps and proofs which he meant to bring forward. After that he took his +oath, and then he brought forward the suit in the same shape before the +court, as he had given notice of it before. Then he made them bring +forward witness of the notice, then he bade the neighbours on the +inquest to take their seats, and called upon Gunnar to challenge the +inquest.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXIII" id="CHAPTER_LXXIII"></a>CHAPTER LXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE ATONEMENT.</h3> + + +<p>Then Njal spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"Now I can no longer sit still and take no part. Let us go to where the +neighbours sit on the inquest."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> + +<p>They went thither and challenged four neighbours out of the inquest, but +they called on the five that were left to answer the following question +in Gunnar's favour "whether those namesakes had gone out with that mind +to the place of meeting to do Gunnar a mischief if they could?"</p> + +<p>But all bore witness at once that so it was.</p> + +<p>Then Njal called this a lawful defence to the suit, and said he would +bring forward proof of it unless they gave over the suit to arbitration.</p> + +<p>Then many chiefs joined in praying for an atonement, and so it was +brought about that twelve men should utter an award in the matter.</p> + +<p>Then either side went and handselled this settlement to the other. +Afterwards the award was made, and the sum to be paid settled, and it +was all to be paid down then and there at the Thing.</p> + +<p>But besides, Gunnar was to go abroad and Kolskegg with him, and they +were to be away three winters; but if Gunnar did not go abroad when he +had a chance of a passage, then he was to be slain by the kinsmen of +those whom he had killed.</p> + +<p>Gunnar made no sign, as though he thought the terms of atonement were +not good. He asked Njal for that money which he had handed over to him +to keep. Njal had laid the money out at interest and paid it down all at +once, and it just came to what Gunnar had to pay for himself.</p> + +<p>Now they ride home. Gunnar and Njal rode both together from the Thing, +and then Njal said to Gunnar—</p> + +<p>"Take good care, messmate, that thou keepest to this atonement, and bear +in mind what we have spoken about; for though thy former journey abroad +brought thee to great honour, this will be a far greater honour to thee. +Thou wilt come back with great glory, and live to be an old man, and no +man here will then tread on thy heel; but if thou dost not fare away, +and so breakest thy atonement, then thou wilt be slain here in the land, +and that is ill knowing for those who are thy friends."</p> + +<p>Gunnar said he had no mind to break the atonement, and he rides home and +told them of the settlement.</p> + +<p>Rannveig said it was well that he fared abroad, for then they must find +some one else to quarrel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXIV" id="CHAPTER_LXXIV"></a>CHAPTER LXXIV.</h2> + +<h3>KOLSKEGG GOES ABROAD.</h3> + + +<p>Thrain Sigfus' son said to his wife that he meant to fare abroad that +summer. She said that was well. So he took his passage with Hogni the +white.</p> + +<p>Gunnar took his passage with Arnfin of the Bay; and Kolskegg was to go +with him.</p> + +<p>Grim And Helgi, Njal's sons, asked their father's leave to go abroad +too, and Njal said—</p> + +<p>"This foreign voyage ye will find hard work, so hard that it will be +doubtful whether ye keep your lives; but still ye two will get some +honour and glory, but it is not unlikely that a quarrel will arise out +of your journey when ye come back."</p> + +<p>Still they kept on asking their father to let them go, and the end of it +was that he bade them go if they chose.</p> + +<p>Then they got them a passage with Bard the black, and Olaf Kettle's son +of Elda; and it is the talk of the whole country that all the better men +in that district were leaving it.</p> + +<p>By this time Gunnar's sons, Hogni and Grani, were grown up; they were +men of very different turn of mind. Grani had much of his mother's +temper, but Hogni was kind and good.</p> + +<p>Gunnar made men bear down the wares of his brother and himself to the +ship, and when all Gunnar's baggage had come down, and the ship was all +but "boun," then Gunnar rides to Bergthorsknoll, and to other homesteads +to see men, and thanked them all for the help they had given him.</p> + +<p>The day after he gets ready early for his journey to the ship, and told +all his people that he would ride away for good and all, and men took +that much to heart, but still they said that they looked to his coming +back afterwards.</p> + +<p>Gunnar threw his arms round each of the household when he was "boun," +and every one of them went out of doors with him; he leans on the butt +of his spear and leaps into the saddle, and he and Kolskegg ride away.</p> + +<p>They ride down along Markfleet, and just then Gunnar's horse tripped and +threw him off. He turned with his face up towards the Lithe and the +homestead at Lithend, and said—</p> + +<p>"Fair is the Lithe; so fair that it has never seemed to me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> so fair; the +corn fields are white to harvest, and the home mead is mown; and now I +will ride back home, and not fare abroad at all."</p> + +<p>"Do not this joy to thy foes," says Kolskegg, "by breaking thy atonement, +for no man could think thou wouldst do thus, and thou mayst be sure that +all will happen as Njal has said."</p> + +<p>"I will not go away any whither," says Gunnar, "and so I would thou +shouldest do too."</p> + +<p>"That shall not be," says Kolskegg; "I will never do a base thing in +this, nor in anything else which is left to my good faith; and this is +that one thing that could tear us asunder; but tell this to my kinsmen +and to my mother, that I never mean to see Iceland again, for I shall +soon learn that thou art dead, brother, and then there will be nothing +left to bring me back."</p> + +<p>So they parted there and then. Gunnar rides home to Lithend, but +Kolskegg rides to the ship, and goes abroad.</p> + +<p>Hallgerda was glad to see Gunnar when he came home, but his mother said +little or nothing.</p> + +<p>Now Gunnar sits at home that fall and winter, and had not many men with +him.</p> + +<p>Now the winter leaves the farmyard. Olaf the peacock asked Gunnar and +Hallgerda to come and stay with him; but as for the farm, to put it into +the hands of his mother and his son Hogni.</p> + +<p>Gunnar thought that a good thing at first, and agreed to it, but when it +came to the point he would not do it.</p> + +<p>But at the Thing next summer, Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, gave +notice of Gunnar's outlawry at the Hill of Laws; and before the Thing +broke up Gizur summoned all Gunnar's foes to meet in the "Great +Rift".<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> He summoned Starkad under the Threecorner, and Thorgeir his +son; Mord and Valgard the guileful; Geir the priest and Hjalti Skeggi's +son; Thorbrand and Asbrand, Thorleik's sons; Eyjulf, and Aunund his son, +Aunund of Witchwood and Thorgrim the Easterling of Sandgil.</p> + +<p>Then Gizur spoke and said, "I will make you all this offer, that we go +out against Gunnar this summer and slay him".</p> + +<p>"I gave my word to Gunnar," said Hjalti, "here at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> Thing, when he +showed himself most willing to yield to my prayer, that I would never be +in any attack upon him; and so it shall be."</p> + +<p>Then Hjalti went away, but those who were left behind made up their +minds to make an onslaught on Gunnar, and shook hands on the bargain, +and laid a fine on any one that left the undertaking.</p> + +<p>Mord was to keep watch and spy out when there was the best chance of +falling on him, and they were forty men in this league, and they thought +it would be a light thing for them to hunt down Gunnar, now that +Kolskegg was away, and Thrain and many other of Gunnar's friends.</p> + +<p>Men ride from the Thing, and Njal went to see Gunnar, and told him of +his outlawry, and how an onslaught was planned against him.</p> + +<p>"Me thinks thou art the best of friends," says Gunnar; "thou makest me +aware of what is meant."</p> + +<p>"Now," says Njal, "I would that Skarphedinn should come to thy house, +and my son Hauskuld; they will lay down their lives for thy life."</p> + +<p>"I will not," says Gunnar, "that thy sons should be slain for my sake, +and thou hast a right to look for other things from me."</p> + +<p>"All thy care will come to nothing," says Njal; "quarrels will turn +thitherward where my sons are as soon as thou art dead and gone."</p> + +<p>"That is not unlikely," says Gunnar, "but still it would mislike me that +they fell into them for me; but this one thing I will ask of thee, that +ye see after my son Hogni, but I say naught of Grani, for he does not +behave himself much after my mind."</p> + +<p>Njal rode home, and gave his word to do that.</p> + +<p>It is said that Gunnar rode to all meetings of men, and to all lawful +Things, and his foes never dared to fall on him.</p> + +<p>And so some time went on that he went about as a free and guiltless +man.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXV" id="CHAPTER_LXXV"></a>CHAPTER LXXV.</h2> + +<h3>THE RIDING TO LITHEND.</h3> + + +<p>Next autumn Mord Valgard's son, sent word that Gunnar would be all alone +at home, but all his people would be down in the isles to make an end of +their haymaking. Then Gizur the white and Geir the priest rode east over +the rivers as soon as ever they heard that, and so east across the sands +to Hof. Then they sent word to Starkad under the Threecorner, and there +they all met who were to fall on Gunnar, and took counsel how they might +best bring it about.</p> + +<p>Mord said that they could not come on Gunnar unawares, unless they +seized the farmer who dwelt at the next homestead, whose name was +Thorkell, and made him go against his will with them to lay hands on the +hound Sam, and unless he went before them to the homestead to do this.</p> + +<p>Then they set out east for Lithend, but sent to fetch Thorkell. They +seized him and bound him, and gave him two choices—one that they would +slay him, or else he must lay hands on the hound; but he chooses rather +to save his life, and went with them.</p> + +<p>There was a beaten sunk road, between fences, above the farm yard at +Lithend, and there they halted with their band. Master Thorkell went up +to the homestead, and the tyke lay on the top of the house, and he +entices the dog away with him into a deep hollow in the path. Just then +the hound sees that there are men before them, and he leaps on Thorkell +and tears his belly open.</p> + +<p>Aunund of Witchwood smote the hound on the head with his axe, so that +the blade sunk into the brain. The hound gave such a great howl that +they thought it passing strange, and he fell down dead.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXVI" id="CHAPTER_LXXVI"></a>CHAPTER LXXVI.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR'S SLAYING.</h3> + + +<p>Gunnar woke up in his hall and said—</p> + +<p>"Thou hast been sorely treated, Sam, my fosterling, and this warning is +so meant that our two deaths will not be far apart."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> + +<p>Gunnar's hall was made all of wood, and roofed with beams above, and +there were window-slits under the beams that carried the roof, and they +were fitted with shutters.</p> + +<p>Gunnar slept in a loft above the hall, and so did Hallgerda and his +mother.</p> + +<p>Now when they were come near to the house they knew not whether Gunnar +were at home, and bade that some one would go straight up to the house +and see if he could find out. But the rest sat them down on the ground.</p> + +<p>Thorgrim the Easterling went and began to climb up on the hall; Gunnar +sees that a red kirtle passed before the windowslit, and thrusts out the +bill, and smote him on the middle. Thorgrim's feet slipped from under +him, and he dropped his shield, and down he toppled from the roof.</p> + +<p>Then he goes to Gizur and his band as they sat on the ground.</p> + +<p>Gizur looked at him and said—</p> + +<p>"Well, is Gunnar at home?"</p> + +<p>"Find that out for yourselves," said Thorgrim; "but this I am sure of, +that his bill is at home," and with that he fell down dead.</p> + +<p>Then they made for the buildings. Gunnar shot out arrows at them, and +made a stout defence, and they could get nothing done. Then some of them +got into the out-houses and tried to attack him thence, but Gunnar found +them out with his arrows there also, and still they could get nothing +done.</p> + +<p>So it went on for while, then they took a rest, and made a second +onslaught. Gunnar still shot out at them, and they could do nothing, and +fell off the second time. Then Gizur the white said-</p> + +<p>"Let us press on harder; nothing comes of our onslaught."</p> + +<p>Then they made a third bout of it, and were long at it, and then they +fell off again.</p> + +<p>Gunnar said, "There lies on arrow outside on the wall, and it is one of +their shafts; I will shoot at them with it, and it will be a shame to +them if they get a hurt from their own weapons".</p> + +<p>His mother said, "Do not so, my son; nor rouse them again when they have +already fallen off from the attack".</p> + +<p>But Gunnar caught up the arrow and shot it after them, and struck Eylif +Aunund's son, and he got a great wound; he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> was standing all by himself, +and they knew not that he was wounded.</p> + +<p>"Out came an arm yonder," says Gizur, "and there was a gold ring on it, +and took an arrow from the roof and they would not look outside for +shafts if there were enough in doors; and now ye shall make a fresh +onslaught."</p> + +<p>"Let us burn him house and all," said Mord.</p> + +<p>"That shall never be," says Gizur, "though I knew that my life lay on +it; but it is easy for thee to find out some plan, such a cunning man as +thou art said to be."</p> + +<p>Some ropes lay there on the ground, and they were often used to +strengthen the roof. Then Mord said—"Let us take the ropes and throw +one end over the end of the carrying beams, but let us fasten the other +end to these rocks and twist them tight with levers, and so pull the +roof off the hall."</p> + +<p>So they took the ropes and all lent a hand to carry this out, and before +Gunnar was aware of it, they had pulled the whole roof off the hall.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar still shoots with his bow so that they could never come nigh +him. Then Mord said again that they must burn the house over Gunnar's +head. But Gizur said—</p> + +<p>"I know not why thou wilt speak of that which no one else wishes, and +that shall never be."</p> + +<p>Just then Thorbrand Thorleik's son sprang up on the roof, and cuts +asunder Gunnar's bowstring. Gunnar clutches the bill with both hands, +and turns on him quickly and drives it through him, and hurls him down +on the ground.</p> + +<p>Then up sprung Asbrand his brother. Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill, +and he threw his shield before the blow, but the bill passed clean +through the shield and broke both his arms, and down he fell from the +wall.</p> + +<p>Gunnar had already wounded eight men and slain those twain.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> By that +time Gunnar had got two wounds, and all men said that he never once +winced either at wounds or death.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar said to Hallgerda, "Give me two locks of thy hair, and ye +two, my mother and thou, twist them together into a bowstring for me."</p> + +<p>"Does aught lie on it?" she says.</p> + +<p>"My life lies on it," he said; "for they will never come to close +quarters with me if I can keep them off with my bow."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well!" she says, "now I will call to thy mind that slap on the face +which thou gavest me; and I care never a whit whether thou holdest out a +long while or a short."</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar sang a song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Each who hurls the gory javelin</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hath some honour of his own,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now my helpmeet wimple-hooded</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hurries all my fame to earth.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">No one owner of a war-ship</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Often asks for little things,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woman, fond of Frodi's flour,<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wends her hand as she is wont.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Every one has something to boast of," says Gunnar, "and I will ask thee +no more for this."</p> + +<p>"Thou behavest ill," said Rannveig, "and this shame shall long be had in +mind."</p> + +<p>Gunnar made a stout and bold defence, and now wounds other eight men +with such sore wounds that many lay at death's door. Gunnar keeps them +all off until he fell worn out with toil. Then they wounded him with +many and great wounds, but still he got away out of their hands, and +held his own against them a while longer, but at last it came about that +they slew him.</p> + +<p>Of this defence of his, Thorkell the Skald of Göta-Elf sang in the +verses which follow—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We have heard how south in Iceland</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gunnar guarded well himself,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boldly battle's thunder wielding,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fiercest Iceman on the wave;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hero of the golden collar,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sixteen with the sword he wounded;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">In the shock that Odin loveth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Two before him lasted death.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>But this is what Thormod Olaf's son sang—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">None that scattered sea's bright sunbeams,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Won more glorious fame than Gunnar,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So runs fame of old in Iceland,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Fitting fame of heathen men;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord of fight when helms were crashing,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lives of foeman twain he took,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wielding bitter steel he sorely</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wounded twelve, and four besides.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Then Gizur spoke and said: "We have now laid low to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> earth a mighty +chief, and hard work has it been, and the fame of this defence of his +shall last as long as men live in this land".</p> + +<p>After that he went to see Rannveig and said, "Wilt thou grant us earth +here for two of our men who are dead, that they may lie in a cairn +here?"</p> + +<p>"All the more willingly for two," she says, "because I wish with all my +heart I had to grant it to all of you."</p> + +<p>"It must be forgiven thee," he says, "to speak thus, for thou hast had a +great loss."</p> + +<p>Then he gave orders that no man should spoil or rob anything there.</p> + +<p>After that they went away.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "We may not be in our house at home +for the sons of Sigfus, unless thou Gizur or thou Geir be here south +some little while".</p> + +<p>"This shall be so," says Gizur, and they cast lots, and the lot fell on +Geir to stay behind.</p> + +<p>After that he came to the Point, and set up his house there; he had a +son whose name was Hroald; he was base born, and his mother's name was +Biartey; he boasted that he had given Gunnar his death-blow. Hroald was +at the Point with his father.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir Starkad's son boasted of another wound which he had given to +Gunnar.</p> + +<p>Gizur sat at home at Mossfell. Gunnar's slaying was heard of, and ill +spoken of throughout the whole country, and his death was a great grief +to many a man.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXVII" id="CHAPTER_LXXVII"></a>CHAPTER LXXVII.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR SINGS A SONG DEAD.</h3> + + +<p>Njal could ill brook Gunnar's death, nor could the sons of Sigfus brook +it either.</p> + +<p>They asked whether Njal thought they had any right to give notice of a +suit of manslaughter for Gunnar, or to set the suit on foot.</p> + +<p>He said that could not be done, as the man had been outlawed; but said +it would be better worth trying to do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> something to wound their glory, +by slaying some men in vengeance after him.</p> + +<p>They cast a cairn over Gunnar, and made him sit upright in the cairn. +Rannveig would not hear of his bill being buried in the cairn, but said +he alone should have it as his own, who was ready to avenge Gunnar. So +no one took the bill.</p> + +<p>She was so hard on Hallgerda, that she was on the point of killing her; +and she said that she had been the cause of her son's slaying.</p> + +<p>Then Hallgerda fled away to Gritwater, and her son Grani with her, and +they shared the goods between them; Hogni was to have the land at +Lithend and the homestead on it, but Grani was to have the land let out +on lease.</p> + +<p>Now this token happened at Lithend, that the neat-herd and the +serving-maid were driving cattle by Gunnar's cairn. They thought that he +was merry, and that he was singing inside the cairn. They went home and +told Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, of this token, but she bade them go and +tell Njal.</p> + +<p>Then they went over to Bergthorsknoll and told Njal, but he made them +tell it three times over.</p> + +<p>After that, he had a long talk all alone with Skarphedinn; and +Skarphedinn took his weapons and goes with them to Lithend.</p> + +<p>Rannveig and Hogni gave him a hearty welcome, and were very glad to see +him. Rannveig asked him to stay there some time, and he said he would.</p> + +<p>He and Hogni were always together, at home and abroad. Hogni was a +brisk, brave man, well-bred and well-trained in mind and body, but +distrustful and slow to believe what he was told, and that was why they +dared not tell him of the token.</p> + +<p>Now those two, Skarphedinn and Hogni, were out of doors one evening by +Gunnar's cairn on the south side. The moon and stars were shining clear +and bright, but every now and then the clouds drove over them. Then all +at once they thought they saw the cairn standing open, and lo! Gunnar +had turned himself in the cairn and looked at the moon. They thought +they saw four lights burning in the cairn, and none of them threw a +shadow. They saw that Gunnar was merry, and he wore a joyful face. He +sang a song, and so loud, that it might have been heard though they had +been farther off.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He that lavished rings in largesse,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the fight's red rain-drops fell,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bright of face, with heart-strings hardy,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hogni's father met his fate;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then his brow with helmet shrouding,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bearing battle-shield, he spake,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"I will die the prop of battle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sooner die than yield an inch.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Yes, sooner die than yield an inch".</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>After that the cairn was shut up again.</p> + +<p>"Wouldst thou believe these tokens if Njal or I told them to thee?" says +Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>"I would believe them," he says, "if Njal told them, for it is said he +never lies."</p> + +<p>"Such tokens as these mean much," says Skarphedinn, "when he shows +himself to us, he who would sooner die than yield to his foes; and see +how he has taught us what we ought to do."</p> + +<p>"I shall be able to bring nothing to pass," says Hogni, "unless thou +wilt stand by me."</p> + +<p>"Now," says Skarphedinn, "will I bear in mind how Gunnar behaved after +the slaying of your kinsman Sigmund; now I will yield you such help as I +may. My father gave his word to Gunnar to do that whenever thou or thy +mother had need of it."</p> + +<p>After that they go home to Lithend.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_LXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER LXXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR OF LITHEND AVENGED.</h3> + + +<p>"Now we shall set off at once," says Skarphedinn, "this very night; for +if they learn that I am here, they will be more wary of themselves."</p> + +<p>"I will fulfil thy counsel," says Hogni.</p> + +<p>After that they took their weapons when all men were in their beds. +Hogni takes down the bill, and it gave a sharp ringing sound.</p> + +<p>Rannveig sprang up in great wrath and said—</p> + +<p>"Who touches the bill, when I forbade every one to lay hand on it?"</p> + +<p>"I mean," says Hogni, "to bring it to my father, that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> may bear it +with him to Valhalla, and have it with him when the warriors meet."</p> + +<p>"Rather shalt thou now bear it," she answered, "and avenge thy father; +for the bill has spoken of one man's death or more."</p> + +<p>Then Hogni went out, and told Skarphedinn all the words that his +grandmother had spoken.</p> + +<p>After that they fare to the Point, and two ravens flew along with them +all the way. They came to the Point while it was still night. Then they +drove the flock before them up to the house, and then Hroald and Tjorfi +ran out and drove the flock up the hollow path, and had their weapons +with them.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn sprang up and said, "Thou needest not to stand and think if +it be really as it seems. Men are here."</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn smites Tjorfi his death-blow. Hroald had a spear in his +hand, and Hogni rushes at him; Hroald thrusts at him, but Hogni hewed +asunder the spear-shaft with his bill, and drives the bill through him.</p> + +<p>After that they left them there dead, and turn away thence under the +Threecorner.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn jumps up on the house and plucks the grass, and those who +were inside the house thought it was cattle that had come on the roof. +Starkad and Thorgeir took their weapons and upper clothing, and went out +and round about the fence of the yard. But when Starkad sees Skarphedinn +he was afraid, and wanted to turn back.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn cut him down by the fence. Then Hogni comes against Thorgeir +and slays him with the bill.</p> + +<p>Thence they went to Hof, and Mord was outside in the field, and begged +for mercy, and offered them full atonement.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn told Mord the slaying of those four men, and sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Four who wielded warlike weapons</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We have slain, all men of worth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Them at once, gold-greedy fellow,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thou shalt follow on the spot;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let us press this pinch-purse so,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Pouring fear into his heart;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wretch! reach out to Gunnar's son</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Right to settle all disputes.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"And the like journey," says Skarphedinn, "shalt thou also fare, or hand +over to Hogni the right to make his own award, if he will take these +terms."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> + +<p>Hogni said his mind had been made up not to come to any terms with the +slayers of his father; but still at last he took the right to make his +own award from Mord.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXIX" id="CHAPTER_LXXIX"></a>CHAPTER LXXIX.</h2> + +<h3>HOGNI TAKES AN ATONEMENT FOR GUNNAR'S DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>Njal took a share in bringing those who had the blood-feud after Starkad +and Thorgeir to take an atonement, and a district meeting was called +together, and men were chosen to make the award, and every matter was +taken into account, even the attack on Gunnar, though he was an outlaw; +but such a fine as was awarded, all that Mord paid; for they did not +close their award against him before the other matter was already +settled, and then they set off one award against the other.</p> + +<p>Then they were all set at one again, but at the Thing there was great +talk, and the end of it was, that Geir the priest and Hogni were set at +one again, and that atonement they held to ever afterwards.</p> + +<p>Geir the priest dwelt in the Lithe till his death-day, and he is out of +the story.</p> + +<p>Njal asked as a wife for Hogni Alfeida the daughter of Weatherlid the +Skald, and she was given away to him. Their son was Ari, who sailed for +Shetland, and took him a wife there; from him is come Einar the +Shetlander, one of the briskest and boldest of men.</p> + +<p>Hogni kept up his friendship with Njal, and he is now out of the story.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXX" id="CHAPTER_LXXX"></a>CHAPTER LXXX.</h2> + +<h3>OF KOLSKEGG: HOW HE WAS BAPTISED.</h3> + + +<p>Now it is to be told of Kolskegg how he comes to Norway, and is in the +Bay east that winter. But the summer after he fares east to Denmark, and +bound himself to Sweyn Forkbeard the Dane-king, and there he had great +honour.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p> + +<p>One night he dreamt that a man came to him; he was bright and +glistening, and he thought he woke him up. He spoke, and said to him—</p> + +<p>"Stand up and come with me."</p> + +<p>"What wilt thou with me?" he asks.</p> + +<p>"I will get thee a bride, and thou shalt be my knight."</p> + +<p>He thought he said yea to that, and after that he woke up.</p> + +<p>Then he went to a wizard and told him the dream, but he read it so that +he should fare to southern lands and become God's knight.</p> + +<p>Kolskegg was baptised in Denmark, but still he could not rest there, but +fared east to Russia, and was there one winter. Then he fared thence out +to Micklegarth,<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> and there took service with the Emperor. The last +that was heard of him was, that he wedded a wife there, and was captain +over the Varangians, and stayed there till his death-day; and he, too, +is out of this story.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXI" id="CHAPTER_LXXXI"></a>CHAPTER LXXXI.</h2> + +<h3>OF THRAIN: HOW HE SLEW KOL.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must take up the story, and say how Thrain Sigfus' son came to +Norway. They made the land north in Helgeland, and held on south to +Drontheim, and so to Hlada.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> But as soon as Earl Hacon heard of that, +he sent men to them, and would know what men were in the ship. They came +back and told him who the men were. Then the Earl sent for Thrain +Sigfus' son, and he went to see him. The Earl asked of what stock he +might be. He said that he was Gunnar of Lithend's near kinsman. The Earl +said—</p> + +<p>"That shall stand thee in good stead; for I have seen many men from +Iceland, but none his match."</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Thrain, "is it your will that I should be with you this +winter?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Earl took to him, and Thrain was there that winter, and was thought +much of.</p> + +<p>There was a man named Kol, he was a great sea-rover. He was the son of +Asmund Ashside, east out of Smoland. He lay east in the Göta-Elf, and +had five ships, and much force.</p> + +<p>Thence Kol steered his course out of the river to Norway, and landed at +Fold,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> in the bight of the "Bay," and came on Hallvard Soti unawares, +and found him in a loft. He kept them off bravely till they set fire to +the house, then he gave himself up; but they slew him, and took there +much goods, and sailed thence to Lödese.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p> + +<p>Earl Hacon heard these tidings, and made them make Kol an outlaw over +all his realm, and set a price upon his head.</p> + +<p>Once on a time it so happened that the Earl began to speak thus—</p> + +<p>"Too far off from us now is Gunnar of Lithend. He would slay my outlaw +if he were here; but now the Icelanders will slay him, and it is ill +that he hath not fared to us."</p> + +<p>Then Thrain Sigfus' son answered—</p> + +<p>"I am not Gunnar, but still I am near akin to him, and I will undertake +this voyage."</p> + +<p>The Earl said, "I should be glad of that, and thou shalt be very well +fitted out for the journey".</p> + +<p>After that his son Eric began to speak, and said—</p> + +<p>"Your word, father, is good to many men, but fulfilling it is quite +another thing. This is the hardest undertaking; for this sea-rover is +tough and ill to deal with, wherefore thou wilt need to take great +pains, both as to men and ships for this voyage."</p> + +<p>Thrain said, "I will set out on this voyage, though it looks ugly".</p> + +<p>After that the Earl gave him five ships, and all well trimmed and +manned. Along with Thrain was Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son. Gunnar was Thrain's brother's son, and had come to him young, and +each loved the other much.</p> + +<p>Eric, the Earl's son, went heartily along with them, and looked after +strength for them, both in men and weapons, and made such changes in +them as he thought were needful. After they were "boun," Eric got them a +pilot. Then they sailed south along the land; but wherever they came to +land, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> Earl allowed them to deal with whatever they needed as their +own.</p> + +<p>So they held on east to Lödese, and then they heard that Kol was gone to +Denmark. Then they shaped their course south thither; but when they came +south to Helsingborg, they met men in a boat, who said that Kol was +there just before them, and would be staying there for a while.</p> + +<p>One day when the weather was good, Kol saw the ships as they sailed up +towards him, and said he had dreamt of Earl Hacon the night before, and +told his people he was sure these must be his men, and bade them all to +take their weapons.</p> + +<p>After that they busked them, and a fight arose; and they fought long, so +that neither side had the mastery.</p> + +<p>Then Kol sprang up on Thrain's ship, and cleared the gangways fast, and +slays many men. He had a gilded helm.</p> + +<p>Now Thrain sees that this is no good, and now he eggs on his men to go +along with him, but he himself goes first and meets Kol.</p> + +<p>Kol hews at him, and the blow fell on Thrain's shield, and cleft it down +from top to bottom. Then Kol got a blow on the arm from a stone, and +then down fell his sword.</p> + +<p>Thrain hews at Kol, and the stroke came on his leg so that it cut it +off. After that they slew Kol, and Thrain cut off his head, and they +threw the trunk over-board, but kept his head.</p> + +<p>There they took much spoil, and then they held on north to Drontheim, +and go to see the Earl.</p> + +<p>The Earl gave Thrain a hearty welcome, and he showed the Earl Kol's +head, but the Earl thanked him for that deed.</p> + +<p>Eric said it was worth more than words alone, and the Earl said so it +was, and bade them come along with him.</p> + +<p>They went thither, where the Earl had made them make a good ship that +was not made like a common long-ship. It had a vulture's head, and was +much carved and painted.</p> + +<p>"Thou art a great man for show, Thrain," said the Earl, "and so have +both of you, kinsmen, been, Gunnar and thou; and now I will give thee +this ship, but it is called the 'Vulture'. Along with it shall go my +friendship; and my will is that thou stayest with me as long as thou +wilt."</p> + +<p>He thanked him for his goodness, and said he had no longing to go to +Iceland just yet.</p> + +<p>The Earl had a journey to make to the marches of the land to meet the +Swede-king. Thrain went with him that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> summer, and was a shipmaster and +steered the Vulture, and sailed so fast that few could keep up with him, +and he was much envied. But it always came out that the Earl laid great +store on Gunnar, for he set down sternly all who tried Thrain's temper.</p> + +<p>So Thrain was all that winter with the Earl, but next spring the Earl +asked Thrain whether he would stay there or fare to Iceland; but Thrain +said he had not yet made up his mind, and said that he wished first to +know tidings from Iceland.</p> + +<p>The Earl said that so it should be as he thought it suited him best; and +Thrain was with the Earl.</p> + +<p>Then those tidings were heard from Iceland, which many thought great +news, the death of Gunnar of Lithend. Then the Earl would not that +Thrain should fare out to Iceland, and so there he stayed with him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXII" id="CHAPTER_LXXXII"></a>CHAPTER LXXXII.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL'S SONS SAIL ABROAD.</h3> + + +<p>Now it must be told how Njal's sons, Grim and Helgi, left Iceland the +same summer that Thrain and his fellows went away; and in the ship with +them were Olaf Kettle's son of Elda, and Bard the black. They got so +strong a wind from the north that they were driven south into the main; +and so thick a mist came over them that they could not tell whither they +were driving, and they were out a long while. At last they came to where +was a great ground sea, and thought then they must be near land. So then +Njal's sons asked Bard if he could tell at all to what land they were +likely to be nearest.</p> + +<p>"Many lands there are," said he, "which we might hit with the weather we +have had—the Orkneys, or Scotland, or Ireland."</p> + +<p>Two nights after, they saw land on both boards, and a great surf running +up in the firth. They cast anchor outside the breakers, and the wind +began to fall; and next morning it was calm. Then they see thirteen +ships coming out to them.</p> + +<p>Then Bard spoke and said, "What counsel shall we take now, for these men +are going to make an onslaught on us?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> + +<p>So they took counsel whether they should defend themselves or yield, but +before they could make up their minds, the Vikings were upon them. Then +each side asked the other their names, and what their leaders were +called. So the leaders of the chapmen told their names, and asked back +who led that host. One called himself Gritgard, and the other Snowcolf, +sons of Moldan of Duncansby in Scotland, kinsmen of Malcolm the Scot +king.</p> + +<p>"And now," says Gritgard, "we have laid down two choices, one that ye go +on shore, and we will take your goods; the other is, that we fall on you +and slay every man that we can catch."</p> + +<p>"The will of the chapmen," answers Helgi, "is to defend themselves."</p> + +<p>But the chapmen called out, "Wretch that thou art to speak thus! What +defence can we make? Lading is less than life."</p> + +<p>But Grim, he fell upon a plan to shout out to the Vikings, and would not +let them hear the bad choice of the chapmen.</p> + +<p>Then Bard and Olaf said, "Think ye not that these Icelanders will make +game of you sluggards; take rather your weapons and guard your goods".</p> + +<p>So they all seized their weapons, and bound themselves, one with +another, never to give up so long as they had strength to fight.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXIII" id="CHAPTER_LXXXIII"></a>CHAPTER LXXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Then the Vikings shot at them and the fight began, and the chapmen guard +themselves well. Snowcolf sprang aboard and at Olaf, and thrust his +spear through his body, but Grim thrust at Snowcolf with his spear, and +so stoutly, that he fell over-board. Then Helgi turned to meet Grim, and +they too drove down all the Vikings as they tried to board, and Njal's +sons were ever where there was most need. Then the Vikings called out to +the chapmen and bade them give up, but they said they would never yield. +Just then some one looked seaward, and there they see ships coming from +the south<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> round the Ness, and they were not fewer than ten, and they +row hard and steer thitherwards. Along their sides were shield on +shield, but on that ship that came first stood a man by the mast, who +was clad in a silken kirtle, and had a gilded helm, and his hair was +both fair and thick; that man had a spear inlaid with gold in his hand.</p> + +<p>He asked, "Who have here such an uneven game?"</p> + +<p>Helgi tells his name, and said that against them are Gritgard and +Snowcolf.</p> + +<p>"But who are your captains?" he asks.</p> + +<p>Helgi answered, "Bard the black, who lives, but the other, who is dead +and gone, was called Olaf".</p> + +<p>"Are ye men from Iceland?" says he.</p> + +<p>"Sure enough we are," Helgi answers.</p> + +<p>He asked whose sons they were, and they told him, then he knew them and +said—</p> + +<p>"Well known names have ye all, father and sons both."</p> + +<p>"Who art thou?" asks Helgi.</p> + +<p>"My name is Kari, and I am Solmund's son."</p> + +<p>"Whence comest thou?" says Helgi.</p> + +<p>"From the Southern Isles."</p> + +<p>"Then thou art welcome," says Helgi, "if thou wilt give us a little +help."</p> + +<p>"I'll give ye all the help ye need," says Kari; "but what do ye ask?"</p> + +<p>"To fall on them," says Helgi.</p> + +<p>Kari says that so it shall be. So they pulled up to them, and then the +battle began the second time; but when they had fought a little while, +Kari springs up on Snowcolf's ship; he turns to meet him and smites at +him with his sword. Kari leaps nimbly backwards over a beam that lay +athwart the ship, and Snowcolf smote the beam so that both edges of the +sword were hidden. Then Kari smites at him, and the sword fell on his +shoulder, and the stroke was so mighty that he cleft in twain shoulder, +arm, and all, and Snowcolf got his death there and then. Gritgard hurled +a spear at Kari, but Kari saw it and sprang up aloft, and the spear +missed him. Just then Helgi and Grim came up both to meet Kari, and +Helgi springs on Gritgard and thrusts his spear through him, and that +was his death blow; after that they went round the whole ship on both +boards, and then men begged for mercy. So they gave them all peace, but +took all their goods. After that they ran all the ships out under the +islands.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXIV" id="CHAPTER_LXXXIV"></a>CHAPTER LXXXIV.</h2> + +<h3>OF EARL SIGURD.</h3> + + +<p>Sigurd was the name of an earl who ruled over the Orkneys; he was the +son of Hlodver, the son of Thorfinn the scull-splitter, the son of +Turf-Einar, the son of Rognvald, Earl of M[oe]ren, the son of Eystein +the noisy. Kari was one of Earl Sigurd's body-guard, and had just been +gathering scatts in the Southern Isles from Earl Gilli. Now Kari asks +them to go to Hrossey,<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> and said the Earl would take to them well. +They agreed to that, and went with Kari and came to Hrossey. Kari led +them to see the Earl, and said what men they were.</p> + +<p>"How came they," says the Earl, "to fall upon thee?"</p> + +<p>"I found them," says Kari, "in Scotland's Firths, and they were fighting +with the sons of Earl Moldan, and held their own so well that they threw +themselves about between the bulwarks, from side to side, and were +always there where the trial was greatest, and now I ask you to give +them quarters among your body-guard."</p> + +<p>"It shall be as thou choosest," says the Earl, "thou hast already taken +them so much by the hand."</p> + +<p>Then they were there with the Earl that winter, and were worthily +treated, but Helgi was silent as the winter wore on. The Earl could not +tell what was at the bottom of that, and asked why he was so silent, and +what was on his mind.</p> + +<p>"Thinkest thou it not good to be here?"</p> + +<p>"Good, methinks, it is here," he says.</p> + +<p>"Then what art thou thinking about?" asks the Earl.</p> + +<p>"Hast thou any realm to guard in Scotland?" asks Helgi.</p> + +<p>"So we think," says the Earl, "but what makes thee think about that, or +what is the matter with it?"</p> + +<p>"The Scots," says Helgi, "must have taken your steward's life, and +stopped all the messengers; that none should cross the Pentland Firth."</p> + +<p>"Hast thou the second sight?" said the Earl.</p> + +<p>"That has been little proved," answers Helgi.</p> + +<p>"Well," says the Earl, "I will increase thy honour if this be so, +otherwise thou shalt smart for it."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Nay," says Kari, "Helgi is not that kind of man, and like enough his +words are sooth, for his father has the second sight."</p> + +<p>After that the Earl sent men south to Straumey<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> to Arnljot, his +steward there, and after that Arnljot sent them across the Pentland +Firth, and they spied out and learnt that Earl Hundi and Earl Melsnati +had taken the life of Havard in Thraswick, Earl Sigurd's brother-in-law. +So Arnljot sent word to Earl Sigurd to come south with a great host and +drive those earls out of his realm, and as soon as the Earl heard that, +he gathered together a mighty host from all the isles.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXV" id="CHAPTER_LXXXV"></a>CHAPTER LXXXV.</h2> + +<h3>THE BATTLE WITH THE EARLS.</h3> + + +<p>After that the Earl set out south with his host, and Kari went with him, +and Njal's sons too. They came south to Caithness. The Earl had these +realms in Scotland, Ross and Moray, Sutherland, and the Dales. There +came to meet them men from those realms, and said that the Earls were a +short way off with a great host. Then Earl Sigurd turns his host +thither, and the name of that place is Duncansness, above which they +met, and it came to a great battle between them. Now the Scots had let +some of their host go free from the main battle, and these took the +Earl's men in flank, and many men fell there till Njal's sons turned +against the foe, and fought with them and put them to flight; but still +it was a hard fight, and then Njal's sons turned back to the front by +the Earl's standard, and fought well. Now Kari turns to meet Earl +Melsnati, and Melsnati hurled a spear at him, but Kari caught the spear +and threw it back and through the Earl. Then Earl Hundi fled, but they +chased the fleers until they learnt that Malcolm was gathering a host at +Duncansby. Then the Earl took counsel with his men, and it seemed to all +the best plan to turn back, and not to fight with such a mighty land +force; so they turned back. But when the Earl came to Straumey they +shared the battle-spoil. After that he went north to Hrossey, and Njal's +sons and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> Kari followed him. Then the Earl made a great feast, and at +that feast he gave Kari a good sword, and a spear inlaid with gold; but +he gave Helgi a gold ring and a mantle, and Grim a shield and sword. +After that he took Helgi and Grim into his body-guard, and thanked them +for their good help. They were with the Earl that winter and the summer +after, till Kari went sea-roving; then they went with him, and harried +far and wide that summer, and everywhere won the victory. They fought +against Godred, King of Man, and conquered him; and after that they +fared back, and had gotten much goods. Next winter they were still with +the Earl, and when the spring came Njal's sons asked leave to go to +Norway. The Earl said they should go or not as they pleased, and he gave +them a good ship and smart men. As for Kari, he said he must come that +summer to Norway with Earl Hacon's scatts, and then they would meet; and +so it fell out that they gave each other their word to meet. After that +Njal's sons put out to sea and sailed for Norway, and made the land +north near Drontheim.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXVI" id="CHAPTER_LXXXVI"></a>CHAPTER LXXXVI.</h2> + +<h3>HRAPP'S VOYAGE FROM ICELAND.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Kolbein, and his surname was Arnljot's son; he was +a man from Drontheim; he sailed out to Iceland that same summer in which +Kolskegg and Njal's sons went abroad. He was that winter east in +Broaddale; but the spring after, he made his ship ready for sea in +Gautawick; and when men were almost "boun," a man rowed up to them in a +boat, and made the boat fast to the ship, and afterwards he went on +board the ship to see Kolbein.</p> + +<p>Kolbein asked that man for his name.</p> + +<p>"My name is Hrapp," says he.</p> + +<p>"What wilt thou with me?" says Kolbein.</p> + +<p>"I wish to ask thee to put me across the Iceland main."</p> + +<p>"Whose son art thou?" asks Kolbein.</p> + +<p>"I am a son of Aurgunleid, the son of Geirolf the fighter."</p> + +<p>"What need lies on thee," asked Kolbein, "to drive thee abroad?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I have slain a man," says Hrapp.</p> + +<p>"What manslaughter was that," says Kolbein, "and what men have the +blood-feud?"</p> + +<p>"The men of Weaponfirth," says Hrapp, "but the man I slew was Aurlyg, +the son of Aurlyg, the son of Roger the white."</p> + +<p>"I guess this," says Kolbein, "that he will have the worst of it who +bears thee abroad."</p> + +<p>"I am the friend of my friend," said Hrapp, "but when ill is done to me +I repay it. Nor am I short of money to lay down for my passage."</p> + +<p>Then Kolbein took Hrapp on board, and a little while after a fair breeze +sprung up, and they sailed away on the sea.</p> + +<p>Hrapp ran short of food at sea, and then he sate him down at the mess of +those who were nearest to him. They sprang up with ill words, and so it +was that they came to blows, and Hrapp, in a trice, has two men under +him.</p> + +<p>Then Kolbein was told, and he bade Hrapp to come and share his mess, and +he accepted that.</p> + +<p>Now they come off the sea, and lie outside off Agdirness.</p> + +<p>Then Kolbein asked where that money was which he had offered to pay for +his fare?</p> + +<p>"It is out in Iceland," answers Hrapp.</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt beguile more men than me, I fear," says Kolbein; "but now I +will forgive thee all the fare."</p> + +<p>Hrapp bade him have thanks for that. "But what counsel dost thou give as +to what I ought to do?"</p> + +<p>"That first of all," he says, "that thou goest from the ship as soon as +ever thou canst, for all Easterlings will bear thee bad witness; but +there is yet another bit of good counsel which I will give thee, and +that is, never to cheat thy master."</p> + +<p>Then Hrapp went on shore with his weapons, and he had a great axe with +an iron-bound haft in his hand.</p> + +<p>He fares on and on till he comes to Gudbrand of the Dale. He was the +greatest friend of Earl Hacon. They two had a shrine between them, and +it was never opened but when the Earl came thither. That was the second +greatest shrine in Norway, but the other was at Hlada.</p> + +<p>Thrand was the name of Gudbrand's son, but his daughter's name was +Gudruna.</p> + +<p>Hrapp went in before Gudbrand, and hailed him well. He asked whence he +came and what was his name. Hrapp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> told him about himself, and how he +had sailed abroad from Iceland.</p> + +<p>After that he asks Gudbrand to take him into his household as a guest.</p> + +<p>"It does not seem," said Gudbrand, "to look on thee, as though thou wert +a man to bring good luck."</p> + +<p>"Methinks, then," says Hrapp, "that all I have heard about thee has been +great lies; for it is said that thou takest every one into thy house +that asks thee; and that no man is thy match for goodness and kindness, +far or near; but now I shall have to speak against that saying, if thou +dost not take me in."</p> + +<p>"Well, thou shalt stay here," said Gudbrand.</p> + +<p>"To what seat wilt thou show me?" says Hrapp.</p> + +<p>"To one on the lower bench, over against my high seat."</p> + +<p>Then Hrapp went and took his seat. He was able to tell of many things, +and so it was at first that Gudbrand and many thought it sport to listen +to him; but still it came about that most men thought him too much given +to mocking, and the end of it was that he took to talking alone with +Gudruna, so that many said that he meant to beguile her.</p> + +<p>But when Gudbrand was aware of that, he scolded her much for daring to +talk alone with him, and bade her beware of speaking aught to him if the +whole household did not hear it. She gave her word to be good at first, +but still it was soon the old story over again as to their talk. Then +Gudbrand got Asvard, his overseer, to go about with her, out of doors +and in, and to be with her wherever she went. One day it happened that +she begged for leave to go into the nut-wood for a pastime, and Asvard +went along with her. Hrapp goes to seek for them and found them, and +took her by the hand, and led her away alone.</p> + +<p>Then Asvard went to look for her, and found them both together stretched +on the grass in a thicket.</p> + +<p>He rushes at them, axe in air, and smote at Hrapp's leg, but Hrapp gave +himself a second turn, and he missed him. Hrapp springs on his feet as +quick as he can, and caught up his axe. Then Asvard wished to turn and +get away, but Hrapp hewed asunder his backbone.</p> + +<p>Then Gudruna said, "Now hast thou done that deed which will hinder thy +stay any Longer with my father; but still there is something behind +which he will like still less, for I go with child".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p> + +<p>"He shall not learn this from others," says Hrapp, "but I will go home +and tell him both these tidings."</p> + +<p>"Then," she says, "thou will not come away with thy life."</p> + +<p>"I will run the risk of that," he says.</p> + +<p>After that he sees her back to the other women, but he went home. +Gudbrand sat in his high seat, and there were few men in the hall.</p> + +<p>Hrapp went in before him, and bore his axe high.</p> + +<p>"Why is thine axe bloody?" asks Gudbrand.</p> + +<p>"I made it so by doing a piece of work on thy overseer Asvard's back," +says Hrapp.</p> + +<p>"That can be no good work," says Gudbrand; "thou must have slain him."</p> + +<p>"So it is, be sure," says Hrapp.</p> + +<p>"What did ye fall out about?" asks Gudbrand.</p> + +<p>"Oh!" says Hrapp, "what you would think small cause enough. He wanted to +hew off my leg."</p> + +<p>"What hast thou done first?" asked Gudbrand.</p> + +<p>"What he had no right to meddle with," says Hrapp.</p> + +<p>"Still thou wilt tell me what it was."</p> + +<p>"Well!" said Hrapp, "if thou must know, I lay by thy daughter's side, +and he thought that bad."</p> + +<p>"Up men!" cried Gudbrand, "and take him. He shall be slain out of hand."</p> + +<p>"Very little good wilt thou let me reap of my son-in-lawship," says +Hrapp, "but thou hast not so many men at thy back as to do that +speedily."</p> + +<p>Up they rose, but he sprang out of doors. They run after him, but he got +away to the wood, and they could not lay hold of him.</p> + +<p>Then Gudbrand gathers people, and lets the wood be searched; but they +find him not, for the wood was great and thick.</p> + +<p>Hrapp fares through the wood till he came to a clearing; there he found +a house, and saw a man outside cleaving wood.</p> + +<p>He asked that man for his name, and he said his name was Tofi.</p> + +<p>Tofi asked him for his name in turn, and Hrapp told him his true name.</p> + +<p>Hrapp asked why the householder had set up his abode so far from other +men?</p> + +<p>"For that here," he says, "I think I am less likely to have brawls with +other men."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It is strange how we beat about the bush in out talk," says Hrapp, "but +I will first tell thee who I am. I have been with Gudbrand of the Dale, +but I ran away thence because I slew his overseer; but now I know that +we are both of us bad men; for thou wouldst not have come hither away +from other men unless thou wert some man's outlaw. And now I give thee +two choices, either that I will tell where thou art,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> or that we two +have between us, share and share alike, all that is here."</p> + +<p>"This is even as thou sayest," said the householder; "I seized and +carried off this woman who is here with me, and many men have sought for +me."</p> + +<p>Then he led Hrapp in with him; there was a small house there, but well +built.</p> + +<p>The master of the house told his mistress that he had taken Hrapp into +his company.</p> + +<p>"Most men will get ill luck from this man," she says; "but thou wilt +have thy way."</p> + +<p>So Hrapp was there after that. He was a great wanderer, and was never at +home. He still brings about meetings with Gudruna; her father and +brother, Thrand and Gudbrand, lay in wait for him, but they could never +get nigh him, and so all that year passed away.</p> + +<p>Gudbrand sent and told Earl Hacon what trouble he had had with Hrapp, +and the Earl let him be made an outlaw, and laid a price upon his head. +He said too, that he would go himself to look after him; but that passed +off, and the Earl thought it easy enough for them to catch him when he +went about so unwarily.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXVII" id="CHAPTER_LXXXVII"></a>CHAPTER LXXXVII.</h2> + +<h3>THRAIN TOOK TO HRAPP.</h3> + + +<p>That same summer Njal's sons fared to Norway from the Orkneys, as was +before written, and they were there at the fair during the summer. Then +Thrain Sigfus' son busked his ship for Iceland, and was all but "boun". +At that time Earl Hacon went to a feast at Gudbrand's house. That night<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +Killing-Hrapp came to the shrine of Earl Hacon and Gudbrand, and he went +inside the house, and there he saw Thorgerda Shrinebride sitting, and +she was as tall as a full-grown man. She had a great gold ring on her +arm, and a wimple on her head; he strips her of her wimple, and takes +the gold ring from off her. Then he sees Thor's car, and takes from him +a second gold ring; a third he took from Irpa; and then dragged them all +out, and spoiled them of all their gear.</p> + +<p>After that he laid fire to the shrine, and burnt it down, and then he +goes away just as it began to dawn. He walks across a ploughed field, +and there six men sprung up with weapons, and fall upon him at once; but +he made a stout defence, and the end of the business was that he slays +three men, but wounds Thrand to the death, and drives two to the woods, +so that they could bear no news to the Earl. He then went up to Thrand +and said—</p> + +<p>"It is now in my power to slay thee if I will, but I will not do that; +and now I will set more store by the ties that are between us than ye +have shown to me."</p> + +<p>Now Hrapp means to turn back to the wood, but now he sees that men have +come between him and the wood, so he dares not venture to turn thither, +but lays him down in a thicket, and so lies there a while.</p> + +<p>Earl Hacon and Gudbrand went that morning early to the shrine and found +it burnt down; but the three gods were outside, stripped of all their +bravery.</p> + +<p>Then Gudbrand began to speak, and said—</p> + +<p>"Much might is given to our gods, when here they have walked of +themselves out of the fire!"</p> + +<p>"The gods can have naught to do with it," says the Earl; "a man must +have burnt the shrine, and borne the gods out; but the gods do not +avenge everything on the spot. That man who has done this will no doubt +be driven away out of Valhalla, and never come in thither."</p> + +<p>Just then up ran four of the Earl's men, and told them ill tidings; for +they said they had found three men slain in the field, and Thrand +wounded to the death.</p> + +<p>"Who can have done this?" says the Earl.</p> + +<p>"Killing-Hrapp," they say.</p> + +<p>"Then he must have burnt down the shrine," says the Earl.</p> + +<p>They said they thought he was like enough to have done it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span></p> + +<p>"And where may he be now?" says the Earl.</p> + +<p>They said that Thrand had told them that he had laid down in a thicket.</p> + +<p>The Earl goes thither to look for him, but Hrapp was off and away. Then +the Earl set his men to search for him, but still they could not find +him. So the Earl was in the hue and cry himself, but first he bade them +rest a while.</p> + +<p>Then the Earl went aside by himself, away from other men, and bade that +no man should follow him, and so he stays a while. He fell down on both +his knees, and held his hands before his eyes; after that he went back +to them, and then he said to them, "Come with me".</p> + +<p>So they went along with him. He turns short away from the path on which +they had walked before, and they came to a dell. There up sprang Hrapp +before them, and there it was that he had hidden himself at first.</p> + +<p>The Earl urges on his men to run after him, but Hrapp was so +swift-footed that they never came near him. Hrapp made for Hlada. There +both Thrain and Njal's sons lay "boun" for sea at the same time. Hrapp +runs to where Njal's sons are.</p> + +<p>"Help me, like good men and true," he said, "for the Earl will slay me."</p> + +<p>Helgi looked at him and said—</p> + +<p>"Thou lookest like an unlucky man, and the man who will not take thee in +will have the best of it."</p> + +<p>"Would that the worst might befall you from me," says Hrapp.</p> + +<p>"I am the man," says Helgi, "to avenge me on thee for this as time rolls +on."</p> + +<p>Then Hrapp turned to Thrain Sigfus' son, and bade him shelter him.</p> + +<p>"What hast thou on thy hand?" says Thrain.</p> + +<p>"I have burnt a shrine under the Earl's eyes, and slain some men, and +now he will be here speedily, for he has joined in the hue and cry +himself."</p> + +<p>"It hardly beseems me to do this," says Thrain, "when the Earl has done +me so much good."</p> + +<p>Then he showed Thrain the precious things which he had borne out of the +shrine, and offered to give him the goods, but Thrain said he could not +take them unless he gave him other goods of the same worth for them.</p> + +<p>"Then," said Hrapp, "here will I take my stand, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> here shall I be +slain before thine eyes, and then thou wilt have to abide by every man's +blame."</p> + +<p>Then they see the Earl and his band of men coming, and then Thrain took +Hrapp under his safeguard, and let them shove off the boat, and put out +to his ship.</p> + +<p>Then Thrain said, "Now this will be thy best hiding place, to knock out +the bottoms of two casks, and then thou shalt get into them".</p> + +<p>So it was done, and he got into the casks, and then they were lashed +together, and lowered over-board.</p> + +<p>Then comes the Earl with his band to Njal's sons, and asked if Hrapp had +come there.</p> + +<p>They said that he had come.</p> + +<p>The Earl asked whither he had gone thence.</p> + +<p>They said they had not kept eyes on him, and could not say.</p> + +<p>"He," said the Earl, "should have great honour from me who would tell me +where Hrapp was."</p> + +<p>Then Grim said softly to Helgi—</p> + +<p>"Why should we not say. What know I whether Thrain will repay us with +any good?"</p> + +<p>"We should not tell a whit more for that," says Helgi, "when his life +lies at stake."</p> + +<p>"Maybe," said Grim, "the Earl will turn his vengeance on us, for he is +so wroth that some one will have to fall before him."</p> + +<p>"That must not move us," says Helgi, "but still we will pull our ship +out, and so away to sea as soon as ever we get a wind."</p> + +<p>So they rowed out under an isle that lay there, and wait there for a +fair breeze.</p> + +<p>The Earl went about among the sailors, and tried them all, but they, one +and all, denied that they knew aught of Hrapp.</p> + +<p>Then the Earl said, "Now we will go to Thrain, my brother-in-arms, and +he will give Hrapp up, if he knows anything of him".</p> + +<p>After that they took a long-ship and went off to the merchant ship.</p> + +<p>Thrain sees the Earl coming, and stands up and greets him kindly. The +Earl took his greeting well and spoke thus—</p> + +<p>"We are seeking for a man whose name is Hrapp, and he is an Icelander. +He has done us all kind of ill; and now we will ask you to be good +enough to give him up, or to tell us where he is."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ye know, Lord," said Thrain, "that I slew your outlaw, and then put my +life in peril, and for that I had of you great honour."</p> + +<p>"More honour shalt thou now have," says the Earl.</p> + +<p>Now Thrain thought within himself, and could not make up his mind how +the Earl would take it, so he denies that Hrapp is there, and bade the +Earl to look for him. He spent little time on that, and went on land +alone, away from other men, and was then very wroth, so that no man +dared to speak to him.</p> + +<p>"Show me to Njal's sons," said the Earl, "and I will force them to tell +me the truth."</p> + +<p>Then he was told that they had put out of the harbour.</p> + +<p>"Then there is no help for it," says the Earl, "but still there were two +water-casks alongside of Thrain's ship, and in them a man may well have +been hid, and if Thrain has hidden him, there he must be; and now we +will go a second time to see Thrain."</p> + +<p>Thrain sees that the Earl means to put off again and said—</p> + +<p>"However wroth the Earl was last time, now he will be half as wroth +again, and now the life of every man on board the ship lies at stake."</p> + +<p>They all gave their words to hide the matter, for they were all sore +afraid. Then they took some sacks out of the lading, and put Hrapp down +into the hold in their stead, and other sacks that were tight were laid +over him.</p> + +<p>Now comes the Earl, just as they were done stowing Hrapp away. Thrain +greeted the Earl well. The Earl was rather slow to return it, and they +saw that the Earl was very wroth.</p> + +<p>Then said the Earl to Thrain—</p> + +<p>"Give thou up Hrapp, for I am quite sure that thou hast hidden him."</p> + +<p>"Where shall I have hidden him, Lord?" says Thrain.</p> + +<p>"That thou knowest best," says the Earl; "but if I must guess, then I +think that thou hiddest him in the water-casks a while ago."</p> + +<p>"Well!" says Thrain, "I would rather not be taken for a liar, far sooner +would I that ye should search the ship."</p> + +<p>Then the Earl went on board the ship and hunted and hunted, but found +him not.</p> + +<p>"Dost thou speak me free now?" says Thrain. "Far from it," says the +Earl, "and yet I cannot tell why<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> we cannot find him, but methinks I see +through it all when I come on shore, but when I come here, I can see +nothing."</p> + +<p>With that he made them row him ashore. He was so wroth that there was no +speaking to him. His son Sweyn was there with him, and he said, "A +strange turn of mind this to let guiltless men smart for one's wrath!"</p> + +<p>Then the Earl went away alone aside from other men, and after that he +went back to them at once, and said—</p> + +<p>"Let us row out to them again," and they did so.</p> + +<p>"Where can he have been hidden?" says Sweyn.</p> + +<p>"There's not much good in knowing that," says the Earl, "for now he will +be away thence; two sacks lay there by the rest of the lading, and Hrapp +must have come into the lading in their place."</p> + +<p>Then Thrain began to speak, and said—</p> + +<p>"They are running off the ship again, and they must mean to pay us +another visit. Now we will take him out of the lading, and stow other +things in his stead, but let the sacks still lie loose. They did so, and +then Thrain spoke—</p> + +<p>"Now let us fold Hrapp in the sail."</p> + +<p>It was then brailed up to the yard, and they did so.</p> + +<p>Then the Earl comes to Thrain and his men, and he was very wroth, and +said, "Wilt thou now give up the man, Thrain?" and he is worse now than +before.</p> + +<p>"I would have given him up long ago," answers Thrain, "if he had been in +my keeping, or where can he have been?"</p> + +<p>"In the lading," says the Earl.</p> + +<p>"Then why did ye not seek him there?" says Thrain.</p> + +<p>"That never came into our mind," says the Earl.</p> + +<p>After that they sought him over all the ship, and found him not.</p> + +<p>"Will you now hold me free?" says Thrain.</p> + +<p>"Surely not," says the Earl, "for I know that thou hast hidden away the +man, though I find him not; but I would rather that thou shouldest be a +dastard to me than I to thee," says the Earl, and then they went on +shore.</p> + +<p>"Now," says the Earl, "I seem to see that Thrain has hidden away Hrapp +in the sail."</p> + +<p>Just then up sprung a fair breeze, and Thrain and his men sailed out to +sea. He then spoke these words which have long been held in mind since—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let us make the Vulture fly,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nothing now gars Thrain flinch.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> + +<p>But when the Earl heard of Thrain's words, then he said—</p> + +<p>"Tis not my want of foresight which caused this, but rather their +ill-fellowship, which will drag them both to death."</p> + +<p>Thrain was a short time out on the sea, and so came to Iceland, and +fared home to his house. Hrapp went along with Thrain, and was with him +that year; but the spring after, Thrain got him a homestead at +Hrappstede, and he dwelt there; but yet he spent most of his time At +Gritwater. He was thought to spoil everything there, and some men even +said that he was too good friends with Hallgerda, and that he led her +astray, but some spoke against that.</p> + +<p>Thrain gave the Vulture to his kinsman, Mord the reckless; that Mord +slew Oddi Haldor's son, east in Gautawick by Berufirth.</p> + +<p>All Thrain's kinsmen looked on him as a chief.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_LXXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER LXXXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>EARL HACON FIGHTS WITH NJAL'S SONS.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must take up the story, and say how, when Earl Hacon missed +Thrain, he spoke to Sweyn his son, and said—</p> + +<p>"Let us take four long-ships, and let us fare against Njal's sons and +slay them, for they must have known all about it with Thrain."</p> + +<p>"'Tis not good counsel," says Sweyn, "to throw the blame on guiltless +men, but to let him escape who is guilty."</p> + +<p>"I shall have my way in this," says the Earl.</p> + +<p>Now they hold on after Njal's sons, and seek for them, and find them +under an island.</p> + +<p>Grim first saw the Earl's ships and said to Helgi—</p> + +<p>"Here are war ships sailing up, and I see that here is the Earl, and he +can mean to offer us no peace."</p> + +<p>"It is said," said Helgi, "that he is the boldest man who holds his own +against all comers, and so we will defend ourselves."</p> + +<p>They all bade him take the course he thought best, and then they took to +their arms.</p> + +<p>Now the Earl comes up and called out to them, And bade them give +themselves up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p> + +<p>Helgi said that they would defend themselves so long as they could.</p> + +<p>Then the Earl offered peace and quarter to all who would neither defend +themselves nor Helgi; but Helgi was so much beloved that all said they +would rather die with him.</p> + +<p>Then the Earl and his men fall on them, but they defended themselves +well, and Njal's sons were ever where there was most need. The Earl +often offered peace, but they all made the same answer, and said they +would never yield.</p> + +<p>Then Aslak of Longisle pressed them hard, and came on board their ship +thrice. Then Grim said—</p> + +<p>"Thou pressest on hard, and 'twere well that thou gettest what thou +seekest;" and with that he snatched up a spear and hurled it at him, and +hit him under the chin, and Aslak got his death wound there and then.</p> + +<p>A little after, Helgi slew Egil the Earl's banner-bearer.</p> + +<p>Then Sweyn, Earl Bacon's son, fell on them, and made men hem them in and +bear them down with shields, and so they were taken captive.</p> + +<p>The Earl was for letting them all be slain at once, but Sweyn said that +should not be, and said too that it was night.</p> + +<p>Then the Earl said, "Well, then, slay them to-morrow, but bind them fast +to-night".</p> + +<p>"So, I ween, it must be," says Sweyn; "but never yet have I met brisker +men than these, and I call it the greatest manscathe to take their +lives."</p> + +<p>"They have slain two of our briskest men," said the Earl, "and for that +they shall be slain."</p> + +<p>"Because they were brisker men themselves," says Sweyn; "but still in +this it must be done as thou wiliest."</p> + +<p>So they were bound and fettered.</p> + +<p>After that the Earl fell asleep; but when all men slept, Grim spoke to +Helgi, and said, "Away would I get if I could".</p> + +<p>"Let us try some trick then," says Helgi.</p> + +<p>Grim sees that there lies an axe edge up, so Grim crawled thither, and +gets the bowstring which bound him cut asunder against the axe, but +still he got great wounds on his arms.</p> + +<p>Then he set Helgi loose, and after that they crawled over the ship's +side, and got on shore, so that neither Hacon nor his men were ware of +them. Then they broke off their fetters and walked away to the other +side of the island. By that time it began to dawn. There they found a +ship, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> knew that there was come Kari Solmund's son. They went at +once to meet him, and told him of their wrongs and hardships, and showed +him their wounds, and said the Earl would be then asleep.</p> + +<p>"Ill is it," said Karl, "that ye should suffer such wrongs for wicked +men; but what now would be most to your minds?"</p> + +<p>"To fall on the Earl," they say, "and slay him."</p> + +<p>"This will not be fated," says Kari; "but still ye do not lack heart, +but we will first know whether he is there now."</p> + +<p>After that they fared thither, and then the Earl was up and away.</p> + +<p>Then Kari sailed in to Hlada to meet the Earl, and brought him the +Orkney scatts; so the Earl said—</p> + +<p>"Hast thou taken Njal's sons into thy keeping?"</p> + +<p>"So it is, sure enough," says Kari.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou hand Njal's sons over to me?" asks the Earl.</p> + +<p>"No, I will not," said Kari.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou swear this," says the Earl, "that thou wilt not fall on me +with Njal's sons?"</p> + +<p>Then Eric, the Earl's son, spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"Such things ought not to be asked. Kari has always been our friend, and +things should not have gone as they have, had I been by. Njal's sons +should have been set free from all blame, but they should have had +chastisement who had wrought for it. Methinks now it would be more +seemly to give Njal's sons good gifts for the hardships and wrongs which +have been put upon them, and the wounds they have got."</p> + +<p>"So it ought to be, sure enough," says the Earl, "but I know not whether +they will take an atonement."</p> + +<p>Then the Earl said that Kari should try the feeling of Njal's sons as to +an atonement.</p> + +<p>After that Kari spoke to Helgi, and asked whether he would take any +amends from the Earl or not.</p> + +<p>"I will take them," said Helgi, "from his son Eric, but I will have +nothing to do with the Earl."</p> + +<p>Then Kari told Eric their answer.</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," says Eric. "He shall take the amends from me if he +thinks it better; and tell them this too, that I bid them to my house, +and my father shall do them no harm."</p> + +<p>This bidding they took, and went to Eric's house, and were with him till +Kari was ready to sail west across the sea to meet Earl Sigurd.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Eric made a feast for Kari, and gave him gifts, and Njal's sons +gifts too. After that Kari fared west across the sea, and met Earl +Sigurd, and he greeted them very well, and they were with the Earl that +winter.</p> + +<p>But when the spring came, Kari asked Njal's sons to go on warfare with +him, but Grim said they would only do so if he would fare with them +afterwards out to Iceland. Kari gave his word to do that, and then they +fared with him a-sea-roving. They harried south about Anglesea and all +the Southern isles. Thence they held on to Cantyre, and landed there, +and fought with the landsmen, and got thence much goods, and so fared to +their ships. Thence they fared south to Wales, and harried there. Then +they held on for Man, and there they met Godred, and fought with him, +and got the victory, and slew Dungal the king's son. There they took +great spoil. Thence they held on north to Coll, and found Earl Gilli +there, and he greeted them well, and there they stayed with him a while. +The Earl fared with them to the Orkneys to meet Earl Sigurd, but next +spring Earl Sigurd gave away his sister Nereida to Earl Gilli, and then +he fared back to the Southern isles.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_LXXXIX" id="CHAPTER_LXXXIX"></a>CHAPTER LXXXIX.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL'S SONS AND KARI COME OUT TO ICELAND.</h3> + + +<p>That summer Kari and Njal's sons busked them for Iceland, and when they +were "all-boun" they went to see the Earl. The Earl gave them good +gifts, and they parted with great friendship.</p> + +<p>Now they put to sea and have a short passage, and they got a fine fair +breeze, and made the land at Eyrar. Then they got them horses and ride +from the ship to Bergthorsknoll, but when they came home all men were +glad to see them. They flitted home their goods and laid up the ship, +and Kari was there that winter with Njal.</p> + +<p>But the spring after, Kari asked for Njal's daughter, Helga, to wife, +and Helgi and Grim backed his suit; and so the end of it was that she +was betrothed to Kari, and the day for the wedding-feast was fixed, and +the feast was held half a month before mid-summer, and they were that +winter with Njal.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Kari bought him land at Dyrholms, east away by Mydale, and set up a +farm there; they put in there a grieve and housekeeper to see after the +farm, but they themselves were ever with Njal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XC" id="CHAPTER_XC"></a>CHAPTER XC.</h2> + +<h3>THE QUARREL OF NJAL'S SONS WITH THRAIN SIGFUS' SON.</h3> + + +<p>Hrapp owned a farm at Hrappstede, but for all that he was always at +Gritwater, and he was thought to spoil everything there. Thrain was good +to him.</p> + +<p>Once on a time it happened that Kettle of the Mark was at +Bergthorsknoll; then Njal's sons told him of their wrongs and hardships, +and said they had much to lay at Thrain Sigfus' son's door, whenever +they chose to speak about it.</p> + +<p>Njal said it would be best that Kettle should talk with his brother +Thrain about it, and he gave his word to do so.</p> + +<p>So they gave Kettle breathing-time to talk to Thrain.</p> + +<p>A little after they spoke of the matter again to Kettle, but he said +that he would repeat few of the words that had passed between them, "for +it was pretty plain that Thrain thought I set too great store on being +your brother-in-law".</p> + +<p>Then they dropped talking about it, and thought they saw that things +looked ugly, and so they asked their father for his counsel as to what +was to be done, but they told him they would not let things rest as they +then stood.</p> + +<p>"Such things," said Njal, "are not so strange. It will be thought that +they are slain without a cause, if they are slain now, and my counsel +is, that as many men as may be should be brought to talk with them about +these things, that thus as many as we can find may be ear-witnesses if +they answer ill as to these things. Then Kari shall talk about them too, +for he is just the man with the right turn of mind for this; then the +dislike between you will grow and grow, for they will heap bad words on +bad words when men bring the matter forward, for they are foolish men. +It may also well be that it may be said that my sons are slow to take up +a quarrel, but ye shall bear that for the sake of gaining time, for +there are two sides to everything that is done, and ye can always pick a +quarrel; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> still ye shall let so much of your purpose out, as to say +that if any wrong be put upon you that ye do mean something. But if ye +had taken counsel from me at first, then these things should never have +been spoken about at all, and then ye would have gotten no disgrace from +them; but now ye have the greatest risk of it, and so it will go on ever +growing and growing with your disgrace, that ye will never get rid of it +until ye bring yourselves into a strait, and have to fight your way out +with weapons; but in that there is a long and weary night in which ye +will have to grope your way."</p> + +<p>After that they ceased speaking about it; but the matter became the +daily talk of many men.</p> + +<p>One day it happened that those brothers spoke to Kari and bade him go to +Gritwater. Kari said he thought he might go elsewhither on a better +journey, but still he would go if that were Njal's counsel. So after +that Kari fares to meet Thrain, and then they talk over the matter, and +they did not each look at it in the same way.</p> + +<p>Kari comes home, and Njal's sons ask how things had gone between Thrain +and him. Kari said he would rather not repeat the words that had passed, +"but," he went on, "it is to be looked for that the like words will be +spoken when ye yourselves can hear them".</p> + +<p>Thrain had fifteen house-earles trained to arms in his house, and eight +of them rode with him whithersoever he went. Thrain was very fond of +show and dress, and always rode in a blue cloak, and had on a guilded +helm, and the spear—the Earl's gift—in his hand, and a fair shield, +and a sword at his belt. Along with him always went Gunnar Lambi's son, +and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Grani, Gunnar of Lithend's son. But nearest +of all to him went Killing-Hrapp. Lodinn was the name of his +serving-man, he too went with Thrain when he journeyed; Tjorvi was the +name of Loddin's brother, and he too was one of Thrain's band. The worst +of all, in their words against Njal's sons, were Hrapp and Grani; and it +was mostly their doing that no atonement was offered to them.</p> + +<p>Njal's sons often spoke to Kari that he should ride with them; and it +came to that at last, for he said it would be well that they heard +Thrain's answer.</p> + +<p>Then they busked them, four of Njal's sons, and Kari the fifth, and so +they fare to Gritwater.</p> + +<p>There was a wide porch in the homestead there, so that many men might +stand in it side by side. There was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> woman out of doors, and she saw +their coming, and told Thrain of it; he bade them to go out into the +porch, and take their arms, and they did so.</p> + +<p>Thrain stood in mid-door, Killing-Hrapp and Grani Gunnar's son stood on +either hand of him; then next stood Gunnar Lambi's son, then Lodinn and +Tjorvi, then Lambi Sigurd's son; then each of the others took his place +right and left; for the house-earles were all at home.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn and his men walk up from below, and he went first, then +Kari, then Hauskuld, then Grim, then Helgi. But when they had come up to +the door, then not a word of welcome passed the lips of those who stood +before them.</p> + +<p>"May we all be welcome here?" said Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>Hallgerda stood in the porch, and had been talking low to Hrapp, then +she spoke out loud—</p> + +<p>"None of those who are here will say that ye are welcome."</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Prop of sea-waves' fire,<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> thy fretting</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Cannot cast a weight on us,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warriors wight; yes, wolf and eagle</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Willingly I feed to-day;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Carline thrust into the ingle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Or a tramping whore, art thou;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord of skates that skim the sea-belt,<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Odin's mocking cup<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> I mix.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Thy words," said Skarphedinn, "will not be worth much, for thou art +either a hag, only fit to sit in the ingle, or a harlot."</p> + +<p>"These words of thine thou shalt pay for," she says, "ere thou farest +home."</p> + +<p>"Thee am I come to see, Thrain," said Helgi, "and to know if thou will +make me any amends for those wrongs and hardships which befell me for +thy sake in Norway."</p> + +<p>"I never knew," said Thrain, "that ye two brothers were wont to measure +your manhood by money; or, how long shall such a claim for amends stand +over?"</p> + +<p>"Many will say," says Helgi, "that thou oughtest to offer us atonement, +since thy life was at stake."</p> + +<p>Then Hrapp said, "'Twas just luck that swayed the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> balance, when he got +stripes who ought to bear them; and she dragged you under disgrace and +hardship, but us away from them."</p> + +<p>"Little good luck was there in that," says Helgi, "to break faith with +the Earl, and to take to thee instead."</p> + +<p>"Thinkest thou not that thou hast some amends to seek from me?" says +Hrapp, "I will atone thee in a way that, methinks, were fitting."</p> + +<p>"The only dealings we shall have," says Helgi, "will be those which will +not stand thee in good stead."</p> + +<p>"Don't bandy words with Hrapp," said Skarphedinn, "but give him a red +skin for a grey."<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p> + +<p>"Hold thy tongue, Skarphedinn," said Hrapp, "or I will not spare to +bring my axe on thy head."</p> + +<p>"'Twill be proved soon enough, I dare say," says Skarphedinn, "which of +us is to scatter gravel over the other's head."</p> + +<p>"Away with you home, ye 'Dung-beardlings!'" says Hallgerda, "and so we +will call you always from this day forth; but your father we will call +'the Beardless Carle'."</p> + +<p>They did not fare home before all who were there had made themselves +guilty of uttering those words, save Thrain; he forbade men to utter +them.</p> + +<p>Then Njal's sons went away, and fared till they came home; then they +told their father.</p> + +<p>"Did ye call any men to witness of those words?" says Njal.</p> + +<p>"We called none," says Skarphedinn; "we do not mean to follow that suit +up except on the battlefield."</p> + +<p>"No one will now think," says Bergthora, "that ye have the heart to lift +your weapons."</p> + +<p>"Spare thy tongue, mistress!" says Kari, "in egging on thy sons, for +they will be quite eager enough."</p> + +<p>After that they all talk long in secret, Njal and his sons, and Kari +Solmund's son, their brother-in-law.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCI" id="CHAPTER_XCI"></a>CHAPTER XCI.</h2> + +<h3>THRAIN SIGFUS' SON'S SLAYING.</h3> + + +<p>Now there was great talk about this quarrel of theirs, and all seemed to +know that it would not settle down peacefully.</p> + +<p>Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest, east in the Dale, was a great friend +of Thrain's, and had asked Thrain to come and see him, and it was +settled that he should come east when about three weeks or a month were +wanting to winter.</p> + +<p>Thrain bade Hrapp, and Grani, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son, and Lodinn, and Tjorvi, eight of them in all, to go on this journey +with him. Hallgerda and Thorgerda were to go too. At the same time +Thrain gave it out that he meant to stay in the Mark with his brother +Kettle, and said how many nights he meant to be away from home.</p> + +<p>They all of them had full arms. So they rode east across Markfleet, and +found there some gangrel women, and they begged them to put them across +the Fleet west on their horses, and they did so.</p> + +<p>Then they rode into the Dale, and had a hearty welcome; there Kettle of +the Mark met them, and there they sate two nights.</p> + +<p>Both Runolf and Kettle besought Thrain that he would make up his quarrel +with Njal's sons; but he said he would never pay any money, and answered +crossly, for he said he thought himself quite a match for Njal's sons +wherever they met.</p> + +<p>"So it may be," says Runolf; "but so far as I can see, no man has been +their match since Gunnar of Lithend died, and it is likelier that ye +will both drag one another down to death."</p> + +<p>Thrain said that was not to be dreaded.</p> + +<p>Then Thrain fared up into the Mark, and was there two nights more; after +that he rode down into the Dale, and was sent away from both houses with +fitting gifts.</p> + +<p>Now the Markfleet was then flowing between sheets of ice on both sides, +and there were tongues of ice bridging it across every here and there.</p> + +<p>Thrain said that he meant to ride home that evening, but Runolf said +that he ought not to ride home; he said, too, that it would be more wary +not to fare back as he had said he would before he left home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That is fear, and I will none of it," answers Thrain.</p> + +<p>Now those gangrel women whom they had put across the Fleet came to +Bergthorsknoll, and Bergthora asked whence they came, but they answered, +"Away east under Eyjafell".</p> + +<p>"Then, who put you across Markfleet?" said Bergthora.</p> + +<p>"Those," said they, "who were the most boastful and bravest clad of +men."</p> + +<p>"Who?" asked Bergthora.</p> + +<p>"Thrain Sigfus' son," said they, "and his company, but we thought it +best to tell thee that they were so full-tongued and foul-tongued +towards this house, against thy husband and his sons."</p> + +<p>"Listeners do not often hear good of themselves," says Bergthora. After +that they went their way, and Bergthora gave them gifts on their going, +and asked them when Thrain might be coming home.</p> + +<p>They said that he would be from home four or five nights.</p> + +<p>After that Bergthora told her sons and her son-in-law Kari, and they +talked long and low about the matter.</p> + +<p>But that same morning, when Thrain and his men rode from the east, Njal +woke up early and heard how Skarphedinn's axe came against the panel.</p> + +<p>Then Njal rises up, and goes out, and sees that his sons are all there +with their weapons, and Karl, his son-in-law too. Skarphedinn was +foremost. He was in a blue cape, and had a targe, and his axe aloft on +his shoulder. Next to him went Helgi; he was in a red kirtle, had a helm +on his head, and a red shield, on which a hart was marked. Next to him +went Kari; he had on a silken jerkin, a gilded helm and shield, and on +it was drawn a lion. They were all in bright holiday clothes.</p> + +<p>Njal called out to Skarphedinn—</p> + +<p>"Whither art thou going, kinsman?"</p> + +<p>"On a sheep hunt," he said.</p> + +<p>"So it was once before," said Njal, "but then ye hunted men."</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn laughed at that, and said—</p> + +<p>"Hear ye what the old man says? He is not without his doubts."</p> + +<p>"When was it that thou spokest thus before?" asks Kari.</p> + +<p>"When I slew Sigmund the white," says Skarphedinn, "Gunnar of Lithend's +kinsman."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>"For what?" asks Kari.</p> + +<p>"He had slain Thord Freedmanson, my foster-father."</p> + +<p>Njal went home, but they fared up into the Redslips, and bided there; +thence they could see the others as soon as ever they rode from the east +out of the dale.</p> + +<p>There was sunshine that day and bright weather.</p> + +<p>Now Thrain and his men ride down out of the Dale along the river bank.</p> + +<p>Lambi Sigurd's son said—</p> + +<p>"Shields gleam away yonder in the Redslips when the sun shines on them, +and there must be some men lying in wait there."</p> + +<p>"Then," says Thrain, "we will turn our way lower down the Fleet, and +then they will come to meet us if they have any business with us."</p> + +<p>So they turn down the Fleet. "Now they have caught sight of us," said +Skarphedinn, "for lo! they turn their path elsewhither, and now we have +no other choice than to run down and meet them."</p> + +<p>"Many men," said Kari, "would rather not lie in wait if the balance of +force were not more on their side than it is on ours; they are eight, +but we are five."</p> + +<p>Now they turn down along the Fleet, and see a tongue of ice bridging the +stream lower down and mean to cross there.</p> + +<p>Thrain and his men take their stand upon the ice away from the tongue, +and Thrain said—</p> + +<p>"What can these men want? They are five, and we are eight."</p> + +<p>"I guess," said Lambi Sigurd's son, "that they would still run the risk +though more men stood against them."</p> + +<p>Thrain throws off his cloak, and takes off his helm.</p> + +<p>Now it happened to Skarphedinn, as they ran down along the Fleet, that +his shoe-string snapped asunder, and he stayed behind.</p> + +<p>"Why so slow, Skarphedinn?" quoth Grim.</p> + +<p>"I am tying my shoe," he says.</p> + +<p>"Let us get on ahead," says Kari; "methinks he will not be slower than +we."</p> + +<p>So they turn off to the tongue, and run as fast as they can. Skarphedinn +sprang up as soon as he was ready, and had lifted his axe, "the ogress +of war," aloft, and runs right down to the Fleet. But the Fleet was so +deep that there was no fording it for a long way up or down.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> + +<p>A great sheet of ice had been thrown up by the flood on the other side +of the Fleet as smooth and slippery as glass, and there Thrain and his +men stood in the midst of the sheet.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn takes a spring into the air, and leaps over the stream +between the icebanks, and does not check his course, but rushes still +onwards with a slide. The sheet of ice was very slippery, and so he went +as fast as a bird flies. Thrain was just about to put his helm on his +head; and now Skarphedinn bore down on them, and hews at Thrain with his +axe, "the ogress of war," and smote him on the head, and clove him down +to the teeth, so that his jaw-teeth fell out on the ice. This feat was +done with such a quick sleight that no one could get a blow at him; he +glided away from them at once at full speed. Tjorvi, indeed, threw his +shield before him on the ice, but he leapt over it, and still kept his +feet, and slid quite to the end of the sheet of ice.</p> + +<p>There Kari and his brothers came to meet him.</p> + +<p>"This was done like a man," says Kari.</p> + +<p>"Your share is still left," says Skarphedinn, and sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the strife of swords not slower,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">After all, I came than you,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For with ready stroke the sturdy</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Squanderer of wealth I felled;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But since Grim's and Helgi's sea-stag<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Norway's Earl erst took and stripped,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now 'tis time for sea-fire bearers<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Such dishonour to avenge.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And this other song he sang—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Swiftly down I dashed my weapon,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gashing giant, byrnie-breacher,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She, the noisy ogre's namesake,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soon with flesh the ravens glutted;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now your words to Hrapp remember,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On broad ice now rouse the storm,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With dull crash war's eager ogress</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Battle's earliest note hath sung.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"That befits us well, and we wilt do it well," says Helgi. Then they +turn up towards them. Both Grim and Helgi see where Hrapp is, and they +turned on him at once. Hrapp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> hews at Grim there and then with his axe; +Helgi sees this and cuts at Hrapp's arm, and cut it off, and down fell +the axe.</p> + +<p>"In this," says Hrapp, "thou hast done a most needful work, for this +hand hath wrought harm and death to many a man."</p> + +<p>"And so here an end shall be put to it," says Grim; and with that he ran +him through with a spear, and then Hrapp fell down dead.</p> + +<p>Tjorvi turns against Kari and hurls a spear at him. Kari leapt up in the +air, and the spear flew below his feet. Then Kari rushes at him, and +hews at him on the breast with his sword, and the blow passed at once +into his chest, and he got his death there and then.</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn seizes both Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, +and said—</p> + +<p>"Here have I caught two whelps! but what shall we do with them?"</p> + +<p>"It is in thy power," says Helgi, "to slay both or either of them, if +you wish them dead."</p> + +<p>"I cannot find it in my heart to do both—help Hogni and slay his +brother," says Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>"Then the day will once come," says Helgi, "when thou wilt wish that +thou hadst slain him, for never will he be true to thee, nor will any +one of the others who are now here."</p> + +<p>"I shall not fear them," answers Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>After that they gave peace to Grani Gunnar's son, and Gunnar Lambi's +son, and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Lodinn.</p> + +<p>After that they went down to the Fleet where Skarphedinn had leapt over +it, and Kari and the others measured the length of the leap with their +spear-shafts, and it was twelve ells (about eighteen feet, according to +the old Norse measure).</p> + +<p>Then they turned homewards, and Njal asked what tidings.</p> + +<p>They told him all just as it had happened, and Njal said—</p> + +<p>"These are great tidings, and it is more likely that hence will come the +death of one of my sons, if not more evil."</p> + +<p>Gunnar Lambi's son bore the body of Thrain with him to Gritwater, and he +was laid in a cairn there.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCII" id="CHAPTER_XCII"></a>CHAPTER XCII.</h2> + +<h3>KETTLE TAKES HAUSKULD AS HIS FOSTER-SON.</h3> + + +<p>Kettle of the Mark had to wife Thorgerda, Njal's daughter, but he was +Thrain's brother, and he thought he was come into a strait, so he rode +to Njal's house, and asked whether he were willing to atone in any way +for Thrain's slaying?</p> + +<p>"I will atone for it handsomely," answered Njal; "and my wish is that +thou shouldst look after the matter with thy brothers who have to take +the price of the atonement, that they may be ready to join in it."</p> + +<p>Kettle said he would do so with all his heart, and Kettle rode home +first; a little after, he summoned all his brothers to Lithend, and then +he had a talk with them; and Hogni was on his side all through the talk; +and so it came about that men were chosen to utter the award; and a +meeting was agreed on, and the fair price of a man was awarded for +Thrain's slaying, and they all had a share in the blood-money who had a +lawful right to it. After that pledges of peace and good faith were +agreed to, and they were settled in the most sure and binding way.</p> + +<p>Njal paid down all the money out of hand well and bravely; and so things +were quiet for a while.</p> + +<p>One day Njal rode up into the Mark, and he and Kettle talked together +the whole day, Njal rode home at even, and no man knew of what they had +taken counsel.</p> + +<p>A little after Kettle fares to Gritwater, and he said to Thorgerda—</p> + +<p>"Long have I loved my brother Thrain much, and now I will show it, for I +will ask Hauskuld Thrain's son to be my foster-child."</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt have thy choice of this," she says; "and thou shalt give +this lad all the help in thy power when he is grown up, and avenge him +if he is slain with weapons, and bestow money on him for his wife's +dower; and besides, thou shalt swear to do all this."</p> + +<p>Now Hauskuld fares home with Kettle, and is with him some time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCIII" id="CHAPTER_XCIII"></a>CHAPTER XCIII.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL TAKES HAUSKULD TO FOSTER.</h3> + + +<p>Once on a time Njal rides up into the Mark, and he had a hearty welcome. +He was there that night, and in the evening Njal called out to the lad +Hauskuld, and he went up to him at once.</p> + +<p>Njal had a ring of gold on his hand, and showed it to the lad. He took +hold of the gold, and looked at it, and put it on his finger.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou take the gold as a gift?" said Njal.</p> + +<p>"That I will," said the lad.</p> + +<p>"Knowest thou," says Njal, "what brought thy father to his death?"</p> + +<p>"I know," answers the lad, "that Skarphedinn slew him; but we need not +keep that in mind, when an atonement has been made for it, and a full +price paid for him."</p> + +<p>"Better answered than asked," said Njal; "and thou wilt live to be a +good man and true," he adds.</p> + +<p>"Methinks thy forecasting," says Hauskuld, "is worth having, for I know +that thou art foresighted and unlying."</p> + +<p>"Now I will offer to foster thee," said Njal, "if thou wilt take the +offer."</p> + +<p>He said he would be willing to take both that honour and any other good +offer which he might make. So the end of the matter was, that Hauskuld +fared home with Njal as his foster-son.</p> + +<p>He suffered no harm to come nigh the lad, and loved him much. Njal's +sons took him about with them, and did him honour in every way. And so +things go on till Hauskuld is full grown. He was both tall and strong; +the fairest of men to look on, and well-haired; blithe of speech, +bountiful, well-behaved; as well trained to arms as the best; fairspoken +to all men, and much beloved.</p> + +<p>Njal's sons and Hauskuld were never apart, either in word or deed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCIV" id="CHAPTER_XCIV"></a>CHAPTER XCIV.</h2> + +<h3>OF FLOSI THORD'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Flosi, he was the son of Thord Freyspriest. Flosi +had to wife Steinvora, daughter of Hall of the Side. She was base born, +and her mother's name was Solvora, daughter of Herjolf the white. Flosi +dwelt at Swinefell, and was a mighty chief. He was tall of stature, and +strong withal, the most forward and boldest of men. His brother's name +was Starkad; he was not by the same mother as Flosi.</p> + +<p>The other brothers of Flosi were Thorgeir and Stein, Kolbein and Egil. +Hildigunna was the name of the daughter of Starkad Flosi's brother. She +was a proud, high-spirited maiden, and one of the fairest of women. She +was so skilful with her hands, that few women were equally skilful. She +was the grimmest and hardest-hearted of all women; but still a woman of +open hand and heart when any fitting call was made upon her.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCV" id="CHAPTER_XCV"></a>CHAPTER XCV.</h2> + +<h3>OF HALL OF THE SIDE.</h3> + + +<p>Hall was the name of a man who was called Hall of the Side. He was the +son of Thorstein Baudvar's son. Hall had to wife Joreida, daughter of +Thidrandi the wise. Thorstein was the name of Hall's brother, and he was +nick-named broadpaunch. His son was Kol, whom Kari slays in Wales. The +sons of Hall of the Side were Thorstein and Egil, Thorwald and Ljot, and +Thidrandi, whom, it is said, the goddesses slew.</p> + +<p>There was a man named Thorir, whose surname was Holt-Thorir; his sons +were these: Thorgeir Craggeir, and Thorleif crow, from whom the +Wood-dwellers are come, and Thorgrim the big.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCVI" id="CHAPTER_XCVI"></a>CHAPTER XCVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE CHANGE OF FAITH.</h3> + + +<p>There had been a change of rulers in Norway, Earl Hacon was dead and +gone, but in his stead was come Olaf Tryggvi's son. That was the end of +Earl Hacon, that Kark, the thrall, cut his throat at Rimul in +Gaulardale.</p> + +<p>Along with that was heard that there had been a change of faith in +Norway; they had cast off the old faith, but King Olaf had christened +the western lands, Shetland, and the Orkneys, and the Faroe Isles.</p> + +<p>Then many men spoke so that Njal heard it, that it was a strange and +wicked thing to throw off the old faith.</p> + +<p>Then Njal spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"It seems to me as though this new faith must be much better, and he +will be happy who follows this rather than the other; and if those men +come out hither who preach this faith, then I will back them well."</p> + +<p>He went often alone away from other men and muttered to himself.</p> + +<p>That same harvest a ship came out into the firths east to Berufirth, at +a spot called Gautawick. The captain's name was Thangbrand. He was a son +of Willibald, a count of Saxony, Thangbrand was sent out hither by King +Olaf Tryggvi's son, to preach the faith. Along with him came that man of +Iceland whose name was Gudleif. Gudleif was a great man-slayer, and one +of the strongest of men, and hardy and forward in everything.</p> + +<p>Two brothers dwelt at Beruness; the name of the one was Thorleif, but +the other was Kettle. They were sons of Holmstein, the son of Auzur of +Broaddale. These brothers held a meeting, and forbade men to have any +dealings with them. This Hall of the Side heard. He dwelt at Thvattwater +in Alftafirth; he rode to the ship with twenty-nine men, and he fares at +once to find Thangbrand, and spoke to him and asked him—</p> + +<p>"Trade is rather dull, is it not?"</p> + +<p>He answered that so it was.</p> + +<p>"Now will I say my errand," says Hall; "it is, that I wish to ask you +all to my house, and run the risk of my being able to get rid of your +wares for you."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thangbrand thanked him, and fared to Thvattwater that harvest.</p> + +<p>It so happened one morning that Thangbrand was out early and made them +pitch a tent on land, and sang mass in it, and took much pains with it, +for it was a great high day.</p> + +<p>Hall spoke to Thangbrand and asked, "In memory of whom keepest thou this +day?"</p> + +<p>"In memory of Michael the archangel," says Thangbrand.</p> + +<p>"What follows that angel?" asks Hall.</p> + +<p>"Much good," says Thangbrand. "He will weigh all the good that thou +doest, and he is so merciful, that whenever any one pleases him, he +makes his good deeds weigh more."</p> + +<p>"I would like to have him for my friend," says Hall.</p> + +<p>"That thou mayest well have," says Thangbrand, "only give thyself over +to him by God's help this very day."</p> + +<p>"I only make this condition," says Hall, "that thou givest thy word for +him that he will then become my guardian angel."</p> + +<p>"That I will promise," says Thangbrand.</p> + +<p>Then Hall was baptised, and all his household.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCVII" id="CHAPTER_XCVII"></a>CHAPTER XCVII.</h2> + +<h3>OF THANGBRAND'S JOURNEYS.</h3> + + +<p>The spring after Thangbrand set out to preach Christianity, and Hall +went with him. But when they came west across Lonsheath to Staffell, +there they found a man dwelling named Thorkell. He spoke most against +the faith, and challenged Thangbrand to single combat. Then Thangbrand +bore a rood-cross<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> before his shield, and the end of their combat was +that Thangbrand won the day and slew Thorkell.</p> + +<p>Thence they fared to Hornfirth and turned in as guests at Borgarhaven, +west of Heinabergs sand. There Hilldir the old dwelt,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> and then +Hilldir and all his household took upon them the new faith.</p> + +<p>Thence they fared to Fellcombe, and went in as guests to Calffell. There +dwelt Kol Thorstein's son, Hall's kinsman, and he took upon him the +faith and all his house.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thence they fared to Swinefell, and Flosi only took the sign of the +cross, but gave his word to back them at the Thing.</p> + +<p>Thence they fared west to Woodcombe, and went in as guests at Kirkby. +There dwelt Surt Asbjorn's son, the son of Thorstein, the son of Kettle +the foolish. These had all of them been Christians from father to son.</p> + +<p>After that they fared out of Woodcombe on to Headbrink. By that time the +story of their journey was spread far and wide. There was a man named +Sorcerer-Hedinn who dwelt in Carlinedale. There heathen men made a +bargain with him that he should put Thangbrand to death with all his +company. He fared upon Arnstacksheath, and there made a great sacrifice +when Thangbrand was riding from the east. Then the earth burst asunder +under his horse, but he sprang off his horse and saved himself on the +brink of the gulf, but the earth swallowed up the horse and all his +harness, and they never saw him more.</p> + +<p>Then Thangbrand praised God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCVIII" id="CHAPTER_XCVIII"></a>CHAPTER XCVIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF THANGBRAND AND GUDLEIF.</h3> + + +<p>Gudleif now searches for Sorcerer-Hedinn and finds him on the heath, and +chases him down into Carlinedale, and got within spearshot of him, and +shoots a spear at him and through him.</p> + +<p>Thence they fared to Dyrholms and held a meeting there, and preached the +faith there, and there Ingialld, the son of Thorsteinn Highbankawk, +became a Christian.</p> + +<p>Thence they fared to the Fleetlithe and preached the faith there. There +Weatherlid the Skald, and Ari his son, spoke most against the faith, and +for that they slew Weatherlid, and then this song was sung about it—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He who proved his blade on bucklers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">South went through the land to whet</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brand that oft hath felled his foeman,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Gainst the forge which foams with song;<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mighty wielder of war's sickle</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Made his sword's avenging edge</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hard on hero's helm-prop rattle,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Skull of Weatherlid the Skald.</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thence Thangbrand fared to Bergthorsknoll, and Njal took the faith and +all his house, but Mord and Valgard went much against it, and thence +they fared out across the rivers; so they went on into Hawkdale and +there they baptised Hall,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> and he was then three winters old.</p> + +<p>Thence Thangbrand fared to Grimsness, there Thorwald the scurvy gathered +a band against him, and sent word to Wolf Uggi's son, that he must fare +against Thangbrand and slay him, and made this song on him—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the wolf in Woden's harness,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Uggi's worthy warlike son,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I, steel's swinger dearly loving,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This my simple bidding send;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That the wolf of Gods<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> he chaseth,—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Man who snaps at chink of gold—</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wolf who base our Gods blasphemeth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I the other wolf<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> will crush.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Wolf sang another song in return—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Swarthy skarf from month that skimmeth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of the man who speaks in song</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Never will I catch, though surely</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wealthy warrior it hath sent;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tender of the sea-horse snorting,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">E'en though ill deeds are on foot,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still to risk mine eyes are open;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Harmful 'tis to snap at flies.<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"And," says he, "I don't mean to be made a catspaw by him, but let him +take heed lest his tongue twists a noose for his own neck."</p> + +<p>And after that the messenger fared back to Thorwald the scurvy and told +him Wolf's words. Thorwald had many men about him, and gave it out that +he would lie in wait for them on Bluewoodheath.</p> + +<p>Now those two, Thangbrand and Gudleif, ride out of Hawkdale, and there +they came upon a man who rode to meet them. That man asked for Gudleif, +and when he found him he said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt gain by being the brother of Thorgil of Reykiahole, for I +will let thee know that they have set many ambushes, and this too, that +Thorwald the scurvy is now with his band At Hestbeck on Grimsness."</p> + +<p>"We shall not the less for all that ride to meet him," says Gudleif, and +then they turned down to Hestbeck. Thorwald was then come across the +brook, and Gudleif said to Thangbrand—</p> + +<p>"Here is now Thorwald; let us rush on him now." Thangbrand shot a spear +through Thorwald, but Gudleif smote him on the shoulder and hewed his +arm off, and that was his death.</p> + +<p>After that they ride up to the Thing, and it was a near thing that the +kinsmen of Thorwald had fallen on Thangbrand, but Njal and the +eastfirthers stood by Thangbrand.</p> + +<p>Then Hjallti Skeggi's son sang this rhyme at the Hill of Laws—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ever will I Gods blaspheme</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Freyja methinks a dog does seem,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Freyja a dog? Aye! let them be</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Both dogs together Odin and she.<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a></span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Hjallti fared abroad that summer and Gizur the white with him, but +Thangbrand's ship was wrecked away east at Bulandsness, and the ship's +name was "Bison".</p> + +<p>Thangbrand and his messmate fared right through the west country, and +Steinvora, the mother of Ref the Skald, came against him; she preached +the heathen faith to Thangbrand and made him a long speech. Thangbrand +held his peace while she spoke, but made a long speech after her, and +turned all that she had said the wrong way against her.</p> + +<p>"Hast thou heard," she said, "how Thor challenged Christ to single +combat, and how he did not dare to fight with Thor?"</p> + +<p>"I have heard tell," says Thangbrand, "that Thor was naught but dust and +ashes, if God had not willed that he should live."</p> + +<p>"Knowest thou," she says, "who it was that shattered thy ship?"</p> + +<p>"What hast thou to say about that?" he asks.</p> + +<p>"That I will tell thee," she says.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He that giant's offspring<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> slayeth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Broke the new-field's bison stout,<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thus the Gods, bell's warder<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> grieving.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Crushed the falcon of the strand;<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To the courser of the causeway<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Little good was Christ I ween,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When Thor shattered ships to pieces</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gylfi's hart<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> no God could help.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>And again she sang another song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thangbrand's vessel from her moorings,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sea-king's steed, Thor wrathful tore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shook and shattered all her timbers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hurled her broadside on the beach;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ne'er again shall Viking's snow-shoe,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On the briny billows glide,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For a storm by Thor awakened,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dashed the bark to splinters small.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>After that Thangbrand and Steinvora parted, and they fared west to +Bardastrand.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XCIX" id="CHAPTER_XCIX"></a>CHAPTER XCIX.</h2> + +<h3>OF GEST ODDLEIF'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Gest Oddleif's son dwelt at Hagi on Bardastrand, He was one of the +wisest of men, so that he foresaw the fates and fortunes of men. He made +a feast for Thangbrand and his men. They fared to Hagi with sixty men. +Then it was said that there were two hundred heathen men to meet them, +and that a Baresark was looked for to come thither, whose name was +Otrygg, and all were afraid of him. Of him such great things as these +were said, that he feared neither fire nor sword, and the heathen men +were sore afraid at his coming. Then Thangbrand asked if men were +willing to take the faith, but all the heathen men spoke against it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Well," says Thangbrand, "I will give you the means whereby ye shall +prove whether my faith is better. We will hallow two fires. The heathen +men shall hallow one and I the other, but a third shall he unhallowed; +and if the Baresark is afraid of the one that I hallow, but treads both +the others, then ye shall take the faith."</p> + +<p>"That is well-spoken," says Gest, "and I will agree to this for myself +and my household."</p> + +<p>And when Gest had so spoken, then many more agreed to it.</p> + +<p>Then it was said that the Baresark was coming up to the homestead, and +then the fires were made and burned strong. Then men took their arms and +sprang up on the benches, and so waited.</p> + +<p>The Baresark rushed in with his weapons. He comes into the room, and +treads at once the fire which the heathen men had hallowed, and so comes +to the fire that Thangbrand had hallowed, and dares not to tread it, but +said that he was on fire all over. He hews with his sword at the bench, +but strikes a cross-beam as he brandished the weapon aloft. Thangbrand +smote the arm of the Baresark with his crucifix, and so mighty a token +followed that the sword fell from the Baresark's hand.</p> + +<p>Then Thangbrand thrusts a sword into his breast, and Gudleif smote him +on the arm and hewed it off. Then many went up and slew the Baresark.</p> + +<p>After that Thangbrand asked if they would take the faith now?</p> + +<p>Gest said he had only spoken what he meant to keep to.</p> + +<p>Then Thangbrand baptised Gest and all his house and many others. Then +Thangbrand took counsel with Gest whether he should go any further west +among the firths, but Gest set his face against that, and said they were +a hard race of men there, and ill to deal with, "but if it be foredoomed +that this faith shall make its way, then it will be taken as law at the +Althing, and then all the chiefs out of the districts will be there".</p> + +<p>"I did all that I could at the Thing," says Thangbrand, "and it was very +uphill work."</p> + +<p>"Still thou hast done most of the work," says Gest, "though it may be +fated that others shall make Christianity law; but it is here as the +saying runs, 'No tree falls at the first stroke'."</p> + +<p>After that Gest gave Thangbrand good gifts, and he fared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> back south. +Thangbrand fared to the Southlander's Quarter, and so to the Eastfirths. +He turned in as a guest at Bergthorsknoll, and Njal gave him good gifts. +Thence he rode east to Alftafirth to meet Hall of the Side. He caused +his ship to be mended, and heathen man called it "Iron-basket". On board +that ship Thangbrand fared abroad, and Gudleif with him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_C" id="CHAPTER_C"></a>CHAPTER C.</h2> + +<h3>OF GIZUR THE WHITE AND HJALLTI.</h3> + + +<p>That same summer Hjallti Skeggi's son was outlawed at the Thing for +blasphemy against the Gods.</p> + +<p>Thangbrand told King Olaf of all the mischief that the Icelanders had +done to him, and said that they were such sorcerers there that the earth +burst asunder under his horse and swallowed up the horse.</p> + +<p>Then King Olaf was so wroth that he made them seize all the men from +Iceland and set them in dungeons, and meant to slay them.</p> + +<p>Then they, Gizur the white and Hjallti, came up and offered to lay +themselves in pledge for those men, and fare out to Iceland and preach +the faith. The king took this well, and they got them all set free +again.</p> + +<p>Then Gizur and Hjallti busked their ship for Iceland, and were soon +"boun". They made the land at Eyrar when ten weeks of summer had passed; +they got them horses at once, but left other men to strip their ship. +Then they ride with thirty men to the Thing, and sent word to the +Christian men that they must be ready to stand by them.</p> + +<p>Hjallti stayed behind at Reydarmull, for he had heard that he had been +made an outlaw for blasphemy, but when they came to the "Boiling +Kettle"<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> down below the brink of the Rift,<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> there came Hjallti +after them, and said he would not let the heathen men see that he was +afraid of them.</p> + +<p>Then many Christian men rode to meet them, and they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> ride in battle +array to the Thing. The heathen men had drawn up their men in array to +meet them, and it was a near thing that the whole body of the Thing had +come to blows, but still it did not go so far.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CI" id="CHAPTER_CI"></a>CHAPTER CI.</h2> + +<h3>OF THORGEIR OF LIGHTWATER.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Thorgeir who dwelt at Lightwater; he was the son +of Tjorfi, the son of Thorkel the long, the son of Kettle Longneck. His +mother's name was Thoruna, and she was the daughter of Thorstein, the +son of Sigmund, the son of Bard of the Nip. Gudrida was the name of his +wife; she was a daughter of Thorkel the black of Hleidrargarth. His +brother was Worm wallet-back, the father of Hlenni the old of Saurby.</p> + +<p>The Christian men set up their booths, and Gizur the white and Hjallti +were in the booths of the men from Mossfell. The day after both sides +went to the Hill of Laws, and each, the Christian men as well as the +heathen, took witness, and declared themselves out of the other's laws, +and then there was such an uproar on the Hill of Laws that no man could +hear the other's voice.</p> + +<p>After that men went away, and all thought things looked like the +greatest entanglement. The Christian men chose as their Speaker Hall of +the Side, but Hall went to Thorgeir, the priest of Lightwater, who was +the old Speaker of the law, and gave him three marks of silver to utter +what the law should be, but still that was most hazardous counsel, since +he was an heathen.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir lay all that day on the ground, and spread a cloak over his +head, so that no man spoke with him; but the day after men went to the +Hill of Laws, and then Thorgeir bade them be silent and listen, and +spoke thus—</p> + +<p>"It seems to me as though our matters were come to a dead lock, if we +are not all to have one and the same law; for if there be a sundering of +the laws, then there will be a sundering of the peace, and we shall +never be able to live in the land. Now, I will ask both Christian men +and heathen whether they will hold to those laws which I utter".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p> + +<p>They all say they would.</p> + +<p>He said he wished to take an oath of them, and pledges that they would +hold to them, and they all said "yea" to that, and so he took pledges +from them.</p> + +<p>"This is the beginning of our laws," he said, "that all men shall be +Christian here in the land, and believe in one God, the Father, the Son, +and the Holy Ghost, but leave off all idol-worship, not expose children +to perish, and not eat horseflesh. It shall be outlawry if such things +are proved openly against any man; but if these things are done by +stealth, then it shall be blameless."</p> + +<p>But all this heathendom was all done away with within a few years' +space, so that those things were not allowed to be done either by +stealth or openly.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir then uttered the law as to keeping the Lord's day and fast +days, Yuletide and Easter, and all the greatest highdays and holidays.</p> + +<p>The heathen men thought they had been greatly cheated; but still the +true faith was brought into the law, and so all men became Christian +here in the land.</p> + +<p>After that men fare home from the Thing.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CII" id="CHAPTER_CII"></a>CHAPTER CII.</h2> + +<h3>THE WEDDING OF HAUSKULD, THE PRIEST OF WHITENESS.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must take up the story, and say that Njal spoke thus to Hauskuld, +his foster-son, and said—</p> + +<p>"I would seek thee a match."</p> + +<p>Hauskuld bade him settle the matter as he pleased, and asked whether he +was most likely to turn his eyes.</p> + +<p>"There is a woman called Hildigunna," answers Njal, "and she is the +daughter of Starkad, the son of Thord Freyspriest. She is the best match +I know of."</p> + +<p>"See thou to it, foster-father," said Hauskuld; "that shall be my choice +which thou choosest."</p> + +<p>"Then we will look thitherward," says Njal.</p> + +<p>A little while after, Njal called on men to go along with him. Then the +sons of Sigfus, and Njal's sons, and Kari Solmund's son, all of them +fared with him and they rode east to Swinefell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> + +<p>There they got a hearty welcome.</p> + +<p>The day after, Njal and Flosi went to talk alone, and the speech of Njal +ended thus, that he said—</p> + +<p>"This is my errand here, that we have set out on a wooing-journey, to +ask for thy kinswoman Hildigunna."</p> + +<p>"At whose hand?" says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"At the hand of Hauskuld my foster-son," says Njal.</p> + +<p>"Such things are well meant," says Flosi, "but still ye run each of you +great risk, the one from the other; but what hast thou to say of +Hauskuld?"</p> + +<p>"Good I am able to say of him," says Njal; "and besides, I will lay down +as much money as will seem fitting to thy niece and thyself, if thou +wilt think of making this match."</p> + +<p>"We will call her hither," says Flosi, "and know how she looks on the +man."</p> + +<p>Then Hildigunna was called, and she came thither.</p> + +<p>Flosi told her of the wooing, but she said she was a proud-hearted +woman.</p> + +<p>"And I know not how things will turn out between me and men of like +spirit; but this, too, is not the least of my dislike, that this man has +no priesthood or leadership over men, but thou hast always said that +thou wouldest not wed me to a man who had not the priesthood."</p> + +<p>"This is quite enough," says Flosi, "if thou wilt not be wedded to +Hauskuld, to make me take no more pains about the match."</p> + +<p>"Nay!" she says, "I do not say that I will not be wedded to Hauskuld if +they can get him a priesthood or a leadership over men; but otherwise I +will have nothing to say to the match."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Njal, "I will beg thee to let this match stand over for +three winters, that I may see what I can do."</p> + +<p>Flosi said that so it should be.</p> + +<p>"I will only bargain for this one thing," says Hildigunna, "if this +match comes to pass, that we shall stay here away east."</p> + +<p>Njal said he would rather leave that to Hauskuld, but Hauskuld said that +he put faith in many men, but in none so much as his foster-father.</p> + +<p>Now they ride from the east.</p> + +<p>Njal sought to get a priesthood and leadership for Hauskuld, but no one +was willing to sell his priesthood, and now the summer passes away till +the Althing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p> + +<p>There were great quarrels at the Thing that summer, and many a man then +did as was their wont, in faring to see Njal; but he gave such counsel +in men's lawsuits as was not thought at all likely, so that both the +pleadings and the defence came to naught, and out of that great strife +arose, when the lawsuits could not be brought to an end, and men rode +home from the Thing unatoned.</p> + +<p>Now things go on till another Thing comes. Njal rode to the Thing, and +at first all is quiet until Njal says that it is high time for men to +give notice of their suits.</p> + +<p>Then many said that they thought that came to little, when no man could +get his suit settled, even though the witnesses were summoned to the +Althing, "and so," say they, "we would rather seek our rights with point +and edge."</p> + +<p>"So it must not be," says Njal, "for it will never do to have no law in +the land. But yet ye have much to say on your side in this matter, and +it behoves us who know the law, and who are bound to guide the law, to +set men at one again, and to ensue peace. 'Twere good counsel, then, +methinks, that we call together all the chiefs and talk the matter +over."</p> + +<p>Then they go to the Court of Laws, and Njal spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"Thee, Skapti Thorod's son and you other chiefs, I call on, and say, +that methinks our lawsuits have come into a deadlock, if we have to +follow up our suits in the Quarter Courts, and they get so entangled +that they can neither be pleaded nor ended. Methinks, it were wiser if +we had a Fifth Court, and there pleaded those suits which cannot be +brought to an end in the Quarter Courts."</p> + +<p>"How," said Skapti, "wilt thou name a Fifth Court, when the Quarter +Court is named for the old priesthoods, three twelves in each quarter?"</p> + +<p>"I can see help for that," says Njal, "by setting up new priesthoods, +and filling them with the men who are best fitted in each Quarter, and +then let those men who are willing to agree to it, declare themselves +ready to join the new priest's Thing."</p> + +<p>"Well," says Skapti, "we will take this choice; but what weighty suits +shall come before the court?"</p> + +<p>"These matters shall come before it," says Njal—"all matters of +contempt of the Thing, such as if men bear false witness, or utter a +false finding; hither, too, shall come all those suits in which the +Judges are divided in opinion in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> Quarter Court; then they shall be +summoned to the Fifth Court; so, too, if men offer bribes, or take them, +for their help in suits. In this court all the oaths shall be of the +strongest kind, and two men shall follow every oath, who shall support +on their words of honour what the others swear. So it shall be also, if +the pleadings on one side are right in form, and the other wrong, that +the judgment shall be given for those that are right in form. Every suit +in this court shall be pleaded just as is now done in the Quarter Court, +save and except that when four twelves are named in the Fifth Court, +then the plaintiff shall name and set aside six men out of the court, +and the defendant other six; but if he will not set them aside, then the +plaintiff shall name them and set them aside as he has done with his own +six; but if the plaintiff does not set them aside, then the suit comes +to naught, for three twelves shall utter judgment on all suits. We shall +also have this arrangement in the Court of Laws, that those only shall +have the right to make or change laws who sit on the middle bench, and +to this bench those only shall be chosen who are wisest and best. There, +too, shall the Fifth Court sit; but if those who sit in the Court of +Laws are not agreed as to what they shall allow or bring in as law, then +they shall clear the court for a division, and the majority shall bind +the rest; but if any man who has a seat in the Court be outside the +Court of Laws and cannot get inside it, or thinks himself overborne in +the suit, then he shall forbid them by a protest, so that they can hear +it in the Court, and then he has made all their grants and all their +decisions void and of none effect, and stopped them by his protest."</p> + +<p>After that, Skapti Thorod's son brought the Fifth Court into the law, +and all that was spoken of before. Then men went to the Hill of Laws, +and men set up new priesthoods: in the Northlanders' Quarter were these +new priesthoods. The priesthood of the Melmen in Midfirth, and the +Laufesingers' priesthood in the Eyjafirth.</p> + +<p>Then Njal begged for a hearing, and spoke thus—</p> + +<p>"It is known to many men what passed between my sons and the men of +Gritwater when they slew Thrain Sigfus' son. But for all that we settled +the matter; and now I have taken Hauskuld into my house, and planned a +marriage for him if he can get a priesthood anywhere; but no man will +sell his priesthood, and so I will beg you to give me leave to set up a +new priesthood at Whiteness for Hauskuld."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> + +<p>He got this leave from all, and after that he set up the new priesthood +for Hauskuld; and he was afterwards called Hauskuld, the Priest of +Whiteness.</p> + +<p>After that, men ride home from the Thing, and Njal stayed but a short +time at home ere he rides east to Swinefell, and his sons with him, and +again stirs in the matter of the marriage with Flosi; but Flosi said he +was ready to keep faith with them in everything.</p> + +<p>Then Hildigunna was betrothed to Hauskuld, and the day for the wedding +feast was fixed, and so the matter ended. They then ride home, but they +rode again shortly to the bridal, and Flosi paid down all her goods and +money after the wedding, and all went off well.</p> + +<p>They fared home to Bergthorsknoll, and were there the next year, and all +went well between Hildigunna and Bergthora. But the next spring Njal +bought land in Ossaby, and hands it over to Hauskuld, and thither he +fares to his own abode. Njal got him all his household, and there was +such love between them all, that none of them thought anything that he +said or did any worth unless the others had a share in it.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld dwelt long at Ossaby, and each backed the other's honour, and +Njal's sons were always in Hauskuld's company. Their friendship was so +warm, that each house bade the other to a feast every harvest, and gave +each other great gifts; and so it goes on for a long while.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CIII" id="CHAPTER_CIII"></a>CHAPTER CIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF HAUSKULD NJAL'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Lyting; he dwelt at Samstede, and he had to wife a +woman named Steinvora; she was a daughter of Sigfus, and Thrain's +sister. Lyting was tall of growth and a strong man, wealthy in goods and +ill to deal with.</p> + +<p>It happened once that Lyting had a feast in his house at Samstede, and +he had bidden thither Hauskuld and the sons of Sigfus, and they all +came. There, too, was Grani Gunnar's son, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and +Lambi Sigurd's son.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld Njal's son and his mother had a farm at Holt,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> and he was +always riding to his farm from Bergthorsknoll, and his path lay by the +homestead at Samstede. Hauskuld had a son called Amund; he had been born +blind, but for all that he was tall and strong. Lyting had two +brothers—the one's name was Hallstein, and the other's Hallgrim. They +were the most unruly of men, and they were ever with their brother, for +other men could not bear their temper.</p> + +<p>Lyting was out of doors most of that day, but every now and then he went +inside his house. At last he had gone to his seat, when in came a woman +who had been out of doors, and she said—</p> + +<p>"You were too far off to see outside how that proud fellow rode by the +farmyard!"</p> + +<p>"What proud fellow was that," says Lyting, "of whom thou speakest?"</p> + +<p>"Hauskuld Njal's son rode here by the yard," she says.</p> + +<p>"He rides often here by the farmyard," said Lyting, "and I can't say +that it does not try my temper; and now I will make thee an offer, +Hauskuld [Sigfus' son], to go along with thee if thou wilt avenge thy +father and slay Hauskuld Njal's son."</p> + +<p>"That I will not do," says Hauskuld, "for then I should repay Njal, my +foster father, evil for good, and mayst thou and thy feasts never thrive +henceforth."</p> + +<p>With that he sprang up away from the board, and made them catch his +horses, and rode home.</p> + +<p>Then Lyting said to Grani Gunnar's son—</p> + +<p>"Thou wert by when Thrain was slain, and that will still be in thy mind; +and thou, too, Gunnar Lambi's son, and thou, Lambi Sigurd's son. Now, my +will is that we ride to meet him this evening, and slay him."</p> + +<p>"No," says Grani, "I will not fall on Njal's son, and so break the +atonement which good men and true have made."</p> + +<p>With like words spoke each man of them, and so, too, spoke all the sons +of Sigfus; and they took that counsel to ride away.</p> + +<p>Then Lyting said, when they had gone away—</p> + +<p>"All men know that I have taken no atonement for my brother-in-law +Thrain, and I shall never be content that no vengeance—man for +man—shall be taken for him."</p> + +<p>After that he called on his two brothers to go with him, and three +house-carles as well. They went on the way to meet Hauskuld [Njal's son] +as he came back, and lay in wait<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> for him north of the farmyard in a +pit; and there they bided till it was about mid-even [six o'clock +<span class="smcap">P.M.</span>]. Then Hauskuld rode up to them. They jump up all of them +with their arms, and fall on him. Hauskuld guarded himself well, so that +for a long while they could not get the better of him; but the end of it +was at last that he wounded Lyting on the arm, and slew two of his +serving-men, and then fell himself. They gave Hauskuld sixteen wounds, +but they hewed not off the head from his body. They fared away into the +wood east of Rangriver, and hid themselves there.</p> + +<p>That same evening, Rodny's shepherd found Hauskuld dead, and went home +and told Rodny of her son's slaying.</p> + +<p>"Was he surely dead?" she asks; "was his head off?"</p> + +<p>"It was not," he says.</p> + +<p>"I shall know if I see," she says; "so take thou my horse and driving +gear."</p> + +<p>He did so, and got all things ready, and then they went thither where +Hauskuld lay.</p> + +<p>She looked at the wounds, and said—</p> + +<p>"'Tis even as I thought, that he could not be quite dead, and Njal no +doubt can cure greater wounds."</p> + +<p>After that they took the body and laid it on the sledge and drove to +Bergthorsknoll, and drew it into the sheepcote, and made him sit upright +against the wall.</p> + +<p>Then they went both of them and knocked at the door, and a house-carle +went to the door. She steals in by him at once, and goes till she comes +to Njal's bed.</p> + +<p>She asked whether Njal were awake? He said he had slept up to that time, +but was then awake.</p> + +<p>"But why art thou come hither so early?"</p> + +<p>"Rise thou up," said Rodny, "from thy bed by my rival's side, and come +out, and she too, and thy sons, to see thy son Hauskuld."</p> + +<p>They rose and went out.</p> + +<p>"Let us take our weapons," said Skarphedinn, "and have them with us."</p> + +<p>Njal said naught at that, and they ran in and came out again armed.</p> + +<p>She goes first till they come to the sheepcote; she goes in and bade +them follow her. Then she lit a torch and held it up and said—</p> + +<p>"Here, Njal, is thy son Hauskuld, and he hath gotten many wounds upon +him, and now he will need leechcraft."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I see death marks on him," said Njal, "but no signs of life; but why +hast thou not closed his eyes and nostrils? see, his nostrils are still +open!"</p> + +<p>"That duty I meant for Skarphedinn," she says.</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn went to close his eyes and nostrils, and said to his +father—</p> + +<p>"Who, sayest thou, hath slain him?"</p> + +<p>"Lyting of Samstede and his brothers must have slain him," says Njal.</p> + +<p>Then Rodny said, "Into thy hands, Skarphedinn, I leave it to take +vengeance for thy brother, and I ween that thou wilt take it well, +though he be not lawfully begotten, and that thou wilt not be slow to +take it".</p> + +<p>"Wonderfully do ye men behave," said Bergthora, "when ye slay men for +small cause, but talk and tarry over such wrongs as this until no +vengeance at all is taken; and now tidings of this will soon come to +Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness, and he will be offering you +atonement, and you will grant him that, but now is the time to act about +it, if ye seek for vengeance."</p> + +<p>"Our mother eggs us on now with a just goading," said Skarphedinn, and +sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Well we know the warrior's temper,<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One and all, well, father thine,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But atonement to the mother,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Snake-land's stem<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> and thee were base;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He that hoardeth ocean's fire<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hearing this will leave his home;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wound of weapon us hath smitten,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Worse the lot of those that wait!</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>After that they all ran out of the sheepcote, but Rodny went indoors +with Njal, and was there the rest of the night.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CIV" id="CHAPTER_CIV"></a>CHAPTER CIV.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF LYTING'S BROTHERS.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must speak of Skarphedinn and his brothers, how they bend their +course up to Rangriver. Then Skarphedinn said—</p> + +<p>"Stand we here and listen, and let us go stilly, for I hear the voices +of men up along the river's bank. But will ye, Helgi and Grim, deal with +Lyting single-handed, or with both his brothers?"</p> + +<p>They said they would sooner deal with Lyting alone.</p> + +<p>"Still," says Skarphedinn, "there is more game in him, and methinks it +were ill if he gets away, but I trust myself best for not letting him +escape."</p> + +<p>"We will take such steps," says Helgi, "if we get a chance at him, that +he shall not slip through our fingers."</p> + +<p>Then they went thitherward, Where they heard the voices of men, and see +where Lyting and his brothers are by a stream.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn leaps over the stream at once, and alights on the sandy +brink on the other side. There upon it stands Hallgrim and his brother. +Skarphedinn smites at Hallgrim's thigh, so that he cut the leg clean +off, but he grasps Hallstein with his left hand. Lyting thrust at +Skarphedinn, but Helgi came up then and threw his shield before the +spear, and caught the blow on it. Lyting took up a stone and hurled it +at Skarphedinn, and he lost his hold on Hallstein. Hallstein sprang up +the sandy bank, but could get up it in no other way than by crawling on +his hands and knees. Skarphedinn made a side blow at him with his axe, +"the ogress of war," and hews asunder his backbone. Now Lyting turns and +flies, but Helgi and Grim both went after him, and each gave him a +wound, but still Lyting got across the river away from them, and so to +the horses, and gallops till he comes to Ossaby.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld was at home, and meets him at once. Lyting told him of these +deeds.</p> + +<p>"Such things were to be looked for by thee," says Hauskuld. "Thou hast +behaved like a madman, and here the truth of the old saw will be proved: +'but a short while is hand fain of blow'. Methinks what thou hast got to +look to now is whether thou wilt be able to save thy life or not."</p> + +<p>"Sure enough," says Lyting, "I had hard work to get away,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> but still I +wish now that thou wouldest get me atoned with Njal and his sons, so +that I might keep my farm."</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," says Hauskuld.</p> + +<p>After that Hauskuld made them saddle his horse, and rode to +Bergthorsknoll with five men. Njal's sons were then come home and had +laid them down to sleep.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld went at once to see Njal, and they began to talk.</p> + +<p>"Hither am I come," said Hauskuld to Njal, "to beg a boon on behalf of +Lyting, my uncle. He has done great wickedness against you and yours, +broken his atonement and slain thy son."</p> + +<p>"Lyting will perhaps think," said Njal, "that he has already paid a +heavy fine in the loss of his brothers, but if I grant him any terms, I +shall let him reap the good of my love for thee, and I will tell thee +before I utter the award of atonement, that Lyting's brothers shall fall +as outlaws. Nor shall Lyting have any atonement for his wounds, but on +the other hand, he shall pay the full blood-fine for Hauskuld."</p> + +<p>"My wish," said Hauskuld, "is, that thou shouldest make thine own +terms."</p> + +<p>"Well," says Njal, "then I will utter the award at once if thou wilt."</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou," says Hauskuld, "that thy sons should be by?"</p> + +<p>"Then we should be no nearer an atonement than we were before," says +Njal, "but they will keep to the atonement which I utter."</p> + +<p>Then Hauskuld said, "Let us close the matter then, and handsel him peace +on behalf of thy sons".</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," says Njal. "My will then is that he pays two hundred +in silver for the slaying of Hauskuld, but he may still dwell at +Samstede; and yet I think it were wiser if he sold his land and changed +his abode; but not for this quarrel; neither I nor my sons will break +our pledges of peace to him: but methinks it may be that some one may +rise up in this country against whom he may have to be on his guard. +Yet, lest it should seem that I make a man an outcast from his native +place, I allow him to be here in this neighbourhood, but in that case he +alone is answerable for what may happen."</p> + +<p>After that Hauskuld fared home, and Njal's sons woke up as he went, and +asked their father who had come, but he told them that his foster-son +Hauskuld had been there.</p> + +<p>"He must have come to ask a boon for Lyting then," said Skarphedinn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> + +<p>"So it was," says Njal</p> + +<p>"Ill was it then," says Grim.</p> + +<p>"Hauskuld could not have thrown his shield before him," says Njal, "if +thou hadst slain him, as it was meant thou shouldst."</p> + +<p>"Let us throw no blame on our father," says Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>Now it is to be said that this atonement was kept between them +afterwards.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CV" id="CHAPTER_CV"></a>CHAPTER CV.</h2> + +<h3>OF AMUND THE BLIND.</h3> + +<p>That event happened three winters after at the Thingskala-Thing that +Amund the blind was at the Thing; he was the son of Hauskuld Njal's son. +He made men lead him about among the booths, and so he came to the booth +inside which was Lyting of Samstede. He made them lead him into the +booth till he came before Lyting.</p> + +<p>"Is Lyting of Samstede here?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"What dost thou want?" says Lyting.</p> + +<p>"I want to know," says Amund, "what atonement thou wilt pay me for my +father, I am base-born, and I have touched no fine."</p> + +<p>"I have atoned for the slaying of thy father," says Lyting, "with a full +price, and thy father's father and thy father's brothers took the money; +but my brothers fell without a price as outlaws; and so it was that I +had both done an ill-deed, and paid dear for it."</p> + +<p>"I ask not," says Amund, "as to thy having paid an atonement to them. I +know that ye two are now friends, but I ask this, what atonement thou +wilt pay to me?"</p> + +<p>"None at all," says Lyting.</p> + +<p>"I cannot see," says Amund, "how thou canst have right before God, when +thou hast stricken me so near the heart; but all I can say is, that if I +were blessed with the sight of both my eyes, I would have either a money +fine for my father, or revenge man for man; and so may God judge between +us."</p> + +<p>After that he went out; but when he came to the door of the booth, he +turned short round towards the inside. Then his eyes were opened, and he +said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Praised be the Lord! now I see what His will is."</p> + +<p>With that he ran straight into the booth until he comes before Lyting, +and smites him with an axe on the head, so that it sunk in up to the +hammer, and gives the axe a pull towards him.</p> + +<p>Lyting fell forwards and was dead at once.</p> + +<p>Amund goes out to the door of the booth, and when he got to the very +same spot on which he had stood when his eyes were opened, lo! they were +shut again, and he was blind all his life after.</p> + +<p>Then he made them lead him to Njal and his sons, and he told them of +Lyting's slaying.</p> + +<p>"Thou mayest not be blamed for this," says Njal, "for such things are +settled by a higher power; but it is worth while to take warning from +such events, lest we cut any short who have such near claims as Amund +had."</p> + +<p>After that Njal offered an atonement to Lyting's kinsmen. Hauskuld the +Priest of Whiteness had a share in bringing Lyting's kinsmen to take the +fine, and then the matter was put to an award, and half the fines fell +away for the sake of the claim which he seemed to have on Lyting.</p> + +<p>After that men came forward with pledges of peace and good faith, and +Lyting's kinsmen granted pledges to Amund. Men rode home from the Thing; +and now all is quiet for a long while.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CVI" id="CHAPTER_CVI"></a>CHAPTER CVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF VALGARD THE GUILEFUL.</h3> + + +<p>Valgard the guileful came back to Iceland that summer; he was then still +heathen. He fared to Hof to his son Mord's house, and was there the +winter over. He said to Mord—</p> + +<p>"Here I have ridden far and wide all over the neighbourhood, and +methinks I do not know it for the same. I came to Whiteness, and there I +saw many tofts of booths and much ground levelled for building, I came +to Thingskala-Thing, and there I saw all our booths broken down. What is +the meaning of such strange things?"