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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Njal's Saga by Unknown Icelanders
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+Njal's Saga
+
+or
+
+The Story of Burnt Njal
+
+by Unknown Icelanders
+
+July, 1996  [Etext #597]
+
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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of Njal's Saga by Unknown Icelanders
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+
+The Story of Burnt Njal
+<Njal's Saga>
+
+
+Originally written in Icelandic, sometime in the 13th Century
+A.D.  Author unknown.
+
+
+This electronic edition was produced, edited, and prepared by
+Douglas B. Killings (DeTroyes@AOL.COM), July 1995.  Document
+scanning provided by David Reid and John Servilio.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE STORY OF BURNT NJAL
+
+
+1. OF FIDDLE MORD
+
+There was a man named Mord whose surname was Fiddle; he was the
+son of Sigvat the Red, and he dwelt at the "Vale" in the
+Rangrivervales.  He was a mighty chief, and a great taker up of
+suits, and so great a lawyer that no judgments were thought
+lawful unless he had a hand in them.  He had an only daughter,
+named Unna.  She was a fair, courteous, and gifted woman, and
+that was thought the best match in all the Rangrivervales.
+
+Now the story turns westward to the Broadfirth dales, where, at
+Hauskuldstede, in Laxriverdale, dwelt a man named Hauskuld, who
+was Dalakoll's son, and his mother's name was Thorgerda.(1)  He
+had a brother named Hrut, who dwelt at Hrutstede; he was of the
+same mother as Hauskuld, but his father's name was Heriolf.  Hrut
+was handsome, tall and strong, well skilled in arms, and mild of
+temper; he was one of the wisest of men -- stern towards his
+foes, but a good counsellor on great matters.  It happened once
+that Hauskuld bade his friends to a feast, and his brother Hrut
+was there, and sat next him.  Hauskuld had a daughter named
+Hallgerda, who was playing on the floor with some other girls. 
+She was fair of face and tall of growth, and her hair was as soft
+as silk; it was so long, too, that it came down to her waist. 
+Hauskuld called out to her, "Come hither to me, daughter."  So
+she went up to him, and he took her by the chin, and kissed her;
+and after that she went away.
+
+Then Hauskuld said to Hrut, "What dost thou think of this maiden?
+Is she not fair?"  Hrut held his peace.  Hauskuld said the same
+thing to him a second time, and then Hrut answered, "Fair enough
+is this maid, and many will smart for it, but this I know not,
+whence thief's eyes have come into our race."  Then Hauskuld was
+wroth, and for a time the brothers saw little of each other.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Thorgerda was daughter of Thorstein the Red who was Olaf the
+     White's son, Ingialld's son, Helgi's son.  Ingialld's mother
+     was Thora, daughter of Sigurd Snake-i'-the-eye, who was
+     Ragnar Hairybreek's son.  And the Deeply-wealthy was
+     Thorstein the Red's mother; she was daughter of Kettle
+     Flatnose, who was Bjorn Boun's son, Grim's son, Lord of Sogn
+     in Norway.
+
+
+
+2. HRUT WOOS UNNA
+
+It happened once that those brothers, Hauskuld and Hrut, rode to
+the Althing, and there was much people at it.  Then Hauskuld said
+to Hrut, "One thing I wish, brother, and that is, that thou
+wouldst better thy lot and woo thyself a wife."
+
+Hrut answered, "That has been long on my mind, though there
+always seemed to be two sides to the matter; but now I will do as
+thou wishest; whither shall we turn our eyes?"
+
+Hauskuld answered, "Here now are many chiefs at the Thing, and
+there is plenty of choice, but I have already set my eyes on a
+spot where a match lies made to thy hand.  The woman's name is
+Unna, and she is a daughter of Fiddle Mord, one of the wisest of
+men.  He is here at the Thing and his daughter too, and thou
+mayest see her if it pleases thee."
+
+Now the next day, when men were going to the High Court, they saw
+some well-dressed women standing outside the booths of the men
+from the Rangrivervales.  Then Hauskuld said to Hrut "Yonder now
+is Unna, of whom I spoke; what thinkest thou of her?"
+
+"Well," answered Hrut; "but yet I do not know whether we should
+get on well together."
+
+After that they went to the High Court, where Fiddle Mord was
+laying down the law as was his wont, and after he had done he
+went home to his booth.
+
+Then Hauskuld and Hrut rose, and went to Mord's booth.  They went
+in and found Mord sitting in the innermost part of the booth, and
+they bade him "Good-day."  He rose to meet them, and took
+Hauskuld by the hand and made him sit down by his side, and Hrut
+sat next to Hauskuld.  So after they had talked much of this and
+that, at last Hauskuld said, "I have a bargain to speak to thee
+about; Hrut wishes to become thy son-in-law, and buy thy
+daughter, and I, for my part, will not be sparing in the matter."
+
+Mord answered, "I know that thou art a great chief, but thy
+brother is unknown to me."
+
+"He is a better man than I," answered Hauskuld.
+
+"Thou wilt need to lay down a large sum with him, for she is heir
+to all I leave behind me," said Mord.
+
+"There is no need," said Hauskuld, "to wait long before thou
+hearest what I give my word lie shall have.  He shall have
+Kamness and Hrutstede, up as far as Thrandargil, and a trading-
+ship beside, now on her voyage."
+
+Then said Hrut to Mord, "Bear in mind, now, husband, that my
+brother has praised me much more than I deserve for love's sake;
+but if after what thou hast heard, thou wilt make the match, I am
+willing to let thee lay down the terms thyself."
+
+Mord answered, "I have thought over the terms; she shall have
+sixty hundreds down, and this sum shall be increased by a third
+more in thine house, but if ye two have heirs, ye shall go halves
+in the goods."
+
+Then said Hrut, "I agree to these terms, and now let us take
+witness."  After that they stood up and shook hands, and Mord
+betrothed his daughter Unna to Hrut, and the bridal feast was to
+be at Mord's house, half a month after Midsummer.
+
+Now both sides ride home from the Thing, and Hauskuld and Hrut
+ride westward by Hallbjorn's beacon.  Then Thiostolf, the son of
+Bjorn Gullbera of Reykriverdale, rode to meet them, and told them
+how a ship had come out from Norway to the White River, and how
+aboard of her was Auzur Hrut's father's brother, and he wished
+Hrut to come to him as soon as ever he could.  When Hrut heard
+this, he asked Hauskuld to go with him to the ship, so Hauskuld
+went with his brother, and when they reached the ship, Hrut gave
+his kinsman Auzur a kind and hearty welcome.  Auzur asked them
+into his booth to drink, so their horses were unsaddled, and they
+went in and drank, and while they were drinking, Hrut said to
+Auzur, "Now, kinsman, thou must ride west with me, and stay with
+me this winter."
+
+"That cannot be, kinsman, for I have to tell thee the death of
+thy brother Eyvind, and he has left thee his heir at the Gula
+Thing, and now thy foes will seize thy heritage, unless thou
+comest to claim it."
+
+"What's to be done now, brother?" said Hrut to Hauskuld, "for
+this seems a hard matter, coming just as I have fixed my bridal
+day."
+
+"Thou must ride south," said Hauskuld, "and see Mord, and ask him
+to change the bargain which ye two have made, and to let his
+daughter sit for thee three winters as thy betrothed, but I will
+ride home and bring down thy wares to the ship."
+
+Then said Hrut, "My wish is that thou shouldest take meal and
+timber, and whatever else thou needest out of the lading."  So
+Hrut had his horses brought out, and he rode south, while
+Hauskuld rode home west.  Hrut came east to the Rangrivervales to
+Mord, and had a good welcome, and he told Mord all his business,
+and asked his advice what he should do.
+
+"How much money is this heritage," asked Mord, and Hrut said it
+would come to a hundred marks, if he got it all.
+
+"Well," said Mord, "that is much when set against what I shall
+leave behind me, and thou shalt go for it, if thou wilt."
+
+After that they broke their bargain, and Unna was to sit waiting
+for Hrut three years as his betrothed.  Now Hrut rides back to
+the ship, and stays by her during the summer, till she was ready
+to sail, and Hauskuld brought down all Hrut's wares and money to
+the ship, and Hrut placed all his other property in Hauskuld's
+hands to keep for him while he was away.  Then Hauskuld rode home
+to his house, and a little while after they got a fair wind and
+sail away to sea.  They were out three weeks, and the first land
+they made was Hern, near Bergen, and so sail eastward to the Bay.
+
+
+
+3. HRUT AND GUNNHILLDA, KING'S MOTHER
+
+At that time Harold Grayfell reigned in Norway; he was the son of
+Eric Bloodaxe, who was the son of Harold Fair-hair; his mother's
+name was Gunnhillda, a daughter of Auzur Toti, and they had their
+abode east, at the King's Crag.  Now the news was spread, how a
+ship had come thither east into the Bay, and as soon as
+Gunnhillda heard of it, she asked what men from Iceland were
+abroad, and they told her Hrut was the man's name, Auzur's
+brother's son.  Then Gunnhillda said, "I see plainly that he
+means to claim his heritage, but there is a man named Soti, who
+has laid his hands on it."
+
+After that she called her waiting-man, whose name was Augmund,
+and said, "I am going to send thee to the Bay to find out Auzur
+and Hrut, and tell them that I ask them both to spend this winter
+with me.  Say, too, that I will be their friend, and if Hrut will
+carry out my counsel, I will see after his suit, and anything
+else he takes in hand, and I will speak a good word, too, for him
+to the king."
+
+After that he set off and found them; and as soon as they knew
+that he was Gunnhillda's servant, they gave him good welcome.  He
+took them aside and told them his errand, and after that they
+talked over their plans by themselves.  Then Auzur said to Hrut,
+"Methinks, kinsman, here is little need for long talk, our plans
+are ready made for us; for I know Gunnhillda's temper; as soon as
+ever we say we will not go to her she will drive us out of the
+land, and take all our goods by force; but if we go to her, then
+she will do us such honour as she has promised."
+
+Augmund went home, and when he saw Gunnhillda, he told her how
+his errand had ended, and that they would come, and Gunnhillda
+said, "It is only what was to be looked for; for Hrut is said to
+be a wise and well-bred man; and now do thou keep a sharp look
+out, and tell me as soon as ever they come to the town."
+
+Hrut and Auzur went east to the King's Crag, and when they
+reached the town, their kinsmen and friends went out to meet and
+welcome them.  They asked whether the king were in the town, and
+they told them he was.  After that they met Augmund, and he
+brought them a greeting from Gunnhillda, saying, that she could
+not ask them to her house before they had seen the king, lest men
+should say, "I make too much of them."  Still she would do all
+she could for them, and she went on, "Tell Hrut to be out-spoken
+before the king, and to ask to be made one of his body-guard;" 
+"and here," said Augmund, "is a dress of honour which she sends
+to thee, Hrut, and in it thou must go in before the king."  After
+that he went away.
+
+The next day Hrut said, "Let us go before the king."
+
+"That may well be," answered Auzur.
+
+So they went, twelve of them together, and all of them friends or
+kinsmen, and came into the hall where the king sat over his
+drink.  Hrut went first and bade the king "Good-day," and the
+king, looking steadfastly at the man who was well-dressed, asked
+him his name.  So he told his name.
+
+"Art thou an Icelander?" said the king.
+
+He answered, "Yes."
+
+"What drove thee hither to seek us?"
+
+Then Hrut answered, "To see your state, lord; and, besides,
+because I have a great matter of inheritance here in the land,
+and I shall have need of your help if I am to get my rights."
+
+The king said, "I have given my word that every man shall have
+lawful justice here in Norway; but hast thou any other errand in
+seeking me?"
+
+"Lord!" said Hrut, "I wish you to let me live in your court, and
+become one of your men."
+
+At this the king holds his peace, but Gunnhillda said, "It seems
+to me as if this man offered you the greatest honour, for
+methinks if there were many such men in the body-guard, it would
+be well filled."
+
+"Is he a wise man?" asked the king.
+
+"He is both wise and willing," said she.
+
+"Well," said the king, "methinks my mother wishes that thou
+shouldst have the rank for which thou askest, but for the sake of
+our honour and the custom of the land, come to me in half a
+month's time, and then thou shalt be made one of my body-guard. 
+Meantime, my mother will take care of thee, but then come to me."
+
+Then Gunnhillda said to Augmund, "Follow them to my house, and
+treat them well."
+
+So Augmund went out, and they went with him, and he brought them
+to a hall built of stone, which was hung with the most beautiful
+tapestry, and there too was Gunnhillda's high seat.
+
+Then Augmund said to Hrut, "Now will be proved the truth of all
+that I said to thee from Gunnhillda.  Here is her high seat, and
+in it thou shalt sit, and this seat thou shalt hold, though she
+comes herself into the hall."
+
+After that he made them good cheer, and they had sat down but a
+little while when Gunnhillda came in.  Hrut wished to jump up and
+greet her.
+
+"Keep thy seat!" she says, "and keep it too all the time thou art
+my guest."
+
+Then she sat herself down by Hrut, and they fell to drink, and at
+even she said, "Thou shalt be in the upper chamber with me
+to-night, and we two together."
+
+"You shall have your way," he answers.
+
+After that they went to sleep, and she locked the door inside. 
+So they slept that night, and in the morning fell to drinking
+again.  Thus they spent their life all that halfmonth, and
+Gunnhillda said to the men who were there, "Ye shall lose nothing
+except your lives if you say to any one a word of how Hrut and I
+are going on."
+
+When the half-month was over Hrut gave her a hundred ells of
+household woollen and twelve rough cloaks, and Gunnhillda thanked
+him for his gifts.  Then Hrut thanked her and gave her a kiss and
+went away.  She bade him "farewell."  And next day he went before
+the king with thirty men after him and bade the king "Good-day."
+The king said, "Now, Hrut, thou wilt wish me to carry out towards
+thee what I promised."
+
+So Hrut was made one of the king's body-guard, and he asked,
+"Where shall I sit?"
+
+"My mother shall settle that," said the king.
+
+Then she got him a seat in the highest room, and he spent the
+winter with the king in much honour.
+
+
+
+4. OF HRUT'S CRUISE
+
+When the spring came he asked about Soti, and found out he had
+gone south to Denmark with the inheritance.  Then Hrut went to
+Gunnhillda and tells her what Soti had been about.  Gunnhillda
+said, "I will give thee two long-ships, full manned, and along
+with them the bravest man, Wolf the Unwashed, our overseer of
+guests; but still go and see the king before thou settest off."
+
+Hrut did so; and when he came before the king, then he told the
+king of Soti's doings, and how he had a mind to hold on after
+him.
+
+The king said, "What strength has my mother handed over to thee?"
+
+"Two long-ships and Wolf the Unwashed to lead the men," says
+Hrut.
+
+"Well given," says the king.  " Now I will give thee other two
+ships, and even then thou'lt need all the strength thou'st got."
+
+After that he went down with Hrut to the ship, and said, "fare
+thee well."  Then Hrut sailed away south with his crews.
+
+
+
+5. ATLI ARNVID SON'S SLAYING
+
+There was a man named Atli, son of Arnvid, Earl of East Gothland. 
+He had kept back the taxes from Hacon Athelstane's foster child,
+and both father and son had fled away from Jemtland to Gothland. 
+After that, Atli held on with his followers out of the Maelar by
+Stock Sound, and so on towards Denmark, and now he lies out in
+Oresound.(1)  He is an outlaw both of the Dane-King and of the
+Swede-King.  Hrut held on south to the Sound, and when he came
+into it he saw a many ships in the Sound.  Then Wolf said,
+"What's best to be done now, Icelander?"
+
+"Hold on our course," said Hrut, "for `nothing venture, nothing
+have.'  My ship and Auzur's shall go first, but thou shalt lay
+thy ship where thou likest."
+
+"Seldom have I had others as a shield before me," says Wolf, and
+lays his galley side by side with Hrut's ship; and so they hold
+on through the Sound.  Now those who are in the Sound see that
+ships are coming up to them, and they tell Atli.
+
+He answered, "Then may be there'll be gain to be got."
+
+After that men took their stand on board each ship; "but my
+ship," says Atli, "shall be in the midst of the fleet."
+
+Meantime Hrut's ships ran on, and as soon as either side could
+hear the other's hail, Atli stood up and said, "Ye fare unwarily. 
+Saw ye not that war-ships were in the Sound.  But what's the name
+of your chief?"
+
+Hrut tells his name.
+
+"Whose man art thou," says Atli.
+
+"One of king Harold Grayfell's body-guard."
+
+Atli said.  "'Tis long since any love was lost between us, father
+and son, and your Norway kings."
+
+"Worse luck for thee," says Hrut.
+
+"Well," says Atli, "the upshot of our meeting will be, that thou
+shalt not be left alive to tell the tale;" and with that he
+caught up a spear and hurled it at Hrut's ship, and the man who
+stood before it got his death.  After that the battle began, and
+they were slow in boarding Hrut's ship.  Wolf, he went well
+forward, and with him it was now cut, now thrust.  Atli's
+bowman's name was Asolf; he sprung up on Hrut's ship, and was
+four men's death before Hrut was aware of him; then he turned
+against him, and when they met, Asolf thrust at and through
+Hrut's shield, but Hrut cut once at Asolf, and that was his
+death-blow.  Wolf the Unwashed saw that stroke, and called out,
+"Truth to say, Hrut, thou dealest big blows, but thou'st much to
+thank Gunnhillda for."
+
+"Something tells me," says Hrut, "that thou speakest with a `fey'
+mouth."
+
+Now Atli sees a bare place for a weapon on Wolf, and shot a spear
+through him and now the battle grows hot: Atli leaps up on Hrut's
+ship, and clears it fast round about, and now Auzur turns to meet
+him, and thrust at him, but fell down full length on his back,
+for another man thrust at him.  Now Hrut turns to meet Atli: he
+cut at once at Hrut's shield, and clove it all in two, from top
+to point; just then Atli got a blow on his hand from a stone, and
+down fell his sword.  Hrut caught up the sword, and cut his foot
+from under him.  After that he dealt him his death-blow.  There
+they took much goods, and brought away with them two ships which
+were best, and stayed there only a little while.  But meantime
+Soti and his crew had sailed past them, and he held on his course
+back to Norway, and made the land at Limgard's side.  There Soti
+went on shore, and there he met Augmund, Gunnhillda's page; he
+knew him at once, and asks, "How long meanest thou to be here?"
+
+"Three nights," says Soti.
+
+"Whither away, then?" says Augmund.
+
+"West, to England," says Soti, "and never to come back again to
+Norway while Gunnhillda's rule is in Norway."
+
+Augmund went away, and goes and finds Gunnhillda, for she was a
+little way off, at a feast, and Gudred, her son, with her. 
+Augmund told Gunnhillda what Soti meant to do, and she begged
+Gudred to take his life.  So Gudred set off at once, and came
+unawares on Soti, and made them lead him up the country, and hang
+him there.  But the goods he took, and brought them to his
+mother, and she got men to carry them all down to the King's
+Crag, and after that she went thither herself.
+
+Hrut came back towards autumn, and had gotten great store of
+goods.  He went at once to the king, and had a hearty welcome. 
+He begged them to take whatever they pleased of his goods, and
+the king took a third.  Gunnhillda told Hrut how she had got hold
+of the inheritance, and had Soti slain.  He thanked her, and gave
+her half of all he had.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Oresound, the gut between Denmark and Sweden, at the
+     entrance of the Baltic, commonly called in English, the
+     Sound.
+
+
+
+6. HRUT SAILS OUT TO ICELAND
+
+Hrut stayed with the king that winter in good cheer, but when
+spring came he grew very silent.  Gunnhillda finds that out, and
+said to him when they two were alone together, "Art thou sick at
+heart?"
+
+"So it is," said Hrut, "as the saying runs -- `Ill goes it with
+those who are born on a barren land.'"
+
+"Wilt thou to Iceland?" she asks.
+
+"Yes," he answered.
+
+"Hast thou a wife out there?" she asked; and he answers, "No."
+
+"But I am sure that is true," she says; and so they ceased
+talking about the matter.
+
+Shortly after Hrut went before the king and bade him Good-day;
+and the king said, "What dost thou want now, Hrut?"
+
+"I am come to ask, lord, that you give me leave to go to
+Iceland."
+
+"Will thine honour be greater there than here?" asks the king.
+
+"No, it will not," said Hrut; "but every one must win the work
+that is set before him."
+
+"It is pulling a rope against a strong man," said Gunnhillda, "so
+give him leave to go as best suits him."
+
+There was a bad harvest that year in the land, yet Gunnhillda
+gave Hrut as much meal as he chose to have; and now he busks him
+to sail out to Iceland, and Auzur with him; and when they were
+"all-boun," Hrut went to find the king and Gunnhillda.  She led
+him aside to talk alone, and said to him, "Here is a gold ring
+which I will give thee;" and with that she clasped it round his
+wrist.
+
+"Many good gifts have I had from thee," said Hrut.
+
+Then she put her hands round his neck and kissed him, and said,
+"If I have as much power over thee as I think, I lay this spell
+on thee that thou mayst never have any pleasure in living with
+that woman on whom thy heart is set in Iceland, but with other
+women thou mayst get on well enough, and now it is like to go
+well with neither of us; but thou hast not believed what I have
+been saying."
+
+Hrut laughed when he heard that, and went away; after that he
+came before the king and thanked him; and the king spoke kindly
+to him, and bade him "farewell."  Hrut went straight to his ship,
+and they had a fair wind all the way until they ran into
+Borgarfirth.
+
+As soon as the ship was made fast to the land, Hrut rode west
+home, but Auzur stayed by the ship to unload her and lay her up. 
+Hrut rode straight to Hauskuldstede, and Hauskuld gave him a
+hearty welcome, and Hrut told him all about his travels.  After
+that they send men east across the rivers to tell Fiddle Mord to
+make ready for the bridal feast; but the two brothers rode to the
+ship, and on the way Hauskuld told Hrut how his money-matters
+stood, and his goods had gained much since he was away.  Then
+Hrut said, "The reward is less worth than it ought to be, but I
+will give thee as much meal as thou needst for thy household next
+winter."
+
+Then they drew the ship on land on rollers, and made her snug in
+her shed, but all the wares on board her they carried away into
+the Dales westward.  Hrut stayed at home at Hrutstede till winter
+was six weeks off, and then the brothers made ready and Auzur
+with them, to ride to Hrut's wedding.  Sixty men ride with them,
+and they rode east till they came to Rangriver plains.  There
+they found a crowd of guests, and the men took their seats on
+benches down the length of the hall, but the women were seated on
+the cross-benches on the dais, and the bride was rather downcast. 
+So they drank out the feast and it went off well.  Mord pays down
+his daughter's portion, and she rides west with her husband and
+his train.  So they ride till they reach home.  Hrut gave over
+everything into her hands inside the house, and all were pleased
+at that; but for all that she and Hrut did not pull well together
+as man and wife, and so things went on till spring, and when
+spring came Hrut had a journey to make to the Westfirths, to get
+in the money for which he had sold his wares; but before he set
+off his wife says to him, "Dost thou mean to be back before men
+ride to the Thing?"
+
+"Why dost thou ask?" said Hrut.
+
+"I will ride to the Thing," she said, "to meet my father."
+
+"So it sball be," said he, "and I will ride to the Thing along
+with thee."
+
+"Well and good," she says.
+
+After that Hrut rode from home west to the Firths, got in all his
+money, and laid it out anew, and rode home again.  When he came
+home he busked him to ride to the Thing, and made all his
+neighbours ride with him.  His brother Hauskuld rode among the
+rest.  Then Hrut said to his wife, "If thou hast as much mind now
+to go to the Thing as thou saidst a while ago, busk thyself and
+ride along with me."
+
+She was not slow in getting herself ready, and then they all
+rode to the Thing.  Unna went to her father's booth, and he gave
+her a hearty welcome, but she seemed somewhat heavy-hearted, and
+when he saw that he said to her, "I have seen thee with a merrier
+face.  Hast thou anything on thy mind?"
+
+She began to weep, and answered nothing.  Then he said to her
+again.  "Why didst thou ride to the Thing, if thou wilt not tell
+me thy secret?  Dost thou dislike living away there in the west?"
+
+Then she answered him, "I would give all I own in the world that
+I had never gone thither."
+
+"Well!" said Mord, "I'll soon get to the bottom of this."  Then
+be sends men to fetch Hauskuld and Hrut, and they came
+straightway; and when they came in to see Mord, he rose up to
+meet them and gave them a hearty welcome, and asked them to sit
+down.  Then they talked a long time in a friendly way, and at
+last Mord said to Hauskuld, "Why does my daughter think so ill of
+life in the west yonder?"
+
+"Let her speak out," said Hrut, "if she has anything to lay to my
+charge."
+
+But she brought no charge against him.  Then Hrut made them ask
+his neighbours and household how he treated her, and all bore him
+good witness, saying that she did just as she pleased in the
+house.
+
+Then Mord said, "Home thou shalt go, and be content with thy lot;
+for all the witness goes better for him than for thee."
+
+After that Hrut rode home from the Thing, and his wife with him,
+and all went smoothly between them that summer; but when spring
+came it was the old story over again, and things grew worse and
+worse as the spring went on.  Hrut had again a journey to make
+west to the Firths, and gave out that he would not ride to the
+Althing, but Unna his wife said little about it.  So Hrut went
+away west to the Firths.
+
+
+
+7. UNNA SEPARATES FROM HRUT
+
+Now the time for the Thing was coming on.  Unna spoke to Sigmund,
+Auzur's son, and asked if he would ride to the Thing with her; he
+said he could not ride if his kinsman Hrut set his face against
+it.
+
+"Well!" says she, "I spoke to thee because I have better right to
+ask this from thee than from any one else."
+
+He answered, "I will make a bargain with thee: thou must promise
+to ride back west with me, and to have no underhand dealings
+against Hrut or myself."
