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91. 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-tonged 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 Kari, 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 caughtsight 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 (1)
Norway's Earl erst took and stripped,
Now 'tis time for sea-fire bearers (2)
Such dishonour to avenge."

And this other song he sang:

"Swiftly down I dashed my weapon,
Gashing giant, byrnie-breacher (3),
She, the noisy ogre's namesake (4),
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 will 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 (5).

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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) "Sea-stag," periphrasis for ship.
(2) "Sea-fire bearers," the bearers of gold, men, that is, Helgi
and Grim.
(3) "Byrnie-breacher," piercer of coats of mail.
(4) "Noisy ogre's namesake," an allusion to the name of Skarp
hedinn's axe, "the ogress of war."
(5) Twelve ells, about twenty-four feet (the Norse ell being
something more than two feet), a good jump, but not beyond
the power of man. Comp. "Orkn. Saga", ch. 113, new ed.,
vol. i., 457, where Earl Harold leaps nine ells over a dike.

92. 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 shew 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.

93. 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 will I 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.

94. OF FLOSI THORD'S SON

There was a man named Flosi, he was the son of Thord Freyspriest
(1). 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 (2);
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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) Thord was the son of Auzur, the son of Asbjorn Eyjangr the
son of Bjorn, the son of Helgi, the son of Bjorn the
Roughfooted, the son of Grim, the Lord of Sogn. The mother
of Flosi was Ingunna, daughter of Thorir of Espihole, the
son of Hamond Hellskin, the son of Hjor, the son of Half,
who ruled over the men of Half, the son of Hjorfeif, the
lover of women. The mother of Thorir was Ingunna, daughter
of Helgi the Lean, who took the land round Eyjafirth, as the
first settler.
(2) The mother of Starkad was Thraslauga, daughter of Thorstein
titling the son of Gerleif; but the mother of Thraslauga was
Aud; she was a daughter of Eyvind Karf, one of the first
settlers, and sister of Modolf the Wise.

95. 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 (1). Hall had to wife
Joreida, daughter of Thidrandi (2) the Wise. Thorstein was the
name of Hall's brother, and he was nick-named Broad-paunch. 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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) Hall's mother's name was Thordisa, and she was a daughter of
Auzur, the son of Hrodlaug, the son of Earl Rognvald of
Maeren, the son of Eystein the Noisy.
(2) Thidrandi was the son of Kettle Rumble, the son of Thorir,
the son of Thidrandi of Verudale. The brothers of Thidrandi
were Kettle Rumble, in Njordwick, and Thorwald, the father
of Helgi Droplaug's son. Hallkatla was the sister of
Joreida. She was the mother of Thorkel Geiti's son, and
Thidrandi.

96. 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 (1). 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 baptized, and all his household.

ENDNOTES:

(1) He was the son of Ari, the son of Mar, the son of Atli, the
son of Wolf Squinteye, the son of Hogni the White, the son
of Otryg, the son of Oblaud, the son of Hjorleif the lover
of women, King of Hordaland.

97. 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 (1) 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 (2), 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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) Rood-cross, a crucifix.
(2) His son was Glum who fared to the burning with Flosi.

98. 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 (1);
Mighty wielder of war's sickle
Made his sword's avenging edge
Hard on hero's helm-prop rattle (2),
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 baptized Hall (3), 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 dimple bidding send;
That the wolf of Gods (4) he chaseth --
Man who snaps at chink of gold --
Wolf who base our Gods blasphemeth,
I the other wolf (5) will crush."

Wolf sang another song in return:

"Swarthy skarf from mouth 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 (6)."

"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 Bluewood-heath.

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 (7)."

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 (8) slayeth
Broke the mew-field's bison stout (9),
Thus the Gods, bell's warder (10) grieving,
Crushed the falcon of the strand (11);
To the courser of the causeway (12)
Little good was Christ I ween,
When Thor shattered ships to pieces
Gylfi's hart (13) no God could help."