</p> + +<p>"New priesthoods," answers Mord, "have been set up here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> and a law for +a Fifth Court, and men have declared themselves out of my Thing, and +have gone over to Hauskuld's Thing."</p> + +<p>"Ill hast thou repaid me," said Valgard, "for giving up to thee my +priesthood, when thou hast handled it so little like a man, and now my +wish is that thou shouldst pay them off by something that will drag them +all down to death; and this thou canst do by setting them by the ears by +tale-bearing, so that Njal's sons may slay Hauskuld; but there are many +who will have the blood-feud after him, and so Njal's sons will be slain +in that quarrel."</p> + +<p>"I shall never be able to get that done," says Mord.</p> + +<p>"I will give thee a plan," says Valgard; "thou shalt ask Njal's sons to +thy house, and send them away with gifts, but thou shalt keep thy +tale-bearing in the back ground until great friendship has sprung up +between you, and they trust thee no worse than their own selves. So wilt +thou be able to avenge thyself on Skarphedinn for that he took thy money +from thee after Gunnar's death; and in this wise, further on, thou wilt +be able to seize the leadership when they are all dead and gone."</p> + +<p>This plan they settled between them should be brought to pass; and Mord +said—</p> + +<p>"I would, father, that thou wouldst take on thee the new faith. Thou art +an old man."</p> + +<p>"I will not do that," says Valgard. "I would rather that thou shouldst +cast off the faith, and see what follows then."</p> + +<p>Mord said he would not do that. Valgard broke crosses before Mord's +face, and all holy tokens. A little after Valgard took a sickness and +breathed his last, and he was laid in a cairn by Hof.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CVII" id="CHAPTER_CVII"></a>CHAPTER CVII.</h2> + +<h3>OF MORD AND NJAL'S SONS.</h3> + + +<p>Some while after Mord rode to Bergthorsknoll and saw Skarphedinn there; +he fell into very fair words with them, and so he talked the whole day, +and said he wished to be good friends with them, and to see much of +them.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn took it all well, but said he had never sought for anything +of the kind before. So it came about that he got<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> himself into such +great friendship with them, that neither side thought they had taken any +good counsel unless the other had a share in it.</p> + +<p>Njal always disliked his coming thither, and it often happened that he +was angry with him.</p> + +<p>It happened one day that Mord came to Bergthorsknoll, and Mord said to +Njal's sons—</p> + +<p>"I have made up my mind to give a feast yonder, and I mean to drink in +my heirship after my father, but to that feast I wish to bid you, Njal's +sons, and Kari; and at the same time I give you my word that ye shall +not fare away giftless."</p> + +<p>They promised to go, and now he fares home and makes ready the feast. He +bade to it many householders, and that feast was very crowded.</p> + +<p>Thither came Njal's sons and Kari. Mord gave Skarphedinn a brooch of +gold, and a silver belt to Kari, and good gifts to Grim and Helgi.</p> + +<p>They come home and boast of these gifts, and show them to Njal. He said +they would be bought full dear, "and take heed that ye do not repay the +giver in the coin which he no doubt wishes to get".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CVIII" id="CHAPTER_CVIII"></a>CHAPTER CVIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE SLANDER OF MORD VALGARD'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>A little after Njal's sons and Hauskuld were to have their yearly +feasts, and they were the first to bid Hauskuld to come to them.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn had a brown horse four winters old, both tall and sightly. +He was a stallion, and had never yet been matched in fight. That horse +Skarphedinn gave to Hauskuld, and along with him two mares. They all +gave Hauskuld gifts, and assured him of their friendship.</p> + +<p>After that Hauskuld bade them to his house at Ossaby, and had many +guests to meet them, and a great crowd.</p> + +<p>It happened that he had just then taken down his hall, but he had built +three out-houses, and there the beds were made.</p> + +<p>So all that were bidden came, and the feast went off very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> well. But +when men were to go home Hauskuld picked out good gifts for them, and +went a part of the way with Njal's sons.</p> + +<p>The sons of Sigfus followed him and all the crowd, and both sides said +that nothing should ever come between them to spoil their friendship.</p> + +<p>A little while after Mord came to Ossaby and called Hauskuld out to talk +with him, and they went aside and spoke.</p> + +<p>"What a difference in manliness there is," said Mord, "between thee and +Njal's sons! Thou gavest them good gifts, but they gave thee gifts with +great mockery."</p> + +<p>"How makest thou that out?" says Hauskuld.</p> + +<p>"They gave thee a horse which they called a 'dark horse,' and that they +did out of mockery at thee, because they thought thee too untried, I can +tell thee also that they envy thee the priesthood, Skarphedinn took it +up as his own at the Thing when thou camest not to the Thing at the +summoning of the Fifth Court, and Skarphedinn never means to let it go."</p> + +<p>"That is not true," says Hauskuld, "for I got it back at the Folkmote +last harvest."</p> + +<p>"Then that was Njal's doing," says Mord. "They broke, too, the atonement +about Lyting."</p> + +<p>"I do not mean to lay that at their door," says Hauskuld.</p> + +<p>"Well," says Mord, "thou canst not deny that when ye two, Skarphedinn +and thou, were going east towards Markfleet, an axe fell out from under +his belt, and he meant to have slain thee then and there."</p> + +<p>"It was his woodman's axe," says Hauskuld, "and I saw how he put it +under his belt; and now, Mord, I will just tell thee this right out, +that thou canst never say so much ill of Njal's sons as to make me +believe it; but though there were aught in it, and it were true as thou +sayest, that either I must slay them or they me, then would I far rather +suffer death at their hands than work them any harm. But as for thee, +thou art all the worse a man for having spoken this."</p> + +<p>After that Mord fares home. A little after Mord goes to see Njal's sons, +and he talks much with those brothers and Kari.</p> + +<p>"I have been told," says Mord, "that Hauskuld has said that thou, +Skarphedinn, hast broken the atonement made with Lyting; but I was made +aware also that he thought that thou hadst meant some treachery against +him when ye two fared to Markfleet. But still, methinks that was no less +treachery when he bade you to a feast at his house, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> stowed you away +in an outhouse that was farthest from the house, and wood was then +heaped round the outhouse all night, and he meant to burn you all +inside; but it so happened that Hogni Gunnar's son came that night, and +naught came of their onslaught, for they were afraid of him. After that +he followed you on your way and great band of men with him, then he +meant to make another onslaught on you, and set Grani Gunnar's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son to kill thee; but their hearts failed them, and they +dared not to fall on thee."</p> + +<p>But when he had spoken thus, first of all they spoke against it, but the +end of it was that they believed him, and from that day forth a coldness +sprung up on their part towards Hauskuld, and they scarcely ever spoke +to him when they met; but Hauskuld showed them little deference, and so +things went on for a while.</p> + +<p>Next harvest Hauskuld fared east to Swinefell to a feast, and Flosi gave +him a hearty welcome. Hildigunna was there too. Then Flosi spoke to +Hauskuld and said—</p> + +<p>"Hildigunna tells me that there is great coldness with you and Njal's +sons, and methinks that is ill, and I will beg thee not to ride west, +but I will get thee a homestead in Skaptarfell, and I will send my +brother, Thorgeir, to dwell at Ossaby."</p> + +<p>"Then some will say," says Hauskuld, "that I am flying thence for fear's +sake, and that I will not have said."</p> + +<p>"Then it is more likely that great trouble will arise," says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"Ill is that then," says Hauskuld, "for I would rather fall unatoned, +than that many should reap ill for my sake."</p> + +<p>Hauskuld busked him to ride home a few nights after, but Flosi gave him +a scarlet cloak, and it was embroidered with needlework down to the +waist.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld rode home to Ossaby, and now all is quiet for a while.</p> + +<p>Hauskuld was so much beloved that few men were his foes, but the same +ill-will went on between him and Njal's sons the whole winter through.</p> + +<p>Njal had taken as his foster-child, Thord, the son of Kari. He had also +fostered Thorhall, the son of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. Thorhall was a +strong man, and hardy both in body and mind, he had learnt so much law +that he was the third greatest lawyer in Iceland.</p> + +<p>Next spring was an early spring, and men are busy sowing their corn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CIX" id="CHAPTER_CIX"></a>CHAPTER CIX.</h2> + +<h3>OF MORD AND NJAL'S SONS.</h3> + + +<p>It happened one day that Mord came to Bergthorsknoll. He and Kari and +Njal's sons fell a-talking at once, and Mord slanders Hauskuld after his +wont, and has now many new tales to tell, and does naught but egg +Skarphedinn and them on to slay Hauskuld, and said he would be +beforehand with them if they did not fall on him at once.</p> + +<p>"I will let thee have thy way in this," says Skarphedinn, "if thou wilt +fare with us, and have some hand in it."</p> + +<p>"That I am ready to do," says Mord, and so they bound that fast with +promises, and he was to come there that evening.</p> + +<p>Bergthora asked Njal—</p> + +<p>"What are they talking about out of doors?"</p> + +<p>"I am not in their counsels," says Njal, "but I was seldom left out of +them when their plans were good."</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn did not lie down to rest that evening, nor his brothers, nor +Kari.</p> + +<p>That same night, when it was well-nigh spent, came Mord Valgard's son, +and Njal's sons and Kari took their weapons and rode away. They fared +till they came to Ossaby, and bided there by a fence. The weather was +good, and the sun just risen.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CX" id="CHAPTER_CX"></a>CHAPTER CX.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF HAUSKULD, THE PRIEST OF WHITENESS.</h3> + + +<p>About that time Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness, awoke; he put on his +clothes, and threw over him his cloak, Flosi's gift. He took his +corn-sieve, and had his sword in his other hand, and walks towards the +fence, and sows the corn as he goes.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn and his band had agreed that they would all give him a +wound. Skarphedinn sprang up from behind the fence, but when Hauskuld +saw him he wanted to turn away, then Skarphedinn ran up to him and +said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Don't try to turn on thy heel, Whiteness priest," and hews at him, and +the blow came on his head, and he fell on his knees. Hauskuld said these +words when he fell—</p> + +<p>"God help me, and forgive you!"</p> + +<p>Then they all ran up to him and gave him wounds.</p> + +<p>After that Mord said—</p> + +<p>"A plan comes into my mind."</p> + +<p>"What is that?" says Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>"That I shall fare home as soon as I can, but after that I will fare up +to Gritwater, and tell them the tidings, and say 'tis an ill deed; but I +know surely that Thorgerda will ask me to give notice of the slaying, +and I will do that, for that will be the surest way to spoil their suit. +I will also send a man to Ossaby, and know how soon they take any +counsel in the matter, and that man will learn all these tidings thence, +and I will make believe that I have heard them from him."</p> + +<p>"Do so by all means," says Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>Those brothers fared home, and Kari with them, and when they came home +they told Njal the tidings.</p> + +<p>"Sorrowful tidings are these," says Njal, "and such are ill to hear, for +sooth to say this grief touches me so nearly, that methinks it were +better to have lost two of my sons and that Hauskuld lived."</p> + +<p>"It is some excuse for thee," says Skarphedinn, "that thou art an old +man, and it is to be looked for that this touches thee nearly."</p> + +<p>"But this," says Njal, "no less than old age, is why I grieve, that I +know better than thou what will come after."</p> + +<p>"What will come after?" says Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>"My death," says Njal, "and the death of my wife and of all my sons."</p> + +<p>"What dost thou foretell for me?" says Kari.</p> + +<p>"They will have hard work to go against thy good fortune, for thou wilt +be more than a match for all of them."</p> + +<p>This one thing touched Njal so nearly that he could never speak of it +without shedding tears.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXI" id="CHAPTER_CXI"></a>CHAPTER CXI.</h2> + +<h3>OF HILDIGUNNA AND MORD VALGARD'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Hildigunna woke up and found that Hauskuld was away out of his bed.</p> + +<p>"Hard have been my dreams," she said, "and not good; but go and search +for <i>him</i>, Hauskuld."</p> + +<p>So they searched for him about the homestead and found him not.</p> + +<p>By that time she had dressed herself; then she goes and two men with +her, to the fence, and there they find Hauskuld slain.</p> + +<p>Just then, too, came up Mord Valgard's son's shepherd, and told her that +Njal's sons had gone down thence, "and," he said, "Skarphedinn called +out to me and gave notice of the slaying as done by him".</p> + +<p>"It were a manly deed," she says, "if one man had been at it."</p> + +<p>She took the cloak and wiped off all the blood with it, and wrapped the +gouts of gore up in it, and so folded it together and laid it up in her +chest.</p> + +<p>Now she sent a man up to Gritwater to tell the tidings thither, but Mord +was there before him, and had already told the tidings. There, too, was +come Kettle of the Mark.</p> + +<p>Thorgerda said to Kettle—</p> + +<p>"Now is Hauskuld dead as we know, and now bear in mind what thou +promisedst to do when thou tookest him for thy foster-child."</p> + +<p>"It may well be," says Kettle, "that I promised very many things then, +for I thought not that these days would ever befall us that have now +come to pass; but yet I am come into a strait, for 'nose is next of kin +to eyes,' since I have Njal's daughter to wife."</p> + +<p>"Art thou willing, then," says Thorgerda, "that Mord should give notice +of the suit for the slaying?"</p> + +<p>"I know not that," says Kettle, "for methinks ill comes from him more +often than good."</p> + +<p>But as soon as ever Mord began to speak to Kettle he fared the same as +others, in that he thought as though Mord would be true to him, and so +the end of their council was that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> Mord should give notice of the +slaying, and get ready the suit in every way before the Thing.</p> + +<p>Then Mord fared down to Ossaby, and thither came nine neighbours who +dwelt nearest the spot.</p> + +<p>Mord had ten men with him. He shows the neighbours Hauskuld's wounds, +and takes witness to the hurts, and names a man as the dealer of every +wound save one; that he made as though he knew not who had dealt it, but +that wound he had dealt himself. But the slaying he gave notice of at +Skarphedinn's hand, and the wounds at his brothers' and Kari's.</p> + +<p>After that he called on nine neighbours who dwelt nearest the spot to +ride away from home to the Althing on the inquest.</p> + +<p>After that he rode home. He scarce ever met Njal's sons, and when he did +meet them, he was cross, and that was part of their plan.</p> + +<p>The slaying of Hauskuld was heard over all the land, and was ill-spoken +of. Njal's sons went to see Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and asked him for +aid.</p> + +<p>"Ye very well know that ye may look that I shall help you in all great +suits, but still my heart is heavy about this suit, for there are many +who have the blood feud, and this slaying is ill-spoken of over all the +land."</p> + +<p>Now Njal's sons fare home.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXII" id="CHAPTER_CXII"></a>CHAPTER CXII.</h2> + +<h3>THE PEDIGREE OF GUDMUND THE POWERFUL.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Gudmund the powerful, who dwelt at Modruvale in +Eyjafirth. He was the son of Eyjolf the son of Einar. Gudmund was a +mighty chief, wealthy in goods; he had in his house a hundred hired +servants. He overbore in rank and weight all the chiefs in the north +country, so that some left their homesteads, but some he put to death, +and some gave up their priesthoods for his sake, and from him are come +the greatest part of all the picked and famous families in the land, +such as "the Point-dwellers" and the "Sturlungs" and the "Hvamdwellers," +and the "Fleetmen," and Kettle the bishop, and many of the greatest men.</p> + +<p>Gudmund was a friend of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and so he hoped to get +his help.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXIII" id="CHAPTER_CXIII"></a>CHAPTER CXIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF SNORRI THE PRIEST, AND HIS STOCK.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Snorri, who was surnamed the Priest. He dwelt at +Helgafell before Gudruna Oswif's daughter bought the land of him, and +dwelt there till she died of old age; but Snorri then went and dwelt at +Hvamsfirth on Sælingdale's tongue. Thorgrim was the name of Snorri's +father, and he was a son of Thorstein codcatcher. Snorri was a great +friend of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and he looked for help there also. +Snorri was the wisest and shrewdest of all these men in Iceland who had +not the gift of foresight. He was good to his friends, but grim to his +foes.</p> + +<p>At that time there was a great riding to the Thing out of all the +Quarters, and men had many suits set on foot.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXIV" id="CHAPTER_CXIV"></a>CHAPTER CXIV.</h2> + +<h3>OF FLOSI THORD'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Flosi hears of Hauskuld's slaying, and that brings him much grief and +wrath, but still he kept his feelings well in hand. He was told how the +suit had been set on foot, as has been said, for Hauskuld's slaying, and +he said little about it. He sent word to Hall of the Side, his +father-in-law, and to Ljot his son, that they must gather in a great +company at the Thing. Ljot was thought the most hopeful man for a chief +away there east. It had been foretold that if he could ride three +summers running to the Thing, and come safe and sound home, that then he +would be the greatest chief in all his family, and the oldest man. He +had then ridden one summer to the Thing, and now he meant to ride the +second time.</p> + +<p>Flosi sent word to Kol Thorstein's son, and Glum the son of Hilldir the +old, the son of Gerleif, the son of Aunund wallet-back, and to Modolf +Kettle's son, and they all rode to meet Flosi.</p> + +<p>Hall gave his word, too, to gather a great company, and Flosi rode till +he came to Kirkby, to Surt Asbjorn's son. Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> Flosi sent after Kolbein +Egil's son, his brother's son, and he came to him there. Thence he rode +to Headbrink. There dwelt Thorgrim the showy, the son of Thorkel the +fair. Flosi begged him to ride to the Althing with him, and he said yea +to the journey, and spoke thus to Flosi—</p> + +<p>"Often hast thou been more glad, master, than thou art now, but thou +hast some right to be so."</p> + +<p>"Of a truth," said Flosi, "that hath now come on my hands, which I would +give all my goods that it had never happened. Ill seed has been sown, +and so an ill crop will spring from it."</p> + +<p>Thence he rode over Arnstacksheath, and so to Solheim that evening. +There dwelt Lodmund Wolf's son, but he was a great friend of Flosi, and +there he stayed that night, and next morning Lodmund rode with him into +the Dale.</p> + +<p>There dwelt Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest.</p> + +<p>Flosi said to Runolf—</p> + +<p>"Here we shall have true stories as to the slaying of Hauskuld, the +Priest of Whiteness. Thou art a truthful man, and hast got at the truth +by asking, and I will trust to all that thou tellest me as to what was +the cause of quarrel between them."</p> + +<p>"There is no good in mincing the matter," said Runolf, "but we must say +outright that he has been slain for less than no cause; and his death is +a great grief to all men. No one thinks it so much a loss as Njal, his +foster-father."</p> + +<p>"Then they will be ill off for help from men," says Flosi; "and they +will find no one to speak up for them."</p> + +<p>"So it will be," says Runolf, "unless it be otherwise foredoomed."</p> + +<p>"What has been done in the suit?" says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"Now the neighbours have been summoned on the inquest," says Runolf, +"and due notice given of the suit for manslaughter."</p> + +<p>"Who took that step?" asks Flosi.</p> + +<p>"Mord Valgard's son," says Runolf.</p> + +<p>"How far is that to be trusted?" says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"He is of my kin," says Runolf; "but still, if I tell the truth of him, +I must say that more men reap ill than good from him. But this one thing +I will ask of thee, Flosi, that thou givest rest to thy wrath, and +takest the matter up in such a way as may lead to the least trouble. For +Njal will make a good offer, and so will others of the best men."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Ride thou then to the Thing, Runolf," said Flosi, "and thy words shall +have much weight with me, unless things turn out worse than they +should."</p> + +<p>After that they cease speaking about it, and Runolf promised to go to +the Thing.</p> + +<p>Runolf sent word to Hatr the wise, his kinsman, and he rode thither at +once.</p> + +<p>Thence Flosi rode to Ossaby.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXV" id="CHAPTER_CXV"></a>CHAPTER CXV.</h2> + +<h3>OF FLOSI AND HILDIGUNNA.</h3> + + +<p>Hildigunna was out of doors, and said, "Now shall all the men of my +household be out of doors when Flosi rides into the yard; but the women +shall sweep the house and deck it with hangings, and make ready the +high-seat for Flosi."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi rode into the town, and Hildigunna turned to him and said—</p> + +<p>"Come in safe and sound and happy kinsman, and my heart is fain at thy +coming hither."</p> + +<p>"Here," says Flosi, "we will break our fast, and then we will ride on."</p> + +<p>Then their horses were tethered, and Flosi went into the sitting-room +and sat him down, and spurned the high-seat away from him on the dais, +and said—</p> + +<p>"I am neither king nor earl, and there is no need to make a high-seat +for me to sit on, nor is there any need to make a mock of me."</p> + +<p>Hildigunna was standing close by, and said—</p> + +<p>"It is ill if it mislikes thee, for this we did with a whole heart."</p> + +<p>"If thy heart is whole towards me, then what I do will praise itself if +it be well done, but it will blame itself if it be ill done."</p> + +<p>Hildigunna laughed a cold laugh, and said—</p> + +<p>"There is nothing new in that, we will go nearer yet ere we have done."</p> + +<p>She sat her down by Flosi, and they talked long and low. After that the +board was laid, and Flosi and his band<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> washed their hands. Flosi looked +hard at the towel and saw that it was all in rags, and had one end torn +off. He threw it down on the bench and would not wipe himself with it, +but tore off a piece of the table-cloth, and wiped himself with that, +and then threw it to his men.</p> + +<p>After that Flosi sat down to the board and bade men eat.</p> + +<p>Then Hildigunna came into the room and went before Flosi, and threw her +hair off her eyes and wept.</p> + +<p>"Heavy-hearted art thou now, kinswoman," said Flosi, "when thou weepest, +but still it is well that thou shouldst weep for a good husband."</p> + +<p>"What vengeance or help shall I have of thee?" she says.</p> + +<p>"I will follow up thy suit," said Flosi, "to the utmost limit of the +law, or strive for that atonement which good men and true shall say that +we ought to have as full amends."</p> + +<p>"Hauskuld would avenge thee," she said, "if he had the blood-feud after +thee."</p> + +<p>"Thou lackest not grimness," answered Flosi, "and what thou wantest is +plain."</p> + +<p>"Arnor Ornolf's son, of Forswaterwood," said Hildigunna, "had done less +wrong towards Thord Frey's priest thy father; and yet thy brothers +Kolbein and Egil slew him at Skaptarfells-Thing."</p> + +<p>Then Hildigunna went back into the hall and unlocked her chest, and then +she took out the cloak, Flosi's gift, and in it Hauskuld had been slain, +and there she had kept it, blood and all. Then she went back into the +sitting room with the cloak; she went up silently to Flosi. Flosi had +just then eaten his full, and the board was cleared. Hildigunna threw +the cloak over Flosi, and the gore rattled down all over him.</p> + +<p>Then she spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"This cloak, Flosi, thou gavest to Hauskuld, and now I will give it back +to thee; he was slain in it, and I call God and all good men to witness, +that I adjure thee, by all the might of thy Christ, and by thy manhood +and bravery, to take vengeance for all those wounds which he had on his +dead body, or else to be called every man's dastard."</p> + +<p>Flosi threw the cloak off him and hurled it into her lap, and said—</p> + +<p>"Thou art the greatest hell-hag, and thou wishest that we should take +that course which will be the worst for all of us. But 'women's counsel +is ever cruel'."</p> + +<p>Flosi was so stirred at this, that sometimes he was blood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>red in the +face, and sometimes ashy pale as withered grass, and sometimes blue as +death.</p> + +<p>Flosi and his men rode away; he rode to Holtford, and there waits for +the sons of Sigfus and other of his men.</p> + +<p>Ingialld dwelt at the Springs; he was the brother of Rodny, Hauskuld +Njal's son's mother. Ingialld had to wife Thraslauga, the daughter of +Egil, the son of Thord Frey's priest. Flosi sent word to Ingialld to +come to him, and Ingialld went at once, with fourteen men. They were all +of his household. Ingialld was a tall man and a strong, and slow to +meddle with other men's business, one of the bravest of men, and very +bountiful to his friends.</p> + +<p>Flosi greeted him well, and said to him, "Great trouble hath now come on +me and my brothers-in-law, and it is hard to see our way out of it; I +beseech thee not to part from my suit until this trouble is past and +gone."</p> + +<p>"I am come into a strait myself," said Ingialld, "for the sake of the +ties that there are between me and Njal and his sons, and other great +matters which stand in the way."</p> + +<p>"I thought," said Flosi, "when I gave away my brother's daughter to +thee, that thou gavest me thy word to stand by me in every suit."</p> + +<p>"It is most likely," says Ingialld, "that I shall do so, but still I +will now, first of all, ride home, and thence to the Thing."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXVI" id="CHAPTER_CXVI"></a>CHAPTER CXVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF FLOSI AND MORD AND THE SONS OF SIGFUS.</h3> + + +<p>The sons of Sigfus heard how Flosi was at Holtford, and they rode +thither to meet him, and there were Kettle of the Mark, and Lambi his +brother, Thorkell and Mord, the sons of Sigfus, Sigmund their brother, +and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, +and Vebrand Hamond's son.</p> + +<p>Flosi stood up to meet them, and greeted them gladly. So they went down +to the river. Flosi had the whole story from them about the slaying, and +there was no difference between them and Kettle of the Mark's story.</p> + +<p>Flosi spoke to Kettle of the Mark, and said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"This now I ask of thee; how tightly are your hearts knit as to this +suit, thou and the other sons of Sigfus?"</p> + +<p>"My wish is," said Kettle, "that there should be peace between us, but +yet I have sworn an oath not to part from this suit till it has been +brought somehow to an end, and to lay my life on it."</p> + +<p>"Thou art a good man and true," said Flosi, "and it is well to have such +men with one."</p> + +<p>Then Grani Gunnar's son and Lambi Sigurd's son both spoke together, and +said—</p> + +<p>"We wish for outlawry and death."</p> + +<p>"It is not given us," said Flosi, "both to share and choose, we must +take what we can get."</p> + +<p>"I have had it in my heart," says Grani, "ever since they slew Thrain by +Markfleet, and after that his son Hauskuld, never to be atoned with them +by a lasting peace, for I would willingly stand by when they were all +slain, every man of them."</p> + +<p>"Thou hast stood so near to them," said Flosi, "that thou mightest have +avenged these things hadst thou had the heart and manhood. Methinks thou +and many others now ask for what ye would give much money hereafter +never to have had a share in. I see this clearly, that though we slay +Njal or his sons, still they are men of so great worth, and of such good +family, that there will be such a blood feud and hue and cry after them, +that we shall have to fall on our knees before many a man, and beg for +help, ere we get an atonement and find our way out of this strait. Ye +may make up your minds, then, that many will become poor who before had +great goods, but some of you will lose both goods and life."</p> + +<p>Mord Valgard's Son rode to meet Flosi, and said he would ride to the +Thing with him with all his men. Flosi took that well, and raised a +matter of a wedding with him, that he should give away Rannveiga his +daughter to Starkad Flosi's brother's son, who dwelt at Staffell. Flosi +did this because he thought he would so make sure both of his +faithfulness and force.</p> + +<p>Mord took the wedding kindly, but handed the matter over to Gizur the +white, and bade him talk about it at the Thing.</p> + +<p>Mord had to wife Thorkatla, Gizur the white's daughter.</p> + +<p>They two, Mord and Flosi, rode both together to the Thing, and talked +the whole day, and no man knew aught of their counsel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXVII" id="CHAPTER_CXVII"></a>CHAPTER CXVII.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL AND SKARPHEDINN TALK TOGETHER.</h3> + + +<p>Now, we must say how Njal said to Skarphedinn—</p> + +<p>"What plan have ye laid down for yourselves, thou and thy brothers and +Kari?"</p> + +<p>"Little reck we of dreams in most matters," said Skarphedinn; "but if +thou must know, we shall ride to Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and +thence to the Thing; but what meanest thou to do about thine own +journey, father?"</p> + +<p>"I shall ride to the Thing," says Njal, "for it belongs to my honour not +to be severed from your suit so long as I live. I ween that many men +will have good words to say of me, and so I shall stand you in good +stead, and do you no harm."</p> + +<p>There, too, was Thorhall Asgrim's son, and Njal's foster-son. The sons +of Njal laughed at him because he was clad in a coat of russet, and +asked how long he meant to wear that?</p> + +<p>"I shall have thrown it off," he said, "when I have to follow up the +blood-feud for my foster father."</p> + +<p>"There will ever be most good in thee," said Njal, "when there is most +need of it."</p> + +<p>So they all busked them to ride away from home, and were nigh thirty men +in all, and rode till they came to Thursowater. Then came after them +Njal's kinsmen, Thorleif crow, and Thorgrim the big; they were +Holt-Thorir's sons, and offered their help and following to Njal's sons, +and they took that gladly.</p> + +<p>So they rode altogether across Thursowater, until they came on Laxwater +bank, and took a rest and baited their horses there, and there Hjallti's +Skeggi's son came to meet them, and Njal's sons fell to talking with +him, and they talked long and low.</p> + +<p>"Now, I will show," said Hjallti, "that I am not black-hearted; Njal has +asked me for help, and I have agreed to it, and given my word to aid +him; he has often given me and many others the worth of it in cunning +counsel."</p> + +<p>Hjallti tells Njal all about Flosi's doings. They sent Thorhall on to +Tongue to tell Asgrim that they would be there that evening; and Asgrim +made ready at once, and was out of doors to meet them when Njal rode +into the town.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + +<p>Njal was clad in a blue cape, and had a felt hat on his head, and a +small axe in his hand. Asgrim helped Njal off his horse, and led him and +sate him down in his own seat. After that they all went in, Njal's sons +and Kari. Then Asgrim went out.</p> + +<p>Hjallti wished to turn away, and thought there were too many there; but +Asgrim caught hold of his reins, and said he should never have his way +in riding off, and made men unsaddle their horses, and led Hjallti in +and sate him down by Njal's aide; but Thorleif and his brother sat on +the other bench and their men with them.</p> + +<p>Asgrim sate him down on a stool before Njal, and asked—</p> + +<p>"What says thy heart about our matter?"</p> + +<p>"It speaks rather heavily," says Njal, "for I am afraid that we shall +have no lucky men with us in the suit; but I would, friend, that thou +shouldest send after all the men who belong to thy Thing, and ride to +the Althing with me."</p> + +<p>"I have always meant to do that," says Asgrim; "and this I will promise +thee at the same time—that I will never leave thy cause while I can get +any men to follow me."</p> + +<p>But all those who were in the house thanked him, and said, that was +bravely spoken. They were there that night, but the day after all +Asgrim's band came thither.</p> + +<p>And after that they all rode together till they come up on the +Thingfield, and fit up their booths.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXVIII" id="CHAPTER_CXVIII"></a>CHAPTER CXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>ASGRIM AND NJAL'S SONS PRAY MEN FOR HELP.</h3> + + +<p>By that time Flosi had come to the Thing, and filled all his booths. +Runolf filled the Dale-dwellers' booths, and Mord the booths of the men +from Rangriver. Hall of the Side had long since come from the east, but +scarce any of the other men; but still Hall of the Side had come with a +great band, and joined this at once to Flosi's company, and begged him +to take an atonement and to make peace.</p> + +<p>Hall was a wise man and good-hearted, Flosi answered him well in +everything, but gave way in nothing.</p> + +<p>Hall asked what men had promised him help? Flosi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> named Mord Valgard's +son, and said he had asked for his daughter at the hand of his kinsman +Starkad.</p> + +<p>Hall said she was a good match, but it was ill dealing with Mord, "and +that thou wilt put to the proof ere this Thing be over".</p> + +<p>After that they ceased talking.</p> + +<p>One day Njal and Asgrim had a long talk in secret.</p> + +<p>Then all at once Asgrim sprang up and said to Njal's sons—</p> + +<p>"We must set about seeking friends, that we may not be overborne by +force; for this suit will be followed up boldly."</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim went out, and Helgi Njal's son next; then Kari Solmund's +son; then Grim Njal's son; then Skarphedinn; then Thorhall; then +Thorgrim the big; then Thorleif crow.</p> + +<p>They went to the booth of Gizur the white and inside it. Gizur stood up +to meet them, and bade them sit down and drink.</p> + +<p>"Not thitherward," says Asgrim, "tends our way, and we will speak our +errand out loud, and not mutter and mouth about it. What help shall I +have from thee, as thou art my kinsman?"</p> + +<p>"Jorunn my sister," said Gizur, "would wish that I should not shrink +from standing by thee; and so it shall be now and hereafter, that we +will both of us have the same fate."</p> + +<p>Asgrim thanked him, and went away afterwards.</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn asked, "Whither shall we go now?"</p> + +<p>"To the booths of the men of Olfus," says Asgrim.</p> + +<p>So they went thither, and Asgrim asked whether Skapti Thorod's son were +in the booth? He was told that he was. Then they went inside the booth.</p> + +<p>Skapti sate on the cross bench, and greeted Asgrim, and he took the +greeting well.</p> + +<p>Skapti offered Asgrim a seat by his side, but Asgrim said he should only +stay there a little while, "but still we have an errand to thee".</p> + +<p>"Let me hear it," says Skapti.</p> + +<p>"I wish to beg thee for thy help, that thou wilt stand by us in our +suit."</p> + +<p>"One thing I had hoped," says Skapti, "and that is, that neither you nor +your troubles would ever come into my dwelling."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Such things are ill-spoken," says Asgrim, "when a man is the last to +help others, when most lies on his aid."</p> + +<p>"Who is yon man," says Skapti, "before whom four men walk, a big burly +man, and pale-faced, unlucky-looking, well-knit, and troll-like?"</p> + +<p>"My name is Skarphedinn," he answers, "and thou hast often seen me at +the Thing; but in this I am wiser than thou, that I have no need to ask +what thy name is. Thy name is Skapti Thorod's son, but before thou +calledst thyself 'Bristle-poll,' after thou hadst slain Kettle of Elda; +then thou shavedst thy poll, and puttedst pitch on thy head, and then +thou hiredst thralls to cut up a sod of turf, and thou creptest +underneath it to spend the night. After that thou wentest to Thorolf +Lopt's son of Eyrar, and he took thee on board, and bore thee out here +in his meal sacks."</p> + +<p>After that Asgrim and his band went out, and Skarphedinn asked—</p> + +<p>"Whither shall we go now?"</p> + +<p>"To Snorri the Priest's booth," says Asgrim.</p> + +<p>Then they went to Snorri's booth. There was a man outside before the +booth, and Asgrim asked whether Snorri were in the booth.</p> + +<p>The man said he was.</p> + +<p>Asgrim went into the booth, and all the others. Snorri was sitting on +the cross bench, and Asgrim went and stood before him, and hailed him +well.</p> + +<p>Snorri took his greeting blithely, and bade him sit down.</p> + +<p>Asgrim said he should be only a short time there, "but we have an errand +with thee".</p> + +<p>Snorri bade him tell it.</p> + +<p>"I would," said Asgrim, "that thou wouldst come with me to the court, +and stand by me with thy help, for thou art a wise man, and a great man +of business."</p> + +<p>"Suits fall heavy on us now," says Snorri the Priest, "and now many men +push forward against us, and so we are slow to take up the troublesome +suits of other men from other quarters."</p> + +<p>"Thou mayest stand excused," says Asgrim, "for thou art not in our debt +for any service."</p> + +<p>"I know," says Snorri, "that thou art a good man and true, and I will +promise thee this, that I will not be against thee, and not yield help +to thy foes."</p> + +<p>Asgrim thanked him, and Snorri the Priest asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Who is that man before whom four go, pale-faced, and sharp-featured, +and who shows his front teeth, and has his axe aloft on his shoulder?"</p> + +<p>"My name is Hedinn," he says, "but some men call me Skarphedinn by my +full name; but what more hast thou to say to me?"</p> + +<p>"This," said Snorri the Priest, "that methinks thou art a well-knit, +ready-handed man, but yet I guess that the best part of thy good fortune +is past, and I ween thou hast not long to live."</p> + +<p>"That is well," says Skarphedinn, "for that is a debt we all have to +pay, but still it were more needful to avenge thy father than to +foretell my fate in this way."</p> + +<p>"Many have said that before," says Snorri, "and I will not be angry at +such words."</p> + +<p>After that they went out, and got no help there. Then they fared to the +booths of the men of Skagafirth. There Hafr the wealthy had his booth. +The mother of Hafr was named Thoruna, she was a daughter of Asbjorn +baldpate of Myrka, the son of Hrosbjorn.</p> + +<p>Asgrim and his band went into the booth, and Hafr sate in the midst of +it, and was talking to a man.</p> + +<p>Asgrim went up to him, and hailed him well; he took it kindly, and bade +him sit down.</p> + +<p>"This I would ask of thee," said Asgrim, "that thou wouldst grant me and +my sons-in-law help."</p> + +<p>Hafr answered sharp and quick, and said he would have nothing to do with +their troubles.</p> + +<p>"But still I must ask who that pale-faced man is before whom four men +go, so ill-looking, as though he had come out of the sea-crags."</p> + +<p>"Never mind, milksop that thou art!" said Skarphedinn, "who I am, for I +will dare to go forward wherever thou standest before me, and little +would I fear though such striplings were in my path. 'Twere rather thy +duty, too, to get back thy sister Swanlauga, whom Eydis ironsword and +his messmate Stediakoll took away out of thy house, but thou didst not +dare to do aught against them."</p> + +<p>"Let us go out," said Asgrim, "there is no hope of help here."</p> + +<p>Then they went out to the booths of men of Modruvale, and asked whether +Gudmund the powerful were in the booth, but they were told he was.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then they went into the booth. There was a high seat in the midst of it, +and there sate Gudmund the powerful.</p> + +<p>Asgrim went and stood before him, and hailed him.</p> + +<p>Gudmund took his greeting well, and asked him to sit down.</p> + +<p>"I will not sit," said Asgrim, "but I wish to pray thee for help, for +thou art a bold man and a mighty chief."</p> + +<p>"I will not be against thee," said Gudmund, "but if I see fit to yield +thee help, we may well talk of that afterwards," and so he treated them +well and kindly in every way.</p> + +<p>Asgrim thanked him for his words, and Gudmund said—</p> + +<p>"There is one man in your band at whom I have gazed for awhile, and he +seems to me more terrible than most men that I have seen."</p> + +<p>"Which is he?" says Asgrim.</p> + +<p>"Four go before him," says Gudmund; "dark brown is his hair, and pale is +his face; tall of growth and sturdy. So quick and shifty in his +manliness, that I would rather have his following than that of ten other +men; but yet the man is unlucky-looking."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Skarphedinn, "that thou speakest at me, but it does not +go in the same way as to luck with me and thee. I have blame, indeed, +from the slaying of Hauskuld, the Whiteness priest, as is fair and +right; but both Thorkel foulmouth and Thorir Helgi's son spread abroad +bad stories about thee, and that has tried thy temper very much."</p> + +<p>Then they went out, and Skarphedinn said—</p> + +<p>"Whither shall we go now?"</p> + +<p>"To the booths of the men of Lightwater," said Asgrim.</p> + +<p>There Thorkel foulmouth had set up his booth.</p> + +<p>Thorkel foulmouth had been abroad and worked his way to fame in other +lands. He had slain a robber east in Jemtland's wood, and then he fared +on east into Sweden, and was a messmate of Saurkvir the churl, and they +harried eastward ho; but to the east of Baltic side.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> Thorkel had to +fetch water for them one evening; then he met a wild man of the +woods,<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> and struggled against him long; but the end of it was that he +slew the wild man. Thence he fared east into Adalsyssla, and there he +slew a flying fire-drake. After that he fared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> back to Sweden, and +thence to Norway, and so out to Iceland, and let these deeds of derring +do be carved over his shut bed, and on the stool before his high-seat. +He fought, too, on Lightwater way with his brothers against Gudmund the +powerful, and the men of Lightwater won the day. He and Thorir Helgi's +son spread abroad bad stories about Gudmund. Thorkel said there was no +man in Iceland with whom he would not fight in single combat, or yield +an inch to, if need were. He was called Thorkel foulmouth, because he +spared no one with whom he had to do either in word or deed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXIX" id="CHAPTER_CXIX"></a>CHAPTER CXIX.</h2> + +<h3>OF SKARPHEDINN AND THORKEL FOULMOUTH.</h3> + + +<p>Asgrim and his fellows went to Thorkel foulmouth's booth, and Asgrim +said then to his companions, "This booth Thorkel foulmouth owns, a great +champion, and it were worth much to us to get his help. We must here +take heed in everything, for he is self-willed and bad tempered; and now +I will beg thee, Skarphedinn, not to let thyself be led into our talk."</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn smiled at that. He was so clad, he had on a blue kirtle and +gray breeks, and black shoes on his feet, coming high up his leg; he had +a silver belt about him, and that same axe in his hand with which he +slew Thrain, and which he called the "ogress of war," a round buckler, +and a silken band round his brow, and his hair was brushed back behind +his ears. He was the most soldier-like of men, and by that all men knew +him. He went in his appointed place, and neither before nor behind.</p> + +<p>Now they went into the booth and into its inner chamber. Thorkel sate in +the middle of the cross-bench, and his men away from him on all sides. +Asgrim hailed him, and Thorkel took the greeting well, and Asgrim said +to him—</p> + +<p>"For this have we come hither, to ask help of thee, and that thou +wouldst come to the court with us."</p> + +<p>"What need can ye have of my help," said Thorkel, "when ye have already +gone to Gudmund; he must surely have promised thee his help?"</p> + +<p>"We could not get his help," says Asgrim.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then Gudmund thought the suit likely to make him foes," said Thorkel; +"and so no doubt it will be, for such deeds are the worst that have ever +been done; nor do I know what can have driven you to come hither to me, +and to think that I should be easier to undertake your suit than +Gudmund, or that I would back a wrongful quarrel."</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim held his peace, and thought it would be hard work to win him +over.</p> + +<p>Then Thorkel went on and said, "Who is that big and ugly fellow, before +whom four men go, pale-faced and sharp-featured, and unlucky-looking, +and cross-grained?"</p> + +<p>"My name is Skarphedinn," said Skarphedinn, "and thou hast no right to +pick me out, a guiltless man, for thy railing. It never has befallen me +to make my father bow down before me, or to have fought against him, as +thou didst with thy father. Thou hast ridden little to the Althing, or +toiled in quarrels at it, and no doubt it is handier for thee to mind +thy milking pails at home than to be here at Axewater in idleness. But +stay, it were as well if thou pickedst out from thy teeth that steak of +mare's rump which thou atest ere thou rodest to the Thing, while thy +shepherd looked on all the while, and wondered that thou couldst work +such filthiness!"</p> + +<p>Then Thorkel sprang up in mickle wrath, and clutched his short sword and +said—</p> + +<p>"This sword I got in Sweden when I slew the greatest champion, but since +then I have slain many a man with it, and as soon as ever I reach thee I +will drive it through thee, and thou shall take that for thy bitter +words."</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn stood with his axe aloft, and smiled scornfully and said—</p> + +<p>"This axe I had in my hand when I leapt twelve ells across Markfleet, +and slew Thrain Sigfus' son, and eight of them stood before me, and none +of them could touch me. Never have I aimed weapon at man that I have not +smitten him."</p> + +<p>And with that he tore himself from his brothers, and Kari his +brother-in-law, and strode forward to Thorkel.</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn said—</p> + +<p>"Now, Thorkel foulmouth, do one of these two things: sheathe thy sword +and sit thee down, or I drive the axe into thy head and cleave thee down +to the chine."</p> + +<p>Then Thorkel sate him down and sheathed the sword, and such a thing +never happened to him either before or since.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim and his band go out, and Skarphedinn said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Whither shall we now go?"</p> + +<p>"Home to out booths," answered Asgrim.</p> + +<p>"Then we fare hack to our booths wearied of begging," says Skarphedinn.</p> + +<p>"In many places," said Asgrim, "hast thou been rather sharp-tongued, but +here now, in what Thorkel had a share methinks thou hast only treated +him as is fitting."</p> + +<p>Then they went home to their booths, and told Njal, word for word, all +that had been done.</p> + +<p>"Things," he said, "draw on to what must be."</p> + +<p>Now Gudmund the powerful heard what had passed between Thorkel and +Skarphedinn, and said—</p> + +<p>"Ye all know how things fared between us and the men of Lightwater, but +I have never suffered such scorn and mocking at their hands as has +befallen Thorkel from Skarphedinn, and this is just as it should be."</p> + +<p>Then he said to Einar of Thvera, his brother, "Thou shalt go with all my +band, and stand by Njal's sons when the courts go out to try suits; but +if they need help next summer, then I myself will yield them help".</p> + +<p>Einar agreed to that, and sent and told Asgrim, and Asgrim said—</p> + +<p>"There is no man like Gudmund for nobleness of mind," and then he told +it to Njal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXX" id="CHAPTER_CXX"></a>CHAPTER CXX.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE PLEADING OF THE SUIT.</h3> + + +<p>The next day Asgrim, and Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and +Einar of Thvera, met together. There too was Mord Valgard's son; he had +then let the suit fall from his hand, and given it over to the sons of +Sigfus.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim spoke.</p> + +<p>"Thee first I speak to about this matter, Gizur the white, and thee +Hjallti, and thee Einar, that I may tell you how the suit stands. It +will be known to all of you that Mord took up the suit, but the truth of +the matter is, that Mord was at Hauskuld's slaying, and wounded him with +that wound, for giving which no man was named. It seems to me, then,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +that this suit must come to nought by reason of a lawful flaw."</p> + +<p>"Then we will plead it at once," says Hjallti.</p> + +<p>"It is not good counsel," said Thorhall Asgrim's son, "that this should +not be hidden until the courts are set."</p> + +<p>"How so?" asks Hjallti.</p> + +<p>"If," said Thorhall, "they knew now at once that the suit has been +wrongly set on foot, then they may still save the suit by sending a man +home from the Thing, and summoning the neighbours from home over again, +and calling on them to ride to the Thing, and then the suit will be +lawfully set on foot."</p> + +<p>"Thou art a wise man, Thorhall," say they, "and we will take thy +counsel."</p> + +<p>After that each man went to his booth.</p> + +<p>The sons of Sigfus gave notice of their suits at the Hill of Laws, and +asked in what Quarter Courts they lay, and in what house in the district +the defendants dwelt. But on the Friday night the courts were to go out +to try suits, and so the Thing was quiet up to that day.</p> + +<p>Many sought to bring about an atonement between them, but Flosi was +steadfast; but others were still more wordy, and things looked ill.</p> + +<p>Now the time comes when the courts were to go out, on the Friday +evening. Then the whole body of men at the Thing went to the courts. +Flosi stood south at the court of the men of Rangriver, and his band +with him. There with him was Hall of the Side, and Runolf of the Dale, +Wolf Aurpriest's son, and those other men who had promised Flosi help.</p> + +<p>But north of the court of the men of Rangriver stood Asgrim Ellidagrim's +son, and Gizur the white, Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Einar of Thvera. But +Njal's sons were at home at their booth, and Kari and Thorleif crow, and +Thorgeir Craggeir, and Thorgrim the big. They sate all with their +weapons, and their band looked safe from onslaught.</p> + +<p>Njal had already prayed the judges to go into the court, and now the +sons of Sigfus plead their suit. They took witness and bade Njal's sons +to listen to their oath; after that they took their oath, and then they +declared their suit; then they brought forward witness of the notice, +then they bade the neighbours on the inquest to take their seats, then +they called on Njal's sons to challenge the inquest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then up stood Thorhall Asgrim's son, and took witness, and forbade the +inquest by a protest to utter their finding; and his ground was, that he +who had given notice of the suit was truly under the ban of the law, and +was himself an outlaw.</p> + +<p>"Of whom speakest thou this?" says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"Mord Valgard's son," said Thorhall, "fared to Hauslkuld's slaying with +Njal's sons, and wounded him with that wound for which no man was named +when witness was taken to the death-wounds; and ye can say nothing +against this, and so the suit comes to naught."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXI" id="CHAPTER_CXXI"></a>CHAPTER CXXI.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT BETWEEN FLOSI AND NJAL.</h3> + + +<p>Then Njal stood up and said—</p> + +<p>"This I pray, Hall of the Side, and Flosi, and all the sons of Sigfus, +and all our men too, that ye will not go away, but listen to my words."</p> + +<p>They did so, and then he spoke thus—</p> + +<p>"It seems to me as though this suit were come to naught, and it is +likely it should, for it hath sprung from an ill root. I will let you +all know that I loved Hauskuld more than my own sons, and when I heard +that he was slain, methought the sweetest light of my eyes was quenched, +and I would rather have lost all my sons, and that he were alive. Now I +ask thee, Hall of the Side, and thee Runolf of the Dale, and thee +Hjallti Skeggi's son, and thee Einar of Thvera, and thee Hafr the wise, +that I may be allowed to make an atonement for the slaying of Hauskuld +on my sons' behalf; and I wish that those men who are best fitted to do +so shall utter the award."</p> + +<p>Gizur, and Hafr, and Einar, spoke each on their own part, and prayed +Flosi to take an atonement, and promised him their friendship in return.</p> + +<p>Flosi answered them well in all things, but still did not give his word.</p> + +<p>Then Hall of the Side said to Flosi—</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou now keep thy word, and grant me my boon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> which thou hast +already promised me, when I put beyond sea Thorgrim, the son of Kettle +the fat, thy kinsman, when he had slain Halli the red."</p> + +<p>"I will grant it thee, father-in-law," said Flosi, "for that alone wilt +thou ask which will make my honour greater than it erewhile was."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Hall, "my wish is that thou shouldst be quickly atoned, and +lettest good men and true make an award, and so buy the friendship of +good and worthy men."</p> + +<p>"I will let you all know," said Flosi, "that I will do according to the +word of Hall, my father-in-law, and other of the worthiest men, that he +and others of the best men on each side, lawfully named, shall make this +award. Methinks Njal is worthy that I should grant him this."</p> + +<p>Njal thanked him and all of them, and others who were by thanked them +too, and said that Flosi had behaved well.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"Now will I name my daysmen [arbitrators]—First, I name Hall, my +father-in-law; Auzur from Broadwater; Surt Asbjorn's son of Kirkby; +Modolf Kettle's son"—he dwelt then at Asar—"Hafr the wise; and Runolf +of the Dale; and it is scarce worth while to say that these are the +fittest men out of all my company."</p> + +<p>Now he bade Njal to name his daysmen, and then Njal stood up, and said—</p> + +<p>"First of these I name, Asgrim Ellidagrim's son; and Hjallti Skeggi's +son; Gizur the white; Einar of Thvera; Snorri the priest; and Gudmund +the powerful."</p> + +<p>After that Njal and Flosi, and the sons of Sigfus shook hands, and Njal +pledged his hand on behalf of all his sons, and of Kari, his son-in-law, +that they would hold to what those twelve men doomed; and one might say +that the whole body of men at the Thing was glad at that.</p> + +<p>Then men were sent after Snorri and Gudmund, for they were in their +booths.</p> + +<p>Then it was given out that the judges in this award would sit in the +Court of Laws, but all the others were to go away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXII" id="CHAPTER_CXXII"></a>CHAPTER CXXII.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE JUDGES.</h3> + + +<p>Then Snorri the priest spoke thus—"Now are we here twelve judges to +whom these suits are handed over, now I will beg you all that we may +have no stumbling-blocks in these suits, so that they may not be +atoned".</p> + +<p>"Will ye," said Gudmund, "award either the lesser or the greater +outlawry? Shall they be banished from the district, or from the whole +land?"</p> + +<p>"Neither of them," says Snorri, "for those banishments are often ill +fulfilled, and men have been slain for that sake, and atonements broken, +but I will award so great a money fine that no man shall have had a +higher price here in the land than Hauskuld."</p> + +<p>They all spoke well of his words.</p> + +<p>Then they talked over the matter, and could not agree which should first +utter how great he thought the fine ought to be, and so the end of it +was that they cast lots, and the lot fell on Snorri to utter it.</p> + +<p>Then Snorri said, "I will not sit long over this, I will now tell you +what my utterance is, I will let Hauskuld be atoned for with triple +manfines, but that is six hundred in silver. Now ye shall change it, if +ye think it too much or too little."</p> + +<p>They said that they would change it in nothing.</p> + +<p>"This too shall be added," he said, "that all the money shall be paid +down here at the Thing."</p> + +<p>Then Gizur the white spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"Methinks that can hardly be, for they will not have enough money to pay +their fines."</p> + +<p>"I know what Snorri wishes," said Gudmund the powerful, "he wants that +all we daysmen should give such a sum as our bounty will bestow, and +then many will do as we do."</p> + +<p>Hall of the Side thanked him, and said he would willingly give as much +as any one else gave, and then all the other daysmen agreed to that.</p> + +<p>After that they went away, and settled between them that Hall should +utter the award at the Court of Laws.</p> + +<p>So the bell was rung, and all men went to the Court of Laws, and Hall of +the Side stood up and spoke—</p> + +<p>"In this suit, in which we have come to an award, we have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> been all well +agreed, and we have awarded six hundred in silver, and half this sum we +the daysmen will pay, but it must all be paid up here at the Thing. But +it is my prayer to all the people that each man will give something for +God's sake."</p> + +<p>All answered well to that, and then Hall took witness to the award, that +no one should be able to break it.</p> + +<p>Njal thanked them for their award, but Skarphedinn stood by, and held +his peace, and smiled scornfully.</p> + +<p>Then men went from the Court of Laws and to their booths, but the +daysmen gathered together in the freeman's church-yard the money which +they had promised to give.</p> + +<p>Njal's sons handed over that money which they had by them, and Kari did +the same, and that came to a hundred in silver.</p> + +<p>Njal took out that money which he had with him, and that was another +hundred in silver.</p> + +<p>So this money was all brought before the Court of Laws, and then men +gave so much, that not a penny was wanting.</p> + +<p>Then Njal took a silken scarf and a pair of boots and laid them on the +top of the heap.</p> + +<p>After that, Hall said to Njal, that he should go to fetch his sons, "but +I will go for Flosi, and now each must give the other pledges of peace".</p> + +<p>Then Njal went home to his booth, and spoke to his sons and said, "Now, +are our suits come into a fair way of settlement, now are we men atoned, +for all the money has been brought together in one place; and now either +side is to go and grant the other peace and pledges of good faith. I +will therefore ask you this, my sons, not to spoil these things in any +way."</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn stroked his brow, and smiled scornfully. So they all go to +the Court of Laws.</p> + +<p>Hall went to meet Flosi and said—</p> + +<p>"Go thou now to the Court of Laws, for now all the money has been +bravely paid down, and it has been brought together in one place."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi bade the sons of Sigfus to go up with him, and they all went +out of their booths. They came from the east, but Njal went from the +west to the Court of Laws, and the sons with him.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn went to the middle bench and stood there.</p> + +<p>Flosi went into the Court of Laws to look closely at his money, and +said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"This money is both great and good, and well paid down, as was to be +looked for."</p> + +<p>After that he took up the scarf, and waved it, and asked—</p> + +<p>"Who may have given this?"</p> + +<p>But no man answered him.</p> + +<p>A second time he waved the scarf, and asked—</p> + +<p>"Who may have given this?" and laughed, but no man answered him.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"How is it that none of you knows who has owned this gear, or is it that +none dares to tell me?"</p> + +<p>"Who?" said Skarphedinn, "dost thou think, has given it?"</p> + +<p>"If thou must know," said Flosi, "then I will tell thee; I think that +thy father the 'Beardless Carle' must have given it, for many know not +who look at him whether he is more a man than a woman."</p> + +<p>"Such words are ill-spoken," said Skarphedinn, "to make game of him, an +old man, and no man of any worth has ever done so before. Ye may know, +too, that he is a man, for he has had sons by his wife, and few of our +kinsfolk have fallen unatoned by our house, so that we have not had +vengeance for them."</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn took to himself the silken scarf, but threw a pair of +blue breeks to Flosi, and said he would need them more.</p> + +<p>"Why," said Flosi, "should I need these more?"</p> + +<p>"Because," said Skarphedinn, "thou art the sweetheart of the Swinefell's +goblin, if, as men say, he does indeed turn thee into a woman every +ninth night."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi spurned the money, and said he would not touch a penny of it, +and then he said he would only have one of two things: either that +Hauskuld should fall unatoned, or they would have vengeance for him.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi would neither give nor take peace, and he said to the sons of +Sigfus—</p> + +<p>"Go we now home; one fate shall befall us all."</p> + +<p>Then they went home to their booth, and Hall said—</p> + +<p>"Here most unlucky men have a share in this suit."</p> + +<p>Njal and his sons went home to their booth, and Njal said—</p> + +<p>"Now comes to pass what my heart told me long ago, that this suit would +fall heavy on us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Not so," says Skarphedinn; "they can never pursue us by the laws of the +land."</p> + +<p>"Then that will happen," says Njal, "which will be worse for all of us."</p> + +<p>Those men who had given the money spoke about it, and said that they +should take it back; but Gudmund the powerful said—</p> + +<p>"That shame I will never choose for myself, to take back what I have +given away, either here or elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"That is well spoken," they said; and then no one would take it back.</p> + +<p>Then Snorri the priest said, "My counsel is, that Gizur the white and +Hjallti Skeggi's son keep the money till the next Althing; my heart +tells me that no long time will pass ere there may be need to touch this +money".</p> + +<p>Hjallti took half the money and kept it safe, but Gizur took the rest.</p> + +<p>Then men went home to their booths.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXIII" id="CHAPTER_CXXIII"></a>CHAPTER CXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>AN ATTACK PLANNED ON NJAL AND HIS SONS.</h3> + + +<p>Flosi summoned all his men up to the "Great Rift," and went thither +himself.</p> + +<p>So when all his men were come, there were one hundred and twenty of +them.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi spake thus to the sons of Sigfus—</p> + +<p>"In what way shall I stand by you in this quarrel, which will be most to +your minds?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing will please us," said Gunnar Lambi's son, "until those +brothers, Njal's sons, are all slain."</p> + +<p>"This," said Flosi, "will I promise to you, ye sons of Sigfus, not to +part from this quarrel before one of us bites the dust before the other, +I will also know whether there be any man here who will not stand by us +in this quarrel."</p> + +<p>But they all said they would stand by him.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"Come now all to me, and swear an oath that no man will shrink from this +quarrel."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then all went up to Flosi and swore oaths to him; and then Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"We will all of us shake hands on this, that he shall have forfeited +life and land who quits this quarrel ere it be over."</p> + +<p>These were the chiefs who were with Flosi:—Kol the son of Thorstein +broadpaunch, the brother's son of Hall of the Side, Hroald Auzur's son +from Broadwater, Auzur son of Anund wallet-back, Thorstein the fair the +son of Gerleif, Glum Hilldir's son, Modolf Kettle's son, Thorir the son +of Thord Illugi's son of Mauratongue, Kolbein and Egil Flosi's kinsmen, +Kettle Sigfus' son, and Mord his brother, Ingialld of the Springs, +Thorkel and Lambi, Grani Gunnar's son, Gunnar Lambi's son, and Sigmund +Sigfus' son, and Hroar from Hromundstede.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus—</p> + +<p>"Choose ye now a leader, whomsoever ye think best fitted; for some one +man must needs be chief over the quarrel."</p> + +<p>Then Kettle of the Mark answered—</p> + +<p>"If the choice is to be left with us brothers, then we will soon choose +that this duty should fall on thee; there are many things which lead to +this. Thou art a man of great birth, and a mighty chief, stout of heart, +and strong of body, and wise withal, and so we think it best that thou +shouldst see to all that is needful in the quarrel."</p> + +<p>"It is most fitting," said Flosi, "that I should agree to undertake this +as your prayer asks; and now I will lay down the course which we shall +follow, and my counsel is, that each man ride home from the Thing and +look after his household during the summer, so long as men's haymaking +lasts. I, too, will ride home, and be at home this summer; but when that +Lord's day comes on which winter is eight weeks off, then I will let +them sing me a mass at home, and afterwards ride west across Loomnips +Sand; each of our men shall have two horses. I will not swell our +company beyond those which have now taken the oath, for we have enough +and to spare if all keep true tryst. I will ride all the Lord's day and +the night as well, but at even on the second day of the week, I shall +ride up to Threecorner ridge about mid-even. There shall ye then be all +come who have sworn an oath in this matter. But if there be any one who +has not come, and who has joined us in this quarrel, then that man shall +lose nothing save his life, if we may have our way."</p> + +<p>"How does that hang together," said Kettle, "that thou<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> canst ride from +home on the Lord's day, and come the second day of the week to +Threecorner ridge?"</p> + +<p>"I will ride," said Flosi, "up from Skaptartongue, and north of the +Eyjafell Jokul, and so down into Godaland, and it may be done if I ride +fast. And now I will tell you my whole purpose, that when we meet there +all together, we shall ride to Bergthorsknoll with all our band, and +fall on Njal's sons with fire and sword, and not turn away before they +are all dead. Ye shall hide this plan, for our lives lie on it. And now +we will take to our horses and ride home."</p> + +<p>Then they all went to their booths.</p> + +<p>After that Flosi made them saddle his horses, and they waited for no +man, and rode home.</p> + +<p>Flosi would not stay to meet Hall his father-in-law, for he knew of a +surety that Hall would set his face against all strong deeds.</p> + +<p>Njal rode home from the Thing and his sons. They were at home that +summer. Njal asked Kari his son-in-law whether he thought at all of +riding east to Dyrholms to his own house.</p> + +<p>"I will not ride east," answered Kari, "for one fate shall befall me and +thy sons."</p> + +<p>Njal thanked him, and said that was only what was likely from him. There +were nearly thirty fighting men in Njal's house, reckoning the +house-carles.</p> + +<p>One day it happened that Rodny Hauskuld's daughter, the mother of +Hauskuld Njal's son, came to the Springs. Her brother Ingialld greeted +her well, but she would not take his greeting, but yet bade him go out +with her. Ingialld did so, and went out with her; and so they walked +away from the farmyard both together. Then she clutched hold of him and +they both sat down, and Rodny said—</p> + +<p>"Is it true that thou hast sworn an oath to fall on Njal, and slay him +and his sons?"</p> + +<p>"True it is," said he.</p> + +<p>"A very great dastard art thou," she says, "thou, whom Njal hath thrice +saved from outlawry."</p> + +<p>"Still it hath come to this," says Ingialld, "that my life lies on it if +I do not this."</p> + +<p>"Not so," says she, "thou shalt live all the same, and be called a +better man, if thou betrayest not him to whom thou oughtest to behave +best."</p> + +<p>Then she took a linen hood out of her bag, it was clotted with blood all +over, and torn and tattered, and said, "This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> hood, Hauskuld Njal's son, +and thy sister's son, had on his head when they slew him; methinks, +then, it is ill owing to stand by those from whom this mischief sprang".</p> + +<p>"Well!" answers Ingialld, "so it shall be that I will not be against +Njal whatever follows after, but still I know that they will turn and +throw trouble on me."</p> + +<p>"Now mightest thou," said Rodny, "yield Njal and his sons great help, if +thou tellest him all these plans."</p> + +<p>"That I will not do," says Ingialld, "for then I am every man's dastard, +if I tell what was trusted to me in good faith; but it is a manly deed +to sunder myself from this quarrel when I know that there is a sure +looking for of vengeance; but tell Njal and his sons to beware of +themselves all this summer, for that will be good counsel, and to keep +many men about them."</p> + +<p>Then she fared to Bergthorsknoll, and told Njal all this talk; and Njal +thanked her, and said she had done well, "for there would be more +wickedness in his falling on me than of all men else".</p> + +<p>She fared home, but he told this to his sons.</p> + +<p>There was a carline at Bergthorsknoll, whose name was Saevuna. She was +wise in many things, and foresighted; but she was then very old, and +Njal's sons called her an old dotard, when she talked so much, but still +some things which she said came to pass. It fell one day that she took a +cudgel in her hand, and went up above the house to a stack of vetches. +She beat the stack of vetches with her cudgel, and wished it might never +thrive, "wretch that it was!"</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn laughed at her, and asked why she was so angry with the +vetch stack.</p> + +<p>"This stack of vetches," said the carline, "will be taken and lighted +with fire when Njal my master is burnt, house and all, and Bergthora my +foster-child. Take it away to the water, or burn it up as quick as you +can."</p> + +<p>"We will not do that," says Skarphedinn, "for something else will be got +to light a fire with, if that were foredoomed, though this stack were +not here."</p> + +<p>The carline babbled the whole summer about the vetch-stack that it +should be got indoors, but something always hindered it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXIV" id="CHAPTER_CXXIV"></a>CHAPTER CXXIV.</h2> + +<h3>OF PORTENTS.</h3> + + +<p>At Reykium on Skeid dwelt one Runolf Thorstein's son. His son's name was +Hildiglum. He went out on the night of the Lord's day, when nine weeks +were still to winter; he heard a great crash, so that he thought both +heaven and earth shook. Then he looked into the west "airt," and he +thought he saw thereabouts a ring of fiery hue, and within the ring a +man on a gray horse. He passed quickly by him, and rode hard. He had a +flaming firebrand in his hand, and he rode so close to him that he could +see him plainly. He was as black as pitch, and he sung this song with a +mighty voice—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here I ride swift steed,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His flank flecked with rime,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rain from his mane drips,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Horse mighty for harm;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Flames flare at each end,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gall glows in the midst,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So fares it with Flosi's redes</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As this flaming brand flies;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And so fares it with Flosi's redes</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As this flaming brand flies.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Then he thought he hurled the firebrand east towards the fells before +him, and such a blaze of fire leapt up to meet it that he could not see +the fells for the blaze. It seemed as though that man rode east among +the flames and vanished there.</p> + +<p>After that he went to his bed, and was senseless a long time, but at +last he came to himself. He bore in mind all that had happened, and told +his father, but he bade him tell it to Hjallti Skeggi's son. So he went +and told Hjallti, but he said he had seen "'the Wolfs ride,' and that +comes ever before great tidings".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXV" id="CHAPTER_CXXV"></a>CHAPTER CXXV.</h2> + +<h3>FLOSI'S JOURNEY FROM HOME.</h3> + + +<p>Flosi busked him from the east when two months were still to winter, and +summoned to him all his men who had promised him help and company. Each +of them had two horses and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> good weapons, and they all came to +Swinefell, and were there that night.</p> + +<p>Flosi made them say prayers betimes on the Lord's day, and afterwards +they sate down to meat. He spoke to his household, and told them what +work each was to do while he was away. After that he went to his horses.</p> + +<p>Flosi and his men rode first west on the Sand.<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> Flosi bade them not +to ride too hard at first; but said they would do well enough at that +pace, and he bade all to wait for the others if any of them had need to +stop. They rode west to Woodcombe, and came to Kirkby. Flosi there bade +all men to come into the church, and pray to God, and men did so.</p> + +<p>After that they mounted their horses, and rode on the fell, and so to +Fishwaters, and rode a little to the west of the lakes, and so struck +down west on to the Sand.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> Then they left Eyjafell Jokul on their +left hand, and so came down into Godaland, and so on to Markfleet, and +came about nones<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> on the second day of the week to Threecorner ridge, +and waited till mid-even. Then all had came thither save Ingialld of the +Springs.</p> + +<p>The sons of Sigfus spoke much ill of him, but Flosi bade them not blame +Ingialld when he was not by, "but we will pay him for this hereafter".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXVI" id="CHAPTER_CXXVI"></a>CHAPTER CXXVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF PORTENTS AT BERGTHORSKNOLL.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must take up the story, and turn to Bergthorsknoll, and say that +Grim and Helgi go to Holar. They had children out at foster there, and +they told their mother that they should not come home that evening. They +were in Holar all the day, and there came some poor women and said they +had come from far. Those brothers asked them for tidings, and they said +they had no tidings to tell, "but still we might tell you one bit of +news".<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> + +<p>They asked what that might be, and bade them not hide it. They said so +it should be.</p> + +<p>"We came down out of Fleetlithe, and we saw all the sons of Sigfus +riding fully armed—they made for Threecorner ridge, and were fifteen in +company. We saw, too, Grani Gunnar's son and Gunnar Lambi's son, and +they were five in all. They took the same road, and one may say now that +the whole country-side is faring and flitting about."</p> + +<p>"Then," said Helgi Njal's son, "Flosi must have come from the east, and +they must have all gone to meet him, and we two, Grim, should be where +Skarphedinn is."</p> + +<p>Grim said so it ought to be, and they fared home.</p> + +<p>That same evening Bergthora spoke to her household, and said, "Now shall +ye choose your meat to-night, so that each may have what he likes best; +for this evening is the last that I shall set meat before my household".</p> + +<p>"That shall not be," they said.</p> + +<p>"It will be though," she says, "and I could tell you much more if I +would, but this shall be a token, that Grim and Helgi will be home ere +men have eaten their full to-night; and if this turns out so, then the +rest that I say will happen too."</p> + +<p>After that she set meat on the board, and Njal said, "Wondrously now it +seems to me. Methinks I see all round the room, and it seems as though +the gable wall were thrown down, but the whole board and the meat on it +is one gore of blood."</p> + +<p>All thought this strange but Skarphedinn, he bade men not be downcast, +nor to utter other unseemly sounds, so that men might make a story out +of them.</p> + +<p>"For it befits us surely more than other men to bear us well, and it is +only what is looked for from us."</p> + +<p>Grim and Helgi came home ere the board was cleared, and men were much +struck at that. Njal asked why they had returned so quickly, but they +told what they had heard.</p> + +<p>Njal bade no man go to sleep, but to beware of themselves.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXVII" id="CHAPTER_CXXVII"></a>CHAPTER CXXVII.</h2> + +<h3>THE ONSLAUGHT ON BERGTHORSKNOLL.</h3> + + +<p>Now Flosi speaks to his men—</p> + +<p>"Now we will ride to Bergthorsknoll, and come thither before +supper-time."</p> + +<p>They do so. There was a dell in the knoll, and they rode thither, and +tethered their horses there, and stayed there till the evening was far +spent.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said, "Now we will go straight up to the house, and keep +close, and walk slow, and see what counsel they will take".</p> + +<p>Njal stood out of doors, and his sons, and Kari and all the serving-men, +and they stood in array to meet them in the yard, and they were near +thirty of them.</p> + +<p>Flosi halted and said—"Now we shall see what counsel they take, for it +seems to me, if they stand out of doors to meet us, as though we should +never get the mastery over them".</p> + +<p>"Then is our journey bad," says Grani Gunnar's son, "if we are not to +dare to fall on them."</p> + +<p>"Nor shall that be," says Flosi; "for we will fall on them though they +stand out of doors; but we shall pay that penalty, that many will not go +away to tell which side won the day."</p> + +<p>Njal said to his men, "See ye now what a great band of men they have".</p> + +<p>"They have both a great and well-knit band," says Skarphedinn; "but this +is why they make a halt now, because they think it will be a hard +struggle to master us."</p> + +<p>"That cannot be why they halt," says Njal; "and my will is that our men +go indoors, for they had hard work to master Gunnar of Lithend, though +he was alone to meet them; but here is a strong house as there was +there, and they will be slow to come to close quarters."</p> + +<p>"This is not to be settled in that wise," says Skarphedinn, "for those +chiefs fell on Gunnar's house, who were so noble-minded, that they would +rather turn back than burn him, house and all; but these will fall on us +at once with fire, if they cannot get at us in any other way, for they +will leave no stone unturned to get the better of us; and no doubt they +think, as is not unlikely, that it will be their deaths if we escape +out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> of their hands. Besides, I am unwilling to let myself be stifled +indoors like a fox in his earth."</p> + +<p>"Now," said Njal, "as often it happens, my sons, ye set my counsel at +naught, and show me no honour, but when ye were younger ye did not so, +and then your plans were better furthered."</p> + +<p>"Let us do," said Helgi, "as our father wills; that will be best for +us."</p> + +<p>"I am not so sure of that," says Skarphedinn, "for now he is 'fey'; +but still I may well humour my father in this, by being burnt indoors +along with him, for I am not afraid of my death."</p> + +<p>Then he said to Kari, "Let us stand by one another well, brother-in-law, +so that neither parts from the other".</p> + +<p>"That I have made up my mind to do," says Kari; "but if it should be +otherwise doomed,—well! then it must be as it must be, and I shall not +be able to fight against it."</p> + +<p>"Avenge us, and we will avenge thee," says Skarphedinn, "if we live +after thee."</p> + +<p>Kari said so it should be.</p> + +<p>Then they all went in, and stood in array at the door.</p> + +<p>"Now are they all 'fey,'" said Flosi, "since they have gone indoors, and +we will go right up to them as quickly as we can, and throng as close as +we can before the door, and give heed that none of them, neither Kari +nor Njal's sons, get away; for that were our bane."</p> + +<p>So Flosi and his men came up to the house, and set men to watch round +the house, if there were any secret doors in it. But Flosi went up to +the front of the house with his men.</p> + +<p>Then Hroald Auzur's son ran up to where Skarphedinn stood, and thrust at +him. Skarphedinn hewed the spearhead off the shaft as he held it, and +made another stroke at him, and the axe fell on the top of the shield, +and dashed back the whole shield on Hroald's body, but the upper horn of +the axe caught him on the brow, and he fell at full length on his back, +and was dead at once.</p> + +<p>"Little chance had that one with thee, Skarphedinn," said Kari, "and +thou art our boldest."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure of that," says Skarphedinn, and he drew up his lips and +smiled.</p> + +<p>Kari, and Grim, and Helgi, threw out many spears, and wounded many men; +but Flosi and his men could do nothing.</p> + +<p>At last Flosi said, "We have already gotten great manscathe<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> in our men; +many are wounded, and he slain whom we would choose last of all. It is +now clear that we shall never master them with weapons; many now there +be who are not so forward in fight as they boasted, and yet they were +those who goaded us on most. I say this most to Grani Gunnar's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son, who were the least willing to spare their foes. But +still we shall have to take to some other plan for ourselves, and now +there are but two choices left, and neither of them good. One is to turn +away, and that is our death; the other, to set fire to the house, and +burn them inside it; and that is a deed which we shall have to answer +for heavily before God, since we are Christian men ourselves; but still +we must take to that counsel."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_CXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER CXXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL'S BURNING.</h3> + + +<p>Now they took fire, and made a great pile before the doors. Then +Skarphedinn said.</p> + +<p>"What, lads! are ye lighting a fire, or are ye taking to cooking?"</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," answered Grani Gunnar's son; "and thou shalt not need +to be better done."</p> + +<p>"Thou repayest me," said Skarphedinn, "as one may look for from the man +that thou art. I avenged thy father, and thou settest most store by that +duty which is farthest from thee."</p> + +<p>Then the women threw whey on the fire, and quenched it as fast as they +lit it. Some, too, brought water, or slops.</p> + +<p>Then Kol Thorstein's son said to Flosi—</p> + +<p>"A plan comes into my mind; I have seen a loft over the hall among the +crosstrees, and we will put the fire in there, and light it with the +vetch-stack that stands just above the house."</p> + +<p>Then they took the vetch-stack and set fire to it, and they who were +inside were not aware of it till the whole hall was ablaze over their +heads.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi and his men made a great pile before each of the doors, and +then the women folk who were inside began to weep and to wail.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> + +<p>Njal spoke to them and said, "Keep up your hearts, nor utter shrieks, +for this is but a passing storm, and it will be long before ye have +another such; and put your faith in God, and believe that He is so +merciful that He will not let us burn both in this world and the next."</p> + +<p>Such words of comfort had he for them all, and others still more strong.</p> + +<p>Now the whole house began to blaze. Then Njal went to the door and +said—</p> + +<p>"Is Flosi so near that he can hear my voice?"</p> + +<p>Flosi said that he could hear it.</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou," said Njal, "take an atonement from my sons, or allow any +men to go out?"</p> + +<p>"I will not," answers Flosi, "take any atonement from thy sons, and now +our dealings shall come to an end once for all, and I will not stir from +this spot till they are all dead; but I will allow the women and +children and house-carles to go out."</p> + +<p>Then Njal went into the house, and said to the folk—</p> + +<p>"Now all those must go out to whom leave is given, and so go thou out +Thorhalla Asgrim's daughter, and all the people also with thee who may."</p> + +<p>Then Thorhalla said—</p> + +<p>"This is another parting between me and Helgi than I thought of a while +ago; but still I will egg on my father and brothers to avenge this +manscathe which is wrought here."</p> + +<p>"Go, and good go with thee," said Njal, "for thou art a brave woman."</p> + +<p>After that she went out and much folk with her.</p> + +<p>Then Astrid of Deepback said to Helgi Njal's son—</p> + +<p>"Come thou out with me, and I will throw a woman's cloak over thee, and +tire thy head with a kerchief."</p> + +<p>He spoke against it at first, but at last he did so at the prayer of +others.</p> + +<p>So Astrid wrapped the kerchief round Helgi's head, but Thorhilda, +Skarphedinn's wife, threw the cloak over him, and he went out between +them, and then Thorgerda Njal's daughter, and Helga her sister, and many +other folk went out too.</p> + +<p>But when Helgi came out Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"That is a tall woman and broad across the shoulders that went yonder, +take her and hold her."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p> + +<p>But when Helgi heard that, he cast away the cloak. He had got his sword +under his arm, and hewed at a man, and the blow fell on his shield and +cut off the point of it, and the man's leg as well. Then Flosi came up +and hewed at Helgi's neck, and took off his head at a stroke.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi went to the door and called out to Njal, and said he would +speak with him and Bergthora.</p> + +<p>Now Njal does so, and Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"I will offer thee, master Njal, leave to go out, for it is unworthy +that thou shouldst burn indoors."</p> + +<p>"I will not go out," said Njal, "for I am an old man, and little fitted +to avenge my sons, but I will not live in shame."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to Bergthora—</p> + +<p>"Come thou out, housewife, for I will for no sake burn thee indoors."</p> + +<p>"I was given away to Njal young," said Bergthora, "and I have promised +him this, that we would both share the same fate."</p> + +<p>After that they both went back into the house.</p> + +<p>"What counsel shall we now take?" said Bergthora.</p> + +<p>"We will go to our bed," says Njal, "and lay us down; I have long been +eager for rest."</p> + +<p>Then she said to the boy Thord, Kari's son—</p> + +<p>"Thee will I take out, and thou shalt not burn in here."</p> + +<p>"Thou hast promised me this, grandmother," says the boy, "that we should +never part so long as I wished to be with thee; but methinks it is much +better to die with thee and Njal than to live after you."</p> + +<p>Then she bore the boy to her bed, and Njal spoke to his steward and +said—</p> + +<p>"Now shalt thou see where we lay us down, and how I lay us out, for I +mean not to stir an inch hence, whether reek or burning smart me, and so +thou wilt be able to guess where to look for our bones."</p> + +<p>He said he would do so.</p> + +<p>There had been an ox slaughtered and the hide lay there. Njal told the +steward to spread the hide over them, and he did so.</p> + +<p>So there they lay down both of them in their bed, and put the boy +between them. Then they signed themselves and the boy with the cross, +and gave over their souls into God's hand, and that was the last word +that men heard them utter.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then the steward took the hide and spread it over them, and went out +afterwards. Kettle of the Mark caught hold of him, and dragged him out, +he asked carefully after his father-in-law Njal, but the steward told +him the whole truth. Then Kettle said—</p> + +<p>"Great grief hath been sent on us, when we have had to share such +ill-luck together."</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn saw how his father laid him down, and how he laid himself +out, and then he said—</p> + +<p>"Our father goes early to bed, and that is what was to be looked for, +for he is an old man."</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn, and Kari, and Grim, caught the brands as fast as they +dropped down, and hurled them out at them, and so it went on a while. +Then they hurled spears in at them, but they caught them all as they +flew, and sent them back again.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi bade them cease shooting, "for all feats of arms will go hard +with us when we deal with them; ye may well wait till the fire overcomes +them".</p> + +<p>So they do that, and shoot no more.</p> + +<p>Then the great beams out of the roof began to fall, and Skarphedinn +said—</p> + +<p>"Now must my father be dead, and I have neither heard groan nor cough +from him."</p> + +<p>Then they went to the end of the hall, and there had fallen down a +cross-beam inside which was much burnt in the middle.</p> + +<p>Kari spoke to Skarphedinn, and said—"Leap thou out here, and I will +help thee to do so, and I will leap out after thee, and then we shall +both get away if we set about it so, for hitherward blows all the +smoke."</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt leap first," said Skarphedinn; "but I will leap straightway +on thy heels."</p> + +<p>"That is not wise," says Kari, "for I can get out well enough elsewhere, +though it does not come about here."</p> + +<p>"I will not do that," says Skarphedinn; "leap thou out first, but I will +leap after thee at once."</p> + +<p>"It is bidden to every man," says Kari, "to seek to save his life while +he has a choice, and I will do so now; but still this parting of ours +will be in such wise that we shall never see one another more; for if I +leap out of the fire, I shall have no mind to leap back into the fire to +thee, and then each of us will have to fare his own way."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p> + +<p>"It joys me, brother-in-law," says Skarphedinn, "to think that if thou +gettest away thou wilt avenge me."</p> + +<p>Then Kari took up a blazing bench in his hand, and runs up along the +cross-beam, then he hurls the bench out at the roof, and it fell among +those who were outside.</p> + +<p>Then they ran away, and by that time all Kari's upper-clothing and his +hair were ablaze, then he threw himself down from the roof, and so crept +along with the smoke.</p> + +<p>Then one man said who was nearest—</p> + +<p>"Was that a man that leapt out at the roof?"</p> + +<p>"Far from it," says another; "more likely it was Skarphedinn who hurled +a firebrand at us."</p> + +<p>After that they had no more mistrust.</p> + +<p>Kari ran till he came to a stream, and then, he threw himself down into +it, and so quenched the fire on him.</p> + +<p>After that he ran along under shelter of the smoke into a hollow, and +rested him there, and that has since been called Kari's Hollow.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXIX" id="CHAPTER_CXXIX"></a>CHAPTER CXXIX.</h2> + +<h3>SKARPHEDINN'S DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>Now it is to be told of Skarphedinn that he runs out on the cross-beam +straight after Kari, but when he came to where the beam was most burnt, +then it broke down under him. Skarphedinn came down on his feet, and +tried again the second time, and climbs up the wall with a run, then +down on him came the wall-plate, and he toppled down again inside.</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn said—"Now one can see what will come;" and then he +went along the side wall. Gunnar Lambi's son leapt up on the wall and +sees Skarphedinn; he spoke thus—</p> + +<p>"Weepest thou now, Skarphedinn?"</p> + +<p>"Not so," says Skarphedinn, "but true it is that the smoke makes one's +eyes smart, but is it as it seems to me, dost thou laugh?"</p> + +<p>"So it is surely," says Gunnar, "and I have never laughed since thou +slewest Thrain on Markfleet."</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn said—"He now is a keepsake for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> thee;" and with that +he took out of his purse the jaw-tooth which he had hewn out of Thrain, +and threw it at Gunnar, and struck him in the eye, so that it started +out and lay on his cheek.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar fell down from the roof.</p> + +<p>Skarphedinn then went to his brother Grim, and they held one another by +the hand and trode the fire; but when they came to the middle of the +hall Grim fell down dead.</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn went to the end of the house, and then there was a +great crash, and down fell the roof. Skarphedinn was then shut in +between it and the gable, and so he could not stir a step thence.</p> + +<p>Flosi and his band stayed by the fire until it was broad daylight; then +came a man riding up to them. Flosi asked him for his name, but he said +his name was Geirmund, and that he was a kinsman of the sons of Sigfus.</p> + +<p>"Ye have done a mighty deed," he says.</p> + +<p>"Men," says Flosi, "will call it both a mighty deed and an ill deed, but +that can't be helped now."</p> + +<p>"How many men have lost their lives here?" asks Geirmund.</p> + +<p>"Here have died," says Flosi, "Njal and Bergthora and all their sons, +Thord Kari's son, Kari Solmund's son, but besides these we cannot say +for a surety, because we know not their names."</p> + +<p>"Thou tellest him now dead," said Geirmund, "with whom we have gossipped +this morning."</p> + +<p>"Who is that?" says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"We two," says Geirmund, "I and my neighbour Bard, met Kari Solmund's +son, and Bard gave him his horse, and his hair and his upper clothes +were burned off him."</p> + +<p>"Had he any weapons?" asks Flosi.</p> + +<p>"He had the sword 'Life-luller,'" says Geirmund, "and one edge of it was +blue with fire, and Bard and I said that it must have become soft, but +he answered thus, that he would harden it in the blood of the sons of +Sigfus or the other Burners."</p> + +<p>"What said he of Skarphedinn?" said Flosi.</p> + +<p>"He said both he and Grim were alive," answers Geirmund, "when they +parted; but he said that now they must be dead."</p> + +<p>"Thou hast told us a tale," said Flosi, "which bodes us no idle peace, +for that man hath now got away who comes next to Gunnar of Lithend in +all things; and now, ye sons of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span> Sigfus, and ye other Burners, know +this, that such a great blood feud, and hue and cry will be made about +this burning, that it will make many a man headless, but some will lose +all their goods. Now I doubt much whether any man of you, ye sons of +Sigfus, will dare to stay in his house; and that is not to be wondered +at; and so I will bid you all to come and stay with me in the east, and +let us all share one fate."</p> + +<p>They thanked him for his offer, and said they would be glad to take it.</p> + +<p>Then Modolf Kettle's son sang a song.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But one prop of Njal's house liveth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All the rest inside are burnt,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All but one,—those bounteous spenders,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sigfus' stalwart sons wrought this;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Son of Gollnir<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> now is glutted</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Vengeance for brave Hauskuld's death,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brisk flew fire through thy dwelling,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bright flames blazed above thy roof.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"We shall have to boast of something else than that Njal has been burnt +in his house," says Flosi, "for there is no glory in that."</p> + +<p>Then he went up on the gable, and Glum Hilldir's son, and some other +men. Then Glum said, "Is Skarphedinn dead, indeed?" But the others said +he must have been dead long ago.</p> + +<p>The fire sometimes blazed up fitfully and sometimes burned low, and then +they heard down in the fire beneath them that this song was sung—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Deep, I ween, ye Ogre offspring!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Devilish brood of giant birth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Would ye groan with gloomy visage</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Had the fight gone to my mind;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But my very soul it gladdens</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That my friends<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> who now boast high,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wrought not this foul deed, their glory,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Save with footsteps filled with gore.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Can Skarphedinn, think ye, have sung this song dead or alive?" said +Grani Gunnar's son.</p> + +<p>"I will go into no guesses about that," says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"We will look for Skarphedinn," says Grani, "and the other men who have +been here burnt inside the house."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> + +<p>"That shall not be," says Flosi, "it is just like such foolish men as +thou art, now that men will be gathering force all over the country; and +when they do come, I trow the very same man who now lingers will be so +scared that he will not know which way to run; and now my counsel is +that we all ride away as quickly as ever we can."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi went hastily to his horse and all his men.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to Geirmund—</p> + +<p>"Is Ingialld, thinkest thou, at home, at the Springs?"</p> + +<p>Geirmund said he thought he must be at home.</p> + +<p>"There now is a man," says Flosi, "who has broken his oath with us and +all good faith."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus—"What course will ye now take +with Ingialld; will ye forgive him, or shall we now fall on him and slay +him?"</p> + +<p>They all answered that they would rather fall on him and slay him.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi jumped on his horse, and all the others, and they rode away. +Flosi rode first, and shaped his course for Rangriver, and up along the +river bank.</p> + +<p>Then he saw a man riding down on the other bank of the river, and he +knew that there was Ingialld of the Springs. Flosi calls out to him. +Ingialld halted and turned down to the river bank; and Flosi said to +him—</p> + +<p>"Thou hast broken faith with us, and hast forfeited life and goods. Here +now are the sons of Sigfus, who are eager to slay thee; but methinks +thou hast fallen into a strait, and I will give thee thy life if thou +will hand over to me the right to make my own award."</p> + +<p>"I will sooner ride to meet Kari," said Ingialld, "than grant thee the +right to utter thine own award, and my answer to the sons of Sigfus is +this, that I shall be no whit more afraid of them than they are of me."</p> + +<p>"Bide thou there," says Flosi, "if thou art not a coward, for I will +send thee a gift."</p> + +<p>"I will bide of a surety," says Ingialld.</p> + +<p>Thorstein Kolbein's son, Flosi's brother's son, rode up by his side and +had a spear in his hand, he was one of the bravest of men, and the most +worthy of those who were with Flosi.</p> + +<p>Flosi snatched the spear from him, and launched it at Ingialld, and it +fell on his left side, and passed through the shield just below the +handle, and clove it all asunder, but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> spear passed on into his +thigh just above the knee-pan, and so on into the saddle-tree, and there +stood fast.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to Ingialld—</p> + +<p>"Did it touch thee?"</p> + +<p>"It touched me sure enough," says Ingialld, "but I call this a scratch +and not a wound."</p> + +<p>Then Ingialld plucked the spear out of the wound, and said to Flosi—</p> + +<p>"Now bide thou, if thou art not a milksop."</p> + +<p>Then he launched the spear back over the river. Flosi sees that the +spear is coming straight for his middle, and then he backs his horse out +of the way, but the spear flew in front of Flosi's horse, and missed +him, but it struck Thorstein's middle, and down he fell at once dead off +his horse.</p> + +<p>Now Ingialld tuns for the wood, and they could not get at him.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to his men—</p> + +<p>"Now have we gotten manscathe, and now we may know, when such things +befall us, into what a luckless state we have got. Now it is my counsel +that we ride up to Threecorner ridge; thence we shall be able to see +where men ride all over the country, for by this time they will have +gathered together a great band, and they will think that we have ridden +east to Fleetlithe from Threecorner ridge; and thence they will think +that we are riding north up on the fell, and so east to our own country, +and thither the greater part of the folk will ride after us; but some +will ride the coast road east to Selialandsmull, and yet they will think +there is less hope of finding us thitherward, but I will now take +counsel for all of us, and my plan is to ride up into Threecorner-fell, +and bide there till three suns have risen and set in heaven."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXX" id="CHAPTER_CXXX"></a>CHAPTER CXXX.</h2> + +<h3>OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Now it is to be told of Kari Solmund's son that he fared away from that +hollow in which he had rested himself until he met Bard, and those words +passed between them which Geirmund had told.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thence Kari rode to Mord, and told him the tidings, and he was greatly +grieved.</p> + +<p>Kari said there were other things more befitting a man than to weep for +them dead, and bade him rather gather folk and come to Holtford.</p> + +<p>After that he rode into Thursodale to Hjallti Skeggi's son, and as he +went along Thurso water, he sees a man riding fast behind him. Kari +waited for the man, and knows that he was Ingialld of the Springs. He +sees that he is very bloody about the thigh; and Kari asked Ingialld who +had wounded him, and he told him.</p> + +<p>"Where met ye two?" says Kari.</p> + +<p>"By Rangwater side," says Ingialld, "and he threw a spear over at me."</p> + +<p>"Didst thou aught for it?" asks Kari.</p> + +<p>"I threw the spear back," says Ingialld, "and they said that it met a +man, and he was dead at once."</p> + +<p>"Knowest thou not," said Kari, "who the man was?"</p> + +<p>"Methought he was like Thorstein Flosi's brother's son," says Ingialld.</p> + +<p>"Good luck go with thy hand," says Kari.</p> + +<p>After that they rode both together to see Hjallti Skeggi's son, and told +him the tidings. He took these deeds ill, and said there was the +greatest need to ride after them and slay them all.</p> + +<p>After that he gathered men and roused the whole country; now he and Kari +and Ingialld ride with this band to meet Mord Valgard's son, and they +found him at Holtford, and Mord was there waiting for them with a very +great company. Then they parted the hue and cry; some fared the straight +road by the east coast to Selialandsmull, but some went up to +Fleetlithe, and other-some the higher road thence to Threecorner ridge, +and so down into Godaland. Thence they rode north to Sand. Some too rode +as far as Fishwaters, and there turned back. Some the coast road east to +Holt, and told Thorgeir the tidings, and asked whether they had not +ridden by there.</p> + +<p>"This is how it is," said Thorgeir, "though I am not a mighty chief, yet +Flosi would take other counsel than to ride under my eyes, when he has +slain Njal, my father's brother, and my cousins; and there is nothing +left for any of you but e'en to turn back again, for ye should have +hunted longer nearer home; but tell this to Kari, that he must ride +hither to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> me and be here with me if he will; but though he will not +come hither east, still I will look after his farm at Dyrholms if he +will, but tell him too that I will stand by him and ride with him to the +Althing. And he shall also know this, that we brothers are the next of +kin to follow up the feud, and we mean so to take up the suit, that +outlawry shall follow and after that revenge, man for man, if we can +bring it about; but I do not go with you now, because I know naught will +come of it, and they will now be as wary as they can of themselves."</p> + +<p>Now they ride back, and all met at Hof and talked there among +themselves, and said that they had gotten disgrace since they had not +found them. Mord said that was not so. Then many men were eager that +they should fare to Fleetlithe, and pull down the homesteads of all +those who had been at those deeds, but still they listened for Mord's +utterance.</p> + +<p>"That," he said, "would be the greatest folly." They asked why he said +that.</p> + +<p>"Because," he said, "if their houses stand, they will be sure to visit +them to see their wives; and then, as time rolls on, we may hunt them +down there; and now ye shall none of you doubt that I will be true to +thee Kari, and to all of you, and in all counsel, for I have to answer +for myself."</p> + +<p>Hjallti bade him do as he said. Then Hjallti bade Kari to come and stay +with him; he said he would ride thither first. They told him what +Thorgeir had offered him, and he said he would make use of that offer +afterwards, but said his heart told him it would be well if there were +many such.</p> + +<p>After that the whole band broke up.</p> + +<p>Flosi and his men saw all these tidings from where they were on the +fell; and Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"Now we will take our horses and ride away, for now it will be some +good."</p> + +<p>The sons of Sigfus asked whether it would be worth while to get to their +homes and tell the news.</p> + +<p>"It must be Mord's meaning," says Flosi, "that ye will visit your wives; +and my guess is, that his plan is to let your houses stand unsacked; but +my plan is that not a man shall part from the other, but all ride east +with me."</p> + +<p>So every man took that counsel, and then they all rode east and north of +the Jokul, and so on till they came to Swinefell.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span></p> + +<p>Flosi sent at once men out to get in stores, so that nothing might fall +short.</p> + +<p>Flosi never spoke about the deed, but no fear was found in him, and he +was at home the whole winter till Yule was over.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXI" id="CHAPTER_CXXXI"></a>CHAPTER CXXXI.</h2> + +<h3>NJAL'S AND BERGTHORA'S BONES FOUND.</h3> + + +<p>Kari bade Hjallti to go and search for Njal's bones, "for all will +believe in what thou sayest and thinkest about them".</p> + +<p>Hjallti said he would be most willing to bear Njal's bones to church; so +they rode thence fifteen men. They rode east over Thurso-water, and +called on men there to come with them till they had one hundred men, +reckoning Njal's neighbours.</p> + +<p>They came to Bergthorsknoll at mid-day.</p> + +<p>Hjallti asked Kari under what part of the house Njal might be lying, but +Kari showed them to the spot, and there was a great heap of ashes to dig +away. There they found the hide underneath, and it was as though it were +shrivelled with the fire. They raised up the hide, and lo! they were +unburnt under it. All praised God for that, and thought it was a great +token.</p> + +<p>Then the boy was taken up who had lain between them, and of him a finger +was burnt off which he had stretched out from under the hide.</p> + +<p>Njal was borne out, and so was Bergthora, and then all men went to see +their bodies.</p> + +<p>Then Hjallti said—"What like look to you these bodies?"</p> + +<p>They answered, "We will wait for thy utterance".</p> + +<p>Then Hjallti said, "I shall speak what I say with all freedom of speech. +The body of Bergthora looks as it was likely she would look, and still +fair; but Njal's body and visage seem to me so bright that I have never +seen any dead man's body so bright as this."</p> + +<p>They all said they thought so too.</p> + +<p>Then they sought for Skarphedinn, and the men of the household showed +them to the spot where Flosi and his men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> heard the song sung, and there +the roof had fallen down by the gable, and there Hjallti said that they +should look. Then they did so, and found Skarphedinn's body there, and +he had stood up hard by the gable-wall, and his legs were burnt off him +right up to the knees, but all the rest of him was unburnt. He had +bitten through his under lip, his eyes were wide open and not swollen +nor starting out of his head; he had driven his axe into the gable-wall +so hard that it had gone in up to the middle of the blade, and that was +why it was not softened.</p> + +<p>After that the axe was broken out of the wall, and Hjallti took up the +axe, and said—</p> + +<p>"This is a rare weapon, and few would be able to wield it."</p> + +<p>"I see a man," said Kari, "who shall bear the axe."</p> + +<p>"Who is that?" says Hjallti.</p> + +<p>"Thorgeir Craggeir," says Kari, "he whom I now think to be the greatest +man in all their family."</p> + +<p>Then Skarphedinn was stripped of his clothes, for they were unburnt; he +had laid his hands in a cross, and the right hand uppermost. They found +marks on him; one between his shoulders and the other on his chest, and +both were branded in the shape of a cross, and men thought that he must +have burnt them in himself.</p> + +<p>All men said that they thought that it was better to be near Skarphedinn +dead than they weened, for no man was afraid of him.</p> + +<p>They sought for the bones of Grim, and found them in the midst of the +hall. They found, too, there, right over-against him under the side +wall, Thord Freedmanson; but in the weaving-room they found Saevuna the +carline, and three men more. In all they found there the bones of nine +souls. Now they carried the bodies to the church, and then Hjallti rode +home and Kari with him. A swelling came on Ingialld's leg, and then he +fared to Hjallti, and was healed there, but still he limped ever +afterwards.</p> + +<p>Kari rode to Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. By that time Thorhalla +was come home, and she had already told the tidings. Asgrim took Kari by +both hands, and bade him be there all that year. Kari said so it should +be.</p> + +<p>Asgrim asked besides all the folk who had been in the house at +Bergthorsknoll to stay with him. Kari said that was well offered, and +said he would take it on their behalf.</p> + +<p>Then all the folk were flitted thither.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span></p> + +<p>Thorhall Asgrim's son was so startled when he was told that his +foster-father Njal was dead, and that he had been burnt in his house, +that he swelled all over, and a stream of blood burst out of both his +ears, and could not be staunched, and he fell into a swoon, and then it +was staunched.</p> + +<p>After that he stood up, and said he had behaved like a coward, "but I +would that I might be able to avenge this which has befallen me on some +of those who burnt him".</p> + +<p>But when others said that no one would think this a shame to him, he +said he could not stop the mouths of the people from talking about it.</p> + +<p>Asgrim asked Kari what trust and help he thought he might look for from +those east of the rivers. Kari said that Mord Valgard's son, and +Hjallti, Skeggi's son, would yield him all the help they could, and so, +too, would Thorgeir Craggeir, and all those brothers.</p> + +<p>Asgrim said that was great strength.</p> + +<p>"What strength shall we have from thee?" says Kari.</p> + +<p>"All that I can give," says Asgrim, "and I will lay down my life on it."</p> + +<p>"So do," says Kari.</p> + +<p>"I have also," says Asgrim, "brought Gizur the white into the suit, and +have asked his advice how we shall set about it."</p> + +<p>"What advice did he give?" asks Kari.</p> + +<p>"He counselled," answers Asgrim, "'that we should hold us quite still +till spring, but then ride east and set the suit on foot against Flosi +for the manslaughter of Helgi, and summon the neighbours from their +homes, and give due notice at the Thing of the suits for the burning, +and summon the same neighbours there too on the inquest before the +court. I asked Gizur who should plead the suit for manslaughter, but he +said that Mord should plead it whether he liked it or not, and now,' he +went on, 'it shall fall most heavily on him that up to this time all the +suits he has undertaken have had the worst ending. Kari shall also be +wroth whenever he meets Mord, and so, if he be made to fear on one side, +and has to look to me on the other, then he will undertake the duty.'"</p> + +<p>Then Kari said, "We will follow thy counsel as long as we can, and thou +shalt lead us".</p> + +<p>It is to be told of Kari that he could not sleep of nights. Asgrim woke +up one night and heard that Kari was awake, and Asgrim said—"Is it that +thou canst not sleep at night?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Kari sang this song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Bender of the bow of battle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sleep will not my eyelids seal,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Still my murdered messmates' bidding</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Haunts my mind the livelong night;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Since the men their brands abusing</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burned last autumn guileless Njal,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Burned him house and home together,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mindful am I of my hurt.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Kari spoke of no men so often as of Njal and Skarphedinn, and Bergthora +and Helgi. He never abused his foes, and never threatened them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXII" id="CHAPTER_CXXXII"></a>CHAPTER CXXXII.</h2> + +<h3>FLOSI'S DREAM.</h3> + + +<p>One night it so happened that Flosi struggled much in his sleep. Glum +Hilldir's son woke him up, and then Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"Call me Kettle of the Mark."</p> + +<p>Kettle came thither, and Flosi said, "I will tell thee my dream".</p> + +<p>"I am ready to hear it," says Kettle.</p> + +<p>"I dreamt," says Flosi, "that methought I stood below Loom-nip, and went +out and looked up to the Nip, and all at once it opened, and a man came +out of the Nip, and he was clad in goatskins, and had an iron staff in +his hand. He called, as he walked, on many of my men, some sooner and +some later, and named them by name. First he called Grim the Red my +kinsman, and Arni Kol's son. Then methought something strange followed, +methought he called Eyjolf Bolverk's son, and Ljot son of Hall of the +Side, and some six men more. Then he held his peace awhile. After that +he called five men of our band, and among them were the sons of Sigfus, +thy brothers; then he called other six men, and among them were Lambi, +and Modolf, and Glum. Then he called three men. Last of all he called +Gunnar Lambi's son, and Kol Thorstein's son. After that he came up to +me; I asked him 'what news'. He said he had tidings enough to tell. Then +I asked him for his name, but he called himself Irongrim. I asked him +whither he was going; he said he had to fare to the Althing. 'What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> +shalt thou do there?' I said. 'First I shall challenge the inquest,' he +answers, 'and then the courts, then clear the field for fighters.' After +that he sang this song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"'Soon a man death's snake-strokes dealing</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">High shall lift his head on earth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Here amid the dust low rolling</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Battered brainpans men shall see:</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now upon the hills in hurly</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Buds the blue steel's harvest bright;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soon the bloody dew of battle</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thigh-deep through the ranks shall rise.'</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>"Then he shouted with such a mighty shout that methought everything near +shook, and dashed down his staff, and there was a mighty crash. Then he +went back into the fell, but fear clung to me; and now I wish thee to +tell me what thou thinkest this dream is."</p> + +<p>"It is my foreboding," says Kettle, "that all those who were called must +be 'fey'. It seems to me good counsel that we tell this dream to no man +just now."</p> + +<p>Flosi said so it should be. Now the winter passes away till Yule was +over. Then Flosi said to his men—</p> + +<p>"Now I mean that we should fare from home, for methinks we shall not be +able to have an idle peace. Now we shall fare to pray for help, and now +that will come true which I told you, that we should have to bow the +knee to many ere this quarrel were ended."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXIII" id="CHAPTER_CXXXIII"></a>CHAPTER CXXXIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF FLOSI'S JOURNEY AND HIS ASKING FOR HELP.</h3> + + +<p>After that they busked them from home all together. Flosi was in +long-hose because he meant to go on foot, and then he knew that it would +seem less hard to the others to walk.</p> + +<p>Then they fared from home to Knappvale, but the evening after to +Broadwater, and then to Calffell, thence by Bjornness to Hornfirth, +thence to Staffell in Lon, and then to Thvattwater to Hall of the Side.</p> + +<p>Flosi had to wife Steinvora, his daughter.</p> + +<p>Hall gave them a very hearty welcome, and Flosi said to Hall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"I will ask thee, father-in-law, that thou wouldst ride to the Thing +with me with all thy Thingmen."</p> + +<p>"Now," answered Hall, "it has turned out as the saw says, 'but a short +while is hand fain of blow'; and yet it is one and the same man in thy +band who now hangs his head, and who then goaded thee on to the worst of +deeds when it was still undone. But my help I am bound to lend thee in +all such places as I may."</p> + +<p>"What counsel dost thou give me," said Flosi, "in the strait in which I +now am?"</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt fare," said Hall, "north, right up to Weaponfirth, and ask +all the chiefs for aid, and thou wilt yet need it all before the Thing +is over."</p> + +<p>Flosi stayed there three nights, and rested him, and fared thence east +to Geitahellna, and so to Berufirth; there they were the night. Thence +they fared east to Broaddale in Haydale. There Hallbjorn the strong +dwelt. He had to wife Oddny the sister of Saurli Broddhelgi's son, and +Flosi had a hearty welcome there.</p> + +<p>Hallbjorn asked how far north among the firths Flosi meant to go. He +said he meant to go as far as Weaponfirth. Then Flosi took a purse of +money from his belt, and said he would give it to Hallbjorn. He took the +money, but yet said he had no claim on Flosi for gifts, but still I +would be glad to know in what thou wilt that I repay thee.</p> + +<p>"I have no need of money," says Flosi, "but I wish thou wouldst ride to +the Thing with me, and stand by me in my quarrel, but still I have no +ties or kinship to tell towards thee."</p> + +<p>"I will grant thee that," said Hallbjorn, "to ride to the Thing with +thee, and to stand by thee in thy quarrel as I would by my brother."</p> + +<p>Flosi thanked him, and Hallbjorn asked much about the Burning, but they +told him all about it at length.</p> + +<p>Thence Flosi fared to Broaddale's heath, and so to Hrafnkelstede, there +dwelt Hrafnkell, the son of Thorir, the son of Hrafnkell Raum. Flosi had +a hearty welcome there, and sought for help and a promise to ride to the +Thing from Hrafnkell, but he stood out a long while, though the end of +it was that he gave his word that his son Thorir should ride with all +their Thingmen, and yield him such help as the other priests of the same +district.</p> + +<p>Flosi thanked him and fared away to Bersastede. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> Holmstein son of +Bersi the wise dwelt, and he gave Flosi a very hearty welcome. Flosi +begged him for help. Holmstein said he had been long in his debt for +help.</p> + +<p>Thence they fared to Waltheofstede—there Saurli Broddhelgi's son, +Bjarni's brother, dwelt. He had to wife Thordisa, a daughter of Gudmund +the powerful, of Modruvale. They had a hearty welcome there. But next +morning Flosi raised the question with Saurli that he should ride to the +Althing with him, and bid him money for it.</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell about that," says Saurli, "so long as I do not know on +which side my father-in-law Gudmund the powerful stands, for I mean to +stand by him on whichever side he stands."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Flosi, "I see by thy answer that a woman rules in this +house."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi stood up and bade his men take their upper clothing and +weapons, and then they fared away, and got no help there. So they fared +below Lagarfleet and over the heath to Njardwick; there two brothers +dwelt, Thorkel the allwise, and Thorwalld his brother; they were sons of +Kettle, the son of Thidrandi the wise, the son of Kettle rumble, son of +Thorir Thidrandi. The mother of Thorkel the allwise and Thorwalld was +Yngvillda, daughter of Thorkel the wise. Flosi got a hearty welcome +there; he told those brothers plainly of his errand, and asked for their +help; but they put him off until he gave three marks of silver to each +of them for their aid; then they agreed to stand by Flosi.</p> + +<p>Their mother Yngvillda was by when they gave their words to ride to the +Althing, and wept. Thorkel asked why she wept; and she answered—</p> + +<p>"I dreamt that thy brother Thorwalld was clad in a red kirtle, and +methought it was so tight as though it were sewn on him; methought too +that he wore red hose on his legs and feet, and bad shoethongs were +twisted round them; methought it ill to see when I knew he was so +uncomfortable, but I could do naught for him."</p> + +<p>They laughed and told her she had lost her wits, and said her babble +should not stand in the way of their ride to the Thing.</p> + +<p>Flosi thanked them kindly, and fared thence to Weaponfirth and came to +Hof. There dwelt Bjarni Broddhelgi's son. Bjarni took Flosi by both +hands, and Flosi bade Bjarni money for his help.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Never," says Bjarni, "have I sold my manhood or help for bribes, but +now that thou art in need of help, I will do thee a good turn for +friendship's sake, and ride to the Thing with thee, and stand by thee as +I would by my brother."</p> + +<p>"Then thou hast thrown a great load of debt on my hands," said Flosi, +"but still I looked for as much from thee."</p> + +<p>Thence Flosi and his men fared to Crosswick. Thorkel Geiti's son was a +great friend of his. Flosi told him his errand, and Thorkel said it was +but his duty to stand by him in every way in his power, and not to part +from his quarrel. Thorkel gave Flosi good gifts at parting.</p> + +<p>Thence they fared north to Weaponfirth and up into the Fleetdale +country, and turned in as guests at Holmstein's, the son of Bersi the +wise. Flosi told him that all had backed him in his need and business +well, save Saurli Broddhelgi's son. Holmstein said the reason of that +was that he was not a man of strife. Holmstein gave Flosi good gifts.</p> + +<p>Flosi fared up Fleetdale, and thence south on the fell across Oxenlava +and down Swinehorndale, and so out by Alftafirth to the west, and did +not stop till he came to Thvattwater to his father-in-law Hall's house. +There he stayed half a month, and his men with him and rested him.</p> + +<p>Flosi asked Hall what counsel he would now give him, and what he should +do next, and whether he should change his plans.</p> + +<p>"My counsel," said Hall, "is this, that thou goest home to thy house, +and the sons of Sigfus with thee, but that they send men to set their +homesteads in order. But first of all fare home, and when ye ride to the +Thing, ride all together, and do not scatter your band. Then let the +sons of Sigfus go to see their wives on the way. I too will ride to the +Thing, and Ljot my son with all our Thingmen, and stand by thee with +such force as I can gather to me."</p> + +<p>Flosi thanked him, and Hall gave him good gifts at parting.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi went away from Thvattwater, and nothing is to be told of his +journey till he comes home to Swinefell. There he stayed at home the +rest of the winter, and all the summer right up to the Thing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXIV" id="CHAPTER_CXXXIV"></a>CHAPTER CXXXIV.</h2> + +<h3>OF THORHALL AND KARI.</h3> + + +<p>Thorhall Asgrim's son, and Kari Solmund's son, rode one day to Mossfell +to see Gizur the white; he took them with both hands, and there they +were at his house a very long while. Once it happened as they and Gizur +talked of Njal's burning, that Gizur said it was very great luck that +Kari had got away. Then a song came into Kari's mouth.</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I who whetted helmet-hewer,<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I who oft have burnished brand,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From the fray went all unwilling</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When Njal's rooftree crackling roared;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Out I leapt when bands of spearmen</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lighted there a blaze of flame!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Listen men unto my moaning,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mark the telling of my grief.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Then Gizur said, "It must be forgiven thee that thou art mindful, and so +we will talk no more about it just now".</p> + +<p>Kari says that he will ride home; and Gizur said "I will now make a +clean breast of my counsel to thee. Thou shalt not ride home, but still +thou shalt ride away, and east under Eyjafell, to see Thorgeir Craggeir, +and Thorleif crow. They shall ride from the east with thee. They are the +next of kin in the suit, and with them shall ride Thorgrim the big, +their brother. Ye shall ride to Mord Valgard's son's house, and tell him +this message from me, that he shall take up the suit for manslaughter +for Helgi Njal's son against Flosi. But if he utters any words against +this, then shalt thou make thyself most wrathful, and make believe as +though thou wouldst let thy axe fall on his head; and in the second +place, thou shalt assure him of my wrath if he shows any ill will. Along +with that shalt thou say, that I will send and fetch away my daughter +Thorkatla, and make her come home to me; but that he will not abide, for +he loves her as the very eyes in his head."</p> + +<p>Kari thanked him for his counsel. Kari spoke nothing of help to him, for +he thought he would show himself his good friend in this as in other +things.</p> + +<p>Thence Kari rode east over the rivers, and so to Fleetlithe,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> and east +across Markfleet, and so on to Selialandsmull. So they ride east to +Holt.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir welcomed them with the greatest kindliness. He told them of +Flosi's journey, and how great help he had got in the east firths.</p> + +<p>Kari said it was no wonder that he, who had to answer for so much, +should ask for help for himself.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir said, "The better things go for them, the worse it shall +be for them; we will only follow them up so much the harder".</p> + +<p>Kari told Thorgeir of Gizur's advice. After that they ride from the east +to Rangrivervale to Mord Valgard's son's house. He gave them a hearty +welcome. Kari told him the message of Gizur his father-in-law. He was +slow to take the duty on him, and said it was harder to go to law with +Flosi than with any other ten men.</p> + +<p>"Thou behavest now as he [Gizur] thought," said Kari; "for thou art a +bad bargain in every way; thou art both a coward and heartless, but the +end of this shall be as is fitting, that Thorkatla shall fare home to +her father."</p> + +<p>She busked her at once, and said she had long been "boun" to part from +Mord. Then he changed his mood and his words quickly, and begged off +their wrath, and took the suit upon him at once.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Kari, "thou hast taken the suit upon thee, see that thou +pleadest it without fear, for thy life lies on it."</p> + +<p>Mord said he would lay his whole heart on it to do this well and +manfully.</p> + +<p>After that Mord summoned to him nine neighbours—they were all near +neighbours to the spot where the deed was done. Then Mord took Thorgeir +by the hand and named two witnesses to bear witness, "that Thorgeir +Thorir's son hands me over a suit for manslaughter against Flosi Thord's +son, to plead it for the slaying of Helgi Njal's son, with all those +proofs which have to follow the suit. Thou handest over to me this suit +to plead and to settle, and to enjoy all rights in it, as though I were +the rightful next of kin. Thou handest it over to me by law, and I take +it from thee by law."</p> + +<p>A second time Mord named his witnesses, "to bear witness," said he, +"that I give notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's +son, for that he dealt Helgi Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow +wound, which proved a death wound; and from which Helgi got his death. I +give notice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> of this before five witnesses"—here he named them all by +name—"I give this lawful notice, I give notice of a suit which Thorgeir +Thorir's son has handed over to me."</p> + +<p>Again he named witnesses to "bear witness that I give notice of a brain, +of a body, or a marrow wound against Flosi Thord's son, for that wound +which proved a death wound, but Helgi got his death therefrom on such +and such a spot, when Flosi Thord's son first rushed on Helgi Njal's son +with an assault laid down by law. I give notice of this before five +neighbours "—then he named them all by name—"I give this lawful +notice. I give notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed +over to me."</p> + +<p>Then Mord named his witnesses again "to bear witness," said he, "that I +summon these nine neighbours who dwell nearest the spot"—here he named +them all by name—"to ride to the Althing, and to sit on the inquest to +find whether Flosi Thord's son rushed with an assault laid down by law +on Helgi Njal's son, on that spot where Flosi Thord's son dealt Helgi +Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death +wound, and from which Helgi got his death. I call on you to utter all +those words which ye are bound to find by law, and which I shall call on +you to utter before the court, and which belong to this suit; I call +upon you by a lawful summons—I call on you so that ye may yourselves +hear—I call on you in the suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed +over to me."</p> + +<p>Again Mord named his witnesses, "to bear witness, that I summon these +nine neighbours who dwell nearest to the spot to ride to the Althing, +and to sit on an inquest to find whether Flosi Thord's son wounded Helgi +Njal's son with a brain, or body, or marrow wound, which proved a death +wound, and from which Helgi got his death, on that spot where Flosi +Thord's son first rushed on Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid down +by law. I call on you to utter all those words which ye are bound to +find by law, and which I shall call on you to utter before the court, +and which belong to this suit I call upon you by a lawful summons—I +call on you so that ye may yourselves hear—I call on you in the suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over to me."</p> + +<p>Then Mord said—</p> + +<p>"Now is the suit set on foot as ye asked, and now I will pray thee, +Thorgeir Craggeir, to come to me when thou ridest to the Thing, and then +let us both ride together, each with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> our band, and keep as close as we +can together, for my band shall be ready by the very beginning of the +Thing, and I will be true to you in all things."</p> + +<p>They showed themselves well pleased at that, and this was fast bound by +oaths, that no man should sunder himself from another till Kari willed +it, and that each of them should lay down his life for the other's life. +Now they parted with friendship, and settled to meet again at the Thing.</p> + +<p>Now Thorgeir rides back east, but Kari rides west over the rivers till +he came to Tongue, to Asgrim's house. He welcomed them wonderfully well, +and Kari told Asgrim all Gizur the white's plan, and of the setting on +foot of the suit.</p> + +<p>"I looked for as much from him," says Asgrim, "that he would behave +well, and now he has shown it."</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim went on—</p> + +<p>"What heardest thou from the east of Flosi?"</p> + +<p>"He went east all the way to Weaponfirth," answers Kari, "and nearly all +the chiefs have promised to ride with him to the Althing, and to help +him. They look, too, for help from the Reykdalesmen, and the men of +Lightwater, and the Axefirthers."</p> + +<p>Then they talked much about it, and so the time passes away up to the +Althing.</p> + +<p>Thorhall Asgrim's son took such a hurt in his leg that the foot above +the ankle was as big and swollen as a woman's thigh, and he could not +walk save with a staff. He was a man tall in growth, and strong and +powerful, dark of hue in hair and skin, measured and guarded in his +speech, and yet hot and hasty tempered. He was the third greatest lawyer +in all Iceland.</p> + +<p>Now the time comes that men should ride from home to the Thing, Asgrim +said to Kari—</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt ride at the very beginning of the Thing, and fit up our +booths, and my son Thorhall with thee. Thou wilt treat him best and +kindest, as he is footlame, but we shall stand in the greatest need of +him at this Thing. With you two, twenty men more shall ride."</p> + +<p>After that they made ready for their journey, and then they rode to the +Thing, and set up their booths, and fitted them out well.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXV" id="CHAPTER_CXXXV"></a>CHAPTER CXXXV.</h2> + +<h3>OF FLOSI AND THE BURNERS.</h3> + + +<p>Flosi rode from the east and those hundred and twenty men who had been +at the Burning with him. They rode till they came to Fleetlithe. Then +the sons of Sigfus looked after their homesteads and tarried there that +day, but at even they rode west over Thurso-water, and slept there that +night. But next morning early they saddled their horses and rode off on +their way.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to his men—</p> + +<p>"Now will we ride to Tongue to Asgrim to breakfast, and trample down his +pride a little."</p> + +<p>They said that were well done. They rode till they had a short way to +Tongue. Asgrim stood out of doors, and some men with him. They see the +band as soon as ever they could do so from the house. Then Asgrim's men +said—</p> + +<p>"There must be Thorgeir Craggeir."</p> + +<p>"Not he," said Asgrim. "I think so all the more because these men fare +with laughter and wantonness; but such kinsmen of Njal as Thorgeir is +would not smile before some vengeance is taken for the Burning, and I +will make another guess, and maybe ye will think that unlikely. My +meaning is, that it must be Flosi and the Burners with him, and they +must mean to humble us with insults, and we will now go indoors all of +us."</p> + +<p>Now they do so, and Asgrim made them sweep the house and put up the +hangings, and set the boards and put meat on them. He made them place +stools along each bench all down the room.</p> + +<p>Flosi rode into the "town," and bade men alight from their horses and go +in. They did so, and Flosi and his men went into the hall, Asgrim sate +on the cross-bench on the dais. Flosi looked at the benches and saw that +all was made ready that men needed to have. Asgrim gave them no +greeting, but said to Flosi—</p> + +<p>"The boards are set, so that meat may be free to those that need it."</p> + +<p>Flosi sat down to the board, and all his men; but they laid their arms +up against the wainscot. They sat on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> stools who found no room on +the benches; but four men stood with weapons just before where Flosi sat +while they ate.</p> + +<p>Asgrim kept his peace during the meat, but was as red to look on as +blood.</p> + +<p>But when they were full, some women cleared away the boards, while +others brought in water to wash their hands. Flosi was in no greater +hurry than if he had been at home. There lay a pole-axe in the corner of +the dais. Asgrim caught it up with both hands, and ran up to the rail at +the edge of the dais, and made a blow at Flosi's head. Glum Hilldir's +son happened to see what he was about to do, and sprang up at once, and +got hold of the axe above Asgrim's hands, and turned the edge at once on +Asgrim; for Glum was very strong. Then many more men ran up and seized +Asgrim, but Flosi said that no man was to do Asgrim any harm, "for we +put him to too hard a trial, and he only did what he ought, and showed +in that that he had a big heart".</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to Asgrim, "Here, now, we shall part safe and sound, and +meet at the Thing, and there begin our quarrel over again".</p> + +<p>"So it will be," says Asgrim; "and I would wish that, ere this Thing be +over, ye should have to take in some of your sails."</p> + +<p>Flosi answered him never a word, and then they went out, and mounted +their horses, and rode away. They rode till they came to Laugarwater, +and were there that night; but next morning they rode on to Baitvale, +and baited their horses there, and there many bands rode to meet them. +There was Hall of the Side, and all the Eastfirthers. Flosi greeted them +well, and told them of his journeys and dealings with Asgrim. Many +praised him for that, and said such things were bravely done.</p> + +<p>Then Hall said, "I look on this in another way than ye do, for methinks +it was a foolish prank; they were sure to bear in mind their griefs, +even though they were not reminded of them anew; but those men who try +others so heavily must look for all evil".</p> + +<p>It was seen from Hall's way that he thought this deed far too strong. +They rode thence all together, till they came to the Upper Field, and +there they set their men in array, and rode down on the Thing.</p> + +<p>Flosi had made them fit out Byrgir's booth ere he rode to the Thing; but +the Eastfirthers rode to their own booths.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXVI" id="CHAPTER_CXXXVI"></a>CHAPTER CXXXVI.</h2> + +<h3>OF THORGEIR CRAGGEIR.</h3> + + +<p>Thorgeir Craggeir rode from the east with much people. His brothers were +with him, Thorleif crow and Thorgrim the big. They came to Hof, to Mord +Valgard's son's house, and bided there till he was ready. Mord had +gathered every man who could bear arms, and they could see nothing about +him but that he was most steadfast in everything, and now they rode +until they came west across the rivers. Then they waited for Hjallti +Skeggi's son. He came after they had waited a short while, and they +greeted him well, and rode afterwards all together till they came to +Reykia in Bishop's-tongue, and bided there for Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, +and he came to meet them there. Then they rode west across Bridgewater. +Then Asgrim told them all that had passed between him and Flosi; and +Thorgeir said—</p> + +<p>"I would that we might try their bravery ere the Thing closes."</p> + +<p>They rode until they came to Baitvale. There Gizur the white came to +meet them with a very great company, and they fell to talking together. +Then they rode to the Upper Field, and drew up all their men in array +there, and so rode to the Thing.</p> + +<p>Flosi and his men all took to their arms, and it was within an ace that +they would fall to blows. But Asgrim and his friends and their followers +would have no hand in it, and rode to their booths; and now all was +quiet that day, so that they had naught to do with one another. Thither +were come chiefs from all the Quarters of the land; there had never been +such a crowded Thing before, that men could call to mind.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXVII" id="CHAPTER_CXXXVII"></a>CHAPTER CXXXVII.</h2> + +<h3>OF EYJOLF BOLVERK'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>There was a man named Eyjolf. He was the son of Bolverk, the son of +Eyjolf the guileful, of Otterdale. Eyjolf was a man of great rank, and +best skilled in law of all men, so that some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> said he was the third best +lawyer in Iceland. He was the fairest in face of all men, tall and +strong, and there was the making of a great chief in him. He was greedy +of money, like the rest of his kinsfolk.</p> + +<p>One day Flosi went to the booth of Bjarni Broddhelgi's son. Bjarni took +him by both hands, and sat Flosi down by his side. They talked about +many things, and at last Flosi said to Bjarni—</p> + +<p>"What counsel shall we now take?"</p> + +<p>"I think," answered Bjarni, "that it is now hard to say what to do, but +the wisest thing seems to me to go round and ask for help, since they +are drawing strength together against you. I will also ask thee, Flosi, +whether there be any very good lawyer in your band; for now there are +but two courses left; one to ask if they will take an atonement, and +that is not a bad choice, but the other is to defend the suit at law, if +there be any defence to it, though that will seem to be a bold course; +and this is why I think this last ought to be chosen, because ye have +hitherto fared high and mightily, and it is unseemly now to take a lower +course."</p> + +<p>"As to thy asking about lawyers," said Flosi, "I will answer thee at +once that there is no such man in our band; nor do I know where to look +for one except it be Thorkel Geiti's son, thy kinsman."</p> + +<p>"We must not reckon on him," said Bjarni, "for though he knows something +of law, he is far too wary, and no man need hope to have him as his +shield; but he will back thee as well as any man who backs thee best, +for he has a stout heart; besides, I must tell thee that it will be that +man's bane who undertakes the defence in this suit for the Burning, but +I have no mind that this should befall my kinsman Thorkel, so ye must +turn your eyes elsewhither."</p> + +<p>Flosi said he knew nothing about who were the best lawyers.</p> + +<p>"There is a man named Eyjolf," said Bjarni; "he is Bolverk's son, and he +is the best lawyer in the Westfirther's Quarter; but you will need to +give him much money if you are to bring him into the suit, but still we +must not stop at that. We must also go with our arms to all law +business, and be most wary of ourselves, but not meddle with them before +we are forced to fight for our lives. And now I will go with thee, and +set out at once on our begging for help, for now methinks the peace will +be kept but a little while longer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> + +<p>After that they go out of the booth, and to the booths of the +Axefirthers. Then Bjarni talks with Lyting and Bleing, and Hroi +Arnstein's son, and he got speedily whatever he asked of them. Then they +fared to see Kol, the son of Killing-Skuti, and Eyvind Thorkel's son, +the son of Askel the priest, and asked them for their help; but they +stood out a long while, but the end of it was that they took three marks +of silver for it, and so went into the suit with them.</p> + +<p>Then they went to the booths of the men of Lightwater, and stayed there +some time. Flosi begged the men of Lightwater for help, but they were +stubborn and hard to win over, and then Flosi said, with much wrath, "Ye +are ill-behaved! ye are grasping and wrongful at home in your own +country, and ye will not help men at the Thing, though they need it. No +doubt you will be held up to reproach at the Thing, and very great blame +will be laid on you if ye bare not in mind that scorn and those biting +words which Skarphedinn hurled at you men of Lightwater."</p> + +<p>But on the other hand, Flosi dealt secretly with them, and bade them +money for their help, and so coaxed them over with fair words, until it +came about that they promised him their aid, and then became so +steadfast that they said they would fight for Flosi, if need were.</p> + +<p>Then Bjarni said to Flosi—</p> + +<p>"Well done! well done! Thou art a mighty chief, and a bold outspoken +man, and reckest little what thou sayest to men."</p> + +<p>After that they fared away west across the river, and so to the +Hladbooth. They saw many men outside before the booth. There was one man +who had a scarlet cloak over his shoulders, and a gold band round his +head, and an axe studded with silver in his hand.</p> + +<p>"This is just right," said Bjarni, "here now is the man I spoke of, +Eyjolf Bolverk's son, if thou wilt see him, Flosi."</p> + +<p>Then they went to meet Eyjolf, and hailed him. Eyjolf knew Bjarni at +once, and greeted him well. Bjarni took Eyjolf by the hand, and led him +up into the "Great Rift". Flosi's and Bjarni's men followed after, and +Eyjolf's men went also with him. They bade them stay upon the lower +brink of the Rift, and look about them, but Flosi, and Bjarni, and +Eyjolf went on till they came to where the path leads down from the +upper brink of the Rift.</p> + +<p>Flosi said it was a good spot to sit down there, for they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> could see +around them far and wide. Then they sat them down there. They were four +of them together, and no more.</p> + +<p>Then Bjarni spoke to Eyjolf, and said—</p> + +<p>"Thee, friend, have we come to see, for we much need thy help in every +way."</p> + +<p>"Now," said Eyjolf, "there is good choice of men here at the Thing, and +ye will not find it hard to fall on those who will be a much greater +strength to you than I can be."</p> + +<p>"Not so," said Bjarni, "Thou hast many things which show that there is +no greater man than thou at the Thing; first of all, that thou art so +well-born, as all those men are who are sprung from Ragnar hairybreeks; +thy forefathers, too, have always stood first in great suits, both here +at the Thing, and at home in their own country, and they have always had +the best of it; we think, therefore, it is likely that thou wilt be +lucky in winning suits, like thy kinsfolk."</p> + +<p>"Thou speakest well, Bjarni," said Eyjolf; "but I think that I have +small share in all this that thou sayest."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"There is no need beating about the bush as to what we have in mind. We +wish to ask for thy help, Eyjolf, and that thou wilt stand by us in our +suits, and go to the court with us, and undertake the defence, if there +be any, and plead it for us, and stand by us in all things that may +happen at this Thing."</p> + +<p>Eyjolf jumped up in wrath, and said that no man had any right to think +that he could make a catspaw of him, or drag him on if he had no mind to +go himself.</p> + +<p>"I see, too, now," he says, "what has led you to utter all those fair +words with which ye began to speak to me."</p> + +<p>Then Hallbjorn the strong caught hold of him and sate him down by his +side, between him and Bjarni, and said—</p> + +<p>"No tree falls at the first stroke, friend, but sit here awhile by us."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi drew a gold ring off his arm.</p> + +<p>"This ring will I give thee, Eyjolf, for thy help and friendship, and so +show thee that I will not befool thee. It will be best for thee to take +the ring, for there is no man here at the Thing to whom I have ever +given such a gift."</p> + +<p>The ring was such a good one, and so well made, that it was worth twelve +hundred yards of russet stuff.</p> + +<p>Hallbjorn drew the ring on Eyjolf's arm; and Eyjolf said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"It is now most fitting that I should take the ring, since thou behavest +so handsomely; and now thou mayest make up thy mind that I will +undertake the defence, and do all things needful."</p> + +<p>"Now," said Bjarni, "ye behave handsomely on both sides, and here are +men well fitted to be witnesses, since I and Hallbjorn are here, that +thou hast undertaken the suit."