+
+So she promised that, and then they rode to the Thing.  Her
+father Mord was at the Thing, and was very glad to see her, and
+asked her to stay in his booth while the Thing lasted, and she
+did so.
+
+"Now," said Mord, "what hast thou to tell me of thy mate, Hrut?"
+
+Then she sung him a song, in which she praised Hrut's liberality,
+but said he was not master of himself.  She herself was ashamed
+to speak out.
+
+Mord was silent a short time, and then said, "Thou hast now that
+on thy mind I see, daughter, which thou dost not wish that any
+one should know save myself, and thou wilt trust to me rather
+than any one else to help thee out of thy trouble."
+
+Then they went aside to talk, to a place where none could
+overhear what they said; and then Mord said to his daughter,
+"Now, tell me all that is between you two, and don't make more of
+the matter than it is worth."
+
+"So it shall be," she answered, and sang two songs, in which she
+revealed the cause of their misunderstanding; and when Mord
+pressed her to speak out, she told him how she and Hrut could not
+live together, because he was spellbound, and that she wished to
+leave him.
+
+"Thou didst right to tell me all this," said Mord., "and now I
+will give thee a piece of advice, which will stand thee in good
+stead, if thou canst carry it out to the letter.  First of all,
+thou must ride home from the Thing, and by that time thy husband
+will have come back, and will be glad to see thee; thou must be
+blithe and buxom to him, and he will think a good change has come
+over thee, and thou must show no signs of coldness or ill-temper,
+but when spring comes thou must sham sickness, and take to thy
+bed.  Hrut will not lose time in guessing what thy sickness can
+be, nor will he scold thee at all, but he will rather beg every
+one to take all the care they can of thee.  After that he will
+set off west to the Firths, and Sigmund with him, for he will
+have to flit all his goods home from the Firths west, and he will
+be away till the summer is far spent.  But when men ride to the
+Thing, and after all have ridden from the Dales that mean to ride
+thither; then thou must rise from thy bed and summon men to go
+along with thee to the Thing; and when thou art "all-boun," then
+shalt thou go to thy bed, and the men with thee who are to bear
+thee company, and thou shalt take witness before thy husband's
+bed, and declare thyself separated from him by such a lawful
+separation as may hold good according to the judgment of the
+Great Thing, and the laws of the land; and at the man's door the
+main door of the house, thou shalt take the same witness.  After
+that ride away, and ride over Laxriverdale Heath, and so on over
+Holtbeacon Heath; for they will look for thee by way of
+Hrutfirth.  And so ride on till thou comest to me; then I will
+see after the matter.  But into his hands thou shalt never come
+more."
+
+Now she rides home from the Thing, and Hrut had come back before
+her, and made her hearty welcome.  She answered him kindly, and
+was blithe and forbearing towards him.  So they lived happily
+together that half-year; but when spring came she fell sick, and
+kept her bed.  Hrut set off west to the Firths, and bade them
+tend her well before he went.  Now, when the time for the Thing
+comes, she busked herself to ride away, and did in every way as
+had been laid down for her; and then she rides away to the Thing. 
+The country folk looked for her, but could not find her.  Mord
+made his daughter welcome, and asked her if she had followed his
+advice; and she says, "I have not broken one tittle of it."
+
+Then she went to the Hill of Laws, and declared herself separated
+from Hrut; and men thought this strange news.  Unna went home
+with her father, and never went west from that day forward.
+
+
+
+8. MORD CLAIMS HIS GOODS FROM HRUT
+
+Hrut came home, and knit his brows when he heard his wife was
+gone, but yet kept his feelings well in hand, and stayed at home
+all that half-year, and spoke to no one on the matter.  Next
+summer he rode to the Thing, with his brother Hauskuld, and they
+had a great fellowing.  But when he came to the Thing, he asked
+whether Fiddle Mord were at the Thing, and they told him he was;
+and all thought they would come to words at once about their
+matter, but it was not so.  At last, one day when the brothers
+and others who were at the Thing went to the Hill of Laws, Mord
+took witness and declared that he had a money-suit against Hrut
+for his daughter's dower, and reckoned the amount at ninety
+hundreds in goods, calling on Hrut at the same time to pay and
+hand it over to him, and asking for a fine of three marks.  He
+laid the suit in the Quarter Court, into which it would come by
+law, and gave lawful notice, so that all who stood on the Hill of
+Laws might hear.
+
+But when he had thus spoken, Hrut said, "Thou hast undertaken
+this suit, which belongs to thy daughter, rather for the greed of
+gain and love of strife than in kindliness and manliness.  But I
+shall have something to say against it; for the goods which
+belong to me are not yet in thy bands.  Now, what I have to say
+is this, and I say it out, so that all who hear me on this hill
+may bear witness: I challenge thee to fight on the island; there
+on one side shall be laid all thy daughter's dower, and on the
+other I will lay down goods worth as much, and whoever wins the
+day shall have both dower and goods; but if thou wilt not fight
+with me, then thou shalt give up all claim to these goods."
+
+Then Mord held his peace, and took counsel with his friends about
+going to fight on the island, and Jorund the priest gave him an
+answer.
+
+"There is no need for thee to come to ask us for counsel in this
+matter, for thou knowest if thou fightest with Hrut thou wilt
+lose both life and goods.  He has a good cause, and is besides
+mighty in himself and one of the boldest of men."
+
+Then Mord spoke out, that he would not fight with Hrut, and there
+arose a great shout and hooting on the hill, and Mord got the
+greatest shame by his suit.
+
+After that men ride home from the Thing, and those brothers
+Hauskuld and Hrut ride west to Reykriverdale, and turned in as
+guests at Lund, where Thiostolf, Bjorn Gullbera's son, then
+dwelt.  There had been much rain that day, and men got wet, so
+long-fires were made down the length of the hall.  Thiostolf, the
+master of the house, sat between Hauskuld and Hrut, and two boys,
+of whom Thiostolf had the rearing, were playing on the floor, and
+a girl was playing with them.  They were great chatterboxes, for
+they were too young to know better.  So one of them said, "Now I
+will be Mord, and summon thee to lose thy wife because thou hast
+not been a good husband to her."
+
+Then the other answered, "I will be Hrut, and I call on thee to
+give up all claim to thy goods, if thou darest not to fight with
+me."
+
+This they said several times, and all the household burst out
+laughing.  Then Hauskuld got wroth, and struck the boy who called
+himself Mord with a switch, and the blow fell on his face, and
+grazed the skin.
+
+"Get out with thee," said Hauskuld to the boy, "and make no game
+of us;" but Hrut said, "Come hitherto me," and the boy did so. 
+Then Hrut drew a ring from his finger and gave it to him, and
+said, "Go away, and try no man's temper henceforth."
+
+Then the boy went away saying, "Thy manliness I will bear in mind
+all my life."
+
+From this matter Hrut got great praise, and after that they went
+home; and that was the end of Mord's and Hrut's quarrel,
+
+
+
+9. THORWALD GETS HALLGERDA TO WIFE
+
+Now, it must be told how Hallgerda, Hauskuld's daughter, grows
+up, and is the fairest of women to look on; she was tall of
+stature, too, and therefore she was called "Longcoat."  She was
+fair-haired, and had so much of it that she could hide herself in
+it; but she was layish and hard-hearted.  Her foster-father's
+name was Thiostolf: he was a Southislander (1) by stock: he was a
+strong man, well skilled in arms, and had slain many men, and
+made no atonement in money for one of them.  It was said, too,
+that his rearing had not bettered Hallgerda's temper.
+
+There was a man named Thorwald; he was Oswif's son, and dwelt out
+on Middlefells strand, under the Fell.  He was rich and well to
+do, and owned the islands called Bearisles, which lie out in
+Broadfirth, whence he got meal and stock fish.  This Thorwald was
+a strong and courteous man, though somewhat hasty in temper. 
+Now, it fell out one day that Thorwald and his father were
+talking together of Thorwald's marrying, and where he had best
+look for a wife, and it soon came out that he thought there
+wasn't a match fit for him far or near.
+
+"Well," said Oswif, "wilt thou ask for Hallgerda Longcoat,
+Hauskuld's daughter."
+
+"Yes!  I will ask for her," said Thorwald.
+
+"But that is not a match that will suit either of you," Oswif
+went on to say, "for she has a will of her own, and thou art
+stern-tempered and unyielding."
+
+"For all that I will try my luck there," said Thorwald, "so it's
+no good trying to hinder me."
+
+"Ay!" said Oswif, "and the risk is all thine own."
+
+After that they set off on a wooing journey to Hauskuldstede, and
+had a hearty welcome.  They were not long in telling Hauskuld
+their business, and began to woo; then Hauskuld answered, "As for
+you, I know how you both stand in the world, but for my own part
+I will use no guile towards you.  My daughter has a hard temper,
+but as to her looks and breeding you can both see for
+yourselves."
+
+"Lay down the terms of the match," answered Thorwald, "for I will
+not let her temper stand in the way of our bargain."
+
+Then they talked over the terms of the bargain, and Hauskuld
+never asked his daughter what she thought of it, for his heart
+was set on giving her away and so they came to an understanding
+as to the terms of the match.  After that Thorwald betrothed
+himself to Hallgerda, and rode away home when the matter was
+settled.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  That is, he came from what we call the Western Isles or
+     Hebrides.  The old appellation still lingers in "Sodor (i.e.
+     the South Isles) and Man."
+
+
+
+10. HALLGERDA'S WEDDING
+
+Hauskuld told Hallgerda of the bargain he had made, and she said,
+"Now that has been put to the proof which I have all along been
+afraid of, that thou lovest me not so much as thou art always
+saying, when thou hast not thought it worth while to tell me a
+word of all this matter.  Besides, I do not think this match so
+good a one as thou hast always promised me."
+
+So she went on, and let them know in every way that she thought
+she was thrown away.
+
+Then Hauskuld said, "I do not set so much store by thy pride as
+to let it stand in the way of my bargains; and my will, not
+thine, shall carry the day if we fall out on any point."
+
+"The pride of all you kinsfolk is great," she said, "and so it is
+not wonderful if I have some of it."
+
+With that she went away, and found her foster-father Thiostolf,
+and told him what was in store for her, and was very heavy-
+hearted.  Then Thiostolf said, "Be of good cheer, for thou wilt
+be married a second time, and then they will ask thee what thou
+thinkest of the match; for I will do in all things as thou
+wishest, except in what touches thy father or Hrut."
+
+After that they spoke no more of the matter, and Hauskuld made
+ready the bridal feast, and rode off to ask men to it.  So he
+came to Hrutstede and called Hrut out to speak with him.  Hrut
+went out, and they began to talk, and Hauskuld told him the whole
+story of the bargain, and bade him to the feast, saying, "I
+should be glad to know that thou dost not feel hurt though I did
+not tell thee when the bargain was being made.
+
+"I should be better pleased," said Hrut "to have nothing at all
+to do with it; for this match will bring luck neither to him nor
+to her; but still I will come to the feast if thou thinkest it
+will add any honour to thee."
+
+"Of course I think so," said Hauskuld, and rode off home.
+
+Oswif and Thorwald also asked men to come, so that no fewer than
+one hundred guests were asked.
+
+There was a man named Swan, who dwelt in Bearfirth, which lies
+north from Steingrimsfirth.  This Swan was a great wizard, and he
+was Hallgerda's mother's brother.  He was quarrelsome, and hard
+to deal with, but Hallgerda asked him to the feast, and sends
+Thiostolf to him; so he went, and it soon got to friendship
+between him and Swan.
+
+Now men come to the feast, and Hallgerda sat upon the cross-
+bench, and she was a very merry bride.  Thiostolf was always
+talking to her, though he sometimes found time to speak to Swan,
+and men thought their talking strange.  The feast went off well,
+and Hauskuld paid down Hallgerda's portion with the greatest
+readiness.  After he had done that, he said to Hrut, "Shall I
+bring out any gifts beside?"
+
+"The day will come," answered Hrut, "when thou wilt have to waste
+thy goods for Hallgerda's sake, so hold thy hand now."
+
+
+
+11. THORWALD'S SLAYING
+
+Throwald rode home from the bridal feast, and his wife with him,
+and Thiostolf, who rode by her horse's side, and still talked to
+her in a low voice.  Oswif turned to his son and said, "Art thou
+pleased with thy match?  and how went it when ye talked
+together."
+
+"Well," said he, "she showed all kindness to me.  Thou mightst
+see that by the way she laughs at every word I say."
+
+"I don't think her laughter so hearty as thou dost," answered
+Oswif, "but this will be put to the proof by and by."
+
+So they ride on till they come home, and at night she took her
+seat by her husband's side, and made room for Thiostolf next
+herself on the inside.  Thiostolf and Thorwald had little to do
+with each other, and few words were thrown away between them that
+winter, and so time went on.  Hallgerda was prodigal and
+grasping, and there was nothing that any of their neighbours had
+that she must not have too, and all that she had, no matter
+whether it were her own or belonged to others she wasted.  But
+when the spring came there was a scarcity in the house, both of
+meal and stock fish, so Hallgerda went up to Thorwald and said,
+"Thou must not be sitting in-doors any longer, for we want for
+the house both meal and fish.
+
+"Well," said Thorwald, "I did not lay in less for the house this
+year than I laid in before, and then it used to last till
+summer."
+
+"What care I," said Hallgerda, "if thou and thy father have made
+your money by starving yourselves."
+
+Then Thorwald got angry and gave her a blow on the face and drew
+blood, and went away and called his men and ran the skiff down to
+the shore.  Then six of them jumped into her and rowed out to the
+Bear-isles, and began to load her with meal and fish.
+
+Meantime it is said that Hallgerda sat out of doors heavy at
+heart.  Thiostolf went up to her and saw the wound on her face,
+and said, "Who has been playing thee this sorry trick?"
+
+"My husband, Thorwald," she said, "and thou stoodst aloof, though
+thou wouldst not if thou hadst cared at all for me."
+
+"Because I knew nothing about it," said Thiostolf, "but I will
+avenge it."
+
+Then he went away down to the shore and ran out a six-oared boat,
+and held in his hand a great axe that he had with a haft overlaid
+with iron.  He steps into the boat and rows out to the
+Bear-isles, and when he got there all the men had rowed away but
+Thorwald and his followers, and he stayed by the skiff to load
+her, while they brought the goods down to him.  So Thiostolf came
+up just then and jumped into the skiff, and began to load with
+him, and after a while he said, "Thou canst do but little at this
+work, and that little thou dost badly."
+
+"Thinkst thou thou canst do it better," said Thorwald.
+
+"There's one thing to be done which I can do better than thou,"
+said Thiostolf, and then he went on, "The woman who is thy wife
+has made a bad match, and you shall not live much longer
+together."
+
+Then Thorwald snatched up a fishing-knife that lay by him, and
+made a stab at Thiostolf; he had lifted his axe to his shoulder
+and dashed it down.  It came on Thorwald's arm and crushed the
+wrist, but down fell the knife.  Then Thiostolf lifted up his axe
+a second time and gave Thorwald a blow on the head, and he fell
+dead on the spot.
+
+
+
+12. THIOSTOLF'S FLIGHT
+
+While this was going on, Thorwald's men came down with their
+load, but Thiostolf was not slow in his plans.  He hewed with
+both hands at the gunwale of the skiff and cut it down about two
+planks; then he leapt into his boat, but the dark blue sea poured
+into the skiff, and down she went with all her freight.  Down too
+sank Thorwald's body, so that his men could not see what had been
+done to him, but they knew well enough that he was dead. 
+Thiostolf rowed away up the firth, but they shouted after him
+wishing him ill luck.  He made them no answer, but rowed on till
+he got home, and ran the boat up on the beach, and went up to the
+house with his axe, all bloody as it was, on his shoulder. 
+Hallgerda stood out of doors, and said, "Thine axe is bloody;
+what hast thou done?"
+
+"I have done now what will cause thee to be wedded a second
+time."
+
+"Thou tellest me then that Thorwald is dead," she said.
+
+"So it is," said he, "and now look out for my safety."
+
+"So I will," she said; "I will send thee north to Bearfirth, to
+Swanshol, and Swan, my kinsman, will receive thee with open arms. 
+He is so mighty a man that no one will seek thee thither."
+
+So he saddled a horse that she had, and jumped on his back, and
+rode off north to Bearfirth, to Swanshol, and Swan received him
+with open arms, and said: "That's what I call a man who does not
+stick at trifles!  And now I promise thee if they seek thee here,
+they shall get nothing but the greatest shame."
+
+Now, the story goes back to Hallgerda, and how she behaved.  She
+called on Liot the Black, her kinsman, to go with her, and bade
+him saddle their horses, for she said, "I will ride home to my
+father."
+
+While he made ready for their journey, she went to her chests and
+unlocked them and called all the men of her house about her, and
+gave each of them some gift; but they all grieved at her going. 
+Now she rides home to her father; and he received her well, for
+as yet he had not heard the news.  But Hrut said to Hallgerda,
+"Why did not Thorwald come with thee?" and she answered, "He is
+dead."
+
+Then said Hauskuld, "That was Thiostolf's doing."
+
+"It was," she said.
+
+"Ah!" said Hauskuld, "Hrut was not far wrong when he told me that
+this bargain would draw mickle misfortune after it.  But there's
+no good in troubling one's self about a thing that's done and
+gone."
+
+Now, the story must go back to Thorwald's mates, how there they
+are, and how they begged the loan of a boat to get to the
+mainland.  So a boat was lent them at once, and they rowed up the
+firth to Reykianess, and found Oswif, and told him these tidings.
+
+He said, "Ill luck is the end of ill redes, and now I see how it
+has all gone.  Hallgerda must have sent Thiostolf to Bearfirth,
+but she herself must have ridden home to her father.  Let us now
+gather folk and follow him up thither north." So they did that,
+and went about asking for help, and got together many men.  And
+then they all rode off to Steingrims river, and so on to
+Liotriverdale and Selriverdale, till they came to Bearfirth.
+
+Now Swan began to speak, and gasped much.  "Now Oswif's fetches
+are seeking us out."  Then up sprung Thiostolf, but Swan said,
+"Go thou out with me, there won't be need of much."  So they went
+out both of them, and Swan took a goatskin and wrapped it about
+his own head, and said, "Become mist and fog, become fright and
+wonder mickle to all those who seek thee."
+
+Now, it must be told how Oswif, his friends, and his men are
+riding along the ridge; then came a great mist against them, and
+Oswif said, "This is Swan's doing; 'twere well if nothing worse
+followed."  A little after a mighty darkness came before their
+eyes, so that they could see nothing, and then they fell off
+their horses' backs, and lost their horses, and dropped their
+weapons, and went over head and ears into bogs, and some went
+astray into the wood, till they were on the brink of bodily harm. 
+Then Oswif said, "If I could only find my horse and weapons, then
+I'd turn back;" and he hid scarce spoken these words than they
+saw somewhat, and found their horses and weapons.  Then many
+still egged the others on to look after the chase once more; and
+so they did, and at once the same wonders befell them, and so
+they fared thrice.  Then Oswif said, "Though the course be not
+good, let us still turn back.  Now, we will take counsel a second
+time, and what now pleases my mind best, is to go and find
+Hauskuld, and ask atonement for my son; for there's no hope of
+honour where there's good store of it."
+
+So they rode thence to the Broadfirth dales, and there is nothing
+to be told about them till they came to Hauskuldstede, and Hrut
+was there before them.  Oswif called out Hauskuld and Hrut, and
+they both went out and bade him good day.  After that they began
+to talk.  Hauskuld asked Oswif whence he came.  He said he had
+set out to search for Thiostolf, but couldn't find him.  Hauskuld
+said he must have gone north to Swanshol, "and thither it is not
+every man's lot to go to find him."
+
+"Well," says Oswif, "I am come hither for this, to ask atonement
+for my son from thee."
+
+Hauskuld answered, "I did not slay thy son, nor did I plot his
+death; still it may be forgiven thee to look for atonement
+somewhere."
+
+"Nose is next of kin, brother, to eyes," said Hrut, "and it is
+needful to stop all evil tongues, and to make him atonement for
+his son, and so mend thy daughter's state, for that will only be
+the case when this suit is dropped, and the less that is said
+about it the better it will be."
+
+Hauskuld said, "Wilt thou undertake the award?"
+
+"That I will," says Hrut, "nor will I shield thee at all in my
+award; for if the truth must be told thy daughter planned his
+death."
+
+Then Hrut held his peace some little while, and afterwards he
+stood up, and said to Oswif, "Take now my hand in handsel as a
+token that thou lettest the suit drop."
+
+So Oswif stood up and said, "This is not an atonement on equal
+terms when thy brother utters the award, but still thou (speaking
+to Hrut) hast behaved so well about it that I trust thee
+thoroughly to make it."  Then he stood up and took Hauskuld's
+band, and came to an atonement in the matter, on the
+understanding that Hrut was to make up his mind and utter the
+award before Oswif went away.  After that, Hrut made his award,
+and said, "For the slaying of Thorwald I award two hundred in
+silver" -- that was then thought a good price for a man -- "and
+thou shalt pay it down at once, brother, and pay it too with an
+open hand."
+
+Hauskuld did so, and then Hrut said to Oswif, "I will give thee a
+good cloak which I brought with me from foreign lands."
+
+He thanked him for his gift, and went home well pleased at the
+way in which things had gone.
+
+After that Hauskuld and Hrut came to Oswif to share the goods,
+and they and Oswif came to a good agreement about that too, and
+they went home with their share of the goods, and Oswif is now
+out of our story.  Hallgerda begged Hauskuld to let her come back
+home to him, and he gave her leave, and for a long time there was
+much talk about Thorwald's slaying.  As for Hallgerda's goods
+they went on growing till they were worth a great sum.
+
+
+
+13. GLUM'S WOOING
+
+Now three brothers are named in the story.  One was called
+Thorarin, the second Ragi, and the third Glum.  They were the
+sons of Olof the Halt, and were men of much worth and of great
+wealth in goods.  Thorarin's surname was Ragi's brother; he had
+the Speakership of the Law after Rafn Heing's son.  He was a very
+wise man, and lived at Varmalek, and he and Glum kept house
+together.  Glum had been long abroad; he was a tall, strong,
+handsome man.  Ragi their brother was a great manslayer.  Those
+brothers owned in the south Engey and Laugarness.  One day the
+brothers Thorarin and Glum were talking together, and Thorarin
+asked Glum whether he meant to go abroad, as was his wont?
+
+He answered, "I was rather thinking now of leaving off trading
+voyages."
+
+"What hast thou then in thy mind?  Wilt thou woo thee a wife?"
+
+"That I will," says he, "if I could only get myself well
+matched."
+
+Then Thorarin told off all the women who were unwedded in
+Borgarfirth, and asked him if he would have any of these, "Say
+the word, and I will ride with thee!"
+
+But Glum answered, "I will have none of these."
+
+"Say then the name of her thou wishest to have," says Thorarin.
+
+Glum answered, "If thou must know, her name is Hallgerda, and she
+is Hauskuld's daughter away west in the dales."
+
+"Well," says Thorarin, "'tis not with thee as the saw says, `be
+warned by another's woe'; for she was wedded to a man, and she
+plotted his death."
+
+Glum said, "Maybe such ill-luck will not befall her a second
+time, and sure I am she will not plot my death.  But now, if thou
+wilt show me any honour, ride along with me to woo her."
+
+Thorarin said, "There's no good striving against it, for what
+must be is sure to happen."  Glum often talked the matter over
+with Thorarin, but he put it off a long time.  At last it came
+about that they gathered men together and rode off ten in
+company, west to the dales, and came to Hauskuldstede.  Hauskuld
+gave them a hearty welcome, and they stayed there that night. 
+But early next morning, Hauskuld sends for Hrut, and he came
+thither at once: and Hauskuld was out of doors when he rode into
+the "town".  Then Hauskuld told Hrut what men had come thither.
+
+"What may it be they want?" asked Hrut.
+
+"As yet," says Hauskuld, "they have not let out to me that they
+have any business."
+
+"Still," says Hrut, "their business must be with thee.  They will
+ask the hand of thy daughter, Hallgerda.  If they do, what answer
+wilt thou make?"
+
+"What dost thou advise me to say?" says Hauskuld.
+
+"Thou shalt answer well," says Hrut; "but still make a clean
+breast of all the good and all the ill thou knowest of the
+woman."
+
+But while the brothers were talking thus, out came the guests. 
+Hauskuld greeted them well, and Hrut bade both Thorarin and his
+brothers good morning.  After that they all began to talk, and
+Thorarin said, "I am come hither, Hauskuld, with my brother Glum
+on this errand, to ask for Hallgerda thy daughter, at the hand of
+my brother Glum.  Thou must know that he is a man of worth."
+
+"I know well," says Hauskuld, "that ye are both of you powerful
+and worthy men; but I must tell you right out, that I chose a
+husband for her before, and that turned out most unluckily for
+us."
+
+Thorarin answered, "We will not let that stand in the way of the
+bargain; for one oath shall not become all oaths, and this may
+prove to be a good match, though that turned out ill; besides
+Thiostolf had most hand in spoiling it."
+
+Then Hrut spoke: "Now I will give you a bit of advice -- this: if
+ye will not let all this that has already happened to Hallgerda
+stand in the way of the match, mind you do not let Thiostolf go
+south with her if the match comes off, and that he is never there
+longer than three nights at a time, unless Glum gives him leave,
+but fall an outlaw by Glum's hand without atonement if he stay
+there longer.  Of course, it shall be in Glum's power to give him
+leave; but he will not if he takes my advice.  And now this match
+shall not be fulfilled, as the other was, without Hallgerda's
+knowledge.  She shall now know the whole course of this bargain,
+and see Glum, and herself settle whether she will have him or
+not; and then she will not be able to lay the blame on others if
+it does not turn out well.  And all this shall be without craft
+or guile."