And again she sung 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 (14),
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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) "Forge which foams with song," the poet's head, in which
songs are forged, and gush forth like foaming mead.
(2) "Hero's helm-prop," the hero's, man's, head which supports
his helm.
(3) It is needless to say that this Hall was not Hall of the
Side.
(4) "Wolf of Gods," the "caput lupinum," the outlaw of heaven,
the outcast from Valhalla, Thangbrand.
(5) "The other wolf," Gudleif.
(6) "Swarthy skarf," the skarf, or "pelecanus carbo", the
cormorant. He compares the message of Thorwald to the
cormorant skimming over the waves, and says he will never
take it. "Snap at flies," a very common Icelandic metaphor
from fish rising to a fly.
(7) Maurer thinks the allusion is here to some mythological
legend on Odin's adventures which has not come down to us.
(8) "He that giant's," etc., Thor.
(9) "Mew-field's bison," the sea-going ship, which sails over
the plain of the sea-mew.
(10) "Bell's warder," the Christian priest whose bell-ringing
formed part of the rites of the new faith.
(11) "Falcon of the strand," ship.
(12) "Courser of the causeway," ship.
(13) "Gylfi's hart," ship.
(14) "Viking's snow-shoe," sea-king's ship.

99. OF GEST ODDLEIF'S SON

Gest Oddleit'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 met 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 be 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 burnt 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 crossbeam 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 baptized 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 men called it "Iron-basket." On board that ship
Thangbrand fared abroad, and Gudleif with him.

100. 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" (1) down below the brink of the Rift (2), 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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) "Boiling kettle." This was a hyer, or hot spring.
(2) This was the "Raven's Rift," opposite to the "Great Rift" on
the other side of Thingfield.

101. 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 (1).

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 (2) 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 said 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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) Kettle and Thorkel were both sons of Thorir Tag, the son of
Kettle the Seal, the son of Ornolf, the son of Bjornolf, the
son of Grim Hairycheek, the son of Kettle Haeing, the son of
Hallbjorn Halftroll of Ravensfood.
(2) This was no bribe, but his lawful fee.

102. 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 proudhearted
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 dead lock, 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 Bergthom. 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.

103. 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.
Lytina 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
farm-yard!"

"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 farm-yard," said Lyting, "and I can't
say that it does not try my temper; and now I will make thee an
offer, Hauskuld, 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 as he came back, and lay in wait for him north of the
farm-yard in a pit; and there they bided till it was about
mideven (1). 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 as this until no
vengeance at all is taken; and now 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
set 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 (2),
One and all, well, father thine,
But atonement to the mother,
Snake-land's stem (3) and thee were base;
He that hoardeth ocean's fire (4)
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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) Mideven, six o'clock p.m.
(2) "Warrior's temper," the temper of Hauskuld of Whiteness.
(3) "Snake-land's stem," a periphrasis for woman, Rodny.
(4) "He that hoardeth ocean's fire," a periphrasis for man,
Hauskuld of Whiteness.

104. 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.

105. 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.

106. 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 talebearing, 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 background 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.

107. 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."

108. 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 outhouses, 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 to 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.

109. OF MORD AND NJAL'S SONS

It happened one day that Mord came to Berathorsknoll. 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.

110. THE SLAYING OF HAUSKULD, THE PRIEST OFWHITENESS

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.

111. OF HILDIGNNA 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 fosterchild."

"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 me 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 counsel 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.