</p> + +<p>Then Eyjolf arose, and Flosi too, and they took one another by the hand; +and so Eyjolf undertook the whole defence of the suit off Flosi's hands, +and so, too, if any suit arose out of the defence, for it often happens +that what is a defence in one suit, is a plaintiff's plea in another. So +he took upon him all the proofs and proceedings which belonged to those +suits, whether they were to be pleaded before the Quarter Court or the +Fifth Court. Flosi handed them over in lawful form, and Eyjolf took them +in lawful form, and then he said to Flosi and Bjarni.</p> + +<p>"Now I have undertaken this defence just as ye asked, but my wish it is +that ye should still keep it secret at first; but if the matter comes +into the Fifth Court, then be most careful not to say that ye have given +goods for my help."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi went home to his booth, and Bjarni with him, but Eyjolf went +to the booth of Snorri the priest, and sate down by him, and they talked +much together.</p> + +<p>Snorri the priest caught hold of Eyjolf's arm, and turned up the sleeve, +and sees that he had a great ring of gold on his arm. Then Snorri the +priest said—</p> + +<p>"Pray, was this ring bought or given?"</p> + +<p>Eyjolf was put out about it, and had never a word to say. Then Snorri +said—</p> + +<p>"I see plainly that thou must have taken it as a gift, and may this ring +not be thy death!"</p> + +<p>Eyjolf jumped up and went away, and would not speak about it; and Snorri +said, as Eyjolf arose—</p> + +<p>"It is very likely that thou wilt know what kind of gift thou hast taken +by the time this Thing is ended."</p> + +<p>Then Eyjolf went to his booth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXVIII" id="CHAPTER_CXXXVIII"></a>CHAPTER CXXXVIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF ASGRIM, AND GIZUR, AND KARI.</h3> + + +<p>Now Asgrim Ellidagrim's son talks to Gizur the white, and Kari Solmund's +son, and to Hjallti Skeggi's son, Mord Valgard's son, and Thorgeir +Craggeir, and says—</p> + +<p>"There is no need to have any secrets here, for only those men are by +who know all our counsel. Now I will ask you if ye know anything of +their plans, for if you do, it seems to me that we must take fresh +counsel about our own plans."</p> + +<p>"Snorri the priest," answers Gizur the white, "sent a man to me, and +bade him tell me that Flosi had gotten great help from the Northlanders; +but that Eyjolf Bolverk's son, his kinsman, had had a gold ring given +him by some one, and made a secret of it, and Snorri said it was his +meaning that Eyjolf Bolverk's son must be meant to defend the suit at +law, and that the ring must have been given him for that."</p> + +<p>They were all agreed that it must be so. Then Gizur spoke to them—</p> + +<p>"Now has Mord Valgard's son, my son-in-law, undertaken a suit, which all +must think most hard, to prosecute Flosi; and now my wish is that ye +share the other suits amongst you, for now it will soon be time to give +notice of the suits at the Hill of Laws. We shall need also to ask for +more help."</p> + +<p>Asgrim said so it should be, "but we will beg thee to go round with us +when we ask for help". Gizur said he would be ready to do that.</p> + +<p>After that Gizur picked out all the wisest men of their company to go +with him as his backers. There was Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Asgrim, and +Kari, and Thorgeir Craggeir.</p> + +<p>Then Gizur the white said—</p> + +<p>"Now will we first go to the booth of Skapti Thorod's son," and they do +so. Gizur the white went first, then Hjallti, then Kari, then Asgrim, +then Thorgeir Craggeir, and then his brothers.</p> + +<p>They went into the booth. Skapti sat on the cross-bench on the dais, and +when he saw Gizur the white he rose up to meet him, and greeted him and +all of them well, and bade Gizur to sit down by him, and he does so. +Then Gizur said to Asgrim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Now shalt thou first raise the question of help with Skapti, but I will +throw in what I think good."</p> + +<p>"We are come hither," said Asgrim, "for this sake, Skapti, to seek help +and aid at thy hand."</p> + +<p>"I was thought to be hard to win the last time," said Skapti, "when I +would not take the burden of your trouble on me."</p> + +<p>"It is quite another matter now," said Gizur. "Now the feud is for +master Njal and mistress Bergthora, who were burnt in their own house +without a cause, and for Njal's three sons, and many other worthy men, +and thou wilt surely never be willing to yield no help to men, or to +stand by thy kinsmen and connections."</p> + +<p>"It was in my mind," answers Skapti, "when Skarphedinn told me that I +had myself borne tar on my own head, and cut up a sod of turf and crept +under it, and when he said that I had been so afraid that Thorolf Lopt's +son of Eyrar bore me abroad in his ship among his meal-sacks, and so +carried me to Iceland, that I would never share in the blood feud for +his death."</p> + +<p>"Now there is no need to bear such things in mind," said Gizur the +white, "for he is dead who said that, and thou wilt surely grant me +this, though thou wouldst not do it for other men's sake."</p> + +<p>"This quarrel," says Skapti, "is no business of thine, except thou +choosest to be entangled in it along with them."</p> + +<p>Then Gizur was very wrath, and said—</p> + +<p>"Thou art unlike thy father, though he was thought not to be quite +clean-handed; yet was he ever helpful to men when they needed him most."</p> + +<p>"We are unlike in temper," said Skapti. "Ye two, Asgrim and thou, think +that ye have had the lead in mighty deeds; thou, Gizur the white, +because thou overcamest Gunnar of Lithend; but Asgrim, for that he slew +Gauk, his foster-brother."</p> + +<p>"Few," said Asgrim, "bring forward the better if they know the worse, +but many would say that I slew not Gauk ere I was driven to it. There is +some excuse for thee for not helping us, but none for heaping reproaches +on us; and I only wish before this Thing is out that thou mayest get +from this suit the greatest disgrace, and that there may be none to make +thy shame good."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Gizur and his men stood up all of them, and went out, and so on to +the booth of Snorri the priest.</p> + +<p>Snorri sat on the cross-bench in his booth; they went into the booth, +and he knew the men at once, and stood up to meet them, and bade them +all welcome, and made room for them to sit by him.</p> + +<p>After that, they asked one another the news of the day.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim spoke to Snorri, and said—</p> + +<p>"For that am I and my kinsman Gizur come hither, to ask thee for thy +help."</p> + +<p>"Thou speakest of what thou mayest always be forgiven for asking, for +help in the blood-feud after such connections as thou hadst. We, too, +got many wholesome counsels from Njal, though few now bear that in mind; +but as yet I know not of what ye think ye stand most in need."</p> + +<p>"We stand most in need," answers Asgrim, "of brisk lads and good +weapons, if we fight them here at the Thing."</p> + +<p>"True it is," said Snorri, "that much lies on that, and it is likeliest +that ye will press them home with daring, and that they will defend +themselves so in likewise, and neither of you will allow the other's +right. Then ye will not bear with them and fall on them, and that will +be the only way left; for then they will seek to pay you off with shame +for manscathe, and with dishonour for loss of kin."</p> + +<p>It was easy to see that he goaded them on in everything.</p> + +<p>Then Gizur the white said—</p> + +<p>"Thou speakest well, Snorri, and thou behavest ever most like a chief +when most lies at stake."</p> + +<p>"I wish to know," said Asgrim, "in what way thou wilt stand by us if +things turn out as thou sayest."</p> + +<p>"I will show thee those marks of friendship," said Snorri, "on which all +your honour will hang, but I will not go with you to the court. But if +ye fight here on the Thing, do not fall on them at all unless ye are all +most steadfast and dauntless, for you have great champions against you. +But if ye are over-matched, ye must let yourselves be driven hither +towards us, for I shall then have drawn up my men in array hereabouts, +and shall be ready to stand by you. But if it falls out otherwise, and +they give way before you, my meaning is that they will try to run for a +stronghold in the 'Great Rift'. But if they come thither, then ye will +never get the better of them. Now I will take that on my hands, to draw +up my men there, and guard the pass to the stronghold, but we will not +follow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> them whether they turn north or south along the river. And when +you have slain out of their band about as many as I think ye will be +able to pay blood-fines for, and yet keep your priesthoods and abodes, +then I will run up with all my men and part you. Then ye shall promise +to do us I bid you, and stop the battle, if I on my part do what I have +now promised."</p> + +<p>Gizur thanked him kindly, and said that what he had said was just what +they all needed, and then they all went out.</p> + +<p>"Whither shall we go now?" said Gizur.</p> + +<p>"To the Northlanders' booth," said Asgrim.</p> + +<p>Then they fared thither.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXXXIX" id="CHAPTER_CXXXIX"></a>CHAPTER CXXXIX.</h2> + +<h3>OF ASGRIM AND GUDMUND.</h3> + + +<p>And when they came into the booth then they saw where Gudmund the +powerful sate and talked with Einer Conal's son, his foster-child; he +was a wise man.</p> + +<p>Then they come before him, and Gudmund welcomed them very heartily, and +made them clear the booth for them, that they might all be able to sit +down.</p> + +<p>Then they asked what tidings, and Asgrim said—</p> + +<p>"There is no need to mutter what I have to say. We wish, Gudmund, to ask +for thy steadfast help."</p> + +<p>"Have ye seen any other chiefs before?" said Gudmund.</p> + +<p>They said they had been to see Skapti Thorod's son and Snorri the +priest, and told him quietly how they had fared with each of them.</p> + +<p>Then Gudmund said—</p> + +<p>"Last time I behaved badly and meanly to you. Then I was stubborn, but +now ye shall drive your bargain with me all the more quickly because I +was more stubborn then, and now I will go myself with you to the court +with all my Thingmen, and stand by you in all such things as I can, and +fight for you though this be needed, and lay down my life for your +lives. I will also pay Skapti out in this way, that Thorstein gapemouth +his son shall be in the battle on our side, for he will not dare to do +aught else than I will, since he has Jodisa my daughter to wife, and +then Skapti will try to part us."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span></p> + +<p>They thanked him, and talked with him long and low afterwards, so that +no other men could hear.</p> + +<p>Then Gudmund bade them not to go before the knees of any other chiefs, +for he said that would be little-hearted.</p> + +<p>"We will now run the risk with the force that we have. Ye must go with +your weapons to all law-business, but not fight as things stand."</p> + +<p>Then they went all of them home to their booths, and all this was at +first with few men's knowledge.</p> + +<p>So now the Thing goes on.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXL" id="CHAPTER_CXL"></a>CHAPTER CXL.</h2> + +<h3>OF THE DECLARATIONS OF THE SUITS.</h3> + + +<p>It was one day that men went to the Hill of Laws, and the chiefs were so +placed that Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Gizur the white, and Gudmund +the powerful, and Snorri the priest, were on the upper hand by the Hill +of Laws; but the Eastfirthers stood down below.</p> + +<p>Mord Valgard's son stood next to Gizur his father-in-law; he was of all +men the readiest-tongued.</p> + +<p>Gizur told him that he ought to give notice of the suit for +manslaughter, and bade him speak up, so that all might hear him well.</p> + +<p>Then Mord took witness and said—"I take witness to this that I give +notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's son, for +that he rushed at Helgi Njal's son and dealt him a brain, or a body, or +a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his +death. I say that in this suit he ought to be made a guilty man, an +outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or +harboured in any need. I say that all his goods are forfeited, half to +me, and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a right by law to take +his forfeited goods. I give notice of this suit for manslaughter in the +Quarter Court into which this suit ought by law to come. I give notice +of this lawful notice; I give notice in the hearing of all men on the +Hill of Laws; I give notice of this suit to be pleaded this summer, and +of full outlawry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> against Flosi Thord's son; I give notice of a suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over to me."</p> + +<p>Then a great shout was uttered at the Hill of Laws, that Mord spoke well +and boldly.</p> + +<p>Then Mord begun to speak a second time.</p> + +<p>"I take you to witness to this," says he, "that I give notice of a suit +against Flosi Thord's son, I give notice for that he wounded Helgi +Njal's son with a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a +death-wound, and from which Helgi got his death on that spot where Flosi +Thord's son had first rushed on Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid +down by law. I say that thou, Flosi, ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to he +helped or harboured in any need. I say that all thy goods are forfeited, +half to me and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a right by law +to take the goods which have been forfeited by thee. I give notice of +this suit in the Quarter Court into which it ought by law to come; I +give notice of this lawful notice; I give notice of it in the hearing of +all men on the Hill of Laws; I give notice of this suit to be pleaded +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son, I give +notice of the suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son hath handed over to me."</p> + +<p>After that Mord sat him down.</p> + +<p>Flosi listened carefully, but said never a word the while.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir Craggeir stood up and took witness, and said—"I take +witness to this, that I give notice of a suit against Glum Hilldir's +son, in that he took firing and lit it, and bore it to the house at +Bergthorsknoll, when they were burned inside it, to wit, Njal Thorgeir's +son, and Bergthora Skarphedinn's daughter, and all those other men who +were burned inside it there and then. I say that in this suit he ought +to be made a guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, +not to be helped or harboured in any need. I say that all his goods are +forfeited, half to me, and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a +right by law to take his forfeited goods; I give notice of this suit in +the Quarter Court into which it ought by law to come. I give notice in +the hearing of all men on the Hill of Laws. I give notice of this suit +to be pleaded this summer, and of full outlawry against Glum Hilldir's +son."</p> + +<p>Kari Solmund's son declared his suits against Kol Thorstein's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> and it was the common talk +of men that he spoke wondrous well.</p> + +<p>Thorleif crow declared his suit against all the sons of Sigfus, but +Thorgrim the big, his brother, against Modolf Kettle's son, and Lambi +Sigurd's son, and Hroar Hamond's son, brother of Leidolf the strong.</p> + +<p>Asgrim Ellidagrim's son declared his suit against Leidolf and Thorstein +Geirleif's son. Arni Kol's son, and Grim the red.</p> + +<p>And they all spoke well.</p> + +<p>After that other men gave notice of their suits, and it was far on in +the day that it went on so.</p> + +<p>Then men fared home to their booths.</p> + +<p>Eyjolf Bolverk's son went to his booth with Flosi; they passed east +around the booth, and Flosi said to Eyjolf—</p> + +<p>"See'st thou any defence in these suits?"</p> + +<p>"None," says Eyjolf.</p> + +<p>"What counsel is now to be taken?" says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"I will give thee a piece of advice," said Eyjolf. "Now thou shalt hand +over thy priesthood to thy brother Thorgeir, but declare that thou hast +joined the Thing of Askel the priest the son of Thorkettle, north away +in Reykiardale; but if they do not know this, then may be that this will +harm them, for they will be sure to plead their suit in the +Eastfirther's court, but they ought to plead it in the Northlanders' +court, and they will overlook that, and it is a Fifth Court matter +against them if they plead their suit in another court than that in +which they ought, and then we will take that suit up, but not until we +have no other choice left."</p> + +<p>"May be," said Flosi, "that we shall get the worth of the ring."</p> + +<p>"I don't know that," says Eyjolf; "but I will stand by thee at law, so +that men shall say that there never was a better defence. Now, we must +send for Askel, but Thorgeir shall come to thee at once, and a man with +him."</p> + +<p>A little while after Thorgeir came, and then he took on him Flosi's +leadership and priesthood.</p> + +<p>By that time Askel was come thither too, and then Flosi declared that he +had joined his Thing, and this was with no man's knowledge save theirs.</p> + +<p>Now all is quiet till the day when the courts were to go out to try +suits.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLI" id="CHAPTER_CXLI"></a>CHAPTER CXLI.</h2> + +<h3>NOW MEN GO TO THE COURTS.</h3> + + +<p>Now the time passes away till the courts were to go out to try suits. +Both sides then made them ready to go thither, and armed them. Each side +put war-tokens on their helmets.</p> + +<p>Then Thorhall Asgrim's son said—</p> + +<p>"Walk hastily in nothing, father mine, and do everything as lawfully and +rightly as ye can, but if ye fall into any strait let me know as quickly +as ye can, and then I will give you counsel."</p> + +<p>Asgrim and the others looked at him, and his face was as though it were +all blood, but great teardrops gushed out of his eyes. He bade them +bring him his spear, that had been a gift to him from Skarphedinn, and +it was the greatest treasure.</p> + +<p>Asgrim said as they went away—</p> + +<p>"Our kinsman Thorhall was not easy in his mind as we left him behind in +the booth, and I know not what he will be at."</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim said again—</p> + +<p>"Now we will go to Mord Valgard's son, and think of naught else but the +suit, for there is more sport in Flosi than in very many other men."</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim sent a man to Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and +Gudmund the powerful. Now they all came together, and went straight to +the court of Eastfirthers. They went to the court from the south, but +Flosi and all the Eastfirthers with him went to it from the north. There +were also the men of Reykdale and the Axefirthers with Flosi. There, +too, was Eyjolf Bolverk's son. Flosi looked at Eyjolf, and said—</p> + +<p>"All now goes fairly, and may be that it will not be far off from thy +guess."</p> + +<p>"Keep thy peace about it," says Eyjolf, "and then we shall be sure to +gain our point."</p> + +<p>Now Mord took witness, and bade all those men who had suits of outlawry +before the court to cast lots who should first plead or declare his +suit, and who next, and who last; he bade them by a lawful bidding +before the court, so that the judges<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> heard it. Then lots were cast as +to the declarations, and he, Mord, drew the lot to declare his suit +first.</p> + +<p>Now Mord Valgard's son took witness the second time, and said—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I except all mistakes in words in my +pleading, whether they be too many or wrongly spoken, and I claim the +right to amend all my words until I have put them into proper lawful +shape. I take witness to myself of this."</p> + +<p>Again Mord said—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or any other man +who has undertaken the defence made over to him by Flosi, to listen for +him to my oath, and to my declaration of my suit, and to all the proofs +and proceedings which I am about to bring forward against him; I bid him +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may hear it +across the court."</p> + +<p>Again Mord Valgard's son said—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I take an oath on the book, a lawful +until, and I say it before God, that I will so plead this suit in the +most truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know; and +that I will bring forward all my proofs in due form, and utter them +faithfully so long as I am in this suit."</p> + +<p>After that he spoke in these words—</p> + +<p>"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second; +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of an assault laid +down by law against Flosi Thord's son, on that spot where he, Flosi +Thord's son, rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's +son, when Flosi Thord's son, wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or a +body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to he +helped or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were +forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the +right by law to take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of +the suit in the Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; +I gave notice of that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave +notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> heard it. Then +lots were cast as to the declarations, and he, Mord, drew the lot to +declare his suit first".</p> + +<p>Now Mord Valgard's son took witness the second time, and said—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I except all mistakes in words in my +pleading, whether they be too many or wrongly spoken, and I claim the +right to amend all my words until I have put them into proper lawful +shape. I take witness to myself of this."</p> + +<p>Again Mord said—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or any other man +who has undertaken the defence made over to him by Flosi, to listen for +him to my oath, and to my declaration of my suit, and to all the proofs +and proceedings which I am about to bring forward against him; I bid him +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may hear it +across the court."</p> + +<p>Again Mord Valgard's son said—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I take an oath on the book, a lawful oath, +and I say it before God, that I will so plead this suit in the most +truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know; and that +I will bring forward all my proofs in due form, and utter them +faithfully so long as I am in this suit."</p> + +<p>After that he spoke in these words—</p> + +<p>"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second; +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of an assault laid +down by law against Flosi Thord's son, on that spot where he, Flosi +Thord's son, rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's +son, when Flosi Thord's son, wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or a +body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be +helped or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were +forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the +right by law to take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of +the suit in the Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; +I gave notice of that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave +notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> over to me; and +I had all these words in my notice which I have now used in this +declaration of my suit. I now declare this suit of outlawry in this +shape before the court of the Eastfirthers over the head of John, as I +uttered it when I gave notice of it."</p> + +<p>Then Mord spoke again—</p> + +<p>"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second. +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of a suit against +Flosi Thord's son for that he wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or +a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not he fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped +or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were forfeited, half +to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the right by law to +take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of the suit in the +Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; I gave notice of +that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill +of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now this summer, and +of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave notice of a suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to me; and I had all these +words in my notice which I have now used in this declaration of my suit. +I now declare this suit of outlawry in this shape before the court of +the Eastfirthers over the head of John, as I uttered it when I gave +notice of it."</p> + +<p>Then Mord's witnesses to the notice came before the court, and spake so +that one uttered their witness, but both confirmed it by their common +consent in this form, "I bear witness that Mord called Thorodd as his +first witness, and me as his second, and my name is Thorbjorn"—then he +named his father's name—"Mord called us two as his witnesses that he +gave notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's son +when he rushed on Helgi Njal's son, in that spot where Flosi Thord's son +dealt Helgi Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, that +proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his death. He said that +Flosi ought to be made in this suit a guilty man, an outlaw, not to be +fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or harboured by any man; he +said that all his goods were forfeited, half to himself and half to the +men of the Quarter who have the right by law to take the goods which he +had forfeited; he gave notice of the suit<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> in the Quarter Court into +which the suit ought by law to come; he gave notice of that lawful +notice; he gave notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill of Laws; he +gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now this summer, and of full +outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. He gave notice of a suit which +Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to him. He used all those words in +his notice which he used in the declaration of his suit, and which we +have used in bearing witness; we have now borne our witness rightly and +lawfully, and we are agreed in bearing it; we bear this witness in this +shape before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> as Mord +uttered it when he gave his notice."</p> + +<p>A second time they bore their witness of the notice before the court, +and put the wounds first and the assault last, and used all the same +words as before, and bore their witness in this shape before the +Eastfirthers' Court just as Mord uttered them when he gave his notice.</p> + +<p>Then Mord's witnesses to the handing over of the suit went before the +court, and one uttered their witness, and both confirmed it by common +consent, and spoke in these words—"That those two, Mord Valgard's son +and Thorgeir Thorir's son, took them to witness that Thorgeir Thorir's +son handed over a suit for manslaughter to Mord Valgard's son against +Flosi Thord's son for the laying of Helgi Njal's son; he handed over to +him then the suit, with all the proofs and proceedings which belonged to +the suit, he handed it over to him to plead and to settle, and to make +use of all rights as though he were the rightful next of kin; Thorgeir +handed it over lawfully, and Mord took it lawfully".</p> + +<p>They bore this witness of the handing over of the suit in this shape +before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John, just as Mord or +Thorgeir had called them as witnesses to prove.</p> + +<p>They made all these witnesses swear an oath ere they bore witness, and +the judges too.</p> + +<p>Again Mord Valgard's son took witness.</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this," said he, "that I bid those nine neighbours +whom I summoned when I laid this suit against Flosi Thord's son, to take +their seats west on the river-bank, and I call on the defendant to +challenge this inquest, I call<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> on him by a lawful bidding before the +court so that the judges may hear."</p> + +<p>Again Mord took witness.</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or that other man +who has the defence handed over to him, to challenge the inquest which I +have caused to take their seats west on the river-bank. I bid thee by a +lawful bidding before the court so that the judges may hear."</p> + +<p>Again Mord took witness.</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that now are all the first steps and proofs +brought forward which belong to the suit. Summons to hear my oath, oath +taken, suit declared, witness borne to the notice, witness borne to the +handing over of the suit, the neighbours on the inquest bidden to take +their seats, and the defendant bidden to challenge the inquest. I take +this witness to these steps and proofs which are now brought forward, +and also to this that I shall not be thought to have left the suit +though I go away from the court to look up proofs, or on other +business."</p> + +<p>Now Flosi and his men went thither where the neighbours on the inquest +sate.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to his men—</p> + +<p>"The sons of Sigfus must know best whether these are the rightful +neighbours to the spot who are here summoned."</p> + +<p>Kettle of the Mark answered—</p> + +<p>"Here is that neighbour who held Mord at the font when he was baptised, +but another is his second cousin by kinship."</p> + +<p>Then they reckoned up his kinship, and proved it with an oath.</p> + +<p>Then Eyjolf took witness that the inquest should do nothing till it was +challenged.</p> + +<p>A second time Eyjolf took witness—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this," said he, "that I challenge both these men out +of the inquest, and set them aside"—here he named them by name, and +their fathers as well—"for this sake, that one of them is Mord's second +cousin by kinship, but the other for gossipry,<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> for which sake it is +lawful to challenge a neighbour on the inquest; ye two are for a lawful +reason incapable of uttering a finding, for now a lawful challenge has +overtaken you, therefore I challenge and set you aside by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> the rightful +custom of pleading at the Althing, and by the law of the land; I +challenge you in the cause which Flosi Thord's son has handed over to +me."</p> + +<p>Now all the people spoke out, and said that Mord's suit had come to +naught, and all were agreed in this that the defence was better than the +prosecution.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim said to Mord—</p> + +<p>"The day is not yet their own, though they think now that they have +gained a great step; but now some one shall go to see Thorhall my son, +and know what advice he gives us."</p> + +<p>Then a trusty messenger was sent to Thorhall, and told him as plainly as +he could how far the suit had gone, and how Flosi and his men thought +they had brought the finding of the inquest to a dead lock.</p> + +<p>"I will so make it out," says Thorhall, "that this shall not cause you +to lose the suit; and tell them not to believe it, though quirks and +quibbles be brought against them, for that wiseacre Eyjolf has now +overlooked something. But now thou shalt go back as quickly as thou +canst, and say that Mord Valgard's son must go before the court, and +take witness that their challenge has come to naught," and then he told +him step by step how they must proceed.</p> + +<p>The messenger came and told them Thorhall's advice.</p> + +<p>Then Mord Valgard's son went to the court and took witness. "I take +witness to this," said he, "that I make Eyjolf's challenge void and of +none effect; and my ground is, that he challenged them not for their +kinship to the true plaintiff, the next of kin, but for their kinship to +him who pleaded the suit; I take this witness to myself, and to all +those to whom this witness will be of use."</p> + +<p>After that he brought that witness before the court.</p> + +<p>Now he went whither the neighbours sate on the inquest, and bade those +to sit down again who had risen up, and said they were rightly called on +to share in the finding of the inquest.</p> + +<p>Then all said that Thorhall had done great things, and all thought the +prosecution better than the defence.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to Eyjolf—"Thinkest thou that this is good law?"</p> + +<p>"I think so, surely," he says, "and beyond a doubt we overlooked this; +but still we will have another trial of strength with them."</p> + +<p>Then Eyjolf took witness. "I take witness to this," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> he, "that I +challenge these two men out of the inquest"—here he named them +both—"for that sake that they are lodgers, but not householders; I do +not allow you two to sit on the inquest, for now a lawful challenge has +overtaken you; I challenge you both and set you aside out of the +inquest, by the rightful custom of the Althing and by the law of the +land."</p> + +<p>Now Eyjolf said he was much mistaken if that could be shaken; and then +all said that the defence was better than the prosecution.</p> + +<p>Now all men praised Eyjolf, and said there was never a man who could +cope with him in lawcraft.</p> + +<p>Mord Valgard's son and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son now sent a man to +Thorhall to tell him how things stood; but when Thorhall heard that, he +asked what goods they owned, or if they were paupers?</p> + +<p>The messenger said that one gained his livelihood by keeping milch-kine, +and "he has both cows and ewes at his abode; but the other has a third +of the land which he and the freeholder farm, and finds his own food; +and they have one hearth between them, he and the man who lets the land, +and one shepherd".</p> + +<p>Then Thorhall said—</p> + +<p>"They will fare now as before, for they must have made a mistake, and I +will soon upset their challenge, and this though Eyjolf had used such +big words that it was law."</p> + +<p>Now Thorhall told the messenger plainly, step by step, how they must +proceed; and the messenger came back and told Mord and Asgrim all the +counsel that Thorhall bad given.</p> + +<p>Then Mord went to the court and took witness, "I take witness to this, +that I bring to naught Eyjolf Bolverk's son's challenge, for that he has +challenged those men out of the inquest who have a lawful right to lie +there; every man has a right to sit on an inquest of neighbours, who +owns three hundreds in land or more, though he may have no dairy-stock; +and he too has the same right who lives by dairy-stock worth the same +sum, though he leases no land."</p> + +<p>Then he brought this witness before the court, and then he went whither +the neighbours on the inquest were, and bade them sit down, and said +they were rightfully among the inquest.</p> + +<p>Then there was a great shout and cry, and then all men said that Flosi's +and Eyjolf's cause was much shaken, and now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> men were of one mind as to +this, that the prosecution was better than the defence.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said to Eyjolf—</p> + +<p>"Can this be law?"</p> + +<p>Eyjolf said he had not wisdom enough to know that for a surety, and then +they sent a man to Skapti, the Speaker of the Law, to ask whether it +were good law, and he sent them back word that it was surely good law, +though few knew it.</p> + +<p>Then this was told to Flosi, and Eyjolf Bolverk's son asked the sons of +Sigfus as to the other neighbours who were summoned thither.</p> + +<p>They said there were four of them who were wrongly summoned; "for those +sit now at home who were nearer neighbours to the spot".</p> + +<p>Then Eyjolf took witness that he challenged all those four men out of +the inquest, and that he did it with lawful form of challenge. After +that he said to the neighbours—</p> + +<p>"Ye are bound to render lawful justice to both sides, and now ye shall +go before the court when ye are called, and take witness that ye find +that bar to uttering your finding; that ye are but five summoned to +utter your finding, but that ye ought to be nine; and now Thorhall may +prove and carry his point in every suit, if he can cure this flaw in +this suit."</p> + +<p>And now it was plain in everything that Flosi and Eyjolf were very +boastful; and there was a great cry that now the suit for the Burning +was quashed, and that again the defence was better than the prosecution.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim spoke to Mord—</p> + +<p>"They know not yet of what to boast ere we have seen my son Thorhall. +Njal told me that he had so taught Thorhall law, that he would turn out +the best lawyer in Iceland when ever it were put to the proof."</p> + +<p>Then a man was sent to Thorhall to tell him how things stood, and of +Flosi's and Eyjolf's boasting, and the cry of the people that the suit +for the Burning was quashed in Mord's bands.</p> + +<p>"It will be well for them," says Thorhall, "if they get not disgrace +from this. Thou shalt go and tell Mord to take witness, and swear an +oath, that the greater part of the inquest is rightly summoned, and then +he shall bring that witness before the court, and then he may set the +prosecution on its feet again; but he will have to pay a fine of three +marks for every man that he has wrongly summoned; but he may not be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> +prosecuted for that at this Thing; and now thou shalt go back."</p> + +<p>He does so, and told Mord and Asgrim all, word for word, that Thorhall +had said.</p> + +<p>Then Mord went to the court, and took witness, and swore an oath that +the greater part of the inquest was rightly summoned, and said then that +he had set the prosecution on its feet again, and then he went on, "and +so our foes shall have honour from something else than from this, that +we have here taken a great false step".</p> + +<p>Then there was a great roar that Mord handled the suit well; but it was +said that Flosi and his men betook them only to quibbling and wrong.</p> + +<p>Flosi asked Eyjolf if this could be good law, but he said he could not +surely tell, but said the Lawman must settle this knotty point.</p> + +<p>Then Thorkel Geiti's son went on their behalf to tell the Lawman how +things stood, and asked whether this were good law that Mord had said.</p> + +<p>"More men are great lawyers now," says Skapti, "than I thought I must +tell thee, then, that this is such good law in all points, that there is +not a word to say against it; but still I thought that I alone would +know this, now that Njal was dead, for he was the only man I ever knew +who knew it."</p> + +<p>Then Thorkel went back to Flosi and Eyjolf, and said that this was good +law.</p> + +<p>Then Mord Valgard's son went to the court and took witness. "I take +witness to this," he said, "that I bid those neighbours on the inquest +in the suit which I set on foot against Flosi Thord's son now to utter +their finding, and to find it either against him or for him; I bid them +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may bear it +across the court."</p> + +<p>Then the neighbours on Mord's inquest went to the court, and one uttered +their finding, but all confirmed it by their consent; and they spoke +thus, word for word—</p> + +<p>"Mord Valgard's son summoned nine of us thanes on this inquest, but here +we stand five of us, but four have been challenged and set aside, and +now witness has been borne as to the absence of the four who ought to +have uttered this finding along with us, and now we are bound by law to +utter our finding. We were summoned to bear this witness, whether Flosi +Thord's son rushed with an assault laid down by law on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> Helgi Njal's +son, on that spot where Flosi Thord's son wounded Helgi Njal's son with +a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death wound, and +from which Helgi got his death. He summoned us to utter all those words +which it was lawful for us to utter, and which he should call on us to +answer before the court, and which belong to this suit; he summoned us, +so that we heard what he said; he summoned us in a suit which Thorgeir +Thorir's son had handed over to him, and now we have all sworn an oath, +and found our lawful finding, and are all agreed, and we utter our +finding against Flosi, and we say that he is truly guilty in this suit. +We nine men on this inquest of neighbours so shapen, utter this our +finding before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John, as Mord +summoned us to do; but this is the finding of all of us."</p> + +<p>Again a second time they uttered their finding against Flosi, and +uttered it first about the wounds, and last about the assault, but all +their other words they uttered just as they had before uttered their +finding against Flosi, and brought him in truly guilty in the suit.</p> + +<p>Then Mord Valgard's son went before the court, and took witness that +those neighbours whom he had summoned in the suit which he had set on +foot against Flosi Thord's son had now uttered their finding, and +brought him in truly guilty in the suit; he took witness to this for his +own part, or for those who might wish to make use of this witness.</p> + +<p>Again a second time Mord took witness and said—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this that I call on Flosi, or that man who has to +undertake the lawful defence which he has handed over to him, to begin +his defence to this suit which I have set on foot against him, for now +all the steps and proofs have been brought forward which belong by law +to this suit; all witness borne, the finding of the inquest uttered and +brought in, witness taken to the finding, and to all the steps which +have gone before; but if any such thing arises in their lawful defence +which I need to turn into a suit against them, then I claim the right to +set that suit on foot against them. I bid this my lawful bidding before +the court, so that the judges may hear."</p> + +<p>"It gladdens me now, Eyjolf," said Flosi, "in my heart to think what a +wry face they will make, and how their pates will tingle when thou +bringest forward our defence."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLII" id="CHAPTER_CXLII"></a>CHAPTER CXLII.</h2> + +<h3>OF EYJOLF BOLVERK'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Then Eyjolf Bolverk's son went before the court, and took witness to +this—</p> + +<p>"I take witness that this is a lawful defence in this cause, that ye +have pleaded the suit in the Eastfirthers' Court, when ye ought to have +pleaded it in the Northlanders' Court; for Flosi has declared himself +one of the Thingmen of Askel the priest; and here now are those two +witnesses who were by, and who will bear witness that Flosi handed over +his priesthood to his brother Thorgeir, but afterwards declared himself +one of Askel the priest's Thingmen. I take witness to this for my own +part, and for those who may need to make use of it."</p> + +<p>Again Eyjolf took witness—"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I +bid Mord who pleads this suit, or the next of kin, to listen to my oath, +and to my declaration of the defence which I am about to bring forward; +I bid him by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may +hear me".</p> + +<p>Again Eyjolf took witness—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I swear an oath on the book, a lawful +oath, and say it before God, that I will so defend this cause, in the +most truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know, and +so fulfil all lawful duties which belong to me at this Thing."</p> + +<p>Then Eyjolf said—</p> + +<p>"These two men I take to witness that I bring forward this lawful +defence that this suit was pleaded in another Quarter Court, than that +in which it ought to have been pleaded; and I say that for this sake +their suit has come to naught; I utter this defence in this shape before +the Eastfirthers' Court."</p> + +<p>After that he let all the witness be brought forward which belonged to +the defence, and then he took witness to all the steps in the defence to +prove that they had all been duly taken.</p> + +<p>After that Eyjolf again took witness and said—</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this, that I forbid the judges, by a lawful protest +before the priest, to utter judgment in the suit of Mord and his +friends, for now a lawful defence has been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> brought before the court. I +forbid you by a protest made before a priest; by a full, fair, and +binding protest; as I have a right to forbid you by the common custom of +the Althing, and by the law of the land."</p> + +<p>After that he called on the judges to pronounce for the defence.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim and his friends brought on the other suits for the Burning, +and those suits took their course.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLIII" id="CHAPTER_CXLIII"></a>CHAPTER CXLIII.</h2> + +<h3>THE COUNSEL OF THORHALL ASGRIM'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Now Asgrim and his friends sent a man to Thorhall, and let him be told +in what a strait they had come.</p> + +<p>"Too far off was I now," answers Thorhall, "for this cause might still +not have taken this turn if I had been by. I now see their course that +they must mean to summon you to the Fifth Court for contempt of the +Thing. They must also mean to divide the Eastfirthers' Court in the suit +for the Burning, so that no judgment may be given, for now they behave +so as to show that they will stay at no ill. Now shalt thou go back to +them as quickly as thou canst, and say that Mord must summon them both, +both Flosi and Eyjolf, for having brought money into the Fifth Court, +and make it a case of lesser outlawry. Then he shall summon them with a +second summons for that they have brought forward that witness which had +nothing to do with their cause, and so were guilty of contempt of the +Thing; and tell them that I say this, that if two suits for lesser +outlawry hang over one and the same man, that he shall be adjudged a +thorough outlaw at once. And for this ye must set your suits on foot +first, that then ye will first go to trial and judgment."</p> + +<p>Now the messenger went his way back and told Mord and Asgrim.</p> + +<p>After that they went to the Hill of Laws, and Mord Valgard's son took +witness.</p> + +<p>"I take witness to this that I summon Flosi Thord's son, for that he +gave money for his help here at the Thing to Eyjolf Bolverk's son. I say +that he ought on this charge to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> be made a guilty outlaw, for this sake +alone to be forwarded or to be allowed the right of frithstow +[sanctuary], if his fine and bail are brought forward at the execution +levied on his house and goods, but else to become a thorough outlaw. I +say all his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the +Quarter who have the right by law to take his goods after he has been +outlawed. I summon this cause before the Fifth Court, whither the cause +ought to come by law; I summon it to be pleaded now and to full +outlawry. I summon with a lawful summons. I summon in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws."</p> + +<p>With a like summons he summoned Eyjolf Bolverk's son, for that he had +taken and received the money, and he summoned him for that sake to the +Fifth Court.</p> + +<p>Again a second time he summoned Flosi and Eyjolf, for that sake that +they had brought forward that witness at the Thing which had nothing +lawfully to do with the cause of the parties, and had so been guilty of +contempt of the Thing; and he laid the penalty for that at lesser +outlawry.</p> + +<p>Then they went away to the Court of Laws, there the Fifth Court was then +set.</p> + +<p>Now when Mord and Asgrim had gone away, then the judges in the +Eastfirthers' Court could not agree how they should give judgment, for +some of them wished to give judgment for Flosi, but some for Mord and +Asgrim. Then Flosi and Eyjolf tried to divide the court, and there they +stayed, and lost time over that while the summoning at the Hill of Laws +was going on. A little while after Flosi and Eyjolf were told that they +had been summoned at the Hill of Laws into the Fifth Court, each of them +with two summons. Then Eyjolf said—</p> + +<p>"In an evil hour have we loitered here while they have been before us in +quickness of summoning. Now hath come out Thorhall's cunning, and no man +is his match in wit. Now they have the first right to plead their cause +before the court, and that was everything for them; but still we will go +to the Hill of Laws, and set our suit on foot against them, though that +will now stand us in little stead."</p> + +<p>Then they fared to the Hill of Laws, and Eyjolf summoned them for +contempt of the Thing.</p> + +<p>After that they went to the Fifth Court.</p> + +<p>Now we must say that when Mord and Asgrim came to the Fifth Court, Mord +took witness and bade them listen to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> his oath and the declaration of +his suit, and to all those proofs and steps which he meant to bring +forward against Flosi and Eyjolf. He bade them by a lawful bidding +before the court, so that the judges could hear him across the court.</p> + +<p>In the Fifth Court vouchers had to follow the oaths of the parties, and +they had to take an oath after them.</p> + +<p>Mord took witness.</p> + +<p>"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I take a Fifth Court oath. I +pray God so to help me in this light and in the next, as I shall plead +this suit as I know to be most truthful, and just, and lawful. I believe +with all my heart that Flosi is truly guilty in this suit, if I may +bring forward my proofs; and I have not brought money into this court in +this suit, and I will not bring it. I have not taken money, and I will +not take it, neither for a lawful nor for an unlawful end."</p> + +<p>The men who were Mord's vouchers then went two of them before the court, +and took witness to this—</p> + +<p>"We take witness that we take an oath on the book, a lawful oath; we +pray God so to help us two in this light and in the next, as we lay it +on our honour that we believe with all our hearts that Mord will so +plead this suit as he knows to be most truthful, and most just, and most +lawful, and that he hath not brought money into this court in this suit +to help himself, and that he will not offer it, and that he hath not +taken money, nor will he take it, either for a lawful or unlawful end."</p> + +<p>Mord had summoned nine neighbours who lived next to the Thingfield on +the inquest in the suit, and then Mord took witness, and declared those +four suits which he had set on foot against Flosi and Eyjolf; and Mord +used all those words in his declaration that he had used in his summons. +He declared his suits for outlawry in the same shape before the Fifth +Court as he had uttered them when he summoned the defendants.</p> + +<p>Mord took witness, and bade those nine neighbours on the inquest to take +their seats west on the river-bank.</p> + +<p>Mord took witness again, and bade Flosi and Eyjolf to challenge the +inquest.</p> + +<p>They went up to challenge the inquest, and looked narrowly at them, but +could get none of them set aside; then they went away as things stood, +and were very ill pleased with their case.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Mord took witness, and bade those nine neighbours whom he had +before called on the inquest, to utter their finding, and to bring it in +either for or against Flosi.</p> + +<p>Then the neighbours on Mord's inquest came before the court, and one +uttered the finding, but all the rest confirmed it by their consent. +They had all taken the Fifth Court oath, and they brought in Flosi as +truly guilty in the suit, and brought in their finding against him. They +brought it in in such a shape before the Fifth Court over the head of +the same man over whose head Mord had already declared his suit. After +that they brought in all those findings which they were bound to bring +in in all the other suits, and all was done in lawful form.</p> + +<p>Eyjolf Bolverk's son and Flosi watched to find a flaw in the +proceedings, but could get nothing done.</p> + +<p>Then Mord Valgard's son took witness. "I take witness," said he, "to +this, that these nine neighbours whom I called on these suits which I +have had hanging over the heads of Flosi Thord's son, and Eyjolf +Bolverk's son, have now uttered their finding, and have brought them in +truly guilty in these suits."</p> + +<p>He took this witness for his own part.</p> + +<p>Again Mord took witness.</p> + +<p>"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or +that other man who has taken his lawful defence in hand, now to begin +their defence; for now all the steps and proofs have been brought +forward in the suit, summons to listen to oaths, oaths taken, suit +declared, witness taken to the summons, neighbours called on to take +their seats on the inquest, defendant called on to challenge the +inquest, finding uttered, witness taken to the finding."</p> + +<p>He took this witness to all the steps that had been taken in the suit.</p> + +<p>Then that man stood up over whose head the suit had been declared and +pleaded, and summed up the case. He summed up first how Mord had bade +them listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the suit, and to all +the steps and proofs in it; then he summed up next how Mord took his +oath and his vouchers theirs; then he summed up how Mord pleaded his +suit, and used the very words in his summing up that Mord had before +used in declaring and pleading his suit, and which he had used in his +summons, and he said that the suit came before the Fifth Court in the +same shape as it was when he uttered it at the summoning. Then he summed +up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> that men had borne witness to the summoning, and repeated all those +words that Mord had used in his summons, and which they had used in +bearing their witness, "and which I now," he said, "have used in my +summing up, and they bore their witness in the same shape before the +Fifth Court as he uttered them at the summoning". After that he summed +up that Mord bade the neighbours on the inquest to take their seats, +then he told next of all how he bade Flosi to challenge the inquest, or +that man who had undertaken this lawful defence for him; then he told +how the neighbours went to the court, and uttered their finding, and +brought in Flosi truly guilty in the suit, and how they brought in the +finding of an inquest of nine men in that shape before the Fifth Court. +Then he summed up how Mord took witness to all the steps in the suit, +and how he had bidden the defendant to begin his defence.</p> + +<p>After that Mord Valgard's son took witness. "I take witness," he said, +"to this, that I forbid Flosi Thord's son, or that other man who has +undertaken the lawful defence for him, to set up his defence; for now +are all the steps taken which belong to the suit, when the case has been +summed up and the proofs repeated."</p> + +<p>After that the foreman added these words of Mord to his summing up.</p> + +<p>Then Mord took witness, and prayed the judges to give judgment in this +suit.</p> + +<p>Then Gizur the white said, "Thou wilt have to do more yet, Mord, for +four twelves can have no right to pass judgment."</p> + +<p>Now Flosi said to Eyjolf, "What counsel is to be taken now?"</p> + +<p>Then Eyjolf said, "Now we must make the best of a bad business; but +still, we will bide our time, for now I guess that they will make a +false step in their suit, for Mord prayed for judgment at once in the +suit, but they ought to call and set aside six men out of the court, and +after that they ought to offer us to call and set aside six other men, +but we will not do that, for then they ought to call and set aside those +six men, and they will perhaps overlook that; then all their case has +come to naught if they do not do that, for three twelves have to judge +in every cause".</p> + +<p>"Thou art a wise man, Eyjolf," said Flosi, "so that few can come nigh +thee."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mord Valgard's son took witness.</p> + +<p>"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I call and set aside these six +men out of the court"—and named them all by name—"I do not allow you +to sit in the court; I call you out and set you aside by the rightful +custom of the Althing, and the law of the land."</p> + +<p>After that he offered Eyjolf and Flosi, before witnesses, to call out by +name and set aside other six men, but Flosi and Eyjolf would not call +them out.</p> + +<p>Then Mord made them pass judgment in the cause; but when the judgment +was given, Eyjolf took witness, and said that all their judgment had +come to naught, and also everything else that had been done, and his +ground was that three twelves and one half had judged, when three only +ought to have given judgment.</p> + +<p>"And now we will follow up our suits before the Fifth Court," said +Eyjolf, "and make them outlaws."</p> + +<p>Then Gizur the white said to Mord Valgard's son—</p> + +<p>"Thou hast made a very great mistake in taking such a false step, and +this is great ill-luck; but what counsel shall we now take, kinsman +Asgrim?" says Gizur.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim said—"Now we will send a man to my son Thorhall, and know +what counsel he will give us".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLIV" id="CHAPTER_CXLIV"></a>CHAPTER CXLIV.</h2> + +<h3>BATTLE AT THE ALTHING.</h3> + + +<p>Now Snorri the priest hears how the causes stood, and then he begins to +draw up his men in array below the "Great Rift," between it and +Hadbooth, and laid down beforehand to his men how they were to behave.</p> + +<p>Now the messenger comes to Thorhall Asgrim's son, and tells him how +things stood, and how Mord Valgard's son and his friends would all be +made outlaws, and the suits for manslaughter be brought to naught.</p> + +<p>But when he heard that, he was so shocked at it that he could not utter +a word. He jumped up then from his bed, and clutched with both hands his +spear, Skarphedinn's gift, and drove it through his foot; then flesh +clung to the spear,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> and the eye of the boil too, for he had cut it +clean out of the foot, but a torrent of blood and matter poured out, so +that it fell in a stream along the floor. Now he went out of the booth +unhalting, and walked so hard that the messenger could not keep up with +him, and so he goes until he came to the Fifth Court. There he met Grim +the red, Flosi's kinsman, and as soon as ever they met, Thorhall thrust +at him with the spear, and smote him on the shield and clove it in +twain, but the spear passed right through him, so that the point came +out between his shoulders. Thorhall cast him off his spear.</p> + +<p>Then Kari Solmund's son caught sight of that, and said to Asgrim—</p> + +<p>"Here, now, is come Thorhall thy son, and has straightway slain a man, +and this is a great shame, if he alone shall have the heart to avenge +the Burning."</p> + +<p>"That shall not be," says Asgrim, "but let us turn on them now."</p> + +<p>Then there was a mighty cry all over the host, and then they shouted +their war-cries.</p> + +<p>Flosi and his friends then turned against their foes, and both sides +egged on their men fast.</p> + +<p>Kari Solmund's son turned now thither where Arni Kol's son and Hallbjorn +the strong were in front, and as soon as ever Hallbjorn saw Kari, he +made a blow at him, and aimed at his leg, but Kari leapt up into the +air, and Hallbjorn missed him. Kari turned on Arni Kol's son and cut at +him, and smote him on the shoulder, and cut asunder the shoulder blade +and collar bone, and the blow went right down into his breast, and Arni +fell down dead at once to earth.</p> + +<p>After that he hewed at Hallbjorn and caught him on the shield, and the +blow passed through the shield, and so down and cut off his great toe. +Holmstein hurled a spear at Kari, but he caught it in the air, and sent +it back, and it was a man's death in Flosi's band.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir Craggeir came up to where Hallbjorn the strong was in front, +and Thorgeir made such a spear-thrust at him with his left hand that +Hallbjorn fell before it, and had hard work to get on his feet again, +and turned away from the fight there and then. Then Thorgeir met +Thorwalld Kettle rumble's son, and hewed at him at once with the axe, +"the ogress of war," which Skarphedinn had owned. Thorwalld threw his +shield before him, and Thorgeir hewed the shield and cleft it from top +to bottom, but the upper horn of the axe made its way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> into his breast, +and passed into his trunk, and Thorwalld fell and was dead at once.</p> + +<p>Now it must be told how Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Thorhall his son, +Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Gizur the white, made an onslaught where Flosi +and the sons of Sigfus, and the other Burners were; then there was a +very hard fight, and the end of it was that they pressed on so hard, +that Flosi and his men gave way before them. Gudmund the powerful, and +Mord Valgard's son, and Thorgeir Craggeir, made their onslaught where +the Axefirthers and Eastfirthers, and the men of Reykdale stood, and +there too there was a very hard fight.</p> + +<p>Kari Solmund's son came up where Bjarni Broddhelgi's son had the lead. +Kari caught up a spear and thrust at him, and the blow fell on his +shield. Bjarni slipped the shield on one side of him, else it had gone +straight through him. Then he cut at Kari and aimed at his leg, but Kari +drew back his leg and turned short round on his heel, and Bjarni missed +him. Kari cut at once at him, and then a man ran forward and threw his +shield before Bjarni. Kari cleft the shield in twain, and the point of +the sword caught his thigh, and ripped up the whole leg down to the +ankle. That man fell there and then, and was ever after a cripple so +long as he lived.</p> + +<p>Then Kari clutched his spear with both hands, and turned on Bjarni and +thrust at him; he saw he had no other chance but to throw himself down +side-long away from the blow, but as soon as ever Bjarni found his feet, +away he fell back out of the fight.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir Craggeir and Gizur the white fell on there where Holmstein the +son of Bersi the wise, and Thorkel Geiti's son were leaders, and the end +of the struggle was, that Holmstein and Thorkel gave way, and then arose +a mighty hooting after them from the men of Gudmund the powerful.</p> + +<p>Thorwalld Tjorfi's son of Lightwater got a great wound; he was shot in +the forearm, and men thought that Halldor Gudmund the powerful's son had +hurled the spear, but he bore that wound about with him all his life +long, and got no atonement for it.</p> + +<p>Now there was a mighty throng. But though we hear tell of some of the +deeds that were done, still there are far many more of which men have +handed down no stories.</p> + +<p>Flosi had told them that they should make for the stronghold in the +Great Rift if they were worsted, "for there," said he, "they will only +be able to attack us on one side". But the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> band which Hall of the Side +and his son Ljot led, had fallen away out of the fight before the +onslaught of that father and son, Asgrim and Thorhall. They turned down +east of Axewater, and Hall said—</p> + +<p>"This is a sad state of things when the whole host of men at the Thing +fight, and I would, kinsman Ljot, that we begged us help even though +that be brought against us by some men, and that we part them. Thou +shalt wait for me at the foot of the bridge, and I will go to the booths +and beg for help."</p> + +<p>"If I see," said Ljot, "that Flosi and his men need help from our men, +then I will at once run up and aid them."</p> + +<p>"Thou wilt do in that as thou pleasest," says Hall, "but I pray thee to +wait for me here."</p> + +<p>Now flight breaks out in Flosi's band, and they all fly west across +Axewater; but Asgrim and Gizur the white went after them and all their +host. Flosi and his men turned down between the river and the Outwork +booth. Snorri the priest had drawn up his men there in array, so thick +that they could not pass that way, and Snorri the priest called out then +to Flosi—</p> + +<p>"Why are ye in such haste, or who chase you?"</p> + +<p>"Thou askest not this," answered Flosi, "because thou dost not know it +already; but whose fault is it that we cannot get to the stronghold in +the Great Rift?"</p> + +<p>"It is not my fault," says Snorri, "but it is quite true that I know +whose fault it is, and I will tell thee if thou wilt; it is the fault of +Thorwalld cropbeard and Kol."</p> + +<p>They were both then dead, but they had been the worst men in all Flosi's +band.</p> + +<p>Again Snorri said to his men—</p> + +<p>"Now do both, cut at them and thrust at them, and drive them away hence, +they will then hold out but a short while here, if the others attack +them from below; but then ye shall not go after them, but let both sides +shift for themselves."</p> + +<p>The son of Skapti Thorod's son was Thorstein gapemouth, as was written +before, he was in the battle with Gudmund the powerful, his +father-in-law, and as soon as Skapti knew that, he went to the booth of +Snorri the priest, and meant to beg for help to part them; but just +before he had got as far as the door of Snorri's booth, there the battle +was hottest of all. Asgrim and his friends and his men were just coming +up thither, and then Thorhall said to his father Asgrim—</p> + +<p>"See there now is Skapti Thorod's son, father."</p> + +<p>"I see him, kinsman," said Asgrim, and then he shot a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> spear at Skapti, +and struck him just below where the calf was fattest, and so through +both his legs. Skapti fell at the blow, and could not get up again, and +the only counsel they could take who were by, was to drag Skapti flat on +his face into the booth of a turf-cutter.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim and his men came up so fast that Flosi and his men gave way +before them south along the river to the booths of the men of Modruvale. +There there was a man outside one booth whose name was Solvi; he was +boiling broth in a great kettle, and had just then taken the meat out, +and the broth was boiling as hotly as it could.</p> + +<p>Solvi cast his eyes on the Eastfirthers us they fled, and they were then +just over against him, and then he said—"Can all these cowards who fly +here be Eastfirthers, and yet Thorkel Geiti's son, he ran by as fast as +any one of them, and very great lies have been told about him when men +say that he is all heart, but now no one ran faster than he".</p> + +<p>Hallbjorn the strong was near by them, and said—</p> + +<p>"Thou shalt not have it to say that we are all cowards."</p> + +<p>And with that he caught hold of him, and lifted him up aloft, and thrust +him head down into the broth-kettle. Solvi died at once; but then a rush +was made at Hallbjorn himself, and he had to turn and fly.</p> + +<p>Flosi threw a spear at Bruni Haflidi's son, and caught him at the waist, +and that was his bane; he was one of Gudmund the powerful's band.</p> + +<p>Thorstein Hlenni's son took the spear out of the wound, and hurled it +back at Flosi, and hit him on the leg, and he got a great wound and +fell; he rose up again at once.</p> + +<p>Then they passed on to the Waterfirther's booth, and then Hall and Ljot +came from the east across the river, with all their band; but just when +they came to the lava, a spear was hurled out of the band of Gudmund the +powerful, and it struck Ljot in the middle, and he fell down dead at +once; and it was never known surely who had done that manslaughter.</p> + +<p>Flosi and his men turned up round the Waterfirther's booth, and then +Thorgeir Craggeir said to Kari Solmund's son—</p> + +<p>"Look, yonder now is Eyjolf Bolverk's son, if thou hast a mind to pay +him off for the ring."</p> + +<p>"That I ween is not far from my mind," says Kari, and snatched a spear +from a man, and hurled it at Eyjolf, and it struck him in the waist, and +went through him, and Eyjolf then fell dead to earth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then there was a little lull in the battle, and then Snorri the priest +came up with his band, and Skapti was there in his company, and they ran +in between them, and so they could not get at one another to fight.</p> + +<p>Then Hall threw in his people with theirs, and was for parting them +there and then, and so a truce was set, and was to be kept throughout +the Thing, and then the bodies were laid out and borne to the church, +and the wounds of those men were bound up who were hurt.</p> + +<p>The day after men went to the Hill of Laws. Then Hall of the Side stood +up and asked for a hearing, and got it at once; and he spoke thus—</p> + +<p>"Here there have been hard happenings in lawsuits and loss of life at +the Thing, and now I will show again that I am little-hearted, for I +will now ask Asgrim and the others who take the lead in these suits, +that they grant us an atonement on even terms;" and so he goes on with +many fair words.</p> + +<p>Kari Solmund's son said—</p> + +<p>"Though all others take an atonement in their quarrels, yet will I take +no atonement in my quarrel; for ye will wish to weigh these manslayings +against the Burning, and we cannot bear that."</p> + +<p>In the same way spoke Thorgeir Craggeir.</p> + +<p>Then Skapti Thorod's son stood up and said—</p> + +<p>"Better had it been for thee, Kari, not to have run away from thy +father-in-law and thy brothers-in-law, than now to sneak out of this +atonement."</p> + +<p>Then Kari sang these verses—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Warrior wight that weapon wieldest</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spare thy speering why we fled,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oft for less falls hail of battle,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forth we fled to wreak revenge;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who was he, faint-hearted foeman,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who, when tongues of steel sung high,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stole beneath the booth for shelter,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">While his beard blushed red for shame?</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Many fetters Skapti fettered</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When the men, the Gods of fight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From the fray fared all unwilling</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Where the skald scarce held his shield;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then the suttlers dragged the lawyer</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stout in scolding to their booth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Laid him low amongst the riffraff,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">How his heart then quaked for fear.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Men who skim the main on sea stag</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Well in this ye showed your sense,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Making game about the Burning,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mocking Helgi, Grim, and Njal;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now the moor round rocky Swinestye,<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As men run and shake their shields,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With another grunt shall rattle</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When this Thing is past and gone.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Then there was great laughter. Snorri the priest smiled, and sang this +between his teeth, but so that many heard—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Skill hath Skapti us to tell</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Whether Asgrim's shaft flew well;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Holmstein hurried swift to flight,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Thorstein turned him soon to fight.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Now men burst out in great fits of laughter.</p> + +<p>Then Hall of the Side said—</p> + +<p>"All men know what a grief I have suffered in the loss of my son Ljot; +many will think that he would be valued dearest of all those men who +have fallen here; but I will do this for the sake of an atonement—I +will put no price on my son, and yet will come forward and grant both +pledges and peace to those who are my adversaries. I beg thee, Snorri +the priest, and other of the best men, to bring this about, that there +may be an atonement between us."</p> + +<p>Now he sits him down, and a great hum in his favour followed, and all +praised his gentleness and good-will.</p> + +<p>Then Snorri the priest stood up and made a long and clever speech, and +begged Asgrim and the others who took the lead in the quarrel to look +towards an atonement.</p> + +<p>Then Asgrim said—</p> + +<p>"I made up my mind when Flosi made an inroad on my house that I would +never be atoned with him; but now Snorri the priest, I will take an +atonement from him for thy word's sake and other of our friends."</p> + +<p>In the same way spoke Thorleif crow and Thorgrim the big, that they were +willing to be atoned, and they urged in every way their brother Thorgeir +Craggeir to take an atonement also; but he hung back, and says he would +never part from Kari.</p> + +<p>Then Gizur the white said—</p> + +<p>"Now Flosi must see that he must make his choice,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> whether he will be +atoned on the understanding that some will be out of the atonement."</p> + +<p>Flosi says he will take that atonement; "and methinks it is so much the +better," he says, "that I have fewer good men and true against me".</p> + +<p>Then Gudmund the powerful said—</p> + +<p>"I will offer to hansel peace on my behalf for the slayings that have +happened here at the Thing, on the understanding that the suit for the +Burning is not to fall to the ground."</p> + +<p>In the same way spoke Gizur the white and Hjallti Skeggi's son, Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son and Mord Valgard's son.</p> + +<p>In this way the atonement came about, and then hands were shaken on it, +and twelve men were to utter the award; and Snorri the priest was the +chief man in the award, and others with him. Then the manslaughters were +set off the one against the other, and those men who were over and above +were paid for in fines. They also made an award in the suit about the +Burning.</p> + +<p>Njal was to be atoned for with a triple fine, and Bergthora with two. +The slaying of Skarphedinn was to be set off against that of Hauskuld +the Whiteness priest. Both Grim and Helgi were to be paid for with +double fines; and one full man-fine should be paid for each of those who +had been burnt in the house.</p> + +<p>No atonement was taken for the slaying of Thord Kari's son.</p> + +<p>It was also in the award that Flosi and all the Burners should go abroad +into banishment, and none of them was to sail the same summer unless he +chose; but if he did not sail abroad by the time that three winters were +spent, then he and all the Burners were to become thorough outlaws. And +it was also said that their outlawry might be proclaimed either at the +Harvest-Thing or Spring-Thing, whichever men chose; and Flosi was to +stay abroad three winters.</p> + +<p>As for Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son. Glum Hilldir's son, +and Kol Thorstein's son, they were never to be allowed to come back.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi was asked if he would wish to have a price put upon his +wound, but he said he would not take bribes for his hurt.</p> + +<p>Eyjolf Bolverk's son had no fine awarded for him, for his unfairness and +wrongfulness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span></p> + +<p>And now the settlement and atonement was handselled, and was well kept +afterwards.</p> + +<p>Asgrim and his friends gave Snorri the priest good gifts, and he had +great honour from these suits.</p> + +<p>Skapti got a fine for his hurt.</p> + +<p>Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, +asked Gudmund the powerful to come and see them at home. He accepted the +bidding, and each of them gave him a gold ring.</p> + +<p>Now Gudmund rides home north, and had praise from every man for the part +he had taken in these quarrels.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir Craggeir asked Kari to go along with him, but yet first of all +they rode with Gudmund right up to the fells north. Kari gave Gudmund a +golden brooch, but Thorgeir gave him a silver belt, and each was the +greatest treasure. So they parted with the utmost friendship, and +Gudmund is out of this story.</p> + +<p>Kari and Thorgeir rode south from the fell, and down to the Rapes,<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> +and so to Thurso-water.</p> + +<p>Flosi, and the Burners along with him, rode east to Fleetlithe, and he +allowed the sons of Sigfus to settle their affairs at home. Then Flosi +heard that Thorgeir and Kari had ridden north with Gudmund the powerful, +and so the Burners thought that Kari and his friend must mean to stay in +the north country; and then the sons of Sigfus asked leave to go east +under Eyjafell to get in their money, for they had money out on call at +Headbrink. Flosi gave them leave to do that, but still bade them be ware +of themselves, and be as short a time about it as they could.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi rode up by Godaland, and so north of Eyjafell Jokul, and did +not draw bridle before he came home east to Swinefell.</p> + +<p>Now it must be said that Hall of the Side had suffered his son to fall +without a fine, and did that for the sake of an atonement, but then the +whole host of men at the Thing agreed to pay a fine for him, and the +money so paid was not less than eight hundred in silver, but that was +four times the price of a man; but all the others who had been with +Flosi got no fines paid for their hurts, and were very ill pleased at +it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLV" id="CHAPTER_CXLV"></a>CHAPTER CXLV.</h2> + +<h3>OF KARI AND THORGEIR.</h3> + + +<p>Those two, Kari Solmund's and Thorgeir Craggeir, rode that day east +across Markfleet, and so on east to Selialandsmull. They found there +some women. The wives knew them, and said to them—</p> + +<p>"Ye two are less wanton than the sons of Sigfus yonder, but still ye +fare unwarily."</p> + +<p>"Why do ye talk thus of the sons of Sigfus, or what do ye know about +them?"</p> + +<p>"They were last night," they said, "at Raufarfell, and meant to get to +Myrdale to-night, but still we thought they must have some fear of you, +for they asked when he would be likely to come home."</p> + +<p>Then Kari and Thorgeir went on their way and spurred their horses.</p> + +<p>"What shall we lay down for ourselves to do now," said Thorgeir, "or +what is most to thy mind? Wilt thou that we ride on their track?"</p> + +<p>"I will not hinder this," answers Kari, "nor will I say what ought to be +done, for it may often be that those live Long who are slain with words +alone;<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> but I well know what thou meanest to take on thyself, thou +must mean to take on thy hands eight men, and after all that is less +than it was when thou slewest those seven in the sea-crags,<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> and let +thyself down by a rope to get at them; but it is the way with all you +kinsmen, that ye always wish to be doing some famous feat, and now I can +do no less than stand by thee and have my share in the story. So now we +two alone will ride after them, for I see that thou hast so made up thy +mind."</p> + +<p>After that they rode east by the upper way, and did not pass by Holt, +for Thorgeir would not that any blame should be laid at his brother's +door for what might be done.</p> + +<p>Then they rode east to Myrdale, and there they met a man who had +turf-panniers on his horse. He began to speak thus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"Too few men, messmate Thorgeir, hast thou now in thy company."</p> + +<p>"How is that?" says Thorgeir.</p> + +<p>"Why," said the other, "because the prey is now before thy hand. The +sons of Sigfus rode by a while ago, and mean to sleep the whole day east +in Carlinedale, for they mean to go no farther to-night than to +Headbrink."</p> + +<p>After that they rode on their way east on Arnstacks heath, and there is +nothing to be told of their journey before they came to +Carlinedale-water.</p> + +<p>The stream was high, and now they rode up along the river, for they saw +their horses with saddles. They rode now thitherward, and saw that there +were men asleep in a dell and their spears were standing upright in the +ground a little below them. They took the spears from them, and threw +them into the river.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir said—</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou that we wake them?"</p> + +<p>"Thou hast not asked this," answers Kari, "because thou hast not already +made up thy mind not to fall on sleeping men, and so to slay a shameful +manslaughter."</p> + +<p>After that they shouted to them, and then they all awoke and grasped at +their arms.</p> + +<p>They did not fall on them till they were armed.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir Craggeir runs thither where Thorkel Sigfus' son stood, and just +then a man ran behind his back, but before he could do Thorgeir any +hurt, Thorgeir lifted the axe, "the ogress of war," with both hands, and +dashed the hammer of the axe with a back-blow into the head of him that +stood behind him, so that his skull was shattered to small bits.</p> + +<p>"Slain is this one," said Thorgeir; and down the man fell at once, and +was dead.</p> + +<p>But when he dashed the axe forward, he smote Thorkel on the shoulder, +and hewed it off, arm and all.</p> + +<p>Against Kari came Mord Sigfus' son, and Sigmund Sigfus' son, and Lambi +Sigurd's son; the last ran behind Kari's back, and thrust at him with a +spear; Kari caught sight of him, and leapt up as the blow fell, and +stretched his legs far apart, and so the blow spent itself on the +ground, but Kari jumped down on the spear-shaft, and snapped it in +sunder. He had a spear in one hand, and a sword in the other, but no +shield. He thrust with the right hand at Sigmund Sigfus' son, and smote +him on his breast, and the spear came out between his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> shoulders, and +down he fell and was dead at once. With his left hand he made a cut at +Mord, and smote him on the hip, and cut it asunder, and his backbone +too; he fell flat on his lace, and was dead at once.</p> + +<p>After that he turned sharp round on his heel like a whipping-top, and +made at Lambi Sigurd's son, but he took the only way to save himself, +and that was by running away as hard as he could.</p> + +<p>Now Thorgeir turns against Leidolf the strong, and each hewed at the +other at the same moment, and Leidolf's blow was so great that it shore +off that part of the shield on which it fell.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir had hewn with "the ogress of war," holding it with both hands, +and the lower horn fell on the shield and clove it in twain, but the +upper caught the collar bone and cut it in two, and tore on down into +the breast and trunk. Kari came up just then, and cut off Leidolf's leg +at mid-thigh, and then Leidolf fell and died at once.</p> + +<p>Kettle of the Mark said—"We will now run for our horses, for we cannot +hold our own here, for the overbearing strength of these men".</p> + +<p>Then they ran for their horses, and leapt on their backs; and Thorgeir +said—</p> + +<p>"Wilt thou that we chase them? if so, we shall yet slay some of them."</p> + +<p>"He rides last," says Kari, "whom I would not wish to slay, and that is +Kettle of the Mark, for we have two sisters to wife; and besides, he has +behaved best of all of them as yet in our quarrels."</p> + +<p>Then they got on their horses, and rode till they came home to Holt. +Then Thorgeir made his brothers fare away east to Skoga, for they had +another farm there, and because Thorgeir would not that his brothers +should be called truce-breakers.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir kept many men there about him, so that there were never +fewer than thirty fighting men there.</p> + +<p>Then there was great joy there, and men thought Thorgeir had grown much +greater, and pushed himself on; both he and Kari too. Men long kept in +mind this hunting of theirs, how they two rode upon fifteen men and slew +those five, but put those ten to flight who got away.</p> + +<p>Now it is to be told of Kettle, that they rode as they best might till +they came home to Swinefell, and told how bad their journey had been.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span></p> + +<p>Flosi said it was only what was to be looked for; "and this is a warning +that ye should never do the like again".</p> + +<p>Flosi was the merriest of men, and the best of hosts, and it is so said +that he had most of the chieftain in him of all the men of his time.</p> + +<p>He was at home that summer, and the winter too.</p> + +<p>But that winter, after Yule, Hall of the Side came from the east, and +Kol his son. Flosi was glad at his coming, and they often talked about +the matter of the Burning. Flosi said they had already paid a great +fine, and Hall said it was pretty much what he had guessed would come of +Flosi's and his friends' quarrel. Then he asked him what counsel he +thought best to be taken, and Hall answers—</p> + +<p>"The counsel I give is, that thou beest atoned with Thorgeir if there be +a choice, and yet he will be hard to bring to take any atonement."</p> + +<p>"Thinkest thou that the manslaughters will then be brought to an end?" +asks Flosi.</p> + +<p>"I do not think so," says Hall; "but you will have to do with fewer foes +if Kari be left alone; but if thou art not atoned with Thorgeir, then +that will be thy bane."</p> + +<p>"What atonement shall we offer him?" asks Flosi.</p> + +<p>"You will all think that atonement hard," says Hall, "which he will +take, for he will not hear of an atonement unless he be not called on to +pay any fine for what he has just done, but he will have fines for Njal +and his sons, so far as his third share goes."</p> + +<p>"That is a hard atonement," says Flosi.</p> + +<p>"For thee at least," says Hall, "that atonement is not hard, for thou +hast not the blood-feud after the sons of Sigfus; their brothers have +the blood-feud, and Hamond the halt after his son; but thou shalt now +get an atonement from Thorgeir, for I will now ride to his house with +thee, and Thorgeir will in anywise receive me well; but no man of those +who are in this quarrel will dare to sit in his house on Fleetlithe if +they are out of the atonement, for that will be their bane; and, indeed, +with Thorgeir's turn of mind, it is only what must be looked for."</p> + +<p>Now the sons of Sigfus were sent for, and they brought this business +before them; and the end of their speech was, on the persuasion of Hall, +that they all thought what he said right, and were ready to be atoned.</p> + +<p>Grani Gunnar's son and Gunnar Lambi's son said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>"It will be in our power, if Kari be left alone behind, to take care +that he be not less afraid of us than we of him."</p> + +<p>"Easier said than done," says Hall, "and ye will find it a dear bargain +to deal with him. Ye will have to pay a heavy fine before you have done +with him."</p> + +<p>After that they ceased speaking about it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLVI" id="CHAPTER_CXLVI"></a>CHAPTER CXLVI.</h2> + +<h3>THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT WITH THORGEIR CRAGGEIR.</h3> + + +<p>Hall of the Side and his son Kol, seven of them in all, rode west over +Loomnip's Sand, and so west over Arnstacksheath, and did not draw bridle +till they came into Myrdale. There they asked whether Thorgeir would be +at home at Holt, and they were told that they would find him at home.</p> + +<p>The men asked whither Hall meant to go.</p> + +<p>"Thither to Holt," he said.</p> + +<p>They said they were sure he went on a good errand.</p> + +<p>He stayed there some while and baited their horses, and after that they +mounted their horses and rode to Solheim about even, and they were there +that night, but the day-after they rode to Holt.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir was out of doors, and Kari too, and their men, for they had +seen Hall's coming. He rode in a blue cape, and had a little axe studded +with silver in his hand; but when they came into the "town," Thorgeir +went to meet him, and helped him off his horse, and both he and Kari +kissed him and led him in between them into the sitting-room, and sate +him down in the high seat on the dais, and they asked him tidings about +many things.</p> + +<p>He was there that night. Next morning Hall raised the question of the +atonement with Thorgeir, and told him what terms they offered him; and +he spoke about them with many fair and kindly words.</p> + +<p>"It may be well known to thee," answers Thorgeir, "that I said I would +take no atonement from the Burners."</p> + +<p>"That was quite another matter then," says Hall; "ye were then wroth +with fight, and, besides, ye have done great deeds in the way of +manslaying since."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span></p> + +<p>"I daresay ye think so," says Thorgeir, "but what atonement do ye offer +to Kari?"</p> + +<p>"A fitting atonement shall be offered him," says Hall, "if he will take +it."</p> + +<p>Then Kari said—</p> + +<p>"I pray this of thee, Thorgeir, that thou wilt be atoned, for thy lot +cannot be better than good."</p> + +<p>"Methinks," says Thorgeir, "it is ill done to take an atonement, and +sunder myself from thee, unless thou takest the same atonement as I."</p> + +<p>"I will not take any atonement," says Kari, "but yet I say that we have +avenged the Burning; but my son, I say, is still unavenged, and I mean +to take that on myself alone, and see what I can get done."</p> + +<p>But Thorgeir would take no atonement before Kari said that he would take +it ill if he were not atoned. Then Thorgeir handselled a truce to Flosi +and his men, as a step to a meeting for atonement; but Hall did the same +on behalf of Flosi and the sons of Sigfus.</p> + +<p>But ere they parted, Thorgeir gave Hall a gold ring and a scarlet cloak, +but Kari gave him a silver brooch, and there were hung to it four +crosses of gold. Hall thanked them kindly for their gifts, and rode away +with the greatest honour. He did not draw bridle till he came to +Swinefell, and Flosi gave him a hearty welcome. Hall told Flosi all +about his errand and the talk he had with Thorgeir, and also that +Thorgeir would not take the atonement till Kari told him he would +quarrel with him if he did not take it; but that Kari would take no +atonement.</p> + +<p>"There are few men like Kari," said Flosi, "and I would that my mind +were shapen altogether like his."</p> + +<p>Hall and Kol stayed there some while, and afterwards they rode west at +the time agreed on to the meeting for atonement, and met at Headbrink, +as had been settled between them.</p> + +<p>Then Thorgeir came to meet them from the west, and then they talked over +their atonement, and all went off as Hall had said.</p> + +<p>Before the atonement, Thorgeir said that Kari should still have the +right to be at his house all the same if he chose.</p> + +<p>"And neither side shall do the others any harm at my house; and I will +not have the trouble of gathering in the fines from each of the Burners; +but my will is that Flosi alone shall be answerable for them to me, but +he must get them in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> from his followers. My will also is that all that +award which was made at the Thing about the Burning shall be kept and +held to; and my will also is, Flosi, that thou payest me up my third +share in unclipped coin."</p> + +<p>Flosi went quickly into all these terms.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir neither gave up the banishment nor the outlawry.</p> + +<p>Now Flosi and Hall rode home east, and then Hall said to Flosi—</p> + +<p>"Keep this atonement well, son-in-law, both as to going abroad and the +pilgrimage to Rome,<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> and the fines, and then thou wilt be thought a +brave man, though thou hast stumbled into this misdeed, if thou +fulfillest handsomely all that belongs to it."</p> + +<p>Flosi said it should be so.</p> + +<p>Now Hall rode home east, but Flosi rode home to Swinefell, and was at +home afterwards.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLVII" id="CHAPTER_CXLVII"></a>CHAPTER CXLVII.</h2> + +<h3>KARI COMES TO BJORN'S HOUSE IN THE MARK.</h3> + + +<p>Thorgeir Craggeir rode home from the peace-meeting, and Kari asked +whether the atonement had come about. Thorgeir said that they now fully +atoned.</p> + +<p>Then Kari took his horse and was for riding away.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast no need to ride away," says Thorgeir, "for it was laid down +in our atonement that thou shouldst be here as before if thou chosest."</p> + +<p>"It shall not be so, cousin, for as soon as ever I slay a man they will +be sure to say that thou wert in the plot with me, and I will not have +that; but I wish this, that thou wouldst let me hand over in trust to +thee my goods, and the estates of me and my wife Helga Njal's daughter, +and my three daughters, and then they will not be seized by those +adversaries of mine."</p> + +<p>Thorgeir agreed to what Kari wished to ask of him, and then Thorgeir had +Kari's goods handed over to him in trust.</p> + +<p>After that Kari rode away. He had two horses and his weapons and outer +clothing, and some ready money in gold and silver.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now Kari rode west by Selialandsmull and up along Markfleet, and so on +up into Thorsmark. There there are three farms all called "Mark". At the +midmost farm dwelt that man whose name was Bjorn, and his surname was +Bjorn the white; he was the son of Kadal, the son of Bjalfi. Bjalfi had +been the freedman of Asgerda, the mother of Njal and Holt-Thorir; Bjorn +had to wife Valgerda, she was the daughter of Thorbrand, the son of +Asbrand. Her mother's name was Gudlauga, she was a sister of Hamond, the +father of Gunnar of Lithend; she was given away to Bjorn for his money's +sake, and she did not love him much, but yet they had children together, +and they had enough and to spare in the house.</p> + +<p>Bjorn was a man who was always boasting and praising himself, but his +housewife thought that bad. He was sharpsighted and swift of foot.</p> + +<p>Thither Kari turned in as a guest, and they took him by both hands, and +he was there that night. But the next morning Kari said to Bjorn—</p> + +<p>"I wish thou wouldst take me in, for I should think myself well housed +here with thee. I would too that thou shouldst be with me in my +journeyings, as thou art a sharpsighted, swift-footed man, and besides I +think thou wouldst be dauntless in an onslaught."</p> + +<p>"I can't blame myself," says Bjorn, "for wanting either sharp sight, or +dash, or any other bravery; but no doubt thou camest hither because all +thy other earths are stopped. Still, at thy prayer, Kari, I will not +look on thee as an everyday man; I will surely help thee in all that +thou askest."</p> + +<p>"The trolls take thy boasting and bragging," said his housewife, "and +thou shouldst not utter such stuff and silliness to any one than +thyself. As for me, I will willingly give Kari meat and other good +things, which I know will be useful to him; but on Bjorn's hardihood, +Kari, thou shalt not trust, for I am afraid that thou wilt find it quite +otherwise than he says."</p> + +<p>"Often hast thou thrown blame upon me," said Bjorn, "but for all that I +put so much faith in myself that though I am put to the trial I will +never give way to any man; and the best proof of it is this, that few +try a tussle with me because none dare to do so."</p> + +<p>Kari was there some while in hiding, and few men knew of it.</p> + +<p>Now men think that Kari must have ridden to the north<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> country to see +Gudmund the powerful, for Kari made Bjorn tell his neighbours that he +had met Kari on the beaten track, and that he rode thence up into +Godaland, and so north to Goose-sand, and then north to Gudmund the +powerful at Modruvale.</p> + +<p>So that story was spread over all the country.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLVIII" id="CHAPTER_CXLVIII"></a>CHAPTER CXLVIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF FLOSI AND THE BURNERS.</h3> + + +<p>Now Flosi spoke to the Burners, his companions—</p> + +<p>"It will no longer serve our turn to sit still, for now we shall have to +think of our going abroad and of our fines, and of fulfilling our +atonement as bravely as we can, and let us take a passage wherever it +seems most likely to get one."</p> + +<p>They bade him see to all that. Then Flosi said—</p> + +<p>"We will ride east to Hornfirth; for there that ship is laid up, which +is owned by Eyjolf nosy, a man from Drontheim, but he wants to take to +him a wife here, and he will not get the match made unless he settles +himself down here. We will buy the ship of him, for we shall have many +men and little freight. The ship is big and will take us all."</p> + +<p>Then they ceased talking of it.</p> + +<p>But a little after they rode east, and did not stop before they came +east to Bjornness in Hornfirth, and there they found Eyjolf, for he had +been there as a guest that winter.</p> + +<p>There Flosi and his men had a hearty welcome, and they were there the +night. Next morning Flosi dealt with the captain for the ship, but he +said he would not be hard to sell the ship if he could get what he +wanted for her. Flosi asked him in what coin he wished to be paid for +her; the Easterling says he wanted land for her near where he then was.</p> + +<p>Then Eyjolf told Flosi all about his dealings with his host, and Flosi +says he will pull an oar with him, so that his marriage bargain might be +struck, and buy the ship of him afterwards. The Easterling was glad at +that. Flosi offered him land at Borgarhaven, and now the Easterling +holds on with his suit to his host when Flosi was by, and Flosi threw in +a helping word, so that the bargain was brought about between them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span></p> + +<p>Flosi made over the land at Borgarhaven to the Easterling, but shook +hands on the bargain for the ship. He got also from the Easterling +twenty hundreds in wares, and that was also in their bargain for the +land.</p> + +<p>Now Flosi rode back home. He was so beloved by his men that their wares +stood free to him to take either on loan or gift, just as he chose.</p> + +<p>He rode home to Swinefell, and was at home a while.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi sent Kol Thorstein's son and Gunnar Lambi's son east to +Hornfirth. They were to be there by the ship, and to fit her out, and +set up booths, and sack the wares, and get all things together that were +needful.</p> + +<p>Now we must tell of the sons of Sigfus how they say to Flosi that they +will ride west to Fleetlithe to set their houses in order, and get wares +thence, and such other things as they needed. "Kari is not there now to +be guarded against," they say, "if he is in the north country as is +said."</p> + +<p>"I know not," answers Flosi, "as to such stories, whether there be any +truth in what is said of Kari's journeyings; methinks, we have often +been wrong in believing things which are nearer to learn than this. My +counsel is that ye go many of you together, and part as little as ye +can, and be as wary of yourselves as ye may. Thou, too, Kettle of the +Mark, shalt bear in mind that dream which I told thee, and which thou +prayedst me to hide; for many are those in thy company who were then +called."</p> + +<p>"All must come to pass as to man's life," said Kettle, "as it is +foredoomed; but good go with thee for thy warning."</p> + +<p>Now they spoke no more about it.</p> + +<p>After that the sons of Sigfus busked them and those men with them who +were meant to go with them. They were eight in all, and then they rode +away, and ere they went they kissed Flosi, and he bade them farewell, +and said he and some of those who rode away would not see each other +more. But they would not let themselves be hindered. They rode now on +their way, and Flosi said that they should take his wares in Middleland, +and carry them east, and do the same in Landsbreach and Woodcombe.</p> + +<p>After that they rode to Skaptartongue, and so on the fell, and north of +Eyjafell Jokul, and down into Godaland, and so down into the woods in +Thorsmark.</p> + +<p>Bjorn of the Mark caught sight of them coming, and went at once to meet +them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then they greeted each other well, and the sons of Sigfus asked after +Kari Solmund's son.</p> + +<p>"I met Kari," said Bjorn, "and that is now very long since; he rode +hence north on Goose-sand, and meant to go to Gudmund the powerful, and +methought if he were here now, he would stand in awe of you, for he +seemed to be left all alone."</p> + +<p>Grani Gunnar's son said—</p> + +<p>"He shall stand more in awe of us yet before we have done with him, and +he shall learn that as soon as ever he comes within spearthrow of us; +but as for us, we do not fear him at all, now that he is all alone."</p> + +<p>Kettle of the Mark bade them be still, and bring out no big words.</p> + +<p>Bjorn asked when they would be coming back.</p> + +<p>"We shall stay near a week in Fleetlithe," said they; and so they told +him when they should be riding back on the fell.</p> + +<p>With that they parted.</p> + +<p>Now the sons of Sigfus rode to their homes, and their households were +glad to see them. They were there near a week.</p> + +<p>Now Bjorn comes home and sees Kari, and told him all about the doings of +the sons of Sigfus, and their purpose.</p> + +<p>Kari said he had shown in this great faithfulness to him, and Bjorn +said—</p> + +<p>"I should have thought there was more risk of any other man's failing in +that than of me if I had pledged my help or care to any one."</p> + +<p>"Ah," said his mistress, "but you may still be bad and yet not be so bad +as to be a traitor to thy master."</p> + +<p>Kari stayed there six nights after that.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CXLIX" id="CHAPTER_CXLIX"></a>CHAPTER CXLIX.</h2> + +<h3>OF KARI AND BJORN.</h3> + + +<p>Now Kari talks to Bjorn and says—</p> + +<p>"We shall ride east across the fell and down into Skaptartongue, and +fare stealthily over Flosi's country, for I have it in my mind to get +myself carried abroad east in Alftafirth."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> + +<p>"This is a very riskful journey," said Bjorn, "and few would have the +heart to take it save thou and I."</p> + +<p>"If thou backest Kari ill," said his housewife, "know this, that thou +shalt never come afterwards into my bed, and my kinsmen shall share our +goods between us."</p> + +<p>"It is likelier, mistress," said he, "that thou wilt have to look out +for something else than this if thou hast a mind to part from me; for I +will bear my own witness to myself what a champion and daredevil I am +when weapons clash."</p> + +<p>Now they rode that day east on the fell to the north of the Jokul, but +never on the highway, and so down into Skaptartongue, and above all the +homesteads to Skaptarwater, and led their horses into a dell, but they +themselves were on the look-out, and had so placed themselves that they +could not be seen.</p> + +<p>Then Kari said to Bjorn—</p> + +<p>"What shall we do now if they ride down upon us here from the fell?"</p> + +<p>"Are there not but two things to be done," said Bjorn; "one to ride away +from them north under the crags, and so let them ride by us, or to wait +and see if any of them lag behind, and then to fall on them."</p> + +<p>They talked much about this, and one while Bjorn was for flying as fast +as he could in every word he spoke, and at another for staying and +fighting it out with them, and Kari thought this the greatest sport.</p> + +<p>The sons of Sigfus rode from their homes the same day that they had +named to Bjorn. They came to the Mark and knocked at the door there, and +wanted to see Bjorn; but his mistress went to the door and greeted them. +They asked at once for Bjorn, and she said he had ridden away down under +Eyjafell, and so east under Selialandsmull, and on east to Holt, "for he +has some money to call in thereabouts," she said.</p> + +<p>They believed this, for they knew that Bjorn had money out at call +there.</p> + +<p>After that they rode east on the fell, and did not stop before they came +to Skaptartongue, and so rode down along Skaptarwater, and baited their +horses just where Kari had thought they would. Then they split their +band. Kettle of the Mark rode east into Middleland, and eight men with +him, but the others laid them down to sleep, and were not ware of aught +until Kari and Bjorn came up to them. A little ness ran out there into +the river; into it Kari went and took his stand, and bade Bjorn stand +back to back with him, and not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> to put himself too forward, "but give me +all the help thou canst".</p> + +<p>"Well," says Bjorn, "I never had it in my head that any man should stand +before me as a shield, but still as things are thou must have thy way; +but for all that, with my gift of wit and my swiftness I may be of some +use to thee, and not harmless to our foes."</p> + +<p>Now they all rose up and ran at them, and Modolf Kettle's son was +quickest of them, and thrust at Kari with his spear. Kari had his shield +before him, and the blow fell on it, and the spear stuck fast in the +shield. Then Kari twists the shield so smartly, that the spear snapped +short off, and then he drew his sword and smote at Modolf; but Modolf +made a cut at him too, and Kari's sword fell on Modolf's hilt, and +glanced off it on to Modolph's wrist, and took the arm off, and down it +fell, and the sword too. Then Kari's sword passed on into Modolf's side, +and between his ribs, and so Modolf fell down and was dead on the spot.</p> + +<p>Grani Gunnar's son snatched up a spear and hurled it at Kari, but Kari +thrust down his shield so hard that the point stood fast in the ground, +but with his left hand he caught the spear in the air, and hurled it +back at Grani, and caught up his shield again at once with his left +hand. Grani had his shield before him, and the spear came on the shield +and passed right through it, and into Grani's thigh just below the small +guts, and through the limb, and so on, pinning him to the ground, and he +could not get rid of the spear before his fellows drew him off it, and +carried him away on their shields, and laid him down in a dell.</p> + +<p>There was a man who ran up to Kari's side, and meant to cut off his leg, +but Bjorn cut off that man's arm, and sprang back again behind Kari, and +they could not do him any hurt. Kari made a sweep at that same man with +his sword, and cut him asunder at the waist.</p> + +<p>Then Lambi Sigfus' son rushed at Kari, and hewed at him with his sword. +Kari caught the blow sideways on his shield, and the sword would not +bite; then Kari thrust at Lambi with his sword just below the breast, so +that the point came out between his shoulders, and that was his +death-blow.</p> + +<p>Then Thorstein Geirleif's son rushed at Kari, and thought to take him in +flank, but Kari caught sight of him, and swept at him with his sword +across the shoulders, so that the man was cleft asunder at the chine.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span></p> + +<p>A little while after he gave Gunnar of Skal, a good man and true, his +death-blow. As for Bjorn, he had wounded three men who had tried to give +Kari wounds, and yet he was never so far forward that he was in the +least danger, nor was he wounded, nor was either of those companions +hurt in that fight, but all those that got away were wounded.</p> + +<p>Then they ran for their horses, and galloped them off across +Skaptarwater as hard as they could; and they were so scared that they +stopped at no house, nor did they dare to stay and tell the tidings +anywhere.</p> + +<p>Kari and Bjorn hooted and shouted after them as they galloped off. So +they rode east to Woodcombe, and did not draw bridle till they came to +Swinefell.</p> + +<p>Flosi was not at home when they came thither, and that was why no hue +and cry was made thence after Kari.</p> + +<p>This journey of theirs was thought most shameful by all men.</p> + +<p>Kari rode to Skal, and gave notice of these manslayings as done by his +hand; there, too, he told them of the death of their master and five +others, and of Grani's wound, and said it would be better to bear him to +the house if he were to live.</p> + +<p>Bjorn said he could not bear to slay him, though he said he was worthy +of death; but those who answered him said they were sure few had bitten +the dust before him. But Bjorn told them he had it now in his power to +make as many of the Sidemen as he chose bite the dust; to which they +said it was a bad look out.</p> + +<p>Then Kari and Bjorn ride away from the house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CL" id="CHAPTER_CL"></a>CHAPTER CL.</h2> + +<h3>MORE OF KARI AND BJORN.</h3> + + +<p>Then Kari asked Bjorn—</p> + +<p>"What counsel shall we take now? Now I will try what thy wit is worth."</p> + +<p>"Dost thou think now," answered Bjorn, "that much lies on our being as +wise as ever we can?"</p> + +<p>"Ay," said Kari, "I think so surely."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Then our counsel is soon taken," says Bjorn. "We will cheat them all as +though they were giants; and now we will make as though we were riding +north on the fell, but as soon as ever we are out of sight behind the +brae, we will turn down along Skaptarwater, and hide us there where we +think handiest, so long as the hue and cry is hottest, if they ride +after us."</p> + +<p>"So will we do," said Kari; "and this I had meant to do all along."</p> + +<p>"And so you may put it to the proof," said Bjorn, "that I am no more of +an everyday body in wit than I am in bravery."</p> + +<p>Now Kari and his companion rode as they had purposed down along +Skaptarwater, till they came where a branch of the stream ran away to +the south-east; then they turned down along the middle branch, and did +not draw bridle till they came into Middleland, and on that moor which +is called Kringlemire; it has a stream of lava all around it.</p> + +<p>Then Kari said to Bjorn that he must watch their horses, and keep a good +look-out; "but as for me," he says, "I am heavy with sleep".</p> + +<p>So Bjorn watched the horses, but Kari lay him down, and slept but a very +short while ere Bjorn waked him up again, and he had already led their +horses together, and they were by their side. Then Bjorn said to Kari—</p> + +<p>"Thou standest in much need of me, though! A man might easily have run +away from thee if he had not been as brave-hearted as I am; for now thy +foes are riding upon thee, and so thou must up and be doing."</p> + +<p>Then Kari went away under a jutting crag, and Bjorn said—</p> + +<p>"Where shall I stand now?"</p> + +<p>"Well!" answers Kari, "now there are two choices before thee; one is, +that thou standest at my back and have my shield to cover thyself with, +if it can be of any use to thee; and the other is, to get on thy horse +and ride away as fast as thou canst."</p> + +<p>"Nay," says Bjorn, "I will not do that, and there are many things +against it; first of all, may be, if I ride away, some spiteful tongues +might begin to say that I ran away from thee for faintheartedness; and +another thing is, that I well know what game they will think there is in +me, and so they will ride after me, two or three of them, and then I +should be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> of no use or help to thee after all. No! I will rather stand +by thee and keep them off so long as it is fated."</p> + +<p>Then they had not long to wait ere horses with pack-saddles were driven +by them over the moor, and with them went three men.</p> + +<p>Then Kari said—</p> + +<p>"These men see us not."</p> + +<p>"Then let us suffer them to ride on," said Bjorn.</p> + +<p>So those three rode on past them; but the six others then came riding +right up to them, and they all leapt off their horses straightway in a +body, and turned on Kari and his companion.</p> + +<p>First, Glum Hilldir's son rushed at them, and thrust at Kari with a +spear; Kari turned short round on his heel, and Glum missed him, and the +blow fell against the rock. Bjorn sees that, and hewed at once the head +off Glum's spear. Kari leant on one side and smote at Glum with his +sword, and the blow fell on his thigh, and took off the limb high up in +the thigh, and Glum died at once.</p> + +<p>Then Vebrand and Asbrand the sons of Thorbrand ran up to Kari, but Kari +flew at Vebrand and thrust his sword through him, but afterwards he +hewed off both of Asbrand's feet from under him.</p> + +<p>In this bout both Kari and Bjorn were wounded.</p> + +<p>Then Kettle of the Mark rushed at Kari, and thrust at him with his +spear. Kari threw up his leg, and the spear stuck in the ground, and +Kari leapt on the spear-shaft, and snapped it in sunder.</p> + +<p>Then Kari grasped Kettle in his arms, and Bjorn ran up just then, and +wanted to slay him, but Kari said—</p> + +<p>"Be still now. I will give Kettle peace; for though it may be that +Kettle's life is in my power, still I will never slay him."</p> + +<p>Kettle answers never a word, but rode away after his companions, and +told those the tidings who did not know them already.</p> + +<p>They told also these tidings to the men of the Hundred, and they +gathered together at once a great force of armed men, and went +straightway up all the water-courses, and so far up on the fell that +they were three days in the chase; but after that they turned back to +their own homes, but Kettle and his companions rode east to Swinefell, +and told the tidings there.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span></p> + +<p>Flosi was little stirred at what had befallen them, but said no one +could tell whether things would stop there, "for there is no man like +Kari of all that are now left in Iceland".</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CLI" id="CHAPTER_CLI"></a>CHAPTER CLI.</h2> + +<h3>OF KARI AND BJORN AND THORGEIR.</h3> + + +<p>Now we must tell of Bjorn and Kari that they ride down on the Sand, and +lead their horses under the banks where the wild oats grew, and cut the +oats for them, that they might not die of hunger. Kari made such a near +guess, that he rode away thence at the very time that they gave over +seeking for him. He rode by night up through the Hundred, and after that +he took to the fell; and so on all the same way as they had followed +when they rode east, and did not stop till they came to Midmark.</p> + +<p>Then Bjorn said to Kari—</p> + +<p>"Now shalt thou be my great friend before my mistress, for she will +never believe one word of what I say; but everything lies on what you +do, so now repay me for the good following which I have yielded to +thee."</p> + +<p>"So it shall be; never fear," says Kari.</p> + +<p>After that they ride up to the homestead, and then the mistress asked +them what tidings, and greeted them well.</p> + +<p>"Our troubles have rather grown greater, old lass!"</p> + +<p>She answered little, and laughed; and then the mistress went on to ask—</p> + +<p>"How did Bjorn behave to thee, Kari?"</p> + +<p>"Bare is back," he answers, "without brother behind it, and Bjorn +behaved well to me. He wounded three men, and, besides, he is wounded +himself, and he stuck as close to me as he could in everything."</p> + +<p>They were three nights there, and after that they rode to Holt to +Thorgeir, and told him alone these tidings, for those tidings had not +yet been heard there.</p> + +<p>Thorgeir thanked him, and it was quite plain that he was glad at what he +heard. He asked Kari what now was undone which he meant to do.</p> + +<p>"I mean," answers Kari, "to kill Gunnar Lambi's son and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> Kol Thorstein's +son, if I can get a chance. Then we have slain fifteen men, reckoning +those five whom we two slew together. But one boon I will now ask of +thee."</p> + +<p>Thorgeir said he would grant him whatever he asked.</p> + +<p>"I wish, then, that thou wilt take under thy safeguard this man whose +name is Bjorn, and who has been in these slayings with me, and that thou +wilt change farms with him, and give him a farm ready stocked here close +by thee, and so hold thy hand over him that no vengeance may befall him; +but all this will be an easy matter for thee who art such a chief."</p> + +<p>"So it shall be," says Thorgeir.</p> + +<p>Then he gave Bjorn a ready-stocked farm at Asolfskal, but he took the +farm in the Mark into his own hands. Thorgeir flitted all Bjorn's +household stuff and goods to Asolfskal, and all his live stock; and +Thorgeir settled all Bjorn's quarrels for him, and he was reconciled to +them with a full atonement. So Bjorn was thought to be much more of a +man than he had been before.</p> + +<p>Then Kari rode away, and did not draw rein till he came west to Tongue +to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. He gave Kari a most hearty welcome, and Kari +told him of all the tidings that had happened in these slayings.</p> + +<p>Asgrim was well pleased at them, and asked what Kari meant to do next.</p> + +<p>"I mean," said Kari, "to fare abroad after them, and so dog their +footsteps and slay them, if I can get at them."</p> + +<p>Asgrim said there was no man like him for bravery and hardihood.</p> + +<p>He was there some nights, and after that he rode to Gizur the white, and +he took him by both hands. Kari stayed there some while, and then he +told Gizur that he wished to ride down to Eyrar.</p> + +<p>Gizur gave Kari a good sword at parting.</p> + +<p>Now he rode down to Eyrar, and took him a passage with Kolbein the +black; he was an Orkneyman and an old friend of Kari, and he was the +most forward and brisk of men.</p> + +<p>He took Kari by both hands, and said that one fate should befall both of +them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CLII" id="CHAPTER_CLII"></a>CHAPTER CLII.</h2> + +<h3>FLOSI GOES ABROAD.</h3> + + +<p>Now Flosi rides east to Hornfirth, and most of the men in his Thing +followed him, and bore his wares east, as well as all his stores and +baggage which he had to take with him.</p> + +<p>After that they busked them for their voyage, and fitted out their ship.</p> + +<p>Now Flosi stayed by the ship until they were "boun". But as soon as ever +they got a fair wind they put out to sea. They had a long passage and +hard weather.</p> + +<p>Then they quite lost their reckoning, and sailed on and on, and all at +once three great waves broke over their ship, one after the other. Then +Flosi said they must be near some land, and that this was a +ground-swell. A great mist was on them, but the wind rose so that a +great gale overtook them, and they scarce knew where they were before +they were dashed on shore at dead of night, and the men were saved, but +the ship was dashed all to pieces, and they could not save their goods.</p> + +<p>Then they had to look for shelter and warmth for themselves, and the day +after they went up on a height. The weather was then good.</p> + +<p>Flosi asked if any man knew this land, and there were two men of their +crew who had fared thither before, and said they were quite sure they +knew it, and, say they—</p> + +<p>"We are come to Hrossey in the Orkneys."</p> + +<p>"Then we might have made a better landing," said Flosi, "for Grim and +Helgi, Njal's sons, whom I slew, were both of them of Earl Sigurd +Hlodver's son's bodyguard."</p> + +<p>Then they sought for a hiding-place, and spread moss over themselves, +and so lay for a while, but not for long, ere Flosi spoke and said—</p> + +<p>"We will not lie here any longer until the landsmen are ware of us."</p> + +<p>Then they arose, and took counsel, and then Flosi said to his men—</p> + +<p>"We will go all of us and give ourselves up to the Earl; for there is +naught else to do, and the Earl has our lives at his pleasure if he +chooses to seek for them."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then they all went away thence, and Flosi said that they must tell no +man any tidings of their voyage, or what manner of men they were, before +he told them to the Earl.</p> + +<p>Then they walked on until they met men who showed them to the town, and +then they went in before the Earl, and Flosi and all the others hailed +him.</p> + +<p>The Earl asked what men they might be, and Flosi told his name, and said +out of what part of Iceland he was.</p> + +<p>The Earl had already heard of the Burning, and so he knew the men at +once, and then the Earl asked Flosi—"What hast thou to tell me about +Helgi Njal's son, my henchman?"</p> + +<p>"This," said Flosi, "that I hewed off his head."</p> + +<p>"Take them all," said the Earl.</p> + +<p>Then that was done, and just then in came Thorstein, son of Hall of the +Side. Flosi had to wife Steinvora, Thorstein's sister. Thorstein was one +of Earl Sigurd's bodyguard, but when he saw Flosi seized and held, he +went in before the Earl, and offered for Flosi all the goods he had.</p> + +<p>The Earl was very wroth a long time, but at last the end of it was, by +the prayer of good men and true, joined to those of Thorstein, for he +was well backed by friends, and many threw in their word with his, that +the Earl took an atonement from them, and gave Flosi and all the rest of +them peace. The Earl held to that custom of mighty men that Flosi took +that place in his service which Helgi Njal's son had filled.</p> + +<p>So Flosi was made Earl Sigurd's henchman, and he soon won his way to +great love with the Earl.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CLIII" id="CHAPTER_CLIII"></a>CHAPTER CLIII.</h2> + +<h3>KARI GOES ABROAD.</h3> + + +<p>Those messmates Kari and Kolbein the black put out to sea from Eyrar +half a month later than Flosi and his companions from Hornfirth.</p> + +<p>They got a fine fair wind, and were but a short time out. The first land +they made was the Fair Isle; it lies between Shetland and the Orkneys. +There that man whose name was David the white took Kari into his house, +and he told him all that he had heard for certain about the doings of +the Burners.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span> He was one of Kari's greatest friends, and Kari stayed +with him for the winter.</p> + +<p>There they heard tidings from the west out of the Orkneys of all that +was done there.</p> + +<p>Earl Sigurd bade to his feast at Yule Earl Gilli, his brother-in-law, +out of the Southern Isles; he had to wife Swanlauga, Earl Sigurd's +sister; and then too came to see Earl Sigurd that king from Ireland +whose name was Sigtrygg. He was a son of Olaf rattle, but his mother's +name was Kormlada; she was the fairest of all women, and best gifted in +everything that was not in her own power, but it was the talk of men +that she did all things ill over which she had any power.</p> + +<p>Brian was the name of the king who first had her to wife, but they were +then parted. He was the best-natured of all kings. He had his seat in +Connaught, in Ireland; his brother's name was Wolf the quarrelsome, the +greatest champion and warrior; Brian's foster-child's name was +Kerthialfad. He was the son of King Kylfi, who had many wars with King +Brian, and fled away out of the land before him, and became a hermit; +but when King Brian went south on a pilgrimage, then he met King Kylfi, +and then they were atoned, and King Brian took his son Kerthialfad to +him, and loved him more than his own sons. He was then full grown when +these things happened, and was the boldest of all men.</p> + +<p>Duncan was the name of the first of King Brian's sons; the second was +Margad; the third, Takt, whom we call Tann, he was the youngest of them; +but the elder sons of King Brian were full grown, and the briskest of +men.</p> + +<p>Kormlada was not the mother of King Brian's children, and so grim was +she against King Brian after their parting, that she would gladly have +him dead.</p> + +<p>King Brian thrice forgave all his outlaws the same fault, but if they +misbehaved themselves oftener, then he let them be judged by the law; +and from this one may mark what a king he must have been.</p> + +<p>Kormlada egged on her son Sigtrygg very much to kill King Brian, and she +now sent him to Earl Sigurd to beg for help.</p> + +<p>King Sigtrygg came before Yule to the Orkneys, and there, too, came Earl +Gilli, as was written before.</p> + +<p>The men were so placed that King Sigtrygg sat in a high seat in the +middle, but on either side of the king sat one of the earls. The men of +King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli sate on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> the inner side away from him, but +on the outer side away from Earl Sigurd, sate Flosi and Thorstein, son +of Hall of the Side, and the whole hall was full.</p> + +<p>Now King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli wished to hear of these tidings which +had happened at the Burning, and so, also, what had befallen since.</p> + +<p>Then Gunnar Lambi's son was got to tell the tale, and a stool was set +for him to sit upon.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CLIV" id="CHAPTER_CLIV"></a>CHAPTER CLIV.</h2> + +<h3>GUNNAR LAMBI'S SON'S SLAYING.</h3> + + +<p>Just at that very time Kari and Kolbein and David the white came to +Hrossey unawares to all men. They went straightway up on land, but a few +men watched their ship.</p> + +<p>Kari and his fellows went straight to the Earl's homestead, and came to +the hall about drinking time.</p> + +<p>It so happened that just then Gunnar was telling the story of the +Burning, but they were listening to him meanwhile outside. This was on +Yule-day itself.</p> + +<p>Now King Sigtrygg asked—</p> + +<p>"How did Skarphedinn bear the Burning?"</p> + +<p>"Well at first for a long time," said Gunnar, "but still the end of it +was that he wept." And so he went on giving an unfair leaning in his +story, but every now and then he laughed out loud.</p> + +<p>Kari could not stand this, and then he ran in with his sword drawn, and +sang this song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Men of might, in battle eager,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boast of burning Njal's abode,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have the Princes heard how sturdy</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Seahorse racers sought revenge?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hath not since, on foemen holding</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">High the shield's broad orb aloft,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All that wrong been fully wroken?</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Raw flesh ravens got to tear.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>So he ran in up the hall, and smote Gunnar Lambi's son on the neck with +such a sharp blow, that his head spun off on to the board before the +king and the earls, and the board was all one gore of blood, and the +Earl's clothing too.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span></p> + +<p>Earl Sigurd knew the man that had done the deed, and called out—</p> + +<p>"Seize Kari and kill him."</p> + +<p>Kari had been one of Earl Sigurd's bodyguard, and he was of all men most +beloved by his friends; and no man stood up a whit more for the Earl's +speech.</p> + +<p>"Many would say, Lord," said Kari, "that I have done this deed on your +behalf, to avenge your henchman."</p> + +<p>Then Flosi said—"Kari hath not done this without a cause; he is in no +atonement with us, and he only did what he had a right to do".</p> + +<p>So Kari walked away, and there was no hue and cry after him. Kari fared +to his ship, and his fellows with him. The weather was then good, and +they sailed off at once south to Caithness, and went on shore at +Thraswick to the house of a worthy man whose name was Skeggi, and with +him they stayed a very long while.</p> + +<p>Those behind in the Orkneys cleansed the board, and bore out the dead +man.</p> + +<p>The Earl was told that they had set sail south for Scotland, and King +Sigtrygg said—</p> + +<p>"This was a mighty bold fellow, who dealt his stroke so stoutly, and +never thought twice about it!"</p> + +<p>Then Earl Sigurd answered—</p> + +<p>"There is no man like Kari for dash and daring."</p> + +<p>Now Flosi undertook to tell the story of the Burning, and he was fair to +all; and therefore what he said was believed.</p> + +<p>Then King Sigtrygg stirred in his business with Earl Sigurd, and bade +him go to the war with him against King Brian.</p> + +<p>The Earl was long steadfast, but the end of it was that he let the king +have his way, but said he must have his mother's hand for his help, and +be king in Ireland, if they slew Brian. But all his men besought Earl +Sigurd not to go into the war, but it was all no good.</p> + +<p>So they parted on the understanding that Earl Sigurd gave his word to +go; but King Sigtrygg promised him his mother and the kingdom.</p> + +<p>It was so settled that Earl Sigurd was to come with all his host to +Dublin by Palm Sunday.</p> + +<p>Then King Sigtrygg fared south to Ireland, and told his mother Kormlada +that the Earl had undertaken to come, and also what he had pledged +himself to grant him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p> + +<p>She showed herself well pleased at that, but said they must gather +greater force still.</p> + +<p>Sigtrygg asked whence this was to be looked for?</p> + +<p>She said there were two vikings lying off the west of Man; and that they +had thirty ships, and, she went on, "they are men of such hardihood that +nothing can withstand them. The one's name is Ospak, and the other's +Brodir. Thou shalt fare to find them, and spare nothing to get them into +thy quarrel, whatever price they ask."</p> + +<p>Now King Sigtrygg fares and seeks the vikings, and found them lying +outside off Man; King Sigtrygg brings forward his errand at once, but +Brodir shrank from helping him until he, King Sigtrygg, promised him the +kingdom and his mother, and they were to keep this such a secret that +Earl Sigurd should know nothing about it; Brodir too was to come to +Dublin on Palm Sunday.</p> + +<p>So King Sigtrygg fared home to his mother, and told her how things +stood.</p> + +<p>After that those brothers, Ospak and Brodir, talked together, and then +Brodir told Ospak all that he and Sigtrygg had spoken of, and bade him +fare to battle with him against King Brian, and said he set much store +on his going.</p> + +<p>But Ospak said he would not fight against so good a king.</p> + +<p>Then they were both wroth, and sundered their band at once. Ospak had +ten ships and Brodir twenty.</p> + +<p>Ospak was a heathen, and the wisest of all men. He laid his ships inside +in a sound, but Brodir lay outside him.</p> + +<p>Brodir had been a Christian man and a mass-deacon by consecration, but +he had thrown off his faith and become God's dastard, and now worshipped +heathen fiends, and he was of all men most skilled in sorcery. He had +that coat of mail on which no steel would bite. He was both tall and +strong, and had such long locks that he tucked them under his belt. His +hair was black.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CLV" id="CHAPTER_CLV"></a>CHAPTER CLV.</h2> + +<h3>OF SIGNS AND WONDERS.</h3> + + +<p>It so happened one night that a great din passed over Brodir and his +men, so that they all woke, and sprang up and put on their clothes.</p> + +<p>Along with that came a shower of boiling blood.</p> + +<p>Then they covered themselves with their shields, but for all that many +were scalded.</p> + +<p>This wonder lasted all till day, and a man had died on board every ship.</p> + +<p>Then they slept during the day, but the second night there was again a +din, and again they all sprang up. Then swords leapt out of their +sheaths, and axes and spears flew about in the air and fought.</p> + +<p>The weapons pressed them so hard that they had to shield themselves, but +still many were wounded, and again a man died out of every ship.</p> + +<p>This wonder lasted all till day.</p> + +<p>Then they slept again the day after.</p> + +<p>But the third night there was a din of the same kind, and then ravens +flew at them, and it seemed to them as though their beaks and claws were +of iron.</p> + +<p>The ravens pressed them so hard that they had to keep them off with +their swords, and covered themselves with their shields, and so this +went on again till day, and then another man had died in every ship.</p> + +<p>Then they went to sleep first of all, but when Brodir woke up, he drew +his breath painfully, and bade them put off the boat. "For," he said, "I +will go to see Ospak."</p> + +<p>Then he got into the boat and some men with him, but when he found Ospak +he told him of the wonders which had befallen them, and bade him say +what he thought they boded.</p> + +<p>Ospak would not tell him before he pledged him peace, and Brodir +promised him peace, but Ospak still shrank from telling him till night +fell.</p> + +<p>Then Ospak spoke and said—"When blood rained on you, therefore shall ye +shed many men's blood, both of your own and others. But when ye heard a +great din, then ye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> must have been shown the crack of doom, and ye shall +all die speedily. But when weapons fought against you, that must forbode +a battle; but when ravens pressed you, that marks the devils which ye +put faith in, and who will drag you all down to the pains of hell."</p> + +<p>Then Brodir was so wroth that he could answer never a word, but he went +at once to his men, and made them lay his ships in a line across the +sound, and moor them by bearing their cables on shore at either end of +the line, and meant to slay them all next morning.</p> + +<p>Ospak saw all their plan, and then he vowed to take the true faith, and +to go to King Brian, and follow him till his death-day.</p> + +<p>Then he took that counsel to lay his ships in a line, and punt them +along the shore with poles, and cut the cables of Brodir's ships. Then +the ships of Brodir's men began to fall aboard of one another when they +were all fast asleep; and so Ospak and his men got out of the firth, and +so west to Ireland, and came to Connaught.</p> + +<p>Then Ospak told King Brian all that he had learnt, and took baptism, and +gave himself over into the king's hand.</p> + +<p>After that King Brian made them gather force over all his realm, and the +whole host was to come to Dublin in the week before Palm Sunday.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CLVI" id="CHAPTER_CLVI"></a>CHAPTER CLVI.</h2> + +<h3>BRIAN'S BATTLE.</h3> + + +<p>Earl Sigurd Hlodver's son busked him from the Orkneys, and Flosi offered +to go with him.</p> + +<p>The Earl would not have that, since he had his pilgrimage to fulfil.</p> + +<p>Flosi offered fifteen men of his band to go on the voyage, and the Earl +accepted them, but Flosi fared with Earl Gilli to the Southern Isles.</p> + +<p>Thorstein, the Son of Hall of the Side, went along with Earl Sigurd, and +Hrafn the red, and Erling of Straumey.</p> + +<p>He would not that Hareck should go, but said he would be sure to be the +first to tell him the tidings of his voyage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Earl came with all his host on Palm Sunday to Dublin, and there too +was come Brodir with all his host.</p> + +<p>Brodir tried by sorcery how the fight would go, but the answer ran thus, +that if the fight were on Good Friday King Brian would fall but win the +day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were against +him.</p> + +<p>Then Brodir said that they must not fight before the Friday.</p> + +<p>On the fifth day of the week a man rode up to Kormlada and her company +on an apple-grey horse, and in his hand he held a halberd; he talked +long with them.</p> + +<p>King Brian came with all his host to the Burg, and on the Friday the +host fared out of the Burg, and both armies were drawn up in array.</p> + +<p>Brodir was on one wing of the battle, but King Sigtrygg on the other.</p> + +<p>Earl Sigurd was in the mid battle.</p> + +<p>Now it must be told of King Brian that he would not fight on the +fast-day, and so a shieldburg<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> was thrown round him, and his host was +drawn up in array in front of it.</p> + +<p>Wolf the quarrelsome was on that wing of the battle against which Brodir +stood; but on the other wing, where Sigtrygg stood against them, were +Ospak and his sons.</p> + +<p>But in mid battle was Kerthialfad, and before him the banners were +borne.</p> + +<p>Now the wings fall on one another, and there was a very hard fight, +Brodir went through the host of the foe, and felled all the foremost +that stood there, but no steel would bite on his mail.</p> + +<p>Wolf the quarrelsome turned then to meet him, and thrust at him thrice +so hard that Brodir fell before him at each thrust, and was well-nigh +not getting on his feet again; but as soon as ever he found his feet, he +fled away into the wood at once.</p> + +<p>Earl Sigurd had a hard battle against Kerthialfad, and Kerthialfad came +on so fast that he laid low all who were in the front rank, and he broke +the array of Earl Sigurd right up to his banner, and slew the +banner-bearer.</p> + +<p>Then he got another man to bear the banner, and there was again a hard +fight.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p> + +<p>Kerthialfad smote this man too his death blow at once, and so on one +after the other all who stood near him.</p> + +<p>Then Earl Sigurd called on Thorstein the son of Hall of the Side, to +bear the banner, and Thorstein was just about to lift the banner, but +then Asmund the white said—</p> + +<p>"Don't bear the banner! for all they who bear it get their death."</p> + +<p>"Hrafn the red!" called out Earl Sigurd, "bear thou the banner."</p> + +<p>"Bear thine own devil thyself," answered Hrafn.</p> + +<p>Then the Earl said—</p> + +<p>"'Tis fittest that the beggar should bear the bag;" and with that he +took the banner from the staff and put it under his cloak.</p> + +<p>A little after Asmund the white was slain, and then the Earl was pierced +through with a spear.</p> + +<p>Ospak had gone through all the battle on his wing, he had been sore +wounded, and lost both his sons ere King Sigtrygg fled before him.</p> + +<p>Then flight broke out throughout all the host.</p> + +<p>Thorstein Hall of the Side's son stood still while all the others fled, +and tied his shoe-string. Then Kerthialfad asked why he ran not as the +others.</p> + +<p>"Because," said Thorstein, "I can't get home to-night, since I am at +home out in Iceland."</p> + +<p>Kerthialfad gave him peace.</p> + +<p>Hrafn the red was chased out into a certain river; he thought he saw +there the pains of hell down below him, and he thought the devils wanted +to drag him to them.</p> + +<p>Then Hrafn said—</p> + +<p>"Thy dog,<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Apostle Peter! hath run twice to Rome, and he would run +the third time if thou gavest him leave."</p> + +<p>Then the devils let him loose, and Hrafn got across the river.</p> + +<p>Now Brodir saw that King Brian's men were chasing the fleers, and that +there were few men by the shieldburg.</p> + +<p>Then he rushed out of the wood, and broke through the shieldburg, and +hewed at the king.</p> + +<p>The lad Takt threw his arm in the way, and the stroke took it off and +the king's head too, but the king's blood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> came on the lad's stump, and +the stump was healed by it on the spot.</p> + +<p>Then Brodir called out with a loud voice—</p> + +<p>"Now let man tell man that Brodir felled Brian."</p> + +<p>Then men ran after those who were chasing the fleers, and they were told +that King Brian had fallen, and then they turned back straightway, both +Wolf the quarrelsome and Kerthialfad.</p> + +<p>Then they threw a ring round Brodir and his men, and threw branches of +trees upon them, and so Brodir was taken alive.</p> + +<p>Wolf the quarrelsome cut open his belly, and led him round and round the +trunk of a tree, and so wound all his entrails out of him, and he did +not die before they were all drawn out of him.</p> + +<p>Brodir's men were slain to a man.</p> + +<p>After that they took King Brian's body and laid it out. The king's head +had grown fast to the trunk.</p> + +<p>Fifteen men of the Burners fell in Brian's battle, and there, too, fell +Halldor the son of Gudmund the powerful, and Erling of Straumey.</p> + +<p>On Good Friday that event happened in Caithness that a man whose name +was Daurrud went out. He saw folk riding twelve together to a bower, and +there they were all lost to his sight. He went to that bower and looked +in through a window slit that was in it, and saw that there were women +inside, and they had set up a loom. Men's heads were the weights, but +men's entrails were the warp and wed, a sword was the shuttle, and the +reels were arrows.</p> + +<p>They sang these songs, and he learnt them by heart--</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><b>THE WOOF OF WAR.</b></span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">See! warp is stretched</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For warriors' fall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lo! weft in loom</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Tis wet with blood;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now fight foreboding,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">'Neath friends' swift fingers,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our gray woof waxeth</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With war's alarms,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our warp bloodred,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our weft corseblue.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This woof is y-woven</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With entrails of men,</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">This warp is hardweighted</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With heads of the slain,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Spears blood-besprinkled</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">For spindles we use,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our loom ironbound,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And arrows our reels;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With swords for our shuttles</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">This war-woof we work;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So weave we, weird sisters,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our warwinning woof.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now War-winner walketh</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To weave in her turn.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now Swordswinger steppeth,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now Swiftstroke, now Storm;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When they speed the shuttle</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How spear-heads shall flash!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shields crash, and helmgnawer<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">On harness bite hard!</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wind we, wind swiftly</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our warwinning woof.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woof erst for king youthful</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Foredoomed as his own,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Forth now we will ride,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then through the ranks rushing</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Be busy where friends</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Blows blithe give and take.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wind we, wind swiftly</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our warwinning woof,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">After that let us steadfastly</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stand by the brave king;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Then men shall mark mournful</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their shields red with gore,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">How Swordstroke and Spearthrust</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Stood stout by the prince.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wind we, wind swiftly</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our warwinning woof;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When sword-bearing rovers</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To banners rush on,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mind, maidens, we spare not</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">One life in the fray!</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">We corse-choosing sisters</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Have charge of the slain.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now new-coming nations</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That island shall rule.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Who on outlying headlands</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Abode ere the fight;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I say that King mighty</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To death now is done,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now low before spearpoint</span><br /> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span><span style="margin-left: 1em;">That Earl bows his head.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Soon over all Ersemen</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sharp sorrow shall fall,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That woe to those warriors</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shall wane nevermore;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Our woof now is woven.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now battle-field waste,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">O'er land and o'er water</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">War tidings shall leap.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now surely 'tis gruesome</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To gaze all around,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When bloodred through heaven</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Drives cloudrack o'er head;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Air soon shall be deep hued</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With dying men's blood</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">When this our spaedom</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Comes speedy to pass.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">So cheerily chant we</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Charms for the young king,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Come maidens lift loudly</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">His warwinning lay;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Let him who now listens</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Learn well with his ears,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And gladden brave swordsmen</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">With bursts of war's song.</span><br /> +<br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now mount we our horses,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now bare we our brands,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Now haste we hard, maidens,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hence far, far away.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Then they plucked down the woof and tore it asunder, and each kept what +she had hold of.</p> + +<p>Now Daurrud goes away from the slit, and home; but they got on their +steeds and rode six to the south, and the other six to the north.</p> + +<p>A like event befell Brand Gneisti's son in the Faroe Isles.</p> + +<p>At Swinefell, in Iceland, blood came on the priest's stole on Good +Friday, so that he had to put it off.</p> + +<p>At Thvattwater the priest thought he saw on Good Friday a long deep of +the sea hard by the altar, and there he saw many awful sights, and it +was long ere he could sing the prayers.</p> + +<p>This event happened in the Orkneys, that Hareck thought he saw Earl +Sigurd, and some men with him. Then Hareck took his horse and rode to +meet the Earl. Men saw that they met and rode under a brae, but they +were never seen again, and not a scrap was ever found of Hareck.</p> + +<p>Earl Gilli in the Southern Isles dreamed that a man came<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span> to him and +said his name was Hostfinn, and told him he was come from Ireland.</p> + +<p>The Earl thought he asked him for tidings thence, and then he sang this +song—</p> + +<p> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I have been where warriors wrestled,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">High in Erin sang the sword,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boss to boss met many bucklers.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Steel rung sharp on rattling helm;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">I can tell of all their struggle;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sigurd fell in flight of spears;</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Brian fell, but kept his kingdom</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ere he lost one drop of blood.</span><br /> +</p> + +<p>Those two, Flosi and the Earl, talked much of this dream. A week after, +Hrafn the red came thither, and told them all the tidings of Brian's +battle, the fall of the king, and of Earl Sigurd, and Brodir, and all +the Vikings.</p> + +<p>"What," said Flosi, "hast thou to tell me of my men?"</p> + +<p>"They all fell there," says Hrafn, "but thy brother-in-law Thorstein +took peace from Kerthialfad, and is now with him."</p> + +<p>Flosi told the Earl that he would now go away, "for we have our +pilgrimage south to fulfil".</p> + +<p>The Earl bade him go as he wished, and gave him a ship and all else that +he needed, and much silver.</p> + +<p>Then they sailed to Wales, and stayed there a while.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CLVII" id="CHAPTER_CLVII"></a>CHAPTER CLVII.</h2> + +<h3>THE SLAYING OF KOL THORSTEIN'S SON.</h3> + + +<p>Kari Solmund's son told master Skeggi that he wished he would get him a +ship. So master Skeggi gave Kari a long-ship, fully trimmed and manned, +and on board it went Kari, and David the white, and Kolbein the black.</p> + +<p>Now Kari and his fellows sailed south through Scotland's Firths, and +there they found men from the Southern Isles. They told Kari the tidings +from Ireland, and also that Flosi was gone to Wales, and his men with +him.</p> + +<p>But when Kari heard that, he told his messmates that he would hold on +south to Wales, to fall in with Flosi and his band. So he bade them then +to part from his company, if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> they liked it better, and said that he +would not wish to beguile any man into mischief, because he thought he +had not yet had revenge enough on Flosi and his band.</p> + +<p>All chose to go with him; and then he sails south to Wales, and there +they lay in hiding in a creek out of the way.</p> + +<p>That morning Kol Thorstein's son went into the town to buy silver. He of +all the Burners had used the bitterest words. Kol had talked much with a +mighty dame, and he had so knocked the nail on the head, that it was all +but fixed that he was to have her, and settle down there.