+
+Then Thorarin said, "Now, as always, it will prove best if thy
+advice be taken."
+
+Then they sent for Hallgerda, and she came thither, and two women
+with her.  She had on a cloak of rich blue woof, and under it a
+scarlet kirtle, and a silver girdle round her waist, but her hair
+came down on both sides of her bosom, and she had turned the
+locks up under her girdle.  She sat down between Hrut and her
+father, and she greeted them all with kind words, and spoke well
+and boldly, and asked what was the news.  After that she ceased
+speaking.
+
+Then Glum said, "There has been some talk between thy father and
+my brother Thorarin and myself about a bargain.  It was that I
+might get thee, Hallgerda, if it be thy will, as it is theirs;
+and now, if thou art a brave woman, thou wilt say right out
+whether the match is at all to thy mind; but if thou hast
+anything in thy heart against this bargain with us, then we will
+not say anything more about it."
+
+Hallgerda said, "I know well that you are men of worth and might,
+ye brothers.  I know too that now I shall be much better wedded
+than I was before; but what I want to know is, what you have said
+already about the match, and how far you have given your words in
+the matter.  But so far as I now see of thee, I think I might
+love thee well if we can but hit it off as to temper."
+
+So Glum himself told her all about the bargain, and left nothing
+out, and then he asked Hauskuld and Hrut whether he had repeated
+it right.  Hauskuld said he had; and then Hallgerda said, "Ye
+have dealt so well with me in this matter, my father and Hrut,
+that I will do what ye advise, and this bargain shall be struck
+as ye have settled it."
+
+Then Hrut said, "Methinks it were best that Hauskuld and I should
+name witnesses, and that Hallgerda should betroth herself, if the
+Lawman thinks that right and lawful.
+
+"Right and lawful it is," says Thorarin.
+
+After that Hallgerda's goods were valued, and Glum was to lay
+down as much against them, and they were to go shares, half and
+half, in the whole.  Then Glum bound himself to Hallgerda as his
+betrothed, and they rode away home south; but Hauskuld was to
+keep the wedding-feast at his house.  And now all is quiet till
+men ride to the wedding.
+
+
+
+14. GLUM'S WEDDING
+
+Those brothers gathered together a great company, and they were
+all picked men.  They rode west to the dales and came to
+Hauskuldstede, and there they found a great gathering to meet
+them.  Hauskuld and Hrut, and their friends, filled one bench,
+and the bridegroom the other.  Hallgerda sat upon the cross bench
+on the dais, and behaved well.  Thiostolf went about with his axe
+raised in air, and no one seemed to know that he was there, and
+so the wedding went off well.  But when the feast was over,
+Hallgerda went away south with Glum and his brothers.  So when
+they came south to Varmalek, Thorarin asked Hallgerda if she
+would undertake the housekeeping.  "No, I will not," she said. 
+Hallgerda kept her temper down that winter, and they liked her
+well enough.  But when the spring came, the brothers talked about
+their property, and Thorarin said, "I will give up to you the
+house at Varmalek, for that is readiest to your hand, and I will
+go down south to Laugarness and live there, but Engey we will
+have both of us in common."
+
+Glum was willing enough to do that.  So Thorarin went down to the
+south of that district, and Glum and his wife stayed behind
+there, and lived in the house at Varmalek.
+
+Now Hallgerda got a household about her; she was prodigal in
+giving, and grasping in getting.  In the summer she gave birth to
+a girl.  Glum asked her what name it was to have?
+
+"She shall be called after my father's mother, and her name shall
+be Thorgerda," for she came down from Sigurd Fafnir's-bane on the
+father's side, according to the family pedigree. 
+
+So the maiden was sprinkled with water, and had this name given
+her, and there she grew up, and got like her mother in looks and
+feature.  Glum and Hallgerda agreed well together, and so it went
+on for a while.  About that time these tidings were heard from
+the north and Bearfirth, how Swan had rowed out to fish in the
+spring, and a great storm came down on him from the east, and how
+he was driven ashore at Fishless, and he and his men were there
+lost.  But the fishermen who were at Kalback thought they saw
+Swan go into the fell at Kalbackshorn, and that he was greeted
+well; but some spoke against that story, and said there was
+nothing in it.  But this all knew that he was never seen again
+either alive or dead.  So when Hallgerda heard that, she thought
+she had a great loss in her mother's brother.  Glum begged
+Thorarin to change lands with him, but he said he would not;
+"but," said he, "if I outlive you, I mean to have Varmalek to
+myself."  When Glum told this to Hallgerda, she said, "Thorarin
+has indeed a right to expect this from us."
+
+
+
+15. THIOSTOLF GOES TO GLUM'S HOUSE
+
+Thiostolf had beaten one of Hauskuld's house-carles, so he drove
+him away.  He took his horse and weapons, and said to Hauskuld,
+"Now, I will go away and never come back."
+
+"All will be glad at that," says Hauskuld.
+
+Thiostolf rode till he came to Varmalek, and there he got a
+hearty welcome from Hallgerda, and not a bad one from Glum.  He
+told Hallgerda how her father had driven him away, and begged her
+to give him her help and countenance.  She answered him by
+telling him she could say nothing about his staying there before
+she had seen Glum about it.
+
+"Does it go well between you?" he says.
+
+"Yes," she says, "our love runs smooth enough."
+
+After that she went to speak to Glum, and threw her arms round
+his neck and said, "Wilt thou grant me a boon which I wish to ask
+of thee?"
+
+"Grant it I will," he says, "if it be right and seemly; but what
+is it thou wishest to ask?"
+
+"Well," she said, "Thiostolf has been driven away from the west,
+and what I want thee to do is to let him stay here; but I will
+not take it crossly if it is not to thy mind."
+
+Glum said, "Now that thou behavest so well, I will grant thee thy
+boon; but I tell thee, if he takes to any ill he shall be sent
+off at once."
+
+She goes then to Thiostolf and tells him, and he answered, "Now,
+thou art still good, as I had hoped."
+
+After that he was there, and kept himself down a little while,
+but then it was the old story, he seemed to spoil all the good he
+found; for he gave way to no one save to Hallgerda alone, but she
+never took his side in his brawls with others.  Thorarin, Glum's
+brother, blamed him for letting him be there, and said ill luck
+would come of it, and all would happen as had happened before if
+he were there.  Glum answered him well and kindly, but still kept
+on in his own way.
+
+
+
+16. GLUM'S SHEEP HUNT
+
+Now once on a time when autumn came, it happened that men had
+hard work to get their flocks home, and many of Glum's wethers
+were missing.  Then Glum said to Thiostolf, "Go thou up on the
+fell with my house-carles and see if ye cannot find out anything
+about the sheep."
+
+"'Tis no business of mine," says Thiostolf, "to hunt up sheep,
+and this one thing is quite enough to hinder it.  I won't walk in
+thy thralls' footsteps.  But go thyself, and then I'll go with
+thee."
+
+About this they had many words.  The weather was good, and
+Hallgerda was sitting out of doors.  Glum went up to her and
+said, "Now Thiostolf and I have had a quarrel, and we shall not
+live much longer together."  And so he told her all that they had
+been talking about.
+
+Then Hallgerda spoke up for Thiostolf, and they had many words
+about him.  At last Glum gave her a blow with his hand, and said,
+"I will strive no longer with thee," and with that he went away.
+
+Now she loved him much, and could not calm herself, but wept out
+loud.  Thiostolf went up to her and said, "This is sorry sport
+for thee, and so it must not be often again."
+
+"Nay," she said, "but thou shalt not avenge this, nor meddle at
+all whatever passes between Glum and me."
+
+He went off with a spiteful grin.
+
+
+
+17. GLUM'S SLAYING
+
+Now Glum called men to follow him, and Thiostolf got ready and
+went with them.  So they went up South Reykiardale and then up
+along by Baugagil and so south to Crossfell.  But some of his
+band he sent to the Sulafells, and they all found very many
+sheep.  Some of them, too, went by way of Scoradale, and it came
+about at last that those twain, Glum and Thiostolf, were left
+alone together.  They went south from Crossfell and found there a
+flock of wild sheep, and they went from the south towards the
+fell, and tried to drive them down; but still the sheep got away
+from them up on the fell.  Then each began to scold the other,
+and Thiostolf said at last that Glum had no strength save to
+tumble about in Hallgerda's arms.
+
+Then Glum said, "`A man's foes are those of his own house.' 
+Shall I take upbraiding from thee, runaway thrall as thou art?"
+
+Thiostolf said, "Thou shalt soon have to own that I am no thrall,
+for I will not yield an inch to thee."
+
+Then Glum got angry, and cut at him with his hand-axe, but he
+threw his axe in the way, and the blow fell on the haft with a
+downward stroke and bit into it about the breadth of two fingers. 
+Thiostolf cut at him at once with his axe, and smote him on the
+shoulder, and the stroke hewed asunder the shoulderbone and
+collarbone, and the wound bled inwards.  Glum grasped at
+Thiostolf with his left hand so fast, that he fell; but Glum
+could not hold him, for death came over him.  Then Thiostolf
+covered his body with stones, and took off his gold ring.  Then
+he went straight to Varmalek.  Hallgerda was sitting out of
+doors, and saw that his axe was bloody.  He said, "I know not
+what thou wilt think of it, but I tell thee Glum is slain."
+
+"That must be thy deed," she says.
+
+"So it is," he says.
+
+She laughed and said, "Thou dost not stand for nothing in this
+sport."
+
+"What thinkest thou is best to be done now?" he asked.
+
+"Go to Hrut, my father's brother," she said, "and let him see
+about thee."
+
+"I do not know," says Thiostolf, "whether this is good advice;
+but still I will take thy counsel in this matter."
+
+So he took his horse, and rode west to Hrutstede that night.  He
+binds his horse at the back of the house, and then goes round to
+the door, and gives a great knock.  After that he walks round the
+house, north about.  It happened that Hrut was awake.  He sprang
+up at once, and put on his jerkin and pulled on his shoes.  Then
+he took up his sword, and wrapped a cloak about his left arm, up
+as far as the elbow.  Men woke up just as he went out; there he
+saw a tall stout man at the back of the house, and knew it was
+Thiostolf.  Hrut asked him what news?
+
+"I tell thee Glum is slain." says Thiostolf.
+
+"Who did the deed?" says Hrut.
+
+"I slew him," says Thiostolf.
+
+"Why rodest thou hither?" says Hrut.
+
+"Hallgerda sent me to thee," says Thiostolf.
+
+"Then she has no hand in this deed," says Hrut, and drew his
+sword.  Thiostolf saw that, and would not be behind hand, so he
+cuts at Hrut at once.  Hrut got out of the way of the stroke by a
+quick turn, and at the same time struck the back of the axe so
+smartly with a side-long blow of his left hand, that it flew out
+of Thiostolf's grasp.  Then Hrut made a blow with his sword in
+his right hand at Thiostolf's leg, just above the knee, and cut
+it almost off so that it hung by a little piece, and sprang in
+upon him at the same time, and thrust him hard back.  After that
+he smote him on the head, and dealt him his death-blow. 
+Thiostolf fell down on his back at full length, and then out came
+Hrut's men, and saw the tokens of the deed.  Hrut made them take
+Thiostolf away, and throw stones over his body, and then he went
+to find Hauskuld, and told him of Glum's slaying, and also of
+Thiostolf's.  He thought it harm that Glum was dead and gone, but
+thanked him for killing Thiostolf.  A little while after,
+Thorarin Ragi's brother hears of his brother Glum's death, then
+he rides with eleven men behind him west to Hauskuldstede, and
+Hauskuld welcomed him with both hands, and he is there the night. 
+Hauskuld sent at once for Hrut to come to him, and he went at
+once, and next day they spoke much of the slaying of Glum, and
+Thorarin said "Wilt thou make me any atonement for my brother,
+for I have had a great loss?"
+
+Hauskuld answered, "I did not slay thy brother, nor did my
+daughter plot his death; but as soon as ever Hrut knew it he slew
+Thiostolf."
+
+Then Thorarin held his peace, and thought the matter had taken a
+bad turn.  But Hrut said, "Let us make his journey good; he has
+indeed had a heavy loss, and if we do that we shall be well
+spoken of.  So let us give him gifts, and then he will be our
+friend ever afterwards."
+
+So the end of it was, that those brothers gave him gifts, and he
+rode back south.  He and Hallgerda changed homesteads in the
+spring, and she went south to Laugarness and he to Varmalek.  And
+now Thorarin is out of the story.
+
+
+
+18. FIDDLE MORD'S DEATH
+
+Now it must be told how Fiddle Mord took a sickness and breathed
+his last; and that was thought great scathe.  His daughter Unna
+took all the goods he left behind him.  She was then still
+unmarried the second time.  She was very layish, and unthrifty of
+her property; so that her goods and ready money wasted away, and
+at last she had scarce anything left but land and stock.
+
+
+
+19. GUNNAR COMES INTO THE STORY
+
+There was a man whose name was Gunnar.  He was one of Unna's
+kinsmen, and his mother's name was Rannveig (1).  Gunnar's father
+was named Hamond (2).  Gunnar Hamond's son dwelt at Lithend, in
+the Fleetlithe.  He was a tall man in growth, and a strong man --
+best skilled in arms of all men.  He could cut or thrust or shoot
+if he chose as well with his left as with his right hand, and he
+smote so swiftly with his sword, that three seemed to flash
+through the air at once.  He was the best shot with the bow of
+all men, and never missed his mark.  He could leap more than his
+own height, with all his war-gear, and as far backwards as
+forwards.  He could swim like a seal, and there was no game in
+which it was any good for any one to strive with him; and so it
+has been said that no man was his match.  He was handsome of
+feature, and fair skinned.  His nose was straight, and a little
+turned up at the end.  He was blue-eyed and bright-eyed, and
+ruddy-cheeked.  His hair thick, and of good hue, and hanging down
+in comely curls.  The most courteous of men was he, of sturdy
+frame and strong will, bountiful and gentle, a fast friend, but
+hard to please when making them.  He was wealthy in goods.  His
+brother's name was Kolskegg; he was a tall strong man, a noble
+fellow, and undaunted in everything.  Another brother's name was
+Hjort; he was then in his childhood.  Orm Skogarnef was a base-
+born brother of Gunnar's; he does not come into this story. 
+Arnguda was the name of Gunnar's sister.  Hroar, the priest at
+Tongue, had her to wife (3).
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  She was the daughter of Sigfuss, the son of Sighvat the Red;
+     he was slain at Sandhol Ferry.
+(2)  He was the son of Gunnar Baugsson, after whom Gunnar's holt
+     is called.  Hamond's mother's name was Hrafnhilda.  She was
+     the daughter of Storolf Heing's son.  Storolf was brother to
+     Hrafn the Speaker of the Law, the son of Storolf was Orin
+     the Strong.
+(3)  He was the son of Uni the Unborn, Gardar's son who found
+     Iceland.  Arnguda's son was Hamond the Halt, who dwelt at
+     Hamondstede.
+
+
+
+20. OF NJAL AND HIS CHILDREN
+
+There was a man whose name was Njal.  He was the son of Thorgeir
+Gelling, the son of Thorolf.  Njal's mother's name was Asgerda
+(1).  Njal dwelt at Bergthorsknoll in the land-isles; he had
+another homestead on Thorolfsfell.  Njal was wealthy in goods,
+and handsome of face; no beard grew on his chin.  He was so great
+a lawyer, that his match was not to be found.  Wise too he was,
+and foreknowing and foresighted (2).  Of good counsel, and ready
+to give it, and all that he advised men was sure to be the best
+for them to do.  Gentle and generous, he unravelled every man's
+knotty points who came to see him about them.  Bergthora was his
+wife's name; she was Skarphedinn's daughter, a very high-
+spirited, brave-hearted woman, but somewhat hard-tempered.  They
+had six children, three daughters and three sons, and they all
+come afterwards into this story.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  She was the daughter of Lord Ar the Silent.  She had come
+     out hither to Iceland from Norway, and taken land to the
+     west of Markfleet, between Auldastone and Selialandsmull. 
+     Her son was Holt-Thorir, the father of Thorleif Crow, from
+     whom the Wood-dwellers are sprung, and of Thorgrim the Tall,
+     and Skorargeir.
+(2)  This means that Njal was one of those gifted beings who,
+     according to the firm belief of that age, had a more than
+     human insight into things about to happen.  It answers very
+     nearly to the Scottish "second sight."
+
+
+
+21. UNNA GOES TO SEE GUNNAR
+
+Now it must be told how Unna had lost all her ready money.  She
+made her way to Lithend, and Gunnar greeted his kinswoman well. 
+She stayed there that night, and the next morning they sat out of
+doors and talked.  The end of their talk was, that she told him
+how heavily she was pressed for money.
+
+"This is a bad business," he said.
+
+"What help wilt thou give me out of my distress?" she asked.
+
+He answered, "Take as much money as thou needest from what I have
+out at interest."
+
+"Nay," she said, "I will not waste thy goods."
+
+"What then dost thou wish?"
+
+"I wish thee to get back my goods out of Hrut's hands," she
+answered.
+
+"That, methinks, is not likely," said he, "when thy father could
+not get them back, and yet he was a great lawyer, but I know
+little about law."
+
+She answered, "Hrut pushed that matter through rather by boldness
+than by law; besides, my father was old, and that was why men
+thought it better not to drive things to the uttermost.  And now
+there is none of my kinsmen to take this suit up if thou hast not
+daring enough.
+
+"I have courage enough," he replied, "to get these goods back;
+but I do not know how to take the suit up."
+
+"Well!" she answered, "go and see Njal of Bergthorsknoll, he will
+know how to give thee advice.  Besides, he is a great friend of
+thine."
+
+"'Tis like enough he will give me good advice, as he gives it to
+every one else," says Gunnar.
+
+So the end of their talk was, that Gunnar undertook her cause,
+and gave her the money she needed for her housekeeping, and after
+that she went home.
+
+Now Gunnar rides to see Njal, and he made him welcome, and they
+began to talk at once.
+
+Then Gunnar said, "I am come to seek a bit of good advice from
+thee."
+
+Njal replied, "Many of my friends are worthy of this, but still I
+think I would take more pains for none than for thee."
+
+Gunnar said, "I wish to let thee know that I have undertaken to
+get Unna's goods back from Hrut."
+
+"A very hard suit to undertake," said Njal, "and one very
+hazardous how it will go; but still I will get it up for thee in
+the way I think likeliest to succeed, and the end will be good if
+thou breakest none of the rules I lay down; if thou dost, thy
+life is in danger."
+
+"Never fear; I will break none of them," said Gunnar.
+
+Then Njal held his peace for a little while, and after that he
+spoke as follows: --
+
+
+
+22. NJAL'S ADVICE
+
+I have thought over the suit, and it will do so.  Thou shalt ride
+from home with two men at thy back.  Over all thou shalt have a
+great rough cloak, and under that, a russet kirtle of cheap
+stuff, and under all, thy good clothes.  Thou must take a small
+axe in thy hand, and each of you must have two horses, one fat,
+the other lean.  Thou shalt carry hardware and smith's work with
+thee hence, and ye must ride off early to-morrow morning, and
+when ye are come across Whitewater westwards, mind and slouch thy
+hat well over thy brows.  Then men will ask who is this tall man,
+and thy mates shall say, `Here is Huckster Hedinn the Big, a man
+from Eyjafirth, who is going about with smith's work for sale.'
+This Hedinn is ill-tempered and a chatterer -- a fellow who
+thinks he alone knows everything.  Very often he snatches back
+his wares, and flies at men if everything is not done as he
+wishes.  So thou shalt ride west to Borgarfirth offering all
+sorts of wares for sale, and be sure often to cry off thy
+bargains, so that it will be noised abroad that Huckster Hedinn
+is the worst of men to deal with, and that no lies have been told
+of his bad behaviour.  So thou shalt ride to Northwaterdale, and
+to Hrutfirth, and Laxriverdale, till thou comest to
+Hauskuldstede.  There thou must stay a night, and sit in the
+lowest place, and hang thy head down.  Hauskuld will tell them
+all not to meddle nor make with Huckster Hedinn, saying he is a
+rude unfriendly fellow.  Next morning thou must be off early and
+go to the farm nearest Hrutstede.  There thou must offer thy
+goods for sale, praising up all that is worst, and tinkering up
+the faults.  The master of the house will pry about and find out
+the faults.  Thou must snatch the wares away from him, and speak
+ill to him.  He will say, 'twas not to be hoped that thou wouldst
+behave well to him, when thou behavest ill to every one else. 
+Then thou shalt fly at him, though it is not thy wont, but mind
+and spare thy strength, that thou mayest not be found out.  Then
+a man will be sent to Hrutstede to tell Hrut he had best come and
+part you.  He will come at once and ask thee to his house, and
+thou must accept his offer.  Thou shalt greet Hrut and he will
+answer well.  A place will be given thee on the lower bench over
+against Hrut's high seat.  He will ask if thou art from the
+North, and thou shalt answer that thou art a man of Eyjafirth. 
+He will go on to ask if there are very many famous men there. 
+`Shabby fellows enough and to spare,' thou must answer.  `Dost
+thou know Reykiardale and the parts about?' he will ask.  To
+which thou must answer, `I know all Iceland by heart.'
+
+"`Are there any stout champions left in Reykiardale?' he will
+ask.  `Thieves and scoundrels,' thou shalt answer.  Then Hrut
+will smile and think it sport to listen.  You two will go on to
+talk of the men in the Eastfirth Quarter, and thou must always
+find something to say against them.  At last your talk will come
+Rangrivervale, and then thou must say, there is small choice of
+men left in those parts since Fiddle Mord died.  At the same time
+sing some stave to please Hrut, for I know thou art a skald. 
+Hrut will ask what makes thee say there is never a man to come in
+Mord's place? and then thou must answer, that he was so wise a
+man and so good a taker up of suits, that he never made a false
+step in upholding his leadership.  He will ask, `Dost thou know
+how matters fared between me and him?'
+
+"`I know all about it,' thou must reply, `he took thy wife from
+thee, and thou hadst not a word to say.'"
+
+Then Hrut will ask, `Dost thou not think it was some disgrace to
+him when he could not get back his goods, though he set the suit
+on foot?'
+
+"`I can answer thee that well enough,' thou must say.  `Thou
+challengedst him to single combat; but he was old, and so his
+friends advised him not to fight with thee, and then they let the
+suit fall to the ground.'
+
+"`True enough,' Hrut will say.  `I said so, and that passed for
+law among foolish men; but the suit might have been taken up
+again at another Thing if he had the heart.'
+
+"`I know all that,' thou must say.
+
+Then he will ask, `Dost thou know anything about law?'
+
+"`Up in the North I am thought to know something about it,' thou
+shalt say.  `But still I should like thee to tell me how this
+suit should be taken up.'
+
+"`What suit dost thou mean?' he will ask.
+
+"`A suit,' thou must answer, `which does not concern me.  I want
+to know how a man must set to work who wishes to get back Unna's
+dower.'
+
+"Then Hrut will say, `In this suit I must be summoned so that I
+can hear the summons, or I must be summoned here in my lawful
+house.'
+
+"`Recite the summons, then,' thou must say, 'and I will say it
+after thee.'
+
+"Then Hrut will summon himself; and mind and pay great heed to
+every word he says.  After that Hrut will bid thee repeat the
+summons, and thou must do so, and say it all wrong, so that no
+more than every other word is right."
+
+Then Hrut will smile and not mistrust thee, but say that scarce a
+word is right.  Thou must throw the blame on thy companions, and
+say they put thee out, and then thou must ask him to say the
+words first, word by word, and to let thee say the words after
+him.  He will give thee leave, and summon himself in the suit,
+and thou shalt summon after him there and then, and this time say
+every word right.  When it is done, ask Hrut if that were rightly
+summoned, and he will answer, `There is no flaw to be found in
+it.'  Then thou shalt say in a loud voice, so that thy companions
+may hear, `I summon thee in the suit which Unna, Mord's daughter,
+has made over to me with her plighted hand.'
+
+"But when men are sound asleep, you shall rise and take your
+bridles and saddles, and tread softly, and go out of the house,
+and put your saddles on your fat horses in the fields, and so
+ride off on them, but leave the others behind you.  You must ride
+up into the hills away from the home pastures and stay there
+three nights, for about so long will they seek you.  After that
+ride home south, riding always by night and resting by day.  As
+for us, we will then ride this summer to the Thing, and help thee
+in thy suit."  So Gunnar thanked Njal, and first of all rode
+home.
+
+
+
+23. HUCKSTER HEDINN.
+
+Gunnar rode from home two nights afterwards, and two men with
+him; they rode along until they got on Bluewoodheath and then men
+on horseback met them and asked who that tall man might be of
+whom so little was seen.  But his companions said it was Huckster
+Hedinn.  Then the others said a worse was not to be looked for
+behind, when such a man as he went before.  Hedinn at once made
+as though he would have set upon them, but yet each went their
+way.  So Gunnar went on doing everything as Njal had laid it down
+for him, and when he came to Hauskuldstede he stayed there the
+night, and thence he went down the dale till he came to the next
+farm to Hrutstede.  There he offered his wares for sale, and
+Hedinn fell at once upon the farmer.  This was told to Hrut, and
+he sent for Hedinn, and Hedinn went at once to see Hrut, and had
+a good welcome.  Hrut seated him over against himself, and their
+talk went pretty much as Njal had guessed; but when they came to
+talk of Rangrivervale, and Hrut asked about the men there, Gunnar
+sung this stave --
+
+     "Men in sooth are slow to find --
+     So the people speak by stealth,
+     Often this hath reached my ears --
+     All through Rangar's rolling vales.
+     Still I trow that Fiddle Mord,
+     Tried his hand in fight of yore;
+     Sure was never gold-bestower,
+     Such a man for might and wit."