112. 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 (1). 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 Pointdwellers" 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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) Einar was the son of Audun the Bald, the son of Thorolf
Butter, the son of Thorstein the Unstable, the son of Grim
with the Tuft. The mother of Gudmund was Hallberg, the
daughter of Thorodd Helm, but the mother of Hallbera was
Reginleifa, daughter of Saemund the South-islander; after
him is named Saemundslithe in Skagafirth. The mother of
Eyjolf, Gudmund's father, was Valgerda Runolf's daughter;
the mother of Valgerda was Valbjorg, her mother was Joruna
the Disowned, a daughter of King Oswald the Saint. The
mother of Einar, the father of Eyjolf, was Helga, a daughter
of Helgi the Lean, who took Eyjafirth as the first settler.
Helgi was the son of Eyvind the Easterling. The mother of
Helgi was Raforta, the daughter of Kjarval, the Erse King.
The mother of Helga Helgi's daughter, was Thoruna the
Horned, daughter of Kettle Flatnose, the son of Bjorn the
Rough-footed, the son of Grim, Lord of Sogn. The mother of
Grim was Hervora, but the mother of Hervora was Thorgerda,
daughter of King Haleyg of Helgeland. Thorlauga was the
name of Gudmund the Powerful's wife, she was a daughter of
Atli the Strong, the son of Eilif the Eagle. the son of
Bard, the son of Jalkettle, the son of Ref, the son of Skidi
the Old. Herdisa was the name of Thorlauga's mother, a
daughter of Thord of the Head, the son of Bjorn Butter-
carrier, the son of Hroald the son of Hrodlaug the Sad, the
son of Bjorn Ironside, the son of Ragnar Hairybreeks, the
son of Sigurd Ring, the son of Randver, the son of Radbard.
The mother of Herdisa Thord's daughter was Thorgerda Skidi's
daughter, her mother was Fridgerda, a daughter of Kjarval,
the Erse King.

113. 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 (1). 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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) Thorstein Codcatcher was the son of Thorolf Mostrarskegg,
the son of Ornolf Fish-driver, but Ari the Wise ways he was
the son of Thorgil Reydarside. Thorolf Mostrarskegg had to
wife Oska, the daughter of Thorstein the Red. The mother of
Thorgrim was named Thora, a daughter of Oleif the Shy, the
son of Thorstein the Red, the son of Oleif the White, the
son of Ingialld, the son of Helgi; but the mother of
Ingialld was Thora, a daughter of Sigurd Snake-eye, son of
Ragnar Hairybreeks; but the mother of Snorri the Priest was
Thordisa, the daughter of Sur, and the sister of Gisli.

114. 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 Amstacksheath, 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 RunoIf, 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 Hafr the Wise, his kinsman, and he rode
thither at once.

Thence Flosi rode to Ossaby.

115. 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 tablecloth, 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 abjure
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 (1). Ingialld had to wife
Thraslauga, the daughter of Egil, the son of Thord Frey's priest
(2). 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."

ENDNOTES:

(1) They were children of Hauskuld the White, the son of
Ingialld the Strong, the son of Gerfinn the Red, the son of
Solvi, the son of Tborstein Baresarks-bane.
(2) The mother of Egil was Thraslauga, the daughter of Thorstein
Titling; the mother of Thraslauga was Unna, the daughter of
Eyvind Karf.

116. 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 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 vou 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 thouoht 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.

117. 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 fosterson. 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 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 blackhearted;
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 side; 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
Thing-field, and fit up their booths.

118. 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 you, that I have no
need to ask what thy name is. Thy name is Skapti Thorod's son,
but before thou calledst thyself `Bristlepoll,' 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 now 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 (1) 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 bailed 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 a while, 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 (2) 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 (3) Thorkel had to fetch water for them one evening;
then he met a wild man of the woods (4), 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.

ENDNOTES:

(1) Hafr was the son of Thorkel, the son of Eric of Gooddale,
the son of Geirmund, the son of Hroald, the son of Eric
Frizzlebeard who felled Gritgarth in Soknardale in Norway.
(2) Thorkel was the son of Thorgeir the Priest, the son of
Tjorfi, the son of Thorkel the Long; but the mother of
Thorgeir was Thoruna, the daughter of Thorstein, the son of
Sigmund, son of Bard of the Nip. The mother of Thorkel
Foulmouth was named Gudrida; she was a daughter of Thorkel
the B1ack of Hleidrargarth, the son of Thorir Tag, the son
of Kettle the Seal, the son of Ornolf, the son of Bjornolf,
the son of Grim Hairy-cheek, the son of Kettle Haeing, the
son of Hallbjorn Halftroll.
(3) "Baltic side." This probably means a part of the Finnish
coast in the Gulf of Bothnia. See "Fornm. Sogur", xii.
264-5.
(4) "Wild man of the woods." In the original Finngalkn, a
fabulous monster, half man and half beast.

119. 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 grey 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 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 shalt 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 our booths," answered Asgrim.

"Then we fare back 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 has 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.

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