</p> + +<p>That same morning Kari went also into the town. He came where Kol was +telling the silver.</p> + +<p>Kari knew him at once, and ran at him with his drawn sword and smote him +on the neck; but he still went on telling the silver, and his head +counted "ten" just as it spun off the body.</p> + +<p>Then Kari said—</p> + +<p>"Go and tell this to Flosi, that Kari Solmund's son hath slain Kol +Thorstein's son. I give notice of this slaying as done by my hand."</p> + +<p>Then Kari went to his ship, and told his shipmates of the manslaughter.</p> + +<p>Then they sailed north to Beruwick, and laid up their ship, and fared up +into Whitherne in Scotland, and were with Earl Malcolm that year.</p> + +<p>But when Flosi heard of Kol's slaying, he laid out his body, and +bestowed much money on his burial.</p> + +<p>Flosi never uttered any wrathful words against Kari.</p> + +<p>Thence Flosi fared south across the sea and began his pilgrimage, and +went on south, and did not stop till he came to Rome. There he got so +great honour that he took absolution from the Pope himself, and for that +he gave a great sum of money.</p> + +<p>Then he fared back again by the east road, and stayed long in towns, and +went in before mighty men, and had from them great honour.</p> + +<p>He was in Norway the winter after, and was with Earl Eric till he was +ready to sail, and the Earl gave him much meal, and many other men +behaved handsomely to him.</p> + +<p>Now he sailed out to Iceland, and ran into Hornfirth, and thence fared +home to Swinefell. He had then fulfilled all the terms of his atonement, +both in fines and foreign travel.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_CLVIII" id="CHAPTER_CLVIII"></a>CHAPTER CLVIII.</h2> + +<h3>OF FLOSI AND KARI.</h3> + + +<p>Now it is to be told of Kari that the summer after he went down to his +ship and sailed south across the sea, and began his pilgrimage in +Normandy, and so went south and got absolution and fared back by the +western way, and took his ship again in Normandy, and sailed in her +north across the sea to Dover in England.</p> + +<p>Thence he sailed west, round Wales, and so north, through Scotland's +Firths, and did not stay his course till he came to Thraswick in +Caithness, to master Skeggi's house.</p> + +<p>There he gave over the ship of burden to Kolbein and David, and Kolbein +sailed in that ship to Norway, but David stayed behind in the Fair Isle.</p> + +<p>Kari was that winter in Caithness. In this winter his housewife died out +in Iceland.</p> + +<p>The next summer Kari busked him for Iceland. Skeggi gave him a ship of +burden, and there were eighteen of them on board her.</p> + +<p>They were rather late "boun," but still they put to sea, and had a long +passage, but at last they made Ingolf's Head. There their shin was +dashed all to pieces, but the men's lives were saved. Then, too, a gale +of wind came on them.</p> + +<p>Now they ask Kari what counsel was to be taken; but he said their best +plan was to go to Swinefell and put Flosi's manhood to the proof.</p> + +<p>So they went right up to Swinefell in the storm. Flosi was in the hall. +He knew Kari as soon as ever he came into the hall, and sprang up to +meet him, and kissed him, and sate him down in the high-seat by his +side.</p> + +<p>Flosi asked Kari to be there that winter, and Kari took his offer. Then +they were atoned with a full atonement.</p> + +<p>Then Flosi gave away his brother's daughter Hildigunna, whom Hauskuld +the priest of Whiteness had had to wife, to Kari, and they dwelt first +of all at Broadwater.</p> + +<p>Men say that the end of Flosi's life was, that he fared abroad, when he +had grown old, to seek for timber to build him a hall; and he was in +Norway that winter, but the next summer he was late "boun"; and men told +him that his ship was not seaworthy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> + +<p>Flosi said she was quite good enough for an old and death-doomed man, +and bore his goods on shipboard and put out to sea. But of that ship no +tidings were ever heard.</p> + +<p>These were the children of Kari Solmund's son and Helga Njal's +daughter—Thorgerda and Ragneida, Valgerda, and Thord who was burnt in +Njal's house. But the children of Hildigunna and Kari were these, +Starkad, and Thord, and Flosi.</p> + +<p>The son of Burning-Flosi was Kolbein, who has been the most famous man +of any of that stock.</p> + +<p>And here we end the STORY of BURNT NJAL.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Guðbrandr Vigfússon.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> This word is invented like Laxdæla, Gretla, and others, to +escape the repetition or the word Saga, after that of the person or +place to which the story belongs. It combines the idea of the subject +and the telling in one word.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Many particulars mentioned in the Saga as wonderful are no +wonders to us. Thus in the case of Gunnar's bill, when we are told that +it gave out a strange sound before great events, this probably only +means that the shaft on which it was mounted was of some hard ringing +wood unknown in the north. It was a foreign weapon, and if the shaft +were of lance wood, the sounds it gave out when brandished or shaken +would be accounted for at once without a miracle.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> There can be no doubt that it was considered a grave +offence to public morality to tell a Saga untruthfully. Respect to +friends and enemies alike, when they were dead and gone, demanded that +the histories of their lives, and especially of their last moments, +should be told as the events had actually happened. Our own Saga affords +a good illustration of this, and shows at the same time how a Saga +naturally arose out of great events. When King Sigtrygg was Earl +Sigurd's guest at Yule, and Flosi and the other Burners were about the +Earl's court, the Irish king wished to hear the story of the Burning, +and Gunnar Lambi's son was put forward to tell it at the feast on +Christmas day. It only added to Kari's grudge against him to hear Gunnar +tell the story with such a false leaning, when he gave it out that +Skarphedinn had wept for fear of the fire, and the vengeance which so +speedily overtook the false teller was looked upon as just retribution. +But when Flosi took up the story, he told it fairly and justly for both +sides, "and therefore," says the Saga, "what he said was believed".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Öresound, the gut between Denmark and Sweden, at the +entrance of the Baltic, commonly called in English, The Sound.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> That is, he came from what we call the Western Isles or +Hebrides. The old appellation still lingers in "Sodor (<i>i.e.</i> the South +isles) and Man".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> This means that Njal was one of those gifted beings who, +according to the firm belief of that age, had a more than human insight +into things about to happen. It answers very nearly to the Scottish +"second sight".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Lord of rings, a periphrasis for a chief, that is, Mord.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> Earth's offspring, a periphrasis for woman, that is, Unna.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> "Oyce," a north country word for the mouth of a river, +from the Icelandic <i>ós</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> "The Bay," the name given to the great bay in the east of +Norway, the entrance of which from the North Sea is the Cattegat, and at +the end of which is the Christiania Firth. The name also applies to the +land round the Bay, which thus formed a district, the boundary of which, +on the one side, was the promontory called Lindesnæs, or the Naze, and +on the other, the Göta-Elf, the river on which the Swedish town of +Gottenburg stands, and off the mouth of which lies the island of +Hisingen, mentioned shortly after.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Permia, the country one comes to after doubling the North +Cape.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> A town at the mouth of the Christiania Firth. It was a +great place for traffic in early times, and was long the only mart in +the south-east of Norway.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> Rill of wolf—stream of blood.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> A province of Sweden.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> An island in the Baltic, off the coast of Esthonia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Endil's courser—periphrasis for a ship.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Sigar's storm—periphrasis for a sea-fight.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Grieve, <i>i.e.</i>, bailiff, head workman.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Swanbath's beams, periphrasis for gold.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> "Thou, that heapest hoards," etc.—merely a periphrasis +for man, and scarcely fitting, except in irony, to a splitter of +firewood.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> That is, slew him in a duel.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> This shows that the shields were oblong, running down to a +point.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> "Ocean's fire," a periphrasis for "gold". The whole line +is a periphrasis for "bountiful chief".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> "Rhine's fire," a periphrasis for gold.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> "Water-skates," a periphrasis for ships.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> "Great Rift," Almannagjá—The great volcanic rift, or +"geo," as it would be called in Orkney and Shetland, which bounds the +plain of the Althing on one side.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Thorgrim Easterling and Thorbrand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> "Frodi's flour," a periphrasis for gold.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> "Sea's bright sunbeams," a periphrasis for gold.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> Constantinople.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Hlada or Lada, and sometimes in the plural Ladir, was the +old capital of Drontheim, before Nidaios—the present Drontheim—was +founded. Drontheim was originally the name of the country round the +firth of the same name, and is not used in the old Sagas for a town.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> The country round the Christiania Firth, at the top of the +"Bay".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> A town in Sweden on the Göta-Elf.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> The mainland of Orkney, now Pomona.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> Now Stroma, in the Pentland Firth.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> By so doing Hrapp would have cleared himself of his own +outlawry.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> "Prop of sea-waves' fire," a periphrasis for a woman that +bears gold on her arm.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> "Skates that skim," etc., a periphrasis for ships.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> "Odin's mocking cup," mocking songs.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> An allusion to the Beast Epic, where the cunning fox +laughs at the flayed condition of his stupid foes, the wolf and bear. We +should say, "Don't stop to speak with him, but rather beat him black and +blue".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> "Sea-stag," periphrasis for ship.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> "Sea-fire bearers," the bearers of gold, men, that is, +Helgi and Grim.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> "Byrnie-breacher," piercer of coats of mail.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> "Noisy ogre's namesake," an allusion to the name of +Skarphedinn's axe, "the ogress of war".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> Rood-cross, a crucifix.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> His son was Glum who fared to the burning with Flosi.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> "Forge which foams with song," the poet's head, in which +songs are forged, and gush forth like foaming mead.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> "Hero's helm-prop," the hero's, man's, head which supports +his helm.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> It is needless to say that this Hall was not Hall of the +Side.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> "Wolf of Gods," the "<i>caput lupinum</i>," the outlaw of +heaven, the outcast from Valhalla, Thangbrand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> "The other wolf," Gudleif.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> "Swarthy skarf," the skarf, or <i>pelecanus cardo</i>, the +cormorant. He compares the message of Thorwald to the cormorant shimming +over the waves, and says he will never take it. "Snap at flies," a very +common Icelandic metaphor from fish rising to a fly.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> Maurer thinks the allusion is here to some mythological +legend on Odin's adventures which has not come dawn to us.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> "He that giant's," etc., Thor.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> "Mew-field's bison," the sea-going ship, which sails over +he plain of the sea-mew.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> "Bell's warder," the Christian priest whose bell-ringing +formed part of the rites of the new faith.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> "Falcon of the strand," ship.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> "Courser of the causeway," ship.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> "Gylfi's hart," ship.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> "Viking's snow-shoe," sea-king's ship.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> "Boiling Kettle," This was a hver, or hot spring.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> This was the "Raven's Rift," opposite to the "Great Rift" +on the other side of the Thingfield.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> "Warrior's temper," the temper of Hauskuld of Whiteness.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> "Snake-land's stem," a periphrasis for woman, Rodny.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> "He that hoardeth ocean's fire," a periphrasis for man, +Hauskuld of Whiteness.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> "Baltic side." This probably means a part of the Finnish +coast in the Gulf of Bothnia.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> "Wild man of the woods." In the original Finngálkn, a +fabulous monster, half man and half beast.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> "Sand," Skeidará sand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> "Sand," Mælifell's sand.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> "Nones," the well-known canonical hour of the day, the +ninth hour from six A.M., that is, about three o'clock P.M., when one of +the church services took place.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> "Son of Gollnir," Njal, who was the son of Thorgeir +Gelling or Gollnir.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> "My friends," ironically of course.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> "Helmet-hewer," sword.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> John for a man, and Gudruna for a woman, were standing +names in the Formularies of the Icelandic code, answering to the "M or +N" in our Liturgy, or to those famous fictions of English Law. "John Doe +and Richard Roe".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> "Gossipry," that is, because they were gossips, <i>God's +sib</i>, relations by baptism.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> "Swinestye," ironically for Swinefell, where Flosi lived.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> This is the English equivalent for the Icelandic Hrepp, a +district. It still lingers in "the Rape of Bramber," and other districts +in Sussex and the south-east.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> "With words alone," The English proverb, "Threatened men +live long".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> "Sea crags." Hence Thorgeir got his surname "Craggeir".</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> "Pilgrimage to Rome." This condition had not been +mentioned before.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> "Shieldburg" that is, a ring of men holding their shields +locked together.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> "Thy dog," etc. Meaning that he would go a third time on a +pilgrimage to Rome If St. Peter helped him out of this strait.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> "Helmgnawer," the sword that bites helmets.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The story of Burnt Njal, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL *** + +***** This file should be named 17919-h.htm or 17919-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/1/17919/ + +Produced by National Library of Iceland and Cornell +University Library via www.sagnanet.is, Jóhannes Birgir +Jensson, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed +Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The story of Burnt Njal + From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga + +Author: Anonymous + +Translator: George Webbe Dasent + +Release Date: March 4, 2006 [EBook #17919] +Last Updated: October 18, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL *** + + + + +Produced by National Library of Iceland and Cornell +University Library via www.sagnanet.is, Johannes Birgir +Jensson, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed +Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net + + + + + ++---------------------------------------------------------+ +|Transcriber's Note: This is a translation from Icelandic | +|and there are inconsistencies in punctuation which | +|have been left as they were in the original. | ++---------------------------------------------------------+ + + +[Illustration: The Story of Burnt Njal +From the Icelandic of Njal Saga] + + + + +THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL + + + + +[Illustration: GUNNAR REFUSES TO LEAVE HOME] + +"_Fair is Lithe: so fair that it has never seemed to me so fair; the +corn fields are white to harvest, and the home mead is mown: and now I +will ride back home, and not fare abroad at all._" + + + + +The Story of Burnt Njal + + +From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga + + +By the late Sir George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L. + + + + +_With a Prefatory Note, and the Introduction, Abridged, from the +Original Edition of 1861_ + + +New York E. P. Dutton & Co. +London Grant Richards +1900 + +THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSITY PRESS LIMITED + + +_The design of the cover made by the late James Drummond, R.S.A., +combines the chief weapons mentioned in_ The Story of Burnt Njal: +_Gunnar's bill, Skarphedinn's axe, and Kari's sword, bound together by +one of the great silver rings found in a Viking's hoard in Orkney._ + + + + +PREFATORY NOTE TO THE ONE-VOLUME EDITION. + + +_SIR GEORGE DASENT'S translation of the Njals Saga, under the +title The Story of Burnt Njal, which is reprinted in this volume, was +published by Messrs. Edmonston & Douglas in 1861. That edition was in +two volumes, and was furnished by the author with maps and plans; with a +lengthy introduction dealing with Iceland's history, religion and social +life; with an appendix and an exhaustive index. Copies of this edition +can still be obtained from Mr. David Douglas of Edinburgh._ + +_The present reprint has been prepared in order that this incomparable +Saga may become accessible to those readers with whom a good story is +the first consideration and its bearing upon a nation's history a +secondary one--or is not considered at all. For_ Burnt Njal _may be +approached either as a historical document, or as a pure narrative of +elemental natures, of strong passions; and of heroic feats of strength. +Some of the best fighting in literature is to be found between its +covers. Sir George Dasent's version in its capacity as a learned work +for the study has had nearly forty years of life; it is now offered +afresh simply as a brave story for men who have been boys and for boys +who are going to be men._ + +_We lay down the book at the end having added to our store of good +memories the record of great deeds and great hearts, and to our gallery +of heroes strong and admirable men worthy to stand beside the strong and +admirable men of the Iliad--Gunnar of Lithend and Skarphedinn, Njal and +Kari, Helgi and Kolskegg, beside Telamonian Aias and Patroclus, Achilles +and Hector, Ulysses and Idomeneus. In two respects these Icelanders win +more of our sympathy than the Greeks and Trojans; for they, like +ourselves, are of Northern blood, and in their mighty strivings are +unassisted by the gods._ + +_In the present volume Sir George Dasent's preface has been shortened, +and his introduction, which everyone who is interested in old Icelandic +life and history should make a point of reading in the original edition, +has been considerably abridged. The three appendices, treating of the +Vikings, Queen Gunnhillda, and money and currency in the tenth century, +have been also exised, and with them the index. There remains the Saga +itself (not a word of Sir George Dasent's simple, forcible, clean prose +having been touched), with sufficient introductory matter to assist the +reader to its fuller appreciation._ + +_Sir George Webbe Dasent, D.C.L., the translator of the Njals Saga, was +born in 1817 at St. Vincent in the West Indies, of which island his +father was Attorney-General. He was educated at Westminster School, and +at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, where he was distinguished both as a fine +athlete and a good classic. He took his degree in 1840, and on coming +to London showed an early tendency towards literature and literary +society. The Sterlings were connected with the island of' St. Vincent, +and as Dasent and John Sterling became close friends, he was a constant +guest at Captain Sterlings house in Knightsbridge, which was frequented +by many who afterwards rose to eminence in the world of letters, +including Carlyle, to whom Dasent dedicated his first book, Dasent's +appointment in 1842 as private secretary to Sir James Cartwright, the +British Envoy to the court of Sweden, took him to Stockholm, where under +the advice of Jacob Grimm, whom he had met in Denmark, he began that +study of Scandinavian literature which has enriched English literature +bu the present work, and by the_ Norse Tales, Gisli the Outlaw, _and +other valuable translations and memoirs. On settling in London again in +1845 he joined the_ Times _staff as assistant editor to the great +Delane, who had been his friend at Oxford, and whose sister he married +in the following year. Dasent retained the post during the paper's most +brilliant period. In 1870 Mr. Gladstone offered him a Civil Service +Commissionership, which he accepted and held until his retirement in +1892, at which time he was the Commission's official head. He was +knighted "for public services" in 1876, having been created a knight +of the Danish order of the Dannebroeg many years earlier._ + +_In addition, to his Scandinavian work, Sir George Dasent wrote several +novels, of which_ The Annals of an Eventful Life _was at once the most +popular and the best. He died greatly respected in 1896._ + + E. V. LUCAS. + + + + +SIR GEORGE DASENT'S PREFACE + +(ABRIDGED.) + + +What is a Saga? A Saga is a story, or telling in prose, +sometimes mixed with verse. There are many kinds of Sagas, of all +degrees of truth. There are the mythical Sagas, in which the wondrous +deeds of heroes of old time, half gods and half men, as Sigurd and +Ragnar, are told as they were handed down from father to son in the +traditions of the Northern race. Then there are Sagas recounting the +history of the kings of Norway and other countries, of the great line of +Orkney Jarls, and of the chiefs who ruled in Faroe. These are all more +or less trustworthy, and, in general, far worthier of belief than much +that passes for the early history of other races. Again, there are Sagas +relating to Iceland, narrating the lives, and feuds, and ends of mighty +chiefs, the heads of the great families which dwelt in this or that +district of the island. These were told by men who lived on the very +spot, and told with a minuteness and exactness, as to time and place, +that will bear the strictest examination. Such a Saga is that of Njal, +which we now lay before our readers in an English garb. Of all the Sagas +relating to Iceland, this tragic story bears away the palm for +truthfulness and beauty. To use the words of one well qualified to +judge, it is, as compared with all similar compositions, as gold to +brass.[1] Like all the Sagas which relate to the same period of +Icelandic story, Njala[2] was not written down till about 100 years +after the events which are described in it had happened. In the +meantime, it was handed down by word of mouth, told from Althing to +Althing, at Spring Thing, and Autumn Leet, at all great gatherings of +the people, and over many a fireside, on sea strand or river bank, or up +among the dales and hills, by men who had learnt the sad story of Njal's +fate, and who could tell of Gunnar's peerlessness and Hallgerda's +infamy, of Bergthora's helpfulness, of Skarphedinn's hastiness, of +Flosi's foul deed, and Kurt's stern revenge. We may be sure that as soon +as each event recorded in the Saga occurred, it was told and talked +about as matter of history, and when at last the whole story was +unfolded and took shape, and centred round Njal, that it was handed down +from father to son, as truthfully and faithfully as could ever be the +case with any public or notorious matter in local history. But it is not +on Njala alone that we have to rely for our evidence of its genuineness. +There are many other Sagas relating to the same period, and handed down +in like manner, in which the actors in our Saga are incidentally +mentioned by name, and in which the deeds recorded of them are +corroborated. They are mentioned also in songs and Annals, the latter +being the earliest written records which belong to the history of the +island, while the former were more easily remembered, from the +construction of the verse. Much passes for history in other lands on far +slighter grounds, and many a story in Thucydides or Tacitus, or even in +Clarendon or Hume, is believed on evidence not one-tenth part so +trustworthy as that which supports the narratives of these Icelandic +story-tellers of the eleventh century. That with occurrences of +undoubted truth, and minute particularity as to time and place, as to +dates and distance, are intermingled wild superstitions on several +occasions, will startle no reader of the smallest judgment. All ages, +our own not excepted, have their superstitions, and to suppose that a +story told in the eleventh century,--when phantoms, and ghosts, and +wraiths, were implicitly believed in, and when dreams, and warnings, and +tokens, were part of every man's creed--should be wanting in these marks +of genuineness, is simply to require that one great proof of its +truthfulness should be wanting, and that, in order to suit the spirit of +our age, it should lack something which was part and parcel of popular +belief in the age to which it belonged. To a thoughtful mind, therefore, +such stories as that of Swan's witchcraft, Gunnar's song in his cairn, +the Wolf's ride before the Burning, Flosi's dream, the signs and tokens +before Brian's battle, and even Njal's weird foresight, on which the +whole story hangs, will be regarded as proofs rather for than against +its genuineness.[3] + +But it is an old saying, that a story never loses in telling, and so we +may expect it must have been with this story. For the facts which the +Saga-teller related he was bound to follow the narrations of those who +had gone before him, and if he swerved to or fro in this respect, public +opinion and notorious fame was there to check and contradict him.[4] But +the way in which he told the facts was his own, and thus it comes that +some Sagas are better told than others, as the feeling and power of the +narrator were above those of others. To tell a story truthfully was +what was looked for from all men in those days; but to tell it properly +and gracefully, and so to clothe the facts in fitting diction, was given +to few, and of those few the Saga teller who first threw Njala into its +present shape, was one of the first and foremost. + +With the change of faith and conversion of the Icelanders to +Christianity, writing, and the materials for writing, first came into +the land, about the year 1000. There is no proof that the earlier or +Runic alphabet, which existed in heathen times, was ever used for any +other purposes than those of simple monumental inscriptions, or of short +legends on weapons or sacrificial vessels, or horns and drinking cups. +But with the Roman alphabet came not only a readier means of expressing +thought, but also a class of men who were wont thus to express +themselves.... Saga after Saga was reduced to writing, and before the +year 1200 it is reckoned that all the pieces of that kind of composition +which relate to the history of Icelanders previous to the introduction +of Christianity had passed from the oral into the written shape. Of all +those Sagas, none were so interesting as Njal, whether as regarded the +length of the story, the number and rank of the chiefs who appeared in +it as actors, and the graphic way in which the tragic tale was told. As +a rounded whole, in which each part is finely and beautifully polished, +in which the two great divisions of the story are kept in perfect +balance and counterpoise, in which each person who appears is left free +to speak in a way which stamps him with a character of his own, while +all unite in working towards a common end, no Saga had such claims on +public attention as Njala, and it is certain none would sooner have been +committed to writing. The latest period, therefore, that we can assign +as the date at which our Saga was moulded into its present shape is the +year 1200.... + +It was a foster-father's duty, in old times, to rear and cherish the +child which he had taken from the arms of its natural parents, his +superiors in rank. And so may this work, which the translator has taken +from the house of Icelandic scholars, his masters in knowledge, and +which he has reared and fostered so many years under an English roof, go +forth and fight the battle of life for itself, and win fresh fame for +those who gave it birth. It will be reward enough for him who has first +clothed it in an English dress if his foster-child adds another leaf to +that evergreen wreath of glory which crowns the brows of Iceland's +ancient worthies. + +BROAD SANCTUARY. + +_Christmas Eve, 1860._ + + It will be seen that in most cases the names of places throughout + the Saga have been turned into English, either in whole or in part, + as "Lithend" for "Lfaethrendi," and "Bergthorsknoll" for + "Bergthorshvol". The translator adopted this course to soften the + ruggedness of the original names for the English reader, but in + every case the Icelandic name, with its English rendering, will be + found in the maps. The surnames and nicknames have also been turned + into English--an attempt which has not a little increased the toil + of translation. Great allowance must be made for these renderings, + as those nicknames often arose out of circumstances of which we + know little or nothing. Of some, such as "Thorgeir Craggeir," and + "Thorkel foulmouth," the Saga itself explains the origin. In a + state of society where so many men bore the same name, any + circumstance or event in a man's life, as well as any peculiarity + in form or feature, or in temper and turn of mind, gave rise to a + surname or nickname, which clung to him through life as a + distinguishing mark. The Post Office in the United States is said + to give persons in the same district, with similar names, an + initial of identification, which answers the same purpose, as the + Icelandic nickname, thus: "John _P_ Smith."--"John _Q_ Smith". As a + general rule the translator has withstood the temptation to use old + English words. "Busk" and "boun" he pleads guilty to, because both + still linger in the language understood by few. "Busk" is a + reflective formed from 'eat bua sik,' "to get oneself ready," and + "boun" is the past participle of the active form "bua, buinn," to + get ready. When the leader in Old Ballads says-- + + "Busk ye, busk ye, + My bonny, bonny me," + + he calls on his followers to equip themselves; when they are thus + equipped they are "boun". A bride "busks" herself for the bridal; + when she is dressed she is "boun". In old times a ship was "busked" + for a voyage; when she was filled and ready for sea she was + "boun"--whence come our outward "bound" and homeward "bound". These + with "redes" for counsels or plans are almost the only words in the + translation which are not still in everyday use. + + + + +SIR GEORGE DASENT'S INTRODUCTION. + +(ABRIDGED). + + +THE NORTHMEN IN ICELAND. + +The men who colonized Iceland towards the end of the ninth century of +the Christian aera, were of no savage or servile race. They fled from the +overbearing power of the king, from that new and strange doctrine of +government put forth by Harold Fairhair, 860-933, which made them the +king's men at all times, instead of his only at certain times for +special service, which laid scatts and taxes on their lands, which +interfered with vested rights and world-old laws, and allowed the +monarch to meddle and make with the freemen's allodial holdings. As we +look at it now, and from another point of view, we see that what to them +was unbearable tyranny was really a step in the great march of +civilization and progress, and that the centralization and consolidation +of the royal authority, according to Charlemagne's system, was in time +to be a blessing to the kingdoms of the north. But to the freeman it was +a curse. He fought against it as long as he could; worsted over and over +again, he renewed the struggle, and at last, when the isolated efforts, +which were the key-stone of his edifice of liberty, were fruitless, he +sullenly withdrew from the field, and left the land of his fathers, +where, as he thought, no free-born man could now care to live. Now it is +that we hear of him in Iceland, where Ingolf was the first settler in +the year 874, and was soon followed by many of his countrymen. Now, too, +we hear of him in all lands. Now France--now Italy--now Spain, feel +the fury of his wrath, and the weight of his arm. After a time, but not +until nearly a century has passed, he spreads his wings for a wider +flight, and takes service under the great emperor at Byzantium, or +Micklegarth--the great city, the town of towns--and fights his foes from +whatever quarter they come. The Moslem in Sicily and Asia, the +Bulgarians and Slavonians on the shores of the Black Sea and in Greece, +well know the temper of the Northern steel, which has forced many of +their chosen champions to bite the dust. Wherever he goes the Northman +leaves his mark, and to this day the lion at the entrance to the arsenal +at Venice is scored with runes which tell of his triumph. + +But of all countries, what were called the Western Lands were his +favourite haunt. England, where the Saxons were losing their old dash +and daring, and settling down into a sluggish sensual race; Ireland, the +flower of Celtic lands, in which a system of great age and undoubted +civilization was then fast falling to pieces, afforded a tempting +battlefield in the everlasting feuds between chief and chief; Scotland, +where the power of the Picts was waning, while that of the Scots had not +taken firm hold on the country, and most of all the islands in the +Scottish Main, Orkney, Shetland, and the outlying Faroe Isles;--all +these were his chosen abode. In those islands he took deep root, +established himself on the old system, shared in the quarrels of the +chiefs and princes of the Mainland, now helped Pict and now Scot, roved +the seas and made all ships prizes, and kept alive his old grudge +against Harold Fairhair and the new system by a long series of piratical +incursions on the Norway coast. So worrying did these Viking cruises at +last become, that Harold, who meantime had steadily pursued his policy +at home, and forced all men to bow to his sway or leave the land, +resolved to crush the wasps that stung him summer after summer in their +own nest. First of all he sent Kettle flatnose, a mighty chief, to +subdue the foe; but though Kettle waged successful war, he kept what he +won for himself. It was the old story of setting a thief to catch a +thief; and Harold found that if he was to have his work done to his mind +he must do it himself. He called on his chiefs to follow him, levied a +mighty force, and, sailing suddenly with a fleet which must have seemed +an armada in those days, he fell upon the Vikings in Orkney and +Shetland, in the Hebrides and Western Isles, in Man and Anglesey, in the +Lewes and Faroe--wherever he could find them he followed them up with +fire and sword. Not once, but twice he crossed the sea after them, and +tore them out so thoroughly, root and branch, that we hear no more of +these lands as a lair of Vikings, but as the abode of Norse Jarls and +their udallers (freeholders) who look upon the new state of things at +home as right and just, and acknowledge the authority of Harold and his +successors by an allegiance more or less dutiful at different times, but +which was never afterwards entirely thrown off. + +It was just then, just when the unflinching will of Harold had taught +this stern lesson to his old foes, and arising in most part out of that +lesson, that the great rush of settlers to Iceland took place. We have +already seen that Ingolf and others had settled in Iceland from 874 +downwards, but it was not until nearly twenty years afterwards that the +island began to be thickly peopled. More than half of the names of the +first colonists contained in the venerable Landnama Book--the Book of +Lots, the Doomsday of Iceland, and far livelier reading than that of the +Conqueror--are those of Northmen who had been before settled in the +British Isles. Our own country then was the great stepping-stone between +Norway and Iceland; and this one fact is enough to account for the close +connection which the Icelanders ever afterwards kept up with their +kinsmen who had remained behind in the islands of the west.... + + +SUPERSTITIONS OF THE RACE. + +The Northman had many superstitions. He believed in good giants and bad +giants, in dark elves and bright elves, in superhuman beings who tilled +the wide gulf which existed between himself and the gods. He believed, +too, in wraiths and fetches and guardian spirits, who followed +particular persons, and belonged to certain families--a belief which +seems to have sprung from the habit of regarding body and soul as two +distinct beings, which at certain times took each a separate bodily +shape. Sometimes the guardian spirit or fylgja took a human shape; at +others its form took that of some animal fancied to foreshadow the +character of the man to whom it belonged. Thus it becomes a bear, a +wolf, an ox, and even a fox, in men. The fylgjur of women were fond of +taking the shape of swans. To see one's own fylgja was unlucky, and +often a sign that a man was "fey," or death-doomed. So, when Thord +Freedmanson tells Njal that he sees the goat wallowing in its gore in +the "town" of Bergthorsknoll, the foresighted man tells him that he has +seen his own fylgja, and that he must be doomed to die. Finer and nobler +natures often saw the guardian spirits of others. Thus Njal saw the +fylgjur of Gunnar's enemies, which gave him no rest the livelong night, +and his weird feeling is soon confirmed by the news brought by his +shepherd. From the fylgja of the individual it was easy to rise to the +still more abstract notion of the guardian spirits of a family, who +sometimes, if a great change in the house is about to begin, even show +themselves as hurtful to some member of the house. He believed also that +some men had more than one shape; that they could either take the shapes +of animals, as bears or wolves, and so work mischief; or that, without +undergoing bodily change, an access of rage and strength came over them, +and more especially towards night, which made them more than a match for +ordinary men. Such men were called hamrammir, "shape-strong," and it was +remarked that when the fit left them they were weaker than they had been +before. + +This gift was looked upon as something "uncanny," and it leads us at +once to another class of men, whose supernatural strength was regarded +as a curse to the community. These were the Baresarks. What the +hamrammir men were when they were in their fits the Baresarks almost +always were. They are described as being always of exceeding, and when +their fury rose high, of superhuman strength. They too, like the +hamrammir men, were very tired when the fits passed off. What led to +their fits is hard to say. In the case of the only class of men like +them nowadays, that of the Malays running a-muck, the intoxicating fumes +of bangh or arrack are said to be the cause of their fury. One thing, +however, is certain, that the Baresark, like his Malay brother, was +looked upon as a public pest, and the mischief which they caused, +relying partly no doubt on their natural strength, and partly on the +hold which the belief in their supernatural nature had on the mind of +the people, was such as to render their killing a good work. + +Again, the Northman believed that certain men were "fast" or "hard"; +that no weapons would touch them or wound their skin; that the mere +glance of some men's eyes would turn the edge of the best sword; and +that some persons had the power of withstanding poison. He believed in +omens and dreams and warnings, in signs and wonders and tokens; he +believed in good luck and bad luck, and that the man on whom fortune +smiled or frowned bore the marks of her favour or displeasure on his +face; he believed also in magic and sorcery, though he loathed them as +unholy rites. With one of his beliefs our story has much to do, though +this was a belief in good rather than in evil. He believed firmly that +some men had the inborn gift, not won by any black arts, of seeing +things and events beforehand. He believed, in short, in what is called +in Scotland "second sight". This was what was called being "forspar" or +"framsynn," "foretelling" and "foresighted ". Of such men it was said +that their "words could not be broken". Njal was one of these men; one +of the wisest and at the same time most just and honourable of men. This +gift ran in families, for Helgi Njal's son had it, and it was beyond a +doubt one of the deepest-rooted of all their superstitions. + + +SOCIAL PRINCIPLES. + +Besides his creed and these beliefs the new settler brought with him +certain fixed social principles, which we shall do well to consider +carefully in the outset.... First and foremost came the father's right +of property in his children. This right is common to the infancy of all +communities, and exists before all law. We seek it in vain in codes +which belong to a later period, but it has left traces of itself in all +codes, and, abrogated in theory, still often exists in practice. We find +it in the Roman law, and we find it among the Northmen. Thus it was the +father's right to rear his children or not at his will. As soon as it +was born, the child was laid upon the bare ground; and until the father +came and looked at it, heard and saw that it was strong in lung and +limb, lifted it in his arms, and handed it over to the women to be +reared, its fate hung in the balance, and life or death depended on the +sentence of its sire. After it had passed safely through that ordeal, it +was duly washed, signed with Thor's holy hammer, and solemnly received +into the family. If it were a weakly boy, and still more often, if it +were a girl, no matter whether she were strong or weak, the infant was +exposed to die by ravening beasts, or the inclemency of the climate. +Many instances occur of children so exposed, who, saved by some kindly +neighbour, and fostered beneath a stranger's roof, thus contracted ties +reckoned still more binding than blood itself. So long as his children +remained under his roof, they were their father's own. When the sons +left the paternal roof, they were emancipated, and when the daughters +were married they were also free, but the marriage itself remained till +the latest times a matter of sale and barter in deed as well as name. +The wife came into the house, in the patriarchal state, either stolen or +bought from her nearest male relations; and though in later times when +the sale took place it was softened by settling part of the dower and +portion on the wife, we shall do well to bear in mind, that originally +dower was only the price paid by the suitor to the father for his good +will; while portion, on the other hand, was the sum paid by the father +to persuade a suitor to take a daughter off his hands. Let us remember, +therefore, that in those times, as Odin was supreme in Asgard as the +Great Father of Gods and men, so in his own house every father of the +race that revered Odin was also sovereign and supreme. + +In the second place, as the creed of the race was one that adored the +Great Father as the God of Battles; as it was his will that turned the +fight; nay, as that was the very way in which he chose to call his own +to himself,--it followed, that any appeal to arms was looked upon as an +appeal to God. Victory was indeed the sign of a rightful cause, and he +that won the day remained behind to enjoy the rights which he had won in +fair fight, but he that lost it, if he fell bravely and like a man, if +he truly believed his quarrel just, and brought it without guile to the +issue of the sword, went by the very manner of his death to a better +place. The Father of the Slain wanted him, and he was welcomed by the +Valkyries, by Odin's corse-choosers, to the festive board in Valhalla. +In every point of view, therefore, war and battle was a holy thing, and +the Northman went to the battlefield in the firm conviction that right +would prevail. In modern times, while we appeal in declarations of war +to the God of Battles, we do it with the feeling that war is often an +unholy thing, and that Providence is not always on the side of strong +battalions. The Northman saw Providence on both sides. It was good to +live, if one fought bravely, but it was also good to die, if one fell +bravely. To live bravely and to die bravely, trusting in the God of +Battles, was the warrior's comfortable creed. + +But this feeling was also shown in private life. When two tribes or +peoples rushed to war, there Odin, the warrior's god, was sure to be +busy in the fight, turning the day this way or that at his will; but he +was no less present in private war, where in any quarrel man met man to +claim or to defend a right. There, too, he turned the scale and swayed +the day, and there too an appeal to arms was regarded as an appeal to +heaven. Hence arose another right older than all law, the right of +duel--of wager of battle, as the old English law called it. Among the +Northmen it underlaid all their early legislation, which, as we shall +see, aimed rather at regulating and guiding it, by making it a part and +parcel of the law, than at attempting to check at once a custom which +had grown up with the whole faith of the people, and which was regarded +as a right at once so time-honoured and so holy. + +Thirdly, we must never forget that, as it is the Christian's duty to +forgive his foes, and to be patient and long-suffering under the most +grievous wrongs so it was the heathen's bounden duty to avenge all +wrongs, and most of all those offered to blood relations, to his kith +and kin, to the utmost limit of his power. Hence arose the constant +blood-feuds between families, of which we shall hear so much in our +story, but which we shall fail fully to understand, unless we keep in +view, along with this duty of revenge, the right or property which all +heads of houses had in their relations. Out of these twofold rights, of +the right of revenge and the right of property, arose that strange +medley of forbearance and blood-thirstiness which stamps the age. +Revenge was a duty and a right, but property was no less a right; and so +it rested with the father of a family either to take revenge, life for +life, or to forego his vengeance, and take a compensation in goods or +money for the loss he had sustained in his property. Out of this latter +view arose those arbitrary tariffs for wounds or loss of life, which +were gradually developed more or less completely in all the Teutonic and +Scandinavian races, until every injury to life or limb had its +proportionate price, according to the rank which the injured person bore +in the social scale. These tariffs, settled by the heads of houses, are, +in fact, the first elements of the law of nations; but it must be +clearly understood that it always rested with the injured family either +to follow up the quarrel by private war, or to call on the man who had +inflicted the injury to pay a fitting fine. If he refused, the feud +might be followed up on the battlefield, in the earliest times, or in +later days, either by battle or by law. Of the latter mode of +proceeding, we shall have to speak at greater length farther on; for the +present, we content ourselves with indicating these different modes of +settling a quarrel in what we have called the patriarchal state. + +A fourth great principle of his nature was the conviction of the +worthlessness and fleeting nature of all worldly goods. One thing alone +was firm and unshaken, the stability of well-earned fame. "Goods +perish, friends perish, a man himself perishes, but fame never dies to +him that hath won it worthily." "One thing I know that never dies, the +judgment passed on every mortal man." Over all man's life hung a blind, +inexorable fate, a lower fold of the same gloomy cloud that brooded over +Odin and the AEsir. Nothing could avert this doom. When his hour came, a +man must meet his death, and until his hour came he was safe. It might +strike in the midst of the highest happiness, and then nothing could +avert the evil, but until it struck he would come safe through the +direst peril. This fatalism showed itself among this vigorous pushing +race in no idle resignation. On the contrary, the Northman went boldly +to meet the doom which he felt sure no effort of his could turn aside, +but which he knew, if he met it like a man, would secure him the only +lasting thing on earth--a name famous in songs and story. Fate must be +met then, but the way in which it was met, that rested with a man +himself, that, at least, was in his own power; there he might show his +free will; and thus this principle, which might seem at first to be +calculated to blunt his energies and weaken his strength of mind, really +sharpened and hardened them in a wonderful way, for it left it still +worth everything to a man to fight this stern battle of life well and +bravely, while its blind inexorable nature allowed no room for any +careful weighing of chances or probabilities, or for any anxious prying +into the nature of things doomed once for all to come to pass. To do +things like a man, without looking to the right or left, as Kari acted +when he smote off Gunnar's head in Earl Sigurd's hall, was the +Northman's pride. He must do them openly too, and show no shame for what +he had done. To kill a man and say that you had killed him, was +manslaughter; to kill him and not to take it on your hand was murder. To +kill men at dead of night was also looked on as murder. To kill a foe +and not bestow the rights of burial on his body by throwing sand or +gravel over him, was also looked on as murder. Even the wicked Thiostolf +throws gravel over Glum in our Saga, and Thord Freedmanson's complaint +against Brynjolf the unruly was that he had buried Atli's body badly. +Even in killing a foe there was an open gentlemanlike way of doing it, +to fail in which was shocking to the free and outspoken spirit of the +age. Thorgeir Craggeir and the gallant Kari wake their foes and give +them time to arm themselves before they fall upon them; and Hrapp, too, +the thorough Icelander of the common stamp, "the friend of his friends +and the foe of his foes," stalks before Gudbrand and tells him to his +face the crimes which he has committed. Robbery and piracy in a good +straightforward wholesale way were honoured and respected; but to steal, +to creep to a man's abode secretly at dead of night and spoil his goods, +was looked upon as infamy of the worst kind. To do what lay before him +openly and like a man, without fear of either foes, fiends, or fate; to +hold his own and speak his mind, and seek fame without respect of +persons; to be free and daring in all his deeds; to be gentle and +generous to his friends and kinsmen; to be stern and grim to his foes, +but even towards them to feel bound to fulfil all bounden duties; to be +as forgiving to some as he was unyielding and unforgiving to others. To +be no truce-breaker, nor talebearer nor backbiter. To utter nothing +against any man that he would not dare to tell him to his face. To turn +no man from his door who sought food or shelter, even though he were a +foe--these were other broad principles of the Northman's life, further +features of that steadfast faithful spirit which he brought with him to +his new home.... + + +DAILY LIFE IN NJAL'S TIME. + +In the tenth century the homesteads of the Icelanders consisted of one +main building, in which the family lived by day and slept at night, and +of out-houses for offices and farm-buildings, all opening on a yard. +Sometimes these out-buildings touched the main building, and had doors +which opened into it, but in most cases they stood apart, and for +purposes of defence, no small consideration in those days, each might be +looked upon as a separate house. + +The main building of the house was the stofa, or sitting and sleeping +room. In the abodes of chiefs and great men, this building had great +dimensions, and was then called a skali, or hall. It was also called +eldhus, or eldaskali, from the great fires which burned in it.... It had +two doors, the men's or main door, and the women's or lesser door. Each +of these doors opened into a porch of its own, andyri, which was often +wide enough, in the case of that into which the men's door opened, as we +see in Thrain's house at Grit water, to allow many men to stand in it +abreast. It was sometimes called forskali. Internally the hall consisted +of three divisions, a nave and two low side aisles. The walls of these +aisles were of stone, and low enough to allow of their being mounted +with ease, as we see happened both with Gunner's skali, and with Njal's. +The centre division or nave on the other hand, rose high above the +others on two rows of pillars. It was of timber, and had an open work +timber roof. The roofs of the side aisles were supported by posts as +well as by rafters and cross-beams leaning against the pillars of the +nave. It was on one of these cross-beams, after it had fallen down from +the burning roof, that Kari got on to the side wall and leapt out, while +Skarphedinn, when the burnt beam snapped asunder under his weight, was +unable to follow him. There were fittings of wainscot along the walls of +the side aisles, and all round between the pillars of the inner row, +supporting the roof of the nave, ran a wainscot panel. In places the +wainscot was pierced by doors opening into sleeping places shut off from +the rest of the hall on all sides for the heads of the family. In other +parts of the passages were sleeping places and beds not so shut off, for +the rest of the household. The women servants slept in the passage +behind the dais at one end of the hall. Over some halls there were upper +chambers or lofts, in one of which Gunnar of Lithend slept, and from +which he made his famous defence. + +We have hitherto treated only of the passages and recesses of the side +aisles. The whole of the nave within the wainscot, between the inner +round pillars, was filled by the hall properly so called. It had long +hearths for fires in the middle, with louvres above to let out the +smoke. On either side nearest to the wainscot, and in some cases +touching it, was a row of benches; in each of these was a high seat, if +the hall was that of a great man, that on the south side being the +owner's seat. Before these seats were tables, boards, which, however, do +not seem, any more than our early Middle Age tables, to have been always +kept standing, but were brought in with, and cleared away after, each +meal. On ordinary occasions, one row of benches on each side sufficed; +but when there was a great feast, or a sudden rush of unbidden guests, +as when Flosi paid his visit to Tongue to take down Asgrim's pride, a +lower kind of seats, or stools were brought in, on which the men of +lowest rank sat, and which were on the outside of the tables, nearest to +the fire. At the end of the hall, over against the door, was a raised +platform or dais, on which also was sometimes a high seat and benches. +It was where the women eat at weddings, as we see from the account of +Hallgerda's wedding, in our Saga, and from many other passages. + +In later times the seat of honour was shifted from the upper bench to +the dais; and this seems to have been the case occasionally with kings +and earls In Njal's time, if we may judge from the passage in the Saga, +where Hildigunna fits up a high seat on the dais for Flosi, which he +spurns from under him with the words, that he was "neither king nor +earl," meaning that he was a simple man, and would have nothing to do +with any of those new-fashions. It was to the dais that Asgrim betook +himself when Flosi paid him his visit, and unless Asgrim's hall was much +smaller than we have any reason to suppose would be the case in the +dwelling of so great a chief, Flosi must have eaten his meal not far +from the dais, in order to allow of Asgrim's getting near enough to aim +a blow at him with a pole-axe from the rail at the edge of the platform. +On high days and feast days, part of the hall was hung with tapestry, +often of great worth and beauty, and over the hangings all along the +wainscot, were carvings such as those which ... our Saga tells us +Thorkel Foulmouth had carved on the stool before his high seat and over +his shut bed, in memory of those deeds of "derring do" which he had +performed in foreign lands. + +Against the wainscot in various parts of the hall, shields and weapons +were hung up. It was the sound of Skarphedinn's axe against the wainscot +that woke up Njal and brought him out of his shut bed, when his sons set +out on their hunt after Sigmund the white and Skiolld. + +Now let us pass out of the skali by either door, and cast our eyes at +the high gables with their carved projections, and we shall understand +at a glance how it was that Mord's counsel to throw ropes round the ends +of the timbers, and then to twist them tight with levers and rollers, +could only end, if carried out, in tearing the whole roof off the house. +It was then much easier work for Gunnar's foes to mount up on the +side-roofs as the Easterling, who brought word that his bill was at +home, had already done, and thence to attack him in his sleeping loft +with safety to themselves, after his bowstring had been cut. + +Some homesteads, like those of Gunnar at Lithend, and Gisli and his +brother at Hol in Hawkdale, in the West Firths, had bowers, ladies' +chambers, where the women eat and span, and where, in both the houses +that we have named, gossip and scandal was talked with the worst +results. These bowers stood away from the other buildings.... + +Every Icelandic homestead was approached by a straight road which led up +to the yard round which the main building and its out-houses and +farm-buildings stood. This was fenced in on each side by a wall of +stones or turf. Near the house stood the "town" or home fields where +meadow hay was grown, and in favoured positions where corn would grow, +there were also enclosures of arable land near the house. On the uplands +and marshes more hay was grown. Hay was the great crop in Iceland; for +the large studs of horses and great herds of cattle that roamed upon the +hills and fells in summer needed fodder in the stable and byre in +winter, when they were brought home. As for the flocks of sheep, they +seem to have been reckoned and marked every autumn, and milked and shorn +in summer; but to have fought it out with nature on the hill-side all +the year round as they best could. Hay, therefore, was the main staple, +and haymaking the great end and aim of an Icelandic farmer.... Gunnar's +death in our Saga may be set down to the fact that all his men were away +in the Landisles finishing their haymaking. Again, Flosi, before the +Burning, bids all his men go home and make an end of their haymaking, +and when that is over, to meet and fall on Njal and his sons. Even the +great duty of revenge gives way to the still more urgent duty of +providing fodder for the winter store. Hayneed, to run short of hay, was +the greatest misfortune that could befall a man, who with a fine herd +and stud, might see both perish before his eyes in winter. Then it was +that men of open heart and hand, like Gunnar, helped their tenants and +neighbours, often, as we see in Gunnar's case, till they had neither hay +nor food enough left for their own household, and had to buy or borrow +from those that had. Then, too, it was that the churl's nature came out +in Otkell and others, who having enough and to spare, would not part +with their abundance for love or money. + +These men were no idlers. They worked hard, and all, high and low, +worked. In no land does the dignity of labour stand out so boldly. The +greatest chiefs sow and reap, and drive their sheep, like Glum, the +Speaker's brother, from the fells. The mightiest warriors were the +handiest carpenters and smiths. Gisli Sur's son knew every corner of his +foeman's house, because he had built it with his own hands while they +were good friends. Njal's sons are busy at armourer's work, like the +sons of the mythical Ragnar before them, when the news comes to them +that Sigmund has made a mock of them in his songs. Gunnar sows his corn +with his arms by his side, when Otkell rides over him; and Hauskuld the +Whiteness priest is doing the same work when he is slain. To do +something, and to do it well, was the Icelander's aim in life, and in no +land does laziness like that of Thorkell meet with such well deserved +reproach. They were early risers and went early to bed, though they +could sit up late if need were. They thought nothing of long rides +before they broke their fast. Their first meal was at about seven +o'clock, and though they may have taken a morsel of food during the +day, we hear of no other regular daily meal till evening, when between +seven and eight again they had supper. While the men laboured on the +farm or in the smithy, threw nets for fish in the teeming lakes and +rivers, or were otherwise at work during the day, the women, and the +housewife, or mistress of the house, at their head, made ready the food +for the meals, carded wool, and sewed or wove or span. At meal-time the +food seems to have been set on the board by the women, who waited on the +men, and at great feasts, such as Gunnar's wedding, the wives of his +nearest kinsmen, and of his dearest friend, Thorhillda Skaldtongue, +Thrain's wife, and Bergthora, Njal's wife, went about from board to +board waiting on the guests. + +In everyday life they were a simple sober people, early to bed and early +to rise--ever struggling with the rigour of the climate. On great +occasions, as at the Yule feasts in honour of the gods, held at the +temples, or at "arvel," "heir-ale," feasts, when heirs drank themselves +into their father's land and goods, or at the autumn feasts, which +friends and kinsmen gave to one another, there was no doubt great mirth +and jollity, much eating and hard drinking of mead and fresh-brewed ale; +but these drinks are not of a very heady kind, and one glass of spirits +in our days would send a man farther on the road to drunkenness than +many a horn of foaming mead. They were by no means that race of +drunkards and hard livers which some have seen fit to call them. + +Nor were these people such barbarians as some have fancied, to whom it +is easier to rob a whole people of its character by a single word than +to take the pains to inquire into its history. They were bold warriors +and bolder sailors. The voyage between Iceland and Norway, or Iceland +and Orkney, was reckoned as nothing; but from the west firths of +Iceland, Eric the Red--no ruffian as he has been styled, though he had +committed an act of manslaughter--discovered Greenland; and from +Greenland the hardy seafarers pushed on across the main, till they made +the dreary coast of Labrador. Down that they ran until they came at last +to Vineland the good, which took its name from the grapes that grew +there. From the accounts given of the length of the days in that land, +it is now the opinion of those best fitted to judge on such matters, +that this Vineland was no other than some part of the North American +continent near Rhode Island or Massachusetts, in the United States. +Their ships were half-decked, high out of the water at stem and stern, +low in the waist, that the oars might reach the water, for they were +made for rowing as well as for sailing. The after-part had a poop. The +fore-part seems to have been without deck, but loose planks were laid +there for men to stand on. A distinction was made between long-ships or +ships of war, made long for speed, and ... ships of burden, which were +built to carry cargo. The common complement was thirty rowers, which in +warships made sometimes a third and sometimes a sixth of the crew. All +round the warships, before the fight began, shield was laid on shield, +on a rim or rail, which ran all round the bulwarks, presenting a mark +like the hammocks of our navy, by which a long-ship could be at once +detected. The bulwarks in warships could be heightened at pleasure, and +this was called "to girdle the ship for war". The merchant ships often +carried heavy loads of meal and timber from Norway, and many a one of +these half-decked yawls no doubt foundered, like Flosi's unseaworthy +ship, under the weight of her heavy burden of beams and planks, when +overtaken by the autumnal gales on that wild sea. The passages were +often very long, more than one hundred days is sometimes mentioned as +the time spent on a voyage between Norway and Iceland. + +As soon as the ship reached the land, she ran into some safe bay or +creek, the great landing places on the south and south-east coasts being +Eyrar, "The Eres," as such spots are still called in some parts of the +British Isles, that is, the sandy beaches opening into lagoons which +line the shore of the marsh district called Floi; and Hornfirth, whence +Flosi and the Burners put to sea after their banishment. There the ship +was laid up in a slip, made for her, she was stripped and made snug for +the winter, a roof of planks being probably thrown over her, while the +lighter portions of her cargo were carried on pack-saddles up the +country. The timber seems to have been floated up the firths and rivers +as near as it could be got to its destination, and then dragged by +trains of horses to the spot where it was to be used. + +Some of the cargo--the meal, and cloth and arms--was wanted at home; +some of it was sold to neighbours either for ready money or on trust, it +being usual to ask for the debt either in coin or in kind, the spring +after. Sometimes the account remained outstanding for a much longer +time. Among these men whose hands were so swift to shed blood, and in +that state of things which looks so lawless, but which in truth was +based upon fixed principles of justice and law, the rights of property +were so safe, that men like Njal went lending their money to overbearing +fellows like Starkad under Threecorner for years, on condition that he +should pay a certain rate of interest. So also Gunnar had goods and +money out at interest, out of which he wished to supply Unna's wants. In +fact the law of debtor and creditor, and of borrowing money at usance, +was well understood in Iceland, from the very first day that the +Northmen set foot on its shores. + +If we examine the condition of the sexes in this state of society, we +shall find that men and women met very nearly on equal terms. If any +woman is shocked to read how Thrain Sigfus' son treated his wife, in +parting from her, and marrying a new one, at a moment's warning, she +must be told that Gudruna, in Laxdaela, threatened one of her three +husbands with much the same treatment, and would have put her threat +into execution if he had not behaved as she commanded him. In our Saga, +too, the gudewife of Bjorn the boaster threatens him with a separation +if he does not stand faithfully by Kari; and in another Saga of equal +age and truthfulness, we hear of one great lady who parted from her +husband, because, in playfully throwing a pillow of down at her, he +unwittingly struck her with his finger. In point of fact, the customary +law allowed great latitude to separations, at the will of either party, +if good reason could be shown for the desired change. It thought that +the worst service it could render to those whom it was intended to +protect would be to force two people to live together against their +will, or even against the will of only one of them, if that person +considered him or herself, as the case might be, ill-treated or +neglected. Gunnar no doubt could have separated himself from Hallgerda +for her thieving, just as Hallgerda could have parted from Gunnar for +giving her that slap in the face; but they lived on, to Gunnar's cost +and Hallgerda's infamy. In marriage contracts the rights of brides, like +Unna the great heiress of the south-west, or Hallgerda the flower of the +western dales, were amply provided for. In the latter case it was a +curious fact that this wicked woman retained possession of Laugarness, +near Reykjavik, which was part of her second husband Glum's property, to +her dying day, and there, according to constant tradition, she was +buried in a cairn which is still shown at the present time, and which is +said to be always green, summer and winter alike. Where marriages were +so much matter of barter and bargain, the father's will went for so much +and that of the children for so little, love matches were comparatively +rare; and if the songs of Gunnlaugr snaketongue and Kormak have +described the charms of their fair ones, and the warmth of their passion +in glowing terms, the ordinary Icelandic marriage of the tenth century +was much more a matter of business, in the first place, than of love. +Though strong affection may have sprung up afterwards between husband +and wife, the love was rather a consequence of the marriage than the +marriage a result of the love. + +When death came it was the duty of the next of kin to close the eyes and +nostrils of the departed, and our Saga, in that most touching story of +Rodny's behaviour after the death of her son Hauskuld, affords an +instance of the custom. When Njal asks why she, the mother, as next of +kin, had not closed the eyes and nostrils of the corpse, the mother +answers, "That duty I meant for Skarphedinn". Skarphedinn then performs +the duty, and, at the same time, undertakes the duty of revenge. In +heathen times the burial took place on a "how" or cairn, in some +commanding position near the abode of the dead, and now came another +duty. This was the binding on of the "hellshoes," which the deceased was +believed to need in heathen times on his way either to Valhalla's +bright hall of warmth and mirth, or to Hell's dark realm of cold and +sorrow. That duty over, the body was laid in the cairn with goods and +arms, sometimes as we see was the case with Gunnar in a sitting posture; +sometimes even in a ship, but always in a chamber formed of baulks of +timber or blocks of stone, over which earth and gravel were piled.... + + +CONCLUSION. + +We are entitled to ask in what work of any age are the characters so +boldly, and yet so delicately, drawn [as in this Saga]? Where shall we +match the goodness and manliness of Gunnar, struggling with the storms +of fate, and driven on by the wickedness of Hallgerda into quarrel after +quarrel, which were none of his own seeking, but led no less surely to +his own end? Where shall we match Hallgerda herself--that noble frame, +so fair and tall, and yet with so foul a heart, the abode of all great +crimes, and also the lurking place of tale-bearing and thieving? Where +shall we find parallels to Skarphedinn's hastiness and readiness, as axe +aloft he leapt twelve ells across Markfleet, and glided on to smite +Thrain his death-blow on the slippery ice? where for Bergthora's love +and tenderness for her husband, she who was given young to Njal, and +could not find it in her heart to part from him when the house blazed +over their heads? where for Kari's dash and gallantry, the man who dealt +his blows straightforward, even in the Earl's hall, and never thought +twice about them? where for Njal himself, the man who never dipped his +hands in blood, who could unravel all the knotty points of the law; who +foresaw all that was coming, whether for good or ill, for friend or for +foe; who knew what his own end would be, though quite powerless to avert +it; and when it came, laid him down to his rest, and never uttered sound +or groan, though the flames roared loud around him? Nor are the minor +characters less carefully drawn, the scolding tongue of Thrain's first +wife, the mischief-making Thiostolf with his pole-axe, which divorced +Hallgerda's first husband, Hrut's swordsmanship, Asgrim's dignity, +Gizur's good counsel, Snorri's common sense and shrewdness, Gudmund's +grandeur, Thorgeir's thirst for fame, Kettle's kindliness, Ingialld's +heartiness, and, though last not least, Bjorn's boastfulness, which his +gudewife is ever ready to cry down--are all sketched with a few sharp +strokes which leave their mark for once and for ever on the reader's +mind. Strange! were it not that human nature is herself in every age, +that such forbearance and forgiveness as is shown by Njal and Hauskuld +and Hall, should have shot up out of that social soil, so stained and +steeped with the blood-shedding of revenge. Revenge was the great duty +of Icelandic life, yet Njal is always ready to make up a quarrel, though +he acknowledges the duty, when he refuses in his last moments to outlive +his children, whom he feels himself unable to revenge. The last words of +Hauskuld, when he was foully assassinated through the tale-bearing of +Mord, were, "God help me and forgive you"; nor did the beauty of a +Christian spirit ever shine out more brightly than in Hall, who, when +his son Ljot, the flower of his flock, fell full of youth, and strength, +and promise, in chance-medley at the battle on the Thingfield, at once +for the sake of peace gave up the father's and the freeman's dearest +rights, those of compensation and revenge, and allowed his son to fall +unatoned in order that peace might be made. This struggle between the +principle of an old system now turned to evil, and that of a new state +of things which was still fresh and good, between heathendom as it sinks +into superstition, and Christianity before it has had time to become +superstitious, stands strongly forth in the latter part of the Saga; but +as yet the new faith can only assert its forbearance and forgiveness in +principle. It has not had time, except in some rare instances, to bring +them into play in daily life. Even in heathen times such a deed as that +by which Njal met his death, to hem a man in within his house and then +to burn it and him together, to choke a freeman, as Skarphedinn says, +like a fox in his earth, was quite against the free and open nature of +the race; and though instances of such foul deeds occur besides those +two great cases of Blundkettle and Njal, still they were always looked +upon as atrocious crimes and punished accordingly. No wonder, +therefore, then that Flosi, after the Change of Faith, when he makes up +his mind to fire Njal's house, declares the deed to be one for which +they would have to answer heavily before God, "seeing that we are +Christian men ourselves".... + +One word and we must bring this introduction to an end; it is merely to +point out how calmly and peacefully the Saga ends, with the perfect +reconciliation of Kari and Flosi, those generous foes, who throughout +the bitter struggle in which they were engaged always treated each other +with respect. It is a comfort to find, after the whole fitful story has +been worked out, after passing from page to page, every one of which +reeks with gore, to find that after all there were even in that +bloodthirsty Iceland of the tenth century such things as peaceful old +age and happy firesides, and that men like Flosi and Kari, who had both +shed so much blood, one in a good and the other in a wicked cause, +should after all die, Flosi on a trading voyage, an Icelandic Ulysses, +in an unseaworthy ship, good enough, as he said, for an old and +death-doomed man, Kari at home, well stricken in years, blessed with a +famous and numerous offspring, and a proud but loving wife. + + + + + ICELANDIC CHRONOLOGY. + + + A.D. 850. Birth of Harold fairhair. + 860. Harold fairhair comes to the throne. + 870. Harold fairhair sole King in Norway. + 871. Ingolf sets out for Iceland. + 872. Battle of Hafrsfirth (Hafrsfjoeethr). + 874. Ingolf and Leif go to settle in Iceland. + 877. Kettle haeng goes to Iceland. + 880-884. Harold fairhair roots out the Vikings in the west. + 888. Fall of Thorstein the red in Scotland. + 890-900. Rush of settlers from the British Isles to Iceland. + 892. Aud the deeply wealthy comes to Iceland. + 900-920. The third period of the Landnamstide. + 920. Harold fairhair shares the kingdom with his sons. + 923. Hrut Hauskuld's brother born. + 929. Althing established. + 930. Hrafn Kettle haeng's son Speaker of the Law. + 930-935. Njal born. + 930. The Fleetlithe feud begins. + 933. Death of Harold fairhair. + 940. End of the Fleetlithe feud; Fiddle Mord a man of rank; + Hamond Gunnar's son marries Mord's sister Rannveiga. + 941. Fall of King Eric Bloodaxe. + c. 945. Gunnar of Lithend born. + 955-960. Njal's sons born. + 959. Glum marries Hallgerda. + 960. Fall of King Hacon; Athelstane's foster-child, Harold + Grayfell, King in Norway. + 963. Hrut goes abroad. + 965. Hrut returns to Iceland and marries Unna Mord's daughter. + 968. Unna parts from Hrut. + 969. Fiddle Mord and Hrut strive at the Althing; Fall of King + Harold Grayfell; Earl Hacon rules in Norway. + 970-971. Fiddle Mord's death; Gunnar and Hrut strive at the Althing. + 972. Gunnar of Lithend goes abroad. + 974. Gunnar returns to Iceland. + 974. Gunnar's marriage with Hallgerda. + + 975. The slaying of Swart. + + 976. The slaying of Kol. + + 977. The slaying of Atli. + + 978. The slaying of Brynjolf the unruly and Thord Freedmanson. + + 979. The slaying of Sigmund the white. + + 983. Hallgerda steals from Otkell at Kirkby. + + 984. The suit for the theft settled at the Althing. + + 985. Otkell rides over Gunnar in the spring; fight at Rangriver + just before the Althing; at the Althing Geir the priest + and Gunnar strive; in the autumn Hauskuld Dale-Kolli's + son, Gunnar's father-in-law, dies; birth of Hauskuld + Thrain's son. + + 986. The fight at Knafahills, and death of Hjort Gunnar's brother. + + 987. The suit for those slain at Knafahills settled at the Althing. + + 988. Gunnar goes west to visit Olaf the peacock. + + 989. Slaying of Thorgeir Otkell's son before, and banishment of + Gunnar at, the Althing; Njal's sons, Helgi and Grim, + and Thrain Sigfus' son, go abroad. + + 990. Gunnar slain at Lithend. + + 992. Thrain returns to Iceland with Hrapp; Njal's sons ill-treated + by Earl Hacon for his sake. + + 994. Njal's sons return to Iceland, bringing Kari with them. + + 995. Death of Earl Hacon; Olaf Tryggvi's son King of Norway. + + 996. Skarphedinn slays Thrain. + + 997. Thangbrand sent by King Olaf to preach Christianity in + Iceland. + + 998. Slaying of Arnor of Forswaterwood by Flosi's brothers at + Skaptarfells Thing; Thangbrand's missionary journey; + Gizur and Hjallti go abroad. + + 999. Hjallti Skeggi's son found guilty of blasphemy against the + Gods at the Althing; Thangbrand returns to Norway. + + 1000. Gizur and Hjallti return to Iceland; the Change of Faith + and Christianity brought into the law at the Althing on + St. John's day, 24th June; fall of King Olaf Tryggvi's + son at Svoldr, 9th September. + + 1001. Thorgeir the priest of Lightwater gives up the Speakership + of the Law. + + 1002. Grim of Mossfell Speaker of the Law. + + 1003. Grim lays down the Speakership. + + 1003 or 1004. Skapti Thorod's son Speaker of the Law; the Fifth Court + established; Hauskuld Thrain's son marries Hildigunna + Flosi's niece and has one of the new priesthoods at + Whiteness. + + 1006. Duels abolished in legal matters; slaying of Hauskuld + Njal's son by Lyting and his brothers. + + 1009. Amund the blind slays Lyting; Valgard the guileful comes + back to Iceland; his evil counsel to Mord; Mord begins + to backbite and slander Hauskuld and Njal's sons to one + another. + + 1111. Hauskald the Whiteness priest slain early in the spring; + suit for his manslaughter at the Althing; Njal's Burning + the autumn after. + + 1112. The suit for the Burning and battle at the Althing; Flosi + and the Burners banished; Kari and Thorgeir Craggeir + carry on the feud. + + 1113. Flosi goes abroad with the Burners, and Kari follows them; + Flosi and Kari in Orkney. + + 1114. Brian's battle on Good Friday; Flosi goes to Rome. + + 1115. Flosi returns from Rome to Norway, and stays with Earl + Eric, Earl Hacon's son. + + 1116. Flosi returns to Iceland; Kari goes to Rome and returns to + Caithness; his wife Helga dies out in Iceland. + + 1117. Kari returns to Iceland, id reconciled with Flosi, + and marries Hildigunna Hauskuld's widow. + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + Introduction + + The Northmen in Iceland--Superstitions of the Race--Social + Principles--Daily Life in Njal's Time--Conclusion. + + Icelandic Chronology + + CHAPTER + + I. Of Fiddle Mord 1 + + II. Hrut Woos Unna 2 + + III. Hrut and Gunnhillda, Kings' Mother 4 + + IV. Of Hrut's Cruise 7 + + V. Atli Arnvid Son's Slaying 8 + + VI. Hrut Sails out to Iceland 10 + + VII. Unna separates from Hrut 13 + + VIII. Mord claims his Goods from Hrut 15 + + IX. Thorwald gets Hallgerda to Wife 17 + + X. Hallgerda's Wedding 19 + + XI. Thorwald's Slaying 20 + + XII. Thiostolf's Flight 22 + + XIII. Glum's Wooing 25 + + XIV. Glum's Wedding 28 + + XV. Thiostolf goes to Glum's House 29 + + XVI. Glum's Sheep Hunt 30 + + XVII. Glum's Slaying 31 + + XVIII. Fiddle Mord's Death 34 + + XIX. Gunnar comes into the Story 34 + + XX. Of Njal and His Children 35 + + XXI. Unna goes to See Gunnar 35 + + XXII. Njal's Advice 37 + + XXIII. Huckster Hedinn 39 + + XXIV. Gunnar and Hrut Strive at the Thing 42 + + XXV. Unna's Second Wedding 44 + + XXVI. Of Asgrim and his Children 45 + + XXVII. Helgi Njal's Son's Wooing 45 + + XXVIII. Hallvard comes out to Iceland 46 + + XXIX. Gunnar goes Abroad 47 + + XXX. Gunnar goes a-sea-roving 48 + + XXXI. Gunnar goes to King Harold Gorm's Son and Earl Hacon 52 + + XXXII. Gunnar comes out to Iceland 53 + + XXXIII. Gunnar's Wooing 54 + + XXXIV. Of Thrain Sigfus' Son 57 + + XXXV. The Visit to Bergthorsknoll 59 + + XXXVI. Kol Slew Swart 60 + + XXXVII. The Slaying of Kol, whom Atli Slew 63 + + XXXVIII. The Killing of Atli the Thrall 65 + + XXXIX. The Slaying of Brynjolf the Unruly 69 + + XL. Gunnar and Njal make Peace about Brynjolf's Slaying 70 + + XLI. Sigmund comes out to Iceland 71 + + XLII. The Slaying of Thord Freedmanson 73 + + XLIII. Njal and Gunnar make Peace for the Slaying of Thord 74 + + XLIV. Sigmund Mocks Njal and his Sons 76 + + XLV. The Slaying of Sigmund and Skiolld 79 + + XLVI. Of Gizur The White and Geir the Priest 82 + + XLVII. Of Otkell in Kirkby 83 + + XLVIII. How Hallgerda makes Malcolm Steal from Kirkby 85 + + XLIX. Of Skamkell's Evil Counsel 86 + + L. Of Skamkell's Lying 90 + + LI. Of Gunnar 92 + + LII. Of Runolf, the Son of Wolf Aurpriest 94 + + LIII. How Otkell Rode over Gunnar 95 + + LIV. The Fight at Rangriver 97 + + LV. Njal's Advice to Gunnar 99 + + LVI. Gunnar and Geir the Priest Strive at the Thing 101 + + LVII. Of Starkad and his Sons 104 + + LVIII. How Gunnar's Horse Fought 106 + + LIX. Of Asgrim and Wolf Uggis' Son 108 + + LX. An Attack against Gunnar agreed on 109 + + LXI. Gunnar's Dream 111 + + LXII. The Slaying of Hjort and Fourteen Men 112 + + LXIII. Njals Counsel to Gunnar 115 + + LXIV. Of Valgard and Mord 116 + + LXV. Of Fines and Atonements 118 + + LXVI. Of Thorgeir Otkell's Son 120 + + LXVII. Of Thorgeir Starkad's Son 121 + + LXVIII. Of Njal and those Namesakes 122 + + LXIX. Olaf the Peacock's Gifts to Gunnar 124 + + LXX. Mord's Counsel 126 + + LXXI. The Slaying of Thorgeir Otkell's Son 127 + + LXXII. Of the Suits for Manslaughter at the Thing 129 + + LXXIII. Of the Atonement 130 + + LXXIV. Kolskegg goes Abroad 132 + + LXXV. The Riding to Lithend 135 + + LXXVI. Gunnar's Slaying 135 + + LXXVII. Gunnar Sings a Song Dead 139 + + LXXVIII. Gunnar of Lithend Avenged 141 + + LXXIX. Hogni takes an Atonement for Gunnar's Death 143 + + LXXX. Of Kolskegg: How he was Baptised 143 + + LXXXI. Of Thrain: How he Slew Kol 144 + + LXXXII. Njal's Sons Sail Abroad 147 + + LXXXIII. Of Kari Solmund's Son 148 + + LXXXIV. Of Earl Sigurd 150 + + LXXXV. The Battle with the Earls 151 + + LXXXVI. Hrapp's Voyage from Iceland 152 + + LXXXVII. Thrain took to Hrapp 156 + + LXXXVIII. Earl Hacon Fights with Njal's Sons 162 + + LXXXIX. Njal's Sons and Kari come out to Iceland 165 + + XC. The Quarrel of Njal's Sons with Thrain Sigfus' Son 166 + + XCI. Thrain Sigfus' Son's Slaying 170 + + XCII. Kettle takes Hauskuld as his Foster-Son 175 + + XCIII. Njal takes Hauskuld to Foster 176 + + XCIV. Of Flosi Thord's Son 177 + + XXCV. Of Hall of the Side 177 + + XCVI. Of the Change of Faith 178 + + XCVII. Of Thangbrand's Journeys 179 + + XCVIII. Of Thangbrand and Gudleif 180 + + XCIX. Of Gest Oddleif's Son 183 + + C. Of Gizur the White and Hjallti 185 + + CI. Of Thorgeir of Lightwater 186 + + CII. The Wedding of Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness 187 + + CIII. The Slaying of Hauskuld Njal's Son 191 + + CIV. The Slaying of Lyting's Brothers 195 + + CV. Of Amund the Blind 197 + + CVI. Of Valgard the Guileful 198 + + CVII. Of Mord and Njal's Sons 199 + + CVIII. Of The Slander of Mord Valgard's Son 200 + + CIX. Of Mord and Njal's Sons 203 + + CX. The Slaying of Hauskuld, the Priest Whiteness 203 + + CXI. Of Hildigunna and Mord Valgard's Son 205 + + CXII. The Pedigree of Gudmund the Powerful 206 + + CXIII. Of Snorri the Priest and his Stock 207 + + CXIV. Of Flosi Thord's Son 207 + + CXV. Of Flosi and Hildigunna 209 + + CXVI. Of Flosi and Mord and the Sons of Sigfus 211 + + CXVII. Njal and Skarphedinn Talk Together 213 + + CXVIII. Asgrim and Njal's Sons pray Men for Help 214 + + CXIX. Of Skarphedinn and Thorkel Foulmouth 219 + + CXX. Of the Pleading of the Suit 221 + + CXXI. Of the Award of Atonement between Flosi and Njal 223 + + CXXII. Of the Judges 225 + + CXXIII. An Attack planned on Njal and his Sons 228 + + CXXIV. Of Portents 232 + + CXXV. Flosi's Journey from Home 232 + + CXXVI. Of Portents at Bergthorsknoll 233 + + CXXVII. The Onslaught on Bergthorsknoll 235 + + CXXVIII. Njal's Burning 237 + + CXXIX. Skarphedinn's Death 241 + + CXXX. Of Kari Solmund's Son 245 + + CXXXI. Njal's and Bergthora's Bones Found 248 + + CXXXII. Flosi's Dream 251 + + CXXXIII. Of Flosi's Journey and his Asking for Help 252 + + CXXXIV. Of Thorhall and Kari 256 + + CXXXV. Of Flosi and the Burners 260 + + CXXXVI. Of Thorgeir Craggeir 262 + + CXXXVII. Of Eyjolf Bolverk's Son 262 + + CXXXVIII. Of Asgrim, and Gizur, and Kari 267 + + CXXXIX. Of Asgrim and Gudmund 270 + + CXL. Of the Declarations of the Suits 271 + + CXLI. Now Men go to the Courts 274 + + CXLII. Of Eyjolf Bolverk's Son 284 + + CXLIII. The Counsel of Thorhall Asgrim's Son 285 + + CXLIV. Battle at the Althing 290 + + CXLV. Of Kari and Thorgeir 299 + + CXLVI. The Award of Atonement with Thorgeir Craggeir 303 + + CXLVII. Kari comes to Bjorn's House in the Mark 305 + + CXLVIII. Of Flosi and the Burners 307 + + CXLIX. Of Kari and Bjorn 309 + + CL. More of Kari and Bjorn 312 + + CLI. Of Kari, and Bjorn, and Thorgeir 315 + + CLII. Flosi goes Abroad 317 + + CLIII. Kari goes Abroad 318 + + CLIV. Gunnar Lambi's Son's Slaying 320 + + CLV. Of Signs and Wonders 323 + + CLVI. Brian's Battle 324 + + CLVII. The Slaying of Kol Thorstein's Son 330 + + CLVIII. Of Flosi and Kari 332 + + + + +THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OF FIDDLE MORD. + + +There was a man named Mord whose surname was Fiddle; he was the son of +Sigvat the Red, and he dwelt at the "Vale" in the Rangrivervales. He was +a mighty chief, and a great taker up of suits, and so great a lawyer +that no judgments were thought lawful unless he had a hand in them. He +had an only daughter, named Unna. She was a fair, courteous and gifted +woman, and that was thought the best match in all the Rangrivervales. + +Now the story turns westward to the Broadfirth dales, where, at +Hauskuldstede, in Laxriverdale, dwelt a man named Hauskuld, who was +Dalakoll's son, and his mother's name was Thorgerda. He had a brother +named Hrut, who dwelt at Hrutstede; he was of the same mother as +Hauskuld, but his father's name was Heriolf. Hrut was handsome, tall and +strong, well skilled in arms, and mild of temper; he was one of the +wisest of men--stern towards his foes, but a good counsellor on great +matters. It happened once that Hauskuld bade his friends to a feast, and +his brother Hrut was there, and sat next him. Hauskuld had a daughter +named Hallgerda, who was playing on the floor with some other girls. She +was fair of face and tall of growth, and her hair was as soft as silk; +it was so long, too, that it came down to her waist. Hauskuld called out +to her, "Come hither to me, daughter". So she went up to him, and he +took her by the chin, and kissed her; and after that she went away. + +Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, "What dost thou think of this maiden? Is she +not fair?" Hrut held his peace. Hauskuld said the same thing to him a +second time, and then Hrut answered, "Fair enough is this maid, and many +will smart for it, but this I know not, whence thief's eyes have come +into our race". Then Hauskuld was wroth, and for a time the brothers saw +little of each other. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +HRUT WOOS UNNA. + + +It happened once that those brothers, Hauskuld and Hrut, rode to the +Althing, and there was much people at it. Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, +"One thing I wish, brother, and that is, that thou wouldst better thy +lot and woo thyself a wife." + +Hrut answered, "That has been long on my mind, though there always +seemed to be two sides to the matter; but now I will do as thou wishest; +whither shall we turn our eyes?" + +Hauskuld answered, "Here now are many chiefs at the Thing, and there is +plenty of choice, but I have already set my eyes on a spot where a match +lies made to thy hand. The woman's name is Unna, and she is a daughter +of Fiddle Mord one of the wisest of men. He is here at the Thing, and +his daughter too, and thou mayest see her if it pleases thee." + +Now the next day, when men were going to the High Court, they saw some +well-dressed women standing outside the booths of the men from the +Rangrivervales, Then Hauskuld said to Hrut-- + +"Yonder now is Unna, of whom I spoke; what thinkest thou of her?" + +"Well," answered Hrut; "but yet I do not know whether we should get on +well together." + +After that they went to the High Court, where Fiddle Mord was laying +down the law as was his wont, and alter he had done he went home to his +booth. + +Then Hauskuld and Hrut rose, and went to Mord's booth. They went in and +found Mord sitting in the innermost part of the booth, and they bade him +"good day". He rose to meet them, and took Hauskuld by the hand and made +him sit down by his side, and Hrut sat next to Hauskuld, So after they +had talked much of this and that, at last Hauskuld said, "I have a +bargain to speak to thee about; Hrut wishes to become thy son-in-law, +and buy thy daughter, and I, for my part, will not be sparing in the +matter". + +Mord answered, "I know that thou art a great chief, but thy brother is +unknown to me". + +"He is a better man than I," answered Hauskuld. + +"Thou wilt need to lay down a large sum with him, for she is heir to all +I leave behind me," said Mord. + +"There is no need," said Hauskuld, "to wait long before thou hearest +what I give my word he shall have. He shall have Kamness and Hrutstede, +up as far as Thrandargil, and a trading-ship beside, now on her voyage." + +Then said Hrut to Mord, "Bear in mind, now, husband, that my brother has +praised me much more than I deserve for love's sake; but if after what +thou hast heard, thou wilt make the match, I am willing to let thee lay +down the terms thyself". + +Mord answered, "I have thought over the terms; she shall have sixty +hundreds down, and this sum shall be increased by a third more in thine +house, but if ye two have heirs, ye shall go halves in the goods". + +Then said Hrut, "I agree to these terms, and now let us take witness". +After that they stood up and shook hands, and Mord betrothed his +daughter Unna to Hrut, and the bridal feast was to be at Mord's house, +half a month after Midsummer. + +Now both sides ride home from the Thing, and Hauskuld and Hrut ride +westward by Hallbjorn's beacon. Then Thiostolf, the son of Biorn +Gullbera of Reykiardale, rode to meet them, and told them how a ship had +come out from Norway to the White River, and how aboard of her was +Auzur, Hrut's father's brother, and he wished Hrut to come to him as +soon as ever he could. When Hrut heard this, he asked Hauskuld to go +with him to the ship, so Hauskuld went with his brother, and when they +reached the ship, Hrut gave his kinsman Auzur a kind and hearty welcome. +Auzur asked them into his booth to drink, so their horses were +unsaddled, and they went in and drank, and while they were drinking, +Hrut said to Auzur, "Now, kinsman, thou must ride west with me, and stay +with me this winter." + +"That cannot be, kinsman, for I have to tell thee the death of thy +brother Eyvind, and he has left thee his heir at the Gula Thing, and now +thy foes will seize thy heritage, unless thou comest to claim it." + +"What's to be done now, brother?" said Hrut to Hauskuld, "for this seems +a hard matter, coming just as I have fixed my bridal day." + +"Thou must ride south," said Hauskuld, "and see Mord, and ask him to +change the bargain which ye two have made, and to let his daughter sit +for thee three winters as thy betrothed, but I will ride home and bring +down thy wares to the ship." + +Then said Hrut, "My wish is that thou shouldest take meal and timber, +and whatever else thou needest out of the lading". So Hrut had his +horses brought out, and he rode south, while Hauskuld rode home west. +Hrut came east to the Rangrivervales to Mord, and had a good welcome, +and he told Mord all his business, and asked his advice what he should +do. + +"How much money is this heritage?" asked Mord, and Hrut said it would +come to a hundred marks, if he got it all. + +"Well," said Mord, "that is much when set against what I shall leave +behind me, and thou shalt go for it, if thou wilt." + +After that they broke their bargain, and Unna was to sit waiting for +Hrut three years as his betrothed. Now Hrut rides back to the ship, and +stays by her during the summer, till she was ready to sail, and Hauskuld +brought down all Hrut's wares and money to the ship, and Hrut placed all +his other property in Hauskuld's hands to keep for him while he was +away. Then Hauskuld rode home to his house, and a little while after +they got a fair wind and sail away to sea. They were out three weeks, +and the first land they made was Hern, near Bergen, and so sail eastward +to the Bay. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +HRUT AND GUNNHILLDA, KINGS MOTHER. + + +At that time Harold Grayfell reigned in Norway; he was the son of Eric +Bloodaxe, who was the son of Harold Fairhair; his mother's name was +Gunnhillda, a daughter of Auzur Toti, and they had their abode east, at +the King's Crag. Now the news was spread, how a ship had come thither +east into the Bay, and as soon as Gunnhillda heard of it, she asked +what men from Iceland were aboard, and they told her Hrut was the man's +name, Auzur's brother's son. Then Gunnhillda said, "I see plainly that +he means to claim his heritage, but there is a man named Soti, who has +laid his hands on it". + +After that she called her waiting-man, whose name was Augmund, and +said-- + +"I am going to send thee to the Bay to find out Auzur and Hint, and tell +them that I ask them both to spend this winter with me. Say, too, that I +will be their friend, and if Hrut will carry out my counsel, I will see +after his suit, and anything else he takes in hand, and I will speak a +good word, too, for him to the king." + +After that he set off and found them; and as soon as they knew that he +was Gunnhillda's servant, they gave him good welcome. He took them aside +and told them his errand, and after that they talked over their plans by +themselves. Then Auzur said to Hrut-- + +"Methinks, kinsman, here is little need for long talk, our plans are +ready made for us; for I know Gunnhillda's temper; as soon as ever we +say we will not go to her she will drive us out of the land, and take +all our goods by force; but if we go to her, then she will do us such +honour as she has promised." + +Augmund went home, and when he saw Gunnhillda, he told her how his +errand had ended, and that they would come, and Gunnhillda said-- + +"It is only what was to be looked for; for Hrut is said to be a wise and +well-bred man; and now do thou keep a sharp look out, and tell me as +soon as ever they come to the town." + +Hrut and Auzur went east to the King's Crag, and when they reached the +town, their kinsmen and friends went out to meet and welcome them. They +asked, whether the king were in the town, and they told them he was. +After that they met Augmund, and he brought them a greeting from +Gunnhillda, saying, that she could not ask them to her house before they +had seen the king, lest men should say, "I make too much of them". Still +she would do all she could for them, and she went on, "tell Hrut to be +outspoken before the king, and to ask to be made one of his body-guard"; +"and here," said Augmund, "is a dress of honour which she sends to thee, +Hrut, and in it thou must go in before the king". After that he went +away. + +The next day Hrut said-- + +"Let us go before the king." + +"That may well be," answered Auzur. + +So they went, twelve of them together, and all of them friends or +kinsmen, and came into the hall where the king sat over his drink. Hrut +went first and bade the king "good day," and the king, looking +steadfastly at the man who was well-dressed, asked him his name. So he +told his name. + +"Art thou an Icelander?" said the king. + +He answered, "Yes". + +"What drove thee hither to seek us?" + +Then Hrut answered-- + +"To see your state, lord; and, besides, because I have a great matter of +inheritance here in the land, and I shall have need of your help, if I +am to get my rights." + +The king said-- + +"I have given my word that every man shall have lawful justice here in +Norway; but hast thou any other errand in seeking me?" + +"Lord!" said Hrut, "I wish you to let me live in your court, and become +one of your men." + +At this the king holds his peace, but Gunnhillda said-- + +"It seems to me as if this man offered you the greatest honour, for me +thinks if there were many such men in the body-guard, it would be well +filled." + +"Is he a wise man?" asked the king. + +"He is both wise and willing," said she. + +"Well," said the king, "methinks my mother wishes that thou shouldst +have the rank for which thou askest, but for the sake of our honour and +the custom of the land, come to me in half a month's time, and then thou +shalt be made one of my body-guard. Meantime, my mother will take care +of thee, but then come to me." + +Then Gunnhillda said to Augmund-- + +"Follow them to my house, and treat them well." + +So Augmund went out, and they went with him, and he brought them to a +hall built of stone, which was hung with the most beautiful tapestry, +and there too was Gunnhillda's high-seat. + +Then Augmund said to Hrut-- + +"Now will be proved the truth of all that I said to thee from +Gunnhillda. Here is her high-seat, and in it thou shalt sit, and this +seat thou shalt hold, though she comes herself into the hall." + +After that he made them good cheer, and they had sat down but a little +while when Gunnhillda came in. Hrut wished to jump up and greet her. + +"Keep thy seat!" she says, "and keep it too all the time thou art my +guest." + +Then she sat herself down by Hrut, and they fell to drink, and at even +she said-- + +"Thou shalt be in the upper chamber with me to-night, and we two +together." + +"You shall have your way," he answers. + +After that they went to sleep, and she locked the door inside. So they +slept that night, and in the morning fell to drinking again. Thus they +spent their life all that half-month, and Gunnhillda said to the men who +were there-- + +"Ye shall lose nothing except your lives if you say to any one a word of +how Hrut and I are going on." + +[When the half-month was over] Hrut gave her a hundred ells of household +woollen and twelve rough cloaks, and Gunnhillda thanked him for his +gifts. Then Hrut thanked her and gave her a kiss and went away. She bade +him "farewell". And next day he went before the king with thirty men +after him and bade the king "good-day". The king said-- + +"Now, Hrut, thou wilt wish me to carry out towards thee what I +promised." + +So Hrut was made one of the king's body-guard, and he asked, "Where +shall I sit?" + +"My mother shall settle that," said the king. + +Then she got him a seat in the highest room, and he spent the winter +with the king in much honour. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +OF HRUT'S CRUISE. + + +When the spring came he asked about Soti, and found out he had gone +south to Denmark with the inheritance. Then Hrut went to Gunnhillda and +tells her what Soti had been about. Gunnhillda said-- + +"I will give thee two long-ships, full manned, and along with them the +bravest men. Wolf the Unwashed, our overseer of guests; but still go +and see the king before thou settest off." + +Hrut did so; and when he came before the king, then he told the king of +Soti's doings, and how he had a mind to hold on after him. + +The king said, "What strength has my mother handed over to thee?" + +"Two long-ships and Wolf the Unwashed to lead the men," says Hrut. + +"Well given," says the king. "Now I will give thee other two ships, and +even then thou'lt need all the strength thou'st got." + +After that he went down with Hrut to the ship, and said "fare thee +well". Then Hrut sailed away south with his crews. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ATLI ARNVID SON'S SLAYING. + + +There was a man named Atli, son of Arnvid, Earl of East Gothland. He had +kept back the taxes from Hacon Athelstane's foster child, and both +father and son had fled away from Jemtland to Gothland. After that, Atli +held on with his followers out of the Maelar by Stock Sound, and so on +towards Denmark, and now he lies out in Oeresound.[5] He is an outlaw +both of the Dane-King and of the Swede-King. Hrut held on south to the +Sound, and when he came into it he saw many ships in the Sound. Then +Wolf said-- + +"What's best to be done now, Icelander?" + +"Hold on our course," says Hrut, "'for nothing venture, nothing have'. +My ship and Auzur's shall go first, but thou shalt lay thy ship where +thou likest." + +"Seldom have I had others as a shield before me," says Wolf, and lays +his galley side by side with Hrut's ship; and so they hold on through +the Sound. Now those who are in the Sound see that ships are coming up +to them, and they tell Atli. + +He answered, "Then maybe there'll be gain to be got". + +After that men took their stand on board each ship; "but my ship," says +Atli, "shall be in the midst of the fleet". + +Meantime Hrut's ships ran on, and as soon as either side could hear the +other's hail, Atli stood up and said-- + +"Ye fare unwarily. Saw ye not that war-ships were in the Sound? But +what's the name of your chief?" + +Hrut tells his name. + +"Whose man art thou?" says Atli. + +"One of king Harold Grayfell's body-guard." + +Atli said, "'Tis long since any love was lost between us, father and +son, and your Norway kings". + +"Worse luck for thee," says Hrut. + +"Well," says Atli, "the upshot of our meeting will be, that thou shalt +not be left alive to tell the tale;" and with that he caught up a spear +and hurled it at Hrut's ship, and the man who stood before it got his +death. After that the battle began, and they were slow in boarding +Hrut's ship. Wolf, he went well forward, and with him it was now cut, +now thrust. Atli's bowman's name was Asolf; he sprung up on Hrut's ship, +and was four men's death before Hrut was ware of him; then he turned +against him, and when they met, Asolf thrust at and through Hrut's +shield, but Hrut cut once at Asolf, and that was his death-blow. Wolf +the Unwashed saw that stroke, and called out-- + +"Truth to say, Hrut, thou dealest big blows, but thou'st much to thank +Gunnhillda for." + +"Something tells me," says Hrut, "that thou speakest with a 'fey' +mouth." + +Now Atli sees a bare place for a weapon on Wolf, and shot a spear +through him, and now the battle grows hot: Atli leaps up on Hrut's ship, +and clears it fast round about, and now Auzur turns to meet him, and +thrust at him, but fell down full length on his back, for another man +thrust at him. Now Hrut turns to meet Atli: he cut at once at Hrut's +shield, and clove it all in two, from top to point; just then Atli got a +blow on his hand from a stone, and down fell his sword. Hrut caught up +the sword, and cut his foot from under him. After that he dealt him his +death-blow. There they took much goods, and brought away with them two +ships which were best, and stayed there only a little while. But +meantime Soti and his crew had sailed past them, and he held on his +course back to Norway, and made the land at Limgard's side. There Soti +went on shore, and there he met Augmund, Gunnhillda's page; he knew him +at once, and asks-- + +"How long meanest thou to be here?" + +"Three nights," says Soti. + +"Whither away, then?" says Augmund. + +"West, to England," says Soti, "and never to come back again to Norway +while Gunnhillda's rule is in Norway." + +Augmund went away, and goes and finds Gunnhillda, for she was a little +way off at a feast, and Gudred, her son, with her. Augmund told +Gunnhillda what Soti meant to do, and she begged Gudred to take his +life. So Gudred set off at once, and came unawares on Soti, and made +them lead up the country, and hang him there. But the goods he took, and +brought them to his mother, and she got men to carry them all down to +the King's Crag, and after that she went thither herself. + +Hrut came back towards autumn, and had gotten great store of goods. He +went at once to the king, and had a hearty welcome. He begged them to +take whatever they pleased of his goods, and the king took a third. +Gunnhillda told Hrut how she had got hold of the inheritance, and had +Soti slain. He thanked her, and gave her half of all he had. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +HRUT SAILS OUT TO ICELAND. + + +Hrut stayed with the king that winter in good cheer, but when spring +came he grew very silent. Gunnhillda finds that out, and said to him +when they two were alone together-- + +"Art thou sick at heart?" + +"So it is," said Hrut, "as the saying runs--'Ill goes it with those who +are born on a barren land'." + +"Wilt thou to Iceland?" she asks. + +"Yes," he answered. + +"Hast thou a wife out there?" she asked; and he answers, "No". + +"But I am sure that is true," she says; and so they ceased talking about +the matter. + +[Shortly after] Hrut went before the king and bade him "good day"; and +the king said, "What dost thou want now, Hrut?" + +"I am come to ask, lord, that you give me leave to go to Iceland." + +"Will thine honour be greater there than here?" asks the king. + +"No, it will not," said Hrut; "but every one must win the work that is +set before him." + +"It is pulling a rope against a strong man," said Gunnhillda, "so give +him leave to go as best suits him." + +There was a bad harvest that year in the land, yet Gunnhillda gave Hrut +as much meal as he chose to have; and now he busks him to sail out to +Iceland, and Auzur with him; and when they were all-boun, Hrut went to +find the king and Gunnhillda. She led him aside to talk alone, and said +to him-- + +"Here is a gold ring which I will give thee;" and with that she clasped +it round his wrist. + +"Many good gifts have I had from thee," said Hrut. + +Then she put her hands round his neck and kissed him, and said-- + +"If I have as much power over thee as I think, I lay this spell on thee +that thou mayest never have any pleasure in living with that woman on +whom thy heart is set in Iceland, but with other women thou mayest get +on well enough, and now it is like to go well with neither of us;--but +thou hast not believed what I have been saying." + +Hrut laughed when he heard that, and went away; after that he came +before the king and thanked him; and the king spoke kindly to him, and +bade him "farewell". Hrut went straight to his ship, and they had a fair +wind all the way until they ran into Borgarfirth. + +As soon as the ship was made fest to the land, Hrut rode west home, but +Auzur stayed by the ship to unload her, and lay her up. Hrut rode +straight to Hauskuldstede, and Hauskuld gave him a hearty welcome, and +Hrut told him all about his travels. After that they sent men east +across the rivers to tell Fiddle Mord to make ready for the bridal +feast; but the two brothers rode to the ship, and on the way Hauskuld +told Hrut how his money matters stood, and his goods had gained much +since he was away. Then Hrut said-- + +"The reward is less worth than it ought to be, but I will give thee as +much meal as thou needst for thy household next winter." + +Then they drew the ship on land on rollers, and made her snug in her +shed, but all the wares on board her they carried away into the Dales +westward. Hrut stayed at home at Hrutstede till winter was six weeks +off, and then the brothers made ready, and Auzur with them, to ride to +Hrut's wedding. Sixty men ride with them, and they rode east till they +came to Rangriver plains. There they found a crowd of guests, and the +men took their seats on benches down the length of the hall, but the +women were seated on the cross benches on the dais, and the bride was +rather downcast. So they drank out the feast and it went off well. Mord +pays down his daughter's portion, and she rides west with her husband +and his train. So they ride till they reach home. Hrut gave over +everything into her hands inside the house, and all were pleased at +that; but for all that she and Hrut did not pull well together as man +and wife, and so things went on till spring, and when spring came Hrut +had a journey to make to the Westfirths, to get in the money for which +he had sold his wares; but before he set off his wife says to him-- + +"Dost thou mean to be back before men ride to the Thing?" + +"Why dost thou ask?" said Hrut. + +"I will ride to the Thing," she said, "to meet my father." + +"So it shall be," said he, "and I will ride to the Thing along with +thee." + +"Well and good," she says. + +After that Hrut rode from home west to the Firths, got in all his money, +and laid it out anew, and rode home again. When he came home he busked +him to ride to the Thing, and made all his neighbours ride with him. His +brother Hauskuld rode among the rest. Then Hrut said to his wife-- + +"If thou hast as much mind now to go to the Thing as thou saidst a while +ago, busk thyself and ride along with me." + +She was not slow in getting herself ready, and then they all rode to the +Thing. Unna went to her father's booth, and he gave her a hearty +welcome, but she seemed somewhat heavy-hearted, and when he saw that he +said to her-- + +"I have seen thee with a merrier face. Hast thou anything on thy mind?" + +She began to weep, and answered nothing. Then he said to her again, "Why +dost thou ride to the Thing, if thou wilt not tell me thy secret? Dost +thou dislike living away there in the west?" + +Then she answered him-- + +"I would give all I own in the world that I had never gone thither." + +"Well!" said Mord, "I'll soon get to the bottom of this." Then he sends +men to fetch Hauskuld and Hrut, and they came straightway; and when they +came in to see Mord, he rose up to meet them and gave them a hearty +welcome, and asked them to sit down. Then they talked a long time in a +friendly way, and at last Mord said to Hauskuld-- + +"Why does my daughter think so ill of life in the west yonder?" + +"Let her speak out," said Hrut, "if she has anything to lay to my +charge." + +But she brought no charge against him. Then Hrut made them ask his +neighbours and household how he treated her, and all bore him good +witness, saying that she did just as she pleased in the house. + +Then Mord said, "Home thou shalt go, and be content with thy lot; for +all the witness goes better for him than for thee". + +After that Hrut rode home from the Thing, and his wife with him, and all +went smoothly between them that summer; but when spring came it was the +old story over again, and things grew worse and worse as the spring went +on. Hrut had again a journey to make west to the Firths, and gave out +that he would not ride to the Althing, but Unna his wife said little +about it. So Hrut went away west to the Firths. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +UNNA SEPARATES FROM HRUT. + + +Now the time for the Thing was coming on, Unna spoke to Sigmund Auzur's +son, and asked if he would ride to the Thing with her; he said he could +not ride if his kinsman Hrut set his face against it. + +"Well!" says she, "I spoke to thee because I have better right to ask +this from thee than from any one else." + +He answered, "I will make a bargain with thee: thou must promise to ride +back west with me, and to have no underhand dealings against Hrut or +myself". + +So she promised that, and then they rode to the Thing. Her father Mord +was at the Thing, and was very glad to see her, and asked her to stay in +his booth white the Thing lasted, and she did so. + +"Now," said Mord, "what hast thou to tell me of thy mate, Hrut?" + +Then she sung him a song, in which she praised Hrut's liberality, but +said he was not master of himself. She herself was ashamed to speak out. + +Mord was silent a short time, and then said-- + +"Thou hast now that on thy mind I see, daughter, which thou dost not +wish that any one should know save myself, and thou wilt trust to me +rather than any one else to help thee out of thy trouble." + +Then they went aside to talk, to a place where none could overhear what +they said; and then Mord said to his daughter-- + +"Now tell me all that is between you two, and don't make more of the +matter than it is worth." + +"So it shall be," she answered, and sang two songs, in which she +revealed the cause of their misunderstanding; and when Mord pressed her +to speak out, she told him how she and Hrut could not live together, +because he was spell-bound, and that she wished to leave him. + +"Thou didst right to tell me all this," said Mord, "and now I will give +thee a piece of advice, which will stand thee in good stead, if thou +canst carry it out to the letter. First of all, thou must ride home from +the Thing, and by that time thy husband will have come back, and will be +glad to see thee; thou must he blithe and buxom to him, and he will +think a good change has come over thee, and thou must show no signs of +coldness or ill-temper, but when spring comes thou must sham sickness, +and take to thy bed. Hrut will not lose time in guessing what thy +sickness can be, nor will he scold thee at all, but he will rather beg +every one to take all the care they can of thee. After that he will set +off west to the Firths, and Sigmund with him, for he will have to flit +all his goods home from the Firths west, and he will be away till the +summer is far spent. But when men ride to the Thing, and after all have +ridden from the Dales that mean to ride thither, then thou must rise +from thy bed and summon men to go along with thee to the Thing; and when +thou art all-boun, then shalt thou go to thy bed, and the men with thee +who are to bear thee company, and thou shalt take witness before thy +husband's bed, and declare thyself separated from him by such a lawful +separation as may hold good according to the judgment of the Great +Thing, and the laws of the land; and at the man's door [the main door of +the house] thou shalt take the same witness. After that ride away, and +ride over Laxriverdale Heath, and so on over Holtbeacon Heath; for they +will look for thee by way of Hrutfirth. And so ride on till thou comest +to me; then I will see after the matter. But into his hands thou shalt +never come more." + +Now she rides home from the Thing, and Hrut had come back before her, +and made her hearty welcome. She answered him kindly, and was blithe and +forbearing towards him. So they lived happily together that half-year; +but when spring came she fell sick, and kept her bed. Hrut set off west +to the Firths, and bade them tend her well before he went. Now, when the +time for the Thing comes, she busked herself to ride away, and did in +every way as had been laid down for her; and then she rides away to the +Thing. The country folk looked for her, but could not find her. Mord +made his daughter welcome, and asked her if she had followed his advice; +and she says, "I have not broken one tittle of it". + +Then she went to the Hill of Laws, and declared herself separated from +Hrut; and men thought this strange news. Unna went home with her father, +and never went west from that day forward. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +MORD CLAIMS HIS GOODS FROM HRUT. + + +Hrut came home, and knit his brows when he heard his wife was gone, but +yet kept his feelings well in hand, and stayed at home all that +half-year, and spoke to no one on the matter. Next summer he rode to the +Thing, with his brother Hauskuld, and they had a great following. But +when he came to the Thing, he asked whether Fiddle Mord were at the +Thing, and they told him he was; and all thought they would come to +words at once about their matter, but it was not so. At last, one day +when the brothers and others who were at the Thing went to the Hill of +Laws, Mord took witness and declared that he had a money-suit against +Hrut for his daughter's dower, and reckoned the amount at ninety +hundreds in goods, calling on Hrut at the same time to pay and hand it +over to him, and asking for a fine of three marks. He laid the suit in +the Quarter Court, into which it would come by law, and gave lawful +notice, so that all who stood on the Hill of Laws might hear. + +But when he had thus spoken, Hrut said-- + +"Thou hast undertaken this suit, which belongs to thy daughter, rather +for the greed of gain and love of strife than in kindliness and +manliness. But I shall have something to say against it; for the goods +which belong to me are not yet in thy hands. Now, what I have to say is +this, and I say it out, so that all who hear me on this hill may bear +witness: I challenge thee to fight on the island; there on one side +shall be laid all thy daughter's dower, and on the other I will lay down +goods worth as much, and whoever wins the day shall have both dower and +goods; but if thou wilt not fight with me, then thou shalt give up all +claim to these goods." + +Then Mord held his peace, and took counsel with his friends about going +to fight on the island, and Jorund the priest gave him an answer. + +"There is no need for thee to come to ask us for counsel in this matter, +for thou knowest if thou fightest with Hrut thou wilt lose both life and +goods. He has a good cause, and is besides mighty in himself and one of +the boldest of men." + +Then Mord spoke out, that he would not fight with Hrut, and there arose +a great shout and hooting on the hill, and Mord got the greatest shame +by his suit. + +After that men ride home from the Thing, and those brothers Hauskuld and +Hrut ride west to Reykiardale, and turned in as guests at Lund, where +Thiostolf, Biorn Gullbera's son, then dwelt. There had been much rain +that day, and men got wet, so long-fires were made down the length of +the hall. Thiostolf, the master of the house, sat between Hauskuld and +Hrut, and two boys, of whom Thiostolf had the rearing, were playing on +the floor, and a girl was playing with them. They were great +chatterboxes, for they were too young to know better. So one of them +said-- + +"Now, I will be Mord, and summon thee to lose thy wife because thou hast +not been a good husband to her." + +Then the other answered-- + +"I will be Hrut, and I call on thee to give up all claim to thy goods, +if thou darest not to fight with me." + +This they said several times, and all the household burst out laughing. +Then Hauskuld got wroth, and struck the boy who called himself Mord with +a switch, and the blow fell on his face, and graced the skin. + +"Get out with thee," said Hauskuld to the boy, "and make no game of us;" +but Hrut said, "Come hither to me," and the boy did so. Then Hrut drew a +ring from his finger and gave it to him, and said-- + +"Go away, and try no man's temper henceforth." + +Then the boy went away saying-- + +"Thy manliness I will bear in mind all my life." + +From this matter Hrut got great praise, and after that they went home; +and that was the end of Mord's and Hrut's quarrel. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THORWALD GETS HALLGERDA TO WIFE. + + +Now, it must be told how Hallgerda, Hauskuld's daughter, grows up, and +is the fairest of women to look on; she was tall of stature, too, and +therefore she was called "Longcoat". She was fair-haired, and had so +much of it that she could hide herself in it; but she was lavish and +hard-hearted. Her foster-father's name was Thiostolf; he was a South +islander[6] by stock; he was a strong man, well skilled in arms, and had +slain many men, and made no atonement in money for one of them. It was +said, too, that his rearing had not bettered Hallgerda's temper. + +There was a man named Thorwald; he was Oswif's son, and dwelt out on +Middlefells strand, under the Fell. He was rich and well to do, and +owned the islands called Bear-isles, which lie out in Broadfirth, whence +he got meal and stock fish. This Thorwald was a strong and courteous +man, though somewhat hasty in temper. Now, it fell out one day that +Thorwald and his father were talking together of Thorwald's marrying, +and where he had best look for a wife, and it soon came out that he +thought there wasn't a match fit for him far or near. + +"Well," said Oswif, "wilt thou ask for Hallgerda Longcoat, Hauskuld's +daughter?" + +"Yes! I will ask for her," said Thorwald. + +"But that is not a match that will suit either of you," Oswif went on to +say, "for she has a will of her own, and thou art stern-tempered and +unyielding." + +"For all that I will try my luck there," said Thorwald, "so it's no good +trying to hinder me." + +"Ay!" said Oswif, "and the risk is all thine own." + +After that they set off on a wooing journey to Hauskuldstede, and had a +hearty welcome. They were not long in telling Hauskuld their business, +and began to woo; then Hauskuld answered-- + +"As for you, I know how you both stand in the world, but for my own part +I will use no guile towards you. My daughter has a hard temper, but as +to her looks and breeding you can both see for yourselves." + +"Lay down the terms of the match," answered Thorwald, "for I will not +let her temper stand in the way of our bargain." + +Then they talked over the terms of the bargain, and Hauskuld never asked +his daughter what she thought of it, for his heart was set on giving her +away, and so they came to an understanding as to the terms of the match. +After that Thorwald betrothed himself to Hallgerda, and rode away home +when the matter was settled. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +HALLGERDA'S WEDDING. + + +Hauskuld told Hallgerda of the bargain he had made, and she said-- + +"Now that has been put to the proof which I have all along been afraid +of, that thou lovest me not so much as thou art always saying, when thou +hast not thought it worth while to tell me a word of all this matter. +Besides, I do not think the match as good a one as thou hast always +promised me." + +So she went on, and let them know in every way that she thought she was +thrown away. + +Then Hauskuld said-- + +"I do not set so much store by thy pride as to let it stand in the way +of my bargains; and my will, not thine, shall carry the day if we fell +out on any point." + +"The pride of all you kinsfolk is great," she said, "and so it is not +wonderful if I have some of it." + +With that she went away, and found her foster-father Thiostolf, and told +him what was in store for her, and was very heavy-hearted. Then +Thiostolf said-- + +"Be of good cheer, for thou wilt be married a second time, and then they +will ask thee what thou thinkest of the match; for I will do in all +things as thou wishest, except in what touches thy father or Hrut." + +After that they spoke no more of the matter, and Hauskuld made ready the +bridal feast, and rode off to ask men to it. So he came to Hrutstede and +called Hrut out to speak with him. Hrut went out, and they began to +talk, and Hauskuld told him the whole story of the bargain, and bade him +to the feast, saying-- + +"I should be glad to know that thou dost not feel hurt though I did not +tell thee when the bargain was being made." + +"I should be better pleased," said Hrut, "to have nothing at all to do +with it; for this match will bring luck neither to him nor to her; but +still I will come to the feast if thou thinkest it will add any honour +to thee." + +"Of course I think so," said Hauskuld, and rode off home. + +Oswif and Thorwald also asked men to come, so that no fewer than one +hundred guests were asked. + +There was a man named Swan, who dwelt in Bearfirth, which lies north +from Steingrimsfirth. This Swan was a great wizard, and he was +Hallgerda's mother's brother. He was quarrelsome, and hard to deal with, +but Hallgerda asked him to the feast, and sends Thiostolf to him; so he +went, and it soon got to friendship between him and Swan. + +Now men come to the feast, and Hallgerda sat upon the cross-bench, and +she was a very merry bride. Thiostolf was always talking to her, though +he sometimes found time to speak to Swan, and men thought their talking +strange. The feast went off well, and Hauskuld paid down Hallgerda's +portion with the greatest readiness. After he had done that, he said to +Hrut-- + +"Shall I bring out any gifts beside?" + +"The day will come," answered Hrut, "when thou wilt have to waste thy +goods for Hallgerda's sake, so hold thy hand now." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THORWALD'S SLAYING. + + +Thorwald rode home from the bridal feast, and his wife with him, and +Thiostolf, who rode by her horse's side, and still talked to her in a +low voice. Oswif turned to his son and said-- + +"Art thou pleased with thy match? and how went it when ye talked +together?" + +"Well," said he, "she showed all kindness to me. Thou mightst see that +by the way she laughs at every word I say." + +"I don't think her laughter so hearty as thou dost," answered Oswif, +"but this will be put to the proof by and by." + +So they ride on till they come home, and at night she took her seat by +her husband's side, and made room for Thiostolf next herself on the +inside. Thiostolf and Thorwald had little to do with each other, and few +words were thrown away between them that winter, and so time went on. +Hallgerda was prodigal and grasping, and there was nothing that any of +their neighbours had that she must not have too, and all that she had, +no matter whether it were her own or belonged to others, she waited. But +when the spring came there was a scarcity in the house, both of meal +and stock fish, so Hallgerda went up to Thorwald and said-- + +"Thou must not be sitting indoors any longer, for we want for the house +both meal and fish." + +"Well," said Thorwald, "I did not lay in less for the house this year +than I laid in before, and then it used to last till summer." + +"What care I," said Hallgerda, "if thou and thy father have made your +money by starving yourselves." + +Then Thorwald got angry and gave her a blow on the face and drew blood, +and went away and called his men and ran the skiff down to the shore. +Then six of them jumped into her and rowed out to the Bear-isles, and +began to load her with meal and fish. + +Meantime it is said that Hallgerda sat out of doors heavy at heart. +Thiostolf went up to her and saw the wound on her face, and said-- + +"Who has been playing thee this sorry trick?" + +"My husband Thorwald," she said, "and thou stoodst aloof, though thou +wouldst not if thou hadst cared at all for me." + +"Because I knew nothing about it," said Thiostolf, "but I will avenge +it." + +Then he went away down to the shore and ran out a six-oared boat, and +held in his hand a great axe that he had with a haft overlaid with iron. +He steps into the boat and rows out to the Bear-isles, and when he got +there all the men had rowed away but Thorwald and his followers, and he +stayed by the skiff to load her, while they brought the goods down to +him. So Thiostolf came up just then and jumped into the skiff and began +to load with him, and after a while he said-- + +"Thou canst do but little at this work, and that little thou dost +badly." + +"Thinkest thou thou canst do it better?" said Thorwald. + +"There's one thing to be done which I can do better than thou," said +Thiostolf, and then he went on-- + +"The woman who is thy wife has made a bad match, and you shall not live +much longer together." + +Then Thorwald snatched up a fishing-knife that lay by him, and made a +stab at Thiostolf; he had lifted his axe to his shoulder and dashed it +down. It came on Thorwald's arm and crushed the wrist, but down fell the +knife. Then Thiostolf lifted up his axe a second time and gave Thorwald +a blow on the head, and he fell dead on the spot. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THIOSTOLF'S FLIGHT. + + +While this was going on, Thorwald's men came down with their load, but +Thiostolf was not slow in his plans. He hewed with both hands at the +gunwale of the skiff and cut it down about two planks; then he leapt +into his boat, but the dark blue sea poured into the skiff, and down she +went with all her freight. Down too sank Thorwald's body, so that his +men could not see what had been done to him, but they knew well enough +that he was dead, Thiostolf rowed away up the firth, but they shouted +after him wishing him ill luck. He made them no answer, but rowed on +till he got home, and ran the boat up on the beach, and went up to the +house with his axe, all bloody as it was, on his shoulder. Hallgerda +stood out of doors, and said-- + +"Thine axe is bloody; what hast thou done?" + +"I have done now what will cause thee to be wedded a second time." + +"Thou tellest me then that Thorwald is dead?" she said. + +"So it is," said he, "and now look out for my safety." + +"So I will," she said; "I will send thee north to Bearfirth, to +Swanshol, and Swan, my kinsman, will receive thee with open arms. He is +so mighty a man that no one will seek thee thither." + +So he saddled a horse that she had, and jumped on his back, and rode off +north to Bearfirth, to Swanshol, and Swan received him with open arms, +and said-- + +"That's what I call a man who does not stick at trifles! And now I +promise thee if they seek thee here, they shall get nothing but the +greatest shame." + +Now, the story goes back to Hallgerda, and how she behaved. She called +on Liot the black, her kinsman, to go with her, and bade him saddle +their horses, for she said--"I will ride home to my father". + +While he made ready for their journey, she went to her chests and +unlocked them, and called all the men of her house about her, and gave +each of them some gift; but they all grieved at her going. Now she rides +home to her father; and he received her well, for as yet he had not +heard the news. But Hrut said to Hallgerda-- + +"Why did not Thorwald come with thee?" and she answered-- + +"He is dead." + +Then Said Hauskuld-- + +"That was Thiostolf's doing?" + +"It was," she said. + +"Ah!" said Hauskuld, "Hrut was not for wrong when he told me that this +bargain would draw mickle misfortune after it. But there's no good in +troubling one's self about a thing that's done and gone." + +Now the story must go back to Thorwald's mates, how there they ate, and +how they begged the loan of a boat to get to the mainland. So a boat was +lent them at once, and they rowed up the firth to Reykianess, and found +Oswif, and told him these tidings. + +He said, "Ill luck is the end of ill redes, and now I see how it has all +gone. Hallgerda must have sent Thiostolf to Bearfirth, but she herself +must have ridden home to her father. Let us now gather folk and follow +him up thither north." So they did that, and went about asking for help, +and got together many men. And then they all rode off to Steingrims +river, and so on to Liotriverdale and Selriverdale, till they came to +Bearfirth. + +Now Swan began to speak, and gasped much. "Now Oswif's fetches are +seeking us out." Then up sprung Thiostolf, but Swan said, "Go thou out +with me, there won't be need of much". So they went out both of them, +and Swan took a goatskin and wrapped it about his own head, and said, +"Become mist and fog, become fright and wonder mickle to all those who +seek thee". + +Now, it must be told how Oswif, his friends, and his men are riding +along the ridge; then came a great mist against them, and Oswif said, +"This is Swan's doing; 'twere well if nothing worse followed". A little +after a mighty darkness came before their eyes, so that they could see +nothing, and then they fell off their horses' backs, and lost their +horses, and dropped their weapons, and went over head and ears into +bogs, and some went astray into the wood, till they were on the brink of +bodily harm. Then Oswif said, "If I could only find my horse and +weapons, then I'd turn back"; and he had scarce spoken these words than +they saw somewhat, and found their horses and weapons. Then many still +egged the others on to look after the chase once more; and so they did, +and at once the same wonders befell them, and so they fared thrice. +Then Oswif said, "Though the course be not good, let us still turn back. +Now, we will take counsel a second time, and what now pleases my mind +best, is to go and find Hauskuld, and ask atonement for my son; for +there's hope of honour where there's good store of it." + +So they rode thence to the Broadfirth dales, and there is nothing to be +told about them till they come to Hauskuldstede, and Hrut was there +before them. Oswif called out Hauskuld and Hrut, and they both went out +and bade him good-day. After that they began to talk. Hauskuld asked +Oswif whence he came. He said he had set out to search for Thiostolf, +but couldn't find him. Hauskuld said he must have gone north to +Swanshol, "and thither it is not every man's lot to go to find him". + +"Well," says Oswif, "I am come hither for this, to ask atonement for my +son from thee." + +Hauskuld answered--"I did not slay thy son, nor did I plot his death; +still it may be forgiven thee to look for atonement somewhere". + +"Nose is next of kin, brother, to eyes," said Hrut, "and it is needful +to stop all evil tongues, and to make him atonement for his son, and so +mend thy daughter's state, for that will only be the case when this suit +is dropped, and the less that is said about it the better it will be." + +Hauskuld said--"Wilt thou undertake the award?" + +"That I will," says Hrut, "nor will I shield thee at all in my award; +for if the truth must be told thy daughter planned his death." + +Then Hrut held his peace some little while, and afterwards he stood up, +and said to Oswif--"Take now my hand in handsel as a token that thou +lettest the suit drop". + +So Oswif stood up and said--"This is not an atonement on equal terms +when thy brother utters the award, but still thou (speaking to Hrut) +hast behaved so well about it that I trust thee thoroughly to make it" +Then he stood up and took Hauskuld's hand, and came to an atonement in +the matter, on the understanding that Hrut was to make up his mind and +utter the award before Oswif went away. After that, Hrut made his award, +and said--"For the slaying of Thorwald I award two hundred in +silver"--that was then thought a good price for a man--"and thou shalt +pay it down at once, brother, and pay it too with an open hand". + +Hauskuld did so, and then Hrut said to Oswif--"I will give thee a good +cloak which I brought with me from foreign lands". + +He thanked him for his gift, and went home well pleased at the way in +which things had gone. + +After that Hauskuld and Hrut came to Oswif to share the goods, and they +and Oswif came to a good agreement about that too, and they went home +with their share of the goods, and Oswif is now out of our story. +Hallgerda begged Hauskuld to let her come back home to him, and he gave +her leave, and for a long time there was much talk about Thorwald's +slaying. As for Hallgerda'a goods they went on growing till they were +worth a great sum. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GLUM'S WOOING. + + +Now three brothers are named in the story. One was called Thorarin, the +second Ragi, and the third Glum. They were the sons of Olof the Halt, +and were men of much worth and of great wealth in goods. Thorarin's +surname was Ragi's brother; he had the Speakership of the Law after Rafn +Heing's son. He was a very wise man, and lived at Varmalek, and he and +Glum kept house together. Glum had been long abroad; he was a tall, +strong, handsome man. Ragi their brother was a great man-slayer. Those +brothers owned in the south Engey and Laugarness. One day the brothers +Thorarin and Glum were talking together, and Thorarin asked Glum whether +he meant to go abroad, as was his wont. + +He answered--"I was rather thinking now of leaving off trading voyages". + +"What hast thou then in thy mind? Wilt thou woo thee a wife?" + +"That I will," says he, "if I could only get myself well matched." + +Then Thorarin told off all the women who were unwedded in Borgarfirth, +and asked him if he would have any of these--"Say the word, and I will +ride with thee!" + +But Glum answered--"I will have none of these". + +"Say then the name of her thou wishest to have," says Thorarin. + +Glum answered--"If thou must know, her name is Hallgerda, and she is +Hauskuld's daughter away west in the dales". + +"Well," says Thorarin, "'tis not with thee as the saw says, 'be warned +by another's woe'; for she was wedded to a man, and she plotted his +death." + +Glum said--"May be such ill-luck will not befall her a second time, and +sure I am she will not plot my death. But now, if thou wilt show me any +honour, ride along with me to woo her." + +Thorarin said--"There's no good striving against it, for what must be is +sure to happen". Glum often talked the matter over with Thorarin, but he +put it off a long time. At last it came about that they gathered men +together and rode off ten in company, west to the dales, and came to +Hauskuldstede. Hauskuld gave them a hearty welcome, and they stayed +there that night. But early next morning, Hauskuld sends Hrut, and he +came thither at once; and Hauskuld was out of doors when he rode into +the "town". Then Hauskuld told Hrut what men had come thither. + +"What may it be they want?" asked Hrut + +"As yet," says Hauskuld, "they have not let out to me that they have any +business." + +"Still," says Hrut, "their business must be with thee. They will ask the +hand of thy daughter, Hallgerda. If they do, what answer wilt thou +make?" + +"What dost thou advise me to say?" says Hauskuld. + +"Thou shalt answer well," says Hrut; "but still make a clean breast of +all the good and all the ill thou knowest of the woman." + +But while the brothers were talking thus, out came the guests. Hauskuld +greeted them well, and Hrut bade both Thorarin and his brothers good +morning. After that they all began to talk, and Thorarin said-- + +"I am come hither, Hauskuld, with my brother Glum on this errand, to ask +for Hallgerda thy daughter, at the hand of my brother Glum. Thou must +know that he is a man of worth." + +"I know well," says Hauskuld, "that ye are both of you powerful and +worthy men; but I must tell you right out, that I chose a husband for +her before, and that turned out most unluckily for us." + +Thorarin answered--"We will not let that stand in the way of the +bargain; for one oath shall not become all oaths, and this may prove to +be a good match, though that turned out ill; besides Thiostolf had most +hand in spoiling it". + +Then Hrut spoke: "Now I will give you a bit of advice--this: if ye will +not let all this that has already happened to Hallgerda stand in the way +of the match, mind you do not let Thiostolf go south with her if the +match comes off, and that he is never there longer than three nights at +a time, unless Glum gives him leave, but fall an outlaw by Glum's hand +without atonement if he stay there longer. Of course, it shall be in +Glum's power to give him leave; but he will not if he takes my advice. +And now this match, shall not be fulfilled, as the other was, without +Hallgerda's knowledge. She shall now know the whole course of this +bargain, and see Glum, and herself settle whether she will have him or +not; and then she will not be able to lay the blame on others if it does +not turn out well. And all this shall be without craft or guile." + +Then Thorarin said--"Now, as always, it will prove best if thy advice be +taken". + +Then they sent for Hallgerda, and she came thither, and two women with +her. She had on a cloak of rich blue wool, and under it a scarlet +kirtle, and a silver girdle round her waist, but her hair came down on +both sides of her bosom, and she had turned the locks up under her +girdle. She sat down between Hrut and her father, and she greeted them +all with kind words, and spoke well and boldly, and asked what was the +news. After that she ceased speaking. + +Then Glum said--"There has been some talk between thy father and my +brother Thorarin and myself about a bargain. It was that I might get +thee, Hallgerda, if it be thy will, as it is theirs; and now, if thou +art a brave woman, thou wilt say right out whether the match is at all +to thy mind; but if thou hast anything in thy heart against this bargain +with us, then we will not say anything more about it." + +Hallgerda said--"I know well that you are men of worth and might, ye +brothers. I know too that now I shall be much better wedded than I was +before; but what I want to know is, what you have said already about the +match, and how far you have given your words in the matter. But so far +as I now see of thee, I think I might love thee well if we can but hit +it off as to temper." + +So Glum himself told her all about the bargain, and left nothing out, +and then he asked Hauskuld and Hrut whether he had repeated it right. +Hauskuld said he had; and then Hallgerda said--"Ye have dealt so well +with me in this matter, my father and Hrut, that I will do what ye +advise, and this bargain shall be struck as ye have settled it". + +Then Hrut said--"Methinks it were best that Hauskuld and I should name +witnesses, and that Hallgerda should betroth herself, if the Lawman +thinks that right and lawful". + +"Right and lawful it is," says Thorarin. + +After that Hallgerda's goods were valued, and Glum was to lay down as +much against them, and they were to go shares, half and half, in the +whole. Then Glum bound himself to Hallgerda as his betrothed, and they +rode away home south; but Hauskuld was to keep the wedding-feast at his +house. And now all is quiet till men ride to the wedding. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +GLUM'S WEDDING. + + +Those brothers gathered together a great company, and they were all +picked men. They rode west to the dales and came to Hauskuldstede, and +there they found a great gathering to meet them. Hauskuld and Hrut, and +their friends, filled one bench, and the bridegroom the other. Hallgerda +sat upon the cross-bench on the dais, and behaved well. Thiostolf went +about with his axe raised in air, and no one seemed to know that he was +there, and so the wedding went off well. But when the feast was over, +Hallgerda went away south with Glum and his brothers. So when they came +south to Varmalek, Thorarin asked Hallgerda if she would undertake the +housekeeping, "No, I will not," she said. Hallgerda kept her temper down +that winter, and they liked her well enough. But when the spring came, +the brothers talked about their property, and Thorarin said--"I will +give up to you the house at Varmalek, for that is readiest to your hand, +and I will go down south to Laugarness and live there, but Engey we will +have both of us in common". + +Glum was willing enough to do that. So Thorarin went down to the south +of that district, and Glum and his wife stayed behind there, and lived +in the house at Varmalek. + +Now Hallgerda got a household about her; she was prodigal in giving, and +grasping in getting. In the summer she gave birth to a girl. Glum asked +her what name it was to have. + +"She shall be called after my father's mother, and her name shall be +Thorgerda," for she came down from Sigurd Fafnir's-bane on the father's +side, according to the family pedigree. + +So the maiden was sprinkled with water, and had this name given her, and +there she grew up, and got like her mother in looks and feature. Glum +and Hallgerda agreed well together, and so it went on for a while. About +that time these tidings were heard from the north and Bearfirth, how +Swan had rowed out to fish in the spring, and a great storm came down on +him from the east, and how he was driven ashore at Fishless, and he and +his men were there lost. But the fishermen who were at Kalback thought +they saw Swan go into the fell at Kalbackshorn, and that he was greeted +well; but some spoke against that story, and said there was nothing in +it. But this all knew that he was never seen again either alive or dead. +So when Hallgerda heard that, she thought she had a great loss in her +mother's brother. Glum begged Thorarin to change lands with him, but he +said he would not; "but," said he, "if I outlive you, I mean to have +Varmalek to myself". When Glum told this to Hallgerda, she said, +"Thorarin has indeed a right to expect this from us". + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THIOSTOLF GOES TO GLUM'S HOUSE. + + +Thiostolf had beaten one of Hauskuld's house-carles, so he drove him +away. He took his horse and weapons, and said to Hauskuld-- + +"Now, I will go away and never come back." + +"All will be glad at that," says Hauskuld. + +Thiostolf rode till he came to Varmalek, and there he got a hearty +welcome from Hallgerda, and not a bad one from Glum. He told Hallgerda +how her father had driven him away, and begged her to give him her help +and countenance. She answered him by telling him she could say nothing +about his staying there before she had seen Glum about it. + +"Does it go well between you?" he says. + +"Yes," she says, "our love runs smooth enough." + +After that she went to speak to Glum, and threw her arms round his neck +and said-- + +"Wilt thou grant me a boon which I wish to ask of thee?" + +"Grant it I will," he says, "if it be right and seemly; but what is it +thou wishest to ask?" + +"Well," she said, "Thiostolf has been driven away from the west, and +what I want thee to do is to let him stay here; but I will not take it +crossly if it is not to thy mind." + +Glum said--"Now that thou behavest so well, I will grant thee thy boon; +but I tell thee, if he takes to any ill he shall be sent off at once". + +She goes then to Thiostolf and tells him, and he answered-- + +"Now, thou art still good, as I had hoped." + +After that he was there, and kept himself down a little white, but then +it was the old story, he seemed to spoil all the good he found; for he +gave way to no one save to Hallgerda alone, but she never took his side +in his brawls with others. Thorarin, Glum's brother, blamed him for +letting him be there, and said ill luck would come of it, and all would +happen as had happened before if he were there. Glum answered him well +and kindly, but still kept on in his own way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +GLUM'S SHEEP HUNT. + + +Now once on a time when autumn came, it happened that men had hard work +to get their flocks home, and many of Glum's wethers were missing. Then +Glum said to Thiostolf-- + +"Go thou up on the fell with my house-carles and see if ye cannot find +out anything about the sheep." + +"'Tis no business of mine," says Thiostolf, "to hunt up sheep, and this +one thing is quite enough to hinder it. I won't walk in thy thralls' +footsteps. But go thyself, and then I'll go with thee." + +About this they had many words. The weather was good, and Hallgerda was +sitting out of doors. Glum went up to her and said-- + +"Now Thiostolf and I have had a quarrel, and we shall not live much +longer together." And so he told her all that they had been talking +about. + +Then Hallgerda spoke up for Thiostolf, and they had many words about +him. At last Glum gave her a blow with his hand, and said-- + +"I will strive no longer with thee," and with that he went away. + +Now she loved him much, and could not calm herself, but wept out loud. +Thiostolf went up to her and said-- + +"This is sorry sport for thee, and so it must not be often again." + +"Nay," she said, "but thou shalt not avenge this, nor meddle at all +whatever passes between Glum and me." + +He went off with a spiteful grin. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +GLUM'S SLAYING. + + +Now Glum called men to follow him, and Thiostolf got ready and went with +them. So they went up South Reykiardale and then up along by Baugagil +and so south to Crossfell. But some of his band he sent to the +Sulafells, and they all found very many sheep. Some of them, too, went +by way of Scoradale, and it came about at last that those twain, Glum +and Thiostolf, were left alone together. They went south from Crossfell +and found there a flock of wild sheep, and they went from the south +towards the fell, and tried to drive them down; but still the sheep got +away from them up on the fell. Then each began to scold the other, and +Thiostolf said at last that Glum had no strength save to tumble about in +Hallgerda's arms. + +Then Glum said-- + +"'A man's foes are those of his own house.' Shall I take upbraiding from +thee, runaway thrall as thou art?" + +Thiostolf said-- + +"Thou shalt soon have to own that I am no thrall, for I will not yield +an inch to thee." + +Then Glum got angry, and cut at him with his hand-axe, but he threw his +axe in the way, and the blow fell on the haft with a downward stroke and +bit into it about the breadth of two fingers. Thiostolf cut at him at +once with his axe, and smote him on the shoulder, and the stroke hewed +asunder the shoulderbone and collarbone, and the wound bled inwards. +Glum grasped at Thiostolf with his left hand so fast that he fell; but +Glum could not hold him, for death came over him. Then Thiostolf covered +his body with stones, and took off his gold ring. Then he went straight +to Varmalek. Hallgerda was sitting out of doors, and saw that his axe +was bloody. He said-- + +"I know not what thou wilt think of it, but I tell thee Glum is slain." + +"That must be thy deed?" she says. + +"So it is," he says. + +She laughed and said-- + +"Thou dost not stand for nothing in this sport." + +"What thinkest thou is best to be done now?" he asked. + +"Go to Hrut, my father's brother," she said, "and let him see about +thee." + +"I do not know," says Thiostolf, "whether this is good advice; but still +I will take thy counsel in this matter." + +So he took his horse, and rode west to Hrutstede that night. He binds +his horse at the back of the house, and then goes round to the door, and +gives a great knock. After that he walks round the house, north about. +It happened that Hrut was awake. He sprang up at once, and put on his +jerkin and pulled on his shoes. Then he took up his sword, and wrapped a +cloak about his left arm, up as far as the elbow. Men woke up just as he +went out; there he saw a tall stout man at the back of the house, and +knew it was Thiostolf. Hrut asked him what news. + +"I tell thee Glum is slain," says Thiostolf. + +"Who did the deed?" says Hrut. + +"I slew him," says Thiostolf. + +"Why rodest thou hither?" says Hrut. + +"Hallgerda sent me to thee," says Thiostolf. + +"Then she has no hand in this deed," says Hrut, and drew his sword. +Thiostolf saw that, and would not be behind hand, so he cuts at Hrut at +once. Hrut got out of the way of the stroke by a quick turn, and at the +same time struck the back of the axe so smartly with a side-long blow of +his left hand, that it flew out of Thiostolf's grasp. Then Hrut made a +blow with the sword in his right hand at Thiostolf's leg, just above the +knee, and cut it almost off so that it hung by a little piece, and +sprang in upon him at the same time, and thrust him hard back. After +that he smote him on the head, and dealt him his death-blow. Thiostolf +fell down on his back at full length, and then out came Hrut's men, and +saw the tokens of the deed. Hrut made them take Thiostolf away, and +throw stones over his body, and then he went to find Hauskuld, and told +him of Glum's slaying, and also of Thiostolf's. He thought it harm that +Glum was dead and gone, but thanked him for killing Thiostolf. A little +while after, Thorarin Ragi's brother hears of his brother Glum's death, +then he rides with eleven men behind him west to Hauskuldstede, and +Hauskuld welcomed him with both hands, and he is there the night. +Hauskuld sent at once for Hrut to come to him, and he went at once, and +next day they spoke much of the slaying of Glum, and Thorarin +said--"Wilt thou make me any atonement for my brother, for I have had a +great loss?" + +Hauskuld answered--"I did not slay thy brother, nor did my daughter plot +his death; but as soon as ever Hrut knew it he slew Thiostolf". + +Then Thorarin held his peace, and thought the matter had taken a bad +turn. But Hrut said--"Let us make his journey good; he has indeed had a +heavy loss, and if we do that we shall be well spoken of. So let us give +him gifts, and then he will be our friend ever afterwards." + +So the end of it was that those brothers gave him gifts, and he rode +back south. He and Hallgerda changed homesteads in the spring, and she +went south to Laugarness and he to Varmalek. And now Thorarin is out of +the story. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +FIDDLE MORD'S DEATH. + + +Now it must be told how Fiddle Mord took a sickness and breathed his +last; and that was thought great scathe. His daughter Unna took all the +goods he left behind him. She was then still unmarried the second time. +She was very lavish, and unthrifty of her property; so that her goods +and ready money wasted away, and at last she had scarce anything left +but land and stock. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +GUNNAR COMES INTO THE STORY. + + +There was a man whose name was Gunnar. He was one of Unna's kinsmen, and +his mother's name was Rannveig. Gunnar's father was named Hamond. Gunnar +Hamond's son dwelt at Lithend, in the Fleetlithe. He was a tall man in +growth, and a strong man--best skilled in arms of all men. He could cut +or thrust or shoot if he chose as well with his left as with his right +hand, and he smote so swiftly with his sword, that three seemed to flash +through the air at once. He was the best shot with the bow of all men, +and never missed his mark. He could leap more than his own height, with +all his war-gear, and as far backwards as forwards. He could swim like a +seal, and there was no game in which it was any good for anyone to +strive with him; and so it has been said that no man was his match. He +was handsome of feature, and fair skinned. His nose was straight, and a +little turned up at the end. He was blue-eyed and bright-eyed, and +ruddy-cheeked. His hair thick, and of good hue, and hanging down in +comely curls. The most courteous of men was he, of sturdy frame and +strong will, bountiful and gentle, a fast friend, but hard to please +when making them. He was wealthy in goods. His brother's name was +Kolskegg; he was a tall strong man, a noble fellow, and undaunted in +everything. Another brother's name was Hjort; he was then in his +childhood. Orm Skogarnef was a base-born brother of Gunnar's; he does +not come into this story. Arnguda was the name of Gunnar's sister. +Hroar, the priest at Tongue, had her to wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +OF NJAL AND HIS CHILDREN. + + +There was a man whose name was Njal. He was the son of Thorgeir Gelling, +the son of Thorolf. Njal's mother's name was Asgerda. Njal dwelt at +Bergthorsknoll in the land-isles; he had another homestead on +Thorolfsfell. Njal was wealthy in goods, and handsome of face; no beard +grew on his chin. He was so great a lawyer, that his match was not to be +found. Wise too he was, and foreknowing and foresighted.[7] Of good +counsel, and ready to give it, and all that he advised men was sure to +be the best for them to do. Gentle and generous, he unravelled every +man's knotty points who came to see him about them. Bergthora was his +wife's name; she was Skarphedinn's daughter, a very high-spirited, +brave-hearted woman, but somewhat hard-tempered. They had six children, +three daughters and three sons, and they all come afterwards into this +story. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +UNNA GOES TO SEE GUNNAR. + + +Now it must be told how Unna had lost all her ready money. She made her +way to Lithend, and Gunnar greeted his kinswoman well. She stayed there +that night, and the next morning they sat out of doors and talked. The +end of their talk was that she told him how heavily she was pressed for +money. + +"This is a bad business," he said. + +"What help wilt thou give me out of my distress?" she asked. + +He answered--"Take as much money as thou needest from what I have out at +interest". + +"Nay," she said, "I will not waste thy goods." + +"What then dost thou wish?" + +"I wish thee to get back my goods out of Hrut's hands," she answered. + +"That, methinks, is not likely," said he, "when thy father could not get +them back, and yet he was a great lawyer, but I know little about law." + +She answered--"Hrut pushed that matter through rather by boldness than +by law; besides, my father was old, and that was why men thought it +better not to drive things to the uttermost. And now there is none of my +kinsmen to take this suit up if thou hast not daring enough." + +"I have courage enough," he replied, "to get these goods back; but I do +not know how to take the suit up." + +"Well!" she answered, "go and see Njal of Bergthorsknoll, he will know +how to give thee advice. Besides, he is a great friend of thine." + +"'Tis like enough he will give me good advice, as he gives it to every +one else," says Gunnar. + +So the end of their talk was, that Gunnar undertook her cause, and gave +her the money she needed for her housekeeping, and after that she went +home. + +Now Gunnar rides to see Njal, and he made him welcome, and they began to +talk at once. + +Then Gunnar said--"I am come to seek a bit of good advice from thee". + +Njal replied--"Many of my friends are worthy of this, but still I think +I would take more pains for none than for thee". + +Gunnar said--"I wish to let thee know that I have undertaken to get +Unna's goods back from Hrut". + +"A very hard suit to undertake," said Njal, "and one very hazardous how +it will go; but still I will get it up for thee in the way I think +likeliest to succeed, and the end will be good if thou breakest none of +the rules I lay down; if thou dost, thy life is in danger." + +"Never fear; I will break none of them," said Gunnar. + +Then Njal held his peace for a little while, and after that he spoke as +follows:-- + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +NJAL'S ADVICE. + + +"I have thought over the suit, and it will do so. Thou shalt ride from +home with two men at thy back. Over all thou shalt have a great rough +cloak, and under that, a russet kirtle of cheap stuff, and under all, +thy good clothes. Thou must take a small axe in thy hand, and each of +you must have two horses, one fat, the other lean. Thou shalt carry +hardware and smith's work with thee hence, and ye must ride off early +to-morrow morning, and when ye are come across Whitewater westwards, +mind and slouch thy hat well over thy brows. Then men will ask who is +this tall man, and thy mates shall say--'Here is Huckster Hedinn the +Big, a man from Eyjafirth, who is going about with smith's work for +sale'. This Hedinn is ill-tempered and a chatterer--a fellow who thinks +he alone knows everything. Very often he snatches back his wares, and +flies at men if everything is not done as he wishes. So thou shalt ride +west to Borgarfirth offering all sorts of wares for sale, and be sure +often to cry off thy bargains, so that it will be noised abroad that +Huckster Hedinn is the worst of men to deal with, and that no lies have +been told of his bad behaviour. So thou shalt ride to Northwaterdale, +and to Hrutfirth, and Laxriverdale, till thou comest to Hauskuldstede. +There thou must stay a night, and sit in the lowest place, and hang thy +head down. Hauskuld will tell them all not to meddle nor make with +Huckster Hedinn, saying he is a rude unfriendly fellow. Next morning +thou must be off early and go to the farm nearest Hrutstede. There thou +must offer thy goods for sale, praising up all that is worst, and +tinkering up the faults. The master of the house will pry about and find +out the faults. Thou must snatch the wares away from him, and speak ill +to him. He will say--'Twas not to be hoped that thou wouldst behave well +to him, when thou behavest ill to every one else. Then thou shalt fly at +him, though it is not thy wont, but mind and spare thy strength, that +thou mayest not be found out. Then a man will be sent to Hrutstede to +tell Hrut he had best come and part you. He will come at once and ask +thee to his house, and thou must accept his offer. Thou shalt greet +Hrut, and he will answer well. A place will be given thee on the lower +bench over against Hrut's high-seat. He will ask if thou art from the +North, and thou shalt answer that thou art a man of Eyjafirth. He will +go on to ask if there are very many famous men there. 'Shabby fellows +enough and to spare,' thou must answer. 'Dost thou know Reykiardale and +the parts about?' he will ask. To which thou must answer--'I know all +Iceland by heart'. + +"Are there any stout champions left in Reykiardale?' he will ask. +'Thieves and scoundrels,' thou shalt answer. Then Hrut will smile and +think it sport to listen. You two will go on to talk of the men in the +Eastfirth Quarter, and thou must always find something to say against +them. At last your talk will come to Rangrivervale, and then thou must +say, there is small choice of men left in those parts since Fiddle Mord +died. At the same time sing some stave to please Hrut, for I know thou +art a skald. Hrut will ask what makes thee say there is never a man to +come in Mord's place; and then thou must answer, that he was so wise a +man and so good a taker up of suits, that he never made a false step in +upholding his leadership. He will ask--'Dost thou know how matters fared +between me and him?' + +"'I know all about it,' thou must reply, 'he took thy wife from thee, +and thou hadst not a word to say.' + +"Then Hrut will ask--'Dost thou not think it was some disgrace to him +when he could not get back his goods, though he set the suit on foot?' + +"'I can answer thee that well enough,' thou must say, 'Thou challengedst +him to single combat; but he was old, and so his friends advised him not +to fight with thee, and then they let the suit fall to the ground.' + +"'True enough," Hrut will say. 'I said so, and that passed for law among +foolish men; but the suit might have been taken up again at another +Thing if he had the heart.' + +"'I know all that,' thou must say. + +"Then he will ask--'Dost thou know anything about law?" + +"'Up in the North I am thought to know something about it,' thou shalt +say. 'But still I should like thee to tell me how this suit should be +taken up.' + +"'What suit dost thou mean?' he will ask. + +"'A suit,' thou must answer, 'which does not concern me. I want to know +how a man must set to work who wishes to get back Unna's dower.' + +"Then Hrut will say--'In this suit I must be summoned so that I can hear +the summons, or I must be summoned here in my lawful house'. + +"'Recite the summons, then,' thou must say, and I will say it after +thee.' + +"Then Hrut will summon himself; and mind and pay great heed to every +word he says. After that Hrut will bid thee repeat the summons, and thou +must do so, and say it all wrong, so that no more than every other word +is right. + +"Then Hrut will smile and not mistrust thee, but say that scarce a word +is right. Thou must throw the blame on thy companions, and say they put +thee out, and then thou must ask him to say the words first, word by +word, and to let thee say the words after him. He will give thee leave, +and summon himself in the suit, and thou shalt summon after him there +and then, and this time say every word right. When it is done, ask Hrut +if that were rightly summoned, and he will answer 'there is no flaw to +be found in it'. Then thou shalt say in a loud voice, so that thy +companions may hear-- + +"'I summon thee in the suit which Unna Mord's daughter has made over to +me with her plighted hand.' + +"But when men are sound asleep, you shall rise and take your bridles and +saddles, and tread softly, and go out of the house, and put your saddles +on your fat horses in the fields, and so ride off on them, but leave the +others behind you. You must ride up into the hills away from the home +pastures and stay there three nights, for about so long will they seek +you. After that ride home south, riding always by night and resting by +day. As for us we will then ride this summer to the Thing, and help thee +in thy suit." So Gunnar thanked Njal, and first of all rode home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +HUCKSTER HEDINN. + + +Gunnar rode from home two nights afterwards, and two men with him; they +rode along until they got on Bluewoodheath, and then men on horseback +met them and asked who that tall man might be of whom so little was +seen. But his companions said it was Huckster Hedinn. Then the others +said a worse was not to be looked for behind, when such a man as he went +before. Hedinn at once made as though he would have set upon them, but +yet each went their way. So Gunnar went on doing everything as Njal had +laid it down for him, and when he came to Hauskuldstede he stayed there +the night, and thence he went down the dale till he came to the next +farm to Hrutstede. There he offered his wares for sale, and Hedinn fell +at once upon the farmer. This was told to Hrut, and he sent for Hedinn, +and Hedinn went at once to see Hrut, and had a good welcome. Hrut seated +him over against himself, and their talk went pretty much as Njal had +guessed; but when they came to talk of Rangrivervale, and Hrut asked +about the men there, Gunnar sung this stave-- + + Men in sooth are slow to find,-- + So the people speak by stealth, + Often this hath reached my ears,-- + All through Rangar's rolling vales. + Still I trow that Fiddle Mord, + Tried his hand in fight of yore; + Sure was never gold-bestower, + Such a man for might and wit. + +Then Hrut said, "Thou art a skald, Hedinn. But hast thou never heard how +things went between me and Mord?" Then Hedinn sung another stave-- + + Once I ween I heard the rumour, + How the Lord of rings[8] bereft thee; + From thine arms earth's offspring[9] tearing, + Trickful he and trustful thou. + Then the men, the buckler-bearers, + Begged the mighty gold-begetter, + Sharp sword oft of old he reddened, + Not to stand in strife with thee. + +So they went on, till Hrut, in answer told him how the suit must be +taken up, and recited the summons. Hedinn repeated it all wrong, and +Hrut burst out laughing, and had no mistrust. Then he said, Hrut must +summon once more, and Hrut did so. Then Hedinn repeated the summons a +second time, and this time right, and called his companions to witness +how he summoned Hrut in a suit which Unna Mord's daughter had made over +to him with her plighted hand. At night he went to sleep like other men, +but as soon as ever Hrut was sound asleep, they took their clothes and +arms, and went out and came to their horses, and rode off across the +river, and so up along the bank by Hiardarholt till the dale broke off +among the hills, and so there they are upon the fells between +Laxriverdale and Hawkdale, having got to a spot where no one could find +them unless he had fallen on them by chance. + +Hauskuld wakes up that night at Hauskuldstede, and roused all his +household, "I will tell you my dream," he said. "I thought I saw a great +bear go out of this house, and I knew at once this beast's match was not +to be found; two cubs followed him, wishing well to the bear, and they +all made for Hrutstede, and went into the house there. After that I +woke. Now I wish to ask if any of you saw aught about yon tall man." + +Then one man answered him--"I saw how a golden fringe and a bit of +scarlet cloth peeped out at his arm, and on his right arm he had a ring +of gold". + +Hauskuld said--"This beast is no man's fetch, but Gunnar's of Lithend, +and now methinks I see all about it. Up! let us ride to Hrutstede." And +they did so. Hrut lay in his locked bed, and asks who have come there? +Hauskuld tells who he is, and asked what guests might be there in the +house. + +"Only Huckster Hedinn is here," says Hrut. + +"A broader man across the back, it will be, I fear," says Hauskuld, "I +guess here must have been Gunnar of Lithend." + +"Then there has been a pretty trial of cunning," says Hrut. + +"What has happened?" says Hauskuld. + +"I told him how to take up Unna's suit, and I summoned myself and he +summoned after, and now he can use this first step in the suit, and it +is right in law." + +"There has, indeed, been a great falling off of wit on one side," said +Hauskuld, "and Gunnar cannot have planned it all by himself; Njal must +be at the bottom of this plot, for there is not his match for wit in all +the land." + +Now they look for Hedinn, but he is already off and away; after that +they gathered folk, and looked for them three days, but could not find +them. Gunnar rode south from the fell to Hawkdale and so east of Skard, +and north to Holtbeaconheath, and so on until he got home. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +GUNNAR AND HRUT STRIVE AT THE THING. + + +Gunnar rode to the Althing, and Hrut and Hauskuld rode thither too with +a very great company. Gunnar pursues his suit, and began by calling on +his neighbours to bear witness, but Hrut and his brother had it in their +minds to make an onslaught on him, but they mistrusted their strength. + +Gunnar next went to the court of the men of Broadfirth, and bade Hrut +listen to his oath and declaration of the cause of the suit, and to all +the proofs which he was about to bring forward. After that he took his +oath, and declared his case. After that he brought forward his witnesses +of the summons, along with his witnesses that the suit had been handed +over to him. All this time Njal was not at the court. Now Gunnar pursued +his suit till he called on the defendant to reply. Then Hrut took +witness, and said the suit was naught, and that there was a flaw in the +pleading; he declared that it had broken down because Gunnar had failed +to call those three witnesses which ought to have been brought before +the court. The first, that which was taken before the marriage-bed, the +second, before the man's door, the third, at the Hill of Laws. By this +time Njal was come to the court and said the suit and pleading might +still he kept alive if they chose to strive in that way. + +"No," says Gunnar, "I will not have that; I will do the same to Hrut as +he did to Mord my kinsman;--or, are those brothers Hrut and Hauskuld so +near that they may hear my voice?" + +"Hear it we can," says Hrut. "What dost thou wish?" + +Gunnar said--"Now all men here present be ear-witnesses, that I +challenge thee Hrut to single combat, and we shall fight to-day on the +holm, which is here in Axewater. But if thou wilt not fight with me, +then pay up all the money this very day." + +After that Gunnar sung a stave-- + + Yes, so must it be, this morning-- + Now my mind is full of fire-- + Hrut with me on yonder island + Raises roar of helm and shield. + All that hear my words bear witness, + Warriors grasping Woden's guard, + Unless the wealthy wight down payeth + Dower of wife with flowing veil. + +After that Gunnar went away from the court with all his followers. Hrut +and Hauskuld went home too, and the suit was never pursued nor defended +from that day forth. Hrut said, as soon as he got inside the booth, +"This has never happened to me before, that any man has offered me +combat and I have shunned it". + +"Then thou must mean to fight," says Hauskuld, "but that shall not be if +I have my way; for thou comest no nearer to Gunnar than Mord would have +come to thee, and we had better both of us pay up the money to Gunnar." + +After that the brothers asked the householders of their own country what +they would lay down, and they one and all said they would lay down as +much as Hrut wished. + +"Let us go then," says Hauskuld, "to Gunner's booth, and pay down the +money out of hand." That was told to Gunnar, and he went out into the +doorway of the booth, and Hauskuld said-- + +"Now it is thine to take the money." + +Gunnar said-- + +"Pay it down, then, for I am ready to take it." + +So they paid down the money truly out of hand, and then Hauskuld +said--"Enjoy it now, as thou hast gotten it". Then Gunnar sang another +stave-- + + Men who wield the blade of battle + Hoarded wealth may well enjoy, + Guileless gotten this at least, + Golden meed I fearless take; + But if we for woman's quarrel, + Warriors born to brandish sword, + Glut the wolf with manly gore, + Worse the lot of both would be. + +Hrut answered--"Ill will be thy meed for this". + +"Be that as it may," says Gunnar. + +Then Hauskuld and his brother went home to their booth, and he had much +upon his mind, and said to Hrut-- + +"Will this unfairness of Gunnar's never be avenged?" + +"Not so," says Hrut; "'twill be avenged on him sure enough, but we shall +have no share nor profit in that vengeance. And after all it is most +likely that he will turn to our stock to seek for friends." + +After that they left off speaking of the matter. Gunnar showed Njal the +money, and he said--"The suit has gone off well". + +"Ay," says Gunnar, "but it was all thy doing." + +Now men rode home from the Thing, and Gunnar got very great honour from +the suit. Gunnar handed over all the money to Unna, and would have none +of it, but said he thought he ought to look for more help from her and +her kin hereafter than from other men. She said, so it should be. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +UNNA'S SECOND WEDDING. + + +There was a man named Valgard, he kept house at Hof by Rangriver, he was +the son of Jorund the Priest, and his brother was Wolf Aurpriest. Those +brothers. Wolf Aurpriest, and Valgard the guileful, set off to woo Unna, +and she gave herself away to Valgard without the advice of any of her +kinsfolk. But Gunnar and Njal, and many others thought ill of that, for +he was a cross-grained man and had few friends. They begot between them +a son, whose name was Mord, and he is long in this story. When he was +grown to man's estate, he worked ill to his kinsfolk, but worst of all +to Gunnar. He was a crafty man in his temper, but spiteful in his +counsels. + +Now we will name Njal's sons. Skarphedinn was the eldest of them. He was +a tall man in growth and strong withal; a good swordsman; he could swim +like a seal, the swiftest-footed of men, and bold and dauntless; he had +a great flow of words and quick utterance; a good skald too; but still +for the most part he kept himself well in hand; his hair was dark brown, +with crisp curly locks; he had good eyes; his features were sharp, and +his face ashen pale, his nose turned up and his front teeth stuck out, +and his mouth was very ugly. Still he was the most soldier-like of men. + +Grim was the name of Njal's second son. He was fair of face and wore his +hair long. His hair was dark, and he was comelier to look on than +Skarphedinn. A tall strong man. + +Helgi was the name of Njal's third son. He too was fair of face and had +fine hair. He was a strong man and well-skilled in arms. He was a man of +sense and knew well how to behave. They were all unwedded at that time, +Njal's sons. + +Hauskuld was the fourth of Njal's sons. He was base-born. His mother was +Rodny, and she was Hauskuld's daughter, the sister of Ingialld of the +Springs. + +Njal asked Skarphedinn one day if he would take to himself a wife. He +bade his father settle the matter. Then Njal asked for his hand +Thorhilda, the daughter of Ranvir of Thorolfsfell, and that was why they +had another homestead there after that. Skarphedinn got Thorhilda, but +he stayed still with his father to the end. Grim wooed Astrid of +Deepback; she was a widow and very wealthy. Grim got her to wife, and +yet lived on with Njal. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +OF ASGRIM AND HIS CHILDREN. + + +There was a man named Asgrim. He was Ellidagrim's son. The brother of +Asgrim Ellidagrim's son was Sigfus. + +Asgrim had two sons, and both of them were named Thorhall. They were +both hopeful men. Grim was the name of another of Asgrim's sons, and +Thorhalla was his daughter's name. She was the fairest of women, and +well behaved. + +Njal came to talk with his son Helgi, and said, "I have thought of a +match for thee, if thou wilt follow my advice". + +"That I will surely," says he, "for I know that thou both meanest me +well, and canst do well for me; but whither hast thou turned thine +eyes?" + +"We will go and woo Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's daughter, for that is the +best choice we can make." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +HELGI NJAL'S SON'S WOOING. + + +A little after they rode out across Thurso water, and fared till they +came into Tongue. Asgrim was at home, and gave them a hearty welcome; +and they were there that night. Next morning they began to talk, and +then Njal raised the question of the wooing, and asked for Thorhalla for +his son Helgi's hand. Asgrim answered that well, and said there were no +men with whom he would be more willing to make this bargain than with +them. They fell a-talking then about terms, and the end of it was that +Asgrim betrothed his daughter to Helgi, and the bridal day was named. +Gunnar was at that feast, and many other of the best men. After the +feast Njal offered to foster in his house Thorhall, Asgrim's son, and he +was with Njal long after. He loved Njal more than his own father. Njal +taught him law, so that he became the greatest lawyer in Iceland in +those days. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +HALLVARD COMES OUT TO ICELAND. + + +There came a ship out from Norway, and ran into Arnbael's Oyce,[10] and +the master of the ship was Hallvard, the white, a man from the Bay.[11] +He went to stay at Lithend, and was with Gunnar that winter, and was +always asking him to fare abroad with him. Gunnar spoke little about it, +but yet said more unlikely things might happen; and about spring he went +over to Bergthorsknoll to find out from Njal whether he thought it a +wise step in him to go abroad. + +"I think it is wise," says Njal; "they will think thee there an +honourable man, as thou art." + +"Wilt thou perhaps take my goods into thy keeping while I am away, for I +wish my brother Kolskegg to fare with me; but I would that thou shouldst +see after my household along with my mother." + +"I will not throw anything in the way of that," says Njal; "lean on me +in this thing as much as thou likest." + +"Good go with thee for thy words," says Gunnar, and he rides then home. + +The Easterling [the Norseman Hallvard] fell again to talk with Gunnar +that he should fare abroad. Gunnar asked if he had ever sailed to other +lands? He said he had sailed to every one of them that lay between +Norway and Russia, and so, too, I have sailed to Biarmaland.[12] + +"Wilt thou sail with me eastward ho?" says Gunnar. + +"That I will of a surety," says he. + +Then Gunnar made up his mind to sail abroad with him. Njal took all +Gunnar's goods into his keeping. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +GUNNAR GOES ABROAD. + + +So Gunnar fared abroad, and Kolskegg with him. They sailed first to +Toensberg,[13] and were there that winter. There had then been a shift of +rulers in Norway, Harold Grayfell was then dead, and so was Gunnhillda. +Earl Hacon the Bad, Sigurd's son, Hacon's son, Gritgarth's son, then +ruled the realm. The mother of Hacon was Bergliot, the daughter of Earl +Thorir. Her mother was Olof harvest-heal. She was Harold Fair-hair's +daughter. + +Hallvard asks Gunnar if he would make up his mind to go to Earl Hacon? + +"No; I will not do that," says Gunnar. "Hast thou ever a long-ship?" + +"I have two," he says. + +"Then I would that we two went on warfare; and let us get men to go with +us." + +"I will do that," says Hallvard. + +After that they went to the Bay, and took with them two ships, and +fitted them out thence. They had good choice of men, for much praise was +said of Gunnar. + +"Whither wilt thou first fare?" says Gunnar. + +"I wish to go south-east to Hisingen, to see my kinsman Oliver," says +Hallvard. + +"What dost thou want of him?" says Gunnar. + +He answered--"He is a fine brave fellow, and he will be sure to get us +some more strength for our voyage". + +"Then let us go thither," says Gunnar. + +So, as soon as they were "boun," they held on east to Hisingen, and had +there a hearty welcome. Gunnar had only been there a short time ere +Oliver made much of him. Oliver asks about his voyage, and Hallvard says +that Gunnar wishes to go a-warfaring to gather goods for himself. + +"There's no use thinking of that," says Oliver, "when ye have no force." + +"Well," says Hallvard, "then you may add to it." + +"So I do mean to strengthen Gunnar somewhat," says Oliver; "and though +thou reckonest thyself my kith and kin, I think there is more good in +him." + +"What force, now, wilt thou add to ours?" he asks. + +"Two long-ships, one with twenty, and the other with thirty seats for +rowers." + +"Who shall man them?" asks Hallvard. + +"I will man one of them with my own house-carles, and the freemen around +shall man the other. But still I have found out that strife has come +into the river, and I know not whether ye two will be able to get away; +for _they_ are in the river." + +"Who?" says Hallvard. + +"Brothers twain," says Oliver; "one's name is Vandil and the other's +Karli, sons of Sjolf the Old, east away out of Gothland." + +Hallvard told Gunnar that Oliver had added some ships to theirs, and +Gunnar was glad at that. They busked them for their voyage thence, till +they were "all-boun". Then Gunnar and Hallvard went before Oliver, and +thanked him; he bade them fare warily for the sake of those brothers. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +GUNNAR GOES A-SEA-ROVING. + + +So Gunnar held on out of the river, and he and Kolskegg were both on +board one ship. But Hallvard was on board another. Now, they see the +ships before them, and then Gunnar spoke, and said-- + +"Let us be ready for anything if they turn towards us! but else let us +have nothing to do with them." + +So they did that, and made all ready on board their ships. The others +patted their ships asunder, and made a fareway between the ships. Gunnar +fared straight on between the ships, but Vandil caught up a +grappling-iron, and cast it between their ships and Gunnar's ship, and +began at once to drag it towards him. + +Oliver had given Gunnar a good sword; Gunnar now drew it, and had not +yet put on his helm. He leapt at once on the forecastle of Vandil's +ship, and gave one man his death-blow. Karli ran his ship alongside the +other side of Gunnar's ship, and hurled a spear athwart the deck, and +aimed at him about the waist. Gunnar sees this, and turned him about so +quickly, that no eye could follow him, and caught the spear with his +left hand, and hurled it back at Karli's ship, and that man got his +death who stood before it. Kolskegg snatched up a grapnel and casts it +at Karli's ship, and the fluke fell inside the hold, and went out +through one of the planks, and in rushed the coal-blue sea, and all the +men sprang on board other ships. + +Now Gunnar leapt back to his own ship, and then Hallvard came up, and +now a great battle arose. They saw now that their leader was +unflinching, and every man did as well as he could. Sometimes Gunnar +smote with the sword, and sometimes he hurled the spear, and many a man +had his bane at his hand. Kolskegg backed him well. As for Karli, he +hastened in a ship to his brother Vandil, and thence they fought that +day. During the day Kolskegg took a rest on Gunnar's ship, and Gunnar +sees that. Then he sung a song-- + + For the eagle ravine-eager, + Raven of my race, to-day + Better surely hast thou catered, + Lord of gold, than for thyself; + Here the morn come greedy ravens, + Many a rill of wolf[14] to sup, + But thee burning thirst down-beareth, + Prince of battle's Parliament! + +After that Kolskegg took a beaker full of mead, and drank it off and +went on fighting afterwards; and so it came about that those brothers +sprang up on the ship of Vandil and his brother, and Kolskegg went on +one side, and Gunnar on the other. Against Gunnar came Vandil, and smote +at once at him with his sword, and the blow fell on his shield. Gunnar +gave the shield a twist as the sword pierced it, and broke it short off +at the hilt. Then Gunnar smote back at Vandil, and three swords seemed +to be aloft, and Vandil could not see how to shun the blow. Then Gunnar +cut both his legs from under him, and at the same time Kolskegg ran +Karli through with a spear. After that they took great war spoil. + +Thence they held on south to Denmark, and thence east to Smoland,[15] +and had victory wherever they went. They did not come back in autumn. +The next summer they held on to Reval, and fell in there with +sea-rovers, and fought at once, and won the fight. After that they +steered east to Osel,[16] and lay there somewhile under a ness. There +they saw a man coming down from the ness above them; Gunnar went on +shore to meet the man, and they had a talk. Gunnar asked him his name, +and he said it was Tofi. Gunnar asked again what he wanted. + +"Thee I want to see," says the man. "Two warships lie on the other side +under the ness, and I will tell thee who command them: two brothers are +the captains--one's name is Hallgrim, and the other's Kolskegg. I know +them to be mighty men of war; and I know too that they have such good +weapons that the like are not to be had. Hallgrim has a bill which he +had made by seething-spells; and this is what the spells say, that no +weapon shall give him his death-blow save that bill. That thing follows +it too that it is known at once when a man is to be slain with that +bill, for something sings in it so loudly that it may be heard a long +way off--such a strong nature has that bill in it." + +Then Gunnar sang a song-- + + Soon shall I that spearhead seize, + And the bold sea-rover slay, + Him whose blows on headpiece ring, + Heaper up of piles of dead. + Then on Endil's courser[17] bounding, + O'er the sea-depths I will ride, + While the wretch who spells abuseth, + Life shall lose in Sigar's storm.[18] + +"Kolskegg has a short sword; that is also the best of weapons. Force, +too, they have--a third more than ye. They have also much goods, and +have stowed them away on land, and I know clearly where they are. But +they have sent a spy-ship off the ness, and they know all about you. Now +they are getting themselves ready as fast as they can; and as soon as +they are 'boun,' they mean to run out against you. Now you have either +to row away at once, or to busk yourselves as quickly as ye can; but if +ye win the day, then I will lead you to all their store of goods." + +Gunnar gave him a golden finger-ring, and went afterwards to his men and +told them that war-ships lay on the other side of the ness, "and they +know all about us; so let us take to our arms, and busk us well, for now +there is gain to be got". + +Then they busked them; and just when they were boun they see ships +coming up to them. And now a fight sprung up between them, and they +fought long, and many men fell. Gunnar slew many a man. Hallgrim and his +men leapt on board Gunnar's ship, Gunnar turns to meet him, and Hallgrim +thrust at him with his bill. There was a boom athwart the ship, and +Gunnar leapt nimbly back over it, Gunnar's shield was just before the +boom, and Hallgrim thrust his bill into it, and through it, and so on +into the boom. Gunnar cut at Hallgrim's arm hard, and lamed the forearm, +but the sword would not bite. Then down fell the bill, and Gunnar seized +the bill, and thrust Hallgrim through, and then sang a song-- + + Slain is he who spoiled the people, + Lashing them with flashing steel: + Heard have I how Hallgrim's magic + Helm-rod forged in foreign land; + All men know, of heart-strings doughty, + How this bill hath come to me, + Deft in fight, the wolf's dear feeder. + Death alone us two shall part. + +And that vow Gunnar kept, in that he bore the bill while he lived. Those +namesakes [the two Kolskeggs] fought together, and it was a near thing +which would get the better of it. Then Gunnar came up, and gave the +other Kolskegg his death-blow. After that the sea-rovers begged for +mercy. Gunnar let them have that choice, and he let them also count the +slain, and take the goods which the dead men owned, but he gave the +others whom he spared their arms and their clothing, and bade them be +off to the lands that fostered them. So they went off and Gunnar took +all the goods that were left behind. + +Tofi came to Gunnar after the battle, and offered to lead him to that +store of goods which the sea-rovers had stowed away, and said that it +was both better and larger than that which they had already got. + +Gunnar said he was willing to go, and so he went ashore, and Tofi before +him, to a wood, and Gunnar behind him. They came to a place where a +great heap of wood was piled together. Tofi says the goods were under +there, then they tossed off the wood, and found under it both gold and +silver, clothes and good weapons. They bore those goods to the ships, +and Gunnar asks Tofi in what way he wished him to repay him. + +Tofi answered, "I am a Dansk man by race, and I wish thou wouldst bring +me to my kinsfolk". + +Gunnar asks why he was there away east? + +"I was taken by sea-rovers," says Tofi, "and they put me on land here in +Osel, and here I have been ever since." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +GUNNAR GOES TO KING HAROLD GORM'S SON AND EARL HACON. + + +Gunnar took Tofi on board, and said to Kolskegg and Hallvard, "Now we +will hold our course for the north lands". + +They were well pleased at that, and bade him have his way. So Gunnar +sailed from the east with much goods. He had ten ships, and ran in with +them to Heidarby in Denmark. King Harold Gorm's son was there up the +country, and he was told about Gunnar, and how too that there was no man +his match in all Iceland. He sent men to him to ask him to come to him, +and Gunnar went at once to see the king, and the king made him a hearty +welcome, and sat him down next to himself. Gunnar was there half a +month. The king made himself sport by letting Gunnar prove himself in +divers feats of strength against his men, and there were none that were +his match even in one feat. + +Then the king said to Gunnar, "It seems to me as though thy peer is not +to be found far or near," and the king offered to get Gunnar a wife, and +to raise him to great power if he would settle down there. + +Gunnar thanked the king for his offer and said--"I will first of all +sail back to Iceland to see my friends and kinsfolk". + +"Then thou wilt never come back to us," says the king. + +"Fate will settle that, lord," says Gunnar. + +Gunnar gave the king a good long-ship, and much goods besides, and the +king gave him a robe of honour, and golden-seamed gloves, and a fillet +with a knot of gold on it, and a Russian hat. + +Then Gunnar fared north to Hisingen. Oliver welcomed him with both +hands, and he gave back to Oliver his ships, with their lading, and said +that was his share of the spoil. Oliver took the goods, and said Gunnar +was a good man and true, and bade him stay with him some while. Hallvard +asked Gunnar if he had a mind to go to see Earl Hacon. Gunnar said that +was near his heart, "for now I am somewhat proved, but then I was not +tried at all when thou badest me do this before". + +After that they fared north to Drontheim to see Earl Hacon, and he gave +Gunnar a hearty welcome, and bade him stay with him that winter, and +Gunnar took that offer, and every man thought him a man of great worth. +At Yule the Earl gave him a gold ring. + +Gunnar set his heart on Bergliota, the Earl's kinswoman, and it was +often to be seen from the Earl's way, that he would have given her to +him to wife if Gunnar had said anything about that. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +GUNNAR COMES OUT TO ICELAND. + + +When the spring came, the Earl asks Gunnar what course he meant to take. +He said he would go to Iceland. The Earl said that had been a bad year +for grain, "and there will be little sailing out to Iceland, but still +thou shalt have meal and timber both in thy ship". + +Gunnar fitted out his ship as early as he could, and Hallvard fared out +with him and Kolskegg. They came out early in the summer, and made +Arnbael's Oyce before the Thing met. + +Gunnar rode home from the ship, but got men to strip her and lay her up. +But when they came home all men were glad to see them. They were blithe +and merry to their household, nor had their haughtiness grown while they +were away. + +Gunnar asks if Njal were at home; and he was told that he was at home; +then he let them saddle his horse, and those brothers rode over to +Bergthorsknoll. + +Njal was glad at their coming, and begged them to stay there that night, +and Gunnar told him of his voyages. + +Njal said he was a man of the greatest mark, "and thou hast been much +proved; but still thou wilt be more tried hereafter; for many will envy +thee". + +"With all men I would wish to stand well," says Gunnar. + +"Much bad will happen," says Njal, "and thou wilt always have some +quarrel to ward off." + +"So be it, then," says Gunnar, "so that I have a good ground on my +side." + +"So will it be too," says Njal, "if thou hast not to smart for others." + +Njal asked Gunnar if he would ride to the Thing. Gunnar said he was +going to ride thither, and asks Njal whether he were going to ride; but +he said he would not ride thither, "and if I had my will thou wouldst do +the like". + +Gunnar rode home, and gave Njal good gifts, and thanked him for the care +he had taken of his goods, Kolskegg urged him on much to ride to the +Thing, saying, "There thy honour will grow, for many will flock to see +thee there". + +"That has been little to my mind," says Gunnar, "to make a show of +myself; but I think it good and right to meet good and worthy men." + +Hallvard by this time was also come thither, and offered to ride to the +Thing with them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +GUNNAR'S WOOING. + + +So Gunnar rode, and they all rode. But when they came to the Thing they +were so well arrayed that none could match them in bravery; and men came +out of every booth to wonder at them. Gunnar rode to the booths of the +men of Rangriver, and was there with his kinsmen. Many men came to see +Gunnar, and ask tidings of him; and he was easy and merry to all men, +and told them all they wished to hear. + +It happened one day that Gunnar went away from the Hill of Laws, and +passed by the booths of the men from Mossfell; then he saw a woman +coming to meet him, and she was in goodly attire; but when they met she +spoke to Gunnar at once. He took her greeting well, and asks what woman +she might be. She told him her name was Hallgerda, and said she was +Hauskuld's daughter, Dalakoll's son. She spoke up boldly to him, and +bade him tell her of his voyages; but he said he would not gainsay her a +talk. Then they sat them down and talked. She was so clad that she had +on a red kirtle, and had thrown over her a scarlet cloak trimmed with +needlework down to the waist. Her hair came down to her bosom, and was +both fair and full. Gunnar was clad in the scarlet clothes which King +Harold Gorm's son had given him; he had also the gold ring on his arm +which Earl Hacon had given him. + +So they talked long out loud, and at last it came about that he asked +whether she were unmarried. She said, so it was, "and there are not many +who would run the risk of that". + +"Thinkest thou none good enough for thee?" + +"Not that," she says, "but I am said to be hard to please in husbands." + +"How wouldst thou answer were I to ask for thee?" + +"That can not be in thy mind," she says. + +"It is though," says he. + +"If thou hast any mind that way, go and see my father." + +After that they broke off their talk. + +Gunnar went straightway to the Dalesmen's booths, and met a man outside +the doorway, and asks whether Hauskuld were inside the booth? + +The man says that he was. Then Gunnar went in, and Hauskuld and Hrut +made him welcome. He sat down between them, and no one could find out +from their talk that there had ever been any misunderstanding between +them. At last Gunnar's speech turned thither; how these brothers would +answer if he asked for Hallgerda? + +"Well," says Hauskuld, "if that is indeed thy mind." + +Gunnar says that he is in earnest, "but we so parted last time, that +many would think it unlikely that we should ever be bound together". + +"How thinkest thou, kinsman Hrut?" says Hauskuld. + +Hrut answered, "Methinks this is no even match". + +"How dost thou make that out?" says Gunnar. + +Hrut spoke--"In this wise will I answer thee about this matter, as is +the very truth. Thou art a brisk brave man, well to do, and unblemished; +but she is much mixed up with ill report, and I will not cheat thee in +anything." + +"Good go with thee for thy words," says Gunnar, "but still I shall hold +that for true, that the old feud weighs with ye, if ye will not let me +make this match." + +"Not so," says Hrut, "'tis more because I see that thou art unable to +help thyself; but though we make no bargain, we would still be thy +friends." + +"I have talked to her about it," says Gunnar, "and it is not far from +her mind." + +Hrut says--"I know that you have both set your hearts on this match; +and, besides, ye two are those who run the most risk as to how it turns +out". + +Hrut told Gunnar unasked all about Hallgerda's temper, and Gunnar at +first thought that there was more than enough that was wanting; but at +last it came about that they struck a bargain. + +Then Hallgerda was sent for, and they talked over the business when she +was by, and now, as before, they made her betroth herself. The bridal +feast was to be at Lithend, and at first they were to set about it +secretly; but the end after all was that every one knew of it. + +Gunnar rode home from the Thing, and came to Bergthorsknoll, and told +Njal of the bargain he had made. He took it heavily. + +Gunnar asks Njal why he thought this so unwise? + +"Because from her," says Njal, "will arise all kind of ill if she comes +hither east." + +"Never shall she spoil our friendship," says Gunnar. + +"Ah! but yet that may come very near," says Njal; "and, besides, thou +wilt have always to make atonement for her." + +Gunnar asked Njal to the wedding, and all those as well whom he wished +should be at it from Njal's house. + +Njal promised to go; and after that Gunnar rode home, and then rode +about the district to bid men to his wedding. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +OF THRAIN SIGFUS' SON. + + +There was a man named Thrain, he was the son of Sigfus, the son of +Sighvat the Red. He kept house at Gritwater on Fleetlithe. He was +Gunnar's kinsman, and a man of great mark. He had to wife Thorhilda +Skaldwife; she had a sharp tongue of her own, and was giving to jeering. +Thrain loved her little. He and his wife were bidden to the wedding, and +she and Bergthora, Skarphedinn's daughter, Njal's wife, waited on the +guests with meat and drink. + +Kettle was the name of the second son of Sigfus; he kept house in the +Mark, east of Markfleet. He had to wife Thorgerda, Njal's daughter. +Thorkell was the name of the third son of Sigfus; the fourth's name was +Mord; the fifth's Lambi; the sixth's Sigmund; the seventh's Sigurd. +These were all Gunnar's kinsmen, and great champions. Gunnar bade them +all to the wedding. + +Gunnar had also bidden Valgard the guileful, and Wolf Aurpriest, and +their sons Runolf and Mord. + +Hauskuld and Hrut came to the wedding with a very great company, and the +sons of Hauskuld, Torleik, and Olof, were there; the bride, too, came +along with them, and her daughter Thorgerda came also, and she was one +of the fairest of women; she was then fourteen winters old. Many other +women were with her, and besides there were Thorkatla Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son's daughter, and Njal's two daughters, Thorgerda and +Helga. + +Gunnar had already many guests to meet them, and he thus arranged his +men. He sat on the middle of the bench, and on the inside, away from +him, Thrain Sigfus' son, then Wolf Aurpriest, then Valgard the guileful, +then Mord and Runolf, then the other sons of Sigfus, Lambi sat outermost +of them. + +Next to Gunnar on the outside, away from him, sat Njal, then +Skarphedinn, then Helgi, then Grim, then Hauskuld Njal's son, then Hafr +the Wise, then Ingialld from the Springs, then the sons of Thorir from +Holt away east. Thorir would sit outermost of the men of mark, for every +one was pleased with the seat he got. + +Hauskuld, the bride's father, sat on the middle of the bench over +against Gunnar, but his sons sat on the inside away from him; Hrut sat +on the outside away from Hauskuld, but it is not said how the others +were placed. The bride sat in the middle of the cross-bench on the dais; +but on one hand of her sat her daughter Thorgerda, and on the other +Thorkatla Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's daughter. + +Thorhillda went about waiting on the guests, and Bergthora bore the meat +on the board. + +Now Thrain Sigfus' son kept staring at Thorgerda Glum's daughter; his +wife Thorhillda saw this, and she got wroth, and made a couplet upon +him. + +"Thrain," she says, + + "Gaping mouths are no wise good, + Goggle eyne are in thy head," + +He rose at once up from the board, and said he would put Thorhillda +away, "I will not bear her jibes and jeers any longer;" and he was so +quarrelsome about this, that he would not be at the feast unless she +were driven away. And so it was, that she went away; and now each man +sat in his place, and they drank and were glad. + +Then Thrain began to speak--"I will not whisper about that which is in +my mind. This I will ask thee, Hauskuld Dalakoll's son, wilt thou give +me to wife Thorgerda, thy kinswoman?" + +"I do not know that," says Hauskuld; "methinks thou art ill parted from +the one thou hadst before. But what kind of man is he, Gunnar?" + +Gunnar answers--"I will not say aught about the man, because he is near +of kin; but say thou about him, Njal," says Gunnar, "for all men will +believe it". + +Njal spoke, and said--"That is to be said of this man, that the man is +well to do for wealth, and a proper man in all things. A man, too, of +the greatest mark; so that ye may well make this match with him." + +Then Hauskuld spoke--"What thinkest thou we ought to do, kinsman Hrut?" + +"Thou mayst make the match, because it is an even one for her," says +Hrut. + +Then they talk about the terms of the bargain, and are soon of one mind +on all points. + +Then Gunnar stands up, and Thrain too, and they go to the cross-bench. +Gunnar asked that mother and daughter whether they would say yes to this +bargain. They said they would find no fault with it, and Hallgerda +betrothed her daughter. Then the places of the women were shifted again, +and now Thorhalla sate between the brides. And now the feast sped on +well, and when it was over, Hauskuld and his company ride west, but the +men of Rangriver rode to their own abode. Gunnar gave many men gifts, +and that made him much liked. + +Hallgerda took the housekeeping under her, and stood up for her rights +in word and deed. Thorgerda took to housekeeping at Gritwater, and was a +good housewife. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE VISIT TO BERGTHORSKNOLL. + + +Now it was the custom between Gunnar and Njal, that each made the other +a feast, winter and winter about, for friendship's sake; and it was +Gunnar's turn to go to feast at Njal's. So Gunnar and Hallgerda set off +for Bergthorsknoll, and when they got there Helgi and his wife were not +at home. Njal gave Gunnar and his wife a hearty welcome, and when they +had been there a little while, Helgi came home with Thorhalla his wife. +Then Bergthora went up to the cross-bench, and Thorhalla with her, and +Bergthora said to Hallgerda-- + +"Thou shalt give place to this woman." + +She answered--"To no one will I give place, for I will not be driven +into the corner for any one". + +"I shall rule here," said Bergthora, After that Thorhalla sat down, and +Bergthora went round the table with water to wash the guests' hands. +Then Hallgerda took hold of Bergthora's hand, and said-- + +"There's not much to choose, though, between you two. Thou hast +hangnails on every finger, and Njal is beardless." + +"That's true," says Bergthora, "yet neither of us finds fault with the +other for it; but Thorwald, thy husband, was not beardless, and yet thou +plottedst his death." + +Then Hallgerda said--"It stands me in little stead to have the bravest +man in Iceland if thou dost not avenge this, Gunnar!" + +He sprang up and strode across away from the board, and said--"Home I +will go, and it were more seemly that thou shouldest wrangle with those +of thine own household, and not under other men's roofs; but as for +Njal, I am his debtor for much honour, and never will I be egged on by +thee like a fool". + +After that they set off home. + +"Mind this, Bergthora," said Hallgerda, "that we shall meet again." + +Bergthora said she should not be better off for that. Gunnar said +nothing at all, but went home to Lithend, and was there at home all the +winter. And now the summer was running on towards the Great Thing. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +KOL SLEW SWART. + + +Gunnar rode away to the Thing, but before he rode from home he said to +Hallgerda--"Be good now while I am away, and show none of thine ill +temper in anything with which my friends have to do". + +"The trolls take thy friends," says Hallgerda. + +So Gunnar rode to the Thing, and saw it was not good to come to words +with her. Njal rode to the Thing too, and all his sons with him. + +Now it must be told of what tidings happened at home. Njal and Gunnar +owned a wood in common at Redslip; they had not shared the wood, but +each was wont to hew in it as he needed, and neither said a word to the +other about that. Hallgerda's grieve's[19] name was Kol; he had been +with her long, and was one of the worst of men. There was a man named +Swart; he was Njal's and Bergthora's house-carle; they were very fond of +him. Now Bergthora told him that he must go up into Redslip and hew +wood; but she said--"I will get men to draw home the wood". + +He said he would do the work She set him to win; and so he went up into +Redslip, and was to be there a week. + +Some gangrel men came to Lithend from the east across Markfleet, and +said that Swart had been in Redslip, and hewn wood, and done a deal of +work. + +"So," says Hallgerda, "Bergthora must mean to rob me in many things, but +I'll take care that he does not hew again." + +Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, heard that, and said--"There have been good +housewives before now, though they never set their hearts on +manslaughter". + +Now the night wore away, and early next morning Hallgerda came to speak +to Kol, and said--"I have thought of some work for thee"; and with that +she put weapons into his hands, and went on to say--"Fare thou to +Redslip; there wilt thou find Swart". + +"What shall I do to him?" he says. + +"Askest thou that when thou art the worst of men?" she says. "Thou shalt +kill him." + +"I can get that done," he says, "but 'tis more likely that I shall lose +my own life for it." + +"Everything grows big in thy eyes," she says, "and thou behavest ill to +say this after I have spoken up for thee in everything. I must get +another man to do this if thou darest not." + +He took the axe, and was very wroth, and takes a horse that Gunnar +owned, and rides now till he comes east of Markfleet. There he got off +and bided in the wood, till they had carried down the firewood, and +Swart was left alone behind. Then Kol sprang on him, and said--"More +folk can hew great strokes than thou alone"; and so he laid the axe on +his head, and smote him his death-blow, and rides home afterwards, and +tells Hallgerda of the slaying. + +She said--"I shall take such good care of thee, that no harm shall come +to thee". + +"May be so," says he, "but I dreamt all the other way as I slept ere I +did the deed." + +Now they come up into the wood, and find Swart slain, and bear him home. +Hallgerda sent a man to Gunnar at the Thing to tell him of the slaying. +Gunnar said no hard words at first of Hallgerda to the messenger, and +men knew not at first whether he thought well or ill of it. A little +after he stood up, and bade his men go with him: they did so, and fared +to Njal's booth. Gunnar sent a man to fetch Njal, and begged him to come +out. Njal went out at once, and he and Gunnar fell a-talking, and Gunnar +said-- + +"I have to tell thee of the slaying of a man, and my wife and my grieve +Kol were those who did it; but Swart, thy house-carle, fell before +them." + +Njal held his peace while he told him the whole story. Then Njal spoke-- + +"Thou must take heed not to let her have her way in everything." + +Gunnar said--"Thou thyself shall settle the terms". + +Njal spoke again--"'Twill be hard work for thee to atone for all +Hallgerda's mischief; and somewhere else there will be a broader trail +to follow than this which we two now have a share in, and yet, even here +there will be much awanting before all be well; and herein we shall need +to bear in mind the friendly words that passed between us of old; and +something tells me that thou wilt come well out of it, but still thou +wilt be sore tried". + +Then Njal took the award into his own hands from Gunnar, and said-- + +"I will not push this matter to the uttermost; thou shalt pay twelve +ounces of silver; but I will add this to my award, that if anything +happens from our homestead about which thou hast to utter an award, thou +wilt not be less easy in thy terms". + +Gunnar paid up the money out of hand, and rode home afterwards. Njal, +too, came home from the Thing, and his sons. Bergthora saw the money, +and said-- + +"This is very justly settled; but even as much money shall be paid for +Kol as time goes on." + +Gunnar came home from the Thing and blamed Hallgerda. She said, better +men lay unatoned in many places, Gunnar said, she might have her way in +beginning a quarrel, "but how the matter is to be settled rests with +me". + +Hallgerda was for ever chattering of Swart's slaying, but Bergthora +liked that ill. Once Njal and her sons went up to Thorolfsfell to see +about the housekeeping there, but that selfsame day this thing happened +when Bergthora was out of doors: she sees a man ride up to the house on +a black horse. She stayed there and did not go in, for she did not know +the man. That man had a spear in his hand, and was girded with a short +sword. She asked this man his name. + +"Atli is my name," says he. + +She asked whence he came. + +"I am an Eastfirther," he says. + +"Whither shalt thou go?" she says. + +"I am a homeless man," says he, "and I thought to see Njal and +Skarphedinn, and know if they would take me in." + +"What work is handiest to thee?" says she. + +"I am a man used to field-work," he says, "and many things else come +very handy to me; but I will not hide from thee that I am a man of hard +temper and it has been many a man's lot before now to bind up wounds at +my hand." + +"I do not blame thee," she says, "though thou art no milksop." + +Atli said--"Hast thou any voice in things here?" + +"I am Njal's wife," she says, "and I have as much to say to our +housefolk as he." + +"Wilt thou take me in then?" says he. + +"I will give thee thy choice of that," says she. "If thou wilt do all +the work that I set before thee, and that though I wish to send thee +where a man's life is at stake." + +"Thou must have so many men at thy beck," says he, "that thou wilt not +need me for such work." + +"That I will settle as I please," she says. + +"We will strike a bargain on these terms," says he. + +Then she took him into the household. Njal and his sons came home and +asked Bergthora what man that might be? + +"He is thy house-carle," she says, "and I took him in." Then she went on +to say he was no sluggard at work. + +"He will be a great worker enough, I daresay," says Njal, "but I do not +know whether he will be such a good worker." + +Skarphedinn was good to Atli. + +Njal and his sons ride to the Thing in the course of the summer; Gunnar +was also at the Thing. + +Njal took out a purse of money. + +"What money is that, father?" + +"Here is the money that Gunnar paid me for our house-carle last summer." + +"That will come to stand thee in some stead," says Skarphedinn, and +smiled as he spoke. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +THE SLAYING OF KOL, WHOM ATLI SLEW. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say that Atli asked Bergthora what +work he should do that day. + +"I have thought of some work for thee," she says; "thou shall go and +look for Kol until thou find him; for now shalt thou slay him this very +day, if thou wilt do my will." + +"This work is well fitted," says Atli, "for each of us two are bad +fellows; but still I will so lay myself out for him that one or other of +us shall die." + +"Well mayest thou fare," she says, "and thou shalt not do this deed for +nothing." + +He took his weapons and his horse, and rode up to Fleetlithe, and there +met men who were coming down from Lithend. They were at home east in the +Mark. They asked Atli whither he meant to go? He said he was riding to +look for an old jade. They said that was a small errand for such a +workman, "but still 'twould be better to ask those who have been about +last night". + +"Who are they?" says he. + +"Killing-Kol," say they, "Hallgerda's house-carle, fared from the fold +just now, and has been awake all night." + +"I do not know whether I dare to meet him," says Atli, "he is +bad-tempered, and may be that I shall let another's wound be my +warning." + +"Thou bearest that look beneath the brows as though thou wert no +coward," they said, and showed him where Kol was. + +Then he spurred his horse and rides fast, and when he meets Kol, Atli +said to him-- + +"Go the pack-saddle bands well?" + +"That's no business of thine, worthless fellow, nor of any one else +whence thou comest." + +Atli said--"Thou hast something behind that is earnest work, but that is +to die". + +After that Atli thrust at him with his spear, and struck him about his +middle. Kol swept at him with his axe, but missed him, and fell off his +horse, and died at once. + +Atli rode till he met some of Hallgerda's workmen, and said, "Go ye up +to the horse yonder, and look to Kol, for he has fallen off, and is +dead". + +"Hast thou slain him?" say they. + +"Well, 'twill seem to Hallgerda as though he has not fallen by his own +hand." + +After that Atli rode home and told Bergthora; she thanked him for this +deed, and for the words which he had spoken about it. + +"I do not know," says he, "what Njal will think of this." + +"He will take it well upon his hands," she says, "and I will tell thee +one thing as a token of it, that he has earned away with him to the +Thing the price of that thrall which we took last spring, and that money +will now serve for Kol; but though peace be made thou must still beware +of thyself, for Hallgerda will keep no peace." + +"Wilt thou send at all a man to Njal to tell him of the slaying?" + +"I will not," she says, "I should like it better that Kol were +unatoned." + +Then they stopped talking about it. + +Hallgerda was told of Kol's slaying, and of the words that Atli had +said. She said Atli should be paid off for them. She sent a man to the +Thing to tell Gunnar of Kol's slaying; he answered little or nothing, +and sent a man to tell Njal. He too made no answer, but Skarphedinn +said-- + +"Thralls are men of more mettle than of yore; they used to fly at each +other and fight, and no one thought much harm of that; but now they will +do naught but kill," and as he said this he smiled. + +Njal pulled down the purse of money which hung up in the booth, and went +out; his sons went with him to Gunnar's booth. + +Skarphedinn said to a man who was in the doorway of the booth-- + +"Say thou to Gunnar that my father wants to see him." + +He did so, and Gunnar went out at once and gave Njal a hearty welcome. +After that they began to talk. + +"'Tis ill done," says Njal, "that my housewife should have broken the +peace, and let thy house-carle be slain." + +"She shall not have blame for that," says Gunnar. + +"Settle the award thyself," says Njal. + +"So I will do," say Gunnar, "and I value those two men at an even price, +Swart and Kol. Thou shalt pay me twelve ounces in silver." + +Njal took the purse of money and handed it to Gunnar. Gunnar knew the +money, and saw it was the same that he had paid Njal. Njal went away to +his booth, and they were just as good friends as before. When Njal came +home, he blamed Bergthora; but she said she would never give way to +Hallgerda. Hallgerda was very cross with Gunnar, because he had made +peace for Kol's slaying, Gunnar told her he would never break with Njal +or his sons, and she flew into a great rage; but Gunnar took no heed of +that, and so they sat for that year, and nothing noteworthy happened. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE KILLING OF ATLI THE THRALL. + + +Next spring Njal said to Atli--"I wish that thou wouldst change thy +abode to the east firths, so that Hallgerda may not put an end to thy +life". + +"I am not afraid of that," says Atli, "and I will willingly stay at home +if I have the choice." + +"Still that is less wise," says Njal. + +"I think it better to lose my life in thy house than to change my +master; but this I will beg of thee, if I am slain, that a thrall's +price shall not be paid for me." + +"Thou shalt be atoned for as a free man; but perhaps Bergthora will make +thee a promise which she will fulfil, that revenge, man for man, shall +be taken for thee." + +Then he made up his mind to be a hired servant there. + +Now it must be told of Hallgerda that she sent a man west to Bearfirth, +to fetch Brynjolf the Unruly, her kinsman. He was a base son of Swan, +and he was one of the worst of men. Gunnar knew nothing about it. +Hallgerda said he was well fitted to be a grieve. So Brynjolf came from +the west, and Gunnar asked what he was to do there? He said he was going +to stay there. + +"Thou wilt not better our household," says Gunnar, "after what has been +told me of thee, but I will not turn away any of Hallgerda's kinsmen, +whom she wishes to be with her." + +Gunnar said little, but was not unkind to him, and so things went on +till the Thing. Gunnar rides to the Thing and Kolskegg rides too, and +when they came to the Thing they and Njal met, for he and his sons were +at the Thing, and all went well with Gunnar and them. + +Bergthora said to Atli--"Go thou up into Thorolfsfell and work there a +week". + +So he went up thither, and was there on the sly, and burnt charcoal in +the wood. + +Hallgerda said to Brynjolf--"I have been told Atli is not at home, and +he must be winning work on Thorolfsfell". + +"What thinkest thou likeliest that he is working at?" says he. + +"At something in the wood," she says. + +"What shall I do to him?" he asks. + +"Thou shalt kill him," says she. + +He was rather slow in answering her, and Hallgerda said-- + +"'Twould grow less in Thiostolf's eyes to kill Atli if he were alive." + +"Thou shalt have no need to goad me on much more," he says, and then he +seized his weapons, and takes his horse and mounts, and rides to +Thorolfsfell. There he saw a great reek of coal smoke east of the +homestead, so he rides thither, and gets off his horse and ties him up, +but he goes where the smoke was thickest. Then he sees where the +charcoal pit is, and a man stands by it. He saw that he had thrust his +spear in the ground by him. Brynjolf goes along with the smoke right up +to him, but he was eager at his work, and saw him not. Brynjolf gave him +a stroke on the head with his axe, and he turned so quick round that +Brynjolf loosed his hold of the axe, and Atli grasped the spear, and +hurled it after him. Then Brynjolf cast himself down on the ground, but +the spear flew away over him. + +"Lucky for thee that I was not ready for thee," says Atli, "but now +Hallgerda will be well pleased, for thou wilt tell her of my death; but +it is a comfort to know that thou wilt have the same fate soon; but come +now, take thy axe which has been here." + +He answered him never a word, nor did he take the axe before he was +dead. Then he rode up to the house on Thorolfsfell, and told of the +slaying, and after that rode home and told Hallgerda. She sent men to +Bergthorsknoll, and let them tell Bergthora, that now Kol's slaying was +paid for. + +After that Hallgerda sent a man to the Thing to tell Gunnar of Atli's +killing. + +Gunnar stood up, and Kolskegg with him, and Kolskegg said-- + +"Unthrifty will Hallgerda's kinsmen be to thee." + +Then they go to see Njal, and Gunnar said-- + +"I have to tell thee of Atli's killing." He told him also who slew him, +and went on, "and now I will bid thee atonement for the deed, and thou +shall make the award thyself". + +Njal said--"We two have always meant never to come to strife about +anything; but still I cannot make him out a thrall". + +Gunnar said that was all right, and stretched out his hand. + +Njal named his witnesses, and they made peace on those terms. + +Skarphedinn said, "Hallgerda does not let our house-carles die of old +age". + +Gunnar said--"Thy mother will take care that blow goes for blow between +the houses". + +"Ay, ay," says Njal, "there will be enough of that work." + +After that Njal fixed the price at a hundred in silver, but Gunnar paid +it down at once. Many who stood by said that the award was high; Gunnar +got wroth, and said that a full atonement was often paid for those who +were no brisker men than Atli. + +With that they rode home from the Thing. + +Bergthora said to Njal when she saw the money--"Thou thinkest thou hast +fulfilled thy promise, but now my promise is still behind". + +"There is no need that thou shouldst fulfil it," says Njal. + +"Nay," says she, "thou hast guessed it would be so; and so it shall be." + +Hallgerda said to Gunnar-- + +"Hast thou paid a hundred in silver for Atli's slaying, and made him a +free man?" + +"He was free before," says Gunnar, "and besides, I will not make Njal's +household outlaws who have forfeited their rights." + +"There's not a pin to choose between you," she said, "for both of you +are so blate." + +"That's as things prove," says he. + +Then Gunnar was for a long time very short with her, till she gave way +to him; and now all was still for the rest of that year; in the spring +Njal did not increase his household, and now men ride to the Thing about +summer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +THE SLAYING OF BRYNJOLF THE UNRULY. + + +There was a man named Thord, he was surnamed Freedmanson. Sigtrygg was +his father's name, and he had been the freedman of Asgerd, and he was +drowned in Markfleet. That was why Thord was with Njal afterwards. He +was a tall man and a strong, and he had fostered all Njal's sons. He had +set his heart on Gudfinna Thorolf's daughter, Njal's kinswoman; she was +housekeeper at home there, and was then with child. + +Now Bergthora came to talk with Thord Freedmanson; she said-- + +"Thou shalt go to kill Brynjolf, Hallgerda's kinsman." + +"I am no man-slayer," he says, "but still I will do what ever thou +wilt." + +"This is my will," she says. + +After that he went up to Lithend, and made them call Hallgerda out, and +asked where Brynjolf might be. + +"What's thy will with him?" she says. + +"I want him to tell me where he has hidden Atli's body; I have heard say +that he has buried it badly." + +She pointed to him, and said he was down yonder in Acretongue. + +"Take heed," says Thord, "that the same thing does not befall him as +befell Atli." + +"Thou art no man-slayer," she says, "and so nought will come of it even +if ye two do meet." + +"Never have I seen man's blood, nor do I know how I should feel if I +did," he says, and gallops out of the "town" and down to Acretongue. + +Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, had heard their talk. + +"Thou goadest his mind much, Hallgerda," she says, "but I think him a +dauntless man, and that thy kinsman will find." + +They met on the beaten way, Thord and Brynjolf; and Thord said--"Guard +thee, Brynjolf, for I will do no dastard's deed by thee". + +Brynjolf rode at Thord, and smote at him with his axe. He smote at him +at the same time with his axe, and hewed in sunder the haft just above +Brynjolf s hands, and then hewed at him at once a second time, and +struck him on the collarbone, and the blow went straight into his trunk. +Then he fell from horseback, and was dead on the spot. + +Thord met Hallgerda'a herdsman, and gave out the slaying as done by his +hand, and said where he lay, and bade him tell Hallgerda of the slaying. +After that he rode home to Bergthorsknoll, and told Bergthora of the +slaying, and other people too. + +"Good luck go with thy hands," she said. + +The herdsman told Hallgerda of the slaying; she was snappish at it, and +said much ill would come of it, if she might have her way. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +GUNNAR AND NJAL MAKE PEACE ABOUT BRYNJOLF'S SLAYING. + + +Now these tidings come to the Thing, and Njal made them tell him the +tale thrice, and then he said-- + +"More men now become man-slayers than I weened." + +Skarphedinn spoke--"That man, though, must have been twice fey," he +says, "who lost his life by our foster-father's hand, who has never seen +man's blood. And many would think that we brothers would sooner have +done this deed with the turn of temper that we have." + +"Scant apace wilt thou have," says Njal, "ere the like befalls thee; but +need will drive thee to it." + +Then they went to meet Gunnar, and told him of the slaying. Gunnar spoke +and said that was little manscathe, "but yet he was a free man". + +Njal offered to make peace at once, and Gunnar said yes, and he was to +settle the terms himself. He made his award there and then, and laid it +at one hundred in silver. Njal paid down the money on the spot, and they +were at peace after that. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +SIGMUND COMES OUT TO ICELAND. + + +There was a man whose name was Sigmund. He was the son of Lambi, the son +of Sighvat the Red. He was a great voyager, and a comely and a courteous +man; tall too, and strong. He was a man of proud spirit, and a good +skald, and well trained in most feats of strength. He was noisy and +boisterous, and given to jibes and mocking. He made the land east in +Hornfirth. Skiolld was the name of his fellow-traveller; he was a +Swedish man, and ill to do with. They took horse and rode from the east +out of Hornfirth, and did not draw bridle before they came to Lithend, +in the Fleetlithe. Gunnar gave them a hearty welcome, for the bonds of +kinship were close between them. Gunnar begged Sigmund to stay there +that winter, and Sigmund said he would take the offer if Skiolld his +fellow might be there too. + +"Well, I have been so told about him," said Gunnar, "that he is no +better of thy temper; but as it is, thou rather needest to have it +bettered. This, too, is a bad house to stay at, and I would just give +both of you a bit of advice, my kinsmen, not to fire up at the egging on +of my wife Hallgerda; for she takes much in hand that is far from my +will." + +"His hands are clean who warns another," says Sigmund. + +"Then mind the advice given thee," says Gunnar, "for thou art sure to be +sore tried; and go along always with me, and lean upon my counsel." + +After that they were in Gunnar's company. Hallgerda was good to Sigmund; +and it soon came about that things grew so warm that she loaded him with +money, and tended him no worse than her own husband; and many talked +about that, and did not know what lay under it. + +One day Hallgerda said to Gunnar--"It is not good to be content with +that hundred in silver which thou tookest for my kinsman Brynjolf. I +shall avenge him if I may," she says. + +Gunnar said he had no mind to bandy words with her, and went away. He +met Kolskegg, and said to him, "Go and see Njal; and tell him that Thord +must beware of himself though peace has been made, for, methinks, there +is faithlessness somewhere". + +He rode off and told Njal, but Njal told Thord, and Kolskegg rode home, +and Njal thanked them for their faithfulness. + +Once on a time they two were out in the "town," Njal and Thord; a +he-goat was wont to go up and down in the "town," and no one was allowed +to drive him away. Then Thord spoke and said-- + +"Well, this _is_ a wondrous thing!" + +"What is it that thou see'st that seems after a wondrous fashion?" says +Njal. + +"Methinks the goat lies here in the hollow, and he is all one gore of +blood." + +Njal said that there was no goat there, nor anything else. + +"What is it then?" says Thord. + +"Thou must be a 'fey' man," says Njal, "and thou must have seen the +fetch that follows thee, and now be ware of thyself." + +"That will stand me in no stead," says Thord, "if death is doomed for +me." + +Then Hallgerda came to talk with Thrain Sigfus' son, and said--"I would +think thee my son-in-law indeed," she says, "if thou slayest Thord +Freedmanson". + +"I will not do that," he says, "for then I shall have the wrath of my +kinsman Gunnar; and besides, great things hang on this deed, for this +slaying would soon be avenged." + +"Who will avenge it?" she asks; "is it the beardless carle?" + +"Not so," says he; "his sons will avenge it." + +After that they talked long and low, and no man knew what counsel they +took together. + +Once it happened that Gunnar was not at home, but those companions were. +Thrain had come in from Gritwater, and then he and they and Hallgerda +sat out of doors and talked. Then Hallgerda said-- + +"This have ye two brothers in arms, Sigmund and Skiolld, promised to +slay Thord Freedmanson; but Thrain thou hast promised me that thou +wouldst stand by them when they did the deed." + +They all acknowledged that they had given her this promise. + +"Now I will counsel you how to do it," she says: "Ye shall ride east +into Hornfirth after your goods, and come home about the beginning of +the Thing, but if ye are at home before it begins, Gunnar will wish that +ye should ride to the Thing with him. Njal will be at the Thing and his +sons and Gunnar, but then ye two shall slay Thord." + +They all agreed that this plan should be carried out. After that they +busked them east to the Firth, and Gunnar was not aware of what they +were about, and Gunnar rode to the Thing. Njal sent Thord Freedmanson +away east under Eyjafell, and bade him be away there one night. So he +went east, but he could not get back from the east, for the Fleet had +risen so high that it could not be crossed on horseback ever so far up. +Njal waited for him one night, for he had meant him to have ridden with +him; and Njal said to Bergthora, that she must send Thord to the Thing +as soon as ever he came home. Two nights after, Thord came from the +east, and Bergthora told him that he must ride to the Thing, "but first +thou shalt ride up into Thorolfsfell and see about the farm there, and +do not be there longer than one or two nights." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +THE SLAYING OF THORD FREEDSMANSON. + + +Then Sigmund came from the east and those companions. Hallgerda told +them that Thord was at home, but that he was to ride straightway to the +Thing after a few nights' space. "Now ye will have a fair chance at +him," he says, "but if this goes off, ye will never get nigh him". Men +came to Lithend from Thorolfsfell, and told Hallgerda that Thord was +there. Hallgerda went to Thrain Sigfus' son, and his companions, and +said to him, "Now is Thord on Thorolfsfell, and now your best plan is to +fall on him and kill him as he goes home". + +"That we will do," says Sigmund. So they went out, and took their +weapons and horses and rode on the way to meet him. Sigmund said to +Thrain, "Now thou shalt have nothing to do with it; for we shall not +need all of us". + +"Very well, so I will," says he. + +Then Thord rode up to them a little while after, and Sigmund said to +him-- + +"Give thyself up," he says, "for now shalt thou die." + +"That shall not be," says Thord, "come thou to single combat with me." + +"That shall not be either," says Sigmund, "we will make the most of our +numbers; but it is not strange that Skarphedinn is strong, for it is +said that a fourth of a foster-child's strength comes from the +foster-father." + +"Thou wilt feel the force of that," says Thord, "for Skarphedinn will +avenge me." + +After that they fall on him, and he breaks a spear of each of them, so +well did he guard himself. Then Skiolld cut off his hand, and he still +kept them off with his other hand for some time, till Sigmund thrust him +through. Then he fell dead to earth. They threw over him turf and +stones; and Thrain said--"We have won an ill work, and Njal's sons will +take this slaying ill when they hear of it". + +They ride home and tell Hallgerda. She was glad to hear of the slaying, +but Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, said-- + +"It is said 'but a short while is hand fain of blow,' and so it will be +here; but still Gunnar will set thee free from this matter. But if +Hallgerda makes thee take another fly in thy mouth, then that will be +thy bane." + +Hallgerda sent a man to Bergthorsknoll, to tell the slaying, and another +man to the Thing, to tell it to Gunnar. Bergthora said she would not +fight against Hallgerda with ill worth about such a matter; "that," +quoth she, "would be no revenge for so great a quarrel". + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +NJAL AND GUNNAR MAKE PEACE FOR THE SLAYING OF THORD. + + +But when the messenger came to the Thing to tell Gunnar of the slaying, +then Gunnar said-- + +"This has happened ill, and no tidings could come to my ears which I +should think worse; but yet we will now go at once and see Njal. I still +hope he may take it well, though he be sorely tried." + +So they went to see Njal, and called him to come out and talk to them. +He went out at once to meet Gunnar, and they talked, nor were there any +more men by at first than Kolskegg. + +"Hard tidings have I to tell thee," says Gunnar; "the slaying of Thord +Freedmanson, and I wish to offer thee self-doom for the slaying." + +Njal held his peace some while, and then said-- + +"That is well offered, and I will take it; but yet it is to be looked +for, that I shall have blame from my wife or from my sons for that, for +it will mislike them much; but still I will run the risk, for I know +that I have to deal with a good man and true; nor do I wish that any +breach should arise in our friendship on my part." + +"Wilt thou let thy sons be by, pray?" says Gunnar. + +"I will not," says Njal, "for they will not break the peace which I +make, but if they stand by while we make it, they will not pull well +together with us." + +"So it shall be," says Gunnar. "See thou to it alone." + +Then they shook one another by the hand, and made peace well and +quickly. + +Then Njal said--"The award that I make is two hundred in silver, and +that thou wilt think much". + +"I do not think it too much," says Gunnar, and went home to his booth. + +Njal's sons came home, and Skarphedinn asked whence that great sum of +money came, which his father held in his hand. + +Njal said--"I tell you of your foster-father's Thord's slaying, and we +two, Gunnar and I, have now made peace in the matter, and he has paid an +atonement for him as for two men". + +"Who slew him?" says Skarphedinn. + +"Sigmund and Skiolld, but Thrain was standing near too," says Njal. + +"They thought they had need of much strength," says Skarphedinn, and +sang a song-- + + Bold in deeds of derring-do, + Burdeners of ocean's steeds, + Strength enough it seems they needed + All to slay a single man; + When shall we our hands uplift? + We who brandish burnished steel-- + Famous men erst reddened weapons, + When? if now we quiet sit? + +"Yes! when shall the day come when we shall lift our hands?" + +"That will not be long off," says Njal, "and then thou shalt not be +baulked; but still, methinks, I set great store on your not breaking +this peace that I have made." + +"Then we will not break it," says Skarphedinn, "but if anything arises +between us, then we will bear in mind the old feud." + +"Then I will ask you to spare no one," says Njal. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +SIGMUND MOCKS NJAL AND HIS SONS. + + +Now men ride home from the Thing; and when Gunnar came home, he said to +Sigmund-- + +"Thou art a more unlucky man than I thought, and turnest thy good gifts +to thine own ill. But still I have made peace for thee with Njal and his +sons; and now, take care that thou dost not let another fly come into +thy mouth. Thou art not at all after my mind, thou goest about with +jibes and jeers, with scorn and mocking; but that is not my turn of +mind. That is why thou gettest on so well with Hallgerda, because ye two +have your minds more alike." + +Gunnar scolded him a long time, and he answered him well, and said he +would follow his counsel more for the time to come than he had followed +it hitherto. Gunnar told him then they might get on together. Gunnar and +Njal kept up their friendship though the rest of their people saw little +of one another. It happened once that some gangrel women came to Lithend +from Bergthorsknoll; they were great gossips and rather spiteful +tongued. Hallgerda had a bower, and sate often in it, and there sate +with her daughter Thorgerda, and there too were Thrain and Sigmund, and +a crowd of women. Gunnar was not there nor Kolskegg. These gangrel women +went into the bower, and Hallgerda greeted them, and made room for them; +then she asked them for news, but they said they had none to tell. +Hallgerda asked where they had been over night; they said at +Bergthorsknoll. + +"What was Njal doing?" she says. + +"He was hard at work sitting still," they said. + +"What were Njal's sons doing?" she says; "they think themselves men at +any rate." + +"Tall men they are in growth," they say, "but as yet they are all +untried; Skarphedinn whetted an axe, Grim fitted a spearhead to the +shaft, Helgi rivetted a hilt on a sword, Hauskuld strengthened the +handle of a shield." + +"They must be bent on some great deed," says Hallgerda. + +"We do not know that," they say. + +"What were Njal's house-carles doing?" she asks. + +"We don't know what some of them were doing, but one was carting dung up +the hill-side." + +"What good was there in doing that?" she asks. + +"He said it made the swathe better there than any where else," they +reply. "Witless now is Njal," says Hallgerda, "though he knows how to +give counsel on every thing." + +"How so?" they ask. + +"I will only bring forward what is true to prove it," says she; "why +doesn't he make them cart dung over his beard that he may be like other +men? Let us call him 'the beardless carle': but his sons we will call +'dung-beardlings'; and now do pray give some stave about them, Sigmund, +and let us get some good by thy gift of song." + +"I am quite ready to do that," says he, and sang these verses-- + + Lady proud with hawk in hand. + Prithee why should dungbeard boys, + Reft of reason, dare to hammer + Handle fast on battle shield? + For these lads of loathly feature-- + Lady scattering swanbath's beams[20]-- + Shall not shun this ditty shameful + Which I shape upon them now. + + He the beardless carle shall listen + While I lash him with abuse, + Loon at whom our stomachs sicken. + Soon shall hear these words of scorn; + Far too nice for such base fellows + Is the name my bounty gives, + Een my muse her help refuses, + Making mirth of dungbeard boys. + + Here I find a nickname fitting + For those noisome dungbeard boys-- + Loath am I to break my bargain + Linked with such a noble man-- + Knit we all our taunts together-- + Known to me is mind of man-- + Call we now with outburst common, + Him, that churl, the beardless carle. + +"Thou art a jewel indeed," says Hallgerda; "how yielding thou art to +what I ask!" + +Just then Gunnar came in. He had been standing outside the door of the +bower, and heard all the words that had passed. They were in a great +fright when they saw him come in, and then all held their peace, but +before there had been bursts of laughter. + +Gunnar was very wroth, and said to Sigmund, "thou art a foolish man, and +one that cannot keep to good advice, and thou revilest Njal's sons, and +Njal himself who is most worth of all; and this thou doest in spite of +what thou hast already done. Mind, this will be thy death. But if any +man repeats these words that thou hast spoken, or these verses that thou +hast made, that man shall be sent away at once, and have my wrath +beside." + +But they were all so sore afraid of him, that no one dared to repeat +those words. After that he went away, but the gangrel women talked among +themselves, and said that they would get a reward from Bergthora if they +told her all this. They went then away afterwards down thither, and took +Bergthora aside and told her the whole story of their own free will. + +Bergthora spoke and said, when men sate down to the board, "Gifts have +been given to all of you, father and sons, and ye will be no true men +unless ye repay them somehow". + +"What gifts are these?" asks Skarphedinn. + +"You, my sons," says Bergthora, "have got one gift between you all. Ye +are nick-named 'Dung-beardlings,' but my husband 'the beardless carle'." + +"Ours is no woman's nature," says Skarphedinn, "that we should fly into +a rage at every little thing." + +"And yet Gunnar was wroth for your sakes," says she, "and he is thought +to be good-tempered. But if ye do not take vengeance for this wrong, ye +will avenge no shame." + +"The carline, our mother, thinks this fine sport," says Skarphedinn, and +smiled scornfully as he spoke, but still the sweat burst out upon his +brow, and red flecks came over his cheeks, but that was not his wont. +Grim was silent and bit his lip. Helgi made no sign, and he said never a +word. Hauskuld went off with Bergthora; she came into the room again, +and fretted and foamed much. + +Njal spoke and said, "'slow and sure,' says the proverb, mistress! and +so it is with many things, though they try men's tempers, that there +are always two sides to a story, even when vengeance is taken". + +But at even when Njal was come into his bed, he heard that an axe came +against the panel and rang loudly, but there was another shut bed, and +there the shields were hung up, and he sees that they are away. He said, +"who have taken down our shields?" + +"Thy sons went out with them," says Bergthora. + +Njal pulled his shoes on his feet, and went out at once, and round to +the other side of the house, and sees that they were taking their course +right up the slope; he said, "whither away, Skarphedinn?" + +"To look after thy sheep," he answers. + +"You would not then be armed," said Njal, "if you meant that, and your +errand must be something else." + +Then Skarphedinn sang a song-- + + Squanderer of hoarded wealth, + Some there are that own rich treasure, + Ore of sea that clasps the earth, + And yet care to count their sheep; + Those who forge sharp songs of mocking, + Death songs, scarcely can possess + Sense of sheep that crop the grass; + Such as these I seek in fight; + +and said afterwards-- + +"We shall fish for salmon, father." + +"'Twould be well then if it turned out so that the prey does not get +away from you." + +They went their way, but Njal went to his bed, and he said to Bergthora, +"Thy sons were out of doors all of them, with arms, and now thou must +have egged them on to something". + +"I will give them my heartfelt thanks," said Bergthora, "if they tell me +the slaying of Sigmund." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +THE SLAYING OF SIGMUND AND SKIOLLD. + + +Now they, Njal's sons, fare up to Fleetlithe, and were that night under +the Lithe, and when the day began to break, they came near to Lithend. +That same morning both Sigmund and Skiolld rose up and meant to go to +the stud-horses; they had bits with them, and caught the horses that +were in the "town" and rode away on them. They found the stud-horses +between two brooks. Skarphedinn caught sight of them, for Sigmund was in +bright clothing. Skarphedinn said, "See you now the red elf yonder, +lads?" They looked that way, and said they saw him. + +Skarphedinn spoke again: "Thou, Hauskuld, shalt have nothing to do with +it, for thou wilt often be sent about alone without due heed; but I mean +Sigmund for myself; methinks that is like a man; but Grim and Helgi, +they shall try to slay Skiolld". + +Hauskuld sat him down, but they went until they came up to them. +Skarphedinn said to Sigmund-- + +"Take thy weapons and defend thyself; that is more needful now, than to +make mocking songs on me and my brothers." + +Sigmund took up his weapons, but Skarphedinn waited the while. Skiolld +turned against Grim and Helgi, and they fell hotly to fight. Sigmund had +a helm on his head, and a shield at his side, and was girt with a sword, +his spear was in his hand; now he turns against Skarphedinn, and thrusts +at once at him with his spear, and the thrust came on his shield. +Skarphedinn dashes the spearhaft in two, and lifts up his axe and hews +at Sigmund, and cleaves his shield down to below the handle. Sigmund +drew his sword and cut at Skarphedinn, and the sword cuts into his +shield, so that it stuck fast. Skarphedinn gave the shield such a quick +twist, that Sigmund let go his sword. Then Skarphedinn hews at Sigmund +with his axe, the "Ogress of war". Sigmund had on a corselet, the axe +came on his shoulder. Skarphedinn cleft the shoulder-blade right +through, and at the same time pulled the axe towards him, Sigmund fell +down on both knees, but sprang up again at once. + +"Thou hast lifted low to me already," says Skarphedinn, "but still thou +shalt fall upon thy mother's bosom ere we two part." + +"Ill is that then," says Sigmund. + +Skarphedinn gave him a blow on his helm, and after that dealt Sigmund +his death-blow. + +Grim cut off Skiolld's foot at the ankle-joint, but Helgi thrust him +through with his spear, and he got his death there and then. + +Skarphedinn saw Hallgerda's shepherd, just as he had hewn off Sigmund's +head; he handed the head to the shepherd, and bade him bear it to +Hallgerda, and said she would know whether that head had made jeering +songs about them, and with that he sang a song. + + Here! this head shall thou, that heapest + Hoards from ocean-caverns won,[21] + Bear to Hallgerd with my greeting, + Her that hurries men to fight; + Sure am I, O firewood splitter! + That yon spendthrift knows it well, + And will answer if it ever + Uttered mocking songs on us. + +The shepherd casts the head down as soon as ever they parted, for he +dared not do so while their eyes were on him. They fared along till they +met some men down by Markfleet, and told them the tidings. Skarphedinn +gave himself out as the slayer of Sigmund; and Grim and Helgi as the +slayers of Skiolld; then they fared home and told Njal the tidings. He +answers them-- + +"Good luck to your hands! Here no self-doom will come to pass as things +stand." + +Now we must take up the story, and say that the shepherd came home to +Lithend. He told Hallgerda the tidings. + +"Skarphedinn put Sigmund's head into my hands," he says, "and bade me +bring it thee; but I dared not do it, for I knew not how thou wouldst +like that." + +"'Twas ill that thou didst not do that," she says; "I would have brought +it to Gunnar, and then he would have avenged his kinsman, or have to +bear every man's blame." + +After that she went to Gunnar and said, "I tell thee of thy kinsman +Sigmund's slaying: Skarphedinn slew him, and wanted them to bring me the +head". + +"Just what might be looked for to befall him," says Gunnar, "for ill +redes bring ill luck, and both you and Skarphedinn have often done one +another spiteful turns". + +Then Gunnar went away; he let no steps be taken towards a suit for +manslaughter, and did nothing about it. Hallgerda often put him in mind +of it, and kept saying that Sigmund had fallen unatoned. Gunnar gave no +heed to that. + +Now three Things passed away, at each of which men thought that he +would follow up the suit: then a knotty point came on Gunnar's hands, +which he knew not how to set about, and then he rode to find Njal. He +gave Gunnar a hearty welcome. Gunnar said to Njal, "I am come to seek a +bit of good counsel at thy hands about a knotty point". + +"Thou art worthy of it," says Njal, and gave him counsel what to do. +Then Gunnar stood up and thanked him. Njal then spoke and said, and took +Gunnar by the hand, "Over long hath thy kinsman Sigmund been unatoned". +"He has been long ago atoned," says Gunnar, "but still I will not fling +back the honour offered me." + +Gunnar had never spoken an ill word of Njal's sons. Njal would have +nothing else than that Gunnar should make his own award in the matter. +He awarded two hundred in silver, but let Skiolld fall without a price. +They paid down all the money at once. + +Gunnar declared this their atonement at the Thingskala Thing, when most +men were at it, and laid great weight on the way in which they (Njal and +his sons) had behaved; he told too those bad words which cost Sigmund +his life, and no man was to repeat them or sing the verses, but if any +sung them, the man who uttered them was to fall without atonement. + +Both Gunnar and Njal gave each other their words that no such matters +should ever happen that they would not settle among themselves; and this +pledge was well kept ever after, and they were always friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +OF GIZUR THE WHITE AND GEIR THE PRIEST. + + +There was a man named Gizur the White; he was Teit's son; Kettlebjorn +the Old's son, of Mossfell. Gizur the White kept house at Mossfell, and +was a great chief. That man is also named in this story, whose name was +Geir the priest; his mother was Thorkatla, another daughter of +Kettlebjorn the Old of Mossfell. Geir kept house at Lithe. He and Gizur +backed one another in every matter. At that time Mord Valgard's son kept +house at Hof on the Rangrivervales; he was crafty and spiteful. Valgard +his father was then abroad, but his mother was dead. He was very envious +of Gunnar of Lithend. He was wealthy, so far as goods went, but had not +many friends. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +OF OTKELL IN KIRKBY. + + +There was a man named Otkell; he was the son of Skarf, the son of +Hallkell, who fought with Gorm of Gormness, and felled him on the +holm.[22] This Hallkell and Kettlebjorn the Old were brothers. + +Otkell kept house at Kirkby; his wife's name was Thorgerda; she was a +daughter of Mar, the son of Runolf, the son of Naddad of the Faroe +isles. Otkell was wealthy in goods. His son's name was Thorgeir; he was +young in years, and a bold dashing man. + +Skamkell was the name of another man; he kept house at another farm +called Hof; he was well off for money, but he was a spiteful man and a +liar; quarrelsome too, and ill to deal with. He was Otkell's friend. +Hallkell was the name of Otkell's brother; he was a tall strong man, and +lived there with Otkell; their brother's name was Hallbjorn the White; +he brought out to Iceland a thrall, whose name was Malcolm; he was Irish +and had not many friends. + +Hallbjorn went to stay with Otkell, and so did his thrall Malcolm. The +thrall was always saying that he should think himself happy if Otkell +owned him. Otkell was kind to him, and gave him a knife and belt, and a +full suit of clothes, but the thrall turned his hand to any work that +Otkell wished. + +Otkell wanted to make a bargain with his brother for the thrall; he said +he would give him the thrall, but said too, that he was a worse treasure +than he thought. And as soon as Otkell owned the thrall, then he did +less and less work. Otkell often said outright to Hallbjorn, that he +thought the thrall did little work; and he told Otkell that there was +worse in him yet to come. + +At that time came a great scarcity, so that men fell short both of meat +and hay, and that spread over all parts of Iceland. Gunnar shared his +hay and meat with many men; and all got them who came thither, so long +as his stores lasted. At last it came about that Gunnar himself fell +short both of hay and meat. Then Gunnar called on Kolskegg to go along +with him; he called too on Thrain Sigfus' son, and Lambi Sigurd's son. +They fared to Kirkby, and called Otkell out. He greeted them, and Gunnar +said, "It so happens that I am come to deal with thee for hay and meat, +if there be any left". + +Otkell answers, "There is store of both, but I will sell thee neither". + +"Wilt thou give me them then," says Gunnar, "and run the risk of my +paying thee back somehow?" + +"I will not do that either," says Otkell. + +Skamkell all the while was giving him bad counsel. + +Then Thrain Sigfus' son said, "It would serve him right if we take both +hay and meat and lay down the worth of them instead". + +Skamkell answered, "All the men of Mossfell must be dead and gone then, +if ye, sons of Sigfus, are to come and rob them". + +"I will have no hand in any robbery," says Gunnar. + +"Wilt thou buy a thrall of me?" says Otkell. + +"I'll not spare to do that," says Gunnar. After that Gunnar bought the +thrall, and fared away as things stood. + +Njal hears of this, and said, "Such things are ill done, to refuse to +let Gunnar buy; and it is not a good outlook for others if such men as +he cannot get what they want". + +"What's the good of thy talking so much about such a little matter?" +says Bergthora; "far more like a man would it be to let him have both +meat and hay, when thou lackest neither of them." + +"That is clear as day," says Njal, "and I will of a surety supply his +need somewhat." + +Then he fared up to Thorolfsfell, and his sons with him, and they bound +hay on fifteen horses; but on five horses they had meat. Njal came to +Lithend, and called Gunnar out. He greeted them kindly. + +"Here is hay and meat," said Njal, "which I will give thee; and my wish +is, that thou shouldst never look to any one else than to me if thou +standest in need of any thing." + +"Good are thy gifts," says Gunnar, "but methinks thy friendship is still +more worth, and that of thy sons." + +After that Njal fared home, and now the spring passes away. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +HOW HALLGERDA MAKES MALCOLM STEAL FROM KIRKBY. + + +Now Gunnar is about to ride to the Thing, but a great crowd of men from +the Side east turned in as guests at his house. + +Gunnar bade them come and be his guests again, as they rode back from +the Thing; and they said they would do so. + +Now they ride to the Thing, and Njal and his sons were there. That Thing +was still and quiet. + +Now we must take up the story, and say that Hallgerda comes to talk with +Malcolm the thrall. + +"I have thought of an errand to send thee on," she says; "thou shalt go +to Kirkby." + +"And what shall I do there?" he says. + +"Thou shalt steal from thence food enough to load two horses, and mind +and have butter and cheese; but thou shalt lay fire in the storehouse, +and all will think that it has arisen out of heedlessness, but no one +will think that there has been theft." + +"Bad have I been," said the thrall, "but never have I been a thief." + +"Hear a wonder!" says Hallgerda, "thou makest thyself good, thou that +hast been both thief and murderer; but thou shalt not dare to do aught +else than go, else will I let thee be slain." + +He thought he knew enough of her to be sure that she would so do if he +went not; so he took at night two horses and laid pack-saddles on them, +and went his way to Kirkby. The house-dog knew him and did not bark at +him, and ran and fawned on him. After that he went to the storehouse and +loaded the two horses with food out of it, but the storehouse he burnt, +and the dog he slew. + +He went up along by Rangriver, and his shoe-thong snapped; so he takes +his knife and makes the shoe right, but he leaves the knife and belt +lying there behind him. + +He fares till he comes to Lithend; then he misses the knife, but dares +not to go back. + +Now he brings Hallgerda the food, and she showed herself well pleased at +it. + +Next morning when men came out of doors at Kirkby there they saw great +scathe. Then a man was sent to the Thing to tell Otkell, he bore the +loss well, and said it must have happened because the kitchen was next +to the storehouse; and all thought that that was how it happened. + +Now men ride home from the Thing, and many rode to Lithend. Hallgerda +set food on the hoard, and in came cheese and butter. Gunnar knew that +such food was not to be looked for in his house, and asked Hallgerda +whence it came? + +"Thence," she says, "whence thou mightest well eat of it; besides, it is +no man's business to trouble himself with housekeeping." + +Gunnar got wroth and said, "Ill indeed is it if I am a partaker with +thieves"; and with that he gave her a slap on the cheek. + +She said she would bear that slap in mind and repay it if she could. + +So she went off and he went with her, and then all that was on the board +was cleared away, but flesh-meat was brought in instead, and all thought +that was because the flesh was thought to have been got in a better way. + +Now the men who had been at the Thing fare away. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +OF SKAMKELL'S EVIL COUNSEL. + + +Now we must tell of Skamkell. He rides after some sheep up along +Rangriver, and he sees something shining in the path. He finds a knife +and belt, and thinks he knows both of them. He fares with them to +Kirkby; Otkell was out of doors when Skamkell came. He spoke to him and +said-- + +"Knowest thou aught of these pretty things?" + +"Of a surety," says Otkell, "I know them." + +"Who owns them?" asks Skamkell. + +"Malcolm the thrall," says Otkell. + +"Then more shall see and know them than we two," says Skamkell, "for +true will I be to thee in counsel." + +They showed them to many men, and all knew them. Then Skamkell said-- + +"What counsel wilt thou now take?" + +"We shall go and see Mord Valgard's son," answers Otkell, "and seek +counsel of him." + +So they went to Hof, and showed the pretty things to Mord, and asked him +if he knew them? + +He said he knew them well enough, but what was there in that? "Do you +think you have a right to look for anything at Lithend?" + +"We think it hard for us," says Skamkell, "to know what to do, when such +mighty men have a hand in it." + +"That is so, sure enough," says Mord, "but yet I will get to know those +things out of Gunnar's household, which none of you will ever know." + +"We would give thee money," they say, "if thou wouldst search out this +thing." + +"That money I shall buy full dear," answered Mord, "but still, perhaps, +it may be that I will look at the matter." + +They gave him three marks of silver for lending them his help. + +Then he gave them this counsel, that women should go about from house to +house with small wares, and give them to the housewives, and mark what +was given them in return. + +"For," he says, "'tis the turn of mind of all men first to give away +what has been stolen, if they have it in their keeping, and so it will +be here also, if this hath happened by the hand of man. Ye shall then +come and show me what has been given to each in each house, and I shall +then be free from further share in this matter, if the truth comes to +light." + +To this they agreed, and went home afterwards. + +Mord sends women about the country, and they were away half a month. +Then they came back, and had big bundles. Mord asked where they had most +given them? + +They said that at Lithend most was given them, and Hallgerda had been +most bountiful to them. + +He asked what was given them there? + +"Cheese," say they. + +He begged to see it, and they showed it to him, and it was in great +slices. These he took and kept. + +A little after, Mord fared to see Otkell, and bade that he would bring +Thorgerda's cheese-mould; and when that was done, he laid the slices +down in it, and lo! they fitted the mould in every way. + +Then they saw, too, that a whole cheese had been given to them. + +Then Mord said, "Now may ye see that Hallgerda must have stolen the +cheese"; and they all passed the same judgment; and then Mord said, that +now he thought he was free of this matter. + +After that they parted. + +Shortly after Kolskegg fell to talking with Gunnar, and said-- + +"Ill is it to tell, but the story is in every man's mouth, that +Hallgerda must have stolen, and that she was at the bottom of all that +great scathe that befell at Kirkby." + +Gunnar said that he too thought that must be so. "But what is to be done +now?" + +Kolskegg answered, "That wilt think it thy most bounden duty to make +atonement for thy wife's wrong, and methinks it were best that thou +farest to see Otkell, and makest him a handsome offer." + +"This is well spoken," says Gunnar, "and so it shall be." + +A little after Gunnar sent after Thrain Sigfus' son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son, and they came at once. + +Gunnar told them whither he meant to go, and they were well pleased. +Gunnar rode with eleven men to Kirkby, and called Otkell out. Skamkell +was there too, and said, "I will go out with thee, and it will be best +now to have the balance of wit on thy side. And I would wish to stand +closest by thee when thou needest it most, and now this will be put to +the proof. Methinks it were best that thou puttest on an air of great +weight." + +Then they, Otkell and Skamkell, and Hallkell and Hallbjorn, went out all +of them. + +They greeted Gunnar, and he took their greeting well. Otkell asks +whither he meant to go? + +"No farther than here," says Gunnar, "and my errand hither is to tell +thee about that bad mishap--how it arose from the plotting of my wife +and that thrall whom I bought from thee." + +"'Tis only what was to be looked for," says Hallbjorn. + +"Now I will make thee a good offer," says Gunnar, "and the offer is +this, that the best men here in the country round settle the matter." + +"This is a fair-sounding offer," said Skamkell, "but an unfair and +uneven one. Thou art a man who has many friends among the householders, +but Otkell has not many friends." + +"Well," says Gunnar, "then I will offer thee that I shall make an award, +and utter it here on this spot, and so we will settle the matter, and my +good-will shall follow the settlement. But I will make thee an atonement +by paying twice the worth of what was lost." + +"This choice shalt thou not take," said Skamkell; "and it is unworthy to +give up to him the right to make his own award, when thou oughtest to +have kept it for thyself." + +So Otkell said, "I will not give up to thee, Gunnar, the right to make +thine own award." + +"I see plainly," said Gunnar, "the help of men who will be paid off for +it one day I daresay; but come now, utter an award for thyself." + +Otkell leant toward Skamkell and said, "What shall I answer now?" + +"This thou shalt call a good offer, but still put thy suit into the +hands of Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, and then many will say +this, that thou behavest like Hallkell, thy grandfather, who was the +greatest of champions." + +"Well offered is this, Gunnar," said Otkell, "but still my will is thou +wouldst give me time to see Gizur the white." + +"Do now whatever thou likest in the matter," said Gunnar; "but men will +say this, that thou couldst not see thine own honour when thou wouldst +have none of the choices I offer thee." + +Then Gunnar rode home, and when he had gone away, Hallbjorn said, "Here +I see how much man differs from man. Gunnar made thee good offers, but +thou wouldst take none of them; or how dost thou think to strive with +Gunnar in a quarrel, when no one is his match in fight. But now he is +still so kind-hearted a man that it may be he will let these offers +stand, though thou art only ready to take them afterwards. Methinks it +were best that thou farest to see Gizur the white and Geir the priest +now this very hour." + +Otkell let them catch his horse, and made ready in every way. Otkell +was not sharpsighted, and Skamkell walked on the way along with him, and +said to Otkell-- + +"Methought it strange that thy brother would not take this toil from +thee, and now I will make thee an offer to fare instead of thee, for I +know that the journey is irksome to thee." + +"I will take that offer," says Otkell, "but mind and be as truthful as +ever thou canst." + +"So it shall be," says Skamkell. + +Then Skamkell took his horse and cloak, but Otkell walks home. + +Hallbjorn was out of doors, and said to Otkell-- + +"Ill is it to have a thrall for one's bosom friend, and we shall rue +this for ever that thou hast turned back, and it is an unwise step to +send the greatest liar on an errand, of which one may so speak that +men's lives hang on it." + +"Thou wouldst be sore afraid," says Otkell, "if Gunnar had his bill +aloft, when thou art so scared now." + +"No one knows who will be most afraid then," said Hallbjorn; "but this +thou wilt have to own, that Gunnar does not lose much time in +brandishing his bill when he is wroth." + +"Ah!" said Otkell, "ye are all of you for yielding but Skamkell." + +And then they were both wroth. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +OF SKAMKELL'S LYING. + + +Skamkell came to Mossfell, and repeated all the offers to Gizur. + +"It so seems to me," says Gizur, "as though these have been bravely +offered; but why took he not these offers?" + +"The chief cause was," answers Skamkell, "that all wished to show thee +honour, and that was why he waited for thy utterance; besides, that is +best for all." + +So Skamkell stayed there the night over, but Gizur sent a man to fetch +Geir the priest; and he came there early. Then Gizur told him the story +and said-- + +"What course is to be taken now?" + +"As thou no doubt hast already made up thy mind--to make the best of the +business for both sides." + +"Now we will let Skamkell tell his tale a second time, and see how he +repeats it." + +So they did that, and Gizur said-- + +"Thou must have told this story right; but still I have seen thee to be +the wickedest of men, and there is no faith in faces if thou turnest out +well." + +Skamkell fared home, and rides first to Kirkby and calls Otkell out. He +greets Skamkell well, and Skamkell brought him the greeting of Gizur and +Geir. + +"But about this matter of the suit," he says, "there is no need to speak +softly, how that it is the will of both Gizur and Geir that this suit +should not be settled in a friendly way. They gave that counsel that a +summons should be set on foot, and that Gunnar should be summoned for +having partaken of the goods, but Hallgerda for stealing them." + +"It shall be done," said Otkell, "in everything as they have given +counsel." + +"They thought most of this," says Skamkell, "that thou hadst behaved so +proudly; but as for me, I made as great a man of thee in everything as I +could." + +Now Otkell tells all this to his brothers, and Hallbjorn said-- + +"This must be the biggest lie." + +Now the time goes on until the last of the summoning days before the +Althing came. + +Then Otkell called on his brothers and Skamkell to ride on the business +of the summons to Lithend. + +Hallbjorn said he would go, but said also that they would rue this +summoning as time went on. + +Now they rode twelve of them together to Lithend, but when they came +into the "town," there was Gunnar out of doors, and knew naught of their +coming till they had ridden right up to the house. + +He did not go indoors then, and Otkell thundered out the summons there +and then; but when they had made an end of the summoning Skamkell said-- + +"Is it all right, master?" + +"Ye know that best," says Gunnar, "but I will put thee in mind of this +journey one of these days, and of thy good help." + +"That will not harm us," says Skamkell, "if thy bill be not aloft." + +Gunnar was very wroth and went indoors, and told Kolskegg, and Kolskegg +said-- + +"Ill was it that we were not out of doors; they should have come here on +the most shameful journey, if we had been by." + +"Everything bides its time," says Gunnar; "but this journey will not +turn out to their honour." + +A little after Gunnar went and told Njal. + +"Let it not worry thee a jot," said Njal, "for this will be the greatest +honour to thee, ere this Thing comes to an end. As for us, we will all +back thee with counsel and force." + +Gunnar thanked him and rode home. + +Otkell rides to the Thing, and his brothers with him and Skamkell. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +OF GUNNAR. + + +Gunnar rode to the Thing and all the sons of Sigfus; Njal and his sons +too, they all went with Gunnar; and it was said that no band was so well +knit and hardy as theirs. + +Gunnar went one day to the booth of the Dalemen; Hrut was by the booth +and Hauskuld, and they greeted Gunnar well. Now Gunnar tells them the +whole story of the suit up to that time. + +"What counsel gives Njal?" asks Hrut. + +"He bade me seek you brothers," says Gunnar, "and said he was sure that +he and you would look at the matter in the same light." + +"He wishes then," says Hrut, "that I should say what I think for +kinship's sake; and so it shall be. Thou shalt challenge Gizur the white +to combat on the island, if they do not leave the whole award to thee; +but Kolskegg shall challenge Geir the Priest. As for Otkell and his +crew, men must be got ready to fall on them; and now we have such great +strength all of us together, that thou mayst carry out whatever thou +wilt." + +Gunnar went home to his booth and told Njal. + +"Just what I looked for," said Njal. + +Wolf Aurpriest got wind of this plan, and told Gizur, and Gizur said to +Otkell-- + +"Who gave thee that counsel that thou shouldst summon Gunnar?" + +"Skamkell told me that was the counsel of both Geir the priest and +thyself." + +"But where is that scoundrel," says Gizur, "who has thus lied?" + +"He lies sick up at our booth," says Otkell. + +"May he never rise from his bed," says Gizur, "Now we must all go to see +Gunnar, and offer him the right to make his own award; but I know not +whether he will take that now." + +Many men spoke ill of Skamkell, and he lay sick all through the Thing. + +Gizur and his friends went to Gunnar's booth; their coming was known, +and Gunnar was told as he sat in his booth, and then they all went out +and stood in array. + +Gizur the white came first, and after a while he spoke and said-- + +"This is our offer--that thou, Gunnar, makest thine own award in this +suit." + +"Then," says Gunnar, "it was no doubt far from thy counsel that I was +summoned." + +"I gave no such counsel," says Gizur, "neither I nor Geir." + +"Then thou must clear thyself of this charge by fitting proof." + +"What proof dost thou ask?" says Gizur. + +"That thou takest an oath," says Gunnar. + +"That I will do," says Gizur, "if thou wilt take the award into thine +own hands." + +"That was the offer I made a while ago," says Gunnar; "but now, +methinks, I have a greater matter to pass judgment on." + +"It will not be right to refuse to make thine own award," said Njal; +"for the greater the matter, the greater the honour in making it." + +"Well," said Gunnar, "I will do this to please my friends, and utter my +award; but I give Otkell this bit of advice, never to give me cause for +quarrel hereafter." + +Then Hrut and Hauskuld were sent for, and they came thither, and then +Gizur the White and Geir the priest took their oaths; but Gunnar made +his award, and spoke with no man about it, and afterwards he uttered it +as follows:-- + +"This is my award," he says; "first, I lay it down that the storehouse +must be paid for, and the food that was therein; but for the thrall, I +will pay thee no fine, for that thou hiddest his faults; but I award him +back to thee; for as the saying is, 'Birds of a feather flock most +together'. Then, on the other hand, I see that thou hast summoned me in +scorn and mockery, and for that I award to myself no less a sum than +what the house that was burnt and the stores in it were worth; but if ye +think it better that we be not set at one again, then I will let you +have your choice of that, but if so I have already made up my mind what +I shall do, and then I will fulfil my purpose." + +"What we ask," said Gizur, "is that thou shouldst not be hard on Otkell, +but we beg this of thee, on the other hand, that thou wouldst be his +friend." + +"That shall never be," said Gunnar, "so long as I live; but he shall +have Skamkell's friendship; on that he has long leant." + +"Well," answers Gizur, "we will close with thee in this matter, though +thou alone layest down the terms." + +Then all this atonement was made and hands were shaken on it, and Gunnar +said to Otkell-- + +"It were wiser to go away to thy kinsfolk; but if thou wilt be here in +this country, mind that thou givest me no cause of quarrel." + +"That is wholesome counsel," said Gizur; "and so he shall do." + +So Gunnar had the greatest honour from that suit, and afterwards men +rode home from the Thing. + +Now Gunnar sits in his house at home, and so things are quiet for a +while. + + + + +CHAPTER LII. + +OF RUNOLF, THE SON OF WOLF AURPRIEST. + + +There was a man named Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest, he kept house +at the Dale, east of Markfleet. He was Otkell's guest once when he rode +from the Thing. Otkell gave him an ox, all black, without a spot of +white, nine winters old. Runolf thanked him for the gift, and bade him +come and see him at home whenever he chose to go; and this bidding +stood over for some while, so that he had not paid the visit. Runolf +often sent men to him and put him in mind that he ought to come; and he +always said he would come, but never went. + +Now Otkell had two horses, dun coloured, with a black stripe down the +back; they were the best steeds to ride in all the country round, and so +fond of each other, that whenever one went before, the other ran after +him. + +There was an Easterling staying with Otkell, whose name was Audulf; he +had set his heart on Signy Otkell's daughter. Audulf was a tall man in +growth, and strong. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII. + +HOW OTKELL RODE OVER GUNNAR. + + +It happened next spring that Otkell said that they would ride east to +the Dale, to pay Runolf a visit, and all showed themselves well pleased +at that. Skamkell and his two brothers, and Audulf and three men more, +went along with Otkell. Otkell rode one of the dun horses, but the other +ran loose by his side. They shaped their course east towards Markfleet; +and now Otkell gallops ahead, and now the horses race against each +other, and they break away from the path up towards the Fleetlithe. + +Now, Otkell goes faster than he wished, and it happened that Gunnar had +gone away from home out of his house all alone; and he had a corn-sieve +in one hand, but in the other a hand-axe. He goes down to his seed field +and sows his corn there, and had laid his cloak of fine stuff and his +axe down by his aide, and so he sows the corn a while. + +Now, it must be told how Otkell rides faster than he would. He had spurs +on his feet, and so he gallops down over the ploughed field, and neither +of them sees the other; and just as Gunnar stands upright, Otkell rides +down upon him, and drives one of the spurs into Gunnar's ear, and gives +him a great gash, and it bleeds at once much. + +Just then Otkell's companions rode up. + +"Ye may see, all of you," says Gunnar, "that thou hast drawn my blood, +and it is unworthy to go on so. First thou hast summoned me, but now +thou treadest me under foot, and ridest over me." + +Skamkell said, "Well it was no worse, master, but thou wast not one whit +less wroth at the Thing, when thou tookest the self-doom and clutchedst +thy bill." + +Gunnar said, "When we two next meet thou shalt see the bill." After that +they part thus, and Skamkell shouted out and said, "Ye ride hard, lads!" + +Gunnar went home, and said never a word to any one about what had +happened, and no one thought that this wound could have come by man's +doing. + +It happened, though, one day that he told it to his brother Kolskegg, +and Kolskegg said-- + +"This thou shalt tell to more men, so that it may not be said that thou +layest blame on dead men; for it will be gainsaid if witnesses do not +know beforehand what has passed between you." + +Then Gunnar told it to his neighbours, and there was little talk about +it at first. + +Otkell comes east to the Dale, and they get a hearty welcome there, and +sit there a week. + +Skamkell told Runolf all about their meeting with Gunnar, and how it had +gone off; and one man had happened to ask how Gunnar behaved. + +"Why," said Skamkell, "if it were a low-born man it would have been said +that he had wept." + +"Such things are ill spoken," says Runolf, "and when ye two next meet, +thou wilt have to own that there is no voice of weeping in his frame of +mind; and it will be well if better men have not to pay for thy spite. +Now it seems to me best when ye wish to go home that I should go with +you, for Gunnar will do me no harm." + +"I will not have that," says Otkell; "but I will ride across the Fleet +lower down." + +Runolf gave Otkell good gifts, and said they should not see one another +again. + +Otkell bade him then to bear his sons in mind if things turned out so. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV. + +THE FIGHT AT RANGRIVER. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say that Gunnar was out of doors at +Lithend, and sees his shepherd galloping up to the yard. The shepherd +rode straight into the "town"; and Gunnar said, "Why ridest thou so +hard?" + +"I would be faithful to thee," said the man; "I saw men riding down +along Markfleet, eight of them together, and four of them were in +coloured clothes." + +Gunnar said, "That must be Otkell". + +The lad said, "I have often heard many temper-trying words of +Skamkell's; for Skamkell spoke away there East at Dale, and said that +thou sheddest tears when they rode over thee; but I tell it thee because +I cannot bear to listen to such speeches of worthless men". + +"We must not be word-sick," says Gunnar, "but from this day forth thou +shalt do no other work than what thou choosest for thyself." + +"Shall I say aught of this to Kolskegg thy brother?" asked the shepherd. + +"Go thou and sleep," says Gunnar; "I will tell Kolskegg." + +The lad laid him down and fell asleep at once, but Gunnar took the +shepherd's horse and laid his saddle on him; he took his shield, and +girded him with his sword, Oliver's gift; he sets his helm on his head; +takes his bill, and something sung loud in it, and his mother, Rannveig, +heard it. She went up to him and said, "Wrathful art thou now, my son, +and never saw I thee thus before". + +Gunnar goes out, and drives the butt of his spear into the earth, and +throws himself into the saddle, and rides away. + +His mother, Rannveig, went into the sitting-room, where there was a +great noise of talking. + +"Ye speak loud," she says, "but yet the bill gave a louder sound when +Gunnar went out." + +Kolskegg heard what she said, and spoke, "This betokens no small +tidings". + +"That is well," says Hallgerda, "now they will soon prove whether he +goes away from them weeping." + +Kolskegg takes his weapons and seeks him a horse, and rides after Gunnar +as fast as he could. + +Gunnar rides across Acretongue, and so to Geilastofna, and thence to +Rangriver, and down the stream to the ford at Hof. There were some women +at the milking-post there. Gunnar jumped off his horse and tied him up. +By this time the others were riding up towards him; there were flat +stones covered with mud in the path that led down to the ford. + +Gunnar called out to them and said, "Now is the time to guard +yourselves; here now is the bill, and here now ye will put it to the +proof whether I shed one tear for all of you". + +Then they all of them sprang off their horses' backs and made towards +Gunnar. Hallbjorn was the foremost. + +"Do not thou come on," says Gunnar; "thee last of all would I harm; but +I will spare no one if I have to fight to my life." + +"That I cannot do," says Hallbjorn; "thou wilt strive to kill my brother +for all that, and it is a shame if I sit idly by." And as he said this +he thrust at Gunnar with a great spear which he held in both hands. + +Gunnar threw his shield before the blow, but Hallbjorn pierced the +shield through. Gunnar thrust the shield down so hard that it stood fast +in the earth,[23] but he brandished his sword so quickly that no eye +could follow it, and he made a blow with the sword, and it fell on +Hallbjorn's arm above the wrist, so that it cut it off. + +Skamkell ran behind Gunnar's back and makes a blow at him with a great +axe. Gunnar turned short round upon him and parries the blow with the +bill, and caught the axe under one of its horns with such a wrench that +it flew out of Skamkell's hand away into the river. + +Then Gunnar sang a song. + + Once thou askedst, foolish fellow, + Of this man, this sea-horse racer, + When as fast as feet could foot it + Forth ye fled from farm of mine, + Whether that were rightly summoned? + Now with gore the spear we redden, + Battle-eager and avenge us + Thus on thee, vile source of strife. + +Gunnar gives another thrust with his bill, and through Skamkell, and +lifts him up and casts him down in the muddy path on his head. + +Audulf the Easterling snatches up a spear and launches it at Gunnar. +Gunnar caught the spear with his hand in the air, and hurled it back at +once, and it flew through the shield and the Easterling too, and so down +into the earth. + +Otkell smites at Gunnar with his sword, and aims at his leg just below +the knee, but Gunnar leapt up into the air and he misses him. Then +Gunnar thrusts at him the bill, and the blow goes through him. + +Then Kolskegg comes up, and rushes at once at Hallkell and dealt him his +death-blow with his short sword. There and then they slay eight men. + +A woman who saw all this, ran home and told Mord, and besought him to +part them. + +"They alone will be there," he says, "of whom I care not though they +slay one another." + +"Thou canst not mean to say that," she says, "for thy kinsman Gunnar, +and thy friend Otkell will be there." + +"Baggage that thou art," he says, "thou art always chattering," and so +he lay still indoors while they fought. + +Gunnar and Kolskegg rode home after this work, and they rode hard up +along the river bank, and Gunnar slipped off his horse and came down on +his feet. + +Then Kolskegg said, "Hard now thou ridest, brother!" + +"Ay," said Gunnar, "that was what Skamkell said when he uttered those +very words when they rode over me." + +"Well! thou hast avenged that now," says Kolskegg. + +"I would like to know," says Gunnar, "whether I am by so much the less +brisk and bold than other men, because I think more of killing men than +they?" + + + + +CHAPTER LV. + +NJAL'S ADVICE TO GUNNAR. + + +Now those tidings are heard far and wide, and many say that they thought +they had not happened before it was likely. Gunnar rode to +Bergthorsknoll and told Njal of these deeds. + +Njal said, "Thou hast done great things, but thou hast been sorely +tried." + +"How will it now go henceforth?" says Gunnar. + +"Wilt thou that I tell thee what hath not yet come to pass?" asks Njal. +"Thou wilt ride to the Thing, and thou wilt abide by my counsel and get +the greatest honour from this matter. This will be the beginning of thy +manslayings." + +"But give me some cunning counsel," says Gunnar. + +"I will do that," says Njal: "never slay more than one man in the same +stock, and never break the peace which good men and true make between +thee and others, and least of all in such a matter as this." + +Gunnar said, "I should have thought there was more risk of that with +others than with me." + +"Like enough," says Njal, "but still thou shalt so think of thy quarrels +that, if that should come to pass of which I have warned thee, then thou +wilt have but a little while to live; but otherwise, thou wilt come to +be an old man." + +Gunnar said, "Dost thou know what will be thine own death?" + +"I know it," says Njal. + +"What?" asks Gunnar. + +"That," says Njal, "which all would be the last to think." + +After that Gunnar rode home. + +A man was sent to Gizur the white and Geir the priest, for they had the +blood-feud after Otkell. Then they had a meeting, and had a talk about +what was to be done; and they were of one mind that the quarrel should +be followed up at law. Then some one was sought who would take the suit +up, but no one was ready to do that. + +"It seems to me," says Gizur, "that now there are only two courses, that +one of us two undertakes the suit, and then we shall have to draw lots +who it shall be, or else the man will be unatoned. We may make up our +minds, too, that this will be a heavy suit to touch; Gunnar has many +kinsmen and is much beloved; but that one of us who does not draw the +lot shall ride to the Thing and never leave it until the suit comes to +an end." + +After that they drew lots, and Geir the priest drew the lot to take up +the suit. + +A little after, they rode from the west over the river, and came to the +spot where the meeting had been by Rangriver, and dug up the bodies, and +took witness to the wounds. After that they gave lawful notice and +summoned nine neighbours to bear witness in the suit. + +They were told that Gunnar was at home with about thirty men; then Geir +the priest asked whether Gizur would ride against him with one hundred +men. + +"I will not do that," says he, "though the balance of force is great on +our side." + +After that they rode back home. The news that the suit was set on foot +was spread all over the country, and the saying ran that the Thing would +be very noisy and stormy. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI. + +GUNNAR AND GEIR THE PRIEST STRIVE AT THE THING. + + +There was a man named Skapti. He was the son of Thorod. That father and +son were great chiefs, and very well skilled in law. Thorod was thought +to be rather crafty and guileful. They stood by Gizur the white in every +quarrel. + +As for the Lithemen and the dwellers by Rangriver, they came in a great +body to the Thing. Gunnar was so beloved that all said with one voice +that they would back him. + +Now they all come to the Thing and fit up their booths. In company with +Gizur the white were these chiefs: Skapti Thorod's son, Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son, Oddi of Kidberg, and Halldor Ornolf's son. + +Now one day men went to the Hill of Laws, and then Geir the priest stood +up and gave notice that he had a suit of manslaughter against Gunnar for +the slaying of Otkell. Another suit of manslaughter he brought against +Gunnar for the slaying of Hallbjorn the white; then too he went on in +the same way as to the slaying of Audulf, and so too as to the slaying +of Skamkell. Then too he laid a suit of manslaughter against Kolskegg +for the slaying of Hallkell. + +And when he had given due notice of all his suits of manslaughter it was +said that he spoke well. He asked, too, in what Quarter court the suits +lay, and in what house in the district the defendants dwelt. After that +men went away from the Hill of Laws, and so the Thing goes on till the +day when the courts were to be set to try suits. Then either side +gathered their men together in great strength. + +Geir the priest and Gizur the white stood at the court of the men of +Rangriver looking north, and Gunnar and Njal stood looking south towards +the court. + +Geir the priest bade Gunnar to listen to his oath, and then he took the +oath, and afterwards declared his suit. + +Then he let men bear witness of the notice given of the suit; then he +called upon the neighbours who were to form the inquest to take their +seats; then he called on Gunnar to challenge the inquest; and then he +called on the inquest to utter their finding. Then the neighbours who +were summoned on the inquest went to the court and took witness, and +said that there was a bar to their finding in the suit as to Audulf's +slaying, because the next of kin who ought to follow it up was in +Norway, and so they had nothing to do with that suit. + +After that they uttered their finding in the suit as to Otkell, and +brought in Gunnar as truly guilty of killing him. + +Then Geir the priest called on Gunnar for his defence, and took witness +of all the steps in the suit which had been proved. + +Then Gunnar, in his turn, called on Geir the priest to listen to his +oath, and to the defence which he was about to bring forward in the +suit. Then he took the oath and said-- + +"This defence I make to this suit, that I took witness and outlawed +Otkell before my neighbours for that bloody wound which I got when +Otkell gave me a hurt with his spur; but thee, Geir the priest, I forbid +by a lawful protest made before a priest to pursue this suit, and so, +too, I forbid the judges to hear it; and with this I make all the steps +hitherto taken in this suit void and of none-effect. I forbid thee by a +lawful protest, a full, fair, and binding protest, as I have a right to +forbid thee by the common custom of the Thing and by the law of the +land. + +"Besides, I will tell thee something else which I mean to do," says +Gunnar. + +"What!" says Geir, "wilt thou challenge me to the island as thou art +wont, and not bear the law?" + +"Not that," says Gunnar; "I shall summon thee at the Hill of Laws for +that thou calledst those men on the inquest who had no right to deal +with Audulf's slaying, and I will declare thee for that guilty of +outlawry." + +Then Njal said, "Things must not take this turn, for the only end of it +will be that this strife will be carried to the uttermost. Each of you, +as it seems to me, has much on his side. There are some of these +manslaughters, Gunnar, about which thou canst say nothing to hinder the +court from finding thee guilty; but thou hast set on foot a suit against +Geir, in which he, too, must be found guilty. Thou too, Geir the priest, +shalt know that this suit of outlawry which hangs over thee shall not +fall to the ground if thou wilt not listen to my words." + +Thorod the priest said, "It seems to us as though the most peaceful way +would be that a settlement and atonement were come to in the suit. But +why sayest thou so little, Gizur the white?" + +"It seems to me," says Gizur, "as though we shall need to have strong +props for our suit; we may see, too, that Gunnar's friends stand near +him, and so the best turn for us that things can take will be that good +men and true should utter an award on the suit, if Gunnar so wills it." + +"I have ever been willing to make matters up," says Gunnar; "and, +besides, ye have much wrong to follow up, but still I think I was hard +driven to do as I did." + +And now the end of those suits was, by the counsel of the wisest men, +that all the suits were put to arbitration; six men were to make this +award, and it was uttered there and then at the Thing. + +The award was that Skamkell should be unatoned. The blood money for +Otkell's death was to be set off against the hurt Gunnar got from the +spur; and as for the rest of the manslaughters, they were paid for after +the worth of the men, and Gunnar's kinsmen gave money so that all the +fines might be paid up at the Thing. + +Then Geir the priest and Gizur the white went up and gave Gunnar pledges +that they would keep the peace in good faith. + +Gunnar rode home from the Thing, and thanked men for their help, and +gave gifts to many, and got the greatest honour from the suit. + +Now Gunnar sits at home in his honour. + + + + +CHAPTER LVII. + +OF STARKAD AND HIS SONS. + + +There was a man named Starkad; he was a son of Bork the +waxytoothed-blade, the son of Thorkell clubfoot, who took the land round +about Threecorner as the first settler. His wife's name was Hallbera. +The sons of Starkad and Hallbera were these: Thorgeir and Bork and +Thorkell. Hildigunna the leech was their sister. + +They were very proud men in temper, hard-hearted and unkind. They +treated men wrongfully. + +There was a man named Egil; he was a son of Kol, who took land as a +settler between Storlek and Reydwater. The brother of Egil was Aunund of +Witchwood, father of Hall the strong, who was at the slaying of +Holt-Thorir with the sons of Kettle the smooth-tongued. + +Egil kept house at Sandgil; his sons were these: Kol and Ottar and Hauk. +Their mother's name was Steinvor; she was Starkad's sister. + +Egil's sons were tall and strifeful; they were most unfair men. They +were always on one side with Starkad's sons. Their sister was Gudruna +nightsun, and she was the best-bred of women. + +Egil had taken into his house two Easterlings; the one's name was Thorir +and the other's Thorgrim. They were not long come out hither for the +first time, and were wealthy and beloved by their friends; they were +well skilled in arms, too, and dauntless in everything. + +Starkad had a good horse of chesnut hue, and it was thought that no +horse was his match in fight. Once it happened that these brothers from +Sandgil were away under the Threecorner. They had much gossip about all +the householders in the Fleetlithe, and they fell at last to asking +whether there was any one that would fight a horse against them. + +But there were some men there who spoke so as to flatter and honour +them, that not only was there no one who would dare do that, but that +there was no one that had such a horse. + +Then Hildigunna answered, "I know that man who will dare to fight horses +with you". + +"Name him," they say. + +"Gunnar has a brown horse," she says, "and he will dare to fight his +horse against you, and against any one else." + +"As for you women," they say, "you think no one can be Gunnar's match; +but though Geir the priest or Gizur the white have come off with shame +from before him, still it is not settled that we shall fare in the same +way." + +"Ye will fare much worse," she says; and so there arose out of this the +greatest strife between them. Then Starkad said-- + +"My will is that ye try your hands on Gunnar last of all; for ye will +find it hard work to go against his good luck." + +"Thou wilt give us leave, though, to offer him a horse-fight?" + +"I will give you leave, if ye play him no trick." + +They said they would be sure to do what their father said. + +Now they rode to Lithend; Gunnar was at home, and went out, and Kolskegg +and Hjort went with him, and they gave them a hearty welcome, and asked +whither they meant to go? + +"No farther than hither," they say. "We are told that thou hast a good +horse, and we wish to challenge thee to a horse-fight." + +"Small stories can go about my horse," says Gunnar; "he is young and +untried in every way." + +"But still thou wilt be good enough to have the fight, for Hildigunna +guessed that thou wouldst be easy in matching thy horse." + +"How came ye to talk about that?" says Gunnar. + +"There were some men," say they, "who were sure that no one would dare +to fight his horse with ours." + +"I would dare to fight him," says Gunnar; "but I think that was +spitefully said." + +"Shall we look upon the match as made, then?" they asked. + +"Well, your journey will seem to you better if ye have your way in this; +but still I will beg this of you, that we so fight our horses that we +make sport for each other, but that no quarrel may arise from it, and +that ye put no shame upon me; but if ye do to me as ye do to others, +then there will be no help for it but that I shall give you such a +buffet as it will seem hard to you to put up with. In a word, I shall do +then just as ye do first." + +Then they ride home. Starkad asked how their journey had gone off; they +said that Gunnar had made their going good. + +"He gave his word to fight his horse, and we settled when and where the +horse-fight should be; but it was plain in everything that he thought he +fell short of us, and he begged and prayed to get off." + +"It will often be found," says Hildigunna, "that Gunnar is slow to be +drawn into quarrels, but a hard hitter if he cannot avoid them." + +Gunnar rode to see Njal, and told him of the horse-fight, and what words +had passed between them, "But how dost thou think the horse-fight will +turn out?" + +"Thou wilt be uppermost," says Njal, "but yet many a man's bane will +arise out of this fight." + +"Will my bane perhaps come out of it?" asks Gunnar. + +"Not out of this," says Njal; "but still they will bear in mind both the +old and the new feud who fate against thee, and thou wilt have naught +left, for it but to yield." + +Then Gunnar rode home. + + + + +CHAPTER LVIII. + +HOW GUNNAR'S HORSE FOUGHT. + + +Just then Gunnar heard of the death of his father-in-law Hauskuld; a few +nights after, Thorgerda, Thrain's wife, was delivered at Gritwater, and +gave birth to a boy child. Then she sent a man to her mother, and bade +her choose whether it should be called Glum or Hauskuld. She bade call +it Hauskuld. So that name was given to the boy. + +Gunnar and Hallgerda had two sons, the one's name was Hogni and the +other's Grani. Hogni was a brave man of few words, distrustful and slow +to believe, but truthful. + +Now men ride to the horse-fight, and a very great crowd is gathered +together there. Gunnar was there and his brothers, and the sons of +Sigfus. Njal and all his sons. There too was come Starkad and his sons, +and Egil and his sons, and they said to Gunnar that now they would lead +the horses together. + +Gunner said, "That was well". + +Skarphedinn said, "Wilt thou that I drive thy horse, kinsman Gunnar?" + +"I will not have that," says Gunnar. + +"It wouldn't be amiss though," says Skarphedinn; "we are hot-headed on +both sides." + +"Ye would say or do little," says Gunnar, "before a quarrel would spring +up; but with me it will take longer, though it will be all the same in +the end." + +After that the horses were led together; Gunnar busked him to drive his +horse, but Skarphedinn led him out. Gunnar was in a red kirtle, and had +about his loins a broad belt, and a great riding-rod in his hand. + +Then the horses run at one another, and bit each other long, so that +there was no need for any one to touch them, and that was the greatest +sport. + +Then Thorgeir and Kol made up their minds that they would push their +horse forward just as the horses rushed together, and see if Gunnar +would fall before him. + +Now the horses ran at one another again, and both Thorgeir and Kol ran +alongside their horse's flank. + +Gunnar pushes his horse against them, and what happened in a trice was +this, that Thorgeir and his brother fall down flat on their backs, and +their horse a-top of them. + +Then they spring up and rush at Gunnar, Gunnar swings himself free and +seizes Kol, casts him down on the field, so that he lies senseless, +Thorgeir Starkad's son smote Gunnar's horse such a blow that one of his +eyes started out. Gunnar smote Thorgeir with his riding-rod, and down +falls Thorgeir senseless; but Gunnar goes to his horse, and said to +Kolskegg, "Cut off the horse's head; he shall not live a maimed and +blemished beast". + +So Kolskegg cut the head off the horse. + +Then Thorgeir got on his feet and took his weapons, and wanted to fly at +Gunnar, but that was stopped, and there was a great throng and crush. + +Skarphedinn said, "This crowd wearies me, and it is far more manly that +men should fight it out with weapons"; and so he sang a song,-- + + At the Thing there is a throng; + Past all bounds the crowding comes; + Hard 'twill be to patch up peace + 'Twixt the men: this wearies me; + Worthier is it far for men + Weapons red with gore to stain; + I for one would sooner tame + Hunger huge of cub of wolf. + +Gunnar was still, so that one man held him, and spoke no ill words. + +Njal tried to bring about a settlement, or to get pledges of peace; but +Thorgeir said he would neither give nor take peace; far rather, he said, +would he see Gunnar dead for the blow. + +Kolskegg said, "Gunnar has before now stood too fast than that he should +have fallen for words alone, and so it will be again". + +Now men ride away from the horse-field, every one to his home. They make +no attack on Gunnar, and so that half-year passed away. At the Thing, +the summer after, Gunnar met Olaf the peacock, his cousin, and he asked +him to come and see him, but yet bade him beware of himself; "For," says +he, "they will do us all the harm they can, and mind and fare always +with many men at thy back". + +He gave him much good counsel beside, and they agreed that there should +be the greatest friendship between them. + + + + +CHAPTER LIX. + +OF ASGRIM AND WOLF UGGIS' SON. + + +Asgrim Ellidagrim's son had a suit to follow up at the Thing against +Wolf Uggis' son. It was a matter of inheritance, Asgrim took it up in +such a way as was seldom his wont; for there was a bar to his suit, and +the bar was this, that he had summoned five neighbours to bear witness, +when he ought to have summoned nine. And now they have this as their +bar. + +Then Gunnar spoke and said, "I will challenge thee to single combat on +the island, Wolf Uggis' son, if men are not to get their rights by law; +and Njal and my friend Helgi would like that I should take some share in +defending thy cause, Asgrim, if they were not here themselves." + +"But," says Wolf, "this quarrel is not one between thee and me." + +"Still it shall be as good as though it were," says Gunnar. + +And the end of the suit was, that Wolf had to pay down all the money. + +Then Asgrim said to Gunnar, "I will ask thee to come and see me this +summer, and I will ever be with thee in lawsuits, and never against +thee". + +Gunnar rides home from the Thing, and a little while after, he and Njal +met, Njal besought Gunnar to be ware of himself, and said he had been +told that those away under the Threecorner meant to fall on him, and +bade him never go about with a small company, and always to have his +weapons with him. Gunnar said so it should be, and told him that Asgrim +had asked him to pay him a visit, "and I mean to go now this harvest." + +"Let no men know before thou farest how long thou wilt be away," said +Njal; "but, besides, I beg thee to let my sons ride with thee, and then +no attack will be made on thee." + +So they settled that among themselves. + +"Now the summer wears away till it was eight weeks to winter," and then +Gunnar says to Kolskegg, "Make thee ready to ride, for we shall ride to +a feast at Tongue". + +"Shall we say anything about it to Njal's sons?" said Kolskegg. + +"No," says Gunnar; "they shall fall into no quarrels for me." + + + + +CHAPTER LX. + +AN ATTACK AGAINST GUNNAR AGREED ON. + + +They rode three together, Gunnar and his brothers. Gunnar had the bill +and his sword, Oliver's gift; but Kolskegg had his short sword; Hjort, +too, had proper weapons. + +Now they rode to Tongue, and Asgrim gave them a hearty welcome, and they +were there some while. At last they gave it out that they meant to go +home there and then. Asgrim gave them good gifts, and offered to ride +east with them, but Gunnar said there was no need of any such thing; and +so he did not go. + +Sigurd Swinehead was the name of a man who dwelt by Thurso water. He +came to the farm under the Threecorner, for he had given his word to +keep watch on Gunnar's doings, and so he went and told them of his +journey home; "and," quoth he, "there could never be a finer chance +than just now, when he has only two men with him". + +"How many men shall we need to have to lie in wait for him?" says +Starkad. + +"Weak men shall be as nothing before him," he says; "and it is not safe +to have fewer than thirty men." + +"Where shall we lie in wait?" + +"By Knafahills," he says; "there he will not see us before he comes on +us." + +"Go thou to Sandgil and tell Egil that fifteen of them must busk +themselves thence, and now other fifteen will go hence to Knafahills." + +Thorgeir said to Hildigunna, "This hand shall show thee Gunnar dead this +very night". + +"Nay, but I guess," says she, "that thou wilt hang thy head after ye two +meet." + +So those four, father and sons, fare away from the Threecorner, and +eleven men besides, and they fared to Knafahills, and lay in wait there. + +Sigurd Swinehead came to Sandgil and said, "Hither am I sent by Starkad +and his sons to tell thee, Egil, that ye, father and sons, must fare to +Knafahills to lie in wait for Gunnar". + +"How many shall we fare in all?" says Egil. + +"Fifteen, reckoning me," he says. + +Kol said, "Now I mean to try my hand on Kolskegg". + +"Then I think thou meanest to have a good deal on thy hands," says +Sigurd. + +Egil begged his Easterlings to fare with them. They said they had no +quarrel with Gunnar; "and besides," says Thorir, "ye seem to need much +help here, when a crowd of men shall go against three men". + +Then Egil went away and was wroth. + +Then the mistress of the house said to the Easterling: "In an evil hour +hath my daughter Gudruna humbled herself, and broken the point of her +maidenly pride, and lain by thy side as thy wife, when thou wilt not +dare to follow thy father-in-law, and thou must be a coward," she says. + +"I will go," he says, "with thy husband, and neither of us two shall +come back." + +After that he went to Thorgrim his messmate, and said, "Take thou now +the keys of my chests; for I shall never unlock them again. I bid thee +take for thine own whatever of our goods thou wilt; but sail away from +Iceland, and do not think of revenge for me. But if thou dost not leave +the land, it will be thy death." + +So the Easterling joined himself to their band. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI. + +GUNNAR'S DREAM. + + +Now we must go back and say that Gunnar rides east over Thurso water, +but when he had gone a little way from the river he grew very drowsy, +and bade them lie down and rest there. + +They did so. He fell fast asleep, and struggled much as he slumbered. + +Then Kolskegg said, "Gunnar dreams now". But Hjort said, "I would like +to wake him". + +"That shall not be," said Kolskegg, "but he shall dream his dream out". + +Gunnar lay a very long while, and threw off his shield from him, and he +grew very warm. Kolskegg said, "What hast thou dreamt, kinsman?" + +"That have I dreamt," says Gunnar, "which if I had dreamt it there I +would never have ridden with so few men from Tongue." + +"Tell us thy dream," says Kolskegg. + +Then Gunnar sang a song. + + Chief, that chargest foes in fight! + Now I fear that I have ridden + Short of men from Tongue, this harvest; + Raven's fast I sure shall break. + Lord, that scatters Ocean's fire![24] + This at least, I long to say, + Kite with wolf shall fight for marrow, + Ill I dreamt with wandering thought. + +"I dreamt, methought, that I was riding on by Knafahills, and there I +thought I saw many wolves, and they all made at me; but I turned away +from them straight towards Rangriver, and then methought they pressed +hard on me on all sides, but I kept them at bay, and shot all those +that were foremost, till they came so close to me that I could not use +my bow against them. Then I took my sword, and I smote with it with one +hand, but thrust at them with my bill with the other. Shield myself then +I did not, and methought then I knew not what shielded me. Then I slew +many wolves, and thou, too, Kolskegg; but Hjort methought they pulled +down, and tore open his breast, and one methought had his heart in his +maw; but I grew so wroth that I hewed that wolf asunder just below the +brisket, and after that methought the wolves turned and fled. Now my +counsel is, brother Hjort, that thou ridest back west to Tongue." + +"I will not do that," says Hjort; "though I know my death is sure, I +will stand by thee still." + +Then they rode and came east by Knafahills, and Kolskegg said-- + +"Seest thou, kinsman! many spears stand up by the hills, and men with +weapons." + +"It does not take me unawares," says Gunnar, "that my dream comes true." + +"What is best to be done now?" says Kolskegg; "I guess thou wilt not run +away from them." + +"They shall not have that to jeer about," says Gunnar, "but we will ride +on down to the ness by Rangriver; there is some vantage ground there." + +Now they rode on to the ness, and made them ready there, and as they +rode on past them Kol called out and said-- + +"Whither art thou running to now, Gunnar?" + +But Kolskegg said, "Say the same thing farther on when this day has come +to an end". + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +THE SLAYING OF HJORT AND FOURTEEN MEN. + + +After that Starkad egged on his men, and then they turn down upon them +into the ness. Sigurd Swinehead came first and had a red targe, but in +his other hand he held a cutlass. Gunnar sees him and shoots an arrow at +him from his bow; he held the shield up aloft when he saw the arrow +flying high, and the shaft passes through the shield and into his eye, +and so came out at the nape of his neck, and that was the first man +slain. + +A second arrow Gunnar shot at Ulfhedinn, one of Starkad's men, and that +struck him about the middle and he fell at the feet of a yeoman, and the +yeoman over him. Kolskegg cast a stone and struck the yeoman on the +head, and that was his death-blow. + +Then Starkad said, "'Twill never answer our end that he should use his +bow, but let us come on well and stoutly". Then each man egged on the +other, and Gunnar guarded himself with his bow and arrows as long as he +could; after that he throws them down, and then he takes his bill and +sword and fights with both hands. There is long the hardest fight, but +still Gunnar and Kolskegg slew man after man. + +Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "I vowed to bring Hildigunna thy head, +Gunnar." + +Then Gunnar sang a song-- + + Thou, that battle-sleet down bringeth, + Scarce I trow thou speakest truth; + She, the girl with golden armlets, + Cannot care for such a gift; + But, O serpent's hoard despoiler! + If the maid must have my head-- + Maid whose wrist Rhine's fire[25] wreatheth, + Closer come to crash of spear. + +"She will not think that so much worth having," says Gunnar; "but still +to get it thou wilt have to come nearer!" + +Thorgeir said to his brothers-- + +"Let us run all of us upon him at once; he has no shield and we shall +have his life in our hands." + +So Bork and Thorkel both ran forward and were quicker than Thorgeir. +Bork made a blow at Gunnar, and Gunnar threw his bill so hard in the way +that the sword flew out of Bork's hand; then he sees Thorkel standing on +his other hand within stroke of sword. Gunnar was standing with his body +swayed a little on one side, and he makes a sweep with his sword, and +caught Thorkel on the neck, and off flew his head. + +Kol Egil's son said, "Let me get at Kolskegg," and turning to Kolskegg +he said, "This I have often said, that we two would be just about an +even match in fight". + +"That we can soon prove," says Kolskegg. + +Kol thrust at him with his spear; Kolskegg had just slain a man and had +his hands full, and so he could not throw his shield before the blow, +and the thrust came upon his thigh, on the outside of the limb and went +through it. + +Kolskegg turned sharp round, and strode towards him, and smote him with +his short sword on the thigh, and cut off his leg, and said, "Did it +touch thee or not?" + +"Now," says Kol, "I pay for being bare of my shield." + +So he stood a while on his other leg and looked at the stump. + +"Thou needest not to look at it," said Kolskegg; "'tis even as thou +seest, the leg is off." + +Then Kol fell down dead. + +But when Egil sees this, he runs at Gunnar and makes a cut at him; +Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill and struck him in the middle, and +Gunnar hoists him up on the bill and hurls him out into Rangriver. + +Then Starkad said, "Wretch that thou art indeed, Thorir Easterling, when +thou sittest by; but thy host and father-in-law Egil is slain." + +Then the Easterling sprung up and was very wroth. Hjort had been the +death of two men, and the Easterling leapt on him and smote him full on +the breast. Then Hjort fell down dead on the spot. + +Gunnar sees this and was swift to smite at the Easterling, and cuts him +asunder at the waist. + +A little while after Gunnar hurls the bill at Bork, and struck him in +the middle, and the bill went through him and stuck in the ground. + +Then Kolskegg cut off Hauk Egil's son's head, and Gunnar smites off +Otter's hand at the elbow-joint. Then Starkad said-- + +"Let us fly now. We have not to do with men!" + +Gunnar said, "Ye two will think it a sad story if there is naught on you +to show that ye have both been in the battle". + +Then Gunnar ran after Starkad and Thorgeir, and gave them each a wound. +After that they parted; and Gunnar and his brothers had then wounded +many men who got away from the field, but fourteen lost their lives, and +Hjort the fifteenth. + +Gunnar brought Hjort home, laid out on his shield, and he was buried in +a cairn there. Many men grieved for him, for he had many dear friends. + +Starkad came home, too, and Hildigunna dressed his wounds and +Thorgeir's, and said, "Ye would have given a great deal not to have +fallen out with Gunnar". + +"So we would," says Starkad. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII. + +NJAL'S COUNSEL TO GUNNAR. + + +Steinvor, at Sandgil, besought Thorgrim the Easterling to take in hand +the care of her goods, and not to sail away from Iceland, and so to keep +in mind the death of his messmate and kinsman. + +"My messmate Thorir," said he, "foretold that I should fall by Gunnar's +hand if I stayed here in the land, and he must have foreseen that when +he foreknew his own death." + +"I will give thee," she says, "Gudruna my daughter to wife, and all my +goods into the bargain." + +"I knew not," he said, "that thou wouldest pay such a long price." + +After that they struck the bargain that he shall have her, and the +wedding feast was to be the next summer. + +Now Gunnar rides to Bergthorsknoll, and Kolskegg with him. Njal was out +of doors and his sons, and they went to meet Gunnar and gave them a +hearty welcome. After that they fell a-talking, and Gunnar said-- + +"Hither am I come to seek good counsel and help at thy hand." + +"That is thy due," said Njal. + +"I have fallen into a great strait," says Gunnar, "and slain many men, +and I wish to know what thou wilt make of the matter?" + +"Many will say this," said Njal, "that thou hast been driven into it +much against thy will; but now thou shalt give me time to take counsel +with myself." + +Then Njal went away all by himself, and thought over a plan, and came +back and said-- + +"Now have I thought over the matter somewhat, and it seems to me as +though this must be carried through--if it be carried through at +all--with hardihood and daring. Thorgeir has got my kinswoman Thorfinna +with child, and I will hand over to thee the suit for seduction. Another +suit of outlawry against Starkad I hand over also to thee, for having +hewn trees in my wood on the Threecorner ridge. Both these suits shalt +thou take up. Thou shalt fare too to the spot where ye fought, and dig +up the dead, and name witnesses to the wounds, and make all the dead +outlaws, for that they came against thee with that mind to give thee and +thy brothers wounds or swift death. But if this be tried at the Thing, +and it be brought up against thee that thou first gave Thorgeir a blow, +and so mayest neither plead thine own cause nor that of others, then I +will answer in that matter, and say that I gave thee back thy rights at +the Thingskala-Thing, so that thou shouldest be able to plead thine own +suit as well as that of others, and then there will be an answer to that +point. Thou shalt also go to see Tyrfing of Berianess, and he must hand +over to thee a suit against Aunund of Witchwood, who has the blood feud +after his brother Egil." + +Then first of all Gunnar rode home; but a few nights after Njal's sons +and Gunnar rode thither where the bodies were, and dug them up that were +buried there. Then Gunnar summoned them all as outlaws for assault and +treachery, and rode home after that. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV. + +OF VALGARD AND MORD. + + +That same harvest Valgard the guileful came out to Iceland, and fared +home to Hof. Then Thorgeir went to see Valgard and Mord, and told them +what a strait they were in if Gunnar were to be allowed to make all +those men outlaws whom he had slain. + +Valgard said that must be Njal's counsel, and yet every thing had not +come out yet which he was likely to have taught him. + +Then Thorgeir begged those kinsmen for help and backing, but they held +out a long while, and at last asked for and got a large sum of money. + +That, too, was part of their plan, that Mord should ask for Thorkatla, +Gizur the white's daughter, and Thorgeir was to ride at once west across +the river with Valgard and Mord. + +So the day after they rode twelve of them together and came to Mossfell. +There they were heartily welcomed, and they put the question to Gizur +about the wooing, and the end of it was that the match should be made, +and the wedding feast was to be in half a month's space at Mossfell. + +They ride home, and after that they ride to the wedding, and there was a +crowd of guests to meet them, and it went off well. Thorkatla went home +with Mord and took the housekeeping in hand but Valgard went abroad +again the next summer. + +Now Mord eggs on Thorgeir to set his suit on foot against Gunnar, and +Thorgeir went to find Aunund; he bids him now to begin a suit for +manslaughter for his brother Egil and his sons; "but I will begin one +for the manslaughter of my brothers, and for the wounds of myself and my +father". + +He said he was quite ready to do that, and then they set out, and give +notice of the manslaughter, and summon nine neighbours who dwelt nearest +to the spot where the deed was done. This beginning of the suit was +heard of at Lithend; and then Gunnar rides to see Njal, and told him, +and asked what he wished them to do next. + +"Now," says Njal, "thou shalt summon those who dwell next to the spot, +and thy neighbours; and call men to witness before the neighbours, and +choose out Kol as the slayer in the manslaughter of Hjort thy brother: +for that is lawful and right; then thou shalt give notice of the suit +for manslaughter at Kol's hand, though he be dead. Then shall thou call +men to witness, and summon the neighbours to ride to the Althing to bear +witness of the fact, whether they, Kol and his companions, were on the +spot, and in onslaught when Hjort was slain. Thou shalt also summon +Thorgeir for the suit of seduction, and Aunund at the suit of Tyrfing." + +Gunnar now did in everything as Njal gave him counsel. This men thought +a strange beginning of suits, and now these matters come before the +Thing. Gunnar rides to the Thing, and Njal's sons and the sons of +Sigfus. Gunnar had sent messengers to his cousins and kinsmen, that they +should ride to the Thing, and come with as many men as they could, and +told them that this matter would lead to much strife. So they gathered +together in a great band from the west. + +Mord rode to the Thing and Runolf of the Dale, and those under the +Threecorner, and Aunund of Witchwood. But when they come to the Thing, +they join them in one company with Gizur the white and Geir the priest. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV. + +OF FINES AND ATONEMENTS. + + +Gunnar, and the sons of Sigfus, and Njal's sons, went altogether in one +band, and they marched so swiftly and closely that men who came in their +way had to take heed lest they should get a fall; and nothing was so +often spoken about over the whole Thing as these great lawsuits. + +Gunnar went to meet his cousins, and Olaf and his men greeted him well. +They asked Gunnar about the fight, but he told them all about it, and +was just in all he said; he told them, too, what steps he had taken +since. + +Then Olaf said, "'Tis worth much to see how close Njal stands by thee in +all counsel". + +Gunnar said he should never be able to repay that, but then he begged +them for help; and they said that was his due. + +Now the suits on both sides came before the court, and each pleads his +cause. + +Mord asked--"How it was that a man could have the right to set a suit on +foot who, like Gunnar, had already made himself an outlaw by striking +Thorgeir a blow?" + +"Wast thou," answered Njal, "at Thingskala-Thing last autumn?" + +"Surely I was," says Mord. + +"Heardest thou," asks Njal, "how Gunnar offered him full atonement? Then +I gave back Gunnar his right to do all lawful deeds." + +"That is right and good law," says Mord, "but how does the matter stand +if Gunnar has laid the slaying of Hjort at Kol's door, when it was the +Easterling that slew him?" + +"That was right and lawful," says Njal, "when he chose him as the slayer +before witnesses." + +"That was lawful and right, no doubt," says Mord; "but for what did +Gunnar summon them all as outlaws?" + +"Thou needest not to ask about that," says Njal, "when they went out to +deal wounds and manslaughter." + +"Yes," says Mord, "but neither befell Gunnar." + +"Gunnar's brothers," said Njal, "Kolskegg and Hjort, were there, and one +of them got his death and the other a flesh wound." + +"Thou speakest nothing but what is law," says Mord, "though it is hard +to abide by it." + +Then Hjallti Skeggis son of Thursodale, stood forth and said-- + +"I have had no share in any of your lawsuits; but I wish to know whether +thou wilt do something, Gunnar, for the sake of my words and +friendship." + +"What askest thou?" says Gunnar. + +"This," he says, "that ye lay down the whole suit to the award and +judgment of good men and true." + +"If I do so," said Gunnar, "then thou shalt never be against me, +whatever men I may have to deal with." + +"I will give my word to that," says Hjallti. + +After that he tried his best with Gunnar's adversaries, and brought it +about that they were all set at one again. And after that each side gave +the other pledges of peace; but for Thorgeir's wound came the suit for +seduction, and for the hewing in the wood, Starkad's wound. Thorgeir's +brothers were atoned for by half fines, but half fell away for the +onslaught on Gunnar. Egil's staying and Tyrfing's lawsuit were set off +against each other. For Hjort's slaying, the slaying of Kol and of the +Easterling were to come, and as for all the rest, they were atoned for +with half fines. + +Njal was in this award, and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Hjallti +Skeggi's son. + +Njal had much money out at interest with Starkad, and at Sandgil too, +and he gave it all to Gunnar to make up these fines. + +So many friends had Gunnar at the Thing, that he not only paid up there +and then all the fines on the spot, but gave besides gifts to many +chiefs who had lent him help; and he had the greatest honour from the +suit; and all were agreed in this, that no man was his match in all the +South Quarter. + +So Gunnar rides home from the Thing and sits there in peace, but still +his adversaries envied him much for his honour. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVI. + +OF THORGEIR OTKELL'S SON. + + +Now we must tell of Thorgeir Otkell's son; he grew up to be a tall +strong man, true-hearted and guileless, but rather too ready to listen +to fair words. He had many friends among the best men, and was much +beloved by his kinsmen. + +Once on a time Thorgeir Starkad's son had been to see his kinsman Mord. + +"I can ill brook," he says, "that settlement of matters which we and +Gunnar had, but I have bought thy help so long as we two are above +ground; I wish thou wouldest think out some plan and lay it deep; this +is why I say it right out, because I know that thou art Gunnar's +greatest foe, and he too thine. I will much increase thine honour if +thou takest pains in this matter." + +"It will always seem as though I were greedy of gain, but so it must be. +Yet it will be hard to take care that thou mayest not seem to be a +truce-breaker, or peace-breaker, and yet carry out thy point. But now I +have been told that Kolskegg means to try a suit, and regain a fourth +part of Moeidsknoll, which was paid to thy father as an atonement for +his son. He has taken up this suit for his mother, but this too is +Gunnar's counsel, to pay in goods and not to let the land go. We must +wait till this comes about, and then declare that he has broken the +settlement made with you. He has also taken a cornfield from Thorgeir +Otkell's son, and so broken the settlement with him too. Thou shalt go +to see Thorgeir Otkell's son, and bring him into the matter with thee, +and then fall on Gunnar; but if ye fail in aught of this, and cannot get +him hunted down, still ye shall set on him over and over again, I must +tell thee that Njal has 'spaed' his fortune, and foretold about his +life, if he slays more than once in the same stock, that it would lead +him to his death, if it so fell out that he broke the settlement made +after the deed. Therefore shalt thou bring Thorgeir into the suit, +because he has already slain his father; and now, if ye two are together +in an affray, thou shalt shield thyself; but he will go boldly on, and +then Gunnar will slay him. Then he has slain twice in the same stock, +but thou shalt fly from the fight. And if this is to drag him to his +death he will break the settlement afterwards, and so we may wait till +then." + +After that Thorgeir goes home and tells his father secretly. Then they +agreed among themselves that they should work out this plot by stealth. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. + +OF THORGEIR STARKAD'S SON. + + +Sometime after Thorgeir Starkad's son fared to Kirkby to see his +namesake, and they went aside to speak, and talked secretly all day; but +at the end Thorgeir Starkad's son, gave his namesake a spear inlaid with +gold, and rode home afterwards; they made the greatest friendship the +one with the other. + +At the Thingskala-Thing in the autumn, Kolskegg laid claim to the land +at Moeidsknoll, but Gunnar took witness, and offered ready money, or +another piece of land at a lawful price to those under the Threecorner. + +Thorgeir took witness also, that Gunnar was breaking the settlement made +between them. + +After that the Thing was broken up, and so the next year wore away. + +Those namesakes were always meeting, and there was the greatest +friendship between them. Kolskegg spoke to Gunnar and said-- + +"I am told that there is great friendship between those namesakes, and +it is the talk of many men that they will prove untrue, and I would that +thou wouldst be ware of thyself." + +"Death will come to me when it will come," says Gunnar, "wherever I may +be, if that is my fate." + +Then they left off talking about it. + +About autumn, Gunnar gave out that they would work one week there at +home, and the next down in the isles, and so make an end of their +haymaking. At the same time, he let it be known that every man would +have to leave the house, save himself and the women. + +Thorgeir under Threecorner goes to see his namesake, but as soon as they +met they began to talk after their wont, and Thorgeir Starkad's son, +said-- + +"I would that we could harden our hearts and fall on Gunnar." + +"Well," says Thorgeir Otkell's son, "every struggle with Gunnar has had +but one end, that few have gained the day; besides, methinks it sounds +ill to be called a peace-breaker." + +"They have broken the peace, not we," says Thorgeir Starkad's son. +"Gunnar took away from thee thy cornfield; and he has taken Moeidsknoll +from my father and me." + +And so they settle it between them to fall on Gunnar; and then Thorgeir +said that Gunnar would be all alone at home in a few nights' space, "and +then thou shalt come to meet me with eleven men, but I will have as +many". + +After that Thorgeir rode home. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII. + +OF NJAL AND THOSE NAMESAKES. + + +Now when Kolskegg and the house-carles had been three nights in the +isles, Thorgeir Starkad's son had news of that, and sends word to his +namesake that he should come to meet him on Threecorner ridge. + +After that Thorgeir of the Threecorner busked him with eleven men; he +rides up on the ridge and there waits for his namesake. + +And now Gunnar is at home in his house, and those namesakes ride into a +wood hard by. There such a drowsiness came over them that they could do +naught else but sleep. So they hung their shields up in the boughs, and +tethered their horses, and laid their weapons by their sides. + +Njal was that night up in Thorolfsfell, and could not sleep at all, but +went out and in by turns. + +Thorhilda asked Njal why he could not sleep? + +"Many things now flit before my eyes," said he; "I see many fetches of +Gunnar's bitter foes, and what is very strange is this, they seem to be +mad with rage, and yet they fare without plan or purpose." + +A little after, a man rode up to the door and got off his horse's back +and went in, and there was come the shepherd of Thorhilda and her +husband. + +"Didst thou find the sheep?" she asked. + +"I found what might be more worth," said he. + +"What was that?" asked Njal. + +"I found twenty-four men up in the wood yonder; they had tethered their +horses, but slept themselves. Their shields they had hung up in the +boughs." + +But so closely had he looked at them that he told of all their weapons +and war-gear and clothes, and then Njal knew plainly who each of them +must have been, and said to him-- + +"'Twere good hiring if there were many such shepherds; and this shall +ever stand to thy good; but still I will send thee on an errand." + +He said at once he would go. + +"Thou shalt go," says Njal, "to Lithend and tell Gunnar that he must +fare to Gritwater, and then send after men; but I will go to meet with +those who are in the wood and scare them away. This thing hath well come +to pass, so that they shall gain nothing by this journey, but lose +much." + +The shepherd set off and told Gunnar as plainly as he could the whole +story. Then Gunnar rode to Gritwater and summoned men to him. + +Now it is to be told of Njal how he rides to meet these namesakes. + +"Unwarily ye lie here," he says, "or for what end shall this journey +have been made? And Gunnar is not a man to be trifled with. But if the +truth must be told then, this is the greatest treason. Ye shall also +know this, that Gunnar is gathering force, and he will come here in the +twinkling of an eye, and slay you all, unless ye ride away home." + +They bestirred them at once, for they were in great fear, and took their +weapons, and mounted their horses and galloped home under the +Threecorner. + +Njal fared to meet Gunnar and bade him not to break up his company. + +"But I will go and seek for an atonement; now they will be finely +frightened; but for this treason no less a sum shall be paid when one +has to deal with all of them, than shall be paid for the slaying of one +or other of those namesakes, though such a thing should come to pass. +This money I will take into my keeping, and so lay it out that it may be +ready to thy hand when thou hast need of it." + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX. + +OLAF THE PEACOCK'S GIFTS TO GUNNAR. + + +Gunnar thanked Njal for his aid, and Njal rode away under the +Threecorner, and told those namesakes that Gunnar would not break up his +band of men before he had fought it out with them. + +They began to offer terms for themselves, and were full of dread, and +bade Njal to come between them with an offer of atonement. + +Njal said that could only be if there were no guile behind. Then they +begged him to have a share in the award, and said they would hold to +what he awarded. + +Njal said he would make no award unless it were at the Thing, and unless +the best men were by; and they agreed to that. + +Then Njal came between them, so that they gave each other pledges of +peace and atonement. + +Njal was to utter the award, and to name as his fellows those whom he +chose. + +A little while after those namesakes met Mord Valgard's son, and Mord +blamed them much for having laid the matter in Njal's hands, when he was +Gunnar's great friend. He said that would turn out ill for them. + +Now men ride to the Althing after their wont, and now both sides are at +the Thing. + +Njal begged for a hearing, and asked all the best men who were come +thither, what right at law they thought Gunnar had against those +namesakes for their treason. They said they thought such a man had great +right on his side. + +Njal went on to ask, whether he had a right of action against all of +them, or whether the leaders had to answer for them all in the suit? + +They say that most of the blame would fall on the leaders, but a great +deal still on them all. + +"Many will say this," said Mord, "that it was not without a cause when +Gunnar broke the settlement made with those namesakes." + +"That is no breach of settlement," says Njal, "that any man should take +the law against another; for with law shall our land be built up and +settled, and with lawlessness wasted and spoiled." + +Then Njal tells them that Gunnar had offered land for Moeidsknoll, or +other goods. + +Then those namesakes thought they had been beguiled by Mord, and scolded +him much, and said that this fine was all his doing. + +Njal named twelve men as judges in the suit, and then every man paid a +hundred in silver who had gone out, but each of those namesakes two +hundred. + +Njal took this money into his keeping, but either side gave the other +pledges of peace, and Njal gave out the terms. + +Then Gunnar rode from the Thing west to the Dales, till he came to +Hjardarholt, and Olaf the peacock gave him a hearty welcome. There he +sat half a month, and rode far and wide about the Dales, and all +welcomed him with joyful hands. But at their parting Olaf said-- + +"I will give thee three things of price, a gold ring, and a cloak which +Moorkjartan the Erse king owned, and a hound that was given me in +Ireland; he is big, and no worse follower than a sturdy man. Besides, it +is part of his nature that he has man's wit, and he will bay at every +man whom he knows is thy foe, but never at thy friends; he can see, too, +in any man's face, whether he means thee well or ill, and he will lay +down his life to be true to thee. This hound's name is Sam." + +After that he spoke to the hound, "Now shalt thou follow Gunnar, and do +him all the service thou canst". + +The hound went at once to Gunnar and laid himself down at his feet. + +Olaf bade Gunnar to be ware of himself, and said he had many enviers, +"For now thou art thought to be a famous man throughout all the land". + +Gunnar thanked him for his gifts and good counsel, and rode home. + +Now Gunnar sits at home for some time, and all is quiet. + + + + +CHAPTER LXX. + +MORD'S COUNSEL. + + +A little after, those namesakes and Mord met, and they were not at all +of one mind. They thought they had lost much goods for Mord's sake, but +had got nothing in return; and they bade him set on foot some other plot +which might do Gunnar harm. + +Mord said so it should be. "But now this is my counsel, that thou, +Thorgeir Otkell's son shouldest beguile Ormilda, Gunnar's kinswoman; but +Gunnar will let his displeasure grow against thee at that, and then I +will spread that story abroad that Gunnar will not suffer thee to do +such things." + +"Then ye two shall some time after make an attack on Gunnar, but still +ye must not seek him at home, for there is no thinking of that while the +hound is alive." + +So they settled this plan among them that it should be brought about. + +Thorgeir began to turn his steps towards Ormilda, and Gunnar thought +that ill, and great dislike arose between them. + +So the winter wore away. Now comes the summer, and their secret meetings +went on oftener than before. + +As for Thorgeir of the Threecorner and Mord, they were always meeting; +and they plan an onslaught on Gunnar, when he rides down to the isles to +see after the work done by his house-carles. + +One day Mord was ware of it when Gunnar rode down to the isles, and sent +a man off under the Threecorner to tell Thorgeir that then would be the +likeliest time to try to fall on Gunnar. + +They bestirred them at once, and fare thence twelve together, but when +they came to Kirkby there they found thirteen men waiting for them. + +Then they made up their minds to ride down to Rangriver and lie in wait +there for Gunnar. + +But when Gunnar rode up from the isles, Kolskegg rode with him. Gunnar +had his bow and his arrows and his bill. Kolskegg had his short sword +and weapons to match. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXI. + +THE SLAYING OF THORGEIR OTKELL'S SON. + + +That token happened as Gunnar and his brother rode up towards Rangriver, +that much blood burst out on the bill. + +Kolskegg asked what that might mean. + +Gunnar says, "If such tokens took place in other lands, it was called +'wound-drops,' and Master Oliver told me also that this only happened +before great fights". + +So they rode on till they saw men sitting by the river on the other +side, and they had tethered their horses. + +Gunnar said, "Now we have an ambush". + +Kolskegg answered, "Long have they been faithless; but what is best to +be done now?" + +"We will gallop up alongside them to the ford," says Gunnar, "and there +make ready for them." + +The others saw that and turned at once towards them. + +Gunnar strings his bow, and takes his arrows and throws them on the +ground before him, and shoots as soon as ever they come within shot; by +that Gunnar wounded many men, but some he slew. + +Then Thorgeir Otkell's son spoke and said, "This is no use; let us make +for him as hard as we can". + +They did so, and first went Aunund the fair, Thorgeir's kinsman. Gunnar +hurled the bill at him, and it fell on his shield and clove it in twain, +but the bill rushed through Aunund. Augmund Shockhead rushed at Gunnar +behind his back. Kolskegg saw that and cut off at once both Augmund's +legs from under him, and hurled him out into Rangriver, and he was +drowned there and then. + +Then a hard battle arose; Gunnar cut with one hand and thrust with the +other. Kolskegg slew some men and wounded many. + +Thorgeir's Starkad's son called out to his namesake, "It looks very +little as though thou hadst a father to avenge". + +"True it is," he answers, "that I do not make much way, but yet thou +hast not followed in my footsteps; still I will not bear thy +reproaches." + +With that he rushes at Gunnar in great wrath, and thrust his spear +through his shield, and so on through his arm. + +Gunnar gave the shield such a sharp twist that the spearhead broke short +off at the socket. Gunnar sees that another man was come within reach of +his sword, and he smites at him and deals him his death-blow. After +that, he clutches his bill with both hands; just then Thorgeir Otkell's +son had come near him with a drawn sword, and Gunnar turns on him in +great wrath, and drives the bill through him, and lifts him up aloft, +and casts him out into Rangriver, and he drifts down towards the ford, +and stuck fast there on a stone; and the name of that ford has since +been Thorgeir's ford. + +Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "Let us fly now; no victory will be +fated to us this time". + +So they all turned and fled from the field. + +"Let us follow them up now," says Kolskegg, "and take thou thy bow and +arrows, and thou wilt come within bow-shot of Thorgeir Starkad's son." + +Then Gunnar sang a song. + + Reaver of rich river-treasure, + Plundered will our purses be, + Though to-day we wound no other + Warriors wight in play of spears; + Aye, if I for all these sailors + Lowly lying, fines must pay-- + This is why I hold my hand, + Hearken, brother dear, to me. + +"Our purses will be emptied," says Gunnar, "by the time that these are +atoned for who now lie here dead." + +"Thou wilt never lack money," says Kolskegg; "but Thorgier will never +leave off before he compasses thy death." + +Gunnar sung another song. + + Lord of water-skates[26] that skim + Sea-king's fields, more good as he, + Shedding wounds' red stream, must stand + In my way ere I shall wince. + I, the golden armlets' warder, + Snakelike twined around my wrist, + Ne'er shall shun a foeman's faulchion + Flashing bright in din of fight. + +"He, and a few more as good as he," says Gunnar, "must stand in my path +ere I am afraid of them." + +After that they ride home and tell the tidings. + +Hallgerda was well pleased to hear them, and praised the deed much. + +Rannveig said, "May be the deed is good; but somehow," she says, "I feel +too downcast about it to think that good can come of it". + + + + +CHAPTER LXXII. + +OF THE SUITS FOR MANSLAUGHTER AT THE THING. + + +These tidings were spread far and wide, and Thorgeir's death was a great +grief to many a man. Gizur the white and his men rode to the spot and +gave notice of the manslaughter, and called the neighbours on the +inquest to the Thing. Then they rode home west. + +Njal and Gunnar met and talked about the battle. Then Njal said to +Gunnar-- + +"Now be ware of thyself! Now hast thou slain twice in the same stock; +and so now take heed to thy behaviour, and think that it is as much as +thy life is worth, if thou dost not hold to the settlement that is +made." + +"Nor do I mean to break it in any way," says Gunnar, "but still I shall +need thy help at the Thing." + +"I will hold to my faithfulness to thee," said Njal, "till my death +day." + +Then Gunnar rides home. Now the Thing draws near; and each side gather a +great company; and it is a matter of much talk at the Thing how these +suits will end. + +Those two, Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, talked with each other +as to who should give notice of the suit of manslaughter after Thorgeir, +and the end of it was that Gizur took the suit on his hand, and gave +notice of it at the Hill of Laws, and spoke in these words:-- + +"I gave notice of a suit for assault laid down by law against Gunnar +Hamond's son; for that he rushed with an onslaught laid down by law on +Thorgeir Otkell's son, and wounded him with a body wound, which proved a +death wound, so that Thorgeir got his death. + +"I say on this charge he ought to become a convicted outlaw, not to be +fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or harboured in any need. + +"I say that his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to the men of +the Quarter, whose right it is by law to seize the goods of outlaws. + +"I give notice of this charge in the Quarter Court, into which this suit +ought by law to come. + +"I give this lawful notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill of +Laws. + +"I give notice now of this suit, and of full forfeiture and outlawry +against Gunnar Hamond's son." + +A second time Gizur took witness, and gave notice of a suit against +Gunnar Hamond's son, for that he had wounded Thorgeir Otkell's son with +a body wound which was a death wound, and from which Thorgeir got his +death, on such and such a spot when Gunnar first sprang on Thorgeir with +an onslaught, laid down by law. + +After that he gave notice of this declaration as he had done of the +first. Then he asked in what Quarter Court the suit lay, and in what +house in the district the defendant dwelt. + +When that was over men left the Hill of Laws, and all said that he spoke +well. + +Gunnar kept himself well in hand and said little or nothing. + +Now the Thing wears away till the day when the courts were to be set. + +Then Gunnar stood looking south by the court of the men of Rangriver, +and his men with him. + +Gizur stood looking north, and calls his witnesses, and bade Gunnar to +listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the suit, and to all the +steps and proofs which he meant to bring forward. After that he took his +oath, and then he brought forward the suit in the same shape before the +court, as he had given notice of it before. Then he made them bring +forward witness of the notice, then he bade the neighbours on the +inquest to take their seats, and called upon Gunnar to challenge the +inquest. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIII. + +OF THE ATONEMENT. + + +Then Njal spoke and said-- + +"Now I can no longer sit still and take no part. Let us go to where the +neighbours sit on the inquest." + +They went thither and challenged four neighbours out of the inquest, but +they called on the five that were left to answer the following question +in Gunnar's favour "whether those namesakes had gone out with that mind +to the place of meeting to do Gunnar a mischief if they could?" + +But all bore witness at once that so it was. + +Then Njal called this a lawful defence to the suit, and said he would +bring forward proof of it unless they gave over the suit to arbitration. + +Then many chiefs joined in praying for an atonement, and so it was +brought about that twelve men should utter an award in the matter. + +Then either side went and handselled this settlement to the other. +Afterwards the award was made, and the sum to be paid settled, and it +was all to be paid down then and there at the Thing. + +But besides, Gunnar was to go abroad and Kolskegg with him, and they +were to be away three winters; but if Gunnar did not go abroad when he +had a chance of a passage, then he was to be slain by the kinsmen of +those whom he had killed. + +Gunnar made no sign, as though he thought the terms of atonement were +not good. He asked Njal for that money which he had handed over to him +to keep. Njal had laid the money out at interest and paid it down all at +once, and it just came to what Gunnar had to pay for himself. + +Now they ride home. Gunnar and Njal rode both together from the Thing, +and then Njal said to Gunnar-- + +"Take good care, messmate, that thou keepest to this atonement, and bear +in mind what we have spoken about; for though thy former journey abroad +brought thee to great honour, this will be a far greater honour to thee. +Thou wilt come back with great glory, and live to be an old man, and no +man here will then tread on thy heel; but if thou dost not fare away, +and so breakest thy atonement, then thou wilt be slain here in the land, +and that is ill knowing for those who are thy friends." + +Gunnar said he had no mind to break the atonement, and he rides home and +told them of the settlement. + +Rannveig said it was well that he fared abroad, for then they must find +some one else to quarrel. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIV. + +KOLSKEGG GOES ABROAD. + + +Thrain Sigfus' son said to his wife that he meant to fare abroad that +summer. She said that was well. So he took his passage with Hogni the +white. + +Gunnar took his passage with Arnfin of the Bay; and Kolskegg was to go +with him. + +Grim And Helgi, Njal's sons, asked their father's leave to go abroad +too, and Njal said-- + +"This foreign voyage ye will find hard work, so hard that it will be +doubtful whether ye keep your lives; but still ye two will get some +honour and glory, but it is not unlikely that a quarrel will arise out +of your journey when ye come back." + +Still they kept on asking their father to let them go, and the end of it +was that he bade them go if they chose. + +Then they got them a passage with Bard the black, and Olaf Kettle's son +of Elda; and it is the talk of the whole country that all the better men +in that district were leaving it. + +By this time Gunnar's sons, Hogni and Grani, were grown up; they were +men of very different turn of mind. Grani had much of his mother's +temper, but Hogni was kind and good. + +Gunnar made men bear down the wares of his brother and himself to the +ship, and when all Gunnar's baggage had come down, and the ship was all +but "boun," then Gunnar rides to Bergthorsknoll, and to other homesteads +to see men, and thanked them all for the help they had given him. + +The day after he gets ready early for his journey to the ship, and told +all his people that he would ride away for good and all, and men took +that much to heart, but still they said that they looked to his coming +back afterwards. + +Gunnar threw his arms round each of the household when he was "boun," +and every one of them went out of doors with him; he leans on the butt +of his spear and leaps into the saddle, and he and Kolskegg ride away. + +They ride down along Markfleet, and just then Gunnar's horse tripped and +threw him off. He turned with his face up towards the Lithe and the +homestead at Lithend, and said-- + +"Fair is the Lithe; so fair that it has never seemed to me so fair; the +corn fields are white to harvest, and the home mead is mown; and now I +will ride back home, and not fare abroad at all." + +"Do not this joy to thy foes," says Kolskegg, "by breaking thy atonement, +for no man could think thou wouldst do thus, and thou mayst be sure that +all will happen as Njal has said." + +"I will not go away any whither," says Gunnar, "and so I would thou +shouldest do too." + +"That shall not be," says Kolskegg; "I will never do a base thing in +this, nor in anything else which is left to my good faith; and this is +that one thing that could tear us asunder; but tell this to my kinsmen +and to my mother, that I never mean to see Iceland again, for I shall +soon learn that thou art dead, brother, and then there will be nothing +left to bring me back." + +So they parted there and then. Gunnar rides home to Lithend, but +Kolskegg rides to the ship, and goes abroad. + +Hallgerda was glad to see Gunnar when he came home, but his mother said +little or nothing. + +Now Gunnar sits at home that fall and winter, and had not many men with +him. + +Now the winter leaves the farmyard. Olaf the peacock asked Gunnar and +Hallgerda to come and stay with him; but as for the farm, to put it into +the hands of his mother and his son Hogni. + +Gunnar thought that a good thing at first, and agreed to it, but when it +came to the point he would not do it. + +But at the Thing next summer, Gizur the white, and Geir the priest, gave +notice of Gunnar's outlawry at the Hill of Laws; and before the Thing +broke up Gizur summoned all Gunnar's foes to meet in the "Great +Rift".[27] He summoned Starkad under the Threecorner, and Thorgeir his +son; Mord and Valgard the guileful; Geir the priest and Hjalti Skeggi's +son; Thorbrand and Asbrand, Thorleik's sons; Eyjulf, and Aunund his son, +Aunund of Witchwood and Thorgrim the Easterling of Sandgil. + +Then Gizur spoke and said, "I will make you all this offer, that we go +out against Gunnar this summer and slay him". + +"I gave my word to Gunnar," said Hjalti, "here at the Thing, when he +showed himself most willing to yield to my prayer, that I would never be +in any attack upon him; and so it shall be." + +Then Hjalti went away, but those who were left behind made up their +minds to make an onslaught on Gunnar, and shook hands on the bargain, +and laid a fine on any one that left the undertaking. + +Mord was to keep watch and spy out when there was the best chance of +falling on him, and they were forty men in this league, and they thought +it would be a light thing for them to hunt down Gunnar, now that +Kolskegg was away, and Thrain and many other of Gunnar's friends. + +Men ride from the Thing, and Njal went to see Gunnar, and told him of +his outlawry, and how an onslaught was planned against him. + +"Me thinks thou art the best of friends," says Gunnar; "thou makest me +aware of what is meant." + +"Now," says Njal, "I would that Skarphedinn should come to thy house, +and my son Hauskuld; they will lay down their lives for thy life." + +"I will not," says Gunnar, "that thy sons should be slain for my sake, +and thou hast a right to look for other things from me." + +"All thy care will come to nothing," says Njal; "quarrels will turn +thitherward where my sons are as soon as thou art dead and gone." + +"That is not unlikely," says Gunnar, "but still it would mislike me that +they fell into them for me; but this one thing I will ask of thee, that +ye see after my son Hogni, but I say naught of Grani, for he does not +behave himself much after my mind." + +Njal rode home, and gave his word to do that. + +It is said that Gunnar rode to all meetings of men, and to all lawful +Things, and his foes never dared to fall on him. + +And so some time went on that he went about as a free and guiltless +man. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXV. + +THE RIDING TO LITHEND. + + +Next autumn Mord Valgard's son, sent word that Gunnar would be all alone +at home, but all his people would be down in the isles to make an end of +their haymaking. Then Gizur the white and Geir the priest rode east over +the rivers as soon as ever they heard that, and so east across the sands +to Hof. Then they sent word to Starkad under the Threecorner, and there +they all met who were to fall on Gunnar, and took counsel how they might +best bring it about. + +Mord said that they could not come on Gunnar unawares, unless they +seized the farmer who dwelt at the next homestead, whose name was +Thorkell, and made him go against his will with them to lay hands on the +hound Sam, and unless he went before them to the homestead to do this. + +Then they set out east for Lithend, but sent to fetch Thorkell. They +seized him and bound him, and gave him two choices--one that they would +slay him, or else he must lay hands on the hound; but he chooses rather +to save his life, and went with them. + +There was a beaten sunk road, between fences, above the farm yard at +Lithend, and there they halted with their band. Master Thorkell went up +to the homestead, and the tyke lay on the top of the house, and he +entices the dog away with him into a deep hollow in the path. Just then +the hound sees that there are men before them, and he leaps on Thorkell +and tears his belly open. + +Aunund of Witchwood smote the hound on the head with his axe, so that +the blade sunk into the brain. The hound gave such a great howl that +they thought it passing strange, and he fell down dead. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVI. + +GUNNAR'S SLAYING. + + +Gunnar woke up in his hall and said-- + +"Thou hast been sorely treated, Sam, my fosterling, and this warning is +so meant that our two deaths will not be far apart." + +Gunnar's hall was made all of wood, and roofed with beams above, and +there were window-slits under the beams that carried the roof, and they +were fitted with shutters. + +Gunnar slept in a loft above the hall, and so did Hallgerda and his +mother. + +Now when they were come near to the house they knew not whether Gunnar +were at home, and bade that some one would go straight up to the house +and see if he could find out. But the rest sat them down on the ground. + +Thorgrim the Easterling went and began to climb up on the hall; Gunnar +sees that a red kirtle passed before the windowslit, and thrusts out the +bill, and smote him on the middle. Thorgrim's feet slipped from under +him, and he dropped his shield, and down he toppled from the roof. + +Then he goes to Gizur and his band as they sat on the ground. + +Gizur looked at him and said-- + +"Well, is Gunnar at home?" + +"Find that out for yourselves," said Thorgrim; "but this I am sure of, +that his bill is at home," and with that he fell down dead. + +Then they made for the buildings. Gunnar shot out arrows at them, and +made a stout defence, and they could get nothing done. Then some of them +got into the out-houses and tried to attack him thence, but Gunnar found +them out with his arrows there also, and still they could get nothing +done. + +So it went on for while, then they took a rest, and made a second +onslaught. Gunnar still shot out at them, and they could do nothing, and +fell off the second time. Then Gizur the white said- + +"Let us press on harder; nothing comes of our onslaught." + +Then they made a third bout of it, and were long at it, and then they +fell off again. + +Gunnar said, "There lies on arrow outside on the wall, and it is one of +their shafts; I will shoot at them with it, and it will be a shame to +them if they get a hurt from their own weapons". + +His mother said, "Do not so, my son; nor rouse them again when they have +already fallen off from the attack". + +But Gunnar caught up the arrow and shot it after them, and struck Eylif +Aunund's son, and he got a great wound; he was standing all by himself, +and they knew not that he was wounded. + +"Out came an arm yonder," says Gizur, "and there was a gold ring on it, +and took an arrow from the roof and they would not look outside for +shafts if there were enough in doors; and now ye shall make a fresh +onslaught." + +"Let us burn him house and all," said Mord. + +"That shall never be," says Gizur, "though I knew that my life lay on +it; but it is easy for thee to find out some plan, such a cunning man as +thou art said to be." + +Some ropes lay there on the ground, and they were often used to +strengthen the roof. Then Mord said--"Let us take the ropes and throw +one end over the end of the carrying beams, but let us fasten the other +end to these rocks and twist them tight with levers, and so pull the +roof off the hall." + +So they took the ropes and all lent a hand to carry this out, and before +Gunnar was aware of it, they had pulled the whole roof off the hall. + +Then Gunnar still shoots with his bow so that they could never come nigh +him. Then Mord said again that they must burn the house over Gunnar's +head. But Gizur said-- + +"I know not why thou wilt speak of that which no one else wishes, and +that shall never be." + +Just then Thorbrand Thorleik's son sprang up on the roof, and cuts +asunder Gunnar's bowstring. Gunnar clutches the bill with both hands, +and turns on him quickly and drives it through him, and hurls him down +on the ground. + +Then up sprung Asbrand his brother. Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill, +and he threw his shield before the blow, but the bill passed clean +through the shield and broke both his arms, and down he fell from the +wall. + +Gunnar had already wounded eight men and slain those twain.[28] By that +time Gunnar had got two wounds, and all men said that he never once +winced either at wounds or death. + +Then Gunnar said to Hallgerda, "Give me two locks of thy hair, and ye +two, my mother and thou, twist them together into a bowstring for me." + +"Does aught lie on it?" she says. + +"My life lies on it," he said; "for they will never come to close +quarters with me if I can keep them off with my bow." + +"Well!" she says, "now I will call to thy mind that slap on the face +which thou gavest me; and I care never a whit whether thou holdest out a +long while or a short." + +Then Gunnar sang a song-- + + Each who hurls the gory javelin + Hath some honour of his own, + Now my helpmeet wimple-hooded + Hurries all my fame to earth. + No one owner of a war-ship + Often asks for little things, + Woman, fond of Frodi's flour,[29] + Wends her hand as she is wont. + +"Every one has something to boast of," says Gunnar, "and I will ask thee +no more for this." + +"Thou behavest ill," said Rannveig, "and this shame shall long be had in +mind." + +Gunnar made a stout and bold defence, and now wounds other eight men +with such sore wounds that many lay at death's door. Gunnar keeps them +all off until he fell worn out with toil. Then they wounded him with +many and great wounds, but still he got away out of their hands, and +held his own against them a while longer, but at last it came about that +they slew him. + +Of this defence of his, Thorkell the Skald of Goeta-Elf sang in the +verses which follow-- + + We have heard how south in Iceland + Gunnar guarded well himself, + Boldly battle's thunder wielding, + Fiercest Iceman on the wave; + Hero of the golden collar, + Sixteen with the sword he wounded; + In the shock that Odin loveth, + Two before him lasted death. + +But this is what Thormod Olaf's son sang-- + + None that scattered sea's bright sunbeams,[30] + Won more glorious fame than Gunnar, + So runs fame of old in Iceland, + Fitting fame of heathen men; + Lord of fight when helms were crashing, + Lives of foeman twain he took, + Wielding bitter steel he sorely + Wounded twelve, and four besides. + +Then Gizur spoke and said: "We have now laid low to earth a mighty +chief, and hard work has it been, and the fame of this defence of his +shall last as long as men live in this land". + +After that he went to see Rannveig and said, "Wilt thou grant us earth +here for two of our men who are dead, that they may lie in a cairn +here?" + +"All the more willingly for two," she says, "because I wish with all my +heart I had to grant it to all of you." + +"It must be forgiven thee," he says, "to speak thus, for thou hast had a +great loss." + +Then he gave orders that no man should spoil or rob anything there. + +After that they went away. + +Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "We may not be in our house at home +for the sons of Sigfus, unless thou Gizur or thou Geir be here south +some little while". + +"This shall be so," says Gizur, and they cast lots, and the lot fell on +Geir to stay behind. + +After that he came to the Point, and set up his house there; he had a +son whose name was Hroald; he was base born, and his mother's name was +Biartey; he boasted that he had given Gunnar his death-blow. Hroald was +at the Point with his father. + +Thorgeir Starkad's son boasted of another wound which he had given to +Gunnar. + +Gizur sat at home at Mossfell. Gunnar's slaying was heard of, and ill +spoken of throughout the whole country, and his death was a great grief +to many a man. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVII. + +GUNNAR SINGS A SONG DEAD. + + +Njal could ill brook Gunnar's death, nor could the sons of Sigfus brook +it either. + +They asked whether Njal thought they had any right to give notice of a +suit of manslaughter for Gunnar, or to set the suit on foot. + +He said that could not be done, as the man had been outlawed; but said +it would be better worth trying to do something to wound their glory, +by slaying some men in vengeance after him. + +They cast a cairn over Gunnar, and made him sit upright in the cairn. +Rannveig would not hear of his bill being buried in the cairn, but said +he alone should have it as his own, who was ready to avenge Gunnar. So +no one took the bill. + +She was so hard on Hallgerda, that she was on the point of killing her; +and she said that she had been the cause of her son's slaying. + +Then Hallgerda fled away to Gritwater, and her son Grani with her, and +they shared the goods between them; Hogni was to have the land at +Lithend and the homestead on it, but Grani was to have the land let out +on lease. + +Now this token happened at Lithend, that the neat-herd and the +serving-maid were driving cattle by Gunnar's cairn. They thought that he +was merry, and that he was singing inside the cairn. They went home and +told Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, of this token, but she bade them go and +tell Njal. + +Then they went over to Bergthorsknoll and told Njal, but he made them +tell it three times over. + +After that, he had a long talk all alone with Skarphedinn; and +Skarphedinn took his weapons and goes with them to Lithend. + +Rannveig and Hogni gave him a hearty welcome, and were very glad to see +him. Rannveig asked him to stay there some time, and he said he would. + +He and Hogni were always together, at home and abroad. Hogni was a +brisk, brave man, well-bred and well-trained in mind and body, but +distrustful and slow to believe what he was told, and that was why they +dared not tell him of the token. + +Now those two, Skarphedinn and Hogni, were out of doors one evening by +Gunnar's cairn on the south side. The moon and stars were shining clear +and bright, but every now and then the clouds drove over them. Then all +at once they thought they saw the cairn standing open, and lo! Gunnar +had turned himself in the cairn and looked at the moon. They thought +they saw four lights burning in the cairn, and none of them threw a +shadow. They saw that Gunnar was merry, and he wore a joyful face. He +sang a song, and so loud, that it might have been heard though they had +been farther off. + + He that lavished rings in largesse, + When the fight's red rain-drops fell, + Bright of face, with heart-strings hardy, + Hogni's father met his fate; + Then his brow with helmet shrouding, + Bearing battle-shield, he spake, + "I will die the prop of battle, + Sooner die than yield an inch. + Yes, sooner die than yield an inch". + +After that the cairn was shut up again. + +"Wouldst thou believe these tokens if Njal or I told them to thee?" says +Skarphedinn. + +"I would believe them," he says, "if Njal told them, for it is said he +never lies." + +"Such tokens as these mean much," says Skarphedinn, "when he shows +himself to us, he who would sooner die than yield to his foes; and see +how he has taught us what we ought to do." + +"I shall be able to bring nothing to pass," says Hogni, "unless thou +wilt stand by me." + +"Now," says Skarphedinn, "will I bear in mind how Gunnar behaved after +the slaying of your kinsman Sigmund; now I will yield you such help as I +may. My father gave his word to Gunnar to do that whenever thou or thy +mother had need of it." + +After that they go home to Lithend. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXVIII. + +GUNNAR OF LITHEND AVENGED. + + +"Now we shall set off at once," says Skarphedinn, "this very night; for +if they learn that I am here, they will be more wary of themselves." + +"I will fulfil thy counsel," says Hogni. + +After that they took their weapons when all men were in their beds. +Hogni takes down the bill, and it gave a sharp ringing sound. + +Rannveig sprang up in great wrath and said-- + +"Who touches the bill, when I forbade every one to lay hand on it?" + +"I mean," says Hogni, "to bring it to my father, that he may bear it +with him to Valhalla, and have it with him when the warriors meet." + +"Rather shalt thou now bear it," she answered, "and avenge thy father; +for the bill has spoken of one man's death or more." + +Then Hogni went out, and told Skarphedinn all the words that his +grandmother had spoken. + +After that they fare to the Point, and two ravens flew along with them +all the way. They came to the Point while it was still night. Then they +drove the flock before them up to the house, and then Hroald and Tjorfi +ran out and drove the flock up the hollow path, and had their weapons +with them. + +Skarphedinn sprang up and said, "Thou needest not to stand and think if +it be really as it seems. Men are here." + +Then Skarphedinn smites Tjorfi his death-blow. Hroald had a spear in his +hand, and Hogni rushes at him; Hroald thrusts at him, but Hogni hewed +asunder the spear-shaft with his bill, and drives the bill through him. + +After that they left them there dead, and turn away thence under the +Threecorner. + +Skarphedinn jumps up on the house and plucks the grass, and those who +were inside the house thought it was cattle that had come on the roof. +Starkad and Thorgeir took their weapons and upper clothing, and went out +and round about the fence of the yard. But when Starkad sees Skarphedinn +he was afraid, and wanted to turn back. + +Skarphedinn cut him down by the fence. Then Hogni comes against Thorgeir +and slays him with the bill. + +Thence they went to Hof, and Mord was outside in the field, and begged +for mercy, and offered them full atonement. + +Skarphedinn told Mord the slaying of those four men, and sang a song. + + Four who wielded warlike weapons + We have slain, all men of worth, + Them at once, gold-greedy fellow, + Thou shalt follow on the spot; + Let us press this pinch-purse so, + Pouring fear into his heart; + Wretch! reach out to Gunnar's son + Right to settle all disputes. + +"And the like journey," says Skarphedinn, "shalt thou also fare, or hand +over to Hogni the right to make his own award, if he will take these +terms." + +Hogni said his mind had been made up not to come to any terms with the +slayers of his father; but still at last he took the right to make his +own award from Mord. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXIX. + +HOGNI TAKES AN ATONEMENT FOR GUNNAR'S DEATH. + + +Njal took a share in bringing those who had the blood-feud after Starkad +and Thorgeir to take an atonement, and a district meeting was called +together, and men were chosen to make the award, and every matter was +taken into account, even the attack on Gunnar, though he was an outlaw; +but such a fine as was awarded, all that Mord paid; for they did not +close their award against him before the other matter was already +settled, and then they set off one award against the other. + +Then they were all set at one again, but at the Thing there was great +talk, and the end of it was, that Geir the priest and Hogni were set at +one again, and that atonement they held to ever afterwards. + +Geir the priest dwelt in the Lithe till his death-day, and he is out of +the story. + +Njal asked as a wife for Hogni Alfeida the daughter of Weatherlid the +Skald, and she was given away to him. Their son was Ari, who sailed for +Shetland, and took him a wife there; from him is come Einar the +Shetlander, one of the briskest and boldest of men. + +Hogni kept up his friendship with Njal, and he is now out of the story. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXX. + +OF KOLSKEGG: HOW HE WAS BAPTISED. + + +Now it is to be told of Kolskegg how he comes to Norway, and is in the +Bay east that winter. But the summer after he fares east to Denmark, and +bound himself to Sweyn Forkbeard the Dane-king, and there he had great +honour. + +One night he dreamt that a man came to him; he was bright and +glistening, and he thought he woke him up. He spoke, and said to him-- + +"Stand up and come with me." + +"What wilt thou with me?" he asks. + +"I will get thee a bride, and thou shalt be my knight." + +He thought he said yea to that, and after that he woke up. + +Then he went to a wizard and told him the dream, but he read it so that +he should fare to southern lands and become God's knight. + +Kolskegg was baptised in Denmark, but still he could not rest there, but +fared east to Russia, and was there one winter. Then he fared thence out +to Micklegarth,[31] and there took service with the Emperor. The last +that was heard of him was, that he wedded a wife there, and was captain +over the Varangians, and stayed there till his death-day; and he, too, +is out of this story. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXI. + +OF THRAIN: HOW HE SLEW KOL. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say how Thrain Sigfus' son came to +Norway. They made the land north in Helgeland, and held on south to +Drontheim, and so to Hlada.[32] But as soon as Earl Hacon heard of that, +he sent men to them, and would know what men were in the ship. They came +back and told him who the men were. Then the Earl sent for Thrain +Sigfus' son, and he went to see him. The Earl asked of what stock he +might be. He said that he was Gunnar of Lithend's near kinsman. The Earl +said-- + +"That shall stand thee in good stead; for I have seen many men from +Iceland, but none his match." + +"Lord," said Thrain, "is it your will that I should be with you this +winter?" + +The Earl took to him, and Thrain was there that winter, and was thought +much of. + +There was a man named Kol, he was a great sea-rover. He was the son of +Asmund Ashside, east out of Smoland. He lay east in the Goeta-Elf, and +had five ships, and much force. + +Thence Kol steered his course out of the river to Norway, and landed at +Fold,[33] in the bight of the "Bay," and came on Hallvard Soti unawares, +and found him in a loft. He kept them off bravely till they set fire to +the house, then he gave himself up; but they slew him, and took there +much goods, and sailed thence to Loedese.[34] + +Earl Hacon heard these tidings, and made them make Kol an outlaw over +all his realm, and set a price upon his head. + +Once on a time it so happened that the Earl began to speak thus-- + +"Too far off from us now is Gunnar of Lithend. He would slay my outlaw +if he were here; but now the Icelanders will slay him, and it is ill +that he hath not fared to us." + +Then Thrain Sigfus' son answered-- + +"I am not Gunnar, but still I am near akin to him, and I will undertake +this voyage." + +The Earl said, "I should be glad of that, and thou shalt be very well +fitted out for the journey". + +After that his son Eric began to speak, and said-- + +"Your word, father, is good to many men, but fulfilling it is quite +another thing. This is the hardest undertaking; for this sea-rover is +tough and ill to deal with, wherefore thou wilt need to take great +pains, both as to men and ships for this voyage." + +Thrain said, "I will set out on this voyage, though it looks ugly". + +After that the Earl gave him five ships, and all well trimmed and +manned. Along with Thrain was Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son. Gunnar was Thrain's brother's son, and had come to him young, and +each loved the other much. + +Eric, the Earl's son, went heartily along with them, and looked after +strength for them, both in men and weapons, and made such changes in +them as he thought were needful. After they were "boun," Eric got them a +pilot. Then they sailed south along the land; but wherever they came to +land, the Earl allowed them to deal with whatever they needed as their +own. + +So they held on east to Loedese, and then they heard that Kol was gone to +Denmark. Then they shaped their course south thither; but when they came +south to Helsingborg, they met men in a boat, who said that Kol was +there just before them, and would be staying there for a while. + +One day when the weather was good, Kol saw the ships as they sailed up +towards him, and said he had dreamt of Earl Hacon the night before, and +told his people he was sure these must be his men, and bade them all to +take their weapons. + +After that they busked them, and a fight arose; and they fought long, so +that neither side had the mastery. + +Then Kol sprang up on Thrain's ship, and cleared the gangways fast, and +slays many men. He had a gilded helm. + +Now Thrain sees that this is no good, and now he eggs on his men to go +along with him, but he himself goes first and meets Kol. + +Kol hews at him, and the blow fell on Thrain's shield, and cleft it down +from top to bottom. Then Kol got a blow on the arm from a stone, and +then down fell his sword. + +Thrain hews at Kol, and the stroke came on his leg so that it cut it +off. After that they slew Kol, and Thrain cut off his head, and they +threw the trunk over-board, but kept his head. + +There they took much spoil, and then they held on north to Drontheim, +and go to see the Earl. + +The Earl gave Thrain a hearty welcome, and he showed the Earl Kol's +head, but the Earl thanked him for that deed. + +Eric said it was worth more than words alone, and the Earl said so it +was, and bade them come along with him. + +They went thither, where the Earl had made them make a good ship that +was not made like a common long-ship. It had a vulture's head, and was +much carved and painted. + +"Thou art a great man for show, Thrain," said the Earl, "and so have +both of you, kinsmen, been, Gunnar and thou; and now I will give thee +this ship, but it is called the 'Vulture'. Along with it shall go my +friendship; and my will is that thou stayest with me as long as thou +wilt." + +He thanked him for his goodness, and said he had no longing to go to +Iceland just yet. + +The Earl had a journey to make to the marches of the land to meet the +Swede-king. Thrain went with him that summer, and was a shipmaster and +steered the Vulture, and sailed so fast that few could keep up with him, +and he was much envied. But it always came out that the Earl laid great +store on Gunnar, for he set down sternly all who tried Thrain's temper. + +So Thrain was all that winter with the Earl, but next spring the Earl +asked Thrain whether he would stay there or fare to Iceland; but Thrain +said he had not yet made up his mind, and said that he wished first to +know tidings from Iceland. + +The Earl said that so it should be as he thought it suited him best; and +Thrain was with the Earl. + +Then those tidings were heard from Iceland, which many thought great +news, the death of Gunnar of Lithend. Then the Earl would not that +Thrain should fare out to Iceland, and so there he stayed with him. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXII. + +NJAL'S SONS SAIL ABROAD. + + +Now it must be told how Njal's sons, Grim and Helgi, left Iceland the +same summer that Thrain and his fellows went away; and in the ship with +them were Olaf Kettle's son of Elda, and Bard the black. They got so +strong a wind from the north that they were driven south into the main; +and so thick a mist came over them that they could not tell whither they +were driving, and they were out a long while. At last they came to where +was a great ground sea, and thought then they must be near land. So then +Njal's sons asked Bard if he could tell at all to what land they were +likely to be nearest. + +"Many lands there are," said he, "which we might hit with the weather we +have had--the Orkneys, or Scotland, or Ireland." + +Two nights after, they saw land on both boards, and a great surf running +up in the firth. They cast anchor outside the breakers, and the wind +began to fall; and next morning it was calm. Then they see thirteen +ships coming out to them. + +Then Bard spoke and said, "What counsel shall we take now, for these men +are going to make an onslaught on us?" + +So they took counsel whether they should defend themselves or yield, but +before they could make up their minds, the Vikings were upon them. Then +each side asked the other their names, and what their leaders were +called. So the leaders of the chapmen told their names, and asked back +who led that host. One called himself Gritgard, and the other Snowcolf, +sons of Moldan of Duncansby in Scotland, kinsmen of Malcolm the Scot +king. + +"And now," says Gritgard, "we have laid down two choices, one that ye go +on shore, and we will take your goods; the other is, that we fall on you +and slay every man that we can catch." + +"The will of the chapmen," answers Helgi, "is to defend themselves." + +But the chapmen called out, "Wretch that thou art to speak thus! What +defence can we make? Lading is less than life." + +But Grim, he fell upon a plan to shout out to the Vikings, and would not +let them hear the bad choice of the chapmen. + +Then Bard and Olaf said, "Think ye not that these Icelanders will make +game of you sluggards; take rather your weapons and guard your goods". + +So they all seized their weapons, and bound themselves, one with +another, never to give up so long as they had strength to fight. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIII. + +OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON. + + +Then the Vikings shot at them and the fight began, and the chapmen guard +themselves well. Snowcolf sprang aboard and at Olaf, and thrust his +spear through his body, but Grim thrust at Snowcolf with his spear, and +so stoutly, that he fell over-board. Then Helgi turned to meet Grim, and +they too drove down all the Vikings as they tried to board, and Njal's +sons were ever where there was most need. Then the Vikings called out to +the chapmen and bade them give up, but they said they would never yield. +Just then some one looked seaward, and there they see ships coming from +the south round the Ness, and they were not fewer than ten, and they +row hard and steer thitherwards. Along their sides were shield on +shield, but on that ship that came first stood a man by the mast, who +was clad in a silken kirtle, and had a gilded helm, and his hair was +both fair and thick; that man had a spear inlaid with gold in his hand. + +He asked, "Who have here such an uneven game?" + +Helgi tells his name, and said that against them are Gritgard and +Snowcolf. + +"But who are your captains?" he asks. + +Helgi answered, "Bard the black, who lives, but the other, who is dead +and gone, was called Olaf". + +"Are ye men from Iceland?" says he. + +"Sure enough we are," Helgi answers. + +He asked whose sons they were, and they told him, then he knew them and +said-- + +"Well known names have ye all, father and sons both." + +"Who art thou?" asks Helgi. + +"My name is Kari, and I am Solmund's son." + +"Whence comest thou?" says Helgi. + +"From the Southern Isles." + +"Then thou art welcome," says Helgi, "if thou wilt give us a little +help." + +"I'll give ye all the help ye need," says Kari; "but what do ye ask?" + +"To fall on them," says Helgi. + +Kari says that so it shall be. So they pulled up to them, and then the +battle began the second time; but when they had fought a little while, +Kari springs up on Snowcolf's ship; he turns to meet him and smites at +him with his sword. Kari leaps nimbly backwards over a beam that lay +athwart the ship, and Snowcolf smote the beam so that both edges of the +sword were hidden. Then Kari smites at him, and the sword fell on his +shoulder, and the stroke was so mighty that he cleft in twain shoulder, +arm, and all, and Snowcolf got his death there and then. Gritgard hurled +a spear at Kari, but Kari saw it and sprang up aloft, and the spear +missed him. Just then Helgi and Grim came up both to meet Kari, and +Helgi springs on Gritgard and thrusts his spear through him, and that +was his death blow; after that they went round the whole ship on both +boards, and then men begged for mercy. So they gave them all peace, but +took all their goods. After that they ran all the ships out under the +islands. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIV. + +OF EARL SIGURD. + + +Sigurd was the name of an earl who ruled over the Orkneys; he was the +son of Hlodver, the son of Thorfinn the scull-splitter, the son of +Turf-Einar, the son of Rognvald, Earl of M[oe]ren, the son of Eystein +the noisy. Kari was one of Earl Sigurd's body-guard, and had just been +gathering scatts in the Southern Isles from Earl Gilli. Now Kari asks +them to go to Hrossey,[35] and said the Earl would take to them well. +They agreed to that, and went with Kari and came to Hrossey. Kari led +them to see the Earl, and said what men they were. + +"How came they," says the Earl, "to fall upon thee?" + +"I found them," says Kari, "in Scotland's Firths, and they were fighting +with the sons of Earl Moldan, and held their own so well that they threw +themselves about between the bulwarks, from side to side, and were +always there where the trial was greatest, and now I ask you to give +them quarters among your body-guard." + +"It shall be as thou choosest," says the Earl, "thou hast already taken +them so much by the hand." + +Then they were there with the Earl that winter, and were worthily +treated, but Helgi was silent as the winter wore on. The Earl could not +tell what was at the bottom of that, and asked why he was so silent, and +what was on his mind. + +"Thinkest thou it not good to be here?" + +"Good, methinks, it is here," he says. + +"Then what art thou thinking about?" asks the Earl. + +"Hast thou any realm to guard in Scotland?" asks Helgi. + +"So we think," says the Earl, "but what makes thee think about that, or +what is the matter with it?" + +"The Scots," says Helgi, "must have taken your steward's life, and +stopped all the messengers; that none should cross the Pentland Firth." + +"Hast thou the second sight?" said the Earl. + +"That has been little proved," answers Helgi. + +"Well," says the Earl, "I will increase thy honour if this be so, +otherwise thou shalt smart for it." + +"Nay," says Kari, "Helgi is not that kind of man, and like enough his +words are sooth, for his father has the second sight." + +After that the Earl sent men south to Straumey[36] to Arnljot, his +steward there, and after that Arnljot sent them across the Pentland +Firth, and they spied out and learnt that Earl Hundi and Earl Melsnati +had taken the life of Havard in Thraswick, Earl Sigurd's brother-in-law. +So Arnljot sent word to Earl Sigurd to come south with a great host and +drive those earls out of his realm, and as soon as the Earl heard that, +he gathered together a mighty host from all the isles. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXV. + +THE BATTLE WITH THE EARLS. + + +After that the Earl set out south with his host, and Kari went with him, +and Njal's sons too. They came south to Caithness. The Earl had these +realms in Scotland, Ross and Moray, Sutherland, and the Dales. There +came to meet them men from those realms, and said that the Earls were a +short way off with a great host. Then Earl Sigurd turns his host +thither, and the name of that place is Duncansness, above which they +met, and it came to a great battle between them. Now the Scots had let +some of their host go free from the main battle, and these took the +Earl's men in flank, and many men fell there till Njal's sons turned +against the foe, and fought with them and put them to flight; but still +it was a hard fight, and then Njal's sons turned back to the front by +the Earl's standard, and fought well. Now Kari turns to meet Earl +Melsnati, and Melsnati hurled a spear at him, but Kari caught the spear +and threw it back and through the Earl. Then Earl Hundi fled, but they +chased the fleers until they learnt that Malcolm was gathering a host at +Duncansby. Then the Earl took counsel with his men, and it seemed to all +the best plan to turn back, and not to fight with such a mighty land +force; so they turned back. But when the Earl came to Straumey they +shared the battle-spoil. After that he went north to Hrossey, and Njal's +sons and Kari followed him. Then the Earl made a great feast, and at +that feast he gave Kari a good sword, and a spear inlaid with gold; but +he gave Helgi a gold ring and a mantle, and Grim a shield and sword. +After that he took Helgi and Grim into his body-guard, and thanked them +for their good help. They were with the Earl that winter and the summer +after, till Kari went sea-roving; then they went with him, and harried +far and wide that summer, and everywhere won the victory. They fought +against Godred, King of Man, and conquered him; and after that they +fared back, and had gotten much goods. Next winter they were still with +the Earl, and when the spring came Njal's sons asked leave to go to +Norway. The Earl said they should go or not as they pleased, and he gave +them a good ship and smart men. As for Kari, he said he must come that +summer to Norway with Earl Hacon's scatts, and then they would meet; and +so it fell out that they gave each other their word to meet. After that +Njal's sons put out to sea and sailed for Norway, and made the land +north near Drontheim. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVI. + +HRAPP'S VOYAGE FROM ICELAND. + + +There was a man named Kolbein, and his surname was Arnljot's son; he was +a man from Drontheim; he sailed out to Iceland that same summer in which +Kolskegg and Njal's sons went abroad. He was that winter east in +Broaddale; but the spring after, he made his ship ready for sea in +Gautawick; and when men were almost "boun," a man rowed up to them in a +boat, and made the boat fast to the ship, and afterwards he went on +board the ship to see Kolbein. + +Kolbein asked that man for his name. + +"My name is Hrapp," says he. + +"What wilt thou with me?" says Kolbein. + +"I wish to ask thee to put me across the Iceland main." + +"Whose son art thou?" asks Kolbein. + +"I am a son of Aurgunleid, the son of Geirolf the fighter." + +"What need lies on thee," asked Kolbein, "to drive thee abroad?" + +"I have slain a man," says Hrapp. + +"What manslaughter was that," says Kolbein, "and what men have the +blood-feud?" + +"The men of Weaponfirth," says Hrapp, "but the man I slew was Aurlyg, +the son of Aurlyg, the son of Roger the white." + +"I guess this," says Kolbein, "that he will have the worst of it who +bears thee abroad." + +"I am the friend of my friend," said Hrapp, "but when ill is done to me +I repay it. Nor am I short of money to lay down for my passage." + +Then Kolbein took Hrapp on board, and a little while after a fair breeze +sprung up, and they sailed away on the sea. + +Hrapp ran short of food at sea, and then he sate him down at the mess of +those who were nearest to him. They sprang up with ill words, and so it +was that they came to blows, and Hrapp, in a trice, has two men under +him. + +Then Kolbein was told, and he bade Hrapp to come and share his mess, and +he accepted that. + +Now they come off the sea, and lie outside off Agdirness. + +Then Kolbein asked where that money was which he had offered to pay for +his fare? + +"It is out in Iceland," answers Hrapp. + +"Thou wilt beguile more men than me, I fear," says Kolbein; "but now I +will forgive thee all the fare." + +Hrapp bade him have thanks for that. "But what counsel dost thou give as +to what I ought to do?" + +"That first of all," he says, "that thou goest from the ship as soon as +ever thou canst, for all Easterlings will bear thee bad witness; but +there is yet another bit of good counsel which I will give thee, and +that is, never to cheat thy master." + +Then Hrapp went on shore with his weapons, and he had a great axe with +an iron-bound haft in his hand. + +He fares on and on till he comes to Gudbrand of the Dale. He was the +greatest friend of Earl Hacon. They two had a shrine between them, and +it was never opened but when the Earl came thither. That was the second +greatest shrine in Norway, but the other was at Hlada. + +Thrand was the name of Gudbrand's son, but his daughter's name was +Gudruna. + +Hrapp went in before Gudbrand, and hailed him well. He asked whence he +came and what was his name. Hrapp told him about himself, and how he +had sailed abroad from Iceland. + +After that he asks Gudbrand to take him into his household as a guest. + +"It does not seem," said Gudbrand, "to look on thee, as though thou wert +a man to bring good luck." + +"Methinks, then," says Hrapp, "that all I have heard about thee has been +great lies; for it is said that thou takest every one into thy house +that asks thee; and that no man is thy match for goodness and kindness, +far or near; but now I shall have to speak against that saying, if thou +dost not take me in." + +"Well, thou shalt stay here," said Gudbrand. + +"To what seat wilt thou show me?" says Hrapp. + +"To one on the lower bench, over against my high seat." + +Then Hrapp went and took his seat. He was able to tell of many things, +and so it was at first that Gudbrand and many thought it sport to listen +to him; but still it came about that most men thought him too much given +to mocking, and the end of it was that he took to talking alone with +Gudruna, so that many said that he meant to beguile her. + +But when Gudbrand was aware of that, he scolded her much for daring to +talk alone with him, and bade her beware of speaking aught to him if the +whole household did not hear it. She gave her word to be good at first, +but still it was soon the old story over again as to their talk. Then +Gudbrand got Asvard, his overseer, to go about with her, out of doors +and in, and to be with her wherever she went. One day it happened that +she begged for leave to go into the nut-wood for a pastime, and Asvard +went along with her. Hrapp goes to seek for them and found them, and +took her by the hand, and led her away alone. + +Then Asvard went to look for her, and found them both together stretched +on the grass in a thicket. + +He rushes at them, axe in air, and smote at Hrapp's leg, but Hrapp gave +himself a second turn, and he missed him. Hrapp springs on his feet as +quick as he can, and caught up his axe. Then Asvard wished to turn and +get away, but Hrapp hewed asunder his backbone. + +Then Gudruna said, "Now hast thou done that deed which will hinder thy +stay any Longer with my father; but still there is something behind +which he will like still less, for I go with child". + +"He shall not learn this from others," says Hrapp, "but I will go home +and tell him both these tidings." + +"Then," she says, "thou will not come away with thy life." + +"I will run the risk of that," he says. + +After that he sees her back to the other women, but he went home. +Gudbrand sat in his high seat, and there were few men in the hall. + +Hrapp went in before him, and bore his axe high. + +"Why is thine axe bloody?" asks Gudbrand. + +"I made it so by doing a piece of work on thy overseer Asvard's back," +says Hrapp. + +"That can be no good work," says Gudbrand; "thou must have slain him." + +"So it is, be sure," says Hrapp. + +"What did ye fall out about?" asks Gudbrand. + +"Oh!" says Hrapp, "what you would think small cause enough. He wanted to +hew off my leg." + +"What hast thou done first?" asked Gudbrand. + +"What he had no right to meddle with," says Hrapp. + +"Still thou wilt tell me what it was." + +"Well!" said Hrapp, "if thou must know, I lay by thy daughter's side, +and he thought that bad." + +"Up men!" cried Gudbrand, "and take him. He shall be slain out of hand." + +"Very little good wilt thou let me reap of my son-in-lawship," says +Hrapp, "but thou hast not so many men at thy back as to do that +speedily." + +Up they rose, but he sprang out of doors. They run after him, but he got +away to the wood, and they could not lay hold of him. + +Then Gudbrand gathers people, and lets the wood be searched; but they +find him not, for the wood was great and thick. + +Hrapp fares through the wood till he came to a clearing; there he found +a house, and saw a man outside cleaving wood. + +He asked that man for his name, and he said his name was Tofi. + +Tofi asked him for his name in turn, and Hrapp told him his true name. + +Hrapp asked why the householder had set up his abode so far from other +men? + +"For that here," he says, "I think I am less likely to have brawls with +other men." + +"It is strange how we beat about the bush in out talk," says Hrapp, "but +I will first tell thee who I am. I have been with Gudbrand of the Dale, +but I ran away thence because I slew his overseer; but now I know that +we are both of us bad men; for thou wouldst not have come hither away +from other men unless thou wert some man's outlaw. And now I give thee +two choices, either that I will tell where thou art,[37] or that we two +have between us, share and share alike, all that is here." + +"This is even as thou sayest," said the householder; "I seized and +carried off this woman who is here with me, and many men have sought for +me." + +Then he led Hrapp in with him; there was a small house there, but well +built. + +The master of the house told his mistress that he had taken Hrapp into +his company. + +"Most men will get ill luck from this man," she says; "but thou wilt +have thy way." + +So Hrapp was there after that. He was a great wanderer, and was never at +home. He still brings about meetings with Gudruna; her father and +brother, Thrand and Gudbrand, lay in wait for him, but they could never +get nigh him, and so all that year passed away. + +Gudbrand sent and told Earl Hacon what trouble he had had with Hrapp, +and the Earl let him be made an outlaw, and laid a price upon his head. +He said too, that he would go himself to look after him; but that passed +off, and the Earl thought it easy enough for them to catch him when he +went about so unwarily. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVII. + +THRAIN TOOK TO HRAPP. + + +That same summer Njal's sons fared to Norway from the Orkneys, as was +before written, and they were there at the fair during the summer. Then +Thrain Sigfus' son busked his ship for Iceland, and was all but "boun". +At that time Earl Hacon went to a feast at Gudbrand's house. That night +Killing-Hrapp came to the shrine of Earl Hacon and Gudbrand, and he went +inside the house, and there he saw Thorgerda Shrinebride sitting, and +she was as tall as a full-grown man. She had a great gold ring on her +arm, and a wimple on her head; he strips her of her wimple, and takes +the gold ring from off her. Then he sees Thor's car, and takes from him +a second gold ring; a third he took from Irpa; and then dragged them all +out, and spoiled them of all their gear. + +After that he laid fire to the shrine, and burnt it down, and then he +goes away just as it began to dawn. He walks across a ploughed field, +and there six men sprung up with weapons, and fall upon him at once; but +he made a stout defence, and the end of the business was that he slays +three men, but wounds Thrand to the death, and drives two to the woods, +so that they could bear no news to the Earl. He then went up to Thrand +and said-- + +"It is now in my power to slay thee if I will, but I will not do that; +and now I will set more store by the ties that are between us than ye +have shown to me." + +Now Hrapp means to turn back to the wood, but now he sees that men have +come between him and the wood, so he dares not venture to turn thither, +but lays him down in a thicket, and so lies there a while. + +Earl Hacon and Gudbrand went that morning early to the shrine and found +it burnt down; but the three gods were outside, stripped of all their +bravery. + +Then Gudbrand began to speak, and said-- + +"Much might is given to our gods, when here they have walked of +themselves out of the fire!" + +"The gods can have naught to do with it," says the Earl; "a man must +have burnt the shrine, and borne the gods out; but the gods do not +avenge everything on the spot. That man who has done this will no doubt +be driven away out of Valhalla, and never come in thither." + +Just then up ran four of the Earl's men, and told them ill tidings; for +they said they had found three men slain in the field, and Thrand +wounded to the death. + +"Who can have done this?" says the Earl. + +"Killing-Hrapp," they say. + +"Then he must have burnt down the shrine," says the Earl. + +They said they thought he was like enough to have done it. + +"And where may he be now?" says the Earl. + +They said that Thrand had told them that he had laid down in a thicket. + +The Earl goes thither to look for him, but Hrapp was off and away. Then +the Earl set his men to search for him, but still they could not find +him. So the Earl was in the hue and cry himself, but first he bade them +rest a while. + +Then the Earl went aside by himself, away from other men, and bade that +no man should follow him, and so he stays a while. He fell down on both +his knees, and held his hands before his eyes; after that he went back +to them, and then he said to them, "Come with me". + +So they went along with him. He turns short away from the path on which +they had walked before, and they came to a dell. There up sprang Hrapp +before them, and there it was that he had hidden himself at first. + +The Earl urges on his men to run after him, but Hrapp was so +swift-footed that they never came near him. Hrapp made for Hlada. There +both Thrain and Njal's sons lay "boun" for sea at the same time. Hrapp +runs to where Njal's sons are. + +"Help me, like good men and true," he said, "for the Earl will slay me." + +Helgi looked at him and said-- + +"Thou lookest like an unlucky man, and the man who will not take thee in +will have the best of it." + +"Would that the worst might befall you from me," says Hrapp. + +"I am the man," says Helgi, "to avenge me on thee for this as time rolls +on." + +Then Hrapp turned to Thrain Sigfus' son, and bade him shelter him. + +"What hast thou on thy hand?" says Thrain. + +"I have burnt a shrine under the Earl's eyes, and slain some men, and +now he will be here speedily, for he has joined in the hue and cry +himself." + +"It hardly beseems me to do this," says Thrain, "when the Earl has done +me so much good." + +Then he showed Thrain the precious things which he had borne out of the +shrine, and offered to give him the goods, but Thrain said he could not +take them unless he gave him other goods of the same worth for them. + +"Then," said Hrapp, "here will I take my stand, and here shall I be +slain before thine eyes, and then thou wilt have to abide by every man's +blame." + +Then they see the Earl and his band of men coming, and then Thrain took +Hrapp under his safeguard, and let them shove off the boat, and put out +to his ship. + +Then Thrain said, "Now this will be thy best hiding place, to knock out +the bottoms of two casks, and then thou shalt get into them". + +So it was done, and he got into the casks, and then they were lashed +together, and lowered over-board. + +Then comes the Earl with his band to Njal's sons, and asked if Hrapp had +come there. + +They said that he had come. + +The Earl asked whither he had gone thence. + +They said they had not kept eyes on him, and could not say. + +"He," said the Earl, "should have great honour from me who would tell me +where Hrapp was." + +Then Grim said softly to Helgi-- + +"Why should we not say. What know I whether Thrain will repay us with +any good?" + +"We should not tell a whit more for that," says Helgi, "when his life +lies at stake." + +"Maybe," said Grim, "the Earl will turn his vengeance on us, for he is +so wroth that some one will have to fall before him." + +"That must not move us," says Helgi, "but still we will pull our ship +out, and so away to sea as soon as ever we get a wind." + +So they rowed out under an isle that lay there, and wait there for a +fair breeze. + +The Earl went about among the sailors, and tried them all, but they, one +and all, denied that they knew aught of Hrapp. + +Then the Earl said, "Now we will go to Thrain, my brother-in-arms, and +he will give Hrapp up, if he knows anything of him". + +After that they took a long-ship and went off to the merchant ship. + +Thrain sees the Earl coming, and stands up and greets him kindly. The +Earl took his greeting well and spoke thus-- + +"We are seeking for a man whose name is Hrapp, and he is an Icelander. +He has done us all kind of ill; and now we will ask you to be good +enough to give him up, or to tell us where he is." + +"Ye know, Lord," said Thrain, "that I slew your outlaw, and then put my +life in peril, and for that I had of you great honour." + +"More honour shalt thou now have," says the Earl. + +Now Thrain thought within himself, and could not make up his mind how +the Earl would take it, so he denies that Hrapp is there, and bade the +Earl to look for him. He spent little time on that, and went on land +alone, away from other men, and was then very wroth, so that no man +dared to speak to him. + +"Show me to Njal's sons," said the Earl, "and I will force them to tell +me the truth." + +Then he was told that they had put out of the harbour. + +"Then there is no help for it," says the Earl, "but still there were two +water-casks alongside of Thrain's ship, and in them a man may well have +been hid, and if Thrain has hidden him, there he must be; and now we +will go a second time to see Thrain." + +Thrain sees that the Earl means to put off again and said-- + +"However wroth the Earl was last time, now he will be half as wroth +again, and now the life of every man on board the ship lies at stake." + +They all gave their words to hide the matter, for they were all sore +afraid. Then they took some sacks out of the lading, and put Hrapp down +into the hold in their stead, and other sacks that were tight were laid +over him. + +Now comes the Earl, just as they were done stowing Hrapp away. Thrain +greeted the Earl well. The Earl was rather slow to return it, and they +saw that the Earl was very wroth. + +Then said the Earl to Thrain-- + +"Give thou up Hrapp, for I am quite sure that thou hast hidden him." + +"Where shall I have hidden him, Lord?" says Thrain. + +"That thou knowest best," says the Earl; "but if I must guess, then I +think that thou hiddest him in the water-casks a while ago." + +"Well!" says Thrain, "I would rather not be taken for a liar, far sooner +would I that ye should search the ship." + +Then the Earl went on board the ship and hunted and hunted, but found +him not. + +"Dost thou speak me free now?" says Thrain. "Far from it," says the +Earl, "and yet I cannot tell why we cannot find him, but methinks I see +through it all when I come on shore, but when I come here, I can see +nothing." + +With that he made them row him ashore. He was so wroth that there was no +speaking to him. His son Sweyn was there with him, and he said, "A +strange turn of mind this to let guiltless men smart for one's wrath!" + +Then the Earl went away alone aside from other men, and after that he +went back to them at once, and said-- + +"Let us row out to them again," and they did so. + +"Where can he have been hidden?" says Sweyn. + +"There's not much good in knowing that," says the Earl, "for now he will +be away thence; two sacks lay there by the rest of the lading, and Hrapp +must have come into the lading in their place." + +Then Thrain began to speak, and said-- + +"They are running off the ship again, and they must mean to pay us +another visit. Now we will take him out of the lading, and stow other +things in his stead, but let the sacks still lie loose. They did so, and +then Thrain spoke-- + +"Now let us fold Hrapp in the sail." + +It was then brailed up to the yard, and they did so. + +Then the Earl comes to Thrain and his men, and he was very wroth, and +said, "Wilt thou now give up the man, Thrain?" and he is worse now than +before. + +"I would have given him up long ago," answers Thrain, "if he had been in +my keeping, or where can he have been?" + +"In the lading," says the Earl. + +"Then why did ye not seek him there?" says Thrain. + +"That never came into our mind," says the Earl. + +After that they sought him over all the ship, and found him not. + +"Will you now hold me free?" says Thrain. + +"Surely not," says the Earl, "for I know that thou hast hidden away the +man, though I find him not; but I would rather that thou shouldest be a +dastard to me than I to thee," says the Earl, and then they went on +shore. + +"Now," says the Earl, "I seem to see that Thrain has hidden away Hrapp +in the sail." + +Just then up sprung a fair breeze, and Thrain and his men sailed out to +sea. He then spoke these words which have long been held in mind since-- + + Let us make the Vulture fly, + Nothing now gars Thrain flinch. + +But when the Earl heard of Thrain's words, then he said-- + +"Tis not my want of foresight which caused this, but rather their +ill-fellowship, which will drag them both to death." + +Thrain was a short time out on the sea, and so came to Iceland, and +fared home to his house. Hrapp went along with Thrain, and was with him +that year; but the spring after, Thrain got him a homestead at +Hrappstede, and he dwelt there; but yet he spent most of his time At +Gritwater. He was thought to spoil everything there, and some men even +said that he was too good friends with Hallgerda, and that he led her +astray, but some spoke against that. + +Thrain gave the Vulture to his kinsman, Mord the reckless; that Mord +slew Oddi Haldor's son, east in Gautawick by Berufirth. + +All Thrain's kinsmen looked on him as a chief. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXVIII. + +EARL HACON FIGHTS WITH NJAL'S SONS. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say how, when Earl Hacon missed +Thrain, he spoke to Sweyn his son, and said-- + +"Let us take four long-ships, and let us fare against Njal's sons and +slay them, for they must have known all about it with Thrain." + +"'Tis not good counsel," says Sweyn, "to throw the blame on guiltless +men, but to let him escape who is guilty." + +"I shall have my way in this," says the Earl. + +Now they hold on after Njal's sons, and seek for them, and find them +under an island. + +Grim first saw the Earl's ships and said to Helgi-- + +"Here are war ships sailing up, and I see that here is the Earl, and he +can mean to offer us no peace." + +"It is said," said Helgi, "that he is the boldest man who holds his own +against all comers, and so we will defend ourselves." + +They all bade him take the course he thought best, and then they took to +their arms. + +Now the Earl comes up and called out to them, And bade them give +themselves up. + +Helgi said that they would defend themselves so long as they could. + +Then the Earl offered peace and quarter to all who would neither defend +themselves nor Helgi; but Helgi was so much beloved that all said they +would rather die with him. + +Then the Earl and his men fall on them, but they defended themselves +well, and Njal's sons were ever where there was most need. The Earl +often offered peace, but they all made the same answer, and said they +would never yield. + +Then Aslak of Longisle pressed them hard, and came on board their ship +thrice. Then Grim said-- + +"Thou pressest on hard, and 'twere well that thou gettest what thou +seekest;" and with that he snatched up a spear and hurled it at him, and +hit him under the chin, and Aslak got his death wound there and then. + +A little after, Helgi slew Egil the Earl's banner-bearer. + +Then Sweyn, Earl Bacon's son, fell on them, and made men hem them in and +bear them down with shields, and so they were taken captive. + +The Earl was for letting them all be slain at once, but Sweyn said that +should not be, and said too that it was night. + +Then the Earl said, "Well, then, slay them to-morrow, but bind them fast +to-night". + +"So, I ween, it must be," says Sweyn; "but never yet have I met brisker +men than these, and I call it the greatest manscathe to take their +lives." + +"They have slain two of our briskest men," said the Earl, "and for that +they shall be slain." + +"Because they were brisker men themselves," says Sweyn; "but still in +this it must be done as thou wiliest." + +So they were bound and fettered. + +After that the Earl fell asleep; but when all men slept, Grim spoke to +Helgi, and said, "Away would I get if I could". + +"Let us try some trick then," says Helgi. + +Grim sees that there lies an axe edge up, so Grim crawled thither, and +gets the bowstring which bound him cut asunder against the axe, but +still he got great wounds on his arms. + +Then he set Helgi loose, and after that they crawled over the ship's +side, and got on shore, so that neither Hacon nor his men were ware of +them. Then they broke off their fetters and walked away to the other +side of the island. By that time it began to dawn. There they found a +ship, and knew that there was come Kari Solmund's son. They went at +once to meet him, and told him of their wrongs and hardships, and showed +him their wounds, and said the Earl would be then asleep. + +"Ill is it," said Karl, "that ye should suffer such wrongs for wicked +men; but what now would be most to your minds?" + +"To fall on the Earl," they say, "and slay him." + +"This will not be fated," says Kari; "but still ye do not lack heart, +but we will first know whether he is there now." + +After that they fared thither, and then the Earl was up and away. + +Then Kari sailed in to Hlada to meet the Earl, and brought him the +Orkney scatts; so the Earl said-- + +"Hast thou taken Njal's sons into thy keeping?" + +"So it is, sure enough," says Kari. + +"Wilt thou hand Njal's sons over to me?" asks the Earl. + +"No, I will not," said Kari. + +"Wilt thou swear this," says the Earl, "that thou wilt not fall on me +with Njal's sons?" + +Then Eric, the Earl's son, spoke and said-- + +"Such things ought not to be asked. Kari has always been our friend, and +things should not have gone as they have, had I been by. Njal's sons +should have been set free from all blame, but they should have had +chastisement who had wrought for it. Methinks now it would be more +seemly to give Njal's sons good gifts for the hardships and wrongs which +have been put upon them, and the wounds they have got." + +"So it ought to be, sure enough," says the Earl, "but I know not whether +they will take an atonement." + +Then the Earl said that Kari should try the feeling of Njal's sons as to +an atonement. + +After that Kari spoke to Helgi, and asked whether he would take any +amends from the Earl or not. + +"I will take them," said Helgi, "from his son Eric, but I will have +nothing to do with the Earl." + +Then Kari told Eric their answer. + +"So it shall be," says Eric. "He shall take the amends from me if he +thinks it better; and tell them this too, that I bid them to my house, +and my father shall do them no harm." + +This bidding they took, and went to Eric's house, and were with him till +Kari was ready to sail west across the sea to meet Earl Sigurd. + +Then Eric made a feast for Kari, and gave him gifts, and Njal's sons +gifts too. After that Kari fared west across the sea, and met Earl +Sigurd, and he greeted them very well, and they were with the Earl that +winter. + +But when the spring came, Kari asked Njal's sons to go on warfare with +him, but Grim said they would only do so if he would fare with them +afterwards out to Iceland. Kari gave his word to do that, and then they +fared with him a-sea-roving. They harried south about Anglesea and all +the Southern isles. Thence they held on to Cantyre, and landed there, +and fought with the landsmen, and got thence much goods, and so fared to +their ships. Thence they fared south to Wales, and harried there. Then +they held on for Man, and there they met Godred, and fought with him, +and got the victory, and slew Dungal the king's son. There they took +great spoil. Thence they held on north to Coll, and found Earl Gilli +there, and he greeted them well, and there they stayed with him a while. +The Earl fared with them to the Orkneys to meet Earl Sigurd, but next +spring Earl Sigurd gave away his sister Nereida to Earl Gilli, and then +he fared back to the Southern isles. + + + + +CHAPTER LXXXIX. + +NJAL'S SONS AND KARI COME OUT TO ICELAND. + + +That summer Kari and Njal's sons busked them for Iceland, and when they +were "all-boun" they went to see the Earl. The Earl gave them good +gifts, and they parted with great friendship. + +Now they put to sea and have a short passage, and they got a fine fair +breeze, and made the land at Eyrar. Then they got them horses and ride +from the ship to Bergthorsknoll, but when they came home all men were +glad to see them. They flitted home their goods and laid up the ship, +and Kari was there that winter with Njal. + +But the spring after, Kari asked for Njal's daughter, Helga, to wife, +and Helgi and Grim backed his suit; and so the end of it was that she +was betrothed to Kari, and the day for the wedding-feast was fixed, and +the feast was held half a month before mid-summer, and they were that +winter with Njal. + +Then Kari bought him land at Dyrholms, east away by Mydale, and set up a +farm there; they put in there a grieve and housekeeper to see after the +farm, but they themselves were ever with Njal. + + + + +CHAPTER XC. + +THE QUARREL OF NJAL'S SONS WITH THRAIN SIGFUS' SON. + + +Hrapp owned a farm at Hrappstede, but for all that he was always at +Gritwater, and he was thought to spoil everything there. Thrain was good +to him. + +Once on a time it happened that Kettle of the Mark was at +Bergthorsknoll; then Njal's sons told him of their wrongs and hardships, +and said they had much to lay at Thrain Sigfus' son's door, whenever +they chose to speak about it. + +Njal said it would be best that Kettle should talk with his brother +Thrain about it, and he gave his word to do so. + +So they gave Kettle breathing-time to talk to Thrain. + +A little after they spoke of the matter again to Kettle, but he said +that he would repeat few of the words that had passed between them, "for +it was pretty plain that Thrain thought I set too great store on being +your brother-in-law". + +Then they dropped talking about it, and thought they saw that things +looked ugly, and so they asked their father for his counsel as to what +was to be done, but they told him they would not let things rest as they +then stood. + +"Such things," said Njal, "are not so strange. It will be thought that +they are slain without a cause, if they are slain now, and my counsel +is, that as many men as may be should be brought to talk with them about +these things, that thus as many as we can find may be ear-witnesses if +they answer ill as to these things. Then Kari shall talk about them too, +for he is just the man with the right turn of mind for this; then the +dislike between you will grow and grow, for they will heap bad words on +bad words when men bring the matter forward, for they are foolish men. +It may also well be that it may be said that my sons are slow to take up +a quarrel, but ye shall bear that for the sake of gaining time, for +there are two sides to everything that is done, and ye can always pick a +quarrel; but still ye shall let so much of your purpose out, as to say +that if any wrong be put upon you that ye do mean something. But if ye +had taken counsel from me at first, then these things should never have +been spoken about at all, and then ye would have gotten no disgrace from +them; but now ye have the greatest risk of it, and so it will go on ever +growing and growing with your disgrace, that ye will never get rid of it +until ye bring yourselves into a strait, and have to fight your way out +with weapons; but in that there is a long and weary night in which ye +will have to grope your way." + +After that they ceased speaking about it; but the matter became the +daily talk of many men. + +One day it happened that those brothers spoke to Kari and bade him go to +Gritwater. Kari said he thought he might go elsewhither on a better +journey, but still he would go if that were Njal's counsel. So after +that Kari fares to meet Thrain, and then they talk over the matter, and +they did not each look at it in the same way. + +Kari comes home, and Njal's sons ask how things had gone between Thrain +and him. Kari said he would rather not repeat the words that had passed, +"but," he went on, "it is to be looked for that the like words will be +spoken when ye yourselves can hear them". + +Thrain had fifteen house-earles trained to arms in his house, and eight +of them rode with him whithersoever he went. Thrain was very fond of +show and dress, and always rode in a blue cloak, and had on a guilded +helm, and the spear--the Earl's gift--in his hand, and a fair shield, +and a sword at his belt. Along with him always went Gunnar Lambi's son, +and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Grani, Gunnar of Lithend's son. But nearest +of all to him went Killing-Hrapp. Lodinn was the name of his +serving-man, he too went with Thrain when he journeyed; Tjorvi was the +name of Loddin's brother, and he too was one of Thrain's band. The worst +of all, in their words against Njal's sons, were Hrapp and Grani; and it +was mostly their doing that no atonement was offered to them. + +Njal's sons often spoke to Kari that he should ride with them; and it +came to that at last, for he said it would be well that they heard +Thrain's answer. + +Then they busked them, four of Njal's sons, and Kari the fifth, and so +they fare to Gritwater. + +There was a wide porch in the homestead there, so that many men might +stand in it side by side. There was a woman out of doors, and she saw +their coming, and told Thrain of it; he bade them to go out into the +porch, and take their arms, and they did so. + +Thrain stood in mid-door, Killing-Hrapp and Grani Gunnar's son stood on +either hand of him; then next stood Gunnar Lambi's son, then Lodinn and +Tjorvi, then Lambi Sigurd's son; then each of the others took his place +right and left; for the house-earles were all at home. + +Skarphedinn and his men walk up from below, and he went first, then +Kari, then Hauskuld, then Grim, then Helgi. But when they had come up to +the door, then not a word of welcome passed the lips of those who stood +before them. + +"May we all be welcome here?" said Skarphedinn. + +Hallgerda stood in the porch, and had been talking low to Hrapp, then +she spoke out loud-- + +"None of those who are here will say that ye are welcome." + +Then Skarphedinn sang a song. + + Prop of sea-waves' fire,[38] thy fretting + Cannot cast a weight on us, + Warriors wight; yes, wolf and eagle + Willingly I feed to-day; + Carline thrust into the ingle, + Or a tramping whore, art thou; + Lord of skates that skim the sea-belt,[39] + Odin's mocking cup[40] I mix. + +"Thy words," said Skarphedinn, "will not be worth much, for thou art +either a hag, only fit to sit in the ingle, or a harlot." + +"These words of thine thou shalt pay for," she says, "ere thou farest +home." + +"Thee am I come to see, Thrain," said Helgi, "and to know if thou will +make me any amends for those wrongs and hardships which befell me for +thy sake in Norway." + +"I never knew," said Thrain, "that ye two brothers were wont to measure +your manhood by money; or, how long shall such a claim for amends stand +over?" + +"Many will say," says Helgi, "that thou oughtest to offer us atonement, +since thy life was at stake." + +Then Hrapp said, "'Twas just luck that swayed the balance, when he got +stripes who ought to bear them; and she dragged you under disgrace and +hardship, but us away from them." + +"Little good luck was there in that," says Helgi, "to break faith with +the Earl, and to take to thee instead." + +"Thinkest thou not that thou hast some amends to seek from me?" says +Hrapp, "I will atone thee in a way that, methinks, were fitting." + +"The only dealings we shall have," says Helgi, "will be those which will +not stand thee in good stead." + +"Don't bandy words with Hrapp," said Skarphedinn, "but give him a red +skin for a grey."[41] + +"Hold thy tongue, Skarphedinn," said Hrapp, "or I will not spare to +bring my axe on thy head." + +"'Twill be proved soon enough, I dare say," says Skarphedinn, "which of +us is to scatter gravel over the other's head." + +"Away with you home, ye 'Dung-beardlings!'" says Hallgerda, "and so we +will call you always from this day forth; but your father we will call +'the Beardless Carle'." + +They did not fare home before all who were there had made themselves +guilty of uttering those words, save Thrain; he forbade men to utter +them. + +Then Njal's sons went away, and fared till they came home; then they +told their father. + +"Did ye call any men to witness of those words?" says Njal. + +"We called none," says Skarphedinn; "we do not mean to follow that suit +up except on the battlefield." + +"No one will now think," says Bergthora, "that ye have the heart to lift +your weapons." + +"Spare thy tongue, mistress!" says Kari, "in egging on thy sons, for +they will be quite eager enough." + +After that they all talk long in secret, Njal and his sons, and Kari +Solmund's son, their brother-in-law. + + + + +CHAPTER XCI. + +THRAIN SIGFUS' SON'S SLAYING. + + +Now there was great talk about this quarrel of theirs, and all seemed to +know that it would not settle down peacefully. + +Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest, east in the Dale, was a great friend +of Thrain's, and had asked Thrain to come and see him, and it was +settled that he should come east when about three weeks or a month were +wanting to winter. + +Thrain bade Hrapp, and Grani, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi Sigurd's +son, and Lodinn, and Tjorvi, eight of them in all, to go on this journey +with him. Hallgerda and Thorgerda were to go too. At the same time +Thrain gave it out that he meant to stay in the Mark with his brother +Kettle, and said how many nights he meant to be away from home. + +They all of them had full arms. So they rode east across Markfleet, and +found there some gangrel women, and they begged them to put them across +the Fleet west on their horses, and they did so. + +Then they rode into the Dale, and had a hearty welcome; there Kettle of +the Mark met them, and there they sate two nights. + +Both Runolf and Kettle besought Thrain that he would make up his quarrel +with Njal's sons; but he said he would never pay any money, and answered +crossly, for he said he thought himself quite a match for Njal's sons +wherever they met. + +"So it may be," says Runolf; "but so far as I can see, no man has been +their match since Gunnar of Lithend died, and it is likelier that ye +will both drag one another down to death." + +Thrain said that was not to be dreaded. + +Then Thrain fared up into the Mark, and was there two nights more; after +that he rode down into the Dale, and was sent away from both houses with +fitting gifts. + +Now the Markfleet was then flowing between sheets of ice on both sides, +and there were tongues of ice bridging it across every here and there. + +Thrain said that he meant to ride home that evening, but Runolf said +that he ought not to ride home; he said, too, that it would be more wary +not to fare back as he had said he would before he left home. + +"That is fear, and I will none of it," answers Thrain. + +Now those gangrel women whom they had put across the Fleet came to +Bergthorsknoll, and Bergthora asked whence they came, but they answered, +"Away east under Eyjafell". + +"Then, who put you across Markfleet?" said Bergthora. + +"Those," said they, "who were the most boastful and bravest clad of +men." + +"Who?" asked Bergthora. + +"Thrain Sigfus' son," said they, "and his company, but we thought it +best to tell thee that they were so full-tongued and foul-tongued +towards this house, against thy husband and his sons." + +"Listeners do not often hear good of themselves," says Bergthora. After +that they went their way, and Bergthora gave them gifts on their going, +and asked them when Thrain might be coming home. + +They said that he would be from home four or five nights. + +After that Bergthora told her sons and her son-in-law Kari, and they +talked long and low about the matter. + +But that same morning, when Thrain and his men rode from the east, Njal +woke up early and heard how Skarphedinn's axe came against the panel. + +Then Njal rises up, and goes out, and sees that his sons are all there +with their weapons, and Karl, his son-in-law too. Skarphedinn was +foremost. He was in a blue cape, and had a targe, and his axe aloft on +his shoulder. Next to him went Helgi; he was in a red kirtle, had a helm +on his head, and a red shield, on which a hart was marked. Next to him +went Kari; he had on a silken jerkin, a gilded helm and shield, and on +it was drawn a lion. They were all in bright holiday clothes. + +Njal called out to Skarphedinn-- + +"Whither art thou going, kinsman?" + +"On a sheep hunt," he said. + +"So it was once before," said Njal, "but then ye hunted men." + +Skarphedinn laughed at that, and said-- + +"Hear ye what the old man says? He is not without his doubts." + +"When was it that thou spokest thus before?" asks Kari. + +"When I slew Sigmund the white," says Skarphedinn, "Gunnar of Lithend's +kinsman." + +"For what?" asks Kari. + +"He had slain Thord Freedmanson, my foster-father." + +Njal went home, but they fared up into the Redslips, and bided there; +thence they could see the others as soon as ever they rode from the east +out of the dale. + +There was sunshine that day and bright weather. + +Now Thrain and his men ride down out of the Dale along the river bank. + +Lambi Sigurd's son said-- + +"Shields gleam away yonder in the Redslips when the sun shines on them, +and there must be some men lying in wait there." + +"Then," says Thrain, "we will turn our way lower down the Fleet, and +then they will come to meet us if they have any business with us." + +So they turn down the Fleet. "Now they have caught sight of us," said +Skarphedinn, "for lo! they turn their path elsewhither, and now we have +no other choice than to run down and meet them." + +"Many men," said Kari, "would rather not lie in wait if the balance of +force were not more on their side than it is on ours; they are eight, +but we are five." + +Now they turn down along the Fleet, and see a tongue of ice bridging the +stream lower down and mean to cross there. + +Thrain and his men take their stand upon the ice away from the tongue, +and Thrain said-- + +"What can these men want? They are five, and we are eight." + +"I guess," said Lambi Sigurd's son, "that they would still run the risk +though more men stood against them." + +Thrain throws off his cloak, and takes off his helm. + +Now it happened to Skarphedinn, as they ran down along the Fleet, that +his shoe-string snapped asunder, and he stayed behind. + +"Why so slow, Skarphedinn?" quoth Grim. + +"I am tying my shoe," he says. + +"Let us get on ahead," says Kari; "methinks he will not be slower than +we." + +So they turn off to the tongue, and run as fast as they can. Skarphedinn +sprang up as soon as he was ready, and had lifted his axe, "the ogress +of war," aloft, and runs right down to the Fleet. But the Fleet was so +deep that there was no fording it for a long way up or down. + +A great sheet of ice had been thrown up by the flood on the other side +of the Fleet as smooth and slippery as glass, and there Thrain and his +men stood in the midst of the sheet. + +Skarphedinn takes a spring into the air, and leaps over the stream +between the icebanks, and does not check his course, but rushes still +onwards with a slide. The sheet of ice was very slippery, and so he went +as fast as a bird flies. Thrain was just about to put his helm on his +head; and now Skarphedinn bore down on them, and hews at Thrain with his +axe, "the ogress of war," and smote him on the head, and clove him down +to the teeth, so that his jaw-teeth fell out on the ice. This feat was +done with such a quick sleight that no one could get a blow at him; he +glided away from them at once at full speed. Tjorvi, indeed, threw his +shield before him on the ice, but he leapt over it, and still kept his +feet, and slid quite to the end of the sheet of ice. + +There Kari and his brothers came to meet him. + +"This was done like a man," says Kari. + +"Your share is still left," says Skarphedinn, and sang a song. + + To the strife of swords not slower, + After all, I came than you, + For with ready stroke the sturdy + Squanderer of wealth I felled; + But since Grim's and Helgi's sea-stag[42] + Norway's Earl erst took and stripped, + Now 'tis time for sea-fire bearers[43] + Such dishonour to avenge. + +And this other song he sang-- + + Swiftly down I dashed my weapon, + Gashing giant, byrnie-breacher,[44] + She, the noisy ogre's namesake,[45] + Soon with flesh the ravens glutted; + Now your words to Hrapp remember, + On broad ice now rouse the storm, + With dull crash war's eager ogress + Battle's earliest note hath sung. + +"That befits us well, and we wilt do it well," says Helgi. Then they +turn up towards them. Both Grim and Helgi see where Hrapp is, and they +turned on him at once. Hrapp hews at Grim there and then with his axe; +Helgi sees this and cuts at Hrapp's arm, and cut it off, and down fell +the axe. + +"In this," says Hrapp, "thou hast done a most needful work, for this +hand hath wrought harm and death to many a man." + +"And so here an end shall be put to it," says Grim; and with that he ran +him through with a spear, and then Hrapp fell down dead. + +Tjorvi turns against Kari and hurls a spear at him. Kari leapt up in the +air, and the spear flew below his feet. Then Kari rushes at him, and +hews at him on the breast with his sword, and the blow passed at once +into his chest, and he got his death there and then. + +Then Skarphedinn seizes both Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, +and said-- + +"Here have I caught two whelps! but what shall we do with them?" + +"It is in thy power," says Helgi, "to slay both or either of them, if +you wish them dead." + +"I cannot find it in my heart to do both--help Hogni and slay his +brother," says Skarphedinn. + +"Then the day will once come," says Helgi, "when thou wilt wish that +thou hadst slain him, for never will he be true to thee, nor will any +one of the others who are now here." + +"I shall not fear them," answers Skarphedinn. + +After that they gave peace to Grani Gunnar's son, and Gunnar Lambi's +son, and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Lodinn. + +After that they went down to the Fleet where Skarphedinn had leapt over +it, and Kari and the others measured the length of the leap with their +spear-shafts, and it was twelve ells (about eighteen feet, according to +the old Norse measure). + +Then they turned homewards, and Njal asked what tidings. + +They told him all just as it had happened, and Njal said-- + +"These are great tidings, and it is more likely that hence will come the +death of one of my sons, if not more evil." + +Gunnar Lambi's son bore the body of Thrain with him to Gritwater, and he +was laid in a cairn there. + + + + +CHAPTER XCII. + +KETTLE TAKES HAUSKULD AS HIS FOSTER-SON. + + +Kettle of the Mark had to wife Thorgerda, Njal's daughter, but he was +Thrain's brother, and he thought he was come into a strait, so he rode +to Njal's house, and asked whether he were willing to atone in any way +for Thrain's slaying? + +"I will atone for it handsomely," answered Njal; "and my wish is that +thou shouldst look after the matter with thy brothers who have to take +the price of the atonement, that they may be ready to join in it." + +Kettle said he would do so with all his heart, and Kettle rode home +first; a little after, he summoned all his brothers to Lithend, and then +he had a talk with them; and Hogni was on his side all through the talk; +and so it came about that men were chosen to utter the award; and a +meeting was agreed on, and the fair price of a man was awarded for +Thrain's slaying, and they all had a share in the blood-money who had a +lawful right to it. After that pledges of peace and good faith were +agreed to, and they were settled in the most sure and binding way. + +Njal paid down all the money out of hand well and bravely; and so things +were quiet for a while. + +One day Njal rode up into the Mark, and he and Kettle talked together +the whole day, Njal rode home at even, and no man knew of what they had +taken counsel. + +A little after Kettle fares to Gritwater, and he said to Thorgerda-- + +"Long have I loved my brother Thrain much, and now I will show it, for I +will ask Hauskuld Thrain's son to be my foster-child." + +"Thou shalt have thy choice of this," she says; "and thou shalt give +this lad all the help in thy power when he is grown up, and avenge him +if he is slain with weapons, and bestow money on him for his wife's +dower; and besides, thou shalt swear to do all this." + +Now Hauskuld fares home with Kettle, and is with him some time. + + + + +CHAPTER XCIII. + +NJAL TAKES HAUSKULD TO FOSTER. + + +Once on a time Njal rides up into the Mark, and he had a hearty welcome. +He was there that night, and in the evening Njal called out to the lad +Hauskuld, and he went up to him at once. + +Njal had a ring of gold on his hand, and showed it to the lad. He took +hold of the gold, and looked at it, and put it on his finger. + +"Wilt thou take the gold as a gift?" said Njal. + +"That I will," said the lad. + +"Knowest thou," says Njal, "what brought thy father to his death?" + +"I know," answers the lad, "that Skarphedinn slew him; but we need not +keep that in mind, when an atonement has been made for it, and a full +price paid for him." + +"Better answered than asked," said Njal; "and thou wilt live to be a +good man and true," he adds. + +"Methinks thy forecasting," says Hauskuld, "is worth having, for I know +that thou art foresighted and unlying." + +"Now I will offer to foster thee," said Njal, "if thou wilt take the +offer." + +He said he would be willing to take both that honour and any other good +offer which he might make. So the end of the matter was, that Hauskuld +fared home with Njal as his foster-son. + +He suffered no harm to come nigh the lad, and loved him much. Njal's +sons took him about with them, and did him honour in every way. And so +things go on till Hauskuld is full grown. He was both tall and strong; +the fairest of men to look on, and well-haired; blithe of speech, +bountiful, well-behaved; as well trained to arms as the best; fairspoken +to all men, and much beloved. + +Njal's sons and Hauskuld were never apart, either in word or deed. + + + + +CHAPTER XCIV. + +OF FLOSI THORD'S SON. + + +There was a man named Flosi, he was the son of Thord Freyspriest. Flosi +had to wife Steinvora, daughter of Hall of the Side. She was base born, +and her mother's name was Solvora, daughter of Herjolf the white. Flosi +dwelt at Swinefell, and was a mighty chief. He was tall of stature, and +strong withal, the most forward and boldest of men. His brother's name +was Starkad; he was not by the same mother as Flosi. + +The other brothers of Flosi were Thorgeir and Stein, Kolbein and Egil. +Hildigunna was the name of the daughter of Starkad Flosi's brother. She +was a proud, high-spirited maiden, and one of the fairest of women. She +was so skilful with her hands, that few women were equally skilful. She +was the grimmest and hardest-hearted of all women; but still a woman of +open hand and heart when any fitting call was made upon her. + + + + +CHAPTER XCV. + +OF HALL OF THE SIDE. + + +Hall was the name of a man who was called Hall of the Side. He was the +son of Thorstein Baudvar's son. Hall had to wife Joreida, daughter of +Thidrandi the wise. Thorstein was the name of Hall's brother, and he was +nick-named broadpaunch. His son was Kol, whom Kari slays in Wales. The +sons of Hall of the Side were Thorstein and Egil, Thorwald and Ljot, and +Thidrandi, whom, it is said, the goddesses slew. + +There was a man named Thorir, whose surname was Holt-Thorir; his sons +were these: Thorgeir Craggeir, and Thorleif crow, from whom the +Wood-dwellers are come, and Thorgrim the big. + + + + +CHAPTER XCVI. + +OF THE CHANGE OF FAITH. + + +There had been a change of rulers in Norway, Earl Hacon was dead and +gone, but in his stead was come Olaf Tryggvi's son. That was the end of +Earl Hacon, that Kark, the thrall, cut his throat at Rimul in +Gaulardale. + +Along with that was heard that there had been a change of faith in +Norway; they had cast off the old faith, but King Olaf had christened +the western lands, Shetland, and the Orkneys, and the Faroe Isles. + +Then many men spoke so that Njal heard it, that it was a strange and +wicked thing to throw off the old faith. + +Then Njal spoke and said-- + +"It seems to me as though this new faith must be much better, and he +will be happy who follows this rather than the other; and if those men +come out hither who preach this faith, then I will back them well." + +He went often alone away from other men and muttered to himself. + +That same harvest a ship came out into the firths east to Berufirth, at +a spot called Gautawick. The captain's name was Thangbrand. He was a son +of Willibald, a count of Saxony, Thangbrand was sent out hither by King +Olaf Tryggvi's son, to preach the faith. Along with him came that man of +Iceland whose name was Gudleif. Gudleif was a great man-slayer, and one +of the strongest of men, and hardy and forward in everything. + +Two brothers dwelt at Beruness; the name of the one was Thorleif, but +the other was Kettle. They were sons of Holmstein, the son of Auzur of +Broaddale. These brothers held a meeting, and forbade men to have any +dealings with them. This Hall of the Side heard. He dwelt at Thvattwater +in Alftafirth; he rode to the ship with twenty-nine men, and he fares at +once to find Thangbrand, and spoke to him and asked him-- + +"Trade is rather dull, is it not?" + +He answered that so it was. + +"Now will I say my errand," says Hall; "it is, that I wish to ask you +all to my house, and run the risk of my being able to get rid of your +wares for you." + +Thangbrand thanked him, and fared to Thvattwater that harvest. + +It so happened one morning that Thangbrand was out early and made them +pitch a tent on land, and sang mass in it, and took much pains with it, +for it was a great high day. + +Hall spoke to Thangbrand and asked, "In memory of whom keepest thou this +day?" + +"In memory of Michael the archangel," says Thangbrand. + +"What follows that angel?" asks Hall. + +"Much good," says Thangbrand. "He will weigh all the good that thou +doest, and he is so merciful, that whenever any one pleases him, he +makes his good deeds weigh more." + +"I would like to have him for my friend," says Hall. + +"That thou mayest well have," says Thangbrand, "only give thyself over +to him by God's help this very day." + +"I only make this condition," says Hall, "that thou givest thy word for +him that he will then become my guardian angel." + +"That I will promise," says Thangbrand. + +Then Hall was baptised, and all his household. + + + + +CHAPTER XCVII. + +OF THANGBRAND'S JOURNEYS. + + +The spring after Thangbrand set out to preach Christianity, and Hall +went with him. But when they came west across Lonsheath to Staffell, +there they found a man dwelling named Thorkell. He spoke most against +the faith, and challenged Thangbrand to single combat. Then Thangbrand +bore a rood-cross[46] before his shield, and the end of their combat was +that Thangbrand won the day and slew Thorkell. + +Thence they fared to Hornfirth and turned in as guests at Borgarhaven, +west of Heinabergs sand. There Hilldir the old dwelt,[47] and then +Hilldir and all his household took upon them the new faith. + +Thence they fared to Fellcombe, and went in as guests to Calffell. There +dwelt Kol Thorstein's son, Hall's kinsman, and he took upon him the +faith and all his house. + +Thence they fared to Swinefell, and Flosi only took the sign of the +cross, but gave his word to back them at the Thing. + +Thence they fared west to Woodcombe, and went in as guests at Kirkby. +There dwelt Surt Asbjorn's son, the son of Thorstein, the son of Kettle +the foolish. These had all of them been Christians from father to son. + +After that they fared out of Woodcombe on to Headbrink. By that time the +story of their journey was spread far and wide. There was a man named +Sorcerer-Hedinn who dwelt in Carlinedale. There heathen men made a +bargain with him that he should put Thangbrand to death with all his +company. He fared upon Arnstacksheath, and there made a great sacrifice +when Thangbrand was riding from the east. Then the earth burst asunder +under his horse, but he sprang off his horse and saved himself on the +brink of the gulf, but the earth swallowed up the horse and all his +harness, and they never saw him more. + +Then Thangbrand praised God. + + + + +CHAPTER XCVIII. + +OF THANGBRAND AND GUDLEIF. + + +Gudleif now searches for Sorcerer-Hedinn and finds him on the heath, and +chases him down into Carlinedale, and got within spearshot of him, and +shoots a spear at him and through him. + +Thence they fared to Dyrholms and held a meeting there, and preached the +faith there, and there Ingialld, the son of Thorsteinn Highbankawk, +became a Christian. + +Thence they fared to the Fleetlithe and preached the faith there. There +Weatherlid the Skald, and Ari his son, spoke most against the faith, and +for that they slew Weatherlid, and then this song was sung about it-- + + He who proved his blade on bucklers, + South went through the land to whet + Brand that oft hath felled his foeman, + 'Gainst the forge which foams with song;[48] + Mighty wielder of war's sickle + Made his sword's avenging edge + Hard on hero's helm-prop rattle,[49] + Skull of Weatherlid the Skald. + +Thence Thangbrand fared to Bergthorsknoll, and Njal took the faith and +all his house, but Mord and Valgard went much against it, and thence +they fared out across the rivers; so they went on into Hawkdale and +there they baptised Hall,[50] and he was then three winters old. + +Thence Thangbrand fared to Grimsness, there Thorwald the scurvy gathered +a band against him, and sent word to Wolf Uggi's son, that he must fare +against Thangbrand and slay him, and made this song on him-- + + To the wolf in Woden's harness, + Uggi's worthy warlike son, + I, steel's swinger dearly loving, + This my simple bidding send; + That the wolf of Gods[51] he chaseth,-- + Man who snaps at chink of gold-- + Wolf who base our Gods blasphemeth, + I the other wolf[52] will crush. + +Wolf sang another song in return-- + + Swarthy skarf from month that skimmeth + Of the man who speaks in song + Never will I catch, though surely + Wealthy warrior it hath sent; + Tender of the sea-horse snorting, + E'en though ill deeds are on foot, + Still to risk mine eyes are open; + Harmful 'tis to snap at flies.[53] + +"And," says he, "I don't mean to be made a catspaw by him, but let him +take heed lest his tongue twists a noose for his own neck." + +And after that the messenger fared back to Thorwald the scurvy and told +him Wolf's words. Thorwald had many men about him, and gave it out that +he would lie in wait for them on Bluewoodheath. + +Now those two, Thangbrand and Gudleif, ride out of Hawkdale, and there +they came upon a man who rode to meet them. That man asked for Gudleif, +and when he found him he said-- + +"Thou shalt gain by being the brother of Thorgil of Reykiahole, for I +will let thee know that they have set many ambushes, and this too, that +Thorwald the scurvy is now with his band At Hestbeck on Grimsness." + +"We shall not the less for all that ride to meet him," says Gudleif, and +then they turned down to Hestbeck. Thorwald was then come across the +brook, and Gudleif said to Thangbrand-- + +"Here is now Thorwald; let us rush on him now." Thangbrand shot a spear +through Thorwald, but Gudleif smote him on the shoulder and hewed his +arm off, and that was his death. + +After that they ride up to the Thing, and it was a near thing that the +kinsmen of Thorwald had fallen on Thangbrand, but Njal and the +eastfirthers stood by Thangbrand. + +Then Hjallti Skeggi's son sang this rhyme at the Hill of Laws-- + + Ever will I Gods blaspheme + Freyja methinks a dog does seem, + Freyja a dog? Aye! let them be + Both dogs together Odin and she.[54] + +Hjallti fared abroad that summer and Gizur the white with him, but +Thangbrand's ship was wrecked away east at Bulandsness, and the ship's +name was "Bison". + +Thangbrand and his messmate fared right through the west country, and +Steinvora, the mother of Ref the Skald, came against him; she preached +the heathen faith to Thangbrand and made him a long speech. Thangbrand +held his peace while she spoke, but made a long speech after her, and +turned all that she had said the wrong way against her. + +"Hast thou heard," she said, "how Thor challenged Christ to single +combat, and how he did not dare to fight with Thor?" + +"I have heard tell," says Thangbrand, "that Thor was naught but dust and +ashes, if God had not willed that he should live." + +"Knowest thou," she says, "who it was that shattered thy ship?" + +"What hast thou to say about that?" he asks. + +"That I will tell thee," she says. + + He that giant's offspring[55] slayeth + Broke the new-field's bison stout,[56] + Thus the Gods, bell's warder[57] grieving. + Crushed the falcon of the strand;[58] + To the courser of the causeway[59] + Little good was Christ I ween, + When Thor shattered ships to pieces + Gylfi's hart[60] no God could help. + +And again she sang another song-- + + Thangbrand's vessel from her moorings, + Sea-king's steed, Thor wrathful tore, + Shook and shattered all her timbers, + Hurled her broadside on the beach; + Ne'er again shall Viking's snow-shoe,[61] + On the briny billows glide, + For a storm by Thor awakened, + Dashed the bark to splinters small. + +After that Thangbrand and Steinvora parted, and they fared west to +Bardastrand. + + + + +CHAPTER XCIX. + +OF GEST ODDLEIF'S SON. + + +Gest Oddleif's son dwelt at Hagi on Bardastrand, He was one of the +wisest of men, so that he foresaw the fates and fortunes of men. He made +a feast for Thangbrand and his men. They fared to Hagi with sixty men. +Then it was said that there were two hundred heathen men to meet them, +and that a Baresark was looked for to come thither, whose name was +Otrygg, and all were afraid of him. Of him such great things as these +were said, that he feared neither fire nor sword, and the heathen men +were sore afraid at his coming. Then Thangbrand asked if men were +willing to take the faith, but all the heathen men spoke against it. + +"Well," says Thangbrand, "I will give you the means whereby ye shall +prove whether my faith is better. We will hallow two fires. The heathen +men shall hallow one and I the other, but a third shall he unhallowed; +and if the Baresark is afraid of the one that I hallow, but treads both +the others, then ye shall take the faith." + +"That is well-spoken," says Gest, "and I will agree to this for myself +and my household." + +And when Gest had so spoken, then many more agreed to it. + +Then it was said that the Baresark was coming up to the homestead, and +then the fires were made and burned strong. Then men took their arms and +sprang up on the benches, and so waited. + +The Baresark rushed in with his weapons. He comes into the room, and +treads at once the fire which the heathen men had hallowed, and so comes +to the fire that Thangbrand had hallowed, and dares not to tread it, but +said that he was on fire all over. He hews with his sword at the bench, +but strikes a cross-beam as he brandished the weapon aloft. Thangbrand +smote the arm of the Baresark with his crucifix, and so mighty a token +followed that the sword fell from the Baresark's hand. + +Then Thangbrand thrusts a sword into his breast, and Gudleif smote him +on the arm and hewed it off. Then many went up and slew the Baresark. + +After that Thangbrand asked if they would take the faith now? + +Gest said he had only spoken what he meant to keep to. + +Then Thangbrand baptised Gest and all his house and many others. Then +Thangbrand took counsel with Gest whether he should go any further west +among the firths, but Gest set his face against that, and said they were +a hard race of men there, and ill to deal with, "but if it be foredoomed +that this faith shall make its way, then it will be taken as law at the +Althing, and then all the chiefs out of the districts will be there". + +"I did all that I could at the Thing," says Thangbrand, "and it was very +uphill work." + +"Still thou hast done most of the work," says Gest, "though it may be +fated that others shall make Christianity law; but it is here as the +saying runs, 'No tree falls at the first stroke'." + +After that Gest gave Thangbrand good gifts, and he fared back south. +Thangbrand fared to the Southlander's Quarter, and so to the Eastfirths. +He turned in as a guest at Bergthorsknoll, and Njal gave him good gifts. +Thence he rode east to Alftafirth to meet Hall of the Side. He caused +his ship to be mended, and heathen man called it "Iron-basket". On board +that ship Thangbrand fared abroad, and Gudleif with him. + + + + +CHAPTER C. + +OF GIZUR THE WHITE AND HJALLTI. + + +That same summer Hjallti Skeggi's son was outlawed at the Thing for +blasphemy against the Gods. + +Thangbrand told King Olaf of all the mischief that the Icelanders had +done to him, and said that they were such sorcerers there that the earth +burst asunder under his horse and swallowed up the horse. + +Then King Olaf was so wroth that he made them seize all the men from +Iceland and set them in dungeons, and meant to slay them. + +Then they, Gizur the white and Hjallti, came up and offered to lay +themselves in pledge for those men, and fare out to Iceland and preach +the faith. The king took this well, and they got them all set free +again. + +Then Gizur and Hjallti busked their ship for Iceland, and were soon +"boun". They made the land at Eyrar when ten weeks of summer had passed; +they got them horses at once, but left other men to strip their ship. +Then they ride with thirty men to the Thing, and sent word to the +Christian men that they must be ready to stand by them. + +Hjallti stayed behind at Reydarmull, for he had heard that he had been +made an outlaw for blasphemy, but when they came to the "Boiling +Kettle"[62] down below the brink of the Rift,[63] there came Hjallti +after them, and said he would not let the heathen men see that he was +afraid of them. + +Then many Christian men rode to meet them, and they ride in battle +array to the Thing. The heathen men had drawn up their men in array to +meet them, and it was a near thing that the whole body of the Thing had +come to blows, but still it did not go so far. + + + + +CHAPTER CI. + +OF THORGEIR OF LIGHTWATER. + + +There was a man named Thorgeir who dwelt at Lightwater; he was the son +of Tjorfi, the son of Thorkel the long, the son of Kettle Longneck. His +mother's name was Thoruna, and she was the daughter of Thorstein, the +son of Sigmund, the son of Bard of the Nip. Gudrida was the name of his +wife; she was a daughter of Thorkel the black of Hleidrargarth. His +brother was Worm wallet-back, the father of Hlenni the old of Saurby. + +The Christian men set up their booths, and Gizur the white and Hjallti +were in the booths of the men from Mossfell. The day after both sides +went to the Hill of Laws, and each, the Christian men as well as the +heathen, took witness, and declared themselves out of the other's laws, +and then there was such an uproar on the Hill of Laws that no man could +hear the other's voice. + +After that men went away, and all thought things looked like the +greatest entanglement. The Christian men chose as their Speaker Hall of +the Side, but Hall went to Thorgeir, the priest of Lightwater, who was +the old Speaker of the law, and gave him three marks of silver to utter +what the law should be, but still that was most hazardous counsel, since +he was an heathen. + +Thorgeir lay all that day on the ground, and spread a cloak over his +head, so that no man spoke with him; but the day after men went to the +Hill of Laws, and then Thorgeir bade them be silent and listen, and +spoke thus-- + +"It seems to me as though our matters were come to a dead lock, if we +are not all to have one and the same law; for if there be a sundering of +the laws, then there will be a sundering of the peace, and we shall +never be able to live in the land. Now, I will ask both Christian men +and heathen whether they will hold to those laws which I utter". + +They all say they would. + +He said he wished to take an oath of them, and pledges that they would +hold to them, and they all said "yea" to that, and so he took pledges +from them. + +"This is the beginning of our laws," he said, "that all men shall be +Christian here in the land, and believe in one God, the Father, the Son, +and the Holy Ghost, but leave off all idol-worship, not expose children +to perish, and not eat horseflesh. It shall be outlawry if such things +are proved openly against any man; but if these things are done by +stealth, then it shall be blameless." + +But all this heathendom was all done away with within a few years' +space, so that those things were not allowed to be done either by +stealth or openly. + +Thorgeir then uttered the law as to keeping the Lord's day and fast +days, Yuletide and Easter, and all the greatest highdays and holidays. + +The heathen men thought they had been greatly cheated; but still the +true faith was brought into the law, and so all men became Christian +here in the land. + +After that men fare home from the Thing. + + + + +CHAPTER CII. + +THE WEDDING OF HAUSKULD, THE PRIEST OF WHITENESS. + + +Now we must take up the story, and say that Njal spoke thus to Hauskuld, +his foster-son, and said-- + +"I would seek thee a match." + +Hauskuld bade him settle the matter as he pleased, and asked whether he +was most likely to turn his eyes. + +"There is a woman called Hildigunna," answers Njal, "and she is the +daughter of Starkad, the son of Thord Freyspriest. She is the best match +I know of." + +"See thou to it, foster-father," said Hauskuld; "that shall be my choice +which thou choosest." + +"Then we will look thitherward," says Njal. + +A little while after, Njal called on men to go along with him. Then the +sons of Sigfus, and Njal's sons, and Kari Solmund's son, all of them +fared with him and they rode east to Swinefell. + +There they got a hearty welcome. + +The day after, Njal and Flosi went to talk alone, and the speech of Njal +ended thus, that he said-- + +"This is my errand here, that we have set out on a wooing-journey, to +ask for thy kinswoman Hildigunna." + +"At whose hand?" says Flosi. + +"At the hand of Hauskuld my foster-son," says Njal. + +"Such things are well meant," says Flosi, "but still ye run each of you +great risk, the one from the other; but what hast thou to say of +Hauskuld?" + +"Good I am able to say of him," says Njal; "and besides, I will lay down +as much money as will seem fitting to thy niece and thyself, if thou +wilt think of making this match." + +"We will call her hither," says Flosi, "and know how she looks on the +man." + +Then Hildigunna was called, and she came thither. + +Flosi told her of the wooing, but she said she was a proud-hearted +woman. + +"And I know not how things will turn out between me and men of like +spirit; but this, too, is not the least of my dislike, that this man has +no priesthood or leadership over men, but thou hast always said that +thou wouldest not wed me to a man who had not the priesthood." + +"This is quite enough," says Flosi, "if thou wilt not be wedded to +Hauskuld, to make me take no more pains about the match." + +"Nay!" she says, "I do not say that I will not be wedded to Hauskuld if +they can get him a priesthood or a leadership over men; but otherwise I +will have nothing to say to the match." + +"Then," said Njal, "I will beg thee to let this match stand over for +three winters, that I may see what I can do." + +Flosi said that so it should be. + +"I will only bargain for this one thing," says Hildigunna, "if this +match comes to pass, that we shall stay here away east." + +Njal said he would rather leave that to Hauskuld, but Hauskuld said that +he put faith in many men, but in none so much as his foster-father. + +Now they ride from the east. + +Njal sought to get a priesthood and leadership for Hauskuld, but no one +was willing to sell his priesthood, and now the summer passes away till +the Althing. + +There were great quarrels at the Thing that summer, and many a man then +did as was their wont, in faring to see Njal; but he gave such counsel +in men's lawsuits as was not thought at all likely, so that both the +pleadings and the defence came to naught, and out of that great strife +arose, when the lawsuits could not be brought to an end, and men rode +home from the Thing unatoned. + +Now things go on till another Thing comes. Njal rode to the Thing, and +at first all is quiet until Njal says that it is high time for men to +give notice of their suits. + +Then many said that they thought that came to little, when no man could +get his suit settled, even though the witnesses were summoned to the +Althing, "and so," say they, "we would rather seek our rights with point +and edge." + +"So it must not be," says Njal, "for it will never do to have no law in +the land. But yet ye have much to say on your side in this matter, and +it behoves us who know the law, and who are bound to guide the law, to +set men at one again, and to ensue peace. 