+
+Then Hrut said, "Thou art a skald, Hedinn.  But hast thou never
+heard how things went between me and Mord?"  Then Hedinn sung
+another stave --
+
+     "Once I ween I heard the rumour,
+     How the Lord of rings (1) bereft thee;
+     From thine arms earth's offspring (2) tearing,
+     Trickfull he and trustful thou.
+     Then the men, the buckler-bearers,
+     Begged the mighty gold-begetter,
+     Sharp sword oft of old he reddened,
+     Not to stand in strife with thee."
+
+So they went on, till Hrut, in answer told him how the suit must
+be taken up, and recited the summons.  Hedinn repeated it all
+wrong, and Hrut burst out laughing, and had no mistrust.  Then he
+said, Hrut must summon once more, and Hrut did so.  Then Hedinn
+repeated the summons a second time, and this time right, and
+called his companions to witness how he summoned Hrut in a suit
+which Unna, Mord's daughter, had made over to him with her
+plighted hand.  At night he went to sleep like other men, but as
+soon as ever Hrut was sound asleep, they took their clothes and
+arms, and went out and came to their horses, and rode off across
+the river, and so up along the bank by Hiardarholt till the dale
+broke off among the hills, and so there they are upon the fells
+between Laxriverdale and Hawkdale, having got to a spot where no
+one could find them unless he had fallen on them by chance.
+
+Hauskuld wakes up that night at Hauskuldstede, and roused all his
+household.  "I will tell you my dream," he said.  "I thought I
+saw a great bear go out of this house, and I knew at once this
+beast's match was not to be found; two cubs followed him, wishing
+well to the bear, and they all made for Hrutstede and went into
+the house there.  After that I woke.  Now I wish to ask if any of
+you saw aught about yon tall man."
+
+Then one man answered him, "I saw how a golden fringe and a bit
+of scarlet cloth peeped out at his arm, and on his right arm he
+had a ring of gold."
+
+Hauskuld said, "This beast is no man's fetch, but Gunnar's of
+Lithend, and now methinks I see all about it.  Up!  let us ride
+to Hrutstede," And they did so.  Hrut lay in his locked bed, and
+asks who have come there?  Hauskuld tells who he is, and asked
+what guests might be there in the house?
+
+"Only Huckster Hedinn is here," says Hrut.
+
+"A broader man across the back, it will be, I fear," says
+Hauskuld, "I guess here must have been Gunnar of Lithend."
+
+"Then there has been a pretty trial of cunning," says Hrut.
+
+"What has happened?" says Hauskuld.
+
+"I told him how to take up Unna's suit, and I summoned myself and
+he summoned after, and now he can use this first step in the
+suit, and it is right in law."
+
+"There has, indeed, been a great falling off of wit on one side,"
+said Hauskuld, "and Gunnar cannot have planned it all by himself;
+Njal must be at the bottom of this plot, for there is not his
+match for wit in all the land."
+
+Now they look for Hedinn, but he is already off and away; after
+that they gathered folk, and looked for them three days, but
+could not find them.  Gunnar rode south from the fell to Hawkdale
+and so east of Skard, and north to Holtbeaconheath, and so on
+until he got home.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Lord of rings," a periphrasis for a chief, that is, Mord.
+(2)  "Earth's offspring," a periphrasis for woman, that is, Unna.
+
+
+
+24. GUNNAR AND HRUT STRIVE AT THE THING.
+
+Gunnar rode to the Althing, and Hrut and Hauskuld rode thither
+too with a very great company.  Gunnar pursues his suit, and
+began by calling on his neighbours to bear witness, but Hrut and
+his brother had it in their minds to make an onslaught on him,
+but they mistrusted their strength.
+
+Gunnar next went to the court of the men of Broadfirth, and bade
+Hrut listen to his oath and declaration of the cause of the suit,
+and to all the proofs which he was about to bring forward.  After
+that he took his oath, and declared his case.  After that he
+brought forward his witnesses of the summons, along with his
+witnesses that the suit had been handed over to him.  All this
+time Njal was not at the court.  Now Gunnar pursued his suit till
+he called on the defendant to reply.  Then Hrut took witness, and
+said the suit was naught, and that there was a flaw in the
+pleading; he declared that it had broken down because Gunnar had
+failed to call those three witnesses which ought to have been
+brought before the court.  The first, that which was taken before
+the marriage-bed, the second, before the man's door, the third,
+at the Hill of Laws.  By this time Njal was come to the court and
+said the suit and pleading might still be kept alive if they
+chose to strive in that way.
+
+"No," says Gunnar, "I will not have that; I will do the same to
+Hrut as he did to Mord my kinsman; or, are those brothers Hrut
+and Hauskuld so near that they may hear my voice."
+
+"Hear it we can," says Hrut.  "What dost thou wish?"
+
+Gunnar said, "Now all men here present be ear-witnesses, that I
+challenge thee Hrut to single combat, and we shall fight to-day
+on the holm, which is here in Oxwater.  But if thou wilt not
+fight with me, then pay up all the money this very day."
+
+After that Gunnar sung a stave --
+
+     "Yes, so must it be, this morning --
+     Now my mind is full of fire --
+     Hrut with me on yonder island
+     Raises roar of helm and shield.
+     All that bear my words bear witness,
+     Warriors grasping Woden's guard,
+     Unless the wealthy wight down payeth
+     Dower of wife with flowing veil."
+
+After that Gunnar went away from the court with all his
+followers.  Hrut and Hauskuld went home too, and the suit was
+never pursued nor defended from that day forth.  Hrut said, as
+soon as he got inside the booth, "This has never happened to me
+before, that any man has offered me combat and I have shunned
+it."
+
+"Then thou must mean to fight," says Hauskuld, "but that shall
+not be if I have my way; for thou comest no nearer to Gunnar than
+Mord would have come to thee, and we had better both of us pay up
+the money to Gunnar."
+
+After that the brothers asked the householders of their own
+country what they would lay down, and they one and all said they
+would lay down as much as Hrut wished.
+
+"Let us go then," says Hauskuld, "to Gunnar's booth, and pay down
+the money out of hand."  That was told to Gunnar, and he went out
+into the doorway of the booth, and Hauskuld said, "Now it is
+thine to take the money."
+
+Gunnar said, "Pay it down, then, for I am ready to take it."
+
+So they paid down the money truly out of hand, and then Hauskuld
+said, "Enjoy it now, as thou hast gotten it."  Then Gunnar sang
+another stave: --
+
+     "Men who wield the blade of battle
+     Hoarded wealth may well enjoy,
+     Guileless gotten this at least,
+     Golden meed I fearless take;
+     But if we for woman's quarrel,
+     Warriors born to brandish sword,
+     Glut the wolf with manly gore,
+     Worse the lot of both would be."
+
+Hrut answered, "III will be thy meed for this."
+
+"Be that as it may," says Gunnar.
+
+Then Hauskuld and his brother went home to their booth, and he
+had much upon his mind, and said to Hrut, "Will this unfairness
+of Gunnar's never be avenged?"
+
+"Not so," says Hrut; "'twill be avenged on him sure enough, but
+we shall have no share nor profit in that vengeance.  And after
+all it is most likely that he will turn to our stock to seek for
+friends."
+
+After that they left off speaking of the matter.  Gunnar showed
+Njal the money, and he said, "The suit has gone off well."
+
+"Ay," says Gunnar, "but it was all thy doing."
+
+Now men rode home from the Thing, and Gunnar got very great
+honour from the suit.  Gunnar handed over all the money to Unna,
+and would have none of it, but said he thought he ought to look
+more for help from her and her kin hereafter than from other men. 
+She said, so it should be.
+
+
+
+25. UNNA'S SECOND WEDDING
+
+There was a man named Valgard, he kept house at Hof by Rangriver,
+he was the son of Jorund the Priest, and his brother was Wolf
+Aurpriest (1).  Those brothers, Wolf Aurpriest, and Valgard the
+Guileful, set off to woo Unna, and she gave herself away to
+Valgard without the advice of any of her kinsfolk.  But Gunnar
+and Njal, and many others thought ill of that, for he was a
+cross-grained man and had few friends.  They begot between them a
+son, whose name was Mord, and he is long in this story.  When he
+was grown to man's estate, he worked ill to his kinsfolk but
+worst of all to Gunnar.  He was a crafty man in his temper, but
+spiteful in his counsels.
+
+Now we will name Njal's sons.  Skarphedinn was the eldest of
+them.  He was a tall man in growth, and strong withal; a good
+swordsman; he could swim like a seal, the swiftest-looted of men,
+and bold and dauntless; he had a great flow of words and quick
+utterance; a good skald too; but still for the most part he kept
+himself well in hand; his hair was dark brown, with crisp curly
+locks; he had good eyes; his features were sharp, and his face
+ashen pale, his nose turned up and his front teeth stuck out, and
+his mouth was very ugly.  Still he was the most soldierlike of
+men.
+
+Grim was the name of Njal's second son.  He was fair of face and
+wore his hair long.  His hair was dark, and he was comelier to
+look on than Skarphedinn.  A tall strong man.
+
+Helgi was the name of Njal's third son.  He too was fair of face
+and had fine hair.  He was a strong man and well-skilled in arms. 
+He was a man of sense and knew well how to behave.  They were all
+unwedded at that time, Njal's sons.
+
+Hauskuld was the fourth of Njal's sons.  He was baseborn.  His
+mother was Rodny, and she was Hauskuld's daughter, the sister of
+Ingialld of the Springs.
+
+Njal asked Skarphedinn one day if he would take to himself a
+wife.  He bade his father settle the matter.  Then Njal asked for
+his hand Thorhilda, the daughter of Ranvir of Thorolfsfell, and
+that was why they had another homestead there after that. 
+Skarphedinn got Thorhilda, but he stayed still with his father to
+the end.  Grim wooed Astrid of Deepback; she was a widow and very
+wealthy.  Grim got her to wife, and yet lived on with Njal.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  The son of Ranveig the Silly, the son of Valgard, the son of
+     Aefar, the son of Vemund Wordstopper, the son of Thorolf
+     Hooknose, the son of Thrand the Old, the son of Harold
+     Hilditann, the son of Hraereck Ringscatterer.  The mother of
+     Harold Hilditann, was Aud the daughter of Ivar Widefathom,
+     the son of Halfdan the Clever.  The brother of Valgard the
+     Guileful was Wolf Aurpriest -- from whom the Pointdwellers
+     sprung -- Wolf Aurpriest was the father of Swart, the father
+     of Lodmund, the father of Sigfus, the father of Saemund the
+     Wise.  But from Valgard is sprung Kolbein the Young.
+
+
+
+26. OF ASGRIM AND HIS CHILDREN
+
+There was a man named Asgrim (1).  He was Ellidagrim's son.  The
+brother of Asgrim Ellidagrim's son was Sigfus (2).  Gauk
+Trandil's son was Asgrim's foster-brother, who is said to have
+been the fairest man of his day, and best skilled in all things;
+but matters went ill with them, for Asgrim slew Gauk.
+
+Asgrim had two sons, and each of them was named Thorhall.  They
+were both hopeful men.  Grim was the name of another of Asgrim's
+sons, and Thorhalla was his daughter's name.  She was the fairest
+of women, and well behaved.
+
+Njal came to talk with his son Helgi, and said, "I have thought
+of a match for thee, if thou wilt follow my advice."
+
+"That I will surely," says he, "for I know that thou both meanest
+me well, and canst do well for me; but whither hast thou turned
+thine eyes."
+
+"We will go and woo Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's daughter, for that
+is the best choice we can make."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Ellidagrim was Asgrim's son, Aundot the Crow's son.  His
+     mother's name was Jorunn, and she was the daughter of Teit,
+     the son of Kettlebjorn the Old of Mossfell.  The mother of
+     Teit was Helga, daughter of Thord Skeggi's son, Hrapp's son,
+     Bjorn's son the Roughfooted, Grim's son, the Lord of Sogn in
+     Norway.  The mother of Jorunn was Olof Harvest-heal,
+     daughter of Bodvar, Viking-Kari's son.
+(2)  His daughter was Thorgerda, mother of Sigfus, the father of
+     Saemund the Learned.
+
+
+
+27. HELGI NJAL'S SON'S WOOING
+
+A little after they rode out across Thurso water, and fared till
+they came into Tongue.  Asgrim was at home, and gave them a
+hearty welcome; and they were there that night.  Next morning
+they began to talk, and then Njal raised the question of the
+wooing, and asked for Thorhalla for his son Helgi's hand.  Asgrim
+answered that well, and said there were no men with whom he would
+be more willing to make this bargain than with them.  They fell
+a-talking then about terms, and the end of it was that Asgrim
+betrothed his daughter to Helgi, and the bridal day was named. 
+Gunnar was at that feast, and many other of the bestmen.  After
+the feast Njal offered to foster in his house Thorhall, Asgrim's
+son, and he was with Njal long after.  He loved Njal more than
+his own father.  Njal taught him law, so that he became the
+greatest lawyer in Iceland in those days.
+
+
+
+28. HALLVARD COMES OUT TO ICELAND
+
+There came a ship out from Norway, and ran into Arnbael's Oyce
+(1), and the master of the ship was Hallvard the White, a man
+from the Bay (2).  He went to stay at Lithend, and was with
+Gunnar that winter, and was always asking him to fare abroad with
+him.  Gunnar spoke little about it, but yet said more unlikely
+things might happen; and about spring he went over to
+Bergthorsknoll to find out from Njal whether he thought it a wise
+step in him to go abroad.
+
+"I think it is wise," says Njal; "they will think thee there an
+honourable man, as thou art."
+
+"Wilt thou perhaps take my goods into thy keeping while I am
+away, for I wish my brother Kolskegg to fare with me; but I would
+that thou shouldst see after my household along with my mother."
+
+"I will not throw anything in the way of that," says Njal; "lean
+on me in this thing as much as thou likest."
+
+"Good go with thee for thy words," says Gunnar, and he rides
+then home.
+
+The Easterling (3) fell again to talk with Gunnar that he should
+fare abroad.  Gunnar asked if he had ever sailed to other lands?
+He said he had sailed to every one of them that lay between
+Norway and Russia, and so, too, I have sailed to Biarmaland (4).
+
+"Wilt thou sail with me eastward ho?" says Gunnar.
+
+"That I will of a surety," says he.
+
+Then Gunnar made up his mind to sail abroad with him.  Njal took
+all Gunnar's goods into his keeping.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Oyce," a north country word for the mouth of a river, from
+     the Icelandic.
+(2)  "The Bay" (comp. ch. ii., and other passages), the name
+     given to the great bay in the east of Norway, the entrance
+     of which from the North Sea is the Cattegat, and at the end
+     of which is the Christiania Firth.  The name also applies to
+     the land round the Bay, which thus formed a district, the
+     boundary of which, on the one side, was the promontory
+     called Lindesnaes, or the Naze, and on the other, the
+     Gota-Elf, the river on which the Swedish town of Gottenburg
+     stands, and off the mouth of which lies the island of
+     Hisingen, mentioned shortly after.
+(3)  Easterling, i.e., the Norseman Hallvard.
+(4)  Permia, the country one comes to after doubling the North
+     Cape.
+
+
+
+29. GUNNAR GOES ABROAD
+
+So Gunnar fared abroad, and Kolskegg with him.  They sailed first
+to Tonsberg (1), and were there that winter.  There had then been
+a shift of rulers in Norway.  Harold Grayfell was then dead, and
+so was Gunnhillda.  Earl Hacon the Bad, Sigurd's son, Hacon's
+son, Gritgarth's son, then ruled the realm.  The mother of Hacon
+was Bergliot, the daughter of Earl Thorir.  Her mother was Olof
+Harvest-heal.  She was Harold Fair-hair's daughter.
+
+Hallvard asks Gunnar if he would make up his mind to go to Earl
+Hacon?
+
+"No; I will not do that," says Gunnar.  "Hast thou ever a long-
+ship?"
+
+"I have two," he says.
+
+"Then I would that we two went on warfare; and let us get men to
+go with us."
+
+"I will do that," says Hallvard.
+
+After that they went to the Bay, and took with them two ships,
+and fitted them out thence.  They had good choice of men, for
+much praise was said of Gunnar.
+
+"Whither wilt thou first fare?" says Gunnar.
+
+"I wish to go south-east to Hisingen, to see my kinsman Oliver,"
+says Hallvard.
+
+"What dost thou want of him?" says Gunnar.
+
+He answered, "He is a fine brave fellow, and he will be sure to
+get us some more strength for our voyage."
+
+"Then let us go thither," says Gunnar.
+
+So, as soon as they were "boun," they held on east to Hisingen,
+and had there a hearty welcome.  Gunnar had only been there a
+short time ere Oliver made much of him.  Oliver asks about his
+voyage, and Hallvard says that Gunnar wishes to go a-warfaring to
+gather goods for himself.
+
+"There's no use thinking of that," says Oliver, "when ye have no
+force."
+
+"Well" says Hallvard, "then you may add to it."
+
+"So I do mean to strengthen Gunnar somewhat," says Oliver; "and
+though thou reckonest thyself my kith and kin, I think there is
+more good in him."
+
+"What force, now, wilt thou add to ours?" he asks.
+
+"Two long-ships, one with twenty, and the other with thirty seats
+for rowers."
+
+"Who shall man them?" asks Hallvard.
+
+"I will man one of them with my own house-carles, and the freemen
+around shall man the other.  But still I have found out that
+strife has come into the river, and I know not whether ye two
+will be able to get away; for they are in the river."
+
+"Who?" says Hallvard.
+
+"Brothers twain," says Oliver; "one's name is Vandil, and the
+other's Karli, sons of Sjolf the Old, east away out of Gothland."
+
+Hallvard told Gunnar that Oliver had added some ships to theirs,
+and Gunnar was glad at that.  They busked them for their voyage
+thence, till they were "allboun."  Then Gunnar and Hallvard went
+before Oliver, and thanked him; he bade them fare warily for the
+sake of those brothers.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  A town at the mouth of the Christiania Firth.  It was a
+     great place for traffic in early times, and was long the
+     only mart in the south-east of Norway.
+
+
+
+30. GUNNAR GOES A-SEA-ROVING
+
+So Gunnar held on out of the river, and he and Kolskegg were both
+on board one ship.  But Hallvard was on board another.  Now, they
+see the ships before them, and then Gunnar spoke, and said, "Let
+us be ready for anything if they turn towards us!  but else let
+us have nothing to do with them."
+
+So they did that, and made all ready on board their ships.  The
+others parted their ships asunder, and made a fareway between the
+ships.  Gunnar fared straight on between the ships, but Vandil
+caught up a grappling-iron, and cast it between their ships and
+Gunnar's ship, and began at once to drag it towards him.
+
+Oliver had given Gunnar a good sword; Gunnar now drew it, and had
+not yet put on his helm.  He leapt at once on the forecastle of
+Vandil's ship, and gave one man his death-blow.  Karli ran his
+ship alongside the other side of Gunnar's ship, and hurled a
+spear athwart the deck, and aimed at him about the waist.  Gunnar
+sees this, and turned him about so quickly that no eye could
+follow him, and caught the spear with his left hand, and hurled
+it back at Karli's ship, and that man got his death who stood
+before it.  Kolskegg snatched up a grapnel and cast it at Karli's
+ship, and the fluke fell inside the hold, and went out through
+one of the planks and in rushed the coal-blue sea, and all the
+men sprang on board other ships.
+
+Now Gunnar leapt back to his own ship, and then Hallvard came up,
+and now a great battle arose.  They saw now that their leader was
+unflinching, and every man did as well as he could.  Sometimes
+Gunnar smote with the sword, and sometimes he hurled the spear,
+and many a man had his bane at his hand.  Kolskegg backed him
+well.  As for Karli, he hastened in a ship to his brother Vandil,
+and thence they fought that day.  During the day Kolskegg took a
+rest on Gunnar's ship, and Gunnar sees that.  Then he sung a
+song --
+
+     "For the eagle ravine-eager,
+     Raven of my race, to-day
+     Better surely hast thou catered,
+     Lord of gold, than for thyself;
+     Here the morn come greedy ravens
+     Many any a rill of wolf (1) to sup,
+     But thee burning thirst down-beareth,
+     Prince of battle's Parliament!"
+
+After that Kolskegg took a beaker full of mead, and drank it off,
+and went on fighting afterwards; and so it came about that those
+brothers sprang up on the ship of Vandil and his brother, and
+Kolskegg went on one side, and Gunnar on the other.  Against
+Gunnar came Vandil, and smote at once at him with his sword, and
+the blow fell on his shield.  Gunnar gave the shield a twist as
+the sword pierced it, and broke it short off at the hilt.  Then
+Gunnar smote back at Vandil, and three swords seemed to be aloft,
+and Vandil could not see how to shun the blow.  Then Gunnar cut
+both his legs from under him, and at the same time Kolskegg ran
+Karli through with a spear.  After that they took great war
+spoil.
+
+Thence they held on south to Denmark, and thence east to Smoland,
+(2) and had victory wherever they went.  They did not come back
+in autumn.  The next summer they held on to Reval, and fell in
+there with sea-rovers, and fought at once, and won the fight. 
+After that they steered east to Osel,(3) and lay there somewhile
+under a ness.  There they saw a man coming down from the ness
+above them; Gunnar went on shore to meet the man, and they had a
+talk.  Gunnar asked him his name, and he said it was Tofi. 
+Gunnar asked again what he wanted.
+
+"Thee I want to see," says the man.  " Two warships lie on the
+other side under the ness, and I will tell thee who command them:
+two brothers are the captains -- one's name is Hallgrim, and the
+other's Kolskegg.  I know them to be mighty men of war; and I
+know too that they have such good weapons that the like are not
+to be had.  Hallgrim has a bill which he had made by seething-
+spells; and this is what the spells say, that no weapon shall
+give him his death-blow save that bill.  That thing follows
+it too that it is known at once when a man is to be slain with
+that bill, for something sings in it so loudly that it may be
+heard along way off -- such a strong nature has that bill in it."
+
+Then Gunnar sang a song --
+
+     "Soon shall I that spearhead seize,
+     And the bold sea-rover slay,
+     Him whose blows on headpiece ring,
+     Heaper up of piles of dead.
+     Then on Endil's courser (4) bounding,
+     O'er the sea-depths I will ride,
+     While the wretch who spells abuseth,
+     Life shall lose in Sigar's storm." (5)
+
+"Kolskegg has a short sword; that is also the best of weapons. 
+Force, too, they have -- a third more than ye.  They have also
+much goods, and have stowed them away on land, and I know clearly
+where they are.  But they have sent a spy-ship off the ness, and
+they know all about you.  Now they are getting themselves ready
+as fast as they can; and as soon as they are `boun,' they mean
+to run out against you.  Now you have either to row away at once,
+or to busk yourselves as quickly as ye can; but if ye win the day
+then I will lead you to all their store of goods."
+
+Gunnar gave him a golden finger-ring, and went afterwards to his
+men and told them that war-ships lay on the other side of the
+ness, "and they know all about us; so let us take to our arms and
+busk us well, for now there is gain to be got."
+
+Then they busked them; and just when they were `boun' they see
+ships coming up to them.  And now a fight sprung up between them,
+and they fought long, and many men fell.  Gunnar slew many a man. 
+Hallgrim and his men leapt on board Gunnar's ship.  Gunnar turns
+to meet him, and Hallgrim thrust at him with his bill.  There was
+a boom athwart the ship, and Gunnar leapt nimbly back over it. 
+Gunnar's shield was just before the boom, and Hallgrim thrust his
+bill into it, and through it, and so on into the boom.  Gunnar
+cut at Hallgrim's arm hard, and lamed the forearm, but the sword
+would not bite.  Then down fell the bill, and Gunnar seized the
+bill, and thrust Hallgrim through, and then sang a song --
+
+     "Slain is he who spoiled the people,
+     Lashing them with flashing steel;
+     Heard have I how Hallgrim's magic
+     Helm-rod forged in foreign land;
+     All men know, of heart-strings doughty,
+     How this bill hath come to me,
+     Deft in fight, the wolf's dear feeder,
+     Death alone us two shall part."
+
+And that vow Gunnar kept, in that he bore the bill while he
+lived.  Those namesakes the two Kolskeggs fought together, and
+it was a near thing which would get the better of it.  Then
+Gunnar came up, and gave the other Kolskegg his death-blow. 
+After that the sea-rovers begged for mercy.  Gunnar let them have
+that choice, and he let them also count the slain, and take the
+goods which the dead men owned, but he gave the others whom he
+spared their arms and their clothing, and bade them be off to the
+lands that fostered them.  So they went off, and Gunnar took all
+the goods that were left behind.
+
+Tofi came to Gunner after the battle, and offered to lead him to
+that store of goods which the sea-rovers had stowed away, and
+said that it was both better and larger than that which they had
+already got.
+
+Gunnar said he was willing to go, and so he went ashore, and Tofi
+before him, to a wood, and Gunnar behind him.  They came to a
+place where a great heap of wood was piled together.  Tofi says
+the goods were under there, then they tossed off the wood, and
+found under it both gold and silver, clothes, and good weapons. 
+They bore those goods to the ships, and Gunnar asks Tofi in what
+way he wished him to repay him.
+
+Tofi answered, "I am a Dansk man by race, and I wish thou wouldst
+bring me to my kinsfolk."
+
+Gunnar asks why he was there away east?
+
+"I was taken by sea-rovers," says Tofi, "and they put me on land
+here in Osel, and here I have been ever since."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Rill of wolf -- stream of blood.
+(2)  A province of Sweden.
+(3)  An island in the Baltic, off the coast of Esthonia.
+(4)  "Endil's courser" -- periphrasis for a ship.
+(5)  "Sigar's storm" -- periphrasis for a sea-fight.
+
+
+
+31. GUNNAR GOES TO KING HAROLD GORM'SSON AND EARL HACON
+
+Gunnar took Tofi on board, and said to Kolskegg and Hallvard,
+"Now we will hold our course for the north lands."
+
+They were well pleased at that, and bade him have his way.  So
+Gunnar sailed from the east with much goods.  He had ten ships,
+and ran in with them to Heidarby in Denmark.  King Harold Gorm's
+son was there up the country, and he was told about Gunnar, and
+how too that there was no man his match in all Iceland.  He sent
+men to him to ask him to come to him, and Gunnar went at once to
+see the king, and the king made him a hearty welcome, and sat him
+down next to himself.  Gunnar was there half a month.  The king
+made himself sport by letting Gunnar prove himself in divers
+feats of strength against his men, and there were none that were
+his match even in one feat.
+
+Then the king said to Gunnar, "It seems to me as though thy peer
+is not to be found far or near," and the king offered to get
+Gunnar a wife, and to raise him to great power if he would settle
+down there.
+
+Gunnar thanked the king for his offer and said, "I will first of
+all sail back to Iceland to see my friends and kinsfolk."
+
+"Then thou wilt never come back to us," says the king.
+
+"Fate will settle that, lord," says Gunnar.
+
+Gunnar gave the king a good long-ship, and much goods besides,
+and the king gave him a robe of honour, and golden-seamed gloves,
+and a fillet with a knot of gold on it, and a Russian hat.
+
+Then Gunnar fared north to Hisingen.  Oliver welcomed him with
+both hands, and he gave back to Oliver his ships, with their
+lading, and said that was his share of the spoil.  Oliver took
+the goods, and said Gunnar was a good man and true, and bade him
+stay with him some while.  Hallvard asked Gunnar if he had a mind
+to go to see Earl Hacon.  Gunnar said that was near his heart,
+"for now I am somewhat proved, but then I was not tried at all
+when thou badest me do this before."
+
+After that they fared north to Drontheim to see Earl Hacon, and
+he gave Gunnar a hearty welcome, and bade him stay with him that
+winter, and Gunnar took that offer, and every man thought him a
+man of great worth.  At Yule the Earl gave him a gold ring.
+
+Gunnar set his heart on Bergliota, the Earl's kinswoman, and it
+was often to be seen from the Earl's way, that he would have
+given her to him to wife if Gunnar had said anything about that.
+
+
+
+32. GUNNAR COMES OUT TO ICELAND
+
+When the spring came, the Earl asks Gunnar what course he meant
+to take.  He said he would go to Iceland.  The Earl said that had
+been a bad year for grain, "and there will be little sailing out
+to Iceland, but still thou shalt have meal and timber both in thy
+ship."
+
+Gunnar fitted out his ship as early as he could, and Hallvard
+fared out with him and Kolskegg.  They came out early in the
+summer, and made Arnbael's Oyce before the Thing met.
+
+Gunnar rode home from the ship, but got men to strip her and lay
+her up.  But when they came home all men were glad to see them. 
+They were blithe and merry to their household, nor had their
+haughtiness grown while they were away.
+
+Gunnar asks if Njal were at home; and he was told that he was at
+home; then he let them saddle his horse, and those brothers rode
+over to Bergthorsknoll.
+
+Njal was glad at their coming, and begged them to stay there that
+night, and Gunnar told him of his voyages.
+
+Njal said he was a man of the greatest mark, "and thou hast been
+much proved; but still thou wilt be more tried hereafter; for
+many will envy thee." 
+
+"With all men I would wish to stand well," says Gunnar.
+
+"Much bad will happen," said Njal, "and thou wilt always have
+some quarrel to ward off."
+
+"So be it, then," says Gunnar, "so that I have a good ground on
+my side."
+
+"So will it be too," says NjaI, "if thou hast not to smart for
+others."
+
+Njal asked Gunnar if he would ride to the Thing.  Gunnar said he
+was going to ride thither, and asks Njal whether he were going to
+ride; but he said he would not ride thither, "and if I had my
+will thou wouldst do the like."
+
+Gunnar rode home, and gave Njal good gifts, and thanked him for
+the care he had taken of his goods.  Kolskegg urged him on much
+to ride to the Thing, saying, "There thy honour will grow, for
+many will flock to see thee there."
+
+"That has been little to my mind," says Gunnar, "to make a show
+of myself; but I think it good and right to meet good and worthy
+men."
+
+Hallvard by this time was also come thither, and offered to ride
+to the thing with them.
+
+
+
+33. GUNNAR'S WOOING
+
+So Gunnar rode, and they all rode.  But when they came to the
+Thing they were so well arrayed that none could match them in
+bravery; and men came out of every booth to wonder at them. 
+Gunnar rode to the booths of the men of Rangriver, and was there
+with his kinsmen.  Many men came to see Gunnar, and ask tidings
+of him; and he was easy and merry to all men, and told them all
+they wished to hear.
+
+It happened one day that Gunnar went away from the Hill of Laws,
+and passed by the booths of the men from Mossfell; then he saw a
+woman coming to meet him, and she was in goodly attire; but when
+they met she spoke to Gunnar at once.  He took her greeting well,
+and asks what woman she might be.  She told him her name was
+Hallgerda, and said she was Hauskuld's daughter, Dalakoll's son. 
+She spoke up boldly to him, and bade him tell her of his voyages;
+but he said he would not gainsay her a talk.  Then they sat them
+down and talked.  She was so clad that she had on a red kirtle,
+and had thrown over her a scarlet cloak trimmed with needlework
+down to the waist.  Her hair came down to her bosom, and was both
+fair and full.  Gunnar was clad in the scarlet clothes which King
+Harold Gorm's son had given him; he had also the gold ring on his
+arm which Earl Hacon had given him. 
+
+So they talked long out loud, and at last it came about that he
+asked whether she were unmarried.  She said, so it was, "and
+there are not many who would run the risk of that."
+
+"Thinkest thou none good enough for thee?"
+
+"Not that," she says, "but I am said to be hard to please in
+husbands."
+
+"How wouldst thou answer, were I to ask for thee?"
+
+"That cannot be in thy mind," she says.
+
+"It is though," says he.
+
+"If thou hast any mind that way, go and see my father."
+
+After that they broke off their talk.
+
+Gunnar went straightway to the Dalesmen's booths, and met a man
+outside the doorway, and asks whether Hauskuld were inside the
+booth?
+
+The man says that he was.  Then Gunnar went in, and Hauskuld and
+Hrut made him welcome.  He sat down between them, and no one
+could find out from their talk that there had ever been any
+misunderstanding between them.  At last Gunnar's speech turned
+thither; how these brothers would answer if he asked for
+Hallgerda?
+
+"Well," says Hauskuld, "if that is indeed thy mind."
+
+Gunnar says that he is in earnest, "but we so parted last time,
+that many would think it unlikely that we should ever be bound
+together."
+
+"How thinkest thou, kinsman Hrut?" says Hauskuld.
+
+Hrut answered, "Methinks this is no even match."
+
+"How dost thou make that out?" says Gunnar.
+
+Hrut spoke, "In this wise will I answer thee about this matter,
+as is the very truth.  Thou art a brisk brave man well to do, and
+unblemished; but she is much mixed up with ill report, and I will
+not cheat thee in anything."
+
+"Good go with thee for thy words," says Gunnar, "but still I
+shall hold that for true, that the old feud weighs with ye, if ye
+will not let me make this match."
+
+"Not so," says Hrut, "'t is more because I see that thou art
+unable to help thyself; but though we make no bargain, we would
+still be thy friends."
+
+"I have talked to her about it," says Gunnar, "and it is not far
+from her mind."
+
+Hrut says, "I know that you have both set your hearts on this
+match; and, besides, ye two are those who run the most risk as to
+how it turns out."
+
+Hrut told Gunnar unasked all about Hallgerda's temper, and Gunnar
+at first thought that there was more than enough that was
+wanting; but at last it came about that they struck a bargain.
+
+Then Hallgerda was sent for, and they talked over the business
+when she was by, and now, as before, they made her betroth
+herself.  The bridal feast was to be at Lithend, and at first
+they were to set about it secretly; but the end after all was
+that every one knew of it.
+
+Gunnar rode home from the Thing, and came to Bergthorsknoll, and
+told Njal of the bargain he had made.  He took it heavily.
+
+Gunnar asks Njal why he thought this so unwise?
+
+"Because from her," says Njal, "will arise all kind of ill if
+she comes hither east."
+
+"Never shall she spoil our friendship," says Gunnar.
+
+"Ah!  but yet that may come very near," says Njal; "and, besides,
+thou wilt have always to make atonement for her."
+
+Gunnar asked Njal to the wedding, and all those as well whom he
+wished should be at it from Njal's house.
+
+Njal promised to go; and after that Gunnar rode home, and then
+rode about the district to bid men to his wedding.
+
+
+
+34. OF THRAIN SIGFUS' SON
+
+There was a man named Thrain, he was the son of Sigfus, the son
+of Sighvat the Red.  He kept house at Gritwater on Fleetlithe. 
+He was Gunnar's kinsman, and a man of great mark.  He had to wife
+Thorhillda Skaldwife; she had a sharp tongue of her own, and was
+given to jeering.  Thrain loved her little.  He and his wife were
+bidden to the wedding, and she and Bergthora, Skarphedinn's
+daughter, Njal's wife, waited on the guests with meat and drink.
+
+Kettle was the name of the second son of Sigfus; he kept house in
+the Mark, east of Markfleet.  He had to wife Thorgerda, Njal's
+daughter.  Thorkell was the name of the third son of Sigfus; the
+fourth's name was Mord; the fifth's Lambi; the sixth's Sigmund;
+the seventh's Sigurd.  These were all Gunnar's kinsmen, and great
+champions.  Gunnar bade them all to the wedding.
+
+Gunnar had also bidden Valgard the Guileful, and Wolf Aurpriest,
+and their sons Runolf and Mord.
+
+Hauskuld and Hrut came to the wedding with a very great company,
+and the sons of Hauskuld, Thorleik, and Olof, were there; the
+bride, too, came along with them, and her daughter Thorgerda came
+also, and she was one of the fairest of women; she was then
+fourteen winters old.  Many other women were with her, and
+besides there were Thorkatla Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's daughter,
+and Njal's two daughters, Thorgerda and Helga.
+
+Gunnar had already many guests to meet them, and he thus arranged
+his men.  He sat on the middle of the bench, and on the inside,
+away from him, Thrain Sigfus' son, then Wolf Aurpriest, then
+Valgard the Guileful, then Mord and Runolf, then the other sons
+of Sigfus, Lambi sat outermost of them.
+
+Next to Gunnar on the outside, away from him, sat Njal, then
+Skarphedinn, then Helgi, then Grim, then Hauskuld Njal's son,
+then Hafr the Wise, then Ingialld from the Springs, then the sons
+of Thorir from Holt away east.  Thorir would sit outermost of the
+men of mark, for every one was pleased with the seat he got.
+
+Hauskuld, the bride's father, sat on the middle of the bench over
+against Gunnar, but his sons sat on the inside away from him;
+Hrut sat on the outside away from Hauskuld, but it is not said
+how the others were placed.  The bride sat in the middle of the
+cross bench on the dais; but on one hand of her sat her daughter
+Thorgerda, and on the other Thorkatla Asgrim Ellidagrim's son's
+daughter.
+
+Thorhillda went about waiting on the guests, and Bergthora bore
+the meat on the board.
+
+Now Thrain Sigfus' son kept staring at Thorgerda Glum's daughter;
+his wife Thorhillda saw this, and she got wroth, and made a
+couplet upon him.
+
+"Thrain," she says,
+
+     "Gaping mouths are no wise good,
+     Goggle eyne are in thy head."
+
+He rose at once up from the board, and said he would put
+Thorhillda away.  "I will not bear her jibes and jeers any
+longer;" and he was so quarrelsome about this, that he would not
+be at the feast unless she were driven away.  And so it was, that
+she went away; and now each man sat in his place, and they drank
+and were glad.
+
+Then Thrain began to speak, "I will not whisper about that which
+is in my mind.  This I will ask thee, Hauskuld Dalakoll's son,
+wilt thou give me to wife Thorgerda, thy kinswoman?"
+
+"I do not know that," says Hauskuld; "methinks thou art ill
+parted from the one thou hadst before.  But what kind of man is
+he, Gunnar?"
+
+Gunnar answers, "I will not say aught about the man, because he
+is near of kin; but say thou about him, Njal," says Gunnar, "for
+all men will believe it."
+
+Njal spoke, and said, "That is to be said of this man, that the
+man is well to do for wealth, and a proper man in all things.  A
+man, too, of the greatest mark; so that ye may well make this
+match with him."
+
+Then Hauskuld spoke, "What thinkest thou we ought to do, kinsman
+Hrut?"
+
+"Thou mayst make the match, because it is an even one for her,"
+says Hrut.
+
+Then they talk about the terms of the bargain, and are soon of
+one mind on all points.
+
+Then Gunnar stands up, and Thrain too, and they go to the cross
+bench.  Gunnar asked that mother and daughter whether they would
+say yes to this bargain.  They said they would find no fault with
+it, and Hallgerda betrothed her daughter.  Then the places of the
+women were shifted again, and now Thorhalla sate between the
+brides.  And now the feast sped on well, and when it was over,
+Hauskuld and his company ride west, but the men of Rangriver rode
+to their own abode.  Gunnar gave many men gifts, and that made
+him much liked.
+
+Hallgerda took the housekeeping under her, and stood up for her
+rights in word and deed.  Thorgerda took to housekeeping at
+Gritwater, and was a good housewife.
+
+
+
+35. THE VISIT TO BERGTHORSKNOLL
+
+Now it was the custom between Gunnar and Njal, that each made the
+other a feast, winter and winter about, for friendship's sake;
+and it was Gunnar's turn to go to feast at Njal's.  So Gunnar and
+Hallgerda set off for Bergthorsknoll, and when they got there
+Helgi and his wife were not at home.  Njal gave Gunnar and his
+wife a hearty welcome, and when they had been there a little
+while, Helgi came home with Thorhalla his wife.  Then Bergthora
+went up to the crossbench, and Thorhalla with her, and Bergthora
+said to Hallgerda, "Thou shalt give place to this woman."
+
+She answered, "To no one will I give place, for I will not be
+driven into the corner for any one."
+
+"I shall rule here," said Bergthora.  After that Thorhalla sat
+down, and Bergthora went round the table with water to wash the
+guests' hands.  Then Hallgerda took hold of Bergthora's hand, and
+said, "There's not much to choose, though, between you two.  Thou
+hast hangnails on every finger, and Njal is beardless."
+
+"That's true," says Bergthora, "yet neither of us finds fault
+with the other for it; but Thorwald, thy husband, was not
+beardless, and yet thou plottedst his death."
+
+Then Hallgerda said, "It stands me in little stead to have the
+bravest man in Iceland if thou dost not avenge this, Gunnar!"
+
+He sprang up and strode across away from the board, and said,
+"Home I will go, and it were more seemly that thou shouldest
+wrangle with those of thine own household, and not under other
+men's roofs; but as for NjaI, I am his debtor for much honour,
+and never will I be egged on by thee like a fool."
+
+After that they set off home.
+
+"Mind this Bergthora," said Hallgerda, "that we shall meet
+again."
+
+Bergthora said she should not be better off for that.  Gunnar
+said nothing at all, but went home to Lithend, and was there at
+home all the winter.  And now the summer was running on towards
+the Great Thing.
+
+
+
+36. KOL SLEW SWART
+
+Gunnar rode away to the Thing, but before he rode from home he
+said to Hallgerda, "Be good now while I am away, and show none of
+thine ill temper in anything with which my friends have to do."
+
+"The trolls take thy friends," says Hallgerda.
+
+So Gunnar rode to the Thing, and saw it was not good to come to
+words with her.  Njal rode to the Thing too, and all his sons
+with him.
+
+Now it must be told of what tidings happened at home.  Njal and
+Gunnar owned a wood in common at Redslip; they had not shared the
+wood, but each was wont to hew in it as he needed, and neither
+said a word to the other about that.  Hallgerda's grieve's (1)
+name was Kol; he had been with her long, and was one of the worst
+of men.  There was a man named Swart; he was Njal's and
+Bergthora's housecarle; they were very fond of him.  Now
+Bergthora told him that he must go up into Redslip and hew wood;
+but she said, "I will get men to draw home the wood."
+
+He said he would do the work she set him to win; and so he went
+up into Redslip, and was to be there a week.
+
+Some gangrel men came to Lithend from the east across Markfleet,
+and said that Swart had been in Redslip, and hewn wood, and done
+a deal of work.
+
+"So," says Hallgerda, "Bergthora must mean to rob me in many
+things, but I'll take care that he does not hew again."
+
+Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, heard that, and said, "There have been
+good housewives before now, though they never set their hearts on
+manslaughter."
+
+Now the night wore away, and early next morning Hallgerda came to
+speak to Kol, and said, "I have thought of some work for thee;"
+and with that she put weapons into his hands, and went on to say
+-- "Fare thou to Redslip; there wilt thou find Swart."
+
+"What shall I do to him?" he says.
+
+"Askest thou that, when thou art the worst of men?" she says. 
+"Thou shalt kill him."
+
+"I can get that done," he says, "but 'tis more likely that I
+shall lose my own life for it."
+
+"Everything grows big in thy eyes," she says, "and thou behavest
+ill to say this after I have spoken up for thee in everything.  I
+must get another man to do this if thou darest not."
+
+He took the axe, and was very wroth, and takes a horse that
+Gunnar owned, and rides now till he comes east of Markfleet. 
+There he got off and bided in the wood, till they had carried
+down the firewood, and Swart was left alone behind.  Then Kol
+sprang on him, and said, "More folk can hew great strokes than
+thou alone;" and so he laid the axe on his head, and smote him
+his death-blow, and rides home afterwards, and tells Hallgerda of
+the slaying.
+
+She said, "I shall take such good care of thee, that no harm
+shall come to thee."
+
+"May be so," says he, "but I dreamt all the other way as I slept
+ere I did the deed."
+
+Now they come up into the wood, and find Swart slain, and bear
+him home.  Hallgerda sent a man to Gunnar at the Thing to tell
+him of the slaying.  Gunnar said no hard words at first of
+Hallgerda to the messenger, and men knew not at first whether he
+thought well or ill of it.  A little after he stood up, and bade
+his men go with him: they did so, and fared to Njal's booth. 
+Gunnar sent a man to fetch Njal, and begged him to come out. 
+Njal went out at once, and he and Gunnar fell a-talking, and
+Gunnar said, "I have to tell thee of the slaying of a man, and my
+wife and my grieve Kol were those who did it; but Swart, thy
+housecarle, fell before them."
+
+Njal held his peace while he told him the whole story.  Then Njal
+spoke, "Thou must take heed not to let her have her way in
+everything."
+
+Gunnar said, "Thou thyself shalt settle the terms."
+
+Njal spoke again, "'Twill be hard work for thee to atone for all
+Hallgerda's mischief; and somewhere else there will be a broader
+trail to follow than this which we two now have a share in, and
+yet, even here there will be much awanting before all be well;
+and herein we shall need to bear in mind the friendly words that
+passed between us of old; and something tells me that thou wilt
+come well out of it, but still thou wilt be sore tried."
+
+Then Njal took the award into his own hands from Gunnar, and
+said, "I will not push this matter to the uttermost; thou shalt
+pay twelve ounces of silver; but I will add this to my award,
+that if anything happens from our homestead about which thou hast
+to utter an award, thou wilt not be less easy in thy terms."
+
+Gunnar paid up the money out of hand, and rode home afterwards. 
+Njal, too, came home from the Thing, and his sons.  Bergthora saw
+the money, and said, "This is very justly settled; but even as
+much money shall be paid for Kol as time goes on."
+
+Gunnar came home from the Thing and blamed Hallgerda.  She said,
+better men lay unatoned in many places.  Gunnar said, she might
+have her way in beginning a quarrel, "but how the matter is to be
+settled rests with me."
+
+Hallgerda was for ever chattering of Swart's slaying, but
+Bergthora liked that ill.  Once Njal and her sons went up to
+Thorolfsfell to see about the house-keeping there, but that
+selfsame day this thing happened when Bergthora was out of doors:
+she sees a man ride up to the house on a black horse.  She stayed
+there and did not go in, for she did not know the man.  That man
+had a spear in his hand, and was girded with a short sword.  She
+asked this man his name.
+
+"Atli is my name," says he.
+
+She asked whence he came.
+
+"I am an Eastfirther," he says.
+
+"Whither shalt thou go?" she says.
+
+"I am a homeless man," says he, "and I thought to see Njal and
+Skarphedinn, and know if they would take me in."
+
+"What work is handiest to thee?" says she.
+
+"I am a man used to field-work," he says, "and many things else
+come very handy to me; but I will not hide from thee that I am a
+man of hard temper, and it has been many a man's lot before now
+to bind up wounds at my hand."
+
+"I do not blame thee," she says, "though thou art no milksop."
+
+Atli said, "Hast thou any voice in things here?"
+
+"I am Njal's wife," she says, "and I have as much to say to our
+housefolk as he."
+
+"Wilt thou take me in then?" says he.
+
+"I will give thee thy choice of that," says she.  "If thou wilt
+do all the work that I set before thee, and that, though I wish
+to send thee where a man's life is at stake."
+
+"Thou must have so many men at thy beck," says he, "that thou
+wilt not need me for such work."
+
+"That I will settle as I please," she says.
+
+"We will strike a bargain on these terms," says he.
+
+Then she took him into the household.  Njal and his sons came
+home and asked Bergthora what man that might be?
+
+"He is thy house-carle," she says, "and I took him in."  Then she
+went on to say he was no sluggard at work.
+
+"He will be a great worker enough, I daresay," says Njal, "but I
+do not know whether he will be such a good worker."
+
+Skarphedinn was good to Atli.
+
+Njal and his sons ride to the Thing in the course of the summer;
+Gunnar was also at the Thing.
+
+Njal took out a purse of money.
+
+"What money is that, father?"
+
+"Here is the money that Gunnar paid me for our housecarle last
+summer."
+
+"That will come to stand thee in some stead," says Skarphedinn,
+and smiled as he spoke.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Grieve, i.e., bailiff, head workman.
+
+
+
+37. THE SLAYING OF KOL, WHOM ATLI SLEW
+
+Now we must take up the story and say, that Atli asked Bergthora
+what work he should do that day?
+
+"I have thought of some work for thee," she says; "thou shalt go
+and look for Kol until thou find him; for now shalt thou slay him
+this very day, if thou wilt do my will."
+
+"This work is well fitted," says Atli, "for each of us two are
+bad fellows; but still I will so lay myself out for him that one
+or other of us shall die."
+
+"Well mayst thou fare," she says, "and thou shalt not do this
+deed for nothing."
+
+He took his weapons and his horse, and rode up to Fleetlithe, and
+there met men who were coming down from Lithend.  They were at
+home east in the Mark.  They asked Atli whither he meant to go?
+He said he was riding to look for an old jade.  They said that
+was a small errand for such a workman, "but still 'twould be
+better to ask those who have been about last night."
+
+"Who are they?" says he.
+
+"Killing-Kol," say they, "Hallgerda's house-carle, fared from the
+fold just now, and has been awake all night."
+
+"I do not know whether I dare to meet him," says Atli, "he is
+bad-tempered, and may be that I shall let another's wound be my
+warning."
+
+"Thou bearest that look beneath the brows as though thou wert no
+coward," they said, and showed him where Kol was.
+
+Then he spurred his horse and rides fast, and when he meets Ko1,
+Atli said to him, "Go the pack-saddle bands well," says Atli.
+
+"That's no business of thine, worthless fellow, nor of any one
+else whence thou comest."
+
+Atli said, "Thou hast something behind that is earnest work, but
+that is to die."
+
+After that Atli thrust at him with his spear, and struck him
+about his middle.  Kol swept at him with his axe, but missed him,
+and fell off his horse, and died at once.
+
+Atli rode till he met some of Hallgerda's workmen, and said, "Go
+ye up to the horse yonder, and look to Kol, for he has fallen
+off, and is dead."
+
+"Hast thou slain him? " say they.
+
+"Well, 'twill seem to Hallgerda as though he has not fallen by
+his own hand."
+
+After that Atli rode home and told Bergthora; she thanked him for
+this deed, and for the words which he had spoken about it.
+
+"I do not know," says he, "what Njal will think of this."
+
+"He will take it well upon his hands," she says, "and I will tell
+thee one thing as a token of it, that he has carried away with
+him to the Thing the price of that thrall which we took last
+spring, and that money will now serve for Kol; but though peace
+be made thou must still be ware of thyself, for Hallgerda will
+keep no peace."
+
+"Wilt thou send at all a man to Njal to tell him of the slaying?"
+
+"I will not," she says, "I should like it better that Kol were
+unatoned."
+
+Then they stopped talking about it.
+
+Hallgerda was told of Kol's slaying, and of the words that Atli
+had said.  She said Atli should be paid off for them.  She sent a
+man to the Thing to tell Gunnar of Kol's slaying; he answered
+little or nothing, and sent a man to tell Njal.  He too made no
+answer, but Skarphedinn said, "Thralls are men of more mettle
+than of yore; they used to fly at each other and fight, and no
+one thought much harm of that; but now they will do naught but
+kill," and as he said this he smiled.
+
+Njal pulled down the purse of money which hung up in the booth,
+and went out: his sons went with him to Gunnar's booth.
+
+Skarphedinn said to a man who was in the doorway of the booth,
+"Say thou to Gunnar that my father wants to see him."
+
+He did so, and Gunnar went out at once and gave Njal a hearty
+welcome.  After that they began to talk.
+
+"'Tis ill done," says Njal, "that my housewife should have broken
+the peace, and let thy house-carle be slain."
+
+"She shall not have blame for that," says Gunnar.
+
+"Settle the award thyself," says Njal.