'Twere good counsel, then, +methinks, that we call together all the chiefs and talk the matter +over." + +Then they go to the Court of Laws, and Njal spoke and said-- + +"Thee, Skapti Thorod's son and you other chiefs, I call on, and say, +that methinks our lawsuits have come into a deadlock, if we have to +follow up our suits in the Quarter Courts, and they get so entangled +that they can neither be pleaded nor ended. Methinks, it were wiser if +we had a Fifth Court, and there pleaded those suits which cannot be +brought to an end in the Quarter Courts." + +"How," said Skapti, "wilt thou name a Fifth Court, when the Quarter +Court is named for the old priesthoods, three twelves in each quarter?" + +"I can see help for that," says Njal, "by setting up new priesthoods, +and filling them with the men who are best fitted in each Quarter, and +then let those men who are willing to agree to it, declare themselves +ready to join the new priest's Thing." + +"Well," says Skapti, "we will take this choice; but what weighty suits +shall come before the court?" + +"These matters shall come before it," says Njal--"all matters of +contempt of the Thing, such as if men bear false witness, or utter a +false finding; hither, too, shall come all those suits in which the +Judges are divided in opinion in the Quarter Court; then they shall be +summoned to the Fifth Court; so, too, if men offer bribes, or take them, +for their help in suits. In this court all the oaths shall be of the +strongest kind, and two men shall follow every oath, who shall support +on their words of honour what the others swear. So it shall be also, if +the pleadings on one side are right in form, and the other wrong, that +the judgment shall be given for those that are right in form. Every suit +in this court shall be pleaded just as is now done in the Quarter Court, +save and except that when four twelves are named in the Fifth Court, +then the plaintiff shall name and set aside six men out of the court, +and the defendant other six; but if he will not set them aside, then the +plaintiff shall name them and set them aside as he has done with his own +six; but if the plaintiff does not set them aside, then the suit comes +to naught, for three twelves shall utter judgment on all suits. We shall +also have this arrangement in the Court of Laws, that those only shall +have the right to make or change laws who sit on the middle bench, and +to this bench those only shall be chosen who are wisest and best. There, +too, shall the Fifth Court sit; but if those who sit in the Court of +Laws are not agreed as to what they shall allow or bring in as law, then +they shall clear the court for a division, and the majority shall bind +the rest; but if any man who has a seat in the Court be outside the +Court of Laws and cannot get inside it, or thinks himself overborne in +the suit, then he shall forbid them by a protest, so that they can hear +it in the Court, and then he has made all their grants and all their +decisions void and of none effect, and stopped them by his protest." + +After that, Skapti Thorod's son brought the Fifth Court into the law, +and all that was spoken of before. Then men went to the Hill of Laws, +and men set up new priesthoods: in the Northlanders' Quarter were these +new priesthoods. The priesthood of the Melmen in Midfirth, and the +Laufesingers' priesthood in the Eyjafirth. + +Then Njal begged for a hearing, and spoke thus-- + +"It is known to many men what passed between my sons and the men of +Gritwater when they slew Thrain Sigfus' son. But for all that we settled +the matter; and now I have taken Hauskuld into my house, and planned a +marriage for him if he can get a priesthood anywhere; but no man will +sell his priesthood, and so I will beg you to give me leave to set up a +new priesthood at Whiteness for Hauskuld." + +He got this leave from all, and after that he set up the new priesthood +for Hauskuld; and he was afterwards called Hauskuld, the Priest of +Whiteness. + +After that, men ride home from the Thing, and Njal stayed but a short +time at home ere he rides east to Swinefell, and his sons with him, and +again stirs in the matter of the marriage with Flosi; but Flosi said he +was ready to keep faith with them in everything. + +Then Hildigunna was betrothed to Hauskuld, and the day for the wedding +feast was fixed, and so the matter ended. They then ride home, but they +rode again shortly to the bridal, and Flosi paid down all her goods and +money after the wedding, and all went off well. + +They fared home to Bergthorsknoll, and were there the next year, and all +went well between Hildigunna and Bergthora. But the next spring Njal +bought land in Ossaby, and hands it over to Hauskuld, and thither he +fares to his own abode. Njal got him all his household, and there was +such love between them all, that none of them thought anything that he +said or did any worth unless the others had a share in it. + +Hauskuld dwelt long at Ossaby, and each backed the other's honour, and +Njal's sons were always in Hauskuld's company. Their friendship was so +warm, that each house bade the other to a feast every harvest, and gave +each other great gifts; and so it goes on for a long while. + + + + +CHAPTER CIII. + +THE SLAYING OF HAUSKULD NJAL'S SON. + + +There was a man named Lyting; he dwelt at Samstede, and he had to wife a +woman named Steinvora; she was a daughter of Sigfus, and Thrain's +sister. Lyting was tall of growth and a strong man, wealthy in goods and +ill to deal with. + +It happened once that Lyting had a feast in his house at Samstede, and +he had bidden thither Hauskuld and the sons of Sigfus, and they all +came. There, too, was Grani Gunnar's son, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and +Lambi Sigurd's son. + +Hauskuld Njal's son and his mother had a farm at Holt, and he was +always riding to his farm from Bergthorsknoll, and his path lay by the +homestead at Samstede. Hauskuld had a son called Amund; he had been born +blind, but for all that he was tall and strong. Lyting had two +brothers--the one's name was Hallstein, and the other's Hallgrim. They +were the most unruly of men, and they were ever with their brother, for +other men could not bear their temper. + +Lyting was out of doors most of that day, but every now and then he went +inside his house. At last he had gone to his seat, when in came a woman +who had been out of doors, and she said-- + +"You were too far off to see outside how that proud fellow rode by the +farmyard!" + +"What proud fellow was that," says Lyting, "of whom thou speakest?" + +"Hauskuld Njal's son rode here by the yard," she says. + +"He rides often here by the farmyard," said Lyting, "and I can't say +that it does not try my temper; and now I will make thee an offer, +Hauskuld [Sigfus' son], to go along with thee if thou wilt avenge thy +father and slay Hauskuld Njal's son." + +"That I will not do," says Hauskuld, "for then I should repay Njal, my +foster father, evil for good, and mayst thou and thy feasts never thrive +henceforth." + +With that he sprang up away from the board, and made them catch his +horses, and rode home. + +Then Lyting said to Grani Gunnar's son-- + +"Thou wert by when Thrain was slain, and that will still be in thy mind; +and thou, too, Gunnar Lambi's son, and thou, Lambi Sigurd's son. Now, my +will is that we ride to meet him this evening, and slay him." + +"No," says Grani, "I will not fall on Njal's son, and so break the +atonement which good men and true have made." + +With like words spoke each man of them, and so, too, spoke all the sons +of Sigfus; and they took that counsel to ride away. + +Then Lyting said, when they had gone away-- + +"All men know that I have taken no atonement for my brother-in-law +Thrain, and I shall never be content that no vengeance--man for +man--shall be taken for him." + +After that he called on his two brothers to go with him, and three +house-carles as well. They went on the way to meet Hauskuld [Njal's son] +as he came back, and lay in wait for him north of the farmyard in a +pit; and there they bided till it was about mid-even [six o'clock +P.M.]. Then Hauskuld rode up to them. They jump up all of them +with their arms, and fall on him. Hauskuld guarded himself well, so that +for a long while they could not get the better of him; but the end of it +was at last that he wounded Lyting on the arm, and slew two of his +serving-men, and then fell himself. They gave Hauskuld sixteen wounds, +but they hewed not off the head from his body. They fared away into the +wood east of Rangriver, and hid themselves there. + +That same evening, Rodny's shepherd found Hauskuld dead, and went home +and told Rodny of her son's slaying. + +"Was he surely dead?" she asks; "was his head off?" + +"It was not," he says. + +"I shall know if I see," she says; "so take thou my horse and driving +gear." + +He did so, and got all things ready, and then they went thither where +Hauskuld lay. + +She looked at the wounds, and said-- + +"'Tis even as I thought, that he could not be quite dead, and Njal no +doubt can cure greater wounds." + +After that they took the body and laid it on the sledge and drove to +Bergthorsknoll, and drew it into the sheepcote, and made him sit upright +against the wall. + +Then they went both of them and knocked at the door, and a house-carle +went to the door. She steals in by him at once, and goes till she comes +to Njal's bed. + +She asked whether Njal were awake? He said he had slept up to that time, +but was then awake. + +"But why art thou come hither so early?" + +"Rise thou up," said Rodny, "from thy bed by my rival's side, and come +out, and she too, and thy sons, to see thy son Hauskuld." + +They rose and went out. + +"Let us take our weapons," said Skarphedinn, "and have them with us." + +Njal said naught at that, and they ran in and came out again armed. + +She goes first till they come to the sheepcote; she goes in and bade +them follow her. Then she lit a torch and held it up and said-- + +"Here, Njal, is thy son Hauskuld, and he hath gotten many wounds upon +him, and now he will need leechcraft." + +"I see death marks on him," said Njal, "but no signs of life; but why +hast thou not closed his eyes and nostrils? see, his nostrils are still +open!" + +"That duty I meant for Skarphedinn," she says. + +Then Skarphedinn went to close his eyes and nostrils, and said to his +father-- + +"Who, sayest thou, hath slain him?" + +"Lyting of Samstede and his brothers must have slain him," says Njal. + +Then Rodny said, "Into thy hands, Skarphedinn, I leave it to take +vengeance for thy brother, and I ween that thou wilt take it well, +though he be not lawfully begotten, and that thou wilt not be slow to +take it". + +"Wonderfully do ye men behave," said Bergthora, "when ye slay men for +small cause, but talk and tarry over such wrongs as this until no +vengeance at all is taken; and now tidings of this will soon come to +Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness, and he will be offering you +atonement, and you will grant him that, but now is the time to act about +it, if ye seek for vengeance." + +"Our mother eggs us on now with a just goading," said Skarphedinn, and +sang a song. + + Well we know the warrior's temper,[64] + One and all, well, father thine, + But atonement to the mother, + Snake-land's stem[65] and thee were base; + He that hoardeth ocean's fire[66] + Hearing this will leave his home; + Wound of weapon us hath smitten, + Worse the lot of those that wait! + +After that they all ran out of the sheepcote, but Rodny went indoors +with Njal, and was there the rest of the night. + + + + +CHAPTER CIV. + +THE SLAYING OF LYTING'S BROTHERS. + + +Now we must speak of Skarphedinn and his brothers, how they bend their +course up to Rangriver. Then Skarphedinn said-- + +"Stand we here and listen, and let us go stilly, for I hear the voices +of men up along the river's bank. But will ye, Helgi and Grim, deal with +Lyting single-handed, or with both his brothers?" + +They said they would sooner deal with Lyting alone. + +"Still," says Skarphedinn, "there is more game in him, and methinks it +were ill if he gets away, but I trust myself best for not letting him +escape." + +"We will take such steps," says Helgi, "if we get a chance at him, that +he shall not slip through our fingers." + +Then they went thitherward, Where they heard the voices of men, and see +where Lyting and his brothers are by a stream. + +Skarphedinn leaps over the stream at once, and alights on the sandy +brink on the other side. There upon it stands Hallgrim and his brother. +Skarphedinn smites at Hallgrim's thigh, so that he cut the leg clean +off, but he grasps Hallstein with his left hand. Lyting thrust at +Skarphedinn, but Helgi came up then and threw his shield before the +spear, and caught the blow on it. Lyting took up a stone and hurled it +at Skarphedinn, and he lost his hold on Hallstein. Hallstein sprang up +the sandy bank, but could get up it in no other way than by crawling on +his hands and knees. Skarphedinn made a side blow at him with his axe, +"the ogress of war," and hews asunder his backbone. Now Lyting turns and +flies, but Helgi and Grim both went after him, and each gave him a +wound, but still Lyting got across the river away from them, and so to +the horses, and gallops till he comes to Ossaby. + +Hauskuld was at home, and meets him at once. Lyting told him of these +deeds. + +"Such things were to be looked for by thee," says Hauskuld. "Thou hast +behaved like a madman, and here the truth of the old saw will be proved: +'but a short while is hand fain of blow'. Methinks what thou hast got to +look to now is whether thou wilt be able to save thy life or not." + +"Sure enough," says Lyting, "I had hard work to get away, but still I +wish now that thou wouldest get me atoned with Njal and his sons, so +that I might keep my farm." + +"So it shall be," says Hauskuld. + +After that Hauskuld made them saddle his horse, and rode to +Bergthorsknoll with five men. Njal's sons were then come home and had +laid them down to sleep. + +Hauskuld went at once to see Njal, and they began to talk. + +"Hither am I come," said Hauskuld to Njal, "to beg a boon on behalf of +Lyting, my uncle. He has done great wickedness against you and yours, +broken his atonement and slain thy son." + +"Lyting will perhaps think," said Njal, "that he has already paid a +heavy fine in the loss of his brothers, but if I grant him any terms, I +shall let him reap the good of my love for thee, and I will tell thee +before I utter the award of atonement, that Lyting's brothers shall fall +as outlaws. Nor shall Lyting have any atonement for his wounds, but on +the other hand, he shall pay the full blood-fine for Hauskuld." + +"My wish," said Hauskuld, "is, that thou shouldest make thine own +terms." + +"Well," says Njal, "then I will utter the award at once if thou wilt." + +"Wilt thou," says Hauskuld, "that thy sons should be by?" + +"Then we should be no nearer an atonement than we were before," says +Njal, "but they will keep to the atonement which I utter." + +Then Hauskuld said, "Let us close the matter then, and handsel him peace +on behalf of thy sons". + +"So it shall be," says Njal. "My will then is that he pays two hundred +in silver for the slaying of Hauskuld, but he may still dwell at +Samstede; and yet I think it were wiser if he sold his land and changed +his abode; but not for this quarrel; neither I nor my sons will break +our pledges of peace to him: but methinks it may be that some one may +rise up in this country against whom he may have to be on his guard. +Yet, lest it should seem that I make a man an outcast from his native +place, I allow him to be here in this neighbourhood, but in that case he +alone is answerable for what may happen." + +After that Hauskuld fared home, and Njal's sons woke up as he went, and +asked their father who had come, but he told them that his foster-son +Hauskuld had been there. + +"He must have come to ask a boon for Lyting then," said Skarphedinn. + +"So it was," says Njal + +"Ill was it then," says Grim. + +"Hauskuld could not have thrown his shield before him," says Njal, "if +thou hadst slain him, as it was meant thou shouldst." + +"Let us throw no blame on our father," says Skarphedinn. + +Now it is to be said that this atonement was kept between them +afterwards. + + + + +CHAPTER CV. + +OF AMUND THE BLIND. + +That event happened three winters after at the Thingskala-Thing that +Amund the blind was at the Thing; he was the son of Hauskuld Njal's son. +He made men lead him about among the booths, and so he came to the booth +inside which was Lyting of Samstede. He made them lead him into the +booth till he came before Lyting. + +"Is Lyting of Samstede here?" he asked. + +"What dost thou want?" says Lyting. + +"I want to know," says Amund, "what atonement thou wilt pay me for my +father, I am base-born, and I have touched no fine." + +"I have atoned for the slaying of thy father," says Lyting, "with a full +price, and thy father's father and thy father's brothers took the money; +but my brothers fell without a price as outlaws; and so it was that I +had both done an ill-deed, and paid dear for it." + +"I ask not," says Amund, "as to thy having paid an atonement to them. I +know that ye two are now friends, but I ask this, what atonement thou +wilt pay to me?" + +"None at all," says Lyting. + +"I cannot see," says Amund, "how thou canst have right before God, when +thou hast stricken me so near the heart; but all I can say is, that if I +were blessed with the sight of both my eyes, I would have either a money +fine for my father, or revenge man for man; and so may God judge between +us." + +After that he went out; but when he came to the door of the booth, he +turned short round towards the inside. Then his eyes were opened, and he +said-- + +"Praised be the Lord! now I see what His will is." + +With that he ran straight into the booth until he comes before Lyting, +and smites him with an axe on the head, so that it sunk in up to the +hammer, and gives the axe a pull towards him. + +Lyting fell forwards and was dead at once. + +Amund goes out to the door of the booth, and when he got to the very +same spot on which he had stood when his eyes were opened, lo! they were +shut again, and he was blind all his life after. + +Then he made them lead him to Njal and his sons, and he told them of +Lyting's slaying. + +"Thou mayest not be blamed for this," says Njal, "for such things are +settled by a higher power; but it is worth while to take warning from +such events, lest we cut any short who have such near claims as Amund +had." + +After that Njal offered an atonement to Lyting's kinsmen. Hauskuld the +Priest of Whiteness had a share in bringing Lyting's kinsmen to take the +fine, and then the matter was put to an award, and half the fines fell +away for the sake of the claim which he seemed to have on Lyting. + +After that men came forward with pledges of peace and good faith, and +Lyting's kinsmen granted pledges to Amund. Men rode home from the Thing; +and now all is quiet for a long while. + + + + +CHAPTER CVI. + +OF VALGARD THE GUILEFUL. + + +Valgard the guileful came back to Iceland that summer; he was then still +heathen. He fared to Hof to his son Mord's house, and was there the +winter over. He said to Mord-- + +"Here I have ridden far and wide all over the neighbourhood, and +methinks I do not know it for the same. I came to Whiteness, and there I +saw many tofts of booths and much ground levelled for building, I came +to Thingskala-Thing, and there I saw all our booths broken down. What is +the meaning of such strange things?" + +"New priesthoods," answers Mord, "have been set up here, and a law for +a Fifth Court, and men have declared themselves out of my Thing, and +have gone over to Hauskuld's Thing." + +"Ill hast thou repaid me," said Valgard, "for giving up to thee my +priesthood, when thou hast handled it so little like a man, and now my +wish is that thou shouldst pay them off by something that will drag them +all down to death; and this thou canst do by setting them by the ears by +tale-bearing, so that Njal's sons may slay Hauskuld; but there are many +who will have the blood-feud after him, and so Njal's sons will be slain +in that quarrel." + +"I shall never be able to get that done," says Mord. + +"I will give thee a plan," says Valgard; "thou shalt ask Njal's sons to +thy house, and send them away with gifts, but thou shalt keep thy +tale-bearing in the back ground until great friendship has sprung up +between you, and they trust thee no worse than their own selves. So wilt +thou be able to avenge thyself on Skarphedinn for that he took thy money +from thee after Gunnar's death; and in this wise, further on, thou wilt +be able to seize the leadership when they are all dead and gone." + +This plan they settled between them should be brought to pass; and Mord +said-- + +"I would, father, that thou wouldst take on thee the new faith. Thou art +an old man." + +"I will not do that," says Valgard. "I would rather that thou shouldst +cast off the faith, and see what follows then." + +Mord said he would not do that. Valgard broke crosses before Mord's +face, and all holy tokens. A little after Valgard took a sickness and +breathed his last, and he was laid in a cairn by Hof. + + + + +CHAPTER CVII. + +OF MORD AND NJAL'S SONS. + + +Some while after Mord rode to Bergthorsknoll and saw Skarphedinn there; +he fell into very fair words with them, and so he talked the whole day, +and said he wished to be good friends with them, and to see much of +them. + +Skarphedinn took it all well, but said he had never sought for anything +of the kind before. So it came about that he got himself into such +great friendship with them, that neither side thought they had taken any +good counsel unless the other had a share in it. + +Njal always disliked his coming thither, and it often happened that he +was angry with him. + +It happened one day that Mord came to Bergthorsknoll, and Mord said to +Njal's sons-- + +"I have made up my mind to give a feast yonder, and I mean to drink in +my heirship after my father, but to that feast I wish to bid you, Njal's +sons, and Kari; and at the same time I give you my word that ye shall +not fare away giftless." + +They promised to go, and now he fares home and makes ready the feast. He +bade to it many householders, and that feast was very crowded. + +Thither came Njal's sons and Kari. Mord gave Skarphedinn a brooch of +gold, and a silver belt to Kari, and good gifts to Grim and Helgi. + +They come home and boast of these gifts, and show them to Njal. He said +they would be bought full dear, "and take heed that ye do not repay the +giver in the coin which he no doubt wishes to get". + + + + +CHAPTER CVIII. + +OF THE SLANDER OF MORD VALGARD'S SON. + + +A little after Njal's sons and Hauskuld were to have their yearly +feasts, and they were the first to bid Hauskuld to come to them. + +Skarphedinn had a brown horse four winters old, both tall and sightly. +He was a stallion, and had never yet been matched in fight. That horse +Skarphedinn gave to Hauskuld, and along with him two mares. They all +gave Hauskuld gifts, and assured him of their friendship. + +After that Hauskuld bade them to his house at Ossaby, and had many +guests to meet them, and a great crowd. + +It happened that he had just then taken down his hall, but he had built +three out-houses, and there the beds were made. + +So all that were bidden came, and the feast went off very well. But +when men were to go home Hauskuld picked out good gifts for them, and +went a part of the way with Njal's sons. + +The sons of Sigfus followed him and all the crowd, and both sides said +that nothing should ever come between them to spoil their friendship. + +A little while after Mord came to Ossaby and called Hauskuld out to talk +with him, and they went aside and spoke. + +"What a difference in manliness there is," said Mord, "between thee and +Njal's sons! Thou gavest them good gifts, but they gave thee gifts with +great mockery." + +"How makest thou that out?" says Hauskuld. + +"They gave thee a horse which they called a 'dark horse,' and that they +did out of mockery at thee, because they thought thee too untried, I can +tell thee also that they envy thee the priesthood, Skarphedinn took it +up as his own at the Thing when thou camest not to the Thing at the +summoning of the Fifth Court, and Skarphedinn never means to let it go." + +"That is not true," says Hauskuld, "for I got it back at the Folkmote +last harvest." + +"Then that was Njal's doing," says Mord. "They broke, too, the atonement +about Lyting." + +"I do not mean to lay that at their door," says Hauskuld. + +"Well," says Mord, "thou canst not deny that when ye two, Skarphedinn +and thou, were going east towards Markfleet, an axe fell out from under +his belt, and he meant to have slain thee then and there." + +"It was his woodman's axe," says Hauskuld, "and I saw how he put it +under his belt; and now, Mord, I will just tell thee this right out, +that thou canst never say so much ill of Njal's sons as to make me +believe it; but though there were aught in it, and it were true as thou +sayest, that either I must slay them or they me, then would I far rather +suffer death at their hands than work them any harm. But as for thee, +thou art all the worse a man for having spoken this." + +After that Mord fares home. A little after Mord goes to see Njal's sons, +and he talks much with those brothers and Kari. + +"I have been told," says Mord, "that Hauskuld has said that thou, +Skarphedinn, hast broken the atonement made with Lyting; but I was made +aware also that he thought that thou hadst meant some treachery against +him when ye two fared to Markfleet. But still, methinks that was no less +treachery when he bade you to a feast at his house, and stowed you away +in an outhouse that was farthest from the house, and wood was then +heaped round the outhouse all night, and he meant to burn you all +inside; but it so happened that Hogni Gunnar's son came that night, and +naught came of their onslaught, for they were afraid of him. After that +he followed you on your way and great band of men with him, then he +meant to make another onslaught on you, and set Grani Gunnar's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son to kill thee; but their hearts failed them, and they +dared not to fall on thee." + +But when he had spoken thus, first of all they spoke against it, but the +end of it was that they believed him, and from that day forth a coldness +sprung up on their part towards Hauskuld, and they scarcely ever spoke +to him when they met; but Hauskuld showed them little deference, and so +things went on for a while. + +Next harvest Hauskuld fared east to Swinefell to a feast, and Flosi gave +him a hearty welcome. Hildigunna was there too. Then Flosi spoke to +Hauskuld and said-- + +"Hildigunna tells me that there is great coldness with you and Njal's +sons, and methinks that is ill, and I will beg thee not to ride west, +but I will get thee a homestead in Skaptarfell, and I will send my +brother, Thorgeir, to dwell at Ossaby." + +"Then some will say," says Hauskuld, "that I am flying thence for fear's +sake, and that I will not have said." + +"Then it is more likely that great trouble will arise," says Flosi. + +"Ill is that then," says Hauskuld, "for I would rather fall unatoned, +than that many should reap ill for my sake." + +Hauskuld busked him to ride home a few nights after, but Flosi gave him +a scarlet cloak, and it was embroidered with needlework down to the +waist. + +Hauskuld rode home to Ossaby, and now all is quiet for a while. + +Hauskuld was so much beloved that few men were his foes, but the same +ill-will went on between him and Njal's sons the whole winter through. + +Njal had taken as his foster-child, Thord, the son of Kari. He had also +fostered Thorhall, the son of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. Thorhall was a +strong man, and hardy both in body and mind, he had learnt so much law +that he was the third greatest lawyer in Iceland. + +Next spring was an early spring, and men are busy sowing their corn. + + + + +CHAPTER CIX. + +OF MORD AND NJAL'S SONS. + + +It happened one day that Mord came to Bergthorsknoll. He and Kari and +Njal's sons fell a-talking at once, and Mord slanders Hauskuld after his +wont, and has now many new tales to tell, and does naught but egg +Skarphedinn and them on to slay Hauskuld, and said he would be +beforehand with them if they did not fall on him at once. + +"I will let thee have thy way in this," says Skarphedinn, "if thou wilt +fare with us, and have some hand in it." + +"That I am ready to do," says Mord, and so they bound that fast with +promises, and he was to come there that evening. + +Bergthora asked Njal-- + +"What are they talking about out of doors?" + +"I am not in their counsels," says Njal, "but I was seldom left out of +them when their plans were good." + +Skarphedinn did not lie down to rest that evening, nor his brothers, nor +Kari. + +That same night, when it was well-nigh spent, came Mord Valgard's son, +and Njal's sons and Kari took their weapons and rode away. They fared +till they came to Ossaby, and bided there by a fence. The weather was +good, and the sun just risen. + + + + +CHAPTER CX. + +THE SLAYING OF HAUSKULD, THE PRIEST OF WHITENESS. + + +About that time Hauskuld, the Priest of Whiteness, awoke; he put on his +clothes, and threw over him his cloak, Flosi's gift. He took his +corn-sieve, and had his sword in his other hand, and walks towards the +fence, and sows the corn as he goes. + +Skarphedinn and his band had agreed that they would all give him a +wound. Skarphedinn sprang up from behind the fence, but when Hauskuld +saw him he wanted to turn away, then Skarphedinn ran up to him and +said-- + +"Don't try to turn on thy heel, Whiteness priest," and hews at him, and +the blow came on his head, and he fell on his knees. Hauskuld said these +words when he fell-- + +"God help me, and forgive you!" + +Then they all ran up to him and gave him wounds. + +After that Mord said-- + +"A plan comes into my mind." + +"What is that?" says Skarphedinn. + +"That I shall fare home as soon as I can, but after that I will fare up +to Gritwater, and tell them the tidings, and say 'tis an ill deed; but I +know surely that Thorgerda will ask me to give notice of the slaying, +and I will do that, for that will be the surest way to spoil their suit. +I will also send a man to Ossaby, and know how soon they take any +counsel in the matter, and that man will learn all these tidings thence, +and I will make believe that I have heard them from him." + +"Do so by all means," says Skarphedinn. + +Those brothers fared home, and Kari with them, and when they came home +they told Njal the tidings. + +"Sorrowful tidings are these," says Njal, "and such are ill to hear, for +sooth to say this grief touches me so nearly, that methinks it were +better to have lost two of my sons and that Hauskuld lived." + +"It is some excuse for thee," says Skarphedinn, "that thou art an old +man, and it is to be looked for that this touches thee nearly." + +"But this," says Njal, "no less than old age, is why I grieve, that I +know better than thou what will come after." + +"What will come after?" says Skarphedinn. + +"My death," says Njal, "and the death of my wife and of all my sons." + +"What dost thou foretell for me?" says Kari. + +"They will have hard work to go against thy good fortune, for thou wilt +be more than a match for all of them." + +This one thing touched Njal so nearly that he could never speak of it +without shedding tears. + + + + +CHAPTER CXI. + +OF HILDIGUNNA AND MORD VALGARD'S SON. + + +Hildigunna woke up and found that Hauskuld was away out of his bed. + +"Hard have been my dreams," she said, "and not good; but go and search +for _him_, Hauskuld." + +So they searched for him about the homestead and found him not. + +By that time she had dressed herself; then she goes and two men with +her, to the fence, and there they find Hauskuld slain. + +Just then, too, came up Mord Valgard's son's shepherd, and told her that +Njal's sons had gone down thence, "and," he said, "Skarphedinn called +out to me and gave notice of the slaying as done by him". + +"It were a manly deed," she says, "if one man had been at it." + +She took the cloak and wiped off all the blood with it, and wrapped the +gouts of gore up in it, and so folded it together and laid it up in her +chest. + +Now she sent a man up to Gritwater to tell the tidings thither, but Mord +was there before him, and had already told the tidings. There, too, was +come Kettle of the Mark. + +Thorgerda said to Kettle-- + +"Now is Hauskuld dead as we know, and now bear in mind what thou +promisedst to do when thou tookest him for thy foster-child." + +"It may well be," says Kettle, "that I promised very many things then, +for I thought not that these days would ever befall us that have now +come to pass; but yet I am come into a strait, for 'nose is next of kin +to eyes,' since I have Njal's daughter to wife." + +"Art thou willing, then," says Thorgerda, "that Mord should give notice +of the suit for the slaying?" + +"I know not that," says Kettle, "for methinks ill comes from him more +often than good." + +But as soon as ever Mord began to speak to Kettle he fared the same as +others, in that he thought as though Mord would be true to him, and so +the end of their council was that Mord should give notice of the +slaying, and get ready the suit in every way before the Thing. + +Then Mord fared down to Ossaby, and thither came nine neighbours who +dwelt nearest the spot. + +Mord had ten men with him. He shows the neighbours Hauskuld's wounds, +and takes witness to the hurts, and names a man as the dealer of every +wound save one; that he made as though he knew not who had dealt it, but +that wound he had dealt himself. But the slaying he gave notice of at +Skarphedinn's hand, and the wounds at his brothers' and Kari's. + +After that he called on nine neighbours who dwelt nearest the spot to +ride away from home to the Althing on the inquest. + +After that he rode home. He scarce ever met Njal's sons, and when he did +meet them, he was cross, and that was part of their plan. + +The slaying of Hauskuld was heard over all the land, and was ill-spoken +of. Njal's sons went to see Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and asked him for +aid. + +"Ye very well know that ye may look that I shall help you in all great +suits, but still my heart is heavy about this suit, for there are many +who have the blood feud, and this slaying is ill-spoken of over all the +land." + +Now Njal's sons fare home. + + + + +CHAPTER CXII. + +THE PEDIGREE OF GUDMUND THE POWERFUL. + + +There was a man named Gudmund the powerful, who dwelt at Modruvale in +Eyjafirth. He was the son of Eyjolf the son of Einar. Gudmund was a +mighty chief, wealthy in goods; he had in his house a hundred hired +servants. He overbore in rank and weight all the chiefs in the north +country, so that some left their homesteads, but some he put to death, +and some gave up their priesthoods for his sake, and from him are come +the greatest part of all the picked and famous families in the land, +such as "the Point-dwellers" and the "Sturlungs" and the "Hvamdwellers," +and the "Fleetmen," and Kettle the bishop, and many of the greatest men. + +Gudmund was a friend of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and so he hoped to get +his help. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIII. + +OF SNORRI THE PRIEST, AND HIS STOCK. + + +There was a man named Snorri, who was surnamed the Priest. He dwelt at +Helgafell before Gudruna Oswif's daughter bought the land of him, and +dwelt there till she died of old age; but Snorri then went and dwelt at +Hvamsfirth on Saelingdale's tongue. Thorgrim was the name of Snorri's +father, and he was a son of Thorstein codcatcher. Snorri was a great +friend of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and he looked for help there also. +Snorri was the wisest and shrewdest of all these men in Iceland who had +not the gift of foresight. He was good to his friends, but grim to his +foes. + +At that time there was a great riding to the Thing out of all the +Quarters, and men had many suits set on foot. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIV. + +OF FLOSI THORD'S SON. + + +Flosi hears of Hauskuld's slaying, and that brings him much grief and +wrath, but still he kept his feelings well in hand. He was told how the +suit had been set on foot, as has been said, for Hauskuld's slaying, and +he said little about it. He sent word to Hall of the Side, his +father-in-law, and to Ljot his son, that they must gather in a great +company at the Thing. Ljot was thought the most hopeful man for a chief +away there east. It had been foretold that if he could ride three +summers running to the Thing, and come safe and sound home, that then he +would be the greatest chief in all his family, and the oldest man. He +had then ridden one summer to the Thing, and now he meant to ride the +second time. + +Flosi sent word to Kol Thorstein's son, and Glum the son of Hilldir the +old, the son of Gerleif, the son of Aunund wallet-back, and to Modolf +Kettle's son, and they all rode to meet Flosi. + +Hall gave his word, too, to gather a great company, and Flosi rode till +he came to Kirkby, to Surt Asbjorn's son. Then Flosi sent after Kolbein +Egil's son, his brother's son, and he came to him there. Thence he rode +to Headbrink. There dwelt Thorgrim the showy, the son of Thorkel the +fair. Flosi begged him to ride to the Althing with him, and he said yea +to the journey, and spoke thus to Flosi-- + +"Often hast thou been more glad, master, than thou art now, but thou +hast some right to be so." + +"Of a truth," said Flosi, "that hath now come on my hands, which I would +give all my goods that it had never happened. Ill seed has been sown, +and so an ill crop will spring from it." + +Thence he rode over Arnstacksheath, and so to Solheim that evening. +There dwelt Lodmund Wolf's son, but he was a great friend of Flosi, and +there he stayed that night, and next morning Lodmund rode with him into +the Dale. + +There dwelt Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest. + +Flosi said to Runolf-- + +"Here we shall have true stories as to the slaying of Hauskuld, the +Priest of Whiteness. Thou art a truthful man, and hast got at the truth +by asking, and I will trust to all that thou tellest me as to what was +the cause of quarrel between them." + +"There is no good in mincing the matter," said Runolf, "but we must say +outright that he has been slain for less than no cause; and his death is +a great grief to all men. No one thinks it so much a loss as Njal, his +foster-father." + +"Then they will be ill off for help from men," says Flosi; "and they +will find no one to speak up for them." + +"So it will be," says Runolf, "unless it be otherwise foredoomed." + +"What has been done in the suit?" says Flosi. + +"Now the neighbours have been summoned on the inquest," says Runolf, +"and due notice given of the suit for manslaughter." + +"Who took that step?" asks Flosi. + +"Mord Valgard's son," says Runolf. + +"How far is that to be trusted?" says Flosi. + +"He is of my kin," says Runolf; "but still, if I tell the truth of him, +I must say that more men reap ill than good from him. But this one thing +I will ask of thee, Flosi, that thou givest rest to thy wrath, and +takest the matter up in such a way as may lead to the least trouble. For +Njal will make a good offer, and so will others of the best men." + +"Ride thou then to the Thing, Runolf," said Flosi, "and thy words shall +have much weight with me, unless things turn out worse than they +should." + +After that they cease speaking about it, and Runolf promised to go to +the Thing. + +Runolf sent word to Hatr the wise, his kinsman, and he rode thither at +once. + +Thence Flosi rode to Ossaby. + + + + +CHAPTER CXV. + +OF FLOSI AND HILDIGUNNA. + + +Hildigunna was out of doors, and said, "Now shall all the men of my +household be out of doors when Flosi rides into the yard; but the women +shall sweep the house and deck it with hangings, and make ready the +high-seat for Flosi." + +Then Flosi rode into the town, and Hildigunna turned to him and said-- + +"Come in safe and sound and happy kinsman, and my heart is fain at thy +coming hither." + +"Here," says Flosi, "we will break our fast, and then we will ride on." + +Then their horses were tethered, and Flosi went into the sitting-room +and sat him down, and spurned the high-seat away from him on the dais, +and said-- + +"I am neither king nor earl, and there is no need to make a high-seat +for me to sit on, nor is there any need to make a mock of me." + +Hildigunna was standing close by, and said-- + +"It is ill if it mislikes thee, for this we did with a whole heart." + +"If thy heart is whole towards me, then what I do will praise itself if +it be well done, but it will blame itself if it be ill done." + +Hildigunna laughed a cold laugh, and said-- + +"There is nothing new in that, we will go nearer yet ere we have done." + +She sat her down by Flosi, and they talked long and low. After that the +board was laid, and Flosi and his band washed their hands. Flosi looked +hard at the towel and saw that it was all in rags, and had one end torn +off. He threw it down on the bench and would not wipe himself with it, +but tore off a piece of the table-cloth, and wiped himself with that, +and then threw it to his men. + +After that Flosi sat down to the board and bade men eat. + +Then Hildigunna came into the room and went before Flosi, and threw her +hair off her eyes and wept. + +"Heavy-hearted art thou now, kinswoman," said Flosi, "when thou weepest, +but still it is well that thou shouldst weep for a good husband." + +"What vengeance or help shall I have of thee?" she says. + +"I will follow up thy suit," said Flosi, "to the utmost limit of the +law, or strive for that atonement which good men and true shall say that +we ought to have as full amends." + +"Hauskuld would avenge thee," she said, "if he had the blood-feud after +thee." + +"Thou lackest not grimness," answered Flosi, "and what thou wantest is +plain." + +"Arnor Ornolf's son, of Forswaterwood," said Hildigunna, "had done less +wrong towards Thord Frey's priest thy father; and yet thy brothers +Kolbein and Egil slew him at Skaptarfells-Thing." + +Then Hildigunna went back into the hall and unlocked her chest, and then +she took out the cloak, Flosi's gift, and in it Hauskuld had been slain, +and there she had kept it, blood and all. Then she went back into the +sitting room with the cloak; she went up silently to Flosi. Flosi had +just then eaten his full, and the board was cleared. Hildigunna threw +the cloak over Flosi, and the gore rattled down all over him. + +Then she spoke and said-- + +"This cloak, Flosi, thou gavest to Hauskuld, and now I will give it back +to thee; he was slain in it, and I call God and all good men to witness, +that I adjure thee, by all the might of thy Christ, and by thy manhood +and bravery, to take vengeance for all those wounds which he had on his +dead body, or else to be called every man's dastard." + +Flosi threw the cloak off him and hurled it into her lap, and said-- + +"Thou art the greatest hell-hag, and thou wishest that we should take +that course which will be the worst for all of us. But 'women's counsel +is ever cruel'." + +Flosi was so stirred at this, that sometimes he was bloodred in the +face, and sometimes ashy pale as withered grass, and sometimes blue as +death. + +Flosi and his men rode away; he rode to Holtford, and there waits for +the sons of Sigfus and other of his men. + +Ingialld dwelt at the Springs; he was the brother of Rodny, Hauskuld +Njal's son's mother. Ingialld had to wife Thraslauga, the daughter of +Egil, the son of Thord Frey's priest. Flosi sent word to Ingialld to +come to him, and Ingialld went at once, with fourteen men. They were all +of his household. Ingialld was a tall man and a strong, and slow to +meddle with other men's business, one of the bravest of men, and very +bountiful to his friends. + +Flosi greeted him well, and said to him, "Great trouble hath now come on +me and my brothers-in-law, and it is hard to see our way out of it; I +beseech thee not to part from my suit until this trouble is past and +gone." + +"I am come into a strait myself," said Ingialld, "for the sake of the +ties that there are between me and Njal and his sons, and other great +matters which stand in the way." + +"I thought," said Flosi, "when I gave away my brother's daughter to +thee, that thou gavest me thy word to stand by me in every suit." + +"It is most likely," says Ingialld, "that I shall do so, but still I +will now, first of all, ride home, and thence to the Thing." + + + + +CHAPTER CXVI. + +OF FLOSI AND MORD AND THE SONS OF SIGFUS. + + +The sons of Sigfus heard how Flosi was at Holtford, and they rode +thither to meet him, and there were Kettle of the Mark, and Lambi his +brother, Thorkell and Mord, the sons of Sigfus, Sigmund their brother, +and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, +and Vebrand Hamond's son. + +Flosi stood up to meet them, and greeted them gladly. So they went down +to the river. Flosi had the whole story from them about the slaying, and +there was no difference between them and Kettle of the Mark's story. + +Flosi spoke to Kettle of the Mark, and said-- + +"This now I ask of thee; how tightly are your hearts knit as to this +suit, thou and the other sons of Sigfus?" + +"My wish is," said Kettle, "that there should be peace between us, but +yet I have sworn an oath not to part from this suit till it has been +brought somehow to an end, and to lay my life on it." + +"Thou art a good man and true," said Flosi, "and it is well to have such +men with one." + +Then Grani Gunnar's son and Lambi Sigurd's son both spoke together, and +said-- + +"We wish for outlawry and death." + +"It is not given us," said Flosi, "both to share and choose, we must +take what we can get." + +"I have had it in my heart," says Grani, "ever since they slew Thrain by +Markfleet, and after that his son Hauskuld, never to be atoned with them +by a lasting peace, for I would willingly stand by when they were all +slain, every man of them." + +"Thou hast stood so near to them," said Flosi, "that thou mightest have +avenged these things hadst thou had the heart and manhood. Methinks thou +and many others now ask for what ye would give much money hereafter +never to have had a share in. I see this clearly, that though we slay +Njal or his sons, still they are men of so great worth, and of such good +family, that there will be such a blood feud and hue and cry after them, +that we shall have to fall on our knees before many a man, and beg for +help, ere we get an atonement and find our way out of this strait. Ye +may make up your minds, then, that many will become poor who before had +great goods, but some of you will lose both goods and life." + +Mord Valgard's Son rode to meet Flosi, and said he would ride to the +Thing with him with all his men. Flosi took that well, and raised a +matter of a wedding with him, that he should give away Rannveiga his +daughter to Starkad Flosi's brother's son, who dwelt at Staffell. Flosi +did this because he thought he would so make sure both of his +faithfulness and force. + +Mord took the wedding kindly, but handed the matter over to Gizur the +white, and bade him talk about it at the Thing. + +Mord had to wife Thorkatla, Gizur the white's daughter. + +They two, Mord and Flosi, rode both together to the Thing, and talked +the whole day, and no man knew aught of their counsel. + + + + +CHAPTER CXVII. + +NJAL AND SKARPHEDINN TALK TOGETHER. + + +Now, we must say how Njal said to Skarphedinn-- + +"What plan have ye laid down for yourselves, thou and thy brothers and +Kari?" + +"Little reck we of dreams in most matters," said Skarphedinn; "but if +thou must know, we shall ride to Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and +thence to the Thing; but what meanest thou to do about thine own +journey, father?" + +"I shall ride to the Thing," says Njal, "for it belongs to my honour not +to be severed from your suit so long as I live. I ween that many men +will have good words to say of me, and so I shall stand you in good +stead, and do you no harm." + +There, too, was Thorhall Asgrim's son, and Njal's foster-son. The sons +of Njal laughed at him because he was clad in a coat of russet, and +asked how long he meant to wear that? + +"I shall have thrown it off," he said, "when I have to follow up the +blood-feud for my foster father." + +"There will ever be most good in thee," said Njal, "when there is most +need of it." + +So they all busked them to ride away from home, and were nigh thirty men +in all, and rode till they came to Thursowater. Then came after them +Njal's kinsmen, Thorleif crow, and Thorgrim the big; they were +Holt-Thorir's sons, and offered their help and following to Njal's sons, +and they took that gladly. + +So they rode altogether across Thursowater, until they came on Laxwater +bank, and took a rest and baited their horses there, and there Hjallti's +Skeggi's son came to meet them, and Njal's sons fell to talking with +him, and they talked long and low. + +"Now, I will show," said Hjallti, "that I am not black-hearted; Njal has +asked me for help, and I have agreed to it, and given my word to aid +him; he has often given me and many others the worth of it in cunning +counsel." + +Hjallti tells Njal all about Flosi's doings. They sent Thorhall on to +Tongue to tell Asgrim that they would be there that evening; and Asgrim +made ready at once, and was out of doors to meet them when Njal rode +into the town. + +Njal was clad in a blue cape, and had a felt hat on his head, and a +small axe in his hand. Asgrim helped Njal off his horse, and led him and +sate him down in his own seat. After that they all went in, Njal's sons +and Kari. Then Asgrim went out. + +Hjallti wished to turn away, and thought there were too many there; but +Asgrim caught hold of his reins, and said he should never have his way +in riding off, and made men unsaddle their horses, and led Hjallti in +and sate him down by Njal's aide; but Thorleif and his brother sat on +the other bench and their men with them. + +Asgrim sate him down on a stool before Njal, and asked-- + +"What says thy heart about our matter?" + +"It speaks rather heavily," says Njal, "for I am afraid that we shall +have no lucky men with us in the suit; but I would, friend, that thou +shouldest send after all the men who belong to thy Thing, and ride to +the Althing with me." + +"I have always meant to do that," says Asgrim; "and this I will promise +thee at the same time--that I will never leave thy cause while I can get +any men to follow me." + +But all those who were in the house thanked him, and said, that was +bravely spoken. They were there that night, but the day after all +Asgrim's band came thither. + +And after that they all rode together till they come up on the +Thingfield, and fit up their booths. + + + + +CHAPTER CXVIII. + +ASGRIM AND NJAL'S SONS PRAY MEN FOR HELP. + + +By that time Flosi had come to the Thing, and filled all his booths. +Runolf filled the Dale-dwellers' booths, and Mord the booths of the men +from Rangriver. Hall of the Side had long since come from the east, but +scarce any of the other men; but still Hall of the Side had come with a +great band, and joined this at once to Flosi's company, and begged him +to take an atonement and to make peace. + +Hall was a wise man and good-hearted, Flosi answered him well in +everything, but gave way in nothing. + +Hall asked what men had promised him help? Flosi named Mord Valgard's +son, and said he had asked for his daughter at the hand of his kinsman +Starkad. + +Hall said she was a good match, but it was ill dealing with Mord, "and +that thou wilt put to the proof ere this Thing be over". + +After that they ceased talking. + +One day Njal and Asgrim had a long talk in secret. + +Then all at once Asgrim sprang up and said to Njal's sons-- + +"We must set about seeking friends, that we may not be overborne by +force; for this suit will be followed up boldly." + +Then Asgrim went out, and Helgi Njal's son next; then Kari Solmund's +son; then Grim Njal's son; then Skarphedinn; then Thorhall; then +Thorgrim the big; then Thorleif crow. + +They went to the booth of Gizur the white and inside it. Gizur stood up +to meet them, and bade them sit down and drink. + +"Not thitherward," says Asgrim, "tends our way, and we will speak our +errand out loud, and not mutter and mouth about it. What help shall I +have from thee, as thou art my kinsman?" + +"Jorunn my sister," said Gizur, "would wish that I should not shrink +from standing by thee; and so it shall be now and hereafter, that we +will both of us have the same fate." + +Asgrim thanked him, and went away afterwards. + +Then Skarphedinn asked, "Whither shall we go now?" + +"To the booths of the men of Olfus," says Asgrim. + +So they went thither, and Asgrim asked whether Skapti Thorod's son were +in the booth? He was told that he was. Then they went inside the booth. + +Skapti sate on the cross bench, and greeted Asgrim, and he took the +greeting well. + +Skapti offered Asgrim a seat by his side, but Asgrim said he should only +stay there a little while, "but still we have an errand to thee". + +"Let me hear it," says Skapti. + +"I wish to beg thee for thy help, that thou wilt stand by us in our +suit." + +"One thing I had hoped," says Skapti, "and that is, that neither you nor +your troubles would ever come into my dwelling." + +"Such things are ill-spoken," says Asgrim, "when a man is the last to +help others, when most lies on his aid." + +"Who is yon man," says Skapti, "before whom four men walk, a big burly +man, and pale-faced, unlucky-looking, well-knit, and troll-like?" + +"My name is Skarphedinn," he answers, "and thou hast often seen me at +the Thing; but in this I am wiser than thou, that I have no need to ask +what thy name is. Thy name is Skapti Thorod's son, but before thou +calledst thyself 'Bristle-poll,' after thou hadst slain Kettle of Elda; +then thou shavedst thy poll, and puttedst pitch on thy head, and then +thou hiredst thralls to cut up a sod of turf, and thou creptest +underneath it to spend the night. After that thou wentest to Thorolf +Lopt's son of Eyrar, and he took thee on board, and bore thee out here +in his meal sacks." + +After that Asgrim and his band went out, and Skarphedinn asked-- + +"Whither shall we go now?" + +"To Snorri the Priest's booth," says Asgrim. + +Then they went to Snorri's booth. There was a man outside before the +booth, and Asgrim asked whether Snorri were in the booth. + +The man said he was. + +Asgrim went into the booth, and all the others. Snorri was sitting on +the cross bench, and Asgrim went and stood before him, and hailed him +well. + +Snorri took his greeting blithely, and bade him sit down. + +Asgrim said he should be only a short time there, "but we have an errand +with thee". + +Snorri bade him tell it. + +"I would," said Asgrim, "that thou wouldst come with me to the court, +and stand by me with thy help, for thou art a wise man, and a great man +of business." + +"Suits fall heavy on us now," says Snorri the Priest, "and now many men +push forward against us, and so we are slow to take up the troublesome +suits of other men from other quarters." + +"Thou mayest stand excused," says Asgrim, "for thou art not in our debt +for any service." + +"I know," says Snorri, "that thou art a good man and true, and I will +promise thee this, that I will not be against thee, and not yield help +to thy foes." + +Asgrim thanked him, and Snorri the Priest asked-- + +"Who is that man before whom four go, pale-faced, and sharp-featured, +and who shows his front teeth, and has his axe aloft on his shoulder?" + +"My name is Hedinn," he says, "but some men call me Skarphedinn by my +full name; but what more hast thou to say to me?" + +"This," said Snorri the Priest, "that methinks thou art a well-knit, +ready-handed man, but yet I guess that the best part of thy good fortune +is past, and I ween thou hast not long to live." + +"That is well," says Skarphedinn, "for that is a debt we all have to +pay, but still it were more needful to avenge thy father than to +foretell my fate in this way." + +"Many have said that before," says Snorri, "and I will not be angry at +such words." + +After that they went out, and got no help there. Then they fared to the +booths of the men of Skagafirth. There Hafr the wealthy had his booth. +The mother of Hafr was named Thoruna, she was a daughter of Asbjorn +baldpate of Myrka, the son of Hrosbjorn. + +Asgrim and his band went into the booth, and Hafr sate in the midst of +it, and was talking to a man. + +Asgrim went up to him, and hailed him well; he took it kindly, and bade +him sit down. + +"This I would ask of thee," said Asgrim, "that thou wouldst grant me and +my sons-in-law help." + +Hafr answered sharp and quick, and said he would have nothing to do with +their troubles. + +"But still I must ask who that pale-faced man is before whom four men +go, so ill-looking, as though he had come out of the sea-crags." + +"Never mind, milksop that thou art!" said Skarphedinn, "who I am, for I +will dare to go forward wherever thou standest before me, and little +would I fear though such striplings were in my path. 'Twere rather thy +duty, too, to get back thy sister Swanlauga, whom Eydis ironsword and +his messmate Stediakoll took away out of thy house, but thou didst not +dare to do aught against them." + +"Let us go out," said Asgrim, "there is no hope of help here." + +Then they went out to the booths of men of Modruvale, and asked whether +Gudmund the powerful were in the booth, but they were told he was. + +Then they went into the booth. There was a high seat in the midst of it, +and there sate Gudmund the powerful. + +Asgrim went and stood before him, and hailed him. + +Gudmund took his greeting well, and asked him to sit down. + +"I will not sit," said Asgrim, "but I wish to pray thee for help, for +thou art a bold man and a mighty chief." + +"I will not be against thee," said Gudmund, "but if I see fit to yield +thee help, we may well talk of that afterwards," and so he treated them +well and kindly in every way. + +Asgrim thanked him for his words, and Gudmund said-- + +"There is one man in your band at whom I have gazed for awhile, and he +seems to me more terrible than most men that I have seen." + +"Which is he?" says Asgrim. + +"Four go before him," says Gudmund; "dark brown is his hair, and pale is +his face; tall of growth and sturdy. So quick and shifty in his +manliness, that I would rather have his following than that of ten other +men; but yet the man is unlucky-looking." + +"I know," said Skarphedinn, "that thou speakest at me, but it does not +go in the same way as to luck with me and thee. I have blame, indeed, +from the slaying of Hauskuld, the Whiteness priest, as is fair and +right; but both Thorkel foulmouth and Thorir Helgi's son spread abroad +bad stories about thee, and that has tried thy temper very much." + +Then they went out, and Skarphedinn said-- + +"Whither shall we go now?" + +"To the booths of the men of Lightwater," said Asgrim. + +There Thorkel foulmouth had set up his booth. + +Thorkel foulmouth had been abroad and worked his way to fame in other +lands. He had slain a robber east in Jemtland's wood, and then he fared +on east into Sweden, and was a messmate of Saurkvir the churl, and they +harried eastward ho; but to the east of Baltic side.[67] Thorkel had to +fetch water for them one evening; then he met a wild man of the +woods,[68] and struggled against him long; but the end of it was that he +slew the wild man. Thence he fared east into Adalsyssla, and there he +slew a flying fire-drake. After that he fared back to Sweden, and +thence to Norway, and so out to Iceland, and let these deeds of derring +do be carved over his shut bed, and on the stool before his high-seat. +He fought, too, on Lightwater way with his brothers against Gudmund the +powerful, and the men of Lightwater won the day. He and Thorir Helgi's +son spread abroad bad stories about Gudmund. Thorkel said there was no +man in Iceland with whom he would not fight in single combat, or yield +an inch to, if need were. He was called Thorkel foulmouth, because he +spared no one with whom he had to do either in word or deed. + + + + +CHAPTER CXIX. + +OF SKARPHEDINN AND THORKEL FOULMOUTH. + + +Asgrim and his fellows went to Thorkel foulmouth's booth, and Asgrim +said then to his companions, "This booth Thorkel foulmouth owns, a great +champion, and it were worth much to us to get his help. We must here +take heed in everything, for he is self-willed and bad tempered; and now +I will beg thee, Skarphedinn, not to let thyself be led into our talk." + +Skarphedinn smiled at that. He was so clad, he had on a blue kirtle and +gray breeks, and black shoes on his feet, coming high up his leg; he had +a silver belt about him, and that same axe in his hand with which he +slew Thrain, and which he called the "ogress of war," a round buckler, +and a silken band round his brow, and his hair was brushed back behind +his ears. He was the most soldier-like of men, and by that all men knew +him. He went in his appointed place, and neither before nor behind. + +Now they went into the booth and into its inner chamber. Thorkel sate in +the middle of the cross-bench, and his men away from him on all sides. +Asgrim hailed him, and Thorkel took the greeting well, and Asgrim said +to him-- + +"For this have we come hither, to ask help of thee, and that thou +wouldst come to the court with us." + +"What need can ye have of my help," said Thorkel, "when ye have already +gone to Gudmund; he must surely have promised thee his help?" + +"We could not get his help," says Asgrim. + +"Then Gudmund thought the suit likely to make him foes," said Thorkel; +"and so no doubt it will be, for such deeds are the worst that have ever +been done; nor do I know what can have driven you to come hither to me, +and to think that I should be easier to undertake your suit than +Gudmund, or that I would back a wrongful quarrel." + +Then Asgrim held his peace, and thought it would be hard work to win him +over. + +Then Thorkel went on and said, "Who is that big and ugly fellow, before +whom four men go, pale-faced and sharp-featured, and unlucky-looking, +and cross-grained?" + +"My name is Skarphedinn," said Skarphedinn, "and thou hast no right to +pick me out, a guiltless man, for thy railing. It never has befallen me +to make my father bow down before me, or to have fought against him, as +thou didst with thy father. Thou hast ridden little to the Althing, or +toiled in quarrels at it, and no doubt it is handier for thee to mind +thy milking pails at home than to be here at Axewater in idleness. But +stay, it were as well if thou pickedst out from thy teeth that steak of +mare's rump which thou atest ere thou rodest to the Thing, while thy +shepherd looked on all the while, and wondered that thou couldst work +such filthiness!" + +Then Thorkel sprang up in mickle wrath, and clutched his short sword and +said-- + +"This sword I got in Sweden when I slew the greatest champion, but since +then I have slain many a man with it, and as soon as ever I reach thee I +will drive it through thee, and thou shall take that for thy bitter +words." + +Skarphedinn stood with his axe aloft, and smiled scornfully and said-- + +"This axe I had in my hand when I leapt twelve ells across Markfleet, +and slew Thrain Sigfus' son, and eight of them stood before me, and none +of them could touch me. Never have I aimed weapon at man that I have not +smitten him." + +And with that he tore himself from his brothers, and Kari his +brother-in-law, and strode forward to Thorkel. + +Then Skarphedinn said-- + +"Now, Thorkel foulmouth, do one of these two things: sheathe thy sword +and sit thee down, or I drive the axe into thy head and cleave thee down +to the chine." + +Then Thorkel sate him down and sheathed the sword, and such a thing +never happened to him either before or since. + +Then Asgrim and his band go out, and Skarphedinn said-- + +"Whither shall we now go?" + +"Home to out booths," answered Asgrim. + +"Then we fare hack to our booths wearied of begging," says Skarphedinn. + +"In many places," said Asgrim, "hast thou been rather sharp-tongued, but +here now, in what Thorkel had a share methinks thou hast only treated +him as is fitting." + +Then they went home to their booths, and told Njal, word for word, all +that had been done. + +"Things," he said, "draw on to what must be." + +Now Gudmund the powerful heard what had passed between Thorkel and +Skarphedinn, and said-- + +"Ye all know how things fared between us and the men of Lightwater, but +I have never suffered such scorn and mocking at their hands as has +befallen Thorkel from Skarphedinn, and this is just as it should be." + +Then he said to Einar of Thvera, his brother, "Thou shalt go with all my +band, and stand by Njal's sons when the courts go out to try suits; but +if they need help next summer, then I myself will yield them help". + +Einar agreed to that, and sent and told Asgrim, and Asgrim said-- + +"There is no man like Gudmund for nobleness of mind," and then he told +it to Njal. + + + + +CHAPTER CXX. + +OF THE PLEADING OF THE SUIT. + + +The next day Asgrim, and Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and +Einar of Thvera, met together. There too was Mord Valgard's son; he had +then let the suit fall from his hand, and given it over to the sons of +Sigfus. + +Then Asgrim spoke. + +"Thee first I speak to about this matter, Gizur the white, and thee +Hjallti, and thee Einar, that I may tell you how the suit stands. It +will be known to all of you that Mord took up the suit, but the truth of +the matter is, that Mord was at Hauskuld's slaying, and wounded him with +that wound, for giving which no man was named. It seems to me, then, +that this suit must come to nought by reason of a lawful flaw." + +"Then we will plead it at once," says Hjallti. + +"It is not good counsel," said Thorhall Asgrim's son, "that this should +not be hidden until the courts are set." + +"How so?" asks Hjallti. + +"If," said Thorhall, "they knew now at once that the suit has been +wrongly set on foot, then they may still save the suit by sending a man +home from the Thing, and summoning the neighbours from home over again, +and calling on them to ride to the Thing, and then the suit will be +lawfully set on foot." + +"Thou art a wise man, Thorhall," say they, "and we will take thy +counsel." + +After that each man went to his booth. + +The sons of Sigfus gave notice of their suits at the Hill of Laws, and +asked in what Quarter Courts they lay, and in what house in the district +the defendants dwelt. But on the Friday night the courts were to go out +to try suits, and so the Thing was quiet up to that day. + +Many sought to bring about an atonement between them, but Flosi was +steadfast; but others were still more wordy, and things looked ill. + +Now the time comes when the courts were to go out, on the Friday +evening. Then the whole body of men at the Thing went to the courts. +Flosi stood south at the court of the men of Rangriver, and his band +with him. There with him was Hall of the Side, and Runolf of the Dale, +Wolf Aurpriest's son, and those other men who had promised Flosi help. + +But north of the court of the men of Rangriver stood Asgrim Ellidagrim's +son, and Gizur the white, Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Einar of Thvera. But +Njal's sons were at home at their booth, and Kari and Thorleif crow, and +Thorgeir Craggeir, and Thorgrim the big. They sate all with their +weapons, and their band looked safe from onslaught. + +Njal had already prayed the judges to go into the court, and now the +sons of Sigfus plead their suit. They took witness and bade Njal's sons +to listen to their oath; after that they took their oath, and then they +declared their suit; then they brought forward witness of the notice, +then they bade the neighbours on the inquest to take their seats, then +they called on Njal's sons to challenge the inquest. + +Then up stood Thorhall Asgrim's son, and took witness, and forbade the +inquest by a protest to utter their finding; and his ground was, that he +who had given notice of the suit was truly under the ban of the law, and +was himself an outlaw. + +"Of whom speakest thou this?" says Flosi. + +"Mord Valgard's son," said Thorhall, "fared to Hauslkuld's slaying with +Njal's sons, and wounded him with that wound for which no man was named +when witness was taken to the death-wounds; and ye can say nothing +against this, and so the suit comes to naught." + + + + +CHAPTER CXXI. + +OF THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT BETWEEN FLOSI AND NJAL. + + +Then Njal stood up and said-- + +"This I pray, Hall of the Side, and Flosi, and all the sons of Sigfus, +and all our men too, that ye will not go away, but listen to my words." + +They did so, and then he spoke thus-- + +"It seems to me as though this suit were come to naught, and it is +likely it should, for it hath sprung from an ill root. I will let you +all know that I loved Hauskuld more than my own sons, and when I heard +that he was slain, methought the sweetest light of my eyes was quenched, +and I would rather have lost all my sons, and that he were alive. Now I +ask thee, Hall of the Side, and thee Runolf of the Dale, and thee +Hjallti Skeggi's son, and thee Einar of Thvera, and thee Hafr the wise, +that I may be allowed to make an atonement for the slaying of Hauskuld +on my sons' behalf; and I wish that those men who are best fitted to do +so shall utter the award." + +Gizur, and Hafr, and Einar, spoke each on their own part, and prayed +Flosi to take an atonement, and promised him their friendship in return. + +Flosi answered them well in all things, but still did not give his word. + +Then Hall of the Side said to Flosi-- + +"Wilt thou now keep thy word, and grant me my boon which thou hast +already promised me, when I put beyond sea Thorgrim, the son of Kettle +the fat, thy kinsman, when he had slain Halli the red." + +"I will grant it thee, father-in-law," said Flosi, "for that alone wilt +thou ask which will make my honour greater than it erewhile was." + +"Then," said Hall, "my wish is that thou shouldst be quickly atoned, and +lettest good men and true make an award, and so buy the friendship of +good and worthy men." + +"I will let you all know," said Flosi, "that I will do according to the +word of Hall, my father-in-law, and other of the worthiest men, that he +and others of the best men on each side, lawfully named, shall make this +award. Methinks Njal is worthy that I should grant him this." + +Njal thanked him and all of them, and others who were by thanked them +too, and said that Flosi had behaved well. + +Then Flosi said-- + +"Now will I name my daysmen [arbitrators]--First, I name Hall, my +father-in-law; Auzur from Broadwater; Surt Asbjorn's son of Kirkby; +Modolf Kettle's son"--he dwelt then at Asar--"Hafr the wise; and Runolf +of the Dale; and it is scarce worth while to say that these are the +fittest men out of all my company." + +Now he bade Njal to name his daysmen, and then Njal stood up, and said-- + +"First of these I name, Asgrim Ellidagrim's son; and Hjallti Skeggi's +son; Gizur the white; Einar of Thvera; Snorri the priest; and Gudmund +the powerful." + +After that Njal and Flosi, and the sons of Sigfus shook hands, and Njal +pledged his hand on behalf of all his sons, and of Kari, his son-in-law, +that they would hold to what those twelve men doomed; and one might say +that the whole body of men at the Thing was glad at that. + +Then men were sent after Snorri and Gudmund, for they were in their +booths. + +Then it was given out that the judges in this award would sit in the +Court of Laws, but all the others were to go away. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXII. + +OF THE JUDGES. + + +Then Snorri the priest spoke thus--"Now are we here twelve judges to +whom these suits are handed over, now I will beg you all that we may +have no stumbling-blocks in these suits, so that they may not be +atoned". + +"Will ye," said Gudmund, "award either the lesser or the greater +outlawry? Shall they be banished from the district, or from the whole +land?" + +"Neither of them," says Snorri, "for those banishments are often ill +fulfilled, and men have been slain for that sake, and atonements broken, +but I will award so great a money fine that no man shall have had a +higher price here in the land than Hauskuld." + +They all spoke well of his words. + +Then they talked over the matter, and could not agree which should first +utter how great he thought the fine ought to be, and so the end of it +was that they cast lots, and the lot fell on Snorri to utter it. + +Then Snorri said, "I will not sit long over this, I will now tell you +what my utterance is, I will let Hauskuld be atoned for with triple +manfines, but that is six hundred in silver. Now ye shall change it, if +ye think it too much or too little." + +They said that they would change it in nothing. + +"This too shall be added," he said, "that all the money shall be paid +down here at the Thing." + +Then Gizur the white spoke and said-- + +"Methinks that can hardly be, for they will not have enough money to pay +their fines." + +"I know what Snorri wishes," said Gudmund the powerful, "he wants that +all we daysmen should give such a sum as our bounty will bestow, and +then many will do as we do." + +Hall of the Side thanked him, and said he would willingly give as much +as any one else gave, and then all the other daysmen agreed to that. + +After that they went away, and settled between them that Hall should +utter the award at the Court of Laws. + +So the bell was rung, and all men went to the Court of Laws, and Hall of +the Side stood up and spoke-- + +"In this suit, in which we have come to an award, we have been all well +agreed, and we have awarded six hundred in silver, and half this sum we +the daysmen will pay, but it must all be paid up here at the Thing. But +it is my prayer to all the people that each man will give something for +God's sake." + +All answered well to that, and then Hall took witness to the award, that +no one should be able to break it. + +Njal thanked them for their award, but Skarphedinn stood by, and held +his peace, and smiled scornfully. + +Then men went from the Court of Laws and to their booths, but the +daysmen gathered together in the freeman's church-yard the money which +they had promised to give. + +Njal's sons handed over that money which they had by them, and Kari did +the same, and that came to a hundred in silver. + +Njal took out that money which he had with him, and that was another +hundred in silver. + +So this money was all brought before the Court of Laws, and then men +gave so much, that not a penny was wanting. + +Then Njal took a silken scarf and a pair of boots and laid them on the +top of the heap. + +After that, Hall said to Njal, that he should go to fetch his sons, "but +I will go for Flosi, and now each must give the other pledges of peace". + +Then Njal went home to his booth, and spoke to his sons and said, "Now, +are our suits come into a fair way of settlement, now are we men atoned, +for all the money has been brought together in one place; and now either +side is to go and grant the other peace and pledges of good faith. I +will therefore ask you this, my sons, not to spoil these things in any +way." + +Skarphedinn stroked his brow, and smiled scornfully. So they all go to +the Court of Laws. + +Hall went to meet Flosi and said-- + +"Go thou now to the Court of Laws, for now all the money has been +bravely paid down, and it has been brought together in one place." + +Then Flosi bade the sons of Sigfus to go up with him, and they all went +out of their booths. They came from the east, but Njal went from the +west to the Court of Laws, and the sons with him. + +Skarphedinn went to the middle bench and stood there. + +Flosi went into the Court of Laws to look closely at his money, and +said-- + +"This money is both great and good, and well paid down, as was to be +looked for." + +After that he took up the scarf, and waved it, and asked-- + +"Who may have given this?" + +But no man answered him. + +A second time he waved the scarf, and asked-- + +"Who may have given this?" and laughed, but no man answered him. + +Then Flosi said-- + +"How is it that none of you knows who has owned this gear, or is it that +none dares to tell me?" + +"Who?" said Skarphedinn, "dost thou think, has given it?" + +"If thou must know," said Flosi, "then I will tell thee; I think that +thy father the 'Beardless Carle' must have given it, for many know not +who look at him whether he is more a man than a woman." + +"Such words are ill-spoken," said Skarphedinn, "to make game of him, an +old man, and no man of any worth has ever done so before. Ye may know, +too, that he is a man, for he has had sons by his wife, and few of our +kinsfolk have fallen unatoned by our house, so that we have not had +vengeance for them." + +Then Skarphedinn took to himself the silken scarf, but threw a pair of +blue breeks to Flosi, and said he would need them more. + +"Why," said Flosi, "should I need these more?" + +"Because," said Skarphedinn, "thou art the sweetheart of the Swinefell's +goblin, if, as men say, he does indeed turn thee into a woman every +ninth night." + +Then Flosi spurned the money, and said he would not touch a penny of it, +and then he said he would only have one of two things: either that +Hauskuld should fall unatoned, or they would have vengeance for him. + +Then Flosi would neither give nor take peace, and he said to the sons of +Sigfus-- + +"Go we now home; one fate shall befall us all." + +Then they went home to their booth, and Hall said-- + +"Here most unlucky men have a share in this suit." + +Njal and his sons went home to their booth, and Njal said-- + +"Now comes to pass what my heart told me long ago, that this suit would +fall heavy on us." + +"Not so," says Skarphedinn; "they can never pursue us by the laws of the +land." + +"Then that will happen," says Njal, "which will be worse for all of us." + +Those men who had given the money spoke about it, and said that they +should take it back; but Gudmund the powerful said-- + +"That shame I will never choose for myself, to take back what I have +given away, either here or elsewhere." + +"That is well spoken," they said; and then no one would take it back. + +Then Snorri the priest said, "My counsel is, that Gizur the white and +Hjallti Skeggi's son keep the money till the next Althing; my heart +tells me that no long time will pass ere there may be need to touch this +money". + +Hjallti took half the money and kept it safe, but Gizur took the rest. + +Then men went home to their booths. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXIII. + +AN ATTACK PLANNED ON NJAL AND HIS SONS. + + +Flosi summoned all his men up to the "Great Rift," and went thither +himself. + +So when all his men were come, there were one hundred and twenty of +them. + +Then Flosi spake thus to the sons of Sigfus-- + +"In what way shall I stand by you in this quarrel, which will be most to +your minds?" + +"Nothing will please us," said Gunnar Lambi's son, "until those +brothers, Njal's sons, are all slain." + +"This," said Flosi, "will I promise to you, ye sons of Sigfus, not to +part from this quarrel before one of us bites the dust before the other, +I will also know whether there be any man here who will not stand by us +in this quarrel." + +But they all said they would stand by him. + +Then Flosi said-- + +"Come now all to me, and swear an oath that no man will shrink from this +quarrel." + +Then all went up to Flosi and swore oaths to him; and then Flosi said-- + +"We will all of us shake hands on this, that he shall have forfeited +life and land who quits this quarrel ere it be over." + +These were the chiefs who were with Flosi:--Kol the son of Thorstein +broadpaunch, the brother's son of Hall of the Side, Hroald Auzur's son +from Broadwater, Auzur son of Anund wallet-back, Thorstein the fair the +son of Gerleif, Glum Hilldir's son, Modolf Kettle's son, Thorir the son +of Thord Illugi's son of Mauratongue, Kolbein and Egil Flosi's kinsmen, +Kettle Sigfus' son, and Mord his brother, Ingialld of the Springs, +Thorkel and Lambi, Grani Gunnar's son, Gunnar Lambi's son, and Sigmund +Sigfus' son, and Hroar from Hromundstede. + +Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus-- + +"Choose ye now a leader, whomsoever ye think best fitted; for some one +man must needs be chief over the quarrel." + +Then Kettle of the Mark answered-- + +"If the choice is to be left with us brothers, then we will soon choose +that this duty should fall on thee; there are many things which lead to +this. Thou art a man of great birth, and a mighty chief, stout of heart, +and strong of body, and wise withal, and so we think it best that thou +shouldst see to all that is needful in the quarrel." + +"It is most fitting," said Flosi, "that I should agree to undertake this +as your prayer asks; and now I will lay down the course which we shall +follow, and my counsel is, that each man ride home from the Thing and +look after his household during the summer, so long as men's haymaking +lasts. I, too, will ride home, and be at home this summer; but when that +Lord's day comes on which winter is eight weeks off, then I will let +them sing me a mass at home, and afterwards ride west across Loomnips +Sand; each of our men shall have two horses. I will not swell our +company beyond those which have now taken the oath, for we have enough +and to spare if all keep true tryst. I will ride all the Lord's day and +the night as well, but at even on the second day of the week, I shall +ride up to Threecorner ridge about mid-even. There shall ye then be all +come who have sworn an oath in this matter. But if there be any one who +has not come, and who has joined us in this quarrel, then that man shall +lose nothing save his life, if we may have our way." + +"How does that hang together," said Kettle, "that thou canst ride from +home on the Lord's day, and come the second day of the week to +Threecorner ridge?" + +"I will ride," said Flosi, "up from Skaptartongue, and north of the +Eyjafell Jokul, and so down into Godaland, and it may be done if I ride +fast. And now I will tell you my whole purpose, that when we meet there +all together, we shall ride to Bergthorsknoll with all our band, and +fall on Njal's sons with fire and sword, and not turn away before they +are all dead. Ye shall hide this plan, for our lives lie on it. And now +we will take to our horses and ride home." + +Then they all went to their booths. + +After that Flosi made them saddle his horses, and they waited for no +man, and rode home. + +Flosi would not stay to meet Hall his father-in-law, for he knew of a +surety that Hall would set his face against all strong deeds. + +Njal rode home from the Thing and his sons. They were at home that +summer. Njal asked Kari his son-in-law whether he thought at all of +riding east to Dyrholms to his own house. + +"I will not ride east," answered Kari, "for one fate shall befall me and +thy sons." + +Njal thanked him, and said that was only what was likely from him. There +were nearly thirty fighting men in Njal's house, reckoning the +house-carles. + +One day it happened that Rodny Hauskuld's daughter, the mother of +Hauskuld Njal's son, came to the Springs. Her brother Ingialld greeted +her well, but she would not take his greeting, but yet bade him go out +with her. Ingialld did so, and went out with her; and so they walked +away from the farmyard both together. Then she clutched hold of him and +they both sat down, and Rodny said-- + +"Is it true that thou hast sworn an oath to fall on Njal, and slay him +and his sons?" + +"True it is," said he. + +"A very great dastard art thou," she says, "thou, whom Njal hath thrice +saved from outlawry." + +"Still it hath come to this," says Ingialld, "that my life lies on it if +I do not this." + +"Not so," says she, "thou shalt live all the same, and be called a +better man, if thou betrayest not him to whom thou oughtest to behave +best." + +Then she took a linen hood out of her bag, it was clotted with blood all +over, and torn and tattered, and said, "This hood, Hauskuld Njal's son, +and thy sister's son, had on his head when they slew him; methinks, +then, it is ill owing to stand by those from whom this mischief sprang". + +"Well!" answers Ingialld, "so it shall be that I will not be against +Njal whatever follows after, but still I know that they will turn and +throw trouble on me." + +"Now mightest thou," said Rodny, "yield Njal and his sons great help, if +thou tellest him all these plans." + +"That I will not do," says Ingialld, "for then I am every man's dastard, +if I tell what was trusted to me in good faith; but it is a manly deed +to sunder myself from this quarrel when I know that there is a sure +looking for of vengeance; but tell Njal and his sons to beware of +themselves all this summer, for that will be good counsel, and to keep +many men about them." + +Then she fared to Bergthorsknoll, and told Njal all this talk; and Njal +thanked her, and said she had done well, "for there would be more +wickedness in his falling on me than of all men else". + +She fared home, but he told this to his sons. + +There was a carline at Bergthorsknoll, whose name was Saevuna. She was +wise in many things, and foresighted; but she was then very old, and +Njal's sons called her an old dotard, when she talked so much, but still +some things which she said came to pass. It fell one day that she took a +cudgel in her hand, and went up above the house to a stack of vetches. +She beat the stack of vetches with her cudgel, and wished it might never +thrive, "wretch that it was!" + +Skarphedinn laughed at her, and asked why she was so angry with the +vetch stack. + +"This stack of vetches," said the carline, "will be taken and lighted +with fire when Njal my master is burnt, house and all, and Bergthora my +foster-child. Take it away to the water, or burn it up as quick as you +can." + +"We will not do that," says Skarphedinn, "for something else will be got +to light a fire with, if that were foredoomed, though this stack were +not here." + +The carline babbled the whole summer about the vetch-stack that it +should be got indoors, but something always hindered it. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXIV. + +OF PORTENTS. + + +At Reykium on Skeid dwelt one Runolf Thorstein's son. His son's name was +Hildiglum. He went out on the night of the Lord's day, when nine weeks +were still to winter; he heard a great crash, so that he thought both +heaven and earth shook. Then he looked into the west "airt," and he +thought he saw thereabouts a ring of fiery hue, and within the ring a +man on a gray horse. He passed quickly by him, and rode hard. He had a +flaming firebrand in his hand, and he rode so close to him that he could +see him plainly. He was as black as pitch, and he sung this song with a +mighty voice-- + + Here I ride swift steed, + His flank flecked with rime, + Rain from his mane drips, + Horse mighty for harm; + Flames flare at each end, + Gall glows in the midst, + So fares it with Flosi's redes + As this flaming brand flies; + And so fares it with Flosi's redes + As this flaming brand flies. + +Then he thought he hurled the firebrand east towards the fells before +him, and such a blaze of fire leapt up to meet it that he could not see +the fells for the blaze. It seemed as though that man rode east among +the flames and vanished there. + +After that he went to his bed, and was senseless a long time, but at +last he came to himself. He bore in mind all that had happened, and told +his father, but he bade him tell it to Hjallti Skeggi's son. So he went +and told Hjallti, but he said he had seen "'the Wolfs ride,' and that +comes ever before great tidings". + + + + +CHAPTER CXXV. + +FLOSI'S JOURNEY FROM HOME. + + +Flosi busked him from the east when two months were still to winter, and +summoned to him all his men who had promised him help and company. Each +of them had two horses and good weapons, and they all came to +Swinefell, and were there that night. + +Flosi made them say prayers betimes on the Lord's day, and afterwards +they sate down to meat. He spoke to his household, and told them what +work each was to do while he was away. After that he went to his horses. + +Flosi and his men rode first west on the Sand.[69] Flosi bade them not +to ride too hard at first; but said they would do well enough at that +pace, and he bade all to wait for the others if any of them had need to +stop. They rode west to Woodcombe, and came to Kirkby. Flosi there bade +all men to come into the church, and pray to God, and men did so. + +After that they mounted their horses, and rode on the fell, and so to +Fishwaters, and rode a little to the west of the lakes, and so struck +down west on to the Sand.[70] Then they left Eyjafell Jokul on their +left hand, and so came down into Godaland, and so on to Markfleet, and +came about nones[71] on the second day of the week to Threecorner ridge, +and waited till mid-even. Then all had came thither save Ingialld of the +Springs. + +The sons of Sigfus spoke much ill of him, but Flosi bade them not blame +Ingialld when he was not by, "but we will pay him for this hereafter". + + + + +CHAPTER CXXVI. + +OF PORTENTS AT BERGTHORSKNOLL. + + +Now we must take up the story, and turn to Bergthorsknoll, and say that +Grim and Helgi go to Holar. They had children out at foster there, and +they told their mother that they should not come home that evening. They +were in Holar all the day, and there came some poor women and said they +had come from far. Those brothers asked them for tidings, and they said +they had no tidings to tell, "but still we might tell you one bit of +news". + +They asked what that might be, and bade them not hide it. They said so +it should be. + +"We came down out of Fleetlithe, and we saw all the sons of Sigfus +riding fully armed--they made for Threecorner ridge, and were fifteen in +company. We saw, too, Grani Gunnar's son and Gunnar Lambi's son, and +they were five in all. They took the same road, and one may say now that +the whole country-side is faring and flitting about." + +"Then," said Helgi Njal's son, "Flosi must have come from the east, and +they must have all gone to meet him, and we two, Grim, should be where +Skarphedinn is." + +Grim said so it ought to be, and they fared home. + +That same evening Bergthora spoke to her household, and said, "Now shall +ye choose your meat to-night, so that each may have what he likes best; +for this evening is the last that I shall set meat before my household". + +"That shall not be," they said. + +"It will be though," she says, "and I could tell you much more if I +would, but this shall be a token, that Grim and Helgi will be home ere +men have eaten their full to-night; and if this turns out so, then the +rest that I say will happen too." + +After that she set meat on the board, and Njal said, "Wondrously now it +seems to me. Methinks I see all round the room, and it seems as though +the gable wall were thrown down, but the whole board and the meat on it +is one gore of blood." + +All thought this strange but Skarphedinn, he bade men not be downcast, +nor to utter other unseemly sounds, so that men might make a story out +of them. + +"For it befits us surely more than other men to bear us well, and it is +only what is looked for from us." + +Grim and Helgi came home ere the board was cleared, and men were much +struck at that. Njal asked why they had returned so quickly, but they +told what they had heard. + +Njal bade no man go to sleep, but to beware of themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXVII. + +THE ONSLAUGHT ON BERGTHORSKNOLL. + + +Now Flosi speaks to his men-- + +"Now we will ride to Bergthorsknoll, and come thither before +supper-time." + +They do so. There was a dell in the knoll, and they rode thither, and +tethered their horses there, and stayed there till the evening was far +spent. + +Then Flosi said, "Now we will go straight up to the house, and keep +close, and walk slow, and see what counsel they will take". + +Njal stood out of doors, and his sons, and Kari and all the serving-men, +and they stood in array to meet them in the yard, and they were near +thirty of them. + +Flosi halted and said--"Now we shall see what counsel they take, for it +seems to me, if they stand out of doors to meet us, as though we should +never get the mastery over them". + +"Then is our journey bad," says Grani Gunnar's son, "if we are not to +dare to fall on them." + +"Nor shall that be," says Flosi; "for we will fall on them though they +stand out of doors; but we shall pay that penalty, that many will not go +away to tell which side won the day." + +Njal said to his men, "See ye now what a great band of men they have". + +"They have both a great and well-knit band," says Skarphedinn; "but this +is why they make a halt now, because they think it will be a hard +struggle to master us." + +"That cannot be why they halt," says Njal; "and my will is that our men +go indoors, for they had hard work to master Gunnar of Lithend, though +he was alone to meet them; but here is a strong house as there was +there, and they will be slow to come to close quarters." + +"This is not to be settled in that wise," says Skarphedinn, "for those +chiefs fell on Gunnar's house, who were so noble-minded, that they would +rather turn back than burn him, house and all; but these will fall on us +at once with fire, if they cannot get at us in any other way, for they +will leave no stone unturned to get the better of us; and no doubt they +think, as is not unlikely, that it will be their deaths if we escape +out of their hands. Besides, I am unwilling to let myself be stifled +indoors like a fox in his earth." + +"Now," said Njal, "as often it happens, my sons, ye set my counsel at +naught, and show me no honour, but when ye were younger ye did not so, +and then your plans were better furthered." + +"Let us do," said Helgi, "as our father wills; that will be best for +us." + +"I am not so sure of that," says Skarphedinn, "for now he is 'fey'; +but still I may well humour my father in this, by being burnt indoors +along with him, for I am not afraid of my death." + +Then he said to Kari, "Let us stand by one another well, brother-in-law, +so that neither parts from the other". + +"That I have made up my mind to do," says Kari; "but if it should be +otherwise doomed,--well! then it must be as it must be, and I shall not +be able to fight against it." + +"Avenge us, and we will avenge thee," says Skarphedinn, "if we live +after thee." + +Kari said so it should be. + +Then they all went in, and stood in array at the door. + +"Now are they all 'fey,'" said Flosi, "since they have gone indoors, and +we will go right up to them as quickly as we can, and throng as close as +we can before the door, and give heed that none of them, neither Kari +nor Njal's sons, get away; for that were our bane." + +So Flosi and his men came up to the house, and set men to watch round +the house, if there were any secret doors in it. But Flosi went up to +the front of the house with his men. + +Then Hroald Auzur's son ran up to where Skarphedinn stood, and thrust at +him. Skarphedinn hewed the spearhead off the shaft as he held it, and +made another stroke at him, and the axe fell on the top of the shield, +and dashed back the whole shield on Hroald's body, but the upper horn of +the axe caught him on the brow, and he fell at full length on his back, +and was dead at once. + +"Little chance had that one with thee, Skarphedinn," said Kari, "and +thou art our boldest." + +"I'm not so sure of that," says Skarphedinn, and he drew up his lips and +smiled. + +Kari, and Grim, and Helgi, threw out many spears, and wounded many men; +but Flosi and his men could do nothing. + +At last Flosi said, "We have already gotten great manscathe in our men; +many are wounded, and he slain whom we would choose last of all. It is +now clear that we shall never master them with weapons; many now there +be who are not so forward in fight as they boasted, and yet they were +those who goaded us on most. I say this most to Grani Gunnar's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son, who were the least willing to spare their foes. But +still we shall have to take to some other plan for ourselves, and now +there are but two choices left, and neither of them good. One is to turn +away, and that is our death; the other, to set fire to the house, and +burn them inside it; and that is a deed which we shall have to answer +for heavily before God, since we are Christian men ourselves; but still +we must take to that counsel." + + + + +CHAPTER CXXVIII. + +NJAL'S BURNING. + + +Now they took fire, and made a great pile before the doors. Then +Skarphedinn said. + +"What, lads! are ye lighting a fire, or are ye taking to cooking?" + +"So it shall be," answered Grani Gunnar's son; "and thou shalt not need +to be better done." + +"Thou repayest me," said Skarphedinn, "as one may look for from the man +that thou art. I avenged thy father, and thou settest most store by that +duty which is farthest from thee." + +Then the women threw whey on the fire, and quenched it as fast as they +lit it. Some, too, brought water, or slops. + +Then Kol Thorstein's son said to Flosi-- + +"A plan comes into my mind; I have seen a loft over the hall among the +crosstrees, and we will put the fire in there, and light it with the +vetch-stack that stands just above the house." + +Then they took the vetch-stack and set fire to it, and they who were +inside were not aware of it till the whole hall was ablaze over their +heads. + +Then Flosi and his men made a great pile before each of the doors, and +then the women folk who were inside began to weep and to wail. + +Njal spoke to them and said, "Keep up your hearts, nor utter shrieks, +for this is but a passing storm, and it will be long before ye have +another such; and put your faith in God, and believe that He is so +merciful that He will not let us burn both in this world and the next." + +Such words of comfort had he for them all, and others still more strong. + +Now the whole house began to blaze. Then Njal went to the door and +said-- + +"Is Flosi so near that he can hear my voice?" + +Flosi said that he could hear it. + +"Wilt thou," said Njal, "take an atonement from my sons, or allow any +men to go out?" + +"I will not," answers Flosi, "take any atonement from thy sons, and now +our dealings shall come to an end once for all, and I will not stir from +this spot till they are all dead; but I will allow the women and +children and house-carles to go out." + +Then Njal went into the house, and said to the folk-- + +"Now all those must go out to whom leave is given, and so go thou out +Thorhalla Asgrim's daughter, and all the people also with thee who may." + +Then Thorhalla said-- + +"This is another parting between me and Helgi than I thought of a while +ago; but still I will egg on my father and brothers to avenge this +manscathe which is wrought here." + +"Go, and good go with thee," said Njal, "for thou art a brave woman." + +After that she went out and much folk with her. + +Then Astrid of Deepback said to Helgi Njal's son-- + +"Come thou out with me, and I will throw a woman's cloak over thee, and +tire thy head with a kerchief." + +He spoke against it at first, but at last he did so at the prayer of +others. + +So Astrid wrapped the kerchief round Helgi's head, but Thorhilda, +Skarphedinn's wife, threw the cloak over him, and he went out between +them, and then Thorgerda Njal's daughter, and Helga her sister, and many +other folk went out too. + +But when Helgi came out Flosi said-- + +"That is a tall woman and broad across the shoulders that went yonder, +take her and hold her." + +But when Helgi heard that, he cast away the cloak. He had got his sword +under his arm, and hewed at a man, and the blow fell on his shield and +cut off the point of it, and the man's leg as well. Then Flosi came up +and hewed at Helgi's neck, and took off his head at a stroke. + +Then Flosi went to the door and called out to Njal, and said he would +speak with him and Bergthora. + +Now Njal does so, and Flosi said-- + +"I will offer thee, master Njal, leave to go out, for it is unworthy +that thou shouldst burn indoors." + +"I will not go out," said Njal, "for I am an old man, and little fitted +to avenge my sons, but I will not live in shame." + +Then Flosi said to Bergthora-- + +"Come thou out, housewife, for I will for no sake burn thee indoors." + +"I was given away to Njal young," said Bergthora, "and I have promised +him this, that we would both share the same fate." + +After that they both went back into the house. + +"What counsel shall we now take?" said Bergthora. + +"We will go to our bed," says Njal, "and lay us down; I have long been +eager for rest." + +Then she said to the boy Thord, Kari's son-- + +"Thee will I take out, and thou shalt not burn in here." + +"Thou hast promised me this, grandmother," says the boy, "that we should +never part so long as I wished to be with thee; but methinks it is much +better to die with thee and Njal than to live after you." + +Then she bore the boy to her bed, and Njal spoke to his steward and +said-- + +"Now shalt thou see where we lay us down, and how I lay us out, for I +mean not to stir an inch hence, whether reek or burning smart me, and so +thou wilt be able to guess where to look for our bones." + +He said he would do so. + +There had been an ox slaughtered and the hide lay there. Njal told the +steward to spread the hide over them, and he did so. + +So there they lay down both of them in their bed, and put the boy +between them. Then they signed themselves and the boy with the cross, +and gave over their souls into God's hand, and that was the last word +that men heard them utter. + +Then the steward took the hide and spread it over them, and went out +afterwards. Kettle of the Mark caught hold of him, and dragged him out, +he asked carefully after his father-in-law Njal, but the steward told +him the whole truth. Then Kettle said-- + +"Great grief hath been sent on us, when we have had to share such +ill-luck together." + +Skarphedinn saw how his father laid him down, and how he laid himself +out, and then he said-- + +"Our father goes early to bed, and that is what was to be looked for, +for he is an old man." + +Then Skarphedinn, and Kari, and Grim, caught the brands as fast as they +dropped down, and hurled them out at them, and so it went on a while. +Then they hurled spears in at them, but they caught them all as they +flew, and sent them back again. + +Then Flosi bade them cease shooting, "for all feats of arms will go hard +with us when we deal with them; ye may well wait till the fire overcomes +them". + +So they do that, and shoot no more. + +Then the great beams out of the roof began to fall, and Skarphedinn +said-- + +"Now must my father be dead, and I have neither heard groan nor cough +from him." + +Then they went to the end of the hall, and there had fallen down a +cross-beam inside which was much burnt in the middle. + +Kari spoke to Skarphedinn, and said--"Leap thou out here, and I will +help thee to do so, and I will leap out after thee, and then we shall +both get away if we set about it so, for hitherward blows all the +smoke." + +"Thou shalt leap first," said Skarphedinn; "but I will leap straightway +on thy heels." + +"That is not wise," says Kari, "for I can get out well enough elsewhere, +though it does not come about here." + +"I will not do that," says Skarphedinn; "leap thou out first, but I will +leap after thee at once." + +"It is bidden to every man," says Kari, "to seek to save his life while +he has a choice, and I will do so now; but still this parting of ours +will be in such wise that we shall never see one another more; for if I +leap out of the fire, I shall have no mind to leap back into the fire to +thee, and then each of us will have to fare his own way." + +"It joys me, brother-in-law," says Skarphedinn, "to think that if thou +gettest away thou wilt avenge me." + +Then Kari took up a blazing bench in his hand, and runs up along the +cross-beam, then he hurls the bench out at the roof, and it fell among +those who were outside. + +Then they ran away, and by that time all Kari's upper-clothing and his +hair were ablaze, then he threw himself down from the roof, and so crept +along with the smoke. + +Then one man said who was nearest-- + +"Was that a man that leapt out at the roof?" + +"Far from it," says another; "more likely it was Skarphedinn who hurled +a firebrand at us." + +After that they had no more mistrust. + +Kari ran till he came to a stream, and then, he threw himself down into +it, and so quenched the fire on him. + +After that he ran along under shelter of the smoke into a hollow, and +rested him there, and that has since been called Kari's Hollow. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXIX. + +SKARPHEDINN'S DEATH. + + +Now it is to be told of Skarphedinn that he runs out on the cross-beam +straight after Kari, but when he came to where the beam was most burnt, +then it broke down under him. Skarphedinn came down on his feet, and +tried again the second time, and climbs up the wall with a run, then +down on him came the wall-plate, and he toppled down again inside. + +Then Skarphedinn said--"Now one can see what will come;" and then he +went along the side wall. Gunnar Lambi's son leapt up on the wall and +sees Skarphedinn; he spoke thus-- + +"Weepest thou now, Skarphedinn?" + +"Not so," says Skarphedinn, "but true it is that the smoke makes one's +eyes smart, but is it as it seems to me, dost thou laugh?" + +"So it is surely," says Gunnar, "and I have never laughed since thou +slewest Thrain on Markfleet." + +Then Skarphedinn said--"He now is a keepsake for thee;" and with that +he took out of his purse the jaw-tooth which he had hewn out of Thrain, +and threw it at Gunnar, and struck him in the eye, so that it started +out and lay on his cheek. + +Then Gunnar fell down from the roof. + +Skarphedinn then went to his brother Grim, and they held one another by +the hand and trode the fire; but when they came to the middle of the +hall Grim fell down dead. + +Then Skarphedinn went to the end of the house, and then there was a +great crash, and down fell the roof. Skarphedinn was then shut in +between it and the gable, and so he could not stir a step thence. + +Flosi and his band stayed by the fire until it was broad daylight; then +came a man riding up to them. Flosi asked him for his name, but he said +his name was Geirmund, and that he was a kinsman of the sons of Sigfus. + +"Ye have done a mighty deed," he says. + +"Men," says Flosi, "will call it both a mighty deed and an ill deed, but +that can't be helped now." + +"How many men have lost their lives here?" asks Geirmund. + +"Here have died," says Flosi, "Njal and Bergthora and all their sons, +Thord Kari's son, Kari Solmund's son, but besides these we cannot say +for a surety, because we know not their names." + +"Thou tellest him now dead," said Geirmund, "with whom we have gossipped +this morning." + +"Who is that?" says Flosi. + +"We two," says Geirmund, "I and my neighbour Bard, met Kari Solmund's +son, and Bard gave him his horse, and his hair and his upper clothes +were burned off him." + +"Had he any weapons?" asks Flosi. + +"He had the sword 'Life-luller,'" says Geirmund, "and one edge of it was +blue with fire, and Bard and I said that it must have become soft, but +he answered thus, that he would harden it in the blood of the sons of +Sigfus or the other Burners." + +"What said he of Skarphedinn?" said Flosi. + +"He said both he and Grim were alive," answers Geirmund, "when they +parted; but he said that now they must be dead." + +"Thou hast told us a tale," said Flosi, "which bodes us no idle peace, +for that man hath now got away who comes next to Gunnar of Lithend in +all things; and now, ye sons of Sigfus, and ye other Burners, know +this, that such a great blood feud, and hue and cry will be made about +this burning, that it will make many a man headless, but some will lose +all their goods. Now I doubt much whether any man of you, ye sons of +Sigfus, will dare to stay in his house; and that is not to be wondered +at; and so I will bid you all to come and stay with me in the east, and +let us all share one fate." + +They thanked him for his offer, and said they would be glad to take it. + +Then Modolf Kettle's son sang a song. + + But one prop of Njal's house liveth, + All the rest inside are burnt, + All but one,--those bounteous spenders, + Sigfus' stalwart sons wrought this; + Son of Gollnir[72] now is glutted + Vengeance for brave Hauskuld's death, + Brisk flew fire through thy dwelling, + Bright flames blazed above thy roof. + +"We shall have to boast of something else than that Njal has been burnt +in his house," says Flosi, "for there is no glory in that." + +Then he went up on the gable, and Glum Hilldir's son, and some other +men. Then Glum said, "Is Skarphedinn dead, indeed?" But the others said +he must have been dead long ago. + +The fire sometimes blazed up fitfully and sometimes burned low, and then +they heard down in the fire beneath them that this song was sung-- + + Deep, I ween, ye Ogre offspring! + Devilish brood of giant birth, + Would ye groan with gloomy visage + Had the fight gone to my mind; + But my very soul it gladdens + That my friends[73] who now boast high, + Wrought not this foul deed, their glory, + Save with footsteps filled with gore. + +"Can Skarphedinn, think ye, have sung this song dead or alive?" said +Grani Gunnar's son. + +"I will go into no guesses about that," says Flosi. + +"We will look for Skarphedinn," says Grani, "and the other men who have +been here burnt inside the house." + +"That shall not be," says Flosi, "it is just like such foolish men as +thou art, now that men will be gathering force all over the country; and +when they do come, I trow the very same man who now lingers will be so +scared that he will not know which way to run; and now my counsel is +that we all ride away as quickly as ever we can." + +Then Flosi went hastily to his horse and all his men. + +Then Flosi said to Geirmund-- + +"Is Ingialld, thinkest thou, at home, at the Springs?" + +Geirmund said he thought he must be at home. + +"There now is a man," says Flosi, "who has broken his oath with us and +all good faith." + +Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus--"What course will ye now take +with Ingialld; will ye forgive him, or shall we now fall on him and slay +him?" + +They all answered that they would rather fall on him and slay him. + +Then Flosi jumped on his horse, and all the others, and they rode away. +Flosi rode first, and shaped his course for Rangriver, and up along the +river bank. + +Then he saw a man riding down on the other bank of the river, and he +knew that there was Ingialld of the Springs. Flosi calls out to him. +Ingialld halted and turned down to the river bank; and Flosi said to +him-- + +"Thou hast broken faith with us, and hast forfeited life and goods. Here +now are the sons of Sigfus, who are eager to slay thee; but methinks +thou hast fallen into a strait, and I will give thee thy life if thou +will hand over to me the right to make my own award." + +"I will sooner ride to meet Kari," said Ingialld, "than grant thee the +right to utter thine own award, and my answer to the sons of Sigfus is +this, that I shall be no whit more afraid of them than they are of me." + +"Bide thou there," says Flosi, "if thou art not a coward, for I will +send thee a gift." + +"I will bide of a surety," says Ingialld. + +Thorstein Kolbein's son, Flosi's brother's son, rode up by his side and +had a spear in his hand, he was one of the bravest of men, and the most +worthy of those who were with Flosi. + +Flosi snatched the spear from him, and launched it at Ingialld, and it +fell on his left side, and passed through the shield just below the +handle, and clove it all asunder, but the spear passed on into his +thigh just above the knee-pan, and so on into the saddle-tree, and there +stood fast. + +Then Flosi said to Ingialld-- + +"Did it touch thee?" + +"It touched me sure enough," says Ingialld, "but I call this a scratch +and not a wound." + +Then Ingialld plucked the spear out of the wound, and said to Flosi-- + +"Now bide thou, if thou art not a milksop." + +Then he launched the spear back over the river. Flosi sees that the +spear is coming straight for his middle, and then he backs his horse out +of the way, but the spear flew in front of Flosi's horse, and missed +him, but it struck Thorstein's middle, and down he fell at once dead off +his horse. + +Now Ingialld tuns for the wood, and they could not get at him. + +Then Flosi said to his men-- + +"Now have we gotten manscathe, and now we may know, when such things +befall us, into what a luckless state we have got. Now it is my counsel +that we ride up to Threecorner ridge; thence we shall be able to see +where men ride all over the country, for by this time they will have +gathered together a great band, and they will think that we have ridden +east to Fleetlithe from Threecorner ridge; and thence they will think +that we are riding north up on the fell, and so east to our own country, +and thither the greater part of the folk will ride after us; but some +will ride the coast road east to Selialandsmull, and yet they will think +there is less hope of finding us thitherward, but I will now take +counsel for all of us, and my plan is to ride up into Threecorner-fell, +and bide there till three suns have risen and set in heaven." + + + + +CHAPTER CXXX. + +OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON. + + +Now it is to be told of Kari Solmund's son that he fared away from that +hollow in which he had rested himself until he met Bard, and those words +passed between them which Geirmund had told. + +Thence Kari rode to Mord, and told him the tidings, and he was greatly +grieved. + +Kari said there were other things more befitting a man than to weep for +them dead, and bade him rather gather folk and come to Holtford. + +After that he rode into Thursodale to Hjallti Skeggi's son, and as he +went along Thurso water, he sees a man riding fast behind him. Kari +waited for the man, and knows that he was Ingialld of the Springs. He +sees that he is very bloody about the thigh; and Kari asked Ingialld who +had wounded him, and he told him. + +"Where met ye two?" says Kari. + +"By Rangwater side," says Ingialld, "and he threw a spear over at me." + +"Didst thou aught for it?" asks Kari. + +"I threw the spear back," says Ingialld, "and they said that it met a +man, and he was dead at once." + +"Knowest thou not," said Kari, "who the man was?" + +"Methought he was like Thorstein Flosi's brother's son," says Ingialld. + +"Good luck go with thy hand," says Kari. + +After that they rode both together to see Hjallti Skeggi's son, and told +him the tidings. He took these deeds ill, and said there was the +greatest need to ride after them and slay them all. + +After that he gathered men and roused the whole country; now he and Kari +and Ingialld ride with this band to meet Mord Valgard's son, and they +found him at Holtford, and Mord was there waiting for them with a very +great company. Then they parted the hue and cry; some fared the straight +road by the east coast to Selialandsmull, but some went up to +Fleetlithe, and other-some the higher road thence to Threecorner ridge, +and so down into Godaland. Thence they rode north to Sand. Some too rode +as far as Fishwaters, and there turned back. Some the coast road east to +Holt, and told Thorgeir the tidings, and asked whether they had not +ridden by there. + +"This is how it is," said Thorgeir, "though I am not a mighty chief, yet +Flosi would take other counsel than to ride under my eyes, when he has +slain Njal, my father's brother, and my cousins; and there is nothing +left for any of you but e'en to turn back again, for ye should have +hunted longer nearer home; but tell this to Kari, that he must ride +hither to me and be here with me if he will; but though he will not +come hither east, still I will look after his farm at Dyrholms if he +will, but tell him too that I will stand by him and ride with him to the +Althing. And he shall also know this, that we brothers are the next of +kin to follow up the feud, and we mean so to take up the suit, that +outlawry shall follow and after that revenge, man for man, if we can +bring it about; but I do not go with you now, because I know naught will +come of it, and they will now be as wary as they can of themselves." + +Now they ride back, and all met at Hof and talked there among +themselves, and said that they had gotten disgrace since they had not +found them. Mord said that was not so. Then many men were eager that +they should fare to Fleetlithe, and pull down the homesteads of all +those who had been at those deeds, but still they listened for Mord's +utterance. + +"That," he said, "would be the greatest folly." They asked why he said +that. + +"Because," he said, "if their houses stand, they will be sure to visit +them to see their wives; and then, as time rolls on, we may hunt them +down there; and now ye shall none of you doubt that I will be true to +thee Kari, and to all of you, and in all counsel, for I have to answer +for myself." + +Hjallti bade him do as he said. Then Hjallti bade Kari to come and stay +with him; he said he would ride thither first. They told him what +Thorgeir had offered him, and he said he would make use of that offer +afterwards, but said his heart told him it would be well if there were +many such. + +After that the whole band broke up. + +Flosi and his men saw all these tidings from where they were on the +fell; and Flosi said-- + +"Now we will take our horses and ride away, for now it will be some +good." + +The sons of Sigfus asked whether it would be worth while to get to their +homes and tell the news. + +"It must be Mord's meaning," says Flosi, "that ye will visit your wives; +and my guess is, that his plan is to let your houses stand unsacked; but +my plan is that not a man shall part from the other, but all ride east +with me." + +So every man took that counsel, and then they all rode east and north of +the Jokul, and so on till they came to Swinefell. + +Flosi sent at once men out to get in stores, so that nothing might fall +short. + +Flosi never spoke about the deed, but no fear was found in him, and he +was at home the whole winter till Yule was over. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXI. + +NJAL'S AND BERGTHORA'S BONES FOUND. + + +Kari bade Hjallti to go and search for Njal's bones, "for all will +believe in what thou sayest and thinkest about them". + +Hjallti said he would be most willing to bear Njal's bones to church; so +they rode thence fifteen men. They rode east over Thurso-water, and +called on men there to come with them till they had one hundred men, +reckoning Njal's neighbours. + +They came to Bergthorsknoll at mid-day. + +Hjallti asked Kari under what part of the house Njal might be lying, but +Kari showed them to the spot, and there was a great heap of ashes to dig +away. There they found the hide underneath, and it was as though it were +shrivelled with the fire. They raised up the hide, and lo! they were +unburnt under it. All praised God for that, and thought it was a great +token. + +Then the boy was taken up who had lain between them, and of him a finger +was burnt off which he had stretched out from under the hide. + +Njal was borne out, and so was Bergthora, and then all men went to see +their bodies. + +Then Hjallti said--"What like look to you these bodies?" + +They answered, "We will wait for thy utterance". + +Then Hjallti said, "I shall speak what I say with all freedom of speech. +The body of Bergthora looks as it was likely she would look, and still +fair; but Njal's body and visage seem to me so bright that I have never +seen any dead man's body so bright as this." + +They all said they thought so too. + +Then they sought for Skarphedinn, and the men of the household showed +them to the spot where Flosi and his men heard the song sung, and there +the roof had fallen down by the gable, and there Hjallti said that they +should look. Then they did so, and found Skarphedinn's body there, and +he had stood up hard by the gable-wall, and his legs were burnt off him +right up to the knees, but all the rest of him was unburnt. He had +bitten through his under lip, his eyes were wide open and not swollen +nor starting out of his head; he had driven his axe into the gable-wall +so hard that it had gone in up to the middle of the blade, and that was +why it was not softened. + +After that the axe was broken out of the wall, and Hjallti took up the +axe, and said-- + +"This is a rare weapon, and few would be able to wield it." + +"I see a man," said Kari, "who shall bear the axe." + +"Who is that?" says Hjallti. + +"Thorgeir Craggeir," says Kari, "he whom I now think to be the greatest +man in all their family." + +Then Skarphedinn was stripped of his clothes, for they were unburnt; he +had laid his hands in a cross, and the right hand uppermost. They found +marks on him; one between his shoulders and the other on his chest, and +both were branded in the shape of a cross, and men thought that he must +have burnt them in himself. + +All men said that they thought that it was better to be near Skarphedinn +dead than they weened, for no man was afraid of him. + +They sought for the bones of Grim, and found them in the midst of the +hall. They found, too, there, right over-against him under the side +wall, Thord Freedmanson; but in the weaving-room they found Saevuna the +carline, and three men more. In all they found there the bones of nine +souls. Now they carried the bodies to the church, and then Hjallti rode +home and Kari with him. A swelling came on Ingialld's leg, and then he +fared to Hjallti, and was healed there, but still he limped ever +afterwards. + +Kari rode to Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. By that time Thorhalla +was come home, and she had already told the tidings. Asgrim took Kari by +both hands, and bade him be there all that year. Kari said so it should +be. + +Asgrim asked besides all the folk who had been in the house at +Bergthorsknoll to stay with him. Kari said that was well offered, and +said he would take it on their behalf. + +Then all the folk were flitted thither. + +Thorhall Asgrim's son was so startled when he was told that his +foster-father Njal was dead, and that he had been burnt in his house, +that he swelled all over, and a stream of blood burst out of both his +ears, and could not be staunched, and he fell into a swoon, and then it +was staunched. + +After that he stood up, and said he had behaved like a coward, "but I +would that I might be able to avenge this which has befallen me on some +of those who burnt him". + +But when others said that no one would think this a shame to him, he +said he could not stop the mouths of the people from talking about it. + +Asgrim asked Kari what trust and help he thought he might look for from +those east of the rivers. Kari said that Mord Valgard's son, and +Hjallti, Skeggi's son, would yield him all the help they could, and so, +too, would Thorgeir Craggeir, and all those brothers. + +Asgrim said that was great strength. + +"What strength shall we have from thee?" says Kari. + +"All that I can give," says Asgrim, "and I will lay down my life on it." + +"So do," says Kari. + +"I have also," says Asgrim, "brought Gizur the white into the suit, and +have asked his advice how we shall set about it." + +"What advice did he give?" asks Kari. + +"He counselled," answers Asgrim, "'that we should hold us quite still +till spring, but then ride east and set the suit on foot against Flosi +for the manslaughter of Helgi, and summon the neighbours from their +homes, and give due notice at the Thing of the suits for the burning, +and summon the same neighbours there too on the inquest before the +court. I asked Gizur who should plead the suit for manslaughter, but he +said that Mord should plead it whether he liked it or not, and now,' he +went on, 'it shall fall most heavily on him that up to this time all the +suits he has undertaken have had the worst ending. Kari shall also be +wroth whenever he meets Mord, and so, if he be made to fear on one side, +and has to look to me on the other, then he will undertake the duty.'" + +Then Kari said, "We will follow thy counsel as long as we can, and thou +shalt lead us". + +It is to be told of Kari that he could not sleep of nights. Asgrim woke +up one night and heard that Kari was awake, and Asgrim said--"Is it that +thou canst not sleep at night?" + +Then Kari sang this song-- + + Bender of the bow of battle, + Sleep will not my eyelids seal, + Still my murdered messmates' bidding + Haunts my mind the livelong night; + Since the men their brands abusing + Burned last autumn guileless Njal, + Burned him house and home together, + Mindful am I of my hurt. + +Kari spoke of no men so often as of Njal and Skarphedinn, and Bergthora +and Helgi. He never abused his foes, and never threatened them. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXII. + +FLOSI'S DREAM. + + +One night it so happened that Flosi struggled much in his sleep. Glum +Hilldir's son woke him up, and then Flosi said-- + +"Call me Kettle of the Mark." + +Kettle came thither, and Flosi said, "I will tell thee my dream". + +"I am ready to hear it," says Kettle. + +"I dreamt," says Flosi, "that methought I stood below Loom-nip, and went +out and looked up to the Nip, and all at once it opened, and a man came +out of the Nip, and he was clad in goatskins, and had an iron staff in +his hand. He called, as he walked, on many of my men, some sooner and +some later, and named them by name. First he called Grim the Red my +kinsman, and Arni Kol's son. Then methought something strange followed, +methought he called Eyjolf Bolverk's son, and Ljot son of Hall of the +Side, and some six men more. Then he held his peace awhile. After that +he called five men of our band, and among them were the sons of Sigfus, +thy brothers; then he called other six men, and among them were Lambi, +and Modolf, and Glum. Then he called three men. Last of all he called +Gunnar Lambi's son, and Kol Thorstein's son. After that he came up to +me; I asked him 'what news'. He said he had tidings enough to tell. Then +I asked him for his name, but he called himself Irongrim. I asked him +whither he was going; he said he had to fare to the Althing. 'What +shalt thou do there?' I said. 'First I shall challenge the inquest,' he +answers, 'and then the courts, then clear the field for fighters.' After +that he sang this song-- + + "'Soon a man death's snake-strokes dealing + High shall lift his head on earth, + Here amid the dust low rolling + Battered brainpans men shall see: + Now upon the hills in hurly + Buds the blue steel's harvest bright; + Soon the bloody dew of battle + Thigh-deep through the ranks shall rise.' + +"Then he shouted with such a mighty shout that methought everything near +shook, and dashed down his staff, and there was a mighty crash. Then he +went back into the fell, but fear clung to me; and now I wish thee to +tell me what thou thinkest this dream is." + +"It is my foreboding," says Kettle, "that all those who were called must +be 'fey'. It seems to me good counsel that we tell this dream to no man +just now." + +Flosi said so it should be. Now the winter passes away till Yule was +over. Then Flosi said to his men-- + +"Now I mean that we should fare from home, for methinks we shall not be +able to have an idle peace. Now we shall fare to pray for help, and now +that will come true which I told you, that we should have to bow the +knee to many ere this quarrel were ended." + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXIII. + +OF FLOSI'S JOURNEY AND HIS ASKING FOR HELP. + + +After that they busked them from home all together. Flosi was in +long-hose because he meant to go on foot, and then he knew that it would +seem less hard to the others to walk. + +Then they fared from home to Knappvale, but the evening after to +Broadwater, and then to Calffell, thence by Bjornness to Hornfirth, +thence to Staffell in Lon, and then to Thvattwater to Hall of the Side. + +Flosi had to wife Steinvora, his daughter. + +Hall gave them a very hearty welcome, and Flosi said to Hall-- + +"I will ask thee, father-in-law, that thou wouldst ride to the Thing +with me with all thy Thingmen." + +"Now," answered Hall, "it has turned out as the saw says, 'but a short +while is hand fain of blow'; and yet it is one and the same man in thy +band who now hangs his head, and who then goaded thee on to the worst of +deeds when it was still undone. But my help I am bound to lend thee in +all such places as I may." + +"What counsel dost thou give me," said Flosi, "in the strait in which I +now am?" + +"Thou shalt fare," said Hall, "north, right up to Weaponfirth, and ask +all the chiefs for aid, and thou wilt yet need it all before the Thing +is over." + +Flosi stayed there three nights, and rested him, and fared thence east +to Geitahellna, and so to Berufirth; there they were the night. Thence +they fared east to Broaddale in Haydale. There Hallbjorn the strong +dwelt. He had to wife Oddny the sister of Saurli Broddhelgi's son, and +Flosi had a hearty welcome there. + +Hallbjorn asked how far north among the firths Flosi meant to go. He +said he meant to go as far as Weaponfirth. Then Flosi took a purse of +money from his belt, and said he would give it to Hallbjorn. He took the +money, but yet said he had no claim on Flosi for gifts, but still I +would be glad to know in what thou wilt that I repay thee. + +"I have no need of money," says Flosi, "but I wish thou wouldst ride to +the Thing with me, and stand by me in my quarrel, but still I have no +ties or kinship to tell towards thee." + +"I will grant thee that," said Hallbjorn, "to ride to the Thing with +thee, and to stand by thee in thy quarrel as I would by my brother." + +Flosi thanked him, and Hallbjorn asked much about the Burning, but they +told him all about it at length. + +Thence Flosi fared to Broaddale's heath, and so to Hrafnkelstede, there +dwelt Hrafnkell, the son of Thorir, the son of Hrafnkell Raum. Flosi had +a hearty welcome there, and sought for help and a promise to ride to the +Thing from Hrafnkell, but he stood out a long while, though the end of +it was that he gave his word that his son Thorir should ride with all +their Thingmen, and yield him such help as the other priests of the same +district. + +Flosi thanked him and fared away to Bersastede. There Holmstein son of +Bersi the wise dwelt, and he gave Flosi a very hearty welcome. Flosi +begged him for help. Holmstein said he had been long in his debt for +help. + +Thence they fared to Waltheofstede--there Saurli Broddhelgi's son, +Bjarni's brother, dwelt. He had to wife Thordisa, a daughter of Gudmund +the powerful, of Modruvale. They had a hearty welcome there. But next +morning Flosi raised the question with Saurli that he should ride to the +Althing with him, and bid him money for it. + +"I cannot tell about that," says Saurli, "so long as I do not know on +which side my father-in-law Gudmund the powerful stands, for I mean to +stand by him on whichever side he stands." + +"Oh!" said Flosi, "I see by thy answer that a woman rules in this +house." + +Then Flosi stood up and bade his men take their upper clothing and +weapons, and then they fared away, and got no help there. So they fared +below Lagarfleet and over the heath to Njardwick; there two brothers +dwelt, Thorkel the allwise, and Thorwalld his brother; they were sons of +Kettle, the son of Thidrandi the wise, the son of Kettle rumble, son of +Thorir Thidrandi. The mother of Thorkel the allwise and Thorwalld was +Yngvillda, daughter of Thorkel the wise. Flosi got a hearty welcome +there; he told those brothers plainly of his errand, and asked for their +help; but they put him off until he gave three marks of silver to each +of them for their aid; then they agreed to stand by Flosi. + +Their mother Yngvillda was by when they gave their words to ride to the +Althing, and wept. Thorkel asked why she wept; and she answered-- + +"I dreamt that thy brother Thorwalld was clad in a red kirtle, and +methought it was so tight as though it were sewn on him; methought too +that he wore red hose on his legs and feet, and bad shoethongs were +twisted round them; methought it ill to see when I knew he was so +uncomfortable, but I could do naught for him." + +They laughed and told her she had lost her wits, and said her babble +should not stand in the way of their ride to the Thing. + +Flosi thanked them kindly, and fared thence to Weaponfirth and came to +Hof. There dwelt Bjarni Broddhelgi's son. Bjarni took Flosi by both +hands, and Flosi bade Bjarni money for his help. + +"Never," says Bjarni, "have I sold my manhood or help for bribes, but +now that thou art in need of help, I will do thee a good turn for +friendship's sake, and ride to the Thing with thee, and stand by thee as +I would by my brother." + +"Then thou hast thrown a great load of debt on my hands," said Flosi, +"but still I looked for as much from thee." + +Thence Flosi and his men fared to Crosswick. Thorkel Geiti's son was a +great friend of his. Flosi told him his errand, and Thorkel said it was +but his duty to stand by him in every way in his power, and not to part +from his quarrel. Thorkel gave Flosi good gifts at parting. + +Thence they fared north to Weaponfirth and up into the Fleetdale +country, and turned in as guests at Holmstein's, the son of Bersi the +wise. Flosi told him that all had backed him in his need and business +well, save Saurli Broddhelgi's son. Holmstein said the reason of that +was that he was not a man of strife. Holmstein gave Flosi good gifts. + +Flosi fared up Fleetdale, and thence south on the fell across Oxenlava +and down Swinehorndale, and so out by Alftafirth to the west, and did +not stop till he came to Thvattwater to his father-in-law Hall's house. +There he stayed half a month, and his men with him and rested him. + +Flosi asked Hall what counsel he would now give him, and what he should +do next, and whether he should change his plans. + +"My counsel," said Hall, "is this, that thou goest home to thy house, +and the sons of Sigfus with thee, but that they send men to set their +homesteads in order. But first of all fare home, and when ye ride to the +Thing, ride all together, and do not scatter your band. Then let the +sons of Sigfus go to see their wives on the way. I too will ride to the +Thing, and Ljot my son with all our Thingmen, and stand by thee with +such force as I can gather to me." + +Flosi thanked him, and Hall gave him good gifts at parting. + +Then Flosi went away from Thvattwater, and nothing is to be told of his +journey till he comes home to Swinefell. There he stayed at home the +rest of the winter, and all the summer right up to the Thing. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXIV. + +OF THORHALL AND KARI. + + +Thorhall Asgrim's son, and Kari Solmund's son, rode one day to Mossfell +to see Gizur the white; he took them with both hands, and there they +were at his house a very long while. Once it happened as they and Gizur +talked of Njal's burning, that Gizur said it was very great luck that +Kari had got away. Then a song came into Kari's mouth. + + I who whetted helmet-hewer,[74] + I who oft have burnished brand, + From the fray went all unwilling + When Njal's rooftree crackling roared; + Out I leapt when bands of spearmen + Lighted there a blaze of flame! + Listen men unto my moaning, + Mark the telling of my grief. + +Then Gizur said, "It must be forgiven thee that thou art mindful, and so +we will talk no more about it just now". + +Kari says that he will ride home; and Gizur said "I will now make a +clean breast of my counsel to thee. Thou shalt not ride home, but still +thou shalt ride away, and east under Eyjafell, to see Thorgeir Craggeir, +and Thorleif crow. They shall ride from the east with thee. They are the +next of kin in the suit, and with them shall ride Thorgrim the big, +their brother. Ye shall ride to Mord Valgard's son's house, and tell him +this message from me, that he shall take up the suit for manslaughter +for Helgi Njal's son against Flosi. But if he utters any words against +this, then shalt thou make thyself most wrathful, and make believe as +though thou wouldst let thy axe fall on his head; and in the second +place, thou shalt assure him of my wrath if he shows any ill will. Along +with that shalt thou say, that I will send and fetch away my daughter +Thorkatla, and make her come home to me; but that he will not abide, for +he loves her as the very eyes in his head." + +Kari thanked him for his counsel. Kari spoke nothing of help to him, for +he thought he would show himself his good friend in this as in other +things. + +Thence Kari rode east over the rivers, and so to Fleetlithe, and east +across Markfleet, and so on to Selialandsmull. So they ride east to +Holt. + +Thorgeir welcomed them with the greatest kindliness. He told them of +Flosi's journey, and how great help he had got in the east firths. + +Kari said it was no wonder that he, who had to answer for so much, +should ask for help for himself. + +Then Thorgeir said, "The better things go for them, the worse it shall +be for them; we will only follow them up so much the harder". + +Kari told Thorgeir of Gizur's advice. After that they ride from the east +to Rangrivervale to Mord Valgard's son's house. He gave them a hearty +welcome. Kari told him the message of Gizur his father-in-law. He was +slow to take the duty on him, and said it was harder to go to law with +Flosi than with any other ten men. + +"Thou behavest now as he [Gizur] thought," said Kari; "for thou art a +bad bargain in every way; thou art both a coward and heartless, but the +end of this shall be as is fitting, that Thorkatla shall fare home to +her father." + +She busked her at once, and said she had long been "boun" to part from +Mord. Then he changed his mood and his words quickly, and begged off +their wrath, and took the suit upon him at once. + +"Now," said Kari, "thou hast taken the suit upon thee, see that thou +pleadest it without fear, for thy life lies on it." + +Mord said he would lay his whole heart on it to do this well and +manfully. + +After that Mord summoned to him nine neighbours--they were all near +neighbours to the spot where the deed was done. Then Mord took Thorgeir +by the hand and named two witnesses to bear witness, "that Thorgeir +Thorir's son hands me over a suit for manslaughter against Flosi Thord's +son, to plead it for the slaying of Helgi Njal's son, with all those +proofs which have to follow the suit. Thou handest over to me this suit +to plead and to settle, and to enjoy all rights in it, as though I were +the rightful next of kin. Thou handest it over to me by law, and I take +it from thee by law." + +A second time Mord named his witnesses, "to bear witness," said he, +"that I give notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's +son, for that he dealt Helgi Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow +wound, which proved a death wound; and from which Helgi got his death. I +give notice of this before five witnesses"--here he named them all by +name--"I give this lawful notice, I give notice of a suit which Thorgeir +Thorir's son has handed over to me." + +Again he named witnesses to "bear witness that I give notice of a brain, +of a body, or a marrow wound against Flosi Thord's son, for that wound +which proved a death wound, but Helgi got his death therefrom on such +and such a spot, when Flosi Thord's son first rushed on Helgi Njal's son +with an assault laid down by law. I give notice of this before five +neighbours "--then he named them all by name--"I give this lawful +notice. I give notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed +over to me." + +Then Mord named his witnesses again "to bear witness," said he, "that I +summon these nine neighbours who dwell nearest the spot"--here he named +them all by name--"to ride to the Althing, and to sit on the inquest to +find whether Flosi Thord's son rushed with an assault laid down by law +on Helgi Njal's son, on that spot where Flosi Thord's son dealt Helgi +Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death +wound, and from which Helgi got his death. I call on you to utter all +those words which ye are bound to find by law, and which I shall call on +you to utter before the court, and which belong to this suit; I call +upon you by a lawful summons--I call on you so that ye may yourselves +hear--I call on you in the suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed +over to me." + +Again Mord named his witnesses, "to bear witness, that I summon these +nine neighbours who dwell nearest to the spot to ride to the Althing, +and to sit on an inquest to find whether Flosi Thord's son wounded Helgi +Njal's son with a brain, or body, or marrow wound, which proved a death +wound, and from which Helgi got his death, on that spot where Flosi +Thord's son first rushed on Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid down +by law. I call on you to utter all those words which ye are bound to +find by law, and which I shall call on you to utter before the court, +and which belong to this suit I call upon you by a lawful summons--I +call on you so that ye may yourselves hear--I call on you in the suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over to me." + +Then Mord said-- + +"Now is the suit set on foot as ye asked, and now I will pray thee, +Thorgeir Craggeir, to come to me when thou ridest to the Thing, and then +let us both ride together, each with our band, and keep as close as we +can together, for my band shall be ready by the very beginning of the +Thing, and I will be true to you in all things." + +They showed themselves well pleased at that, and this was fast bound by +oaths, that no man should sunder himself from another till Kari willed +it, and that each of them should lay down his life for the other's life. +Now they parted with friendship, and settled to meet again at the Thing. + +Now Thorgeir rides back east, but Kari rides west over the rivers till +he came to Tongue, to Asgrim's house. He welcomed them wonderfully well, +and Kari told Asgrim all Gizur the white's plan, and of the setting on +foot of the suit. + +"I looked for as much from him," says Asgrim, "that he would behave +well, and now he has shown it." + +Then Asgrim went on-- + +"What heardest thou from the east of Flosi?" + +"He went east all the way to Weaponfirth," answers Kari, "and nearly all +the chiefs have promised to ride with him to the Althing, and to help +him. They look, too, for help from the Reykdalesmen, and the men of +Lightwater, and the Axefirthers." + +Then they talked much about it, and so the time passes away up to the +Althing. + +Thorhall Asgrim's son took such a hurt in his leg that the foot above +the ankle was as big and swollen as a woman's thigh, and he could not +walk save with a staff. He was a man tall in growth, and strong and +powerful, dark of hue in hair and skin, measured and guarded in his +speech, and yet hot and hasty tempered. He was the third greatest lawyer +in all Iceland. + +Now the time comes that men should ride from home to the Thing, Asgrim +said to Kari-- + +"Thou shalt ride at the very beginning of the Thing, and fit up our +booths, and my son Thorhall with thee. Thou wilt treat him best and +kindest, as he is footlame, but we shall stand in the greatest need of +him at this Thing. With you two, twenty men more shall ride." + +After that they made ready for their journey, and then they rode to the +Thing, and set up their booths, and fitted them out well. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXV. + +OF FLOSI AND THE BURNERS. + + +Flosi rode from the east and those hundred and twenty men who had been +at the Burning with him. They rode till they came to Fleetlithe. Then +the sons of Sigfus looked after their homesteads and tarried there that +day, but at even they rode west over Thurso-water, and slept there that +night. But next morning early they saddled their horses and rode off on +their way. + +Then Flosi said to his men-- + +"Now will we ride to Tongue to Asgrim to breakfast, and trample down his +pride a little." + +They said that were well done. They rode till they had a short way to +Tongue. Asgrim stood out of doors, and some men with him. They see the +band as soon as ever they could do so from the house. Then Asgrim's men +said-- + +"There must be Thorgeir Craggeir." + +"Not he," said Asgrim. "I think so all the more because these men fare +with laughter and wantonness; but such kinsmen of Njal as Thorgeir is +would not smile before some vengeance is taken for the Burning, and I +will make another guess, and maybe ye will think that unlikely. My +meaning is, that it must be Flosi and the Burners with him, and they +must mean to humble us with insults, and we will now go indoors all of +us." + +Now they do so, and Asgrim made them sweep the house and put up the +hangings, and set the boards and put meat on them. He made them place +stools along each bench all down the room. + +Flosi rode into the "town," and bade men alight from their horses and go +in. They did so, and Flosi and his men went into the hall, Asgrim sate +on the cross-bench on the dais. Flosi looked at the benches and saw that +all was made ready that men needed to have. Asgrim gave them no +greeting, but said to Flosi-- + +"The boards are set, so that meat may be free to those that need it." + +Flosi sat down to the board, and all his men; but they laid their arms +up against the wainscot. They sat on the stools who found no room on +the benches; but four men stood with weapons just before where Flosi sat +while they ate. + +Asgrim kept his peace during the meat, but was as red to look on as +blood. + +But when they were full, some women cleared away the boards, while +others brought in water to wash their hands. Flosi was in no greater +hurry than if he had been at home. There lay a pole-axe in the corner of +the dais. Asgrim caught it up with both hands, and ran up to the rail at +the edge of the dais, and made a blow at Flosi's head. Glum Hilldir's +son happened to see what he was about to do, and sprang up at once, and +got hold of the axe above Asgrim's hands, and turned the edge at once on +Asgrim; for Glum was very strong. Then many more men ran up and seized +Asgrim, but Flosi said that no man was to do Asgrim any harm, "for we +put him to too hard a trial, and he only did what he ought, and showed +in that that he had a big heart". + +Then Flosi said to Asgrim, "Here, now, we shall part safe and sound, and +meet at the Thing, and there begin our quarrel over again". + +"So it will be," says Asgrim; "and I would wish that, ere this Thing be +over, ye should have to take in some of your sails." + +Flosi answered him never a word, and then they went out, and mounted +their horses, and rode away. They rode till they came to Laugarwater, +and were there that night; but next morning they rode on to Baitvale, +and baited their horses there, and there many bands rode to meet them. +There was Hall of the Side, and all the Eastfirthers. Flosi greeted them +well, and told them of his journeys and dealings with Asgrim. Many +praised him for that, and said such things were bravely done. + +Then Hall said, "I look on this in another way than ye do, for methinks +it was a foolish prank; they were sure to bear in mind their griefs, +even though they were not reminded of them anew; but those men who try +others so heavily must look for all evil". + +It was seen from Hall's way that he thought this deed far too strong. +They rode thence all together, till they came to the Upper Field, and +there they set their men in array, and rode down on the Thing. + +Flosi had made them fit out Byrgir's booth ere he rode to the Thing; but +the Eastfirthers rode to their own booths. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXVI. + +OF THORGEIR CRAGGEIR. + + +Thorgeir Craggeir rode from the east with much people. His brothers were +with him, Thorleif crow and Thorgrim the big. They came to Hof, to Mord +Valgard's son's house, and bided there till he was ready. Mord had +gathered every man who could bear arms, and they could see nothing about +him but that he was most steadfast in everything, and now they rode +until they came west across the rivers. Then they waited for Hjallti +Skeggi's son. He came after they had waited a short while, and they +greeted him well, and rode afterwards all together till they came to +Reykia in Bishop's-tongue, and bided there for Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, +and he came to meet them there. Then they rode west across Bridgewater. +Then Asgrim told them all that had passed between him and Flosi; and +Thorgeir said-- + +"I would that we might try their bravery ere the Thing closes." + +They rode until they came to Baitvale. There Gizur the white came to +meet them with a very great company, and they fell to talking together. +Then they rode to the Upper Field, and drew up all their men in array +there, and so rode to the Thing. + +Flosi and his men all took to their arms, and it was within an ace that +they would fall to blows. But Asgrim and his friends and their followers +would have no hand in it, and rode to their booths; and now all was +quiet that day, so that they had naught to do with one another. Thither +were come chiefs from all the Quarters of the land; there had never been +such a crowded Thing before, that men could call to mind. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXVII. + +OF EYJOLF BOLVERK'S SON. + + +There was a man named Eyjolf. He was the son of Bolverk, the son of +Eyjolf the guileful, of Otterdale. Eyjolf was a man of great rank, and +best skilled in law of all men, so that some said he was the third best +lawyer in Iceland. He was the fairest in face of all men, tall and +strong, and there was the making of a great chief in him. He was greedy +of money, like the rest of his kinsfolk. + +One day Flosi went to the booth of Bjarni Broddhelgi's son. Bjarni took +him by both hands, and sat Flosi down by his side. They talked about +many things, and at last Flosi said to Bjarni-- + +"What counsel shall we now take?" + +"I think," answered Bjarni, "that it is now hard to say what to do, but +the wisest thing seems to me to go round and ask for help, since they +are drawing strength together against you. I will also ask thee, Flosi, +whether there be any very good lawyer in your band; for now there are +but two courses left; one to ask if they will take an atonement, and +that is not a bad choice, but the other is to defend the suit at law, if +there be any defence to it, though that will seem to be a bold course; +and this is why I think this last ought to be chosen, because ye have +hitherto fared high and mightily, and it is unseemly now to take a lower +course." + +"As to thy asking about lawyers," said Flosi, "I will answer thee at +once that there is no such man in our band; nor do I know where to look +for one except it be Thorkel Geiti's son, thy kinsman." + +"We must not reckon on him," said Bjarni, "for though he knows something +of law, he is far too wary, and no man need hope to have him as his +shield; but he will back thee as well as any man who backs thee best, +for he has a stout heart; besides, I must tell thee that it will be that +man's bane who undertakes the defence in this suit for the Burning, but +I have no mind that this should befall my kinsman Thorkel, so ye must +turn your eyes elsewhither." + +Flosi said he knew nothing about who were the best lawyers. + +"There is a man named Eyjolf," said Bjarni; "he is Bolverk's son, and he +is the best lawyer in the Westfirther's Quarter; but you will need to +give him much money if you are to bring him into the suit, but still we +must not stop at that. We must also go with our arms to all law +business, and be most wary of ourselves, but not meddle with them before +we are forced to fight for our lives. And now I will go with thee, and +set out at once on our begging for help, for now methinks the peace will +be kept but a little while longer." + +After that they go out of the booth, and to the booths of the +Axefirthers. Then Bjarni talks with Lyting and Bleing, and Hroi +Arnstein's son, and he got speedily whatever he asked of them. Then they +fared to see Kol, the son of Killing-Skuti, and Eyvind Thorkel's son, +the son of Askel the priest, and asked them for their help; but they +stood out a long while, but the end of it was that they took three marks +of silver for it, and so went into the suit with them. + +Then they went to the booths of the men of Lightwater, and stayed there +some time. Flosi begged the men of Lightwater for help, but they were +stubborn and hard to win over, and then Flosi said, with much wrath, "Ye +are ill-behaved! ye are grasping and wrongful at home in your own +country, and ye will not help men at the Thing, though they need it. No +doubt you will be held up to reproach at the Thing, and very great blame +will be laid on you if ye bare not in mind that scorn and those biting +words which Skarphedinn hurled at you men of Lightwater." + +But on the other hand, Flosi dealt secretly with them, and bade them +money for their help, and so coaxed them over with fair words, until it +came about that they promised him their aid, and then became so +steadfast that they said they would fight for Flosi, if need were. + +Then Bjarni said to Flosi-- + +"Well done! well done! Thou art a mighty chief, and a bold outspoken +man, and reckest little what thou sayest to men." + +After that they fared away west across the river, and so to the +Hladbooth. They saw many men outside before the booth. There was one man +who had a scarlet cloak over his shoulders, and a gold band round his +head, and an axe studded with silver in his hand. + +"This is just right," said Bjarni, "here now is the man I spoke of, +Eyjolf Bolverk's son, if thou wilt see him, Flosi." + +Then they went to meet Eyjolf, and hailed him. Eyjolf knew Bjarni at +once, and greeted him well. Bjarni took Eyjolf by the hand, and led him +up into the "Great Rift". Flosi's and Bjarni's men followed after, and +Eyjolf's men went also with him. They bade them stay upon the lower +brink of the Rift, and look about them, but Flosi, and Bjarni, and +Eyjolf went on till they came to where the path leads down from the +upper brink of the Rift. + +Flosi said it was a good spot to sit down there, for they could see +around them far and wide. Then they sat them down there. They were four +of them together, and no more. + +Then Bjarni spoke to Eyjolf, and said-- + +"Thee, friend, have we come to see, for we much need thy help in every +way." + +"Now," said Eyjolf, "there is good choice of men here at the Thing, and +ye will not find it hard to fall on those who will be a much greater +strength to you than I can be." + +"Not so," said Bjarni, "Thou hast many things which show that there is +no greater man than thou at the Thing; first of all, that thou art so +well-born, as all those men are who are sprung from Ragnar hairybreeks; +thy forefathers, too, have always stood first in great suits, both here +at the Thing, and at home in their own country, and they have always had +the best of it; we think, therefore, it is likely that thou wilt be +lucky in winning suits, like thy kinsfolk." + +"Thou speakest well, Bjarni," said Eyjolf; "but I think that I have +small share in all this that thou sayest." + +Then Flosi said-- + +"There is no need beating about the bush as to what we have in mind. We +wish to ask for thy help, Eyjolf, and that thou wilt stand by us in our +suits, and go to the court with us, and undertake the defence, if there +be any, and plead it for us, and stand by us in all things that may +happen at this Thing." + +Eyjolf jumped up in wrath, and said that no man had any right to think +that he could make a catspaw of him, or drag him on if he had no mind to +go himself. + +"I see, too, now," he says, "what has led you to utter all those fair +words with which ye began to speak to me." + +Then Hallbjorn the strong caught hold of him and sate him down by his +side, between him and Bjarni, and said-- + +"No tree falls at the first stroke, friend, but sit here awhile by us." + +Then Flosi drew a gold ring off his arm. + +"This ring will I give thee, Eyjolf, for thy help and friendship, and so +show thee that I will not befool thee. It will be best for thee to take +the ring, for there is no man here at the Thing to whom I have ever +given such a gift." + +The ring was such a good one, and so well made, that it was worth twelve +hundred yards of russet stuff. + +Hallbjorn drew the ring on Eyjolf's arm; and Eyjolf said-- + +"It is now most fitting that I should take the ring, since thou behavest +so handsomely; and now thou mayest make up thy mind that I will +undertake the defence, and do all things needful." + +"Now," said Bjarni, "ye behave handsomely on both sides, and here are +men well fitted to be witnesses, since I and Hallbjorn are here, that +thou hast undertaken the suit." + +Then Eyjolf arose, and Flosi too, and they took one another by the hand; +and so Eyjolf undertook the whole defence of the suit off Flosi's hands, +and so, too, if any suit arose out of the defence, for it often happens +that what is a defence in one suit, is a plaintiff's plea in another. So +he took upon him all the proofs and proceedings which belonged to those +suits, whether they were to be pleaded before the Quarter Court or the +Fifth Court. Flosi handed them over in lawful form, and Eyjolf took them +in lawful form, and then he said to Flosi and Bjarni. + +"Now I have undertaken this defence just as ye asked, but my wish it is +that ye should still keep it secret at first; but if the matter comes +into the Fifth Court, then be most careful not to say that ye have given +goods for my help." + +Then Flosi went home to his booth, and Bjarni with him, but Eyjolf went +to the booth of Snorri the priest, and sate down by him, and they talked +much together. + +Snorri the priest caught hold of Eyjolf's arm, and turned up the sleeve, +and sees that he had a great ring of gold on his arm. Then Snorri the +priest said-- + +"Pray, was this ring bought or given?" + +Eyjolf was put out about it, and had never a word to say. Then Snorri +said-- + +"I see plainly that thou must have taken it as a gift, and may this ring +not be thy death!" + +Eyjolf jumped up and went away, and would not speak about it; and Snorri +said, as Eyjolf arose-- + +"It is very likely that thou wilt know what kind of gift thou hast taken +by the time this Thing is ended." + +Then Eyjolf went to his booth. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXVIII. + +OF ASGRIM, AND GIZUR, AND KARI. + + +Now Asgrim Ellidagrim's son talks to Gizur the white, and Kari Solmund's +son, and to Hjallti Skeggi's son, Mord Valgard's son, and Thorgeir +Craggeir, and says-- + +"There is no need to have any secrets here, for only those men are by +who know all our counsel. Now I will ask you if ye know anything of +their plans, for if you do, it seems to me that we must take fresh +counsel about our own plans." + +"Snorri the priest," answers Gizur the white, "sent a man to me, and +bade him tell me that Flosi had gotten great help from the Northlanders; +but that Eyjolf Bolverk's son, his kinsman, had had a gold ring given +him by some one, and made a secret of it, and Snorri said it was his +meaning that Eyjolf Bolverk's son must be meant to defend the suit at +law, and that the ring must have been given him for that." + +They were all agreed that it must be so. Then Gizur spoke to them-- + +"Now has Mord Valgard's son, my son-in-law, undertaken a suit, which all +must think most hard, to prosecute Flosi; and now my wish is that ye +share the other suits amongst you, for now it will soon be time to give +notice of the suits at the Hill of Laws. We shall need also to ask for +more help." + +Asgrim said so it should be, "but we will beg thee to go round with us +when we ask for help". Gizur said he would be ready to do that. + +After that Gizur picked out all the wisest men of their company to go +with him as his backers. There was Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Asgrim, and +Kari, and Thorgeir Craggeir. + +Then Gizur the white said-- + +"Now will we first go to the booth of Skapti Thorod's son," and they do +so. Gizur the white went first, then Hjallti, then Kari, then Asgrim, +then Thorgeir Craggeir, and then his brothers. + +They went into the booth. Skapti sat on the cross-bench on the dais, and +when he saw Gizur the white he rose up to meet him, and greeted him and +all of them well, and bade Gizur to sit down by him, and he does so. +Then Gizur said to Asgrim-- + +"Now shalt thou first raise the question of help with Skapti, but I will +throw in what I think good." + +"We are come hither," said Asgrim, "for this sake, Skapti, to seek help +and aid at thy hand." + +"I was thought to be hard to win the last time," said Skapti, "when I +would not take the burden of your trouble on me." + +"It is quite another matter now," said Gizur. "Now the feud is for +master Njal and mistress Bergthora, who were burnt in their own house +without a cause, and for Njal's three sons, and many other worthy men, +and thou wilt surely never be willing to yield no help to men, or to +stand by thy kinsmen and connections." + +"It was in my mind," answers Skapti, "when Skarphedinn told me that I +had myself borne tar on my own head, and cut up a sod of turf and crept +under it, and when he said that I had been so afraid that Thorolf Lopt's +son of Eyrar bore me abroad in his ship among his meal-sacks, and so +carried me to Iceland, that I would never share in the blood feud for +his death." + +"Now there is no need to bear such things in mind," said Gizur the +white, "for he is dead who said that, and thou wilt surely grant me +this, though thou wouldst not do it for other men's sake." + +"This quarrel," says Skapti, "is no business of thine, except thou +choosest to be entangled in it along with them." + +Then Gizur was very wrath, and said-- + +"Thou art unlike thy father, though he was thought not to be quite +clean-handed; yet was he ever helpful to men when they needed him most." + +"We are unlike in temper," said Skapti. "Ye two, Asgrim and thou, think +that ye have had the lead in mighty deeds; thou, Gizur the white, +because thou overcamest Gunnar of Lithend; but Asgrim, for that he slew +Gauk, his foster-brother." + +"Few," said Asgrim, "bring forward the better if they know the worse, +but many would say that I slew not Gauk ere I was driven to it. There is +some excuse for thee for not helping us, but none for heaping reproaches +on us; and I only wish before this Thing is out that thou mayest get +from this suit the greatest disgrace, and that there may be none to make +thy shame good." + +Then Gizur and his men stood up all of them, and went out, and so on to +the booth of Snorri the priest. + +Snorri sat on the cross-bench in his booth; they went into the booth, +and he knew the men at once, and stood up to meet them, and bade them +all welcome, and made room for them to sit by him. + +After that, they asked one another the news of the day. + +Then Asgrim spoke to Snorri, and said-- + +"For that am I and my kinsman Gizur come hither, to ask thee for thy +help." + +"Thou speakest of what thou mayest always be forgiven for asking, for +help in the blood-feud after such connections as thou hadst. We, too, +got many wholesome counsels from Njal, though few now bear that in mind; +but as yet I know not of what ye think ye stand most in need." + +"We stand most in need," answers Asgrim, "of brisk lads and good +weapons, if we fight them here at the Thing." + +"True it is," said Snorri, "that much lies on that, and it is likeliest +that ye will press them home with daring, and that they will defend +themselves so in likewise, and neither of you will allow the other's +right. Then ye will not bear with them and fall on them, and that will +be the only way left; for then they will seek to pay you off with shame +for manscathe, and with dishonour for loss of kin." + +It was easy to see that he goaded them on in everything. + +Then Gizur the white said-- + +"Thou speakest well, Snorri, and thou behavest ever most like a chief +when most lies at stake." + +"I wish to know," said Asgrim, "in what way thou wilt stand by us if +things turn out as thou sayest." + +"I will show thee those marks of friendship," said Snorri, "on which all +your honour will hang, but I will not go with you to the court. But if +ye fight here on the Thing, do not fall on them at all unless ye are all +most steadfast and dauntless, for you have great champions against you. +But if ye are over-matched, ye must let yourselves be driven hither +towards us, for I shall then have drawn up my men in array hereabouts, +and shall be ready to stand by you. But if it falls out otherwise, and +they give way before you, my meaning is that they will try to run for a +stronghold in the 'Great Rift'. But if they come thither, then ye will +never get the better of them. Now I will take that on my hands, to draw +up my men there, and guard the pass to the stronghold, but we will not +follow them whether they turn north or south along the river. And when +you have slain out of their band about as many as I think ye will be +able to pay blood-fines for, and yet keep your priesthoods and abodes, +then I will run up with all my men and part you. Then ye shall promise +to do us I bid you, and stop the battle, if I on my part do what I have +now promised." + +Gizur thanked him kindly, and said that what he had said was just what +they all needed, and then they all went out. + +"Whither shall we go now?" said Gizur. + +"To the Northlanders' booth," said Asgrim. + +Then they fared thither. + + + + +CHAPTER CXXXIX. + +OF ASGRIM AND GUDMUND. + + +And when they came into the booth then they saw where Gudmund the +powerful sate and talked with Einer Conal's son, his foster-child; he +was a wise man. + +Then they come before him, and Gudmund welcomed them very heartily, and +made them clear the booth for them, that they might all be able to sit +down. + +Then they asked what tidings, and Asgrim said-- + +"There is no need to mutter what I have to say. We wish, Gudmund, to ask +for thy steadfast help." + +"Have ye seen any other chiefs before?" said Gudmund. + +They said they had been to see Skapti Thorod's son and Snorri the +priest, and told him quietly how they had fared with each of them. + +Then Gudmund said-- + +"Last time I behaved badly and meanly to you. Then I was stubborn, but +now ye shall drive your bargain with me all the more quickly because I +was more stubborn then, and now I will go myself with you to the court +with all my Thingmen, and stand by you in all such things as I can, and +fight for you though this be needed, and lay down my life for your +lives. I will also pay Skapti out in this way, that Thorstein gapemouth +his son shall be in the battle on our side, for he will not dare to do +aught else than I will, since he has Jodisa my daughter to wife, and +then Skapti will try to part us." + +They thanked him, and talked with him long and low afterwards, so that +no other men could hear. + +Then Gudmund bade them not to go before the knees of any other chiefs, +for he said that would be little-hearted. + +"We will now run the risk with the force that we have. Ye must go with +your weapons to all law-business, but not fight as things stand." + +Then they went all of them home to their booths, and all this was at +first with few men's knowledge. + +So now the Thing goes on. + + + + +CHAPTER CXL. + +OF THE DECLARATIONS OF THE SUITS. + + +It was one day that men went to the Hill of Laws, and the chiefs were so +placed that Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Gizur the white, and Gudmund +the powerful, and Snorri the priest, were on the upper hand by the Hill +of Laws; but the Eastfirthers stood down below. + +Mord Valgard's son stood next to Gizur his father-in-law; he was of all +men the readiest-tongued. + +Gizur told him that he ought to give notice of the suit for +manslaughter, and bade him speak up, so that all might hear him well. + +Then Mord took witness and said--"I take witness to this that I give +notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's son, for +that he rushed at Helgi Njal's son and dealt him a brain, or a body, or +a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his +death. I say that in this suit he ought to be made a guilty man, an +outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or +harboured in any need. I say that all his goods are forfeited, half to +me, and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a right by law to take +his forfeited goods. I give notice of this suit for manslaughter in the +Quarter Court into which this suit ought by law to come. I give notice +of this lawful notice; I give notice in the hearing of all men on the +Hill of Laws; I give notice of this suit to be pleaded this summer, and +of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son; I give notice of a suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over to me." + +Then a great shout was uttered at the Hill of Laws, that Mord spoke well +and boldly. + +Then Mord begun to speak a second time. + +"I take you to witness to this," says he, "that I give notice of a suit +against Flosi Thord's son, I give notice for that he wounded Helgi +Njal's son with a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a +death-wound, and from which Helgi got his death on that spot where Flosi +Thord's son had first rushed on Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid +down by law. I say that thou, Flosi, ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be +helped or harboured in any need. I say that all thy goods are forfeited, +half to me and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a right by law +to take the goods which have been forfeited by thee. I give notice of +this suit in the Quarter Court into which it ought by law to come; I +give notice of this lawful notice; I give notice of it in the hearing of +all men on the Hill of Laws; I give notice of this suit to be pleaded +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son, I give +notice of the suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son hath handed over to me." + +After that Mord sat him down. + +Flosi listened carefully, but said never a word the while. + +Then Thorgeir Craggeir stood up and took witness, and said--"I take +witness to this, that I give notice of a suit against Glum Hilldir's +son, in that he took firing and lit it, and bore it to the house at +Bergthorsknoll, when they were burned inside it, to wit, Njal Thorgeir's +son, and Bergthora Skarphedinn's daughter, and all those other men who +were burned inside it there and then. I say that in this suit he ought +to be made a guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, +not to be helped or harboured in any need. I say that all his goods are +forfeited, half to me, and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a +right by law to take his forfeited goods; I give notice of this suit in +the Quarter Court into which it ought by law to come. I give notice in +the hearing of all men on the Hill of Laws. I give notice of this suit +to be pleaded this summer, and of full outlawry against Glum Hilldir's +son." + +Kari Solmund's son declared his suits against Kol Thorstein's son, and +Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, and it was the common talk +of men that he spoke wondrous well. + +Thorleif crow declared his suit against all the sons of Sigfus, but +Thorgrim the big, his brother, against Modolf Kettle's son, and Lambi +Sigurd's son, and Hroar Hamond's son, brother of Leidolf the strong. + +Asgrim Ellidagrim's son declared his suit against Leidolf and Thorstein +Geirleif's son. Arni Kol's son, and Grim the red. + +And they all spoke well. + +After that other men gave notice of their suits, and it was far on in +the day that it went on so. + +Then men fared home to their booths. + +Eyjolf Bolverk's son went to his booth with Flosi; they passed east +around the booth, and Flosi said to Eyjolf-- + +"See'st thou any defence in these suits?" + +"None," says Eyjolf. + +"What counsel is now to be taken?" says Flosi. + +"I will give thee a piece of advice," said Eyjolf. "Now thou shalt hand +over thy priesthood to thy brother Thorgeir, but declare that thou hast +joined the Thing of Askel the priest the son of Thorkettle, north away +in Reykiardale; but if they do not know this, then may be that this will +harm them, for they will be sure to plead their suit in the +Eastfirther's court, but they ought to plead it in the Northlanders' +court, and they will overlook that, and it is a Fifth Court matter +against them if they plead their suit in another court than that in +which they ought, and then we will take that suit up, but not until we +have no other choice left." + +"May be," said Flosi, "that we shall get the worth of the ring." + +"I don't know that," says Eyjolf; "but I will stand by thee at law, so +that men shall say that there never was a better defence. Now, we must +send for Askel, but Thorgeir shall come to thee at once, and a man with +him." + +A little while after Thorgeir came, and then he took on him Flosi's +leadership and priesthood. + +By that time Askel was come thither too, and then Flosi declared that he +had joined his Thing, and this was with no man's knowledge save theirs. + +Now all is quiet till the day when the courts were to go out to try +suits. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLI. + +NOW MEN GO TO THE COURTS. + + +Now the time passes away till the courts were to go out to try suits. +Both sides then made them ready to go thither, and armed them. Each side +put war-tokens on their helmets. + +Then Thorhall Asgrim's son said-- + +"Walk hastily in nothing, father mine, and do everything as lawfully and +rightly as ye can, but if ye fall into any strait let me know as quickly +as ye can, and then I will give you counsel." + +Asgrim and the others looked at him, and his face was as though it were +all blood, but great teardrops gushed out of his eyes. He bade them +bring him his spear, that had been a gift to him from Skarphedinn, and +it was the greatest treasure. + +Asgrim said as they went away-- + +"Our kinsman Thorhall was not easy in his mind as we left him behind in +the booth, and I know not what he will be at." + +Then Asgrim said again-- + +"Now we will go to Mord Valgard's son, and think of naught else but the +suit, for there is more sport in Flosi than in very many other men." + +Then Asgrim sent a man to Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and +Gudmund the powerful. Now they all came together, and went straight to +the court of Eastfirthers. They went to the court from the south, but +Flosi and all the Eastfirthers with him went to it from the north. There +were also the men of Reykdale and the Axefirthers with Flosi. There, +too, was Eyjolf Bolverk's son. Flosi looked at Eyjolf, and said-- + +"All now goes fairly, and may be that it will not be far off from thy +guess." + +"Keep thy peace about it," says Eyjolf, "and then we shall be sure to +gain our point." + +Now Mord took witness, and bade all those men who had suits of outlawry +before the court to cast lots who should first plead or declare his +suit, and who next, and who last; he bade them by a lawful bidding +before the court, so that the judges heard it. Then lots were cast as +to the declarations, and he, Mord, drew the lot to declare his suit +first. + +Now Mord Valgard's son took witness the second time, and said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I except all mistakes in words in my +pleading, whether they be too many or wrongly spoken, and I claim the +right to amend all my words until I have put them into proper lawful +shape. I take witness to myself of this." + +Again Mord said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or any other man +who has undertaken the defence made over to him by Flosi, to listen for +him to my oath, and to my declaration of my suit, and to all the proofs +and proceedings which I am about to bring forward against him; I bid him +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may hear it +across the court." + +Again Mord Valgard's son said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I take an oath on the book, a lawful +until, and I say it before God, that I will so plead this suit in the +most truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know; and +that I will bring forward all my proofs in due form, and utter them +faithfully so long as I am in this suit." + +After that he spoke in these words-- + +"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second; +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of an assault laid +down by law against Flosi Thord's son, on that spot where he, Flosi +Thord's son, rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's +son, when Flosi Thord's son, wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or a +body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be +helped or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were +forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the +right by law to take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of +the suit in the Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; +I gave notice of that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave +notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed heard it. Then +lots were cast as to the declarations, and he, Mord, drew the lot to +declare his suit first". + +Now Mord Valgard's son took witness the second time, and said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I except all mistakes in words in my +pleading, whether they be too many or wrongly spoken, and I claim the +right to amend all my words until I have put them into proper lawful +shape. I take witness to myself of this." + +Again Mord said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or any other man +who has undertaken the defence made over to him by Flosi, to listen for +him to my oath, and to my declaration of my suit, and to all the proofs +and proceedings which I am about to bring forward against him; I bid him +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may hear it +across the court." + +Again Mord Valgard's son said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I take an oath on the book, a lawful oath, +and I say it before God, that I will so plead this suit in the most +truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know; and that +I will bring forward all my proofs in due form, and utter them +faithfully so long as I am in this suit." + +After that he spoke in these words-- + +"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second; +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of an assault laid +down by law against Flosi Thord's son, on that spot where he, Flosi +Thord's son, rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's +son, when Flosi Thord's son, wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or a +body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be +helped or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were +forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the +right by law to take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of +the suit in the Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; +I gave notice of that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now +this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave +notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to me; and +I had all these words in my notice which I have now used in this +declaration of my suit. I now declare this suit of outlawry in this +shape before the court of the Eastfirthers over the head of John, as I +uttered it when I gave notice of it." + +Then Mord spoke again-- + +"I have called Thorodd as my first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second. +I have called them to bear witness that I gave notice of a suit against +Flosi Thord's son for that he wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or +a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which +Helgi got his death. I said that he ought to be made in this suit a +guilty man, an outlaw, not he fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped +or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods were forfeited, half +to me and half to the men of the Quarter who have the right by law to +take the goods which he has forfeited; I gave notice of the suit in the +Quarter Court into which the suit ought by law to come; I gave notice of +that lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill +of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now this summer, and +of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. I gave notice of a suit +which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to me; and I had all these +words in my notice which I have now used in this declaration of my suit. +I now declare this suit of outlawry in this shape before the court of +the Eastfirthers over the head of John, as I uttered it when I gave +notice of it." + +Then Mord's witnesses to the notice came before the court, and spake so +that one uttered their witness, but both confirmed it by their common +consent in this form, "I bear witness that Mord called Thorodd as his +first witness, and me as his second, and my name is Thorbjorn"--then he +named his father's name--"Mord called us two as his witnesses that he +gave notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's son +when he rushed on Helgi Njal's son, in that spot where Flosi Thord's son +dealt Helgi Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, that +proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his death. He said that +Flosi ought to be made in this suit a guilty man, an outlaw, not to be +fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or harboured by any man; he +said that all his goods were forfeited, half to himself and half to the +men of the Quarter who have the right by law to take the goods which he +had forfeited; he gave notice of the suit in the Quarter Court into +which the suit ought by law to come; he gave notice of that lawful +notice; he gave notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill of Laws; he +gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now this summer, and of full +outlawry against Flosi Thord's son. He gave notice of a suit which +Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to him. He used all those words in +his notice which he used in the declaration of his suit, and which we +have used in bearing witness; we have now borne our witness rightly and +lawfully, and we are agreed in bearing it; we bear this witness in this +shape before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John,[75] as Mord +uttered it when he gave his notice." + +A second time they bore their witness of the notice before the court, +and put the wounds first and the assault last, and used all the same +words as before, and bore their witness in this shape before the +Eastfirthers' Court just as Mord uttered them when he gave his notice. + +Then Mord's witnesses to the handing over of the suit went before the +court, and one uttered their witness, and both confirmed it by common +consent, and spoke in these words--"That those two, Mord Valgard's son +and Thorgeir Thorir's son, took them to witness that Thorgeir Thorir's +son handed over a suit for manslaughter to Mord Valgard's son against +Flosi Thord's son for the laying of Helgi Njal's son; he handed over to +him then the suit, with all the proofs and proceedings which belonged to +the suit, he handed it over to him to plead and to settle, and to make +use of all rights as though he were the rightful next of kin; Thorgeir +handed it over lawfully, and Mord took it lawfully". + +They bore this witness of the handing over of the suit in this shape +before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John, just as Mord or +Thorgeir had called them as witnesses to prove. + +They made all these witnesses swear an oath ere they bore witness, and +the judges too. + +Again Mord Valgard's son took witness. + +"I take witness to this," said he, "that I bid those nine neighbours +whom I summoned when I laid this suit against Flosi Thord's son, to take +their seats west on the river-bank, and I call on the defendant to +challenge this inquest, I call on him by a lawful bidding before the +court so that the judges may hear." + +Again Mord took witness. + +"I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or that other man +who has the defence handed over to him, to challenge the inquest which I +have caused to take their seats west on the river-bank. I bid thee by a +lawful bidding before the court so that the judges may hear." + +Again Mord took witness. + +"I take witness to this, that now are all the first steps and proofs +brought forward which belong to the suit. Summons to hear my oath, oath +taken, suit declared, witness borne to the notice, witness borne to the +handing over of the suit, the neighbours on the inquest bidden to take +their seats, and the defendant bidden to challenge the inquest. I take +this witness to these steps and proofs which are now brought forward, +and also to this that I shall not be thought to have left the suit +though I go away from the court to look up proofs, or on other +business." + +Now Flosi and his men went thither where the neighbours on the inquest +sate. + +Then Flosi said to his men-- + +"The sons of Sigfus must know best whether these are the rightful +neighbours to the spot who are here summoned." + +Kettle of the Mark answered-- + +"Here is that neighbour who held Mord at the font when he was baptised, +but another is his second cousin by kinship." + +Then they reckoned up his kinship, and proved it with an oath. + +Then Eyjolf took witness that the inquest should do nothing till it was +challenged. + +A second time Eyjolf took witness-- + +"I take witness to this," said he, "that I challenge both these men out +of the inquest, and set them aside"--here he named them by name, and +their fathers as well--"for this sake, that one of them is Mord's second +cousin by kinship, but the other for gossipry,[76] for which sake it is +lawful to challenge a neighbour on the inquest; ye two are for a lawful +reason incapable of uttering a finding, for now a lawful challenge has +overtaken you, therefore I challenge and set you aside by the rightful +custom of pleading at the Althing, and by the law of the land; I +challenge you in the cause which Flosi Thord's son has handed over to +me." + +Now all the people spoke out, and said that Mord's suit had come to +naught, and all were agreed in this that the defence was better than the +prosecution. + +Then Asgrim said to Mord-- + +"The day is not yet their own, though they think now that they have +gained a great step; but now some one shall go to see Thorhall my son, +and know what advice he gives us." + +Then a trusty messenger was sent to Thorhall, and told him as plainly as +he could how far the suit had gone, and how Flosi and his men thought +they had brought the finding of the inquest to a dead lock. + +"I will so make it out," says Thorhall, "that this shall not cause you +to lose the suit; and tell them not to believe it, though quirks and +quibbles be brought against them, for that wiseacre Eyjolf has now +overlooked something. But now thou shalt go back as quickly as thou +canst, and say that Mord Valgard's son must go before the court, and +take witness that their challenge has come to naught," and then he told +him step by step how they must proceed. + +The messenger came and told them Thorhall's advice. + +Then Mord Valgard's son went to the court and took witness. "I take +witness to this," said he, "that I make Eyjolf's challenge void and of +none effect; and my ground is, that he challenged them not for their +kinship to the true plaintiff, the next of kin, but for their kinship to +him who pleaded the suit; I take this witness to myself, and to all +those to whom this witness will be of use." + +After that he brought that witness before the court. + +Now he went whither the neighbours sate on the inquest, and bade those +to sit down again who had risen up, and said they were rightly called on +to share in the finding of the inquest. + +Then all said that Thorhall had done great things, and all thought the +prosecution better than the defence. + +Then Flosi said to Eyjolf--"Thinkest thou that this is good law?" + +"I think so, surely," he says, "and beyond a doubt we overlooked this; +but still we will have another trial of strength with them." + +Then Eyjolf took witness. "I take witness to this," said he, "that I +challenge these two men out of the inquest"--here he named them +both--"for that sake that they are lodgers, but not householders; I do +not allow you two to sit on the inquest, for now a lawful challenge has +overtaken you; I challenge you both and set you aside out of the +inquest, by the rightful custom of the Althing and by the law of the +land." + +Now Eyjolf said he was much mistaken if that could be shaken; and then +all said that the defence was better than the prosecution. + +Now all men praised Eyjolf, and said there was never a man who could +cope with him in lawcraft. + +Mord Valgard's son and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son now sent a man to +Thorhall to tell him how things stood; but when Thorhall heard that, he +asked what goods they owned, or if they were paupers? + +The messenger said that one gained his livelihood by keeping milch-kine, +and "he has both cows and ewes at his abode; but the other has a third +of the land which he and the freeholder farm, and finds his own food; +and they have one hearth between them, he and the man who lets the land, +and one shepherd". + +Then Thorhall said-- + +"They will fare now as before, for they must have made a mistake, and I +will soon upset their challenge, and this though Eyjolf had used such +big words that it was law." + +Now Thorhall told the messenger plainly, step by step, how they must +proceed; and the messenger came back and told Mord and Asgrim all the +counsel that Thorhall bad given. + +Then Mord went to the court and took witness, "I take witness to this, +that I bring to naught Eyjolf Bolverk's son's challenge, for that he has +challenged those men out of the inquest who have a lawful right to lie +there; every man has a right to sit on an inquest of neighbours, who +owns three hundreds in land or more, though he may have no dairy-stock; +and he too has the same right who lives by dairy-stock worth the same +sum, though he leases no land." + +Then he brought this witness before the court, and then he went whither +the neighbours on the inquest were, and bade them sit down, and said +they were rightfully among the inquest. + +Then there was a great shout and cry, and then all men said that Flosi's +and Eyjolf's cause was much shaken, and now men were of one mind as to +this, that the prosecution was better than the defence. + +Then Flosi said to Eyjolf-- + +"Can this be law?" + +Eyjolf said he had not wisdom enough to know that for a surety, and then +they sent a man to Skapti, the Speaker of the Law, to ask whether it +were good law, and he sent them back word that it was surely good law, +though few knew it. + +Then this was told to Flosi, and Eyjolf Bolverk's son asked the sons of +Sigfus as to the other neighbours who were summoned thither. + +They said there were four of them who were wrongly summoned; "for those +sit now at home who were nearer neighbours to the spot". + +Then Eyjolf took witness that he challenged all those four men out of +the inquest, and that he did it with lawful form of challenge. After +that he said to the neighbours-- + +"Ye are bound to render lawful justice to both sides, and now ye shall +go before the court when ye are called, and take witness that ye find +that bar to uttering your finding; that ye are but five summoned to +utter your finding, but that ye ought to be nine; and now Thorhall may +prove and carry his point in every suit, if he can cure this flaw in +this suit." + +And now it was plain in everything that Flosi and Eyjolf were very +boastful; and there was a great cry that now the suit for the Burning +was quashed, and that again the defence was better than the prosecution. + +Then Asgrim spoke to Mord-- + +"They know not yet of what to boast ere we have seen my son Thorhall. +Njal told me that he had so taught Thorhall law, that he would turn out +the best lawyer in Iceland when ever it were put to the proof." + +Then a man was sent to Thorhall to tell him how things stood, and of +Flosi's and Eyjolf's boasting, and the cry of the people that the suit +for the Burning was quashed in Mord's bands. + +"It will be well for them," says Thorhall, "if they get not disgrace +from this. Thou shalt go and tell Mord to take witness, and swear an +oath, that the greater part of the inquest is rightly summoned, and then +he shall bring that witness before the court, and then he may set the +prosecution on its feet again; but he will have to pay a fine of three +marks for every man that he has wrongly summoned; but he may not be +prosecuted for that at this Thing; and now thou shalt go back." + +He does so, and told Mord and Asgrim all, word for word, that Thorhall +had said. + +Then Mord went to the court, and took witness, and swore an oath that +the greater part of the inquest was rightly summoned, and said then that +he had set the prosecution on its feet again, and then he went on, "and +so our foes shall have honour from something else than from this, that +we have here taken a great false step". + +Then there was a great roar that Mord handled the suit well; but it was +said that Flosi and his men betook them only to quibbling and wrong. + +Flosi asked Eyjolf if this could be good law, but he said he could not +surely tell, but said the Lawman must settle this knotty point. + +Then Thorkel Geiti's son went on their behalf to tell the Lawman how +things stood, and asked whether this were good law that Mord had said. + +"More men are great lawyers now," says Skapti, "than I thought I must +tell thee, then, that this is such good law in all points, that there is +not a word to say against it; but still I thought that I alone would +know this, now that Njal was dead, for he was the only man I ever knew +who knew it." + +Then Thorkel went back to Flosi and Eyjolf, and said that this was good +law. + +Then Mord Valgard's son went to the court and took witness. "I take +witness to this," he said, "that I bid those neighbours on the inquest +in the suit which I set on foot against Flosi Thord's son now to utter +their finding, and to find it either against him or for him; I bid them +by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may bear it +across the court." + +Then the neighbours on Mord's inquest went to the court, and one uttered +their finding, but all confirmed it by their consent; and they spoke +thus, word for word-- + +"Mord Valgard's son summoned nine of us thanes on this inquest, but here +we stand five of us, but four have been challenged and set aside, and +now witness has been borne as to the absence of the four who ought to +have uttered this finding along with us, and now we are bound by law to +utter our finding. We were summoned to bear this witness, whether Flosi +Thord's son rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's +son, on that spot where Flosi Thord's son wounded Helgi Njal's son with +a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death wound, and +from which Helgi got his death. He summoned us to utter all those words +which it was lawful for us to utter, and which he should call on us to +answer before the court, and which belong to this suit; he summoned us, +so that we heard what he said; he summoned us in a suit which Thorgeir +Thorir's son had handed over to him, and now we have all sworn an oath, +and found our lawful finding, and are all agreed, and we utter our +finding against Flosi, and we say that he is truly guilty in this suit. +We nine men on this inquest of neighbours so shapen, utter this our +finding before the Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John, as Mord +summoned us to do; but this is the finding of all of us." + +Again a second time they uttered their finding against Flosi, and +uttered it first about the wounds, and last about the assault, but all +their other words they uttered just as they had before uttered their +finding against Flosi, and brought him in truly guilty in the suit. + +Then Mord Valgard's son went before the court, and took witness that +those neighbours whom he had summoned in the suit which he had set on +foot against Flosi Thord's son had now uttered their finding, and +brought him in truly guilty in the suit; he took witness to this for his +own part, or for those who might wish to make use of this witness. + +Again a second time Mord took witness and said-- + +"I take witness to this that I call on Flosi, or that man who has to +undertake the lawful defence which he has handed over to him, to begin +his defence to this suit which I have set on foot against him, for now +all the steps and proofs have been brought forward which belong by law +to this suit; all witness borne, the finding of the inquest uttered and +brought in, witness taken to the finding, and to all the steps which +have gone before; but if any such thing arises in their lawful defence +which I need to turn into a suit against them, then I claim the right to +set that suit on foot against them. I bid this my lawful bidding before +the court, so that the judges may hear." + +"It gladdens me now, Eyjolf," said Flosi, "in my heart to think what a +wry face they will make, and how their pates will tingle when thou +bringest forward our defence." + + + + +CHAPTER CXLII. + +OF EYJOLF BOLVERK'S SON. + + +Then Eyjolf Bolverk's son went before the court, and took witness to +this-- + +"I take witness that this is a lawful defence in this cause, that ye +have pleaded the suit in the Eastfirthers' Court, when ye ought to have +pleaded it in the Northlanders' Court; for Flosi has declared himself +one of the Thingmen of Askel the priest; and here now are those two +witnesses who were by, and who will bear witness that Flosi handed over +his priesthood to his brother Thorgeir, but afterwards declared himself +one of Askel the priest's Thingmen. I take witness to this for my own +part, and for those who may need to make use of it." + +Again Eyjolf took witness--"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I +bid Mord who pleads this suit, or the next of kin, to listen to my oath, +and to my declaration of the defence which I am about to bring forward; +I bid him by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may +hear me". + +Again Eyjolf took witness-- + +"I take witness to this, that I swear an oath on the book, a lawful +oath, and say it before God, that I will so defend this cause, in the +most truthful, and most just, and most lawful way, so far as I know, and +so fulfil all lawful duties which belong to me at this Thing." + +Then Eyjolf said-- + +"These two men I take to witness that I bring forward this lawful +defence that this suit was pleaded in another Quarter Court, than that +in which it ought to have been pleaded; and I say that for this sake +their suit has come to naught; I utter this defence in this shape before +the Eastfirthers' Court." + +After that he let all the witness be brought forward which belonged to +the defence, and then he took witness to all the steps in the defence to +prove that they had all been duly taken. + +After that Eyjolf again took witness and said-- + +"I take witness to this, that I forbid the judges, by a lawful protest +before the priest, to utter judgment in the suit of Mord and his +friends, for now a lawful defence has been brought before the court. I +forbid you by a protest made before a priest; by a full, fair, and +binding protest; as I have a right to forbid you by the common custom of +the Althing, and by the law of the land." + +After that he called on the judges to pronounce for the defence. + +Then Asgrim and his friends brought on the other suits for the Burning, +and those suits took their course. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLIII. + +THE COUNSEL OF THORHALL ASGRIM'S SON. + + +Now Asgrim and his friends sent a man to Thorhall, and let him be told +in what a strait they had come. + +"Too far off was I now," answers Thorhall, "for this cause might still +not have taken this turn if I had been by. I now see their course that +they must mean to summon you to the Fifth Court for contempt of the +Thing. They must also mean to divide the Eastfirthers' Court in the suit +for the Burning, so that no judgment may be given, for now they behave +so as to show that they will stay at no ill. Now shalt thou go back to +them as quickly as thou canst, and say that Mord must summon them both, +both Flosi and Eyjolf, for having brought money into the Fifth Court, +and make it a case of lesser outlawry. Then he shall summon them with a +second summons for that they have brought forward that witness which had +nothing to do with their cause, and so were guilty of contempt of the +Thing; and tell them that I say this, that if two suits for lesser +outlawry hang over one and the same man, that he shall be adjudged a +thorough outlaw at once. And for this ye must set your suits on foot +first, that then ye will first go to trial and judgment." + +Now the messenger went his way back and told Mord and Asgrim. + +After that they went to the Hill of Laws, and Mord Valgard's son took +witness. + +"I take witness to this that I summon Flosi Thord's son, for that he +gave money for his help here at the Thing to Eyjolf Bolverk's son. I say +that he ought on this charge to be made a guilty outlaw, for this sake +alone to be forwarded or to be allowed the right of frithstow +[sanctuary], if his fine and bail are brought forward at the execution +levied on his house and goods, but else to become a thorough outlaw. I +say all his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the +Quarter who have the right by law to take his goods after he has been +outlawed. I summon this cause before the Fifth Court, whither the cause +ought to come by law; I summon it to be pleaded now and to full +outlawry. I summon with a lawful summons. I summon in the hearing of all +men at the Hill of Laws." + +With a like summons he summoned Eyjolf Bolverk's son, for that he had +taken and received the money, and he summoned him for that sake to the +Fifth Court. + +Again a second time he summoned Flosi and Eyjolf, for that sake that +they had brought forward that witness at the Thing which had nothing +lawfully to do with the cause of the parties, and had so been guilty of +contempt of the Thing; and he laid the penalty for that at lesser +outlawry. + +Then they went away to the Court of Laws, there the Fifth Court was then +set. + +Now when Mord and Asgrim had gone away, then the judges in the +Eastfirthers' Court could not agree how they should give judgment, for +some of them wished to give judgment for Flosi, but some for Mord and +Asgrim. Then Flosi and Eyjolf tried to divide the court, and there they +stayed, and lost time over that while the summoning at the Hill of Laws +was going on. A little while after Flosi and Eyjolf were told that they +had been summoned at the Hill of Laws into the Fifth Court, each of them +with two summons. Then Eyjolf said-- + +"In an evil hour have we loitered here while they have been before us in +quickness of summoning. Now hath come out Thorhall's cunning, and no man +is his match in wit. Now they have the first right to plead their cause +before the court, and that was everything for them; but still we will go +to the Hill of Laws, and set our suit on foot against them, though that +will now stand us in little stead." + +Then they fared to the Hill of Laws, and Eyjolf summoned them for +contempt of the Thing. + +After that they went to the Fifth Court. + +Now we must say that when Mord and Asgrim came to the Fifth Court, Mord +took witness and bade them listen to his oath and the declaration of +his suit, and to all those proofs and steps which he meant to bring +forward against Flosi and Eyjolf. He bade them by a lawful bidding +before the court, so that the judges could hear him across the court. + +In the Fifth Court vouchers had to follow the oaths of the parties, and +they had to take an oath after them. + +Mord took witness. + +"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I take a Fifth Court oath. I +pray God so to help me in this light and in the next, as I shall plead +this suit as I know to be most truthful, and just, and lawful. I believe +with all my heart that Flosi is truly guilty in this suit, if I may +bring forward my proofs; and I have not brought money into this court in +this suit, and I will not bring it. I have not taken money, and I will +not take it, neither for a lawful nor for an unlawful end." + +The men who were Mord's vouchers then went two of them before the court, +and took witness to this-- + +"We take witness that we take an oath on the book, a lawful oath; we +pray God so to help us two in this light and in the next, as we lay it +on our honour that we believe with all our hearts that Mord will so +plead this suit as he knows to be most truthful, and most just, and most +lawful, and that he hath not brought money into this court in this suit +to help himself, and that he will not offer it, and that he hath not +taken money, nor will he take it, either for a lawful or unlawful end." + +Mord had summoned nine neighbours who lived next to the Thingfield on +the inquest in the suit, and then Mord took witness, and declared those +four suits which he had set on foot against Flosi and Eyjolf; and Mord +used all those words in his declaration that he had used in his summons. +He declared his suits for outlawry in the same shape before the Fifth +Court as he had uttered them when he summoned the defendants. + +Mord took witness, and bade those nine neighbours on the inquest to take +their seats west on the river-bank. + +Mord took witness again, and bade Flosi and Eyjolf to challenge the +inquest. + +They went up to challenge the inquest, and looked narrowly at them, but +could get none of them set aside; then they went away as things stood, +and were very ill pleased with their case. + +Then Mord took witness, and bade those nine neighbours whom he had +before called on the inquest, to utter their finding, and to bring it in +either for or against Flosi. + +Then the neighbours on Mord's inquest came before the court, and one +uttered the finding, but all the rest confirmed it by their consent. +They had all taken the Fifth Court oath, and they brought in Flosi as +truly guilty in the suit, and brought in their finding against him. They +brought it in in such a shape before the Fifth Court over the head of +the same man over whose head Mord had already declared his suit. After +that they brought in all those findings which they were bound to bring +in in all the other suits, and all was done in lawful form. + +Eyjolf Bolverk's son and Flosi watched to find a flaw in the +proceedings, but could get nothing done. + +Then Mord Valgard's son took witness. "I take witness," said he, "to +this, that these nine neighbours whom I called on these suits which I +have had hanging over the heads of Flosi Thord's son, and Eyjolf +Bolverk's son, have now uttered their finding, and have brought them in +truly guilty in these suits." + +He took this witness for his own part. + +Again Mord took witness. + +"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or +that other man who has taken his lawful defence in hand, now to begin +their defence; for now all the steps and proofs have been brought +forward in the suit, summons to listen to oaths, oaths taken, suit +declared, witness taken to the summons, neighbours called on to take +their seats on the inquest, defendant called on to challenge the +inquest, finding uttered, witness taken to the finding." + +He took this witness to all the steps that had been taken in the suit. + +Then that man stood up over whose head the suit had been declared and +pleaded, and summed up the case. He summed up first how Mord had bade +them listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the suit, and to all +the steps and proofs in it; then he summed up next how Mord took his +oath and his vouchers theirs; then he summed up how Mord pleaded his +suit, and used the very words in his summing up that Mord had before +used in declaring and pleading his suit, and which he had used in his +summons, and he said that the suit came before the Fifth Court in the +same shape as it was when he uttered it at the summoning. Then he summed +up that men had borne witness to the summoning, and repeated all those +words that Mord had used in his summons, and which they had used in +bearing their witness, "and which I now," he said, "have used in my +summing up, and they bore their witness in the same shape before the +Fifth Court as he uttered them at the summoning". After that he summed +up that Mord bade the neighbours on the inquest to take their seats, +then he told next of all how he bade Flosi to challenge the inquest, or +that man who had undertaken this lawful defence for him; then he told +how the neighbours went to the court, and uttered their finding, and +brought in Flosi truly guilty in the suit, and how they brought in the +finding of an inquest of nine men in that shape before the Fifth Court. +Then he summed up how Mord took witness to all the steps in the suit, +and how he had bidden the defendant to begin his defence. + +After that Mord Valgard's son took witness. "I take witness," he said, +"to this, that I forbid Flosi Thord's son, or that other man who has +undertaken the lawful defence for him, to set up his defence; for now +are all the steps taken which belong to the suit, when the case has been +summed up and the proofs repeated." + +After that the foreman added these words of Mord to his summing up. + +Then Mord took witness, and prayed the judges to give judgment in this +suit. + +Then Gizur the white said, "Thou wilt have to do more yet, Mord, for +four twelves can have no right to pass judgment." + +Now Flosi said to Eyjolf, "What counsel is to be taken now?" + +Then Eyjolf said, "Now we must make the best of a bad business; but +still, we will bide our time, for now I guess that they will make a +false step in their suit, for Mord prayed for judgment at once in the +suit, but they ought to call and set aside six men out of the court, and +after that they ought to offer us to call and set aside six other men, +but we will not do that, for then they ought to call and set aside those +six men, and they will perhaps overlook that; then all their case has +come to naught if they do not do that, for three twelves have to judge +in every cause". + +"Thou art a wise man, Eyjolf," said Flosi, "so that few can come nigh +thee." + +Mord Valgard's son took witness. + +"I take witness," he said, "to this, that I call and set aside these six +men out of the court"--and named them all by name--"I do not allow you +to sit in the court; I call you out and set you aside by the rightful +custom of the Althing, and the law of the land." + +After that he offered Eyjolf and Flosi, before witnesses, to call out by +name and set aside other six men, but Flosi and Eyjolf would not call +them out. + +Then Mord made them pass judgment in the cause; but when the judgment +was given, Eyjolf took witness, and said that all their judgment had +come to naught, and also everything else that had been done, and his +ground was that three twelves and one half had judged, when three only +ought to have given judgment. + +"And now we will follow up our suits before the Fifth Court," said +Eyjolf, "and make them outlaws." + +Then Gizur the white said to Mord Valgard's son-- + +"Thou hast made a very great mistake in taking such a false step, and +this is great ill-luck; but what counsel shall we now take, kinsman +Asgrim?" says Gizur. + +Then Asgrim said--"Now we will send a man to my son Thorhall, and know +what counsel he will give us". + + + + +CHAPTER CXLIV. + +BATTLE AT THE ALTHING. + + +Now Snorri the priest hears how the causes stood, and then he begins to +draw up his men in array below the "Great Rift," between it and +Hadbooth, and laid down beforehand to his men how they were to behave. + +Now the messenger comes to Thorhall Asgrim's son, and tells him how +things stood, and how Mord Valgard's son and his friends would all be +made outlaws, and the suits for manslaughter be brought to naught. + +But when he heard that, he was so shocked at it that he could not utter +a word. He jumped up then from his bed, and clutched with both hands his +spear, Skarphedinn's gift, and drove it through his foot; then flesh +clung to the spear, and the eye of the boil too, for he had cut it +clean out of the foot, but a torrent of blood and matter poured out, so +that it fell in a stream along the floor. Now he went out of the booth +unhalting, and walked so hard that the messenger could not keep up with +him, and so he goes until he came to the Fifth Court. There he met Grim +the red, Flosi's kinsman, and as soon as ever they met, Thorhall thrust +at him with the spear, and smote him on the shield and clove it in +twain, but the spear passed right through him, so that the point came +out between his shoulders. Thorhall cast him off his spear. + +Then Kari Solmund's son caught sight of that, and said to Asgrim-- + +"Here, now, is come Thorhall thy son, and has straightway slain a man, +and this is a great shame, if he alone shall have the heart to avenge +the Burning." + +"That shall not be," says Asgrim, "but let us turn on them now." + +Then there was a mighty cry all over the host, and then they shouted +their war-cries. + +Flosi and his friends then turned against their foes, and both sides +egged on their men fast. + +Kari Solmund's son turned now thither where Arni Kol's son and Hallbjorn +the strong were in front, and as soon as ever Hallbjorn saw Kari, he +made a blow at him, and aimed at his leg, but Kari leapt up into the +air, and Hallbjorn missed him. Kari turned on Arni Kol's son and cut at +him, and smote him on the shoulder, and cut asunder the shoulder blade +and collar bone, and the blow went right down into his breast, and Arni +fell down dead at once to earth. + +After that he hewed at Hallbjorn and caught him on the shield, and the +blow passed through the shield, and so down and cut off his great toe. +Holmstein hurled a spear at Kari, but he caught it in the air, and sent +it back, and it was a man's death in Flosi's band. + +Thorgeir Craggeir came up to where Hallbjorn the strong was in front, +and Thorgeir made such a spear-thrust at him with his left hand that +Hallbjorn fell before it, and had hard work to get on his feet again, +and turned away from the fight there and then. Then Thorgeir met +Thorwalld Kettle rumble's son, and hewed at him at once with the axe, +"the ogress of war," which Skarphedinn had owned. Thorwalld threw his +shield before him, and Thorgeir hewed the shield and cleft it from top +to bottom, but the upper horn of the axe made its way into his breast, +and passed into his trunk, and Thorwalld fell and was dead at once. + +Now it must be told how Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Thorhall his son, +Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Gizur the white, made an onslaught where Flosi +and the sons of Sigfus, and the other Burners were; then there was a +very hard fight, and the end of it was that they pressed on so hard, +that Flosi and his men gave way before them. Gudmund the powerful, and +Mord Valgard's son, and Thorgeir Craggeir, made their onslaught where +the Axefirthers and Eastfirthers, and the men of Reykdale stood, and +there too there was a very hard fight. + +Kari Solmund's son came up where Bjarni Broddhelgi's son had the lead. +Kari caught up a spear and thrust at him, and the blow fell on his +shield. Bjarni slipped the shield on one side of him, else it had gone +straight through him. Then he cut at Kari and aimed at his leg, but Kari +drew back his leg and turned short round on his heel, and Bjarni missed +him. Kari cut at once at him, and then a man ran forward and threw his +shield before Bjarni. Kari cleft the shield in twain, and the point of +the sword caught his thigh, and ripped up the whole leg down to the +ankle. That man fell there and then, and was ever after a cripple so +long as he lived. + +Then Kari clutched his spear with both hands, and turned on Bjarni and +thrust at him; he saw he had no other chance but to throw himself down +side-long away from the blow, but as soon as ever Bjarni found his feet, +away he fell back out of the fight. + +Thorgeir Craggeir and Gizur the white fell on there where Holmstein the +son of Bersi the wise, and Thorkel Geiti's son were leaders, and the end +of the struggle was, that Holmstein and Thorkel gave way, and then arose +a mighty hooting after them from the men of Gudmund the powerful. + +Thorwalld Tjorfi's son of Lightwater got a great wound; he was shot in +the forearm, and men thought that Halldor Gudmund the powerful's son had +hurled the spear, but he bore that wound about with him all his life +long, and got no atonement for it. + +Now there was a mighty throng. But though we hear tell of some of the +deeds that were done, still there are far many more of which men have +handed down no stories. + +Flosi had told them that they should make for the stronghold in the +Great Rift if they were worsted, "for there," said he, "they will only +be able to attack us on one side". But the band which Hall of the Side +and his son Ljot led, had fallen away out of the fight before the +onslaught of that father and son, Asgrim and Thorhall. They turned down +east of Axewater, and Hall said-- + +"This is a sad state of things when the whole host of men at the Thing +fight, and I would, kinsman Ljot, that we begged us help even though +that be brought against us by some men, and that we part them. Thou +shalt wait for me at the foot of the bridge, and I will go to the booths +and beg for help." + +"If I see," said Ljot, "that Flosi and his men need help from our men, +then I will at once run up and aid them." + +"Thou wilt do in that as thou pleasest," says Hall, "but I pray thee to +wait for me here." + +Now flight breaks out in Flosi's band, and they all fly west across +Axewater; but Asgrim and Gizur the white went after them and all their +host. Flosi and his men turned down between the river and the Outwork +booth. Snorri the priest had drawn up his men there in array, so thick +that they could not pass that way, and Snorri the priest called out then +to Flosi-- + +"Why are ye in such haste, or who chase you?" + +"Thou askest not this," answered Flosi, "because thou dost not know it +already; but whose fault is it that we cannot get to the stronghold in +the Great Rift?" + +"It is not my fault," says Snorri, "but it is quite true that I know +whose fault it is, and I will tell thee if thou wilt; it is the fault of +Thorwalld cropbeard and Kol." + +They were both then dead, but they had been the worst men in all Flosi's +band. + +Again Snorri said to his men-- + +"Now do both, cut at them and thrust at them, and drive them away hence, +they will then hold out but a short while here, if the others attack +them from below; but then ye shall not go after them, but let both sides +shift for themselves." + +The son of Skapti Thorod's son was Thorstein gapemouth, as was written +before, he was in the battle with Gudmund the powerful, his +father-in-law, and as soon as Skapti knew that, he went to the booth of +Snorri the priest, and meant to beg for help to part them; but just +before he had got as far as the door of Snorri's booth, there the battle +was hottest of all. Asgrim and his friends and his men were just coming +up thither, and then Thorhall said to his father Asgrim-- + +"See there now is Skapti Thorod's son, father." + +"I see him, kinsman," said Asgrim, and then he shot a spear at Skapti, +and struck him just below where the calf was fattest, and so through +both his legs. Skapti fell at the blow, and could not get up again, and +the only counsel they could take who were by, was to drag Skapti flat on +his face into the booth of a turf-cutter. + +Then Asgrim and his men came up so fast that Flosi and his men gave way +before them south along the river to the booths of the men of Modruvale. +There there was a man outside one booth whose name was Solvi; he was +boiling broth in a great kettle, and had just then taken the meat out, +and the broth was boiling as hotly as it could. + +Solvi cast his eyes on the Eastfirthers us they fled, and they were then +just over against him, and then he said--"Can all these cowards who fly +here be Eastfirthers, and yet Thorkel Geiti's son, he ran by as fast as +any one of them, and very great lies have been told about him when men +say that he is all heart, but now no one ran faster than he". + +Hallbjorn the strong was near by them, and said-- + +"Thou shalt not have it to say that we are all cowards." + +And with that he caught hold of him, and lifted him up aloft, and thrust +him head down into the broth-kettle. Solvi died at once; but then a rush +was made at Hallbjorn himself, and he had to turn and fly. + +Flosi threw a spear at Bruni Haflidi's son, and caught him at the waist, +and that was his bane; he was one of Gudmund the powerful's band. + +Thorstein Hlenni's son took the spear out of the wound, and hurled it +back at Flosi, and hit him on the leg, and he got a great wound and +fell; he rose up again at once. + +Then they passed on to the Waterfirther's booth, and then Hall and Ljot +came from the east across the river, with all their band; but just when +they came to the lava, a spear was hurled out of the band of Gudmund the +powerful, and it struck Ljot in the middle, and he fell down dead at +once; and it was never known surely who had done that manslaughter. + +Flosi and his men turned up round the Waterfirther's booth, and then +Thorgeir Craggeir said to Kari Solmund's son-- + +"Look, yonder now is Eyjolf Bolverk's son, if thou hast a mind to pay +him off for the ring." + +"That I ween is not far from my mind," says Kari, and snatched a spear +from a man, and hurled it at Eyjolf, and it struck him in the waist, and +went through him, and Eyjolf then fell dead to earth. + +Then there was a little lull in the battle, and then Snorri the priest +came up with his band, and Skapti was there in his company, and they ran +in between them, and so they could not get at one another to fight. + +Then Hall threw in his people with theirs, and was for parting them +there and then, and so a truce was set, and was to be kept throughout +the Thing, and then the bodies were laid out and borne to the church, +and the wounds of those men were bound up who were hurt. + +The day after men went to the Hill of Laws. Then Hall of the Side stood +up and asked for a hearing, and got it at once; and he spoke thus-- + +"Here there have been hard happenings in lawsuits and loss of life at +the Thing, and now I will show again that I am little-hearted, for I +will now ask Asgrim and the others who take the lead in these suits, +that they grant us an atonement on even terms;" and so he goes on with +many fair words. + +Kari Solmund's son said-- + +"Though all others take an atonement in their quarrels, yet will I take +no atonement in my quarrel; for ye will wish to weigh these manslayings +against the Burning, and we cannot bear that." + +In the same way spoke Thorgeir Craggeir. + +Then Skapti Thorod's son stood up and said-- + +"Better had it been for thee, Kari, not to have run away from thy +father-in-law and thy brothers-in-law, than now to sneak out of this +atonement." + +Then Kari sang these verses-- + + Warrior wight that weapon wieldest + Spare thy speering why we fled, + Oft for less falls hail of battle, + Forth we fled to wreak revenge; + Who was he, faint-hearted foeman, + Who, when tongues of steel sung high, + Stole beneath the booth for shelter, + While his beard blushed red for shame? + + Many fetters Skapti fettered + When the men, the Gods of fight, + From the fray fared all unwilling + Where the skald scarce held his shield; + Then the suttlers dragged the lawyer + Stout in scolding to their booth, + Laid him low amongst the riffraff, + How his heart then quaked for fear. + + Men who skim the main on sea stag + Well in this ye showed your sense, + Making game about the Burning, + Mocking Helgi, Grim, and Njal; + Now the moor round rocky Swinestye,[77] + As men run and shake their shields, + With another grunt shall rattle + When this Thing is past and gone. + +Then there was great laughter. Snorri the priest smiled, and sang this +between his teeth, but so that many heard-- + + Skill hath Skapti us to tell + Whether Asgrim's shaft flew well; + Holmstein hurried swift to flight, + Thorstein turned him soon to fight. + +Now men burst out in great fits of laughter. + +Then Hall of the Side said-- + +"All men know what a grief I have suffered in the loss of my son Ljot; +many will think that he would be valued dearest of all those men who +have fallen here; but I will do this for the sake of an atonement--I +will put no price on my son, and yet will come forward and grant both +pledges and peace to those who are my adversaries. I beg thee, Snorri +the priest, and other of the best men, to bring this about, that there +may be an atonement between us." + +Now he sits him down, and a great hum in his favour followed, and all +praised his gentleness and good-will. + +Then Snorri the priest stood up and made a long and clever speech, and +begged Asgrim and the others who took the lead in the quarrel to look +towards an atonement. + +Then Asgrim said-- + +"I made up my mind when Flosi made an inroad on my house that I would +never be atoned with him; but now Snorri the priest, I will take an +atonement from him for thy word's sake and other of our friends." + +In the same way spoke Thorleif crow and Thorgrim the big, that they were +willing to be atoned, and they urged in every way their brother Thorgeir +Craggeir to take an atonement also; but he hung back, and says he would +never part from Kari. + +Then Gizur the white said-- + +"Now Flosi must see that he must make his choice, whether he will be +atoned on the understanding that some will be out of the atonement." + +Flosi says he will take that atonement; "and methinks it is so much the +better," he says, "that I have fewer good men and true against me". + +Then Gudmund the powerful said-- + +"I will offer to hansel peace on my behalf for the slayings that have +happened here at the Thing, on the understanding that the suit for the +Burning is not to fall to the ground." + +In the same way spoke Gizur the white and Hjallti Skeggi's son, Asgrim +Ellidagrim's son and Mord Valgard's son. + +In this way the atonement came about, and then hands were shaken on it, +and twelve men were to utter the award; and Snorri the priest was the +chief man in the award, and others with him. Then the manslaughters were +set off the one against the other, and those men who were over and above +were paid for in fines. They also made an award in the suit about the +Burning. + +Njal was to be atoned for with a triple fine, and Bergthora with two. +The slaying of Skarphedinn was to be set off against that of Hauskuld +the Whiteness priest. Both Grim and Helgi were to be paid for with +double fines; and one full man-fine should be paid for each of those who +had been burnt in the house. + +No atonement was taken for the slaying of Thord Kari's son. + +It was also in the award that Flosi and all the Burners should go abroad +into banishment, and none of them was to sail the same summer unless he +chose; but if he did not sail abroad by the time that three winters were +spent, then he and all the Burners were to become thorough outlaws. And +it was also said that their outlawry might be proclaimed either at the +Harvest-Thing or Spring-Thing, whichever men chose; and Flosi was to +stay abroad three winters. + +As for Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son. Glum Hilldir's son, +and Kol Thorstein's son, they were never to be allowed to come back. + +Then Flosi was asked if he would wish to have a price put upon his +wound, but he said he would not take bribes for his hurt. + +Eyjolf Bolverk's son had no fine awarded for him, for his unfairness and +wrongfulness. + +And now the settlement and atonement was handselled, and was well kept +afterwards. + +Asgrim and his friends gave Snorri the priest good gifts, and he had +great honour from these suits. + +Skapti got a fine for his hurt. + +Gizur the white, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, +asked Gudmund the powerful to come and see them at home. He accepted the +bidding, and each of them gave him a gold ring. + +Now Gudmund rides home north, and had praise from every man for the part +he had taken in these quarrels. + +Thorgeir Craggeir asked Kari to go along with him, but yet first of all +they rode with Gudmund right up to the fells north. Kari gave Gudmund a +golden brooch, but Thorgeir gave him a silver belt, and each was the +greatest treasure. So they parted with the utmost friendship, and +Gudmund is out of this story. + +Kari and Thorgeir rode south from the fell, and down to the Rapes,[78] +and so to Thurso-water. + +Flosi, and the Burners along with him, rode east to Fleetlithe, and he +allowed the sons of Sigfus to settle their affairs at home. Then Flosi +heard that Thorgeir and Kari had ridden north with Gudmund the powerful, +and so the Burners thought that Kari and his friend must mean to stay in +the north country; and then the sons of Sigfus asked leave to go east +under Eyjafell to get in their money, for they had money out on call at +Headbrink. Flosi gave them leave to do that, but still bade them be ware +of themselves, and be as short a time about it as they could. + +Then Flosi rode up by Godaland, and so north of Eyjafell Jokul, and did +not draw bridle before he came home east to Swinefell. + +Now it must be said that Hall of the Side had suffered his son to fall +without a fine, and did that for the sake of an atonement, but then the +whole host of men at the Thing agreed to pay a fine for him, and the +money so paid was not less than eight hundred in silver, but that was +four times the price of a man; but all the others who had been with +Flosi got no fines paid for their hurts, and were very ill pleased at +it. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLV. + +OF KARI AND THORGEIR. + + +Those two, Kari Solmund's and Thorgeir Craggeir, rode that day east +across Markfleet, and so on east to Selialandsmull. They found there +some women. The wives knew them, and said to them-- + +"Ye two are less wanton than the sons of Sigfus yonder, but still ye +fare unwarily." + +"Why do ye talk thus of the sons of Sigfus, or what do ye know about +them?" + +"They were last night," they said, "at Raufarfell, and meant to get to +Myrdale to-night, but still we thought they must have some fear of you, +for they asked when he would be likely to come home." + +Then Kari and Thorgeir went on their way and spurred their horses. + +"What shall we lay down for ourselves to do now," said Thorgeir, "or +what is most to thy mind? Wilt thou that we ride on their track?" + +"I will not hinder this," answers Kari, "nor will I say what ought to be +done, for it may often be that those live Long who are slain with words +alone;[79] but I well know what thou meanest to take on thyself, thou +must mean to take on thy hands eight men, and after all that is less +than it was when thou slewest those seven in the sea-crags,[80] and let +thyself down by a rope to get at them; but it is the way with all you +kinsmen, that ye always wish to be doing some famous feat, and now I can +do no less than stand by thee and have my share in the story. So now we +two alone will ride after them, for I see that thou hast so made up thy +mind." + +After that they rode east by the upper way, and did not pass by Holt, +for Thorgeir would not that any blame should be laid at his brother's +door for what might be done. + +Then they rode east to Myrdale, and there they met a man who had +turf-panniers on his horse. He began to speak thus-- + +"Too few men, messmate Thorgeir, hast thou now in thy company." + +"How is that?" says Thorgeir. + +"Why," said the other, "because the prey is now before thy hand. The +sons of Sigfus rode by a while ago, and mean to sleep the whole day east +in Carlinedale, for they mean to go no farther to-night than to +Headbrink." + +After that they rode on their way east on Arnstacks heath, and there is +nothing to be told of their journey before they came to +Carlinedale-water. + +The stream was high, and now they rode up along the river, for they saw +their horses with saddles. They rode now thitherward, and saw that there +were men asleep in a dell and their spears were standing upright in the +ground a little below them. They took the spears from them, and threw +them into the river. + +Then Thorgeir said-- + +"Wilt thou that we wake them?" + +"Thou hast not asked this," answers Kari, "because thou hast not already +made up thy mind not to fall on sleeping men, and so to slay a shameful +manslaughter." + +After that they shouted to them, and then they all awoke and grasped at +their arms. + +They did not fall on them till they were armed. + +Thorgeir Craggeir runs thither where Thorkel Sigfus' son stood, and just +then a man ran behind his back, but before he could do Thorgeir any +hurt, Thorgeir lifted the axe, "the ogress of war," with both hands, and +dashed the hammer of the axe with a back-blow into the head of him that +stood behind him, so that his skull was shattered to small bits. + +"Slain is this one," said Thorgeir; and down the man fell at once, and +was dead. + +But when he dashed the axe forward, he smote Thorkel on the shoulder, +and hewed it off, arm and all. + +Against Kari came Mord Sigfus' son, and Sigmund Sigfus' son, and Lambi +Sigurd's son; the last ran behind Kari's back, and thrust at him with a +spear; Kari caught sight of him, and leapt up as the blow fell, and +stretched his legs far apart, and so the blow spent itself on the +ground, but Kari jumped down on the spear-shaft, and snapped it in +sunder. He had a spear in one hand, and a sword in the other, but no +shield. He thrust with the right hand at Sigmund Sigfus' son, and smote +him on his breast, and the spear came out between his shoulders, and +down he fell and was dead at once. With his left hand he made a cut at +Mord, and smote him on the hip, and cut it asunder, and his backbone +too; he fell flat on his lace, and was dead at once. + +After that he turned sharp round on his heel like a whipping-top, and +made at Lambi Sigurd's son, but he took the only way to save himself, +and that was by running away as hard as he could. + +Now Thorgeir turns against Leidolf the strong, and each hewed at the +other at the same moment, and Leidolf's blow was so great that it shore +off that part of the shield on which it fell. + +Thorgeir had hewn with "the ogress of war," holding it with both hands, +and the lower horn fell on the shield and clove it in twain, but the +upper caught the collar bone and cut it in two, and tore on down into +the breast and trunk. Kari came up just then, and cut off Leidolf's leg +at mid-thigh, and then Leidolf fell and died at once. + +Kettle of the Mark said--"We will now run for our horses, for we cannot +hold our own here, for the overbearing strength of these men". + +Then they ran for their horses, and leapt on their backs; and Thorgeir +said-- + +"Wilt thou that we chase them? if so, we shall yet slay some of them." + +"He rides last," says Kari, "whom I would not wish to slay, and that is +Kettle of the Mark, for we have two sisters to wife; and besides, he has +behaved best of all of them as yet in our quarrels." + +Then they got on their horses, and rode till they came home to Holt. +Then Thorgeir made his brothers fare away east to Skoga, for they had +another farm there, and because Thorgeir would not that his brothers +should be called truce-breakers. + +Then Thorgeir kept many men there about him, so that there were never +fewer than thirty fighting men there. + +Then there was great joy there, and men thought Thorgeir had grown much +greater, and pushed himself on; both he and Kari too. Men long kept in +mind this hunting of theirs, how they two rode upon fifteen men and slew +those five, but put those ten to flight who got away. + +Now it is to be told of Kettle, that they rode as they best might till +they came home to Swinefell, and told how bad their journey had been. + +Flosi said it was only what was to be looked for; "and this is a warning +that ye should never do the like again". + +Flosi was the merriest of men, and the best of hosts, and it is so said +that he had most of the chieftain in him of all the men of his time. + +He was at home that summer, and the winter too. + +But that winter, after Yule, Hall of the Side came from the east, and +Kol his son. Flosi was glad at his coming, and they often talked about +the matter of the Burning. Flosi said they had already paid a great +fine, and Hall said it was pretty much what he had guessed would come of +Flosi's and his friends' quarrel. Then he asked him what counsel he +thought best to be taken, and Hall answers-- + +"The counsel I give is, that thou beest atoned with Thorgeir if there be +a choice, and yet he will be hard to bring to take any atonement." + +"Thinkest thou that the manslaughters will then be brought to an end?" +asks Flosi. + +"I do not think so," says Hall; "but you will have to do with fewer foes +if Kari be left alone; but if thou art not atoned with Thorgeir, then +that will be thy bane." + +"What atonement shall we offer him?" asks Flosi. + +"You will all think that atonement hard," says Hall, "which he will +take, for he will not hear of an atonement unless he be not called on to +pay any fine for what he has just done, but he will have fines for Njal +and his sons, so far as his third share goes." + +"That is a hard atonement," says Flosi. + +"For thee at least," says Hall, "that atonement is not hard, for thou +hast not the blood-feud after the sons of Sigfus; their brothers have +the blood-feud, and Hamond the halt after his son; but thou shalt now +get an atonement from Thorgeir, for I will now ride to his house with +thee, and Thorgeir will in anywise receive me well; but no man of those +who are in this quarrel will dare to sit in his house on Fleetlithe if +they are out of the atonement, for that will be their bane; and, indeed, +with Thorgeir's turn of mind, it is only what must be looked for." + +Now the sons of Sigfus were sent for, and they brought this business +before them; and the end of their speech was, on the persuasion of Hall, +that they all thought what he said right, and were ready to be atoned. + +Grani Gunnar's son and Gunnar Lambi's son said-- + +"It will be in our power, if Kari be left alone behind, to take care +that he be not less afraid of us than we of him." + +"Easier said than done," says Hall, "and ye will find it a dear bargain +to deal with him. Ye will have to pay a heavy fine before you have done +with him." + +After that they ceased speaking about it. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLVI. + +THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT WITH THORGEIR CRAGGEIR. + + +Hall of the Side and his son Kol, seven of them in all, rode west over +Loomnip's Sand, and so west over Arnstacksheath, and did not draw bridle +till they came into Myrdale. There they asked whether Thorgeir would be +at home at Holt, and they were told that they would find him at home. + +The men asked whither Hall meant to go. + +"Thither to Holt," he said. + +They said they were sure he went on a good errand. + +He stayed there some while and baited their horses, and after that they +mounted their horses and rode to Solheim about even, and they were there +that night, but the day-after they rode to Holt. + +Thorgeir was out of doors, and Kari too, and their men, for they had +seen Hall's coming. He rode in a blue cape, and had a little axe studded +with silver in his hand; but when they came into the "town," Thorgeir +went to meet him, and helped him off his horse, and both he and Kari +kissed him and led him in between them into the sitting-room, and sate +him down in the high seat on the dais, and they asked him tidings about +many things. + +He was there that night. Next morning Hall raised the question of the +atonement with Thorgeir, and told him what terms they offered him; and +he spoke about them with many fair and kindly words. + +"It may be well known to thee," answers Thorgeir, "that I said I would +take no atonement from the Burners." + +"That was quite another matter then," says Hall; "ye were then wroth +with fight, and, besides, ye have done great deeds in the way of +manslaying since." + +"I daresay ye think so," says Thorgeir, "but what atonement do ye offer +to Kari?" + +"A fitting atonement shall be offered him," says Hall, "if he will take +it." + +Then Kari said-- + +"I pray this of thee, Thorgeir, that thou wilt be atoned, for thy lot +cannot be better than good." + +"Methinks," says Thorgeir, "it is ill done to take an atonement, and +sunder myself from thee, unless thou takest the same atonement as I." + +"I will not take any atonement," says Kari, "but yet I say that we have +avenged the Burning; but my son, I say, is still unavenged, and I mean +to take that on myself alone, and see what I can get done." + +But Thorgeir would take no atonement before Kari said that he would take +it ill if he were not atoned. Then Thorgeir handselled a truce to Flosi +and his men, as a step to a meeting for atonement; but Hall did the same +on behalf of Flosi and the sons of Sigfus. + +But ere they parted, Thorgeir gave Hall a gold ring and a scarlet cloak, +but Kari gave him a silver brooch, and there were hung to it four +crosses of gold. Hall thanked them kindly for their gifts, and rode away +with the greatest honour. He did not draw bridle till he came to +Swinefell, and Flosi gave him a hearty welcome. Hall told Flosi all +about his errand and the talk he had with Thorgeir, and also that +Thorgeir would not take the atonement till Kari told him he would +quarrel with him if he did not take it; but that Kari would take no +atonement. + +"There are few men like Kari," said Flosi, "and I would that my mind +were shapen altogether like his." + +Hall and Kol stayed there some while, and afterwards they rode west at +the time agreed on to the meeting for atonement, and met at Headbrink, +as had been settled between them. + +Then Thorgeir came to meet them from the west, and then they talked over +their atonement, and all went off as Hall had said. + +Before the atonement, Thorgeir said that Kari should still have the +right to be at his house all the same if he chose. + +"And neither side shall do the others any harm at my house; and I will +not have the trouble of gathering in the fines from each of the Burners; +but my will is that Flosi alone shall be answerable for them to me, but +he must get them in from his followers. My will also is that all that +award which was made at the Thing about the Burning shall be kept and +held to; and my will also is, Flosi, that thou payest me up my third +share in unclipped coin." + +Flosi went quickly into all these terms. + +Thorgeir neither gave up the banishment nor the outlawry. + +Now Flosi and Hall rode home east, and then Hall said to Flosi-- + +"Keep this atonement well, son-in-law, both as to going abroad and the +pilgrimage to Rome,[81] and the fines, and then thou wilt be thought a +brave man, though thou hast stumbled into this misdeed, if thou +fulfillest handsomely all that belongs to it." + +Flosi said it should be so. + +Now Hall rode home east, but Flosi rode home to Swinefell, and was at +home afterwards. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLVII. + +KARI COMES TO BJORN'S HOUSE IN THE MARK. + + +Thorgeir Craggeir rode home from the peace-meeting, and Kari asked +whether the atonement had come about. Thorgeir said that they now fully +atoned. + +Then Kari took his horse and was for riding away. + +"Thou hast no need to ride away," says Thorgeir, "for it was laid down +in our atonement that thou shouldst be here as before if thou chosest." + +"It shall not be so, cousin, for as soon as ever I slay a man they will +be sure to say that thou wert in the plot with me, and I will not have +that; but I wish this, that thou wouldst let me hand over in trust to +thee my goods, and the estates of me and my wife Helga Njal's daughter, +and my three daughters, and then they will not be seized by those +adversaries of mine." + +Thorgeir agreed to what Kari wished to ask of him, and then Thorgeir had +Kari's goods handed over to him in trust. + +After that Kari rode away. He had two horses and his weapons and outer +clothing, and some ready money in gold and silver. + +Now Kari rode west by Selialandsmull and up along Markfleet, and so on +up into Thorsmark. There there are three farms all called "Mark". At the +midmost farm dwelt that man whose name was Bjorn, and his surname was +Bjorn the white; he was the son of Kadal, the son of Bjalfi. Bjalfi had +been the freedman of Asgerda, the mother of Njal and Holt-Thorir; Bjorn +had to wife Valgerda, she was the daughter of Thorbrand, the son of +Asbrand. Her mother's name was Gudlauga, she was a sister of Hamond, the +father of Gunnar of Lithend; she was given away to Bjorn for his money's +sake, and she did not love him much, but yet they had children together, +and they had enough and to spare in the house. + +Bjorn was a man who was always boasting and praising himself, but his +housewife thought that bad. He was sharpsighted and swift of foot. + +Thither Kari turned in as a guest, and they took him by both hands, and +he was there that night. But the next morning Kari said to Bjorn-- + +"I wish thou wouldst take me in, for I should think myself well housed +here with thee. I would too that thou shouldst be with me in my +journeyings, as thou art a sharpsighted, swift-footed man, and besides I +think thou wouldst be dauntless in an onslaught." + +"I can't blame myself," says Bjorn, "for wanting either sharp sight, or +dash, or any other bravery; but no doubt thou camest hither because all +thy other earths are stopped. Still, at thy prayer, Kari, I will not +look on thee as an everyday man; I will surely help thee in all that +thou askest." + +"The trolls take thy boasting and bragging," said his housewife, "and +thou shouldst not utter such stuff and silliness to any one than +thyself. As for me, I will willingly give Kari meat and other good +things, which I know will be useful to him; but on Bjorn's hardihood, +Kari, thou shalt not trust, for I am afraid that thou wilt find it quite +otherwise than he says." + +"Often hast thou thrown blame upon me," said Bjorn, "but for all that I +put so much faith in myself that though I am put to the trial I will +never give way to any man; and the best proof of it is this, that few +try a tussle with me because none dare to do so." + +Kari was there some while in hiding, and few men knew of it. + +Now men think that Kari must have ridden to the north country to see +Gudmund the powerful, for Kari made Bjorn tell his neighbours that he +had met Kari on the beaten track, and that he rode thence up into +Godaland, and so north to Goose-sand, and then north to Gudmund the +powerful at Modruvale. + +So that story was spread over all the country. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLVIII. + +OF FLOSI AND THE BURNERS. + + +Now Flosi spoke to the Burners, his companions-- + +"It will no longer serve our turn to sit still, for now we shall have to +think of our going abroad and of our fines, and of fulfilling our +atonement as bravely as we can, and let us take a passage wherever it +seems most likely to get one." + +They bade him see to all that. Then Flosi said-- + +"We will ride east to Hornfirth; for there that ship is laid up, which +is owned by Eyjolf nosy, a man from Drontheim, but he wants to take to +him a wife here, and he will not get the match made unless he settles +himself down here. We will buy the ship of him, for we shall have many +men and little freight. The ship is big and will take us all." + +Then they ceased talking of it. + +But a little after they rode east, and did not stop before they came +east to Bjornness in Hornfirth, and there they found Eyjolf, for he had +been there as a guest that winter. + +There Flosi and his men had a hearty welcome, and they were there the +night. Next morning Flosi dealt with the captain for the ship, but he +said he would not be hard to sell the ship if he could get what he +wanted for her. Flosi asked him in what coin he wished to be paid for +her; the Easterling says he wanted land for her near where he then was. + +Then Eyjolf told Flosi all about his dealings with his host, and Flosi +says he will pull an oar with him, so that his marriage bargain might be +struck, and buy the ship of him afterwards. The Easterling was glad at +that. Flosi offered him land at Borgarhaven, and now the Easterling +holds on with his suit to his host when Flosi was by, and Flosi threw in +a helping word, so that the bargain was brought about between them. + +Flosi made over the land at Borgarhaven to the Easterling, but shook +hands on the bargain for the ship. He got also from the Easterling +twenty hundreds in wares, and that was also in their bargain for the +land. + +Now Flosi rode back home. He was so beloved by his men that their wares +stood free to him to take either on loan or gift, just as he chose. + +He rode home to Swinefell, and was at home a while. + +Then Flosi sent Kol Thorstein's son and Gunnar Lambi's son east to +Hornfirth. They were to be there by the ship, and to fit her out, and +set up booths, and sack the wares, and get all things together that were +needful. + +Now we must tell of the sons of Sigfus how they say to Flosi that they +will ride west to Fleetlithe to set their houses in order, and get wares +thence, and such other things as they needed. "Kari is not there now to +be guarded against," they say, "if he is in the north country as is +said." + +"I know not," answers Flosi, "as to such stories, whether there be any +truth in what is said of Kari's journeyings; methinks, we have often +been wrong in believing things which are nearer to learn than this. My +counsel is that ye go many of you together, and part as little as ye +can, and be as wary of yourselves as ye may. Thou, too, Kettle of the +Mark, shalt bear in mind that dream which I told thee, and which thou +prayedst me to hide; for many are those in thy company who were then +called." + +"All must come to pass as to man's life," said Kettle, "as it is +foredoomed; but good go with thee for thy warning." + +Now they spoke no more about it. + +After that the sons of Sigfus busked them and those men with them who +were meant to go with them. They were eight in all, and then they rode +away, and ere they went they kissed Flosi, and he bade them farewell, +and said he and some of those who rode away would not see each other +more. But they would not let themselves be hindered. They rode now on +their way, and Flosi said that they should take his wares in Middleland, +and carry them east, and do the same in Landsbreach and Woodcombe. + +After that they rode to Skaptartongue, and so on the fell, and north of +Eyjafell Jokul, and down into Godaland, and so down into the woods in +Thorsmark. + +Bjorn of the Mark caught sight of them coming, and went at once to meet +them. + +Then they greeted each other well, and the sons of Sigfus asked after +Kari Solmund's son. + +"I met Kari," said Bjorn, "and that is now very long since; he rode +hence north on Goose-sand, and meant to go to Gudmund the powerful, and +methought if he were here now, he would stand in awe of you, for he +seemed to be left all alone." + +Grani Gunnar's son said-- + +"He shall stand more in awe of us yet before we have done with him, and +he shall learn that as soon as ever he comes within spearthrow of us; +but as for us, we do not fear him at all, now that he is all alone." + +Kettle of the Mark bade them be still, and bring out no big words. + +Bjorn asked when they would be coming back. + +"We shall stay near a week in Fleetlithe," said they; and so they told +him when they should be riding back on the fell. + +With that they parted. + +Now the sons of Sigfus rode to their homes, and their households were +glad to see them. They were there near a week. + +Now Bjorn comes home and sees Kari, and told him all about the doings of +the sons of Sigfus, and their purpose. + +Kari said he had shown in this great faithfulness to him, and Bjorn +said-- + +"I should have thought there was more risk of any other man's failing in +that than of me if I had pledged my help or care to any one." + +"Ah," said his mistress, "but you may still be bad and yet not be so bad +as to be a traitor to thy master." + +Kari stayed there six nights after that. + + + + +CHAPTER CXLIX. + +OF KARI AND BJORN. + + +Now Kari talks to Bjorn and says-- + +"We shall ride east across the fell and down into Skaptartongue, and +fare stealthily over Flosi's country, for I have it in my mind to get +myself carried abroad east in Alftafirth." + +"This is a very riskful journey," said Bjorn, "and few would have the +heart to take it save thou and I." + +"If thou backest Kari ill," said his housewife, "know this, that thou +shalt never come afterwards into my bed, and my kinsmen shall share our +goods between us." + +"It is likelier, mistress," said he, "that thou wilt have to look out +for something else than this if thou hast a mind to part from me; for I +will bear my own witness to myself what a champion and daredevil I am +when weapons clash." + +Now they rode that day east on the fell to the north of the Jokul, but +never on the highway, and so down into Skaptartongue, and above all the +homesteads to Skaptarwater, and led their horses into a dell, but they +themselves were on the look-out, and had so placed themselves that they +could not be seen. + +Then Kari said to Bjorn-- + +"What shall we do now if they ride down upon us here from the fell?" + +"Are there not but two things to be done," said Bjorn; "one to ride away +from them north under the crags, and so let them ride by us, or to wait +and see if any of them lag behind, and then to fall on them." + +They talked much about this, and one while Bjorn was for flying as fast +as he could in every word he spoke, and at another for staying and +fighting it out with them, and Kari thought this the greatest sport. + +The sons of Sigfus rode from their homes the same day that they had +named to Bjorn. They came to the Mark and knocked at the door there, and +wanted to see Bjorn; but his mistress went to the door and greeted them. +They asked at once for Bjorn, and she said he had ridden away down under +Eyjafell, and so east under Selialandsmull, and on east to Holt, "for he +has some money to call in thereabouts," she said. + +They believed this, for they knew that Bjorn had money out at call +there. + +After that they rode east on the fell, and did not stop before they came +to Skaptartongue, and so rode down along Skaptarwater, and baited their +horses just where Kari had thought they would. Then they split their +band. Kettle of the Mark rode east into Middleland, and eight men with +him, but the others laid them down to sleep, and were not ware of aught +until Kari and Bjorn came up to them. A little ness ran out there into +the river; into it Kari went and took his stand, and bade Bjorn stand +back to back with him, and not to put himself too forward, "but give me +all the help thou canst". + +"Well," says Bjorn, "I never had it in my head that any man should stand +before me as a shield, but still as things are thou must have thy way; +but for all that, with my gift of wit and my swiftness I may be of some +use to thee, and not harmless to our foes." + +Now they all rose up and ran at them, and Modolf Kettle's son was +quickest of them, and thrust at Kari with his spear. Kari had his shield +before him, and the blow fell on it, and the spear stuck fast in the +shield. Then Kari twists the shield so smartly, that the spear snapped +short off, and then he drew his sword and smote at Modolf; but Modolf +made a cut at him too, and Kari's sword fell on Modolf's hilt, and +glanced off it on to Modolph's wrist, and took the arm off, and down it +fell, and the sword too. Then Kari's sword passed on into Modolf's side, +and between his ribs, and so Modolf fell down and was dead on the spot. + +Grani Gunnar's son snatched up a spear and hurled it at Kari, but Kari +thrust down his shield so hard that the point stood fast in the ground, +but with his left hand he caught the spear in the air, and hurled it +back at Grani, and caught up his shield again at once with his left +hand. Grani had his shield before him, and the spear came on the shield +and passed right through it, and into Grani's thigh just below the small +guts, and through the limb, and so on, pinning him to the ground, and he +could not get rid of the spear before his fellows drew him off it, and +carried him away on their shields, and laid him down in a dell. + +There was a man who ran up to Kari's side, and meant to cut off his leg, +but Bjorn cut off that man's arm, and sprang back again behind Kari, and +they could not do him any hurt. Kari made a sweep at that same man with +his sword, and cut him asunder at the waist. + +Then Lambi Sigfus' son rushed at Kari, and hewed at him with his sword. +Kari caught the blow sideways on his shield, and the sword would not +bite; then Kari thrust at Lambi with his sword just below the breast, so +that the point came out between his shoulders, and that was his +death-blow. + +Then Thorstein Geirleif's son rushed at Kari, and thought to take him in +flank, but Kari caught sight of him, and swept at him with his sword +across the shoulders, so that the man was cleft asunder at the chine. + +A little while after he gave Gunnar of Skal, a good man and true, his +death-blow. As for Bjorn, he had wounded three men who had tried to give +Kari wounds, and yet he was never so far forward that he was in the +least danger, nor was he wounded, nor was either of those companions +hurt in that fight, but all those that got away were wounded. + +Then they ran for their horses, and galloped them off across +Skaptarwater as hard as they could; and they were so scared that they +stopped at no house, nor did they dare to stay and tell the tidings +anywhere. + +Kari and Bjorn hooted and shouted after them as they galloped off. So +they rode east to Woodcombe, and did not draw bridle till they came to +Swinefell. + +Flosi was not at home when they came thither, and that was why no hue +and cry was made thence after Kari. + +This journey of theirs was thought most shameful by all men. + +Kari rode to Skal, and gave notice of these manslayings as done by his +hand; there, too, he told them of the death of their master and five +others, and of Grani's wound, and said it would be better to bear him to +the house if he were to live. + +Bjorn said he could not bear to slay him, though he said he was worthy +of death; but those who answered him said they were sure few had bitten +the dust before him. But Bjorn told them he had it now in his power to +make as many of the Sidemen as he chose bite the dust; to which they +said it was a bad look out. + +Then Kari and Bjorn ride away from the house. + + + + +CHAPTER CL. + +MORE OF KARI AND BJORN. + + +Then Kari asked Bjorn-- + +"What counsel shall we take now? Now I will try what thy wit is worth." + +"Dost thou think now," answered Bjorn, "that much lies on our being as +wise as ever we can?" + +"Ay," said Kari, "I think so surely." + +"Then our counsel is soon taken," says Bjorn. "We will cheat them all as +though they were giants; and now we will make as though we were riding +north on the fell, but as soon as ever we are out of sight behind the +brae, we will turn down along Skaptarwater, and hide us there where we +think handiest, so long as the hue and cry is hottest, if they ride +after us." + +"So will we do," said Kari; "and this I had meant to do all along." + +"And so you may put it to the proof," said Bjorn, "that I am no more of +an everyday body in wit than I am in bravery." + +Now Kari and his companion rode as they had purposed down along +Skaptarwater, till they came where a branch of the stream ran away to +the south-east; then they turned down along the middle branch, and did +not draw bridle till they came into Middleland, and on that moor which +is called Kringlemire; it has a stream of lava all around it. + +Then Kari said to Bjorn that he must watch their horses, and keep a good +look-out; "but as for me," he says, "I am heavy with sleep". + +So Bjorn watched the horses, but Kari lay him down, and slept but a very +short while ere Bjorn waked him up again, and he had already led their +horses together, and they were by their side. Then Bjorn said to Kari-- + +"Thou standest in much need of me, though! A man might easily have run +away from thee if he had not been as brave-hearted as I am; for now thy +foes are riding upon thee, and so thou must up and be doing." + +Then Kari went away under a jutting crag, and Bjorn said-- + +"Where shall I stand now?" + +"Well!" answers Kari, "now there are two choices before thee; one is, +that thou standest at my back and have my shield to cover thyself with, +if it can be of any use to thee; and the other is, to get on thy horse +and ride away as fast as thou canst." + +"Nay," says Bjorn, "I will not do that, and there are many things +against it; first of all, may be, if I ride away, some spiteful tongues +might begin to say that I ran away from thee for faintheartedness; and +another thing is, that I well know what game they will think there is in +me, and so they will ride after me, two or three of them, and then I +should be of no use or help to thee after all. No! I will rather stand +by thee and keep them off so long as it is fated." + +Then they had not long to wait ere horses with pack-saddles were driven +by them over the moor, and with them went three men. + +Then Kari said-- + +"These men see us not." + +"Then let us suffer them to ride on," said Bjorn. + +So those three rode on past them; but the six others then came riding +right up to them, and they all leapt off their horses straightway in a +body, and turned on Kari and his companion. + +First, Glum Hilldir's son rushed at them, and thrust at Kari with a +spear; Kari turned short round on his heel, and Glum missed him, and the +blow fell against the rock. Bjorn sees that, and hewed at once the head +off Glum's spear. Kari leant on one side and smote at Glum with his +sword, and the blow fell on his thigh, and took off the limb high up in +the thigh, and Glum died at once. + +Then Vebrand and Asbrand the sons of Thorbrand ran up to Kari, but Kari +flew at Vebrand and thrust his sword through him, but afterwards he +hewed off both of Asbrand's feet from under him. + +In this bout both Kari and Bjorn were wounded. + +Then Kettle of the Mark rushed at Kari, and thrust at him with his +spear. Kari threw up his leg, and the spear stuck in the ground, and +Kari leapt on the spear-shaft, and snapped it in sunder. + +Then Kari grasped Kettle in his arms, and Bjorn ran up just then, and +wanted to slay him, but Kari said-- + +"Be still now. I will give Kettle peace; for though it may be that +Kettle's life is in my power, still I will never slay him." + +Kettle answers never a word, but rode away after his companions, and +told those the tidings who did not know them already. + +They told also these tidings to the men of the Hundred, and they +gathered together at once a great force of armed men, and went +straightway up all the water-courses, and so far up on the fell that +they were three days in the chase; but after that they turned back to +their own homes, but Kettle and his companions rode east to Swinefell, +and told the tidings there. + +Flosi was little stirred at what had befallen them, but said no one +could tell whether things would stop there, "for there is no man like +Kari of all that are now left in Iceland". + + + + +CHAPTER CLI. + +OF KARI AND BJORN AND THORGEIR. + + +Now we must tell of Bjorn and Kari that they ride down on the Sand, and +lead their horses under the banks where the wild oats grew, and cut the +oats for them, that they might not die of hunger. Kari made such a near +guess, that he rode away thence at the very time that they gave over +seeking for him. He rode by night up through the Hundred, and after that +he took to the fell; and so on all the same way as they had followed +when they rode east, and did not stop till they came to Midmark. + +Then Bjorn said to Kari-- + +"Now shalt thou be my great friend before my mistress, for she will +never believe one word of what I say; but everything lies on what you +do, so now repay me for the good following which I have yielded to +thee." + +"So it shall be; never fear," says Kari. + +After that they ride up to the homestead, and then the mistress asked +them what tidings, and greeted them well. + +"Our troubles have rather grown greater, old lass!" + +She answered little, and laughed; and then the mistress went on to ask-- + +"How did Bjorn behave to thee, Kari?" + +"Bare is back," he answers, "without brother behind it, and Bjorn +behaved well to me. He wounded three men, and, besides, he is wounded +himself, and he stuck as close to me as he could in everything." + +They were three nights there, and after that they rode to Holt to +Thorgeir, and told him alone these tidings, for those tidings had not +yet been heard there. + +Thorgeir thanked him, and it was quite plain that he was glad at what he +heard. He asked Kari what now was undone which he meant to do. + +"I mean," answers Kari, "to kill Gunnar Lambi's son and Kol Thorstein's +son, if I can get a chance. Then we have slain fifteen men, reckoning +those five whom we two slew together. But one boon I will now ask of +thee." + +Thorgeir said he would grant him whatever he asked. + +"I wish, then, that thou wilt take under thy safeguard this man whose +name is Bjorn, and who has been in these slayings with me, and that thou +wilt change farms with him, and give him a farm ready stocked here close +by thee, and so hold thy hand over him that no vengeance may befall him; +but all this will be an easy matter for thee who art such a chief." + +"So it shall be," says Thorgeir. + +Then he gave Bjorn a ready-stocked farm at Asolfskal, but he took the +farm in the Mark into his own hands. Thorgeir flitted all Bjorn's +household stuff and goods to Asolfskal, and all his live stock; and +Thorgeir settled all Bjorn's quarrels for him, and he was reconciled to +them with a full atonement. So Bjorn was thought to be much more of a +man than he had been before. + +Then Kari rode away, and did not draw rein till he came west to Tongue +to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. He gave Kari a most hearty welcome, and Kari +told him of all the tidings that had happened in these slayings. + +Asgrim was well pleased at them, and asked what Kari meant to do next. + +"I mean," said Kari, "to fare abroad after them, and so dog their +footsteps and slay them, if I can get at them." + +Asgrim said there was no man like him for bravery and hardihood. + +He was there some nights, and after that he rode to Gizur the white, and +he took him by both hands. Kari stayed there some while, and then he +told Gizur that he wished to ride down to Eyrar. + +Gizur gave Kari a good sword at parting. + +Now he rode down to Eyrar, and took him a passage with Kolbein the +black; he was an Orkneyman and an old friend of Kari, and he was the +most forward and brisk of men. + +He took Kari by both hands, and said that one fate should befall both of +them. + + + + +CHAPTER CLII. + +FLOSI GOES ABROAD. + + +Now Flosi rides east to Hornfirth, and most of the men in his Thing +followed him, and bore his wares east, as well as all his stores and +baggage which he had to take with him. + +After that they busked them for their voyage, and fitted out their ship. + +Now Flosi stayed by the ship until they were "boun". But as soon as ever +they got a fair wind they put out to sea. They had a long passage and +hard weather. + +Then they quite lost their reckoning, and sailed on and on, and all at +once three great waves broke over their ship, one after the other. Then +Flosi said they must be near some land, and that this was a +ground-swell. A great mist was on them, but the wind rose so that a +great gale overtook them, and they scarce knew where they were before +they were dashed on shore at dead of night, and the men were saved, but +the ship was dashed all to pieces, and they could not save their goods. + +Then they had to look for shelter and warmth for themselves, and the day +after they went up on a height. The weather was then good. + +Flosi asked if any man knew this land, and there were two men of their +crew who had fared thither before, and said they were quite sure they +knew it, and, say they-- + +"We are come to Hrossey in the Orkneys." + +"Then we might have made a better landing," said Flosi, "for Grim and +Helgi, Njal's sons, whom I slew, were both of them of Earl Sigurd +Hlodver's son's bodyguard." + +Then they sought for a hiding-place, and spread moss over themselves, +and so lay for a while, but not for long, ere Flosi spoke and said-- + +"We will not lie here any longer until the landsmen are ware of us." + +Then they arose, and took counsel, and then Flosi said to his men-- + +"We will go all of us and give ourselves up to the Earl; for there is +naught else to do, and the Earl has our lives at his pleasure if he +chooses to seek for them." + +Then they all went away thence, and Flosi said that they must tell no +man any tidings of their voyage, or what manner of men they were, before +he told them to the Earl. + +Then they walked on until they met men who showed them to the town, and +then they went in before the Earl, and Flosi and all the others hailed +him. + +The Earl asked what men they might be, and Flosi told his name, and said +out of what part of Iceland he was. + +The Earl had already heard of the Burning, and so he knew the men at +once, and then the Earl asked Flosi--"What hast thou to tell me about +Helgi Njal's son, my henchman?" + +"This," said Flosi, "that I hewed off his head." + +"Take them all," said the Earl. + +Then that was done, and just then in came Thorstein, son of Hall of the +Side. Flosi had to wife Steinvora, Thorstein's sister. Thorstein was one +of Earl Sigurd's bodyguard, but when he saw Flosi seized and held, he +went in before the Earl, and offered for Flosi all the goods he had. + +The Earl was very wroth a long time, but at last the end of it was, by +the prayer of good men and true, joined to those of Thorstein, for he +was well backed by friends, and many threw in their word with his, that +the Earl took an atonement from them, and gave Flosi and all the rest of +them peace. The Earl held to that custom of mighty men that Flosi took +that place in his service which Helgi Njal's son had filled. + +So Flosi was made Earl Sigurd's henchman, and he soon won his way to +great love with the Earl. + + + + +CHAPTER CLIII. + +KARI GOES ABROAD. + + +Those messmates Kari and Kolbein the black put out to sea from Eyrar +half a month later than Flosi and his companions from Hornfirth. + +They got a fine fair wind, and were but a short time out. The first land +they made was the Fair Isle; it lies between Shetland and the Orkneys. +There that man whose name was David the white took Kari into his house, +and he told him all that he had heard for certain about the doings of +the Burners. He was one of Kari's greatest friends, and Kari stayed +with him for the winter. + +There they heard tidings from the west out of the Orkneys of all that +was done there. + +Earl Sigurd bade to his feast at Yule Earl Gilli, his brother-in-law, +out of the Southern Isles; he had to wife Swanlauga, Earl Sigurd's +sister; and then too came to see Earl Sigurd that king from Ireland +whose name was Sigtrygg. He was a son of Olaf rattle, but his mother's +name was Kormlada; she was the fairest of all women, and best gifted in +everything that was not in her own power, but it was the talk of men +that she did all things ill over which she had any power. + +Brian was the name of the king who first had her to wife, but they were +then parted. He was the best-natured of all kings. He had his seat in +Connaught, in Ireland; his brother's name was Wolf the quarrelsome, the +greatest champion and warrior; Brian's foster-child's name was +Kerthialfad. He was the son of King Kylfi, who had many wars with King +Brian, and fled away out of the land before him, and became a hermit; +but when King Brian went south on a pilgrimage, then he met King Kylfi, +and then they were atoned, and King Brian took his son Kerthialfad to +him, and loved him more than his own sons. He was then full grown when +these things happened, and was the boldest of all men. + +Duncan was the name of the first of King Brian's sons; the second was +Margad; the third, Takt, whom we call Tann, he was the youngest of them; +but the elder sons of King Brian were full grown, and the briskest of +men. + +Kormlada was not the mother of King Brian's children, and so grim was +she against King Brian after their parting, that she would gladly have +him dead. + +King Brian thrice forgave all his outlaws the same fault, but if they +misbehaved themselves oftener, then he let them be judged by the law; +and from this one may mark what a king he must have been. + +Kormlada egged on her son Sigtrygg very much to kill King Brian, and she +now sent him to Earl Sigurd to beg for help. + +King Sigtrygg came before Yule to the Orkneys, and there, too, came Earl +Gilli, as was written before. + +The men were so placed that King Sigtrygg sat in a high seat in the +middle, but on either side of the king sat one of the earls. The men of +King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli sate on the inner side away from him, but +on the outer side away from Earl Sigurd, sate Flosi and Thorstein, son +of Hall of the Side, and the whole hall was full. + +Now King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli wished to hear of these tidings which +had happened at the Burning, and so, also, what had befallen since. + +Then Gunnar Lambi's son was got to tell the tale, and a stool was set +for him to sit upon. + + + + +CHAPTER CLIV. + +GUNNAR LAMBI'S SON'S SLAYING. + + +Just at that very time Kari and Kolbein and David the white came to +Hrossey unawares to all men. They went straightway up on land, but a few +men watched their ship. + +Kari and his fellows went straight to the Earl's homestead, and came to +the hall about drinking time. + +It so happened that just then Gunnar was telling the story of the +Burning, but they were listening to him meanwhile outside. This was on +Yule-day itself. + +Now King Sigtrygg asked-- + +"How did Skarphedinn bear the Burning?" + +"Well at first for a long time," said Gunnar, "but still the end of it +was that he wept." And so he went on giving an unfair leaning in his +story, but every now and then he laughed out loud. + +Kari could not stand this, and then he ran in with his sword drawn, and +sang this song-- + + Men of might, in battle eager, + Boast of burning Njal's abode, + Have the Princes heard how sturdy + Seahorse racers sought revenge? + Hath not since, on foemen holding + High the shield's broad orb aloft, + All that wrong been fully wroken? + Raw flesh ravens got to tear. + +So he ran in up the hall, and smote Gunnar Lambi's son on the neck with +such a sharp blow, that his head spun off on to the board before the +king and the earls, and the board was all one gore of blood, and the +Earl's clothing too. + +Earl Sigurd knew the man that had done the deed, and called out-- + +"Seize Kari and kill him." + +Kari had been one of Earl Sigurd's bodyguard, and he was of all men most +beloved by his friends; and no man stood up a whit more for the Earl's +speech. + +"Many would say, Lord," said Kari, "that I have done this deed on your +behalf, to avenge your henchman." + +Then Flosi said--"Kari hath not done this without a cause; he is in no +atonement with us, and he only did what he had a right to do". + +So Kari walked away, and there was no hue and cry after him. Kari fared +to his ship, and his fellows with him. The weather was then good, and +they sailed off at once south to Caithness, and went on shore at +Thraswick to the house of a worthy man whose name was Skeggi, and with +him they stayed a very long while. + +Those behind in the Orkneys cleansed the board, and bore out the dead +man. + +The Earl was told that they had set sail south for Scotland, and King +Sigtrygg said-- + +"This was a mighty bold fellow, who dealt his stroke so stoutly, and +never thought twice about it!" + +Then Earl Sigurd answered-- + +"There is no man like Kari for dash and daring." + +Now Flosi undertook to tell the story of the Burning, and he was fair to +all; and therefore what he said was believed. + +Then King Sigtrygg stirred in his business with Earl Sigurd, and bade +him go to the war with him against King Brian. + +The Earl was long steadfast, but the end of it was that he let the king +have his way, but said he must have his mother's hand for his help, and +be king in Ireland, if they slew Brian. But all his men besought Earl +Sigurd not to go into the war, but it was all no good. + +So they parted on the understanding that Earl Sigurd gave his word to +go; but King Sigtrygg promised him his mother and the kingdom. + +It was so settled that Earl Sigurd was to come with all his host to +Dublin by Palm Sunday. + +Then King Sigtrygg fared south to Ireland, and told his mother Kormlada +that the Earl had undertaken to come, and also what he had pledged +himself to grant him. + +She showed herself well pleased at that, but said they must gather +greater force still. + +Sigtrygg asked whence this was to be looked for? + +She said there were two vikings lying off the west of Man; and that they +had thirty ships, and, she went on, "they are men of such hardihood that +nothing can withstand them. The one's name is Ospak, and the other's +Brodir. Thou shalt fare to find them, and spare nothing to get them into +thy quarrel, whatever price they ask." + +Now King Sigtrygg fares and seeks the vikings, and found them lying +outside off Man; King Sigtrygg brings forward his errand at once, but +Brodir shrank from helping him until he, King Sigtrygg, promised him the +kingdom and his mother, and they were to keep this such a secret that +Earl Sigurd should know nothing about it; Brodir too was to come to +Dublin on Palm Sunday. + +So King Sigtrygg fared home to his mother, and told her how things +stood. + +After that those brothers, Ospak and Brodir, talked together, and then +Brodir told Ospak all that he and Sigtrygg had spoken of, and bade him +fare to battle with him against King Brian, and said he set much store +on his going. + +But Ospak said he would not fight against so good a king. + +Then they were both wroth, and sundered their band at once. Ospak had +ten ships and Brodir twenty. + +Ospak was a heathen, and the wisest of all men. He laid his ships inside +in a sound, but Brodir lay outside him. + +Brodir had been a Christian man and a mass-deacon by consecration, but +he had thrown off his faith and become God's dastard, and now worshipped +heathen fiends, and he was of all men most skilled in sorcery. He had +that coat of mail on which no steel would bite. He was both tall and +strong, and had such long locks that he tucked them under his belt. His +hair was black. + + + + +CHAPTER CLV. + +OF SIGNS AND WONDERS. + + +It so happened one night that a great din passed over Brodir and his +men, so that they all woke, and sprang up and put on their clothes. + +Along with that came a shower of boiling blood. + +Then they covered themselves with their shields, but for all that many +were scalded. + +This wonder lasted all till day, and a man had died on board every ship. + +Then they slept during the day, but the second night there was again a +din, and again they all sprang up. Then swords leapt out of their +sheaths, and axes and spears flew about in the air and fought. + +The weapons pressed them so hard that they had to shield themselves, but +still many were wounded, and again a man died out of every ship. + +This wonder lasted all till day. + +Then they slept again the day after. + +But the third night there was a din of the same kind, and then ravens +flew at them, and it seemed to them as though their beaks and claws were +of iron. + +The ravens pressed them so hard that they had to keep them off with +their swords, and covered themselves with their shields, and so this +went on again till day, and then another man had died in every ship. + +Then they went to sleep first of all, but when Brodir woke up, he drew +his breath painfully, and bade them put off the boat. "For," he said, "I +will go to see Ospak." + +Then he got into the boat and some men with him, but when he found Ospak +he told him of the wonders which had befallen them, and bade him say +what he thought they boded. + +Ospak would not tell him before he pledged him peace, and Brodir +promised him peace, but Ospak still shrank from telling him till night +fell. + +Then Ospak spoke and said--"When blood rained on you, therefore shall ye +shed many men's blood, both of your own and others. But when ye heard a +great din, then ye must have been shown the crack of doom, and ye shall +all die speedily. But when weapons fought against you, that must forbode +a battle; but when ravens pressed you, that marks the devils which ye +put faith in, and who will drag you all down to the pains of hell." + +Then Brodir was so wroth that he could answer never a word, but he went +at once to his men, and made them lay his ships in a line across the +sound, and moor them by bearing their cables on shore at either end of +the line, and meant to slay them all next morning. + +Ospak saw all their plan, and then he vowed to take the true faith, and +to go to King Brian, and follow him till his death-day. + +Then he took that counsel to lay his ships in a line, and punt them +along the shore with poles, and cut the cables of Brodir's ships. Then +the ships of Brodir's men began to fall aboard of one another when they +were all fast asleep; and so Ospak and his men got out of the firth, and +so west to Ireland, and came to Connaught. + +Then Ospak told King Brian all that he had learnt, and took baptism, and +gave himself over into the king's hand. + +After that King Brian made them gather force over all his realm, and the +whole host was to come to Dublin in the week before Palm Sunday. + + + + +CHAPTER CLVI. + +BRIAN'S BATTLE. + + +Earl Sigurd Hlodver's son busked him from the Orkneys, and Flosi offered +to go with him. + +The Earl would not have that, since he had his pilgrimage to fulfil. + +Flosi offered fifteen men of his band to go on the voyage, and the Earl +accepted them, but Flosi fared with Earl Gilli to the Southern Isles. + +Thorstein, the Son of Hall of the Side, went along with Earl Sigurd, and +Hrafn the red, and Erling of Straumey. + +He would not that Hareck should go, but said he would be sure to be the +first to tell him the tidings of his voyage. + +The Earl came with all his host on Palm Sunday to Dublin, and there too +was come Brodir with all his host. + +Brodir tried by sorcery how the fight would go, but the answer ran thus, +that if the fight were on Good Friday King Brian would fall but win the +day; but if they fought before, they would all fall who were against +him. + +Then Brodir said that they must not fight before the Friday. + +On the fifth day of the week a man rode up to Kormlada and her company +on an apple-grey horse, and in his hand he held a halberd; he talked +long with them. + +King Brian came with all his host to the Burg, and on the Friday the +host fared out of the Burg, and both armies were drawn up in array. + +Brodir was on one wing of the battle, but King Sigtrygg on the other. + +Earl Sigurd was in the mid battle. + +Now it must be told of King Brian that he would not fight on the +fast-day, and so a shieldburg[82] was thrown round him, and his host was +drawn up in array in front of it. + +Wolf the quarrelsome was on that wing of the battle against which Brodir +stood; but on the other wing, where Sigtrygg stood against them, were +Ospak and his sons. + +But in mid battle was Kerthialfad, and before him the banners were +borne. + +Now the wings fall on one another, and there was a very hard fight, +Brodir went through the host of the foe, and felled all the foremost +that stood there, but no steel would bite on his mail. + +Wolf the quarrelsome turned then to meet him, and thrust at him thrice +so hard that Brodir fell before him at each thrust, and was well-nigh +not getting on his feet again; but as soon as ever he found his feet, he +fled away into the wood at once. + +Earl Sigurd had a hard battle against Kerthialfad, and Kerthialfad came +on so fast that he laid low all who were in the front rank, and he broke +the array of Earl Sigurd right up to his banner, and slew the +banner-bearer. + +Then he got another man to bear the banner, and there was again a hard +fight. + +Kerthialfad smote this man too his death blow at once, and so on one +after the other all who stood near him. + +Then Earl Sigurd called on Thorstein the son of Hall of the Side, to +bear the banner, and Thorstein was just about to lift the banner, but +then Asmund the white said-- + +"Don't bear the banner! for all they who bear it get their death." + +"Hrafn the red!" called out Earl Sigurd, "bear thou the banner." + +"Bear thine own devil thyself," answered Hrafn. + +Then the Earl said-- + +"'Tis fittest that the beggar should bear the bag;" and with that he +took the banner from the staff and put it under his cloak. + +A little after Asmund the white was slain, and then the Earl was pierced +through with a spear. + +Ospak had gone through all the battle on his wing, he had been sore +wounded, and lost both his sons ere King Sigtrygg fled before him. + +Then flight broke out throughout all the host. + +Thorstein Hall of the Side's son stood still while all the others fled, +and tied his shoe-string. Then Kerthialfad asked why he ran not as the +others. + +"Because," said Thorstein, "I can't get home to-night, since I am at +home out in Iceland." + +Kerthialfad gave him peace. + +Hrafn the red was chased out into a certain river; he thought he saw +there the pains of hell down below him, and he thought the devils wanted +to drag him to them. + +Then Hrafn said-- + +"Thy dog,[83] Apostle Peter! hath run twice to Rome, and he would run +the third time if thou gavest him leave." + +Then the devils let him loose, and Hrafn got across the river. + +Now Brodir saw that King Brian's men were chasing the fleers, and that +there were few men by the shieldburg. + +Then he rushed out of the wood, and broke through the shieldburg, and +hewed at the king. + +The lad Takt threw his arm in the way, and the stroke took it off and +the king's head too, but the king's blood came on the lad's stump, and +the stump was healed by it on the spot. + +Then Brodir called out with a loud voice-- + +"Now let man tell man that Brodir felled Brian." + +Then men ran after those who were chasing the fleers, and they were told +that King Brian had fallen, and then they turned back straightway, both +Wolf the quarrelsome and Kerthialfad. + +Then they threw a ring round Brodir and his men, and threw branches of +trees upon them, and so Brodir was taken alive. + +Wolf the quarrelsome cut open his belly, and led him round and round the +trunk of a tree, and so wound all his entrails out of him, and he did +not die before they were all drawn out of him. + +Brodir's men were slain to a man. + +After that they took King Brian's body and laid it out. The king's head +had grown fast to the trunk. + +Fifteen men of the Burners fell in Brian's battle, and there, too, fell +Halldor the son of Gudmund the powerful, and Erling of Straumey. + +On Good Friday that event happened in Caithness that a man whose name +was Daurrud went out. He saw folk riding twelve together to a bower, and +there they were all lost to his sight. He went to that bower and looked +in through a window slit that was in it, and saw that there were women +inside, and they had set up a loom. Men's heads were the weights, but +men's entrails were the warp and wed, a sword was the shuttle, and the +reels were arrows. + +They sang these songs, and he learnt them by heart-- + + ~THE WOOF OF WAR.~ + + See! warp is stretched + For warriors' fall, + Lo! weft in loom + 'Tis wet with blood; + Now fight foreboding, + 'Neath friends' swift fingers, + Our gray woof waxeth + With war's alarms, + Our warp bloodred, + Our weft corseblue. + + This woof is y-woven + With entrails of men, + This warp is hardweighted + With heads of the slain, + Spears blood-besprinkled + For spindles we use, + Our loom ironbound, + And arrows our reels; + With swords for our shuttles + This war-woof we work; + So weave we, weird sisters, + Our warwinning woof. + + Now War-winner walketh + To weave in her turn. + Now Swordswinger steppeth, + Now Swiftstroke, now Storm; + When they speed the shuttle + How spear-heads shall flash! + Shields crash, and helmgnawer[84] + On harness bite hard! + + Wind we, wind swiftly + Our warwinning woof. + Woof erst for king youthful + Foredoomed as his own, + Forth now we will ride, + Then through the ranks rushing + Be busy where friends + Blows blithe give and take. + + Wind we, wind swiftly + Our warwinning woof, + After that let us steadfastly + Stand by the brave king; + Then men shall mark mournful + Their shields red with gore, + How Swordstroke and Spearthrust + Stood stout by the prince. + + Wind we, wind swiftly + Our warwinning woof; + When sword-bearing rovers + To banners rush on, + Mind, maidens, we spare not + One life in the fray! + We corse-choosing sisters + Have charge of the slain. + + Now new-coming nations + That island shall rule. + Who on outlying headlands + Abode ere the fight; + I say that King mighty + To death now is done, + Now low before spearpoint + That Earl bows his head. + + Soon over all Ersemen + Sharp sorrow shall fall, + That woe to those warriors + Shall wane nevermore; + Our woof now is woven. + Now battle-field waste, + O'er land and o'er water + War tidings shall leap. + + Now surely 'tis gruesome + To gaze all around, + When bloodred through heaven + Drives cloudrack o'er head; + Air soon shall be deep hued + With dying men's blood + When this our spaedom + Comes speedy to pass. + + So cheerily chant we + Charms for the young king, + Come maidens lift loudly + His warwinning lay; + Let him who now listens + Learn well with his ears, + And gladden brave swordsmen + With bursts of war's song. + + Now mount we our horses, + Now bare we our brands, + Now haste we hard, maidens, + Hence far, far away. + +Then they plucked down the woof and tore it asunder, and each kept what +she had hold of. + +Now Daurrud goes away from the slit, and home; but they got on their +steeds and rode six to the south, and the other six to the north. + +A like event befell Brand Gneisti's son in the Faroe Isles. + +At Swinefell, in Iceland, blood came on the priest's stole on Good +Friday, so that he had to put it off. + +At Thvattwater the priest thought he saw on Good Friday a long deep of +the sea hard by the altar, and there he saw many awful sights, and it +was long ere he could sing the prayers. + +This event happened in the Orkneys, that Hareck thought he saw Earl +Sigurd, and some men with him. Then Hareck took his horse and rode to +meet the Earl. Men saw that they met and rode under a brae, but they +were never seen again, and not a scrap was ever found of Hareck. + +Earl Gilli in the Southern Isles dreamed that a man came to him and +said his name was Hostfinn, and told him he was come from Ireland. + +The Earl thought he asked him for tidings thence, and then he sang this +song-- + + I have been where warriors wrestled, + High in Erin sang the sword, + Boss to boss met many bucklers. + Steel rung sharp on rattling helm; + I can tell of all their struggle; + Sigurd fell in flight of spears; + Brian fell, but kept his kingdom + Ere he lost one drop of blood. + +Those two, Flosi and the Earl, talked much of this dream. A week after, +Hrafn the red came thither, and told them all the tidings of Brian's +battle, the fall of the king, and of Earl Sigurd, and Brodir, and all +the Vikings. + +"What," said Flosi, "hast thou to tell me of my men?" + +"They all fell there," says Hrafn, "but thy brother-in-law Thorstein +took peace from Kerthialfad, and is now with him." + +Flosi told the Earl that he would now go away, "for we have our +pilgrimage south to fulfil". + +The Earl bade him go as he wished, and gave him a ship and all else that +he needed, and much silver. + +Then they sailed to Wales, and stayed there a while. + + + + +CHAPTER CLVII. + +THE SLAYING OF KOL THORSTEIN'S SON. + + +Kari Solmund's son told master Skeggi that he wished he would get him a +ship. So master Skeggi gave Kari a long-ship, fully trimmed and manned, +and on board it went Kari, and David the white, and Kolbein the black. + +Now Kari and his fellows sailed south through Scotland's Firths, and +there they found men from the Southern Isles. They told Kari the tidings +from Ireland, and also that Flosi was gone to Wales, and his men with +him. + +But when Kari heard that, he told his messmates that he would hold on +south to Wales, to fall in with Flosi and his band. So he bade them then +to part from his company, if they liked it better, and said that he +would not wish to beguile any man into mischief, because he thought he +had not yet had revenge enough on Flosi and his band. + +All chose to go with him; and then he sails south to Wales, and there +they lay in hiding in a creek out of the way. + +That morning Kol Thorstein's son went into the town to buy silver. He of +all the Burners had used the bitterest words. Kol had talked much with a +mighty dame, and he had so knocked the nail on the head, that it was all +but fixed that he was to have her, and settle down there. + +That same morning Kari went also into the town. He came where Kol was +telling the silver. + +Kari knew him at once, and ran at him with his drawn sword and smote him +on the neck; but he still went on telling the silver, and his head +counted "ten" just as it spun off the body. + +Then Kari said-- + +"Go and tell this to Flosi, that Kari Solmund's son hath slain Kol +Thorstein's son. I give notice of this slaying as done by my hand." + +Then Kari went to his ship, and told his shipmates of the manslaughter. + +Then they sailed north to Beruwick, and laid up their ship, and fared up +into Whitherne in Scotland, and were with Earl Malcolm that year. + +But when Flosi heard of Kol's slaying, he laid out his body, and +bestowed much money on his burial. + +Flosi never uttered any wrathful words against Kari. + +Thence Flosi fared south across the sea and began his pilgrimage, and +went on south, and did not stop till he came to Rome. There he got so +great honour that he took absolution from the Pope himself, and for that +he gave a great sum of money. + +Then he fared back again by the east road, and stayed long in towns, and +went in before mighty men, and had from them great honour. + +He was in Norway the winter after, and was with Earl Eric till he was +ready to sail, and the Earl gave him much meal, and many other men +behaved handsomely to him. + +Now he sailed out to Iceland, and ran into Hornfirth, and thence fared +home to Swinefell. He had then fulfilled all the terms of his atonement, +both in fines and foreign travel. + + + + +CHAPTER CLVIII. + +OF FLOSI AND KARI. + + +Now it is to be told of Kari that the summer after he went down to his +ship and sailed south across the sea, and began his pilgrimage in +Normandy, and so went south and got absolution and fared back by the +western way, and took his ship again in Normandy, and sailed in her +north across the sea to Dover in England. + +Thence he sailed west, round Wales, and so north, through Scotland's +Firths, and did not stay his course till he came to Thraswick in +Caithness, to master Skeggi's house. + +There he gave over the ship of burden to Kolbein and David, and Kolbein +sailed in that ship to Norway, but David stayed behind in the Fair Isle. + +Kari was that winter in Caithness. In this winter his housewife died out +in Iceland. + +The next summer Kari busked him for Iceland. Skeggi gave him a ship of +burden, and there were eighteen of them on board her. + +They were rather late "boun," but still they put to sea, and had a long +passage, but at last they made Ingolf's Head. There their shin was +dashed all to pieces, but the men's lives were saved. Then, too, a gale +of wind came on them. + +Now they ask Kari what counsel was to be taken; but he said their best +plan was to go to Swinefell and put Flosi's manhood to the proof. + +So they went right up to Swinefell in the storm. Flosi was in the hall. +He knew Kari as soon as ever he came into the hall, and sprang up to +meet him, and kissed him, and sate him down in the high-seat by his +side. + +Flosi asked Kari to be there that winter, and Kari took his offer. Then +they were atoned with a full atonement. + +Then Flosi gave away his brother's daughter Hildigunna, whom Hauskuld +the priest of Whiteness had had to wife, to Kari, and they dwelt first +of all at Broadwater. + +Men say that the end of Flosi's life was, that he fared abroad, when he +had grown old, to seek for timber to build him a hall; and he was in +Norway that winter, but the next summer he was late "boun"; and men told +him that his ship was not seaworthy. + +Flosi said she was quite good enough for an old and death-doomed man, +and bore his goods on shipboard and put out to sea. But of that ship no +tidings were ever heard. + +These were the children of Kari Solmund's son and Helga Njal's +daughter--Thorgerda and Ragneida, Valgerda, and Thord who was burnt in +Njal's house. But the children of Hildigunna and Kari were these, +Starkad, and Thord, and Flosi. + +The son of Burning-Flosi was Kolbein, who has been the most famous man +of any of that stock. + +And here we end the STORY of BURNT NJAL. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Guethbrandr Vigfusson.] + +[Footnote 2: This word is invented like Laxdaela, Gretla, and others, to +escape the repetition or the word Saga, after that of the person or +place to which the story belongs. It combines the idea of the subject +and the telling in one word.] + +[Footnote 3: Many particulars mentioned in the Saga as wonderful are no +wonders to us. Thus in the case of Gunnar's bill, when we are told that +it gave out a strange sound before great events, this probably only +means that the shaft on which it was mounted was of some hard ringing +wood unknown in the north. It was a foreign weapon, and if the shaft +were of lance wood, the sounds it gave out when brandished or shaken +would be accounted for at once without a miracle.] + +[Footnote 4: There can be no doubt that it was considered a grave +offence to public morality to tell a Saga untruthfully. Respect to +friends and enemies alike, when they were dead and gone, demanded that +the histories of their lives, and especially of their last moments, +should be told as the events had actually happened. Our own Saga affords +a good illustration of this, and shows at the same time how a Saga +naturally arose out of great events. When King Sigtrygg was Earl +Sigurd's guest at Yule, and Flosi and the other Burners were about the +Earl's court, the Irish king wished to hear the story of the Burning, +and Gunnar Lambi's son was put forward to tell it at the feast on +Christmas day. It only added to Kari's grudge against him to hear Gunnar +tell the story with such a false leaning, when he gave it out that +Skarphedinn had wept for fear of the fire, and the vengeance which so +speedily overtook the false teller was looked upon as just retribution. +But when Flosi took up the story, he told it fairly and justly for both +sides, "and therefore," says the Saga, "what he said was believed".] + +[Footnote 5: Oeresound, the gut between Denmark and Sweden, at the +entrance of the Baltic, commonly called in English, The Sound.] + +[Footnote 6: That is, he came from what we call the Western Isles or +Hebrides. The old appellation still lingers in "Sodor (i.e. the South +isles) and Man".] + +[Footnote 7: This means that Njal was one of those gifted beings who, +according to the firm belief of that age, had a more than human insight +into things about to happen. It answers very nearly to the Scottish +"second sight".] + +[Footnote 8: Lord of rings, a periphrasis for a chief, that is, Mord.] + +[Footnote 9: Earth's offspring, a periphrasis for woman, that is, Unna.] + +[Footnote 10: "Oyce," a north country word for the mouth of a river, +from the Icelandic _os_] + +[Footnote 11: "The Bay," the name given to the great bay in the east of +Norway, the entrance of which from the North Sea is the Cattegat, and at +the end of which is the Christiania Firth. The name also applies to the +land round the Bay, which thus formed a district, the boundary of which, +on the one side, was the promontory called Lindesnaes, or the Naze, and +on the other, the Goeta-Elf, the river on which the Swedish town of +Gottenburg stands, and off the mouth of which lies the island of +Hisingen, mentioned shortly after.] + +[Footnote 12: Permia, the country one comes to after doubling the North +Cape.] + +[Footnote 13: A town at the mouth of the Christiania Firth. It was a +great place for traffic in early times, and was long the only mart in +the south-east of Norway.] + +[Footnote 14: Rill of wolf--stream of blood.] + +[Footnote 15: A province of Sweden.] + +[Footnote 16: An island in the Baltic, off the coast of Esthonia.] + +[Footnote 17: Endil's courser--periphrasis for a ship.] + +[Footnote 18: Sigar's storm--periphrasis for a sea-fight.] + +[Footnote 19: Grieve, i.e., bailiff, head workman.] + +[Footnote 20: Swanbath's beams, periphrasis for gold.] + +[Footnote 21: "Thou, that heapest hoards," etc.--merely a periphrasis +for man, and scarcely fitting, except in irony, to a splitter of +firewood.] + +[Footnote 22: That is, slew him in a duel.] + +[Footnote 23: This shows that the shields were oblong, running down to a +point.] + +[Footnote 24: "Ocean's fire," a periphrasis for "gold". The whole line +is a periphrasis for "bountiful chief".] + +[Footnote 25: "Rhine's fire," a periphrasis for gold.] + +[Footnote 26: "Water-skates," a periphrasis for ships.] + +[Footnote 27: "Great Rift," Almannagja--The great volcanic rift, or +"geo," as it would be called in Orkney and Shetland, which bounds the +plain of the Althing on one side.] + +[Footnote 28: Thorgrim Easterling and Thorbrand.] + +[Footnote 29: "Frodi's flour," a periphrasis for gold.] + +[Footnote 30: "Sea's bright sunbeams," a periphrasis for gold.] + +[Footnote 31: Constantinople.] + +[Footnote 32: Hlada or Lada, and sometimes in the plural Ladir, was the +old capital of Drontheim, before Nidaios--the present Drontheim--was +founded. Drontheim was originally the name of the country round the +firth of the same name, and is not used in the old Sagas for a town.] + +[Footnote 33: The country round the Christiania Firth, at the top of the +"Bay".] + +[Footnote 34: A town in Sweden on the Goeta-Elf.] + +[Footnote 35: The mainland of Orkney, now Pomona.] + +[Footnote 36: Now Stroma, in the Pentland Firth.] + +[Footnote 37: By so doing Hrapp would have cleared himself of his own +outlawry.] + +[Footnote 38: "Prop of sea-waves' fire," a periphrasis for a woman that +bears gold on her arm.] + +[Footnote 39: "Skates that skim," etc., a periphrasis for ships.] + +[Footnote 40: "Odin's mocking cup," mocking songs.] + +[Footnote 41: An allusion to the Beast Epic, where the cunning fox +laughs at the flayed condition of his stupid foes, the wolf and bear. We +should say, "Don't stop to speak with him, but rather beat him black and +blue".] + +[Footnote 42: "Sea-stag," periphrasis for ship.] + +[Footnote 43: "Sea-fire bearers," the bearers of gold, men, that is, +Helgi and Grim.] + +[Footnote 44: "Byrnie-breacher," piercer of coats of mail.] + +[Footnote 45: "Noisy ogre's namesake," an allusion to the name of +Skarphedinn's axe, "the ogress of war".] + +[Footnote 46: Rood-cross, a crucifix.] + +[Footnote 47: His son was Glum who fared to the burning with Flosi.] + +[Footnote 48: "Forge which foams with song," the poet's head, in which +songs are forged, and gush forth like foaming mead.] + +[Footnote 49: "Hero's helm-prop," the hero's, man's, head which supports +his helm.] + +[Footnote 50: It is needless to say that this Hall was not Hall of the +Side.] + +[Footnote 51: "Wolf of Gods," the "_caput lupinum_," the outlaw of +heaven, the outcast from Valhalla, Thangbrand.] + +[Footnote 52: "The other wolf," Gudleif.] + +[Footnote 53: "Swarthy skarf," the skarf, or _pelecanus cardo_, the +cormorant. He compares the message of Thorwald to the cormorant shimming +over the waves, and says he will never take it. "Snap at flies," a very +common Icelandic metaphor from fish rising to a fly.] + +[Footnote 54: Maurer thinks the allusion is here to some mythological +legend on Odin's adventures which has not come dawn to us.] + +[Footnote 55: "He that giant's," etc., Thor.] + +[Footnote 56: "Mew-field's bison," the sea-going ship, which sails over +he plain of the sea-mew.] + +[Footnote 57: "Bell's warder," the Christian priest whose bell-ringing +formed part of the rites of the new faith.] + +[Footnote 58: "Falcon of the strand," ship.] + +[Footnote 59: "Courser of the causeway," ship.] + +[Footnote 60: "Gylfi's hart," ship.] + +[Footnote 61: "Viking's snow-shoe," sea-king's ship.] + +[Footnote 62: "Boiling Kettle," This was a hver, or hot spring.] + +[Footnote 63: This was the "Raven's Rift," opposite to the "Great Rift" +on the other side of the Thingfield.] + +[Footnote 64: "Warrior's temper," the temper of Hauskuld of Whiteness.] + +[Footnote 65: "Snake-land's stem," a periphrasis for woman, Rodny.] + +[Footnote 66: "He that hoardeth ocean's fire," a periphrasis for man, +Hauskuld of Whiteness.] + +[Footnote 67: "Baltic side." This probably means a part of the Finnish +coast in the Gulf of Bothnia.] + +[Footnote 68: "Wild man of the woods." In the original Finngalkn, a +fabulous monster, half man and half beast.] + +[Footnote 69: "Sand," Skeidara sand.] + +[Footnote 70: "Sand," Maelifell's sand.] + +[Footnote 71: "Nones," the well-known canonical hour of the day, the +ninth hour from six A.M., that is, about three o'clock P.M., when one of +the church services took place.] + +[Footnote 72: "Son of Gollnir," Njal, who was the son of Thorgeir +Gelling or Gollnir.] + +[Footnote 73: "My friends," ironically of course.] + +[Footnote 74: "Helmet-hewer," sword.] + +[Footnote 75: John for a man, and Gudruna for a woman, were standing +names in the Formularies of the Icelandic code, answering to the "M or +N" in our Liturgy, or to those famous fictions of English Law. "John Doe +and Richard Roe".] + +[Footnote 76: "Gossipry," that is, because they were gossips, _God's +sib_, relations by baptism.] + +[Footnote 77: "Swinestye," ironically for Swinefell, where Flosi lived.] + +[Footnote 78: This is the English equivalent for the Icelandic Hrepp, a +district. It still lingers in "the Rape of Bramber," and other districts +in Sussex and the south-east.] + +[Footnote 79: "With words alone," The English proverb, "Threatened men +live long".] + +[Footnote 80: "Sea crags." Hence Thorgeir got his surname "Craggeir".] + +[Footnote 81: "Pilgrimage to Rome." This condition had not been +mentioned before.] + +[Footnote 82: "Shieldburg" that is, a ring of men holding their shields +locked together.] + +[Footnote 83: "Thy dog," etc. Meaning that he would go a third time on a +pilgrimage to Rome If St. Peter helped him out of this strait.] + +[Footnote 84: "Helmgnawer," the sword that bites helmets.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The story of Burnt Njal, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL *** + +***** This file should be named 17919.txt or 17919.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/1/17919/ + +Produced by National Library of Iceland and Cornell +University Library via www.sagnanet.is, Johannes Birgir +Jensson, Janet Blenkinship and the Online Distributed +Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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