+
+"So I will do," says Gunnar, "and I value those two men at an
+even price, Swart and Kol.  Thou shalt pay me twelve ounces in
+silver."
+
+Njal took the purse of money and handed it to Gunnar.  Gunnar
+knew the money, and saw it was the same that he had paid Njal. 
+Njal went away to his booth, and they were just as good friends
+as before.  When Njal came home, he blamed Bergthora; but she
+said she would never give way to Hallgerda.  Hallgerda was very
+cross with Gunnar, because he had made peace for Kol's slaying. 
+Gunnar told her he would never break with Njal or his sons, and
+she flew into a great rage; but Gunnar took no heed of that, and
+so they sat for that year, and nothing noteworthy happened.
+
+
+
+38. THE KILLING OF ATLI THE THRALL
+
+Next spring Njal said to Atli, "I wish that thou wouldst change
+thy abode to the east firths, so that Hallgerda may not put an
+end to thy life?"
+
+"I am not afraid of that," says Atli, "and I will willingly stay
+at home if I have the choice."
+
+"Still that is less wise," says Njal.
+
+"I think it better to lose my life in thy house than to change my
+master; but this I will beg of thee, if I am slain, that a
+thrall's price shall not be paid for me."
+
+"Thou shalt be atoned for as a free man; but perhaps Bergthora
+will make thee a promise which she will fulfil, that revenge, man
+for man, shall be taken for thee."
+
+Then he made up his mind to be a hired servant there.
+
+Now it must be told of Hallgerda that she sent a man west to
+Bearfirth, to fetch Brynjolf the Unruly, her kinsman.  He was a
+base son of Swan, and he was one of the worst of men.  Gunnar
+knew nothing about it.  Hallgerda said he was well fitted to be a
+grieve.  So Brynjolf came from the west, and Gunnar asked what he
+was to do there?  He said he was going to stay there.
+
+"Thou wilt not better our household," says Gunnar, "after what
+has been told me of thee, but I will not turn away any of
+Hallgerda's kinsmen, whom she wishes to be with her."
+
+Gunnar said little, but was not unkind to him, and so things went
+on till the Thing.  Gunnar rides to the Thing and Kolskegg rides
+too, and when they came to the Thing they and Njal met, for he
+and his sons were at the Thing, and all went well with Gunnar and
+them.
+
+Bergthora said to Atli, "Go thou up into Thorolfsfell and work
+there a week."
+
+So he went up thither, and was there on the sly, and burnt
+charcoal in the wood.
+
+Hallgerda said to Brynjolf, "I have been told Atli is not at
+home, and he must be winning work on Thorolfsfell."
+
+"What thinkest thou likeliest that he is working at," says he.
+
+"At something in the wood," she says.
+
+"What shall I do to him?" he asks.
+
+"Thou shalt kill him," says she.
+
+He was rather slow in answering her, and Hallgerda said, "'Twould
+grow less in Thiostolf's eyes to kill Atli if he were alive."
+
+"Thou shalt have no need to goad me on much more," he says, and
+then he seized his weapons, and takes his horse and mounts, and
+rides to Thorolfsfell.  There he saw a great reek of coalsmoke
+east of the homestead, so he rides thither, and gets off his
+horse and ties him up, but he goes where the smoke was thickest. 
+Then he sees where the charcoal pit is, and a man stands by it. 
+He saw that he had thrust his spear in the ground by him. 
+Brynjolf goes along with the smoke right up to him, but he was
+eager at his work, and saw him not.  Brynjolf gave him a stroke
+on the head with his axe, and he turned so quick round that
+Brynjolf loosed his hold of the axe, and Atli grasped the spear,
+and hurled it after him.  Then Brynjolf cast himself down on the
+ground, but the spear flew away over him.
+
+"Lucky for thee that I was not ready for thee," says Atli, "but
+now Hallgerda will be well pleased, for thou wilt tell her of my
+death; but it is a comfort to know that thou wilt have the same
+fate soon; but come now take thy axe which has been here."
+
+He answered him never a word, nor did he take the axe before he
+was dead.  Then he rode up to the house on Thorolfsfell, and told
+of the slaying, and after that rode home and told Hallgerda.  She
+sent men to Bergthorsknoll, and let them tell Bergthora that now
+Kol's slaying was paid for.
+
+After that Hallgerda sent a man to the Thing to tell Gunnar of
+Atli's killing.
+
+Gunnar stood up, and Kolskegg with him, and Kolskegg said,
+"Unthrifty will Hallgerda's kinsmen be to thee."
+
+Then they go to see Njal, and Gunnar said, "I have to tell thee
+of Atli's killing."  He told him also who slew him, and went on,
+"And now I will bid thee atonement for the deed, and thou shalt
+make the award thyself."
+
+Njal said, "We two have always meant never to come to strife
+about anything; but still I cannot make him out a thrall."
+
+Gunnar said that was all right, and stretched out his hand.
+
+Njal named his witnesses, and they made peace on those terms.
+
+Skarphedinn said, "Hallgerda does not let our housecarles die
+of old age."
+
+Gunnar said, "Thy mother will take care that blow goes for blow
+between the houses."
+
+"Ay, ay," says Njal, "there will be enough of that work."
+
+After that Njal fixed the price at a hundred in silver, but
+Gunnar paid it down at once.  Many who stood by said that the
+award was high; Gunnar got wroth, and said that a full atonement
+was often paid for those who were no brisker men than Atli.
+
+With that they rode home from the Thing.
+
+Bergthora said to Njal when she saw the money, "Thou thinkest
+thou hast fulfilled thy promise, but now my promise is still
+behind."
+
+"There is no need that thou shouldst fulfil it," says Njal.
+
+"Nay," says she, "thou hast guessed it would be so; and so it
+shall be."
+
+Hallgerda said to Gunnar, "Hast thou paid a hundred in silver for
+Atli's slaying, and made him a free man?"
+
+"He was free before," says Gunnar, "and besides, I will not make
+Njal's household outlaws who have forfeited their rights."
+
+"There's not a pin to choose between you," she said, "for both of
+you are so blate?"
+
+"That's as things prove," says he.
+
+Then Gunnar was for a long time very short with her, till she
+gave way to him; and now all was still for the rest of that year;
+in the spring Njal did not increase his household, and now men
+ride to the Thing about summer.
+
+
+
+39. THE SLAYING OF BRYNJOLF THE UNRULY
+
+There was a man named Thord, he was surnamed Freedmanson. 
+Sigtrygg was his father's name, and he had been the freedman of
+Asgerd, and he was drowned in Markfleet.  That was why Thord was
+with Njal afterwards.  He was a tall man and a strong, and he had
+fostered all Njal's sons.  He had set his heart on Gudfinna
+Thorolf's daughter, Njal's kinswoman; she was housekeeper at home
+there, and was then with child.
+
+Now Bergthora came to talk with Thord Freedmanson; she said,
+"Thou shalt go to kill Brynjolf, Hallgerda's kinsman."
+
+"I am no man-slayer," he says, "but still I will do whatever thou
+wilt."
+
+"This is my will," she says.
+
+After that he went up to Lithend, and made them call Hallgerda
+out, and asked where Brynjolf might be.
+
+"What's thy will with him," she says.
+
+"I want him to tell me where he has hidden Atli's body; I have
+heard say that he has buried it badly."
+
+She pointed to him and said he was down yonder in Acretongue.
+
+"Take heed," says Thord, "that the same thing does not befall him
+as befell Atli."
+
+"Thou art no man-slayer," she says, "and so naught will come of
+it even if ye two do meet."
+
+"Never have I seen man's blood, nor do I know how I should feel
+if I did," he says, and gallops out of the "town" and down to
+Acretongue.
+
+Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, had heard their talk.
+
+"Thou goadest his mind much, Hallgerda," she says, "but I think
+him a dauntless man, and that thy kinsman will find."
+
+They met on the beaten way, Thord and Brynjolf; and Thord said,
+"Guard thee, Brynjolf, for I will do no dastard's deed by thee."
+
+Brynjolf rode at Thord, and smote at him with his axe.  He smote
+at him at the same time with his axe, and hewed in sunder the
+haft just above Brynjolf's hands, and then hewed at him at once a
+second time, and struck him on the collar-bone, and the blow went
+straight into his trunk.  Then he fell from horseback, and was
+dead on the spot.
+
+Thord met Hallgerda's herdsman, and gave out the slaying as done
+by his hand, and said where he lay, and bade him tell Hallgerda
+of the slaying.  After that he rode home to Bergthorsknoll, and
+told Bergthora of the slaying, and other people too.
+
+"Good luck go with thy hands," she said.
+
+The herdsman told Hallgerda of the slaying; she was snappish at
+it, and said much ill would come of it, if she might have her
+way.
+
+
+
+40. GUNNAR AND NJAL MAKE PEACE ABOUT BRYNJOLF'S SLAYING
+
+Now these tidings come to the Thing, and Njal made them tell him
+the tale thrice, and then he said, "More men now become man-
+slayers than I weened."
+
+Skarphedinn spoke, "That man, though, must have been twice fey,"
+he says, "who lost his life by our foster-father's hand, who has
+never seen man's blood.  And many would think that we brothers
+would sooner have done this deed with the turn of temper that we
+have."
+
+"Scant space wilt thou have," says Njal, "ere the like befalls
+thee; but need will drive thee to it."
+
+Then they went to meet Gunnar, and told him of the slaying. 
+Gunnar spoke and said that was little man-scathe, "but yet he was
+a free man."
+
+Njal offered to make peace at once, and Gunnar said yes, and he
+was to settle the terms himself.  He made his award there and
+then, and laid it at one hundred in silver.  Njal paid down the
+money on the spot, and they were at peace after that.
+
+
+
+41. SIGMUND COMES OUT TO ICELAND
+
+There was a man whose name was Sigmund.  He was the son of Lambi,
+the son of Sighvat the Red.  He was a great voyager, and a comely
+and a courteous man; tall too, and strong.  He was a man of proud
+spirit, and a good skald, and well trained in most feats of
+strength.  He was noisy and boisterous, and given to jibes and
+mocking.  He made the land east in Homfirth.  Skiolld was the
+name of his fellow-traveller; he was a Swedish man, and ill to do
+with.  They took horse and rode from the east out of Hornfirth,
+and did not draw bridle before they came to Lithend, in the
+Fleetlithe.  Gunnar gave them a hearty welcome, for the bonds of
+kinship were close between them.  Gunnar begged Sigmund to stay
+there that winter, and Sigmund said he would take the offer if
+Skiolld his fellow might be there too.
+
+"Well, I have been so told about him," said Gunnar, "that he is
+no betterer of thy temper; but as it is, thou rather needest to
+have it bettered.  This, too, is a bad house to stay at, and I
+would just give both of you a bit of advice, my kinsman, not to
+fire up at the egging on of my wife Hallgerda; for she takes much
+in hand that is far from my will."
+
+"His hands are clean who warns another," says Sigmund.
+
+"Then mind the advice given thee," says Gunnar, "for thou art
+sure to be sore tried; and go along always with me, and lean upon
+my counsel."
+
+After that they were in Gunnar's company.  Hallgerda was good to
+Sigmund; and it soon came about that things grew so warm that she
+loaded him with money, and tended him no worse than her own
+husband; and many talked about that, and did not know what lay
+under it.
+
+One day Hallgerda said to Gunnar, "It is not good to be content
+with that hundred in silver which thou tookest for my kinsman
+Brynjolf.  I shall avenue him if I may," she says.
+
+Gunnar said he had no mind to bandy words with her, and went
+away.  He met Kolskegg, and said to him, "Go and see Njal; and
+tell him that Thord must be ware of himself though peace has been
+made for, methinks, there is faithlessness somewhere."
+
+He rode off and told Njal, but Njal told Thord, and Kolskegg rode
+home, and Njal thanked them for their faithfulness.
+
+Once on a time they two were out in the "town," Njal and Thord; a
+he-goat was wont to go up and down in the "town," and no one was
+allowed to drive him away.  Then Thord spoke and said, "Well,
+this is a wondrous thing!"
+
+"What is it that thou see'st that seems after a wondrous
+fashion?" says Njal.
+
+"Methinks the goat lies here in the hollow, and he is all one
+gore of blood."
+
+Njal said that there was no goat there, nor anything else.
+
+"What is it then?" says Thord.
+
+"Thou must be a `fey' man," says Njal, "and thou must have seen
+the fetch that follows thee, and now be ware of thyself."
+
+"That will stand me in no stead," says Thord, "if death is doomed
+for me."
+
+Then Hallgerda came to talk with Thrain Sigfus' son, and said, "I
+would think thee my son-in-law indeed," she says, "if thou
+slayest Thord Freedmanson."
+
+"I will not do that," he says, "for then I shall have the wrath
+of my kinsman Gunnar; and besides, great things hang on this
+deed, for this slaying would soon be avenged."
+
+"Who will avenge it?" she asks; "is it the beardless carle?"
+
+"Not so," says he, "his sons will avenge it."
+
+After that they talked long and low, and no man knew what counsel
+they took together.
+
+Once it happened that Gunnar was not at home, but those
+companions were.  Thrain had come in from Gritwater, and then he
+and they and Hallgerda sat out of doors and talked.  Then
+Hallgerda said, "This have ye two brothers in arms, Sigmund and
+Skiolld, promised to slay Thord Freedmanson; but Thrain thou hast
+promised me that thou wouldst stand by them when they did the
+deed."
+
+They all acknowledged that they had given her this promise.
+
+"Now I will counsel you how to do it," she says: "Ye shall ride
+east into Homfirth after your goods, and come home about the
+beginning of the Thing, but if ye are at home before it begins,
+Gunnar will wish that ye should ride to the Thing with him.  Njal
+will be at the Thing and his sons and Gunnar, but then ye two
+shall slay Thord."
+
+They all agreed that this plan should be carried out.  After that
+they busked them east to the Firth, and Gunnar was not aware of
+what they were about, and Gunnar rode to the Thing.  Njal sent
+Thord Freedmanson away east under Eyjafell, and bade him be away
+there one night.  So he went east, but he could not get back from
+the east, for the Fleet had risen so high that it could not be
+crossed on horseback ever so far up.  Njal waited for him one
+night, for he had meant him to have ridden with him; and Njal
+said to Bregthora that she must send Thord to the Thing as soon
+as ever he came home.  Two nights after, Thord came from the
+east, and Bergthora told him that he must ride to the Thing, "But
+first thou shalt ride up into Thorolfsfell and see about the farm
+there, and do not be there longer than one or two nights."
+
+
+
+42. THE SLAYING OF THORD FREEDMANSON
+
+Then Sigmund came from the east and those companions.  Hallgerda
+told them that Thord was at home, but that he was to ride
+straightway to the Thing after a few nights' space.  "Now ye will
+have a fair chance at him," she says, "but if this goes off, ye
+will never get nigh him."  Men came to Lithend from Thorolfsfell,
+and told Hallgerda that Thord was there.  Hallgerda went to
+Thrain Sigfus' son, and his companions, and said to him, "Now is
+Thord on Thorolfsfell, and now your best plan is to fall on him
+and kill him as he goes home."
+
+"That we will do," says Sigmund.  So they went out, and took
+their weapons and horses and rode on the way to meet him. 
+Sigmund said to Thrain, "Now thou shalt have nothing to do with
+it; for we shall not need all of us."
+
+"Very well, so I will," says he.
+
+Then Thord rode up to them a little while after, and Sigmund said
+to him, "Give thyself up," he says, "for now shalt thou die."
+
+"That shall not be," says Thord, "come thou to single combat with
+me."
+
+"That shall not be either," says Sigmund; "we will make the most
+of our numbers; but it is not strange that Skarphedinn is strong,
+for it is said that a fourth of a foster-child's strength comes
+from the foster-father.
+
+"Thou wilt feel the force of that," says Thord, "for Skarphedinn
+will avenge me."
+
+After that they fall on him, and he breaks a spear of each of
+them, so well did he guard himself.  Then Skiolld cut off his
+hand, and he still kept them off with his other hand for some
+time, till Sigmund thrust him through.  Then he fell dead to
+earth.  They drew over him turf and stones; and Thrain said, "We
+have won an ill work, and Njal's sons will take this slaying ill
+when they hear of it."
+
+They ride home and tell Hallgerda.  She was glad to hear of the
+slaying, but Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, said, "It is said `but a
+short while is hand fain of blow,' and so it will be here; but
+still Gunnar will set thee free from this matter.  But if
+Hallgerda makes thee take another fly in thy mouth, then that
+will be thy bane."
+
+Hallgerda sent a man to Bergthorsknoll, to tell the slaying, and
+another man to the Thing, to tell it to Gunnar.  Bergthora said
+she would not fight against Hallgerda with ill words about such a
+matter; "That," quoth she, "would be no revenge for so great a
+quarrel."
+
+
+
+43. NJAL AND GUNNAR MAKE PEACE FOR THE SLAYING OF THORD
+
+But when the messenger came to the Thing to tell Gunnar of the
+slaying, then Gunnar said, "This has happened ill, and no tidings
+could come to my ears which I should think worse; but yet we will
+now go at once and see Njal.  I still hope he may take it well,
+though he be sorely tried."
+
+So they went to see Njal, and called him to come out and talk to
+them.  He went out at once to meet Gunnar, and they talked, nor
+were there any more men by at first than Kolskegg.
+
+"Hard tidings have I to tell thee," says Gunnar; "the slaying of
+Thord Freedmanson, and I wish to offer thee selfdoom for the
+slaying."
+
+Njal held his peace some while, and then said, "That is well 
+offered, and I will take it; but yet it is to be looked for that
+I shall have blame from my wife or from my sons for that, for it
+will mislike them much; but still I will run the risk, for I know
+that I have to deal with a good man and true; nor do I wish that
+any breach should arise in our friendship on my part.
+
+"Wilt thou let thy sons be by, pray?" says Gunnar.
+
+"I will not," says Njal, "for they will not break the peace which
+I make, but if they stand by while we make it they will not pull
+well together with us."
+
+"So it shall be," says Gunnar.  "See thou to it alone."
+
+Then they shook one another by the hand, and made peace well and
+quickly.
+
+Then Njal said, "The award that I make is two hundred in silver,
+and that thou wilt think much."
+
+"I do not think it too much," says Gunnar, and went home to his
+booth.
+
+Njal's sons came home, and Skarphedinn asked whence that great
+sum of money came, which his father held in his hand.
+
+Njal said, "I tell you of your foster-father's Thord's slaying,
+and we two, Gunnar and I, have now made peace in the matter, and
+he has paid an atonement for him as for two men."
+
+"Who slew him?" says Skarphedinn.
+
+"Sigmund and Skiolld, but Thrain was standing near too," says
+Njal.
+
+"They thought they had need of much strength," says Skarphedinn,
+and sang a song --
+
+     "Bold in deeds of derring-do,
+     Burdeners of ocean's steeds,
+     Strength enough it seems they needed
+     A11 to slay a single man;
+     When shall we our hands uplift?
+     We who brandish burnished steel --
+     Famous men erst reddened weapons,
+     When? if now we quiet sit?"
+
+"Yes! when shall the day come when we shall lift our hands?"
+
+"That will not be long off," says Njal, "and then thou shalt not
+be baulked; but still, methinks, I set great store on your not
+breaking this peace that I have made."
+
+"Then we will not break it," says Skarphedinn, "but if anything
+arises between us, then we will bear in mind the old feud."
+
+"Then I will ask you to spare no one," says Njal.
+
+
+
+44. SIGMUND MOCKS NJAL AND HIS SONS
+
+Now men ride home from the Thing; and when Gunnar came home, he
+said to Sigmund, "Thou art a more unlucky man than I thought, and
+turnest thy good gifts to thine own ill.  But still I have made
+peace for thee with Njal and his sons; and now, take care that
+thou dost not let another fly come into thy mouth.  Thou art not
+at all after my mind, thou goest about with jibes and jeers, with
+scorn and mocking; but that is not my turn of mind.  That is why
+thou gettest on so well with Hallgerda, because ye two have your
+minds more alike."
+
+Gunnar scolded him a long time, and he answered him well, and
+said he would follow his counsel more for the time to come than
+he had followed it hitherto.  Gunnar told him then they might get
+on together.  Gunnar and Njal kept up their friendship though the
+rest of their people saw little of one another.  It happened once
+that some gangrel women came to Lithend from Bergthorsknoll; they
+were great gossips and rather spiteful tongued.  Hallgerda had a
+bower, and sate often in it, and there sate with her her daughter
+Thorgerda, and there too were Thrain and Sigmund, and a crowd of
+women.  Gunnar was not there, nor Kolskegg.  These gangrel women
+went into the bower, and Hallgerda greeted them, and made room
+for them; then she asked them for news, but they had none to
+tell.  Hallgerda asked where they had been overnight; they said
+at Bergthorsknoll.
+
+"What was Njal doing?" she says.
+
+"He was hard at work sitting still," they said.
+
+"What were Njal's sons doing?" she says; "they think themselves
+men at any rate."
+
+"Tall men they are in growth," they say, "but as yet they are all
+untried; Skarphedinn whetted an axe, Gim fitted a spearhead to
+the shaft, Helgi riveted a hilt on a sword, Hauskuld strengthened
+the handle of a shield."
+
+"They must be bent on some great deed," says Hallgerda.
+
+"We do not know that," they say.
+
+"What were Njal's house-carles doing?" she asks.
+
+"We don't know what some of them were doing, but one was carting
+dung up the hill-side."
+
+"What good was there in doing that?" she asks.
+
+"He said it made the swathe better there than anywhere else,"
+they reply.  "Witless now is Njal," says Hallgerda, "though he
+knows how to give counsel on everything."
+
+"How so?" they ask.
+
+"I will only bring forward what is true to prove it," says she;
+"why doesn't he make them cart dung over his beard that he may be
+like other men?  Let us call him `the Beardless Carle': but his
+sons we will call `Dung-beardlings'; and now do pray give some
+stave about them, Sigmund, and let us get some good by thy gift
+of song."
+
+"I am quite ready to do that," says he, and sang these verses:
+
+     "Lady proud with hawk in hand,
+     Prithee why should dungbeard boys,
+     Reft of reason, dare to hammer
+     Handle fast on battle shield?
+     For these lads of loathly feature --
+     Lady scattering swanbath's beams (1) --
+     Shaft not shun this ditty shameful
+     Which I shape upon them now.
+
+     He the beardless carle shall listen
+     While I lash him with abuse,
+     Loon at whom our stomachs sicken,
+     Soon shall bear these words of scorn;
+     Far too nice for such base fellows
+     Is the name my bounty gives,
+     Een my muse her help refuses,
+     Making mirth of dungbeard boys.
+
+     Here I find a nickname fitting
+     For those noisome dungbeard boys, --
+     Loath am I to break my bargain
+     Linked with such a noble man --
+     Knit we all our taunts together --
+     Known to me is mind of man --
+     Call we now with outburst common,
+     Him, that churl, the beardless carle."
+
+Thou art a jewel indeed," says Hallgerda; " how yielding thou art
+to what I ask!"
+
+Just then Gunnar came in.  He had been standing outside the door
+of the bower, and heard all the words that had passed.  They were
+in a great fright when they saw him come in, and then all held
+their peace, but before there had been bursts of laughter.
+
+Gunnar was very wroth, and said to Sigmund, "Thou art a foolish
+man, and one that cannot keep to good advice, and thou revilest
+Njal's sons, and Njal himself who is most worth of all; and this
+thou doest in spite of what thou hast already done.  Mind, this
+will be thy death.  But if any man repeats these words that thou
+hast spoken, or these verses that thou hast made, that man shall
+be sent away at once, and have my wrath beside."
+
+But they were all so sore afraid of him, that no one dared to
+repeat those words.  After that he went away, but the gangrel
+women talked among themselves, and said that they would get a
+reward from Bergthora if they told her all this.
+
+They went then away afterwards down thither, and took Bergthora
+aside and told her the whole story of their own free will.
+
+Bergthora spoke and said, when men sate down to the board, "Gifts
+have been given to all of you, father and sons, and ye will be no
+true men unless ye repay them somehow."
+
+"What gifts are these? " asks Skarphedinn.
+
+"You, my sons," says Bergthora, "have got one gift between you
+all.  Ye are nicknamed `Dungbeardlings,' but my husband `the
+Beardless Carle.'"
+
+"Ours is no woman's nature," says Skarphedinn, "that we should
+fly into a rage at every little thing."
+
+"And yet Gunnar was wroth for your sakes," says she, "and he is
+thought to be good-tempered.  But if ye do not take vengeance for
+this wrong, ye will avenge no shame."
+
+"The carline, our mother, thinks this fine sport," says
+Skarphedinn, and smiled scornfully as he spoke, but still the
+sweat burst out upon his brow, and red flecks came over his
+checks, but that was not his wont.  Grim was silent and bit his
+lip.  Helgi made no sign, and he said never a word.  Hauskuld
+went off with Bergthora; she came into the room again, and
+fretted and foamed much.
+
+Njal spoke and said, "`Slow and sure,' says the proverb,
+mistress!  and so it is with many things, though they try men's
+tempers, that there are always two sides to a story, even when
+vengeance is taken."
+
+But at even when Njal was come into his bed, he heard that an axe
+came against the panel and rang loudly, but there was another
+shut bed, and there the shields were hung up, and he sees that
+they are away.  He said, "Who have taken down our shields?"
+
+"Thy sons went out with them," says Bergthora.
+
+Njal pulled his shoes on his feet, and went out at once, and
+round to the other side of the house, and sees that they were
+taking their course right up the slope; he said, "Whither away,
+Skarphedinn?"
+
+"To look after thy sheep," he answers.
+
+"You would not then be armed," said Njal, "if you meant that, and
+your errand must be something else."
+
+Then Skarphedinn sang a song,
+
+     "Squanderer of hoarded wealth,
+     Some there are that own rich treasure,
+     Ore of sea that clasps the earth,
+     And yet care to count their sheep;
+     Those who forge sharp songs of mocking,
+     Death songs, scarcely can possess
+     Sense of sheep that crop the grass;
+     Such as these I seek in fight;"
+
+and said afterwards, "We shall fish for salmon, father."
+
+"'Twould be well then if it turned out so that the prey does not
+get away from you."
+
+They went their way, but Njal went to his bed, and he said to
+Bergthora, "Thy sons were out of doors all of them, with arms,
+and now thou must have egged them on to something."
+
+"I will give them my heartfelt thanks," said Bergthora, "if they
+tell me the slaying of Sigmund."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Swanbath's beams" -- periphrasis for gold.
+
+
+
+45. THE SLAYING OF SIGMUND AND SKIOLLD
+
+Now they, Njal's sons, fare up to Fleetlithe, and were that night
+under the Lithe, and when the day began to break, they came near
+to Lithend.  That same morning both Sigmund and Skiolld rose up
+and meant to go to the studhorses; they had bits with them, and
+caught the horses that were in the "town" and rode away on them. 
+They found the stud-horses between two brooks.  Skarphedinn
+caught sight of them, for Sigmund was in bright clothing. 
+Skarphedinn said, "See you now the red elf yonder, lads?"  They
+looked that way, and said they saw him.
+
+Skarphedinn spoke again: "Thou, Hauskuld, shalt have nothing to
+do with it, for thou wilt often be sent about alone without due
+heed; but I mean Sigmund for myself; methinks that is like a man;
+but Grim and Helgi, they shall try to slay Skiolld."
+
+Hauskuld sat him down, but they went until they came up to them. 
+Skarphedinn said to Sigmund, "Take thy weapons and defend
+thyself; that is more needful now than to make mocking songs on
+me and my brothers."
+
+Sigmund took up his weapons, but Skarphedinn waited the while. 
+Skiolld turned against Grim and Helgi, and they fell hotly to
+fight.  Sigmund had a helm on his head, and a shield at his side,
+and was girt with a sword, his spear was in his hand; now he
+turns against Skarphedinn, and thrusts at once at him with his
+spear, and the thrust came on his shield.  Skarphedinn dashes the
+spearhaft in two, and lifts up his axe and hews at Sigmund, and
+cleaves his shield down to below the handle.  Sigmund drew his
+sword and cut at Skarphedinn, and the sword cuts into his shield,
+so that it stuck fast.  Skarphedinn gave the shield such a quick
+twist, that Sigmund let go his sword.  Then Skarphedinn hews at
+Sigmund with his axe; the "Ogress of war."  Sigmund had on a
+corselet, the axe came on his shoulder.  Skarphedinn cleft the
+shoulder-blade right through, and at the same time pulled the axe
+towards him.  Sigmund fell down on both knees, but sprang up
+again at once.
+
+"Thou hast lilted low to me already," says Skarphedinn, "but
+still thou shalt fall upon thy mother's bosom ere we two part."
+
+"III is that then," says Sigmund.
+
+Skarphedinn gave him a blow on his helm, and after that dealt
+Sigmund his death-blow.
+
+Grim cut off Skiolld's foot at the ankle-joint, but Helgi thrust
+him through with his spear, and he got his death there and then.
+
+Skarphedinn saw Hallgerda's shepherd, just as he had hewn off
+Sigmund's head; he handed the head to the shepherd, and bade him
+bear it to Hallgerda, and said she would know whether that head
+had made jeering songs about them, and with that he sang a 
+song --
+
+     "Here! this head shalt thou, that heapest
+     Hoards from ocean-caverns won, (1)
+     Bear to Hallgerd with my greeting,
+     Her that hurries men to fight;
+     Sure am I, O firewood splitter!
+     That yon spendthrift knows it well,
+     And will answer if it ever
+     Uttered mocking songs on us."
+
+The shepherd casts the head down as soon as ever they parted,
+for he dared not do so while their eyes were on him.  They fared
+along till they met some men down by Markfleet, and told them the
+tidings.  Skarphedinn gave himself out as the slayer of Sigmund
+and Grim and Helgi as the slayers of Skiolld; then they fared
+home and told Njal the tidings.  He answers them, "Good luck to
+your hands I Here no self-doom will come to pass as things
+stand."
+
+Now we must take up the story, and say that the shepherd came
+home to Lithend.  He told Hallgerda the tidings.
+
+"Skarphedinn put Sigmund's head into my hands," he says, "and
+bade me bring it thee; but I dared not do it, for I knew not how
+thou wouldst like that."
+
+"'Twas ill that thou didst not do that," she says; "I would have
+brought it to Gunnar, and then he would have avenged his kinsman,
+or have to bear every man's blame."
+
+After that she went to Gunnar and said, "I tell thee of thy
+kinsman Sigmund's slaying: Skarphedinn slew him, and wanted them
+to bring me the head."
+
+"Just what might be looked for to befall him," says Gunnar, "for
+ill redes bring ill luck, and both you and Skarphedinn have often
+done one another spiteful turns."
+
+Then Gunnar went away; he let no steps be taken towards a suit
+for manslaughter, and did nothing about it.  Hallgerda often put
+him in mind of it, and kept saying that Sigmund had fallen
+unatoned.  Gunnar gave no heed to that.
+
+Now three Things passed away, at each of which men thought that
+he would follow up the suit; then a knotty point came on Gunnar's
+hands, which he knew not how to set about, and then he rode to
+find Njal.  He gave Gunnar a hearty welcome.  Gunnar said to
+Njal, "I am come to seek a bit of good counsel at thy hands about
+a knotty point."
+
+"Thou art worthy of it," says Njal, and gave him counsel what to
+do.  Then Gunnar stood up and thanked him.  Njal then spoke, and
+said, and took Gunnar by the hand, "Over long hath thy kinsman
+Sigmund been unatoned."
+
+"He has been long ago atoned," says Gunnar, "but still I will not
+fling back the honour offered me."
+
+Gunnar had never spoken an ill word of Njal's sons.  Njal would
+have nothing else than that Gunnar should make his own award in
+the matter.  He awarded two hundred in silver, but let Skiolld
+fall without a price.  They paid down all the money at once.
+
+Gunnar declared this their atonement at the Thingskala Thing,
+when most men were at it, and laid great weight on the way in
+which they (Njal and his sons) had behaved; he told too those bad
+words which cost Sigmund his life, and no man was to repeat them
+or sing the verses, but if any sung them, the man who uttered
+them was to fall without atonement.
+
+Both Gunnar and Njal gave each other their words that no such
+matters should ever happen that they would not settle among
+themselves; and this pledge was well kept ever after, and they
+were always friends.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Thou, that heapest boards," etc. -- merely a periphrasis
+     for man, and scarcely fitting, except in irony, to a
+     splitter of firewood.
+
+
+
+46. OF GIZUR THE WHITE AND GEIR THE PRIEST
+
+There was a man named Gizur the White; he was Teit's son;
+Kettlebjorn the Old's son, of Mossfell. (1)  Bishop Isleif was
+Gizur's son.  Gizur the White kept house at Mossfell, and was a
+great chief.  That man is also named in this story whose name was
+Geir the Priest; his mother was Thorkatla, another daughter of
+Kettlebjorn the Old of Mossfell.  Geir kept house at Lithe.  He
+and Gizur backed one another in every matter.  At that time Mord
+Valgard's son kept house at Hof on the Rangrivervales; he was
+crafty and spiteful.  Valgard his father was then abroad, but his
+mother was dead.  He was very envious of Gunnar of Lithend.  He
+was wealthy, so far as goods went, but had not many friends.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Teit's mother's name was Helga.  She was a daughter of Thord
+     Longbeard, who was the son of Hrapp, who was the son of
+     Bjorn the Rough-footed, who was the son of Grim, the Lord of
+     Sogn in Norway.  Gizur's mother's name was Olof.  She was a
+     daughter of Lord Baudvar, Viking-Kari's son.
+
+
+
+47. OF OTKELL IN KIRKBY
+
+There was a man named Otkell; he was the son of Skarf, the son of
+Hallkell, who fought with Grim of Grimsness, and felled him on
+the holm. (1)  This Hallkell and Kettlebjorn the Old were
+brothers.
+
+Otkell kept house at Kirkby; his wife's name was Thorgerda; she
+was a daughter of Mar, the son of Runolf, the son of Naddad of
+the Faroe Isles.  Otkell was wealthy in goods.  His son's name
+was Thorgeir; he was young in years, and a bold dashing man.
+
+Skamkell was the name of another man; he kept house at another
+farm called Hof (2); he was well off for money, but he was a
+spiteful man and a liar; quarrelsome too, and ill to deal with. 
+He was Otkell's friend.  Hallkell was the name of Otkell's
+brother; he was a tall strong man, and lived there with Otkell;
+their brother's name was Hallbjorn the White; he brought out to
+Iceland a thrall, whose name was Malcolm; he was Irish, and had
+not many friends.
+
+Hallbjorn went to stay with Otkell, and so did his thrall
+Malcolm.  The thrall was always saying that he should think
+himself happy if Otkell owned him.  Otkell was kind to him, and
+gave him a knife and belt, and a full suit of clothes, but the
+thrall turned his hand to any work that Otkell wished.
+
+Otkell wanted to make a bargain with his brother for the thrall;
+he said he would give him the thrall, but said, too, that he was
+a worse treasure than he thought.  But as soon as Otkell owned
+the thrall, then he did less and less work.  Otkell often said
+outright to Hallbjorn, that he thought the thrall did little
+work; and he told Otkell that there was worse in him yet to
+come.
+
+At that time came a great scarcity, so that men fell short both
+of meat and hay, and that spread over all parts of Iceland. 
+Gunnar shared his hay and meat with many men; and all got them
+who came thither, so long as his stores lasted.  At last it came
+about that Gunnar himself fell short both of hay and meat.  Then
+Gunnar called on Kolskegg to go along with him; he called too on
+Thrain Sigfus' son, and Lambi Sigurd's son.  They fared to
+Kirkby, and called Otkell out.  He greeted them, and Gunnar said,
+"It so happens that I am come to deal with thee for hay and meat,
+if there be any left."
+
+Otkell answers, "There is store of both, but I will sell thee
+neither."
+
+"Wilt thou give me them then," says Gunnar, "and run the risk of
+my paying thee back somehow?"
+
+"I will not do that either," says Otkell.
+
+Skamkell all the while was giving him bad counsel.
+
+Then Thrain Sigfus' son, said, "It would serve him right if we 
+take both hay and meat and lay down the worth of them instead."
+
+Skamkell answered, "All the men of Mossfell must be dead and gone
+then, if ye, sons of Sigfus, are to come and rob them."
+
+"I will have no hand in any robbery," says Gunnar.
+
+"Wilt thou buy a thrall of me?" says Otkell.
+
+"I'll not spare to do that," says Gunnar.  After that Gunnar
+bought the thrall, and fared away as things stood.
+
+Njal hears of this, and said, "Such things are ill done, to
+refuse to let Gunnar buy; and it is not a good outlook for others
+if such men as he cannot get what they want."
+
+"What's the good of thy talking so much about such a little
+matter," says Bergthora; "far more like a man would it be to let
+him have both meat and hay, when thou lackest neither of them."
+
+"That is clear as day," says Njal, "and I will of a surety supply
+his need somewhat."
+
+Then he fared up to Thorolfsfell, and his sons with him, and they
+bound hay on fifteen horses; but on five horses they had meat. 
+Njal came to Lithend, and called Gunnar out.  He greeted them
+kindly.
+
+"Here is hay and meat," said Njal, "which I will give thee; and
+my wish is, that thou shouldst never look to any one else than to
+me if thou standest in need of anything."
+
+"Good are thy gifts," says Gunnar, "but methinks thy friendship
+is still more worth, and that of thy sons."
+
+After that Njal fared home, and now the spring passes away.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  That is, slew him in a duel.
+(2)  Mord Valgard's son lived at the other farm called Hof.
+
+
+
+48. HOW HALLGERDA MAKES MALCOLM STEAL FROM KIRKBY
+
+Now Gunnar is about to ride to the Thing, but a great crowd of
+men from the Side (1) east turned in as guests at his house.
+
+Gunnar bade them come and be his guests again, as they rode back
+from the Thing; and they said they would do so.
+
+Now they ride to the Thing, and Njal and his sons were there. 
+That Thing was still and quiet.
+
+Now we must take up the story, and say that Hallgerda comes to
+talk with Malcolm the thrall.
+
+"I have thought of an errand to send thee on," she says; "thou
+shalt go to Kirkby."
+
+"And what shall I do there?" he says.
+
+"Thou shalt steal from thence food enough to load two horses, and
+mind and have butter and cheese; but thou shalt lay fire in the
+storehouse, and all will think that it has arisen out of
+heedlessness, but no one will think that there has been theft."
+
+"Bad have I been," said the thrall, "but never have I been a
+thief."
+
+"Hear a wonder!" says Hallgerda, "thou makest thyself good, thou
+that hast been both thief and murderer; but thou shalt not dare
+to do aught else than go, else will I let thee be slain."
+
+He thought he knew enough of her to be sure that she would so do
+if he went not; so he took at night two horses and laid
+packsaddles on them, and went his way to Kirkby.  The house-dog
+knew him and did not bark at him, and ran and fawned on him. 
+After that he went to the storehouse and loaded the two horses
+with food out of it, but the storehouse he burnt, and the dog he
+slew.
+
+He went up along by Rangriver, and his shoe-thong snapped; so he
+takes his knife and makes the shoe right, but he leaves the knife
+and belt lying there behind him.
+
+He fares till he comes to Lithend; then he misses the knife, but
+dares not to go back.
+
+Now he brings Hallgerda the food, and she showed herself well
+pleased at it.
+
+Next morning when men came out of doors at Kirkby there they saw
+great scathe.  Then a man was sent to the Thing to tell Otkell;
+he bore the loss well, and said it must have happened because the
+kitchen was next to the storehouse; and all thought that that was
+how it happened.
+
+Now men ride home from the Thing, and many rode to Lithend. 
+Hallgerda set food on the board, and in came cheese and butter. 
+Gunnar knew that such food was not to be looked for in his house,
+and asked Hallgerda whence it came?
+
+"Thence," she says; "whence thou mightest well eat of it;
+besides, it is no man's business to trouble himself with
+housekeeping."
+
+Gunner got wroth and said, "Ill indeed is it if I am a partaker
+with thieves;" and with that he gave her a slap on the cheek.
+
+She said she would bear that slap in mind and repay it if she
+could.
+
+So she went off and he went with her, and then all that was
+on the board was cleared away, but flesh-meat was brought in
+instead, and all thought that was because the flesh was thought
+to have been got in a better way.
+
+Now the men who had been at the Thing fare away.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  That is, from the sea-side or shore, the long narrow strip
+     of habitable land between the mountains and the sea in the
+     south-east of Iceland.
+
+
+
+49. OF SKAMKELL'S EVIL COUNSEL
+
+Now we must tell of Skamkell.  He rides after some sheep up along
+Rangriver, and he sees something shining in the path.  He finds a
+knife and belt, and thinks he knows both of them.  He fares with
+them to Kirkby; Otkell was out of doors when Skamkell came.  He
+spoke to him and said, "Knowest thou aught of these pretty
+things?"
+
+"Of a surety," says Otkell, "I know them."
+
+"Who owns them?" asks Skamkell.
+
+"Malcolm the thrall," says Otkell.
+
+"Then more shall see and know them than we two," says Skamkell,
+"for true will I be to thee in counsel."
+
+They showed them to many men, and all knew them.  Then Skamkell
+said, "What counsel wilt thou now take?"
+
+"We shall go and see Mord Valgard's son," answers Otkell, "and
+seek counsel of him."
+
+So they went to Hof, and showed the pretty things to Mord, and
+asked him if he knew them?
+
+He said he knew them well enough, but what was there in that? 
+"Do you think you have a right to look for anything at Lithend?"
+
+"We think it hard for us," says Skamkell, "to know what to do,
+when such mighty men have a hand in it."
+
+"That is so, sure enough," says Mord, "but yet I will get to know
+those things, out of Gunnar's household, which none of you will
+every know."
+
+"We would give thee money," they say, "if thou wouldst search out
+this thing."
+
+"That money I shall buy full dear," answered Mord, "but still,
+perhaps, it may be that I will look at the matter."
+
+They gave him three marks of silver for lending them his help.
+
+Then he gave them this counsel, that women should go about from
+house to house with small ware, and give them to the housewives,
+and mark what was given them in return.
+
+"For," he says, "'tis the turn of mind of all men first to give
+away what has been stolen, if they have it in their keeping, and
+so it will be here also, if this hath-happened by the hand of
+man.  Ye shall then come and show me what has been given to each
+in each house, and I shall then be free from farther share in
+this matter, if the truth comes to light."
+
+To this they agreed, and went home afterwards.
+
+Mord sends women about the country, and they were away half a
+month.  Then they came back, and had big bundles.  Mord asked
+where they had most given them?
+
+They said that at Lithend most was given them, and Hallgerda had
+been most bountiful to them.
+
+He asked what was given them there.
+
+"Cheese," say they.
+
+He begged to see it, and they showed it to him, and it was in
+great slices.  These he took and kept.
+
+A little after, Mord fared to see Otkell, and bade that he would
+bring Thorgerda's cheese-mould; and when that was done, he laid
+the slices down in it, and lo!  they fitted the mould in every
+way.
+
+Then they saw, too, that a whole cheese had been given to them.
+
+Then Mord said, "Now may ye see that Hallgerda must have stolen
+the cheese;" and they all passed the same judgment; and then Mord
+said, that now he thought he was free of this matter.
+
+After that they parted.
+
+Shortly after Kolskegg fell to talking with Gunnar and said, "III
+is it to tell, but the story is in every man's mouth, that
+Hallgerda must have stolen, and that she was at the bottom of all
+that great scathe that befell at Kirkby."
+
+Gunner said that he too thought that must be so.  "But what is to
+be done now?"
+
+Kolskegg answered, "Thou wilt think it thy most bounden duty to
+make atonement for thy wife's wrong, and methinks it were best
+that tbou farest to see Otkell, and makest him a handsome offer."
+
+"This is well spoken," says Gunnar, "and so it shall be."
+
+A little after Gunnar sent after Thrain Sigfus' son and Lambi
+Sigurd's son, and they came at once.
+
+Gunnar told them whither he meant to go, and they were well
+pleased.  Gunnar rode with eleven men to Kirkby, and called
+Otkell out.  Skamkell was there too, and said, "I will go out
+with thee, and it will be best now to have the balance of wit on
+thy side.  And I would wish to stand closest by thee when thou
+needest it most, and now this will be put to the proof.  Methinks
+it were best that thou puttest on an air of great weight."
+
+Then they, Otkell and Skamkell, and Hallkell, and Hallbjorn, went
+out all of them.
+
+They greeted Gunnar, and he took their greeting well.  Otkell
+asks whither he meant to go?
+
+"No farther than here," says Gunnar, "and my errand hither is to
+tell thee about that bad mishap, how it arose from the plotting
+of my wife and that thrall whom I bought from thee."
+
+"'Tis only what was to be looked for," says Hallbjorn.
+
+"Now I will make thee a good offer," says Gunnar, "and the offer
+is this, that the best men here in the country round settle the
+matter."
+
+"This is a fair-sounding offer," said Skamkell, "but an unfair
+and uneven one.  Thou art a man who has many friends among the
+householders, but Otkell has not many friends."
+
+"Well," says Gunnar, "then I will offer thee that I shall make an
+award, and utter it here on this spot, and so we will settle the
+matter, and my good-will shall follow the settlement.  But I will
+make thee an atonement by paying twice the worth of what was
+lost."
+
+"This choice shalt thou not take," said Skamkell; "and it is
+unworthy to give up to him the right to make his own award, when
+thou oughtest to have kept it for thyself."
+
+So Otkell said, "I will not give up to thee, Gunnar, the right to
+make thine own award."
+
+"I see plainly," said Gunnar, "the help of men who will be paid
+off for it one day, I daresay; but come now, utter an award for
+thyself."
+
+Otkell leant toward Skamkell and said, "What shall I answer now?"
+
+"This thou shalt call a good offer, but still put thy suit into
+the hands of Gizur the White, and Geir the Priest, and then many
+will say this, that thou behavest like Hallkell, thy grandfather,
+who was the greatest of champions."
+
+"Well offered is this, Gunnar," said Otkell, "but still my will
+is thou wouldst give me time to see Gizur the White."
+
+"Do now whatever thou likest in the matter," said Gunnar; "but
+men will say this, that thou couldst not see thine own honour
+when thou wouldst have none of the choices I offer thee."
+
+Then Gunnar rode home, and when he had gone away, Hallbjorn said,
+"Here I see how much man differs from man.  Gunnar made thee good
+offers, but thou wouldst take none of them; or how dost thou
+think to strive with Gunnar in a quarrel, when no one is his
+match in fight.  But now he is still so kind-hearted a man that
+it may be he will let these offers stand, though thou art only
+ready to take them afterwards.  Methinks it were best that thou
+farest to see Gizur the White and Geir the Priest now this very
+hour."
+
+Otkell let them catch his horse, and made ready in every way. 
+Otkell was not sharpsighted, and Skamkell walked on the way along
+with him, and said to Otkell, "Methought it strange that thy
+brother would not take this toil from thee, and now I will make
+thee an offer to fare instead of thee, for I know that the
+journey is irksome to thee."
+
+"I will take that offer," says Otkell, "but mind and be as
+truthful as ever thou canst."
+
+"So it shall be," says Skamkell.
+
+Then Skamkell took his horse and cloak, but Otkell walks home.
+
+Hallbjorn was out of doors, and said to Otkell, "Ill is it to
+have a thrall for one's bosom friend, and we shall rue this for
+ever that thou hast turned back, and it is an unwise step to send
+the greatest liar on an errand, of which one may so speak that
+men's lives hang on it."
+
+"Thou wouldst be sore afraid," says Otkell, "if Gunnar had his
+bill aloft, when thou art so scared now."
+
+"No one knows who will be most afraid then," said Hallbjorn; "but
+this thou wilt have to own, that Gunnar does not lose much time
+in brandishing his bill when he is wroth."
+
+"Ah!" said Otkell, "ye are all of you for yielding but Skamkell."
+
+And then they were both wroth.
+
+
+
+50. OF SKAMKELL'S LYING
+
+Skamkell came to Mossfell, and repeated all the offers to Gizur.
+
+"It so seems to me," says Gizur, "as though these have been
+bravely offered; but why took he not these offers?"
+
+"The chief cause was," answers Skamkell, "that all wished to show
+thee honour, and that was why he waited for thy utterance;
+besides, that is best for all."
+
+So Skamkell stayed there the night over, but Gizur sent a man to
+fetch Geir the Priest; and he came there early.  Then Gizur told
+him the story and said, "What course is to be taken now?"
+
+"As thou no doubt hast already made up thy mind -- to make the
+best of the business for both sides."
+
+"Now we will let Skamkell tell his tale a second time, and see
+how he repeats it."
+
+So they did that, and Gizur said, "Thou must have told this story
+right; but still I have seen thee to be the wickedest of men, and
+there is no faith in faces if thou turnest out well."
+
+Skamkell fared home, and rides first to Kirkby and calls Otkell
+out.  He greets Skamkell well, and Skamkell brought him the
+greeting of Gizur and Geir.
+
+"But about this matter of the suit," be says, "there is no need
+to speak softly, how that it is the will of both Gizur and Geir
+that this suit should not be settled in a friendly way.  They
+gave that counsel that a summons should be set on foot, and that
+Gunnar should be summoned for having partaken of the goods, but
+Hallgerda for stealing them."
+
+"It shall be done," said Otkell, "in everything as they have
+given counsel."
+
+"They thought most of this," says Skamkell, "that thou hadst
+behaved so proudly; but as for me, I made as great a man of thee
+in everything as I could."
+
+Now Otkell tells all this to his brothers, and Hallbjorn said,
+"This must be the biggest lie."
+
+Now the time goes on until the last of the summoning days before
+the Althing came.
+
+Then Otkell called on his brothers and Skamkell to ride on the
+business of the summons to Lithend.
+
+Hallbjorn said he would go, but said also that they would rue
+this summoning as time went on.
+
+Now they rode twelve of them together to Lithend, but when they
+came into the "town," there was Gunnar out of doors, and knew
+naught of their coming till they had ridden right up to the
+house.
+
+He did not go in-doors then, and Otkell thundered out the summons
+there and then; but when they had made an end of the summoning
+Skamkell said, "Is it all right, master?"
+
+"Ye know that best;" says Gunnar, "but I will put thee in mind of
+this journey one of these days, and of thy good help."
+
+"That will not harm us," says Skamkell, "if thy bill be not
+aloft."
+
+Gunnar was very wroth and went in-doors, and told Kolskegg, and
+Kolskegg said, "Ill was it that we were not out of doors; they
+should have come here on the most shameful journey, if we had
+been by."
+
+"Everything bides its time," says Gunnar; "but this journey will
+not turn out to their honour."
+
+A little after Gunnar went and told Njal.
+
+"Let it not worry thee a jot," said Njal, "for this will be the
+greatest honour to thee, ere this Thing comes to an end.  As for
+us, we will all back thee with counsel and force."
+
+Gunnar thanked him and rode home.
+
+Otkell rides to the Thing, and his brothers with him and
+Skamkell.
+
+
+
+51. OF GUNNAR
+
+Gunnar rode to the Thing and all the sons of Sigfus; Njal and his
+sons too, they all went with Gunnar; and it was said that no band
+was so well knit and hardy as theirs.
+
+Gunnar went one day to the booth of the Dalemen; Hrut was by the
+booth and Hauskuld, and they greeted Gunnar well.  Now Gunnar
+tells them the whole story of the suit up to that time.
+
+"What counsel gives Njal?" asks Hrut.
+
+"He bade me seek you brothers," says Gunnar, "and said he was
+sure that he and you would look at the matter in the same light."
+
+"He wishes then," says Hrut, "that I should say what I think
+for kinship's sake; and so it shall be.  Thou shalt challenge
+Gizur the White to combat on the island, if they do not leave the
+whole award to thee; but Kolskegg shall challenge Geir the
+Priest.  As for Otkell and his crew, men must be got ready to
+fall on them; and now we have such great strength all of us
+together, that thou mayst carry out whatever thou wilt."
+
+Gunnar went home to his booth and told Njal.
+
+"Just what I looked for," said Njal.
+
+Wolf Aurpriest got wind of this plan, and told Gizur, and Gizur
+said to Otkell, "Who gave thee that counsel that thou shouldst
+summon Gunnar?"
+
+"Skamkell told me that was the counsel of both Geir the Priest
+and thyself."
+
+"But where is that scoundrel?" says Gizur, "who has thus lied."
+
+"He lies sick up at our booth," says Otkell.
+
+"May he never rise from his bed," says Gizur.  "Now we must all
+go to see Gunnar, and offer him the right to make his own award;
+but I know not whether he will take that now."
+
+Many men spoke ill of Skamkell, and he lay sick all through the
+Thing.
+
+Gizur and his friends went to Gunnar's booth; their coming was
+known, and Gunnar was told as he sat in his booth, and then they
+all went out and stood in array.
+
+Gizur the White came first, and after a while he spoke and said,
+"This is our offer -- that thou, Gunnar, makest thine own award
+in this suit."
+
+"Then," says Gunnar, "it was no doubt far from thy counsel that I
+was summoned."
+
+"I gave no such counsel," says Gizur, "neither I nor Geir."
+
+"Then thou must clear thyself of this charge by fitting proof."
+
+"What proof dost thou ask?" says Gizur.
+
+"That thou takest an oath," says Gunnar.
+
+"That I will do," says Gizur, "if thou wilt take the award into
+thine own hands."
+
+"That was the offer I made a while ago," says Gunnar; "but now,
+methinks, I have a greater matter to pass judgment on."
+
+"It will not be right to refuse to make thine own award," said
+Njal; "for the greater the matter, the greater the honour in
+making it."
+
+"Well," said Gunnar, "I will do this to please my friends, and
+utter my award; but I give Otkell this bit of advice, never to
+give me cause for quarrel hereafter."
+
+Then Hrut and Hauskuld were sent for, and they came thither, and
+then Gizur the White and Gier the Priest took their oaths; but
+Gunnar made his award, and spoke with no man about it, and
+afterwards he uttered it as follows:
+
+"This is my award," he says; "first, I lay it down that the
+storehouse must be paid for, and the food that was therein; but
+for the thrall, I will pay thee no fine, for that thou hiddest
+his faults; but I award him back to thee; for as the saying is,
+`Birds of a feather flock most together.'  Then, on the other
+hand, I see that thou hast summoned me in scorn and mockery, and
+for that I award to myself no less a sum than what the house that
+was burnt and the stores in it were worth; but if ye think it
+better that we be not set at one again, then I will let you have
+your choice of that, but if so I have already made up my mind
+what I shall do, and then I will fulfil my purpose."
+
+"What we ask," said Gizur, "is that thou shouldst not be hard on
+Otkell, but we beg this of thee, on the other hand, that thou
+wouldst be his friend."
+
+"That shall never be," said Gunnar, "so long as I live; but he
+shall have Skamkell's friendship; on that he has long leant."
+
+"Well," answers Gizur, "we will close with thee in this matter,
+though thou alone layest down the terms."
+
+Then all this atonement was made and hands were shaken on it, and
+Gunnar said to Otkell, "It were wiser to go away to thy kinsfolk;
+but if thou wilt be here in this country, mind that thou givest
+me no cause of quarrel."
+
+"That is wholesome counsel," said Gizur; "and so he shall do."
+
+So Gunnar had the greatest honour from that suit, and afterwards
+men rode home from the Thing.
+
+Now Gunnar sits in his house at home, and so things are quiet for
+a while.
+
+
+
+52. OF RUNOLF, THE SON OF WOLF AURPRIEST
+
+There was a man named Runolf, the son of Wolf Aurpriest, he kept
+house at the Dale, east of Markfleet.  He was Otkell's guest once
+when he rode from the Thing.  Otkell gave him an ox, all black,
+without a spot of white, nine winters old.  Runolf thanked him
+for the gift, and bade him come and see him at home whenever he
+chose to go; and this bidding stood over for some while, so that
+he had not paid the visit.  Runolf often sent men to him and put
+him in mind that he ought to come; and he always said he would
+come, but never went.
+
+Now Otkell had two horses, dun coloured, with a black stripe down
+the back; they were the best steeds to ride in all the country
+round, and so fond of each other that whenever one went before
+the other ran after him.
+
+There was an Easterling staying with Otkell, whose name was
+Audulf; he had set his heart on Signy, Otkell's daughter.  Audulf
+was a tall man in growth, and strong.
+
+
+
+53. HOW OTKELL RODE OVER GUNNAR
+
+It happened next spring that Otkell said that they would ride
+east to the Dale, to pay Runolf a visit, and all showed
+themselves well pleased at that.  Skamkell and his two brothers,
+and Audulf and three men more, went along with Otkell.  Otkell
+rode one of the dun horses, but the other ran loose by his side. 
+They shaped their course east towards Markfleet; and now Otkell
+gallops ahead, and now the horses race against each other, and
+they break away from the path up towards the Fleetlithe.
+
+Now, Otkell goes faster than he wished, and it happened that
+Gunnar had gone away from home out of his house all alone; and he
+had a corn-sieve in one hand, but in the other a hand-axe.  He
+goes down to his seed field and sows his corn there, and had laid
+his cloak of fine stuff and his axe down by his side, and so he
+sows the corn a while.
+
+Now, it must be told how Otkell rides faster than he would.  He
+had spurs on his feet, and so he gallops down over the ploughed
+field, and neither of them sees the other; and just as Gunnar
+stands upright, Otkell rides down upon him and drives one of the
+spurs into Gunnar's ear, and gives him a great gash, and it
+bleeds at once much.
+
+Just then Otkell's companions rode up.
+
+"Ye may see, all of you," says Gunnar, "that thou hast drawn my
+blood, and it is unworthy to go on so.  First thou hast summoned
+me, but now thou treadest me under foot, and ridest over me."
+
+Skamkell said, "Well it was no worse, master, but thou wast not
+one whit less wroth at the Thing, when thou tookest the selfdoom
+and clutchedst thy bill."
+
+Gunnar said, "When we two next meet thou shalt see the bill." 
+After that they part thus, and Skamkell shouted out and said, "Ye
+ride hard, lads!"
+
+Gunnar went home, and said never a word to any one about what had
+happened, and no one thought that this wound could have come by
+man's doing.
+
+It happened, though, one day, that he told it to his brother
+Kolskegg, and Kolskegg said, "This thou shalt tell to more men,
+so that it may not be said that thou layest blame on dead men;
+for it will be gainsaid if witnesses do not know beforehand what
+has passed between you."
+
+Then Gunnar told it to his neighbours, and there was little talk
+about it at first.
+
+Otkell comes east to the Dale, and they get a hearty welcome
+there, and sit there a week.
+
+Skamkell told Runolf all about their meeting with Gunnar, and how
+it had gone off; and one man happened to ask how Gunnar behaved.
+
+"Why," said Skamkell, "if it were a low-born man it would have
+been said that he had wept."
+
+"Such things are ill spoken," says Runolf, "and when ye two next
+meet, thou wilt have to own that there is no voice of weeping in
+his frame of mind; and it will be well if better men have not to
+pay for thy spite.  Now it seems to me best when ye wish to go
+home that I should go with you, for Gunnar will do me no harm."
+
+"I will not have that," says Otkell; "but I will ride across the
+Fleet lower down."
+
+Runolf gave Otkell good gifts, and said they should not see one
+another again.
+
+Otkell bade him then to bear his sons in mind if things turned
+out so.
+
+
+
+54. THE FIGHT AT RANGRIVER
+
+Now we must take up the story, and say that Gunnar was out of
+doors at Lithend, and sees his shepherd galloping up to the yard. 
+The shepherd rode straight into the "town; and Gunnar said, "Why
+ridest thou so hard?"
+
+"I would be faithful to thee," said the man; "I saw men riding
+down along Markfleet, eight of them together, and four of them
+were in coloured clothes."
+
+Gunnar said, "That must be Otkell."
+
+The lad said, "I have often heard many temper-trying words of
+Skamkell's; for Skamkell spoke away there east at Dale, and said
+that thou sheddest tears when they rode over thee; but I tell it
+thee because I cannot bear to listen to such speeches of
+worthless men."
+
+"We must not be word-sick," says Gunnar, "but from this day forth
+thou shall do no other work than what thou choosest for thyself."
+
+"Shall I say aught of this to Kolskegg thy brother?" asked the
+shepherd.
+
+"Go thou and sleep," says Gunnar; "I will tell Kolskegg."
+
+The lad laid him down and fell asleep at once, but Gunnar took
+the shepherd's horse and laid his saddle on him; he took his
+shield, and girded him with his sword, Oliver's gift; he sets his
+helm on his head; takes his bill, and something sung loud in it,
+and his mother, Rannveig, heard it.  She went up to him and said
+"Wrathful art thou now, my son, and never saw I thee thus
+before."
+
+Gunnar goes out, and drives the butt of his spear into the earth,
+and throws himself into the saddle, and rides away,
+
+His mother, Rannveig, went into the sitting-room, where there was
+a great noise of talking.
+
+"Ye speak loud," she says, "but yet the bill gave a louder sound
+when Gunnar went out."
+
+Kolskegg heard what she said, and spoke, "This betokens no small
+tidings.
+
+"That is well," says Hallgerda, "now they will soon prove whether
+he goes away from them weeping."
+
+Kolskegg takes his weapons and seeks him a horse, and rides after
+Gunnar as fast as he could.
+
+Gunnar rides across Acretongue, and so to Geilastofna and thence
+to Rangriver, and down the stream to the ford at Hof.  There were
+some women at the milking-post there.  Gunnar jumped off his
+horse and tied him up.  By this time the others were riding up
+towards him; there were flat stones covered with mud in the path
+that led down to the ford.
+
+Gunnar called out to them and said, "Now is the time to guard
+yourselves; here now is the bill, and here now ye will put it to
+the proof whether I shed one tear for all of you."
+
+Then they all of them sprang off their horses' backs and made
+towards Gunnar.  Hallbjorn was the foremost.
+
+"Do not thou come on," says Gunnar; "thee last of all would I
+harm; but I will spare no one if I have to fight for my life."
+
+"That I cannot do," says Hallbjorn; "thou wilt strive to kill my
+brother for all that, and it is a shame if I sit idly by."  And
+as he said this he thrust at Gunnar with a great spear which he
+held in both hands.
+
+Gunnar threw his shield before the blow, but Hallbjorn pierced
+the shield through.  Gunnar thrust the shield down so hard that
+it stood fast in the earth (1), but he brandished his sword so
+quickly that no eye could follow it, and he made a blow with the
+sword, and it fell on Hallbjorn's arm above the writs, so that it
+cut it off.
+
+Skamkell ran behind Gunnar's back and makes a blow at him with a
+great axe.  Gunnar turned short round upon him and parries the
+blow with the bill, and caught the axe under one of its horns
+with such a wrench that it flew out of Skamkell's hand away into
+the river.
+
+Then Gunnar sang a song:
+
+     "Once thou askedst, foolish fellow,
+     Of this man, this seahorse racer,
+     When as fast as feet could foot it
+     Forth ye fled from farm of mine,
+     Whether that were rightly summoned?
+     Now with gore the spear we redden,
+     Battle-eager, and avenge us
+     Thus on thee, vile source of strife."
+
+Gunnar gives another thrust with his bill, and through Skamkell,
+and lifts him up and casts him down in the muddy path on his
+head.
+
+Audulf the Easterling snatches up a spear and launches it at
+Gunnar.  Gunnar caught the spear with his hand in the air, and
+hurled it back at once, and it flew through the shield and the
+Easterling too, and so down into the earth.
+
+Otkell smites at Gunnar with his sword, and aims at his leg just
+below the knee, but Gunnar leapt up into the air and he misses
+him.  Then Gunnar thrusts at him the bill and the blow goes
+through him.
+
+Then Kolskegg comes up, and rushes at once at Hallkell and dealt
+him his death-blow with his short sword.  There and then they
+slay eight men.
+
+A woman who saw all this, ran home and told Mord, and besought
+him to part them.
+
+"They alone will be there," he says, "of whom I care not though
+they slay one another."
+
+"Thou canst not mean to say that," she says, "for thy kinsman
+Gunnar, and thy friend Otkell will be there."
+
+"Baggage, that thou art," he says, "thou art always chattering,"
+and so he lay still in-doors while they fought.
+
+Gunnar and Kolskegg rode home after this work, and they rode hard
+up along the river bank, and Gunnar leapt off his horse and came
+down on his feet.
+
+Then Kolskegg said, "Hard now thou ridest, brother!"
+
+"Ay," said Gunnar, "that was what Skamkell said when he uttered
+those very words when they rode over me."
+
+"Well, thou hast avenged that now," says Kolskegg.
+
+"I would like to know," says Gunnar, "whether I am by so much the
+less brisk and bold than other men, because I think more of
+killing men than they?"
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  This shews that the shields were oblong, running down to a
+     point.
+
+
+
+55. NJAL'S ADVICE TO GUNNAR
+
+Now those tidings are heard far and wide, and many said that they
+thought they had not happened before it was likely.  Gunnar rode
+to Bergthorsknoll and told Njal of these deeds.
+
+Njal said, "Thou hast done great things, but thou hast been
+sorely tried."
+
+"How will it now go henceforth?" says Gunnar.
+
+"Wilt thou that I tell thee what hath not yet come to pass?" asks
+Njal.  "Thou wilt ride to the Thing, and thou wilt abide by my
+counsel and get the greatest honour from this matter.  This will
+be the beginning of thy manslayings."
+
+"But give me some cunning counsel," says Gunnar.
+
+"I will do that," says Njal, "never slay more than one man in the
+same stock, and never break the peace which good men and true
+make between thee and others, and least of all in such a matter
+as this."
+
+Gunnar said, "I should have thought there was more risk of that
+with others than with me."
+
+"Like enough," says Njal, "but still thou shalt so think of thy
+quarrels, that if that should come to pass of which I have warned
+thee, then thou wilt have but a little while to live; but
+otherwise, thou wilt come to be an old man."
+
+Gunnar said, "Dost thou know what will be thine own death?"
+
+"I know it," says Njal.
+
+"What?" asks Gunnar.
+
+"That," says Njal, "which all would be the last to think."
+
+After that Gunnar rode home.
+
+A man was sent to Gizur the White and Geir the Priest, for they
+had the blood-feud after Otkell.  Then they had a meeting, and
+had a talk about what was to be done; and they were of one mind
+that the quarrel should be followed up at law.  Then some one was
+sought who would take the suit up, but no one was ready to do
+that.
+
+"It seems to me," says Gizur, "that now there are only two
+courses, that one of us two undertakes the suit, and then we
+shall have to draw lots who it shall be, or else the man will be
+unatoned.  We may make up our minds, too, that this will be a
+heavy suit to touch; Gunnar has many kinsmen and is much beloved;
+but that one of us who does not draw the lot, shall ride to the
+Thing and never leave it until the suit comes to an end."
+
+After that they drew lots, and Geir the Priest drew the lot to
+take up the suit.
+
+A little after, they rode from the west over the river, and came
+to the spot where the meeting had been by Rangriver, and dug up
+the bodies, and took witness to the wounds.  After that they gave
+lawful notice and summoned nine neighbours to bear witness in the
+suit.
+
+They were told that Gunnar was at home with about thirty men;
+then Geir the Priest asked whether Gizur would ride against him
+with one hundred men.
+
+"I will not do that," says he, "though the balance of force is
+great on our side."
+
+After that they rode back home.  The news that the suit was set
+on foot was spread all over the country, and the saying ran that
+the Thing would be very noisy and stormy.
+
+
+
+56. GUNNAR AND GEIR THE PRIEST STRIVE AT THE THING
+
+There was a man named Skapti.  He was the son of Thorod (1). 
+That father and son were great chiefs, and very well skilled in
+law.  Thorod was thought to be rather crafty and guileful.  They
+stood by Gizur the White in every quarrel.
+
+As for the Lithemen and the dwellers by Rangriver, they came in a
+great body to the Thing.  Gunnar was so beloved that all said
+with one voice that they would back him.
+
+Now they all come to the Thing and fit up their booths.  In
+company with Gizur the White were these chiefs: Skapti Thorod's
+son, Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, Oddi of Kidberg, and Halldor
+Ornolf's son.
+
+Now one day men went to the Hill of Laws, and then Geir the
+Priest stood up and gave notice that he had a suit of
+manslaughter against Gunnar for the slaying of Otkell.  Another
+suit of manslaughter he brought against Gunnar for the slaying of
+Halljborn the White; then, too, he went on in the same way as to
+the slaying of Audulf, and so, too, as to the slaying of
+Skamkell.  Then, too, he laid a suit of manslaughter against
+Kolskegg for the slaying of Hallkell.
+
+And when he had given due notice of all his suits of manslaughter
+it was said that he spoke well.  He asked, too, in what Quarter
+court the suits lay, and in what house in the district the
+defendants dwelt.  After that men went away from the Hill of
+Laws, and so the Thing goes on till the day when the courts were
+to be set to try suits.  Then either side gathered their men
+together in great strength.
+
+Geir the Priest and Gizur the White stood at the court of the men
+of Rangriver looking north, and Gunnar and Njal stood looking
+south towards the court.
+
+Geir the Priest bade Gunnar to listen to his oath, and then he
+took the oath, and afterwards declared his suit.
+
+Then he let men bear witness of the notice given by the suit;
+then he called upon the neighbours who were to form the inquest
+to take their seats; then he called on Gunnar to challenge the
+inquest; and then he called on the inquest to utter their
+finding.  Then the neighbours who were summoned on the inquest
+went to the court and took witness, and said that there was a bar
+to their finding in the suit as to Audulf's slaying, because the
+next of kin who ought to follow it up was in Norway, and so they
+had nothing to do with that suit.
+
+After that they uttered their finding in the suit as to Otkell,
+and brought in Gunnar as truly guilty of killing him.
+
+Then Geir the Priest called on Gunnar for his defence, and took
+witness of all the steps in the suit which had been proved.
+
+Then Gunnar, in his turn, called on Geir the Priest to listen to
+his oath, and to the defence which he was about to bring forward
+in the suit.  Then he took the oath and said, "This defence I
+make to this suit, that I took witness and outlawed Otkell before
+my neighbours for that bloody wound which I got when Otkell gave
+me a hurt with his spur; but thee, Geir the Priest, I forbid by a
+lawful protest made before a priest, to pursue this suit, and so,
+too, I forbid the judges to hear it; and with this I make all the
+steps hitherto taken in this suit void and of none-effect.  I
+forbid thee by a lawful protest, a full, fair, and binding
+protest, as I have a right to forbid thee by the common custom of
+the Thing and by the law of the land.
+
+"Besides, I will tell thee something else which I mean to do,"
+says Gunnar.
+
+"What!" says Geir, "wilt thou challenge me to the island as thou
+art wont, and not bear the law?"
+
+"Not that," says Gunnar; "I shall summon thee at the Hill of Laws
+for that thou calledst those men on the inquest who had no right
+to deal with Audulf's slaying, and I will declare thee for that
+guilty of outlawry."
+
+Then Njal said, "Things must not take this turn, for the only end
+of it will be that this strife will be carried to the uttermost. 
+Each of you, as it seems to me, has much on his side.  There are
+some of these manslaughters, Gunnar, about which thou canst say
+nothing to hinder the court from finding thee guilty; but thou
+hast set on foot a suit against Geir, in which he, too, must be
+found guilty.  Thou too, Geir the Priest, shalt know that this
+suit of outlawry which hangs over thee shall not fall to the
+ground if thou wilt not listen to my words."
+
+Thorod the Priest said, "It seems to us as though the most
+peaceful way would be that a settlement and atonement were come
+to in the suit.  But why sayest thou so little, Gizur the White?"
+
+"It seems to me," says Gizur, "as though we shall need to have
+strong props for our suit; we may see, too, that Gunnar's friends
+stand near him, and so the best turn for us that things can take
+will be that good men and true should utter an award on the suit,
+if Gunnar so wills it."
+
+"I have ever been willing to make matters up," says Gunnar; "and
+besides, ye have much wrong to follow up, but still I think I was
+hard driven to do as I did."
+
+And now the end of those suits was, by the counsel of the wisest
+men, that all the suits were put to arbitration; six men were to
+make this award, and it was uttered there and then at the Thing.
+
+The award was that Skamkell should be unatoned.  The blood money
+for Otkell's death was to be set off against the hurt Gunnar got
+from the spur; and as for the rest of the manslaughters, they
+were paid for after the worth of the men, and Gunnar's kinsmen
+gave money so that all the fines might be paid up at the Thing.
+
+Then Geir the Priest and Gizur the White went up and gave Gunnar
+pledges that they would keep the peace in good faith.
+
+Gunnar rode home from the Thing, and thanked men for their help,
+and gave gifts to many, and got the greatest honour from the
+suit.
+
+Now Gunnar sits at home in his honour.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Thorod's mother was Thorvor, she was daughter of Thormod
+     Skapti's son, son of Oleif the Broad, son of Oliver
+     Barncarle.
+
+
+
+57. OF STARKAD AND HIS SONS
+
+There was a man named Starkad; he was a son of Bork the Waxy-
+toothed-blade, the son of Thorkell Clubfoot, who took the land
+round about Threecorner as the first settler.  His wife's name
+was Hallbera (1).  The sons of Starkad and Hallbera were these:
+Thorgeir and Bork and Thorkell.  Hildigunna the Leech was their
+sister.
+
+They were very proud men in temper, hard-hearted and unkind. 
+They treated men wrongfully.
+
+There was a man named Egil; he was a son of Kol, who took land as
+a settler between Storlek and Reydwater.  The brother of Egil was
+Aunund of Witchwood, father of Hall the Strong, who was at the
+slaying of Holt-Thorir with the sons of Kettle the Smooth-
+tongued.
+
+Egil kept house at Sandgil; his sons were these: Kol, and Ottar,
+and Hauk.  Their mother's name was Steinvor; she was Starkad's
+sister.
+
+Egil's sons were tall and strifeful; they were most unfair men. 
+They were always on one side with Starkad's sons.  Their sister
+was Gudruna Nightsun, and she was the bestbred of women.
+
+Egil had taken into his house two Easterlings; the one's name was
+Thorir and the other's Thorgrim.  They were not long come out
+hither for the first time, and were wealthy and beloved by their
+friends; they were well skilled in arms, too, and dauntless in
+everything.
+
+Starkad had a good horse of chesnut hue, and it was thought that
+no horse was his match in fight.  Once it happened that these
+brothers from Sandgil were away under the Threecorner.  They had
+much gossip about all the householders in the Fleetlithe, and
+they fell at last to asking whether there was any one that would
+fight a horse against them.
+
+But there were some men there who spoke so as to flatter and
+honour them, that not only was there no one who would dare do
+that, but that there was no one that had such a horse
+
+Then Hildigunna answered, "I know that man who will dare to fight
+horses with you."
+
+"Name him," they say.
+
+"Gunnar has a brown horse," she says, "and he will dare to fight
+his horse against you, and against any one else."
+
+"As for you women," they say, "you think no one can be Gunnar's
+match; but though Geir the Priest or Gizur the White have come
+off with shame from before him, still it is not settled that we
+shall fare in the same way."
+
+"Ye will fare much worse," she says: and so there arose out of
+this the greatest strife between them.  Then Starkad said, "My
+will is that ye try your hands on Gunnar last of all; for ye will
+find it hard work to go against his good luck."
+
+"Thou wilt give us leave, though, to offer him a horsefight?"
+
+"I will give you leave, if ye play him no trick."
+
+They said they would be sure to do what their father said.
+
+Now they rode to Lithend; Gunnar was at home, and went out, and
+Kolskegg and Hjort went with him, and they gave them a hearty
+welcome, and asked whither they meant to go?
+
+"No farther than hither," they say. "We are told that thou hast a
+good horse, and we wish to challenge thee to a horse-fight."
+
+"Small stories can go about my horse," says Gunnar; "he is young
+and untried in every way."
+
+"But still thou wilt be good enough to have the fight, for
+Hildigunna guessed that thou wouldest be easy in matching thy
+horse."
+
+"How came ye to talk about that?" says Gunnar.
+
+"There were some men," say they, "who were sure that no one would
+dare to fight his horse with ours."
+
+"I would dare to fight him," says Gunnar; "but I think that was
+spitefully said."
+
+"Shall we look upon the match as made, then?" they asked.
+
+"Well, your journey will seem to you better if ye have your way
+in this; but still I will beg this of you, that we so fight our
+horses that we make sport for each other, but that no quarrel may
+arise from it, and that ye put no shame upon me; but if ye do to
+me as ye do to others, then there will be no help for it but that
+I shall give you such a buffet as it will seem hard to you to put
+up with.  In a word, I shall do then just as ye do first."
+
+Then they ride home.  Starkad asked how their journey had gone
+off; they said that Gunnar had made their going good.
+
+"He gave his word to fight his horse, and we settled when and
+where the horse-fight should be; but it was plain in everything
+that he thought he fell short of us, and he begged and prayed to
+get off."
+
+"It will often be found," says Hildigunna, "that Gunnar is slow
+to be drawn into quarrels, but a hard hitter if he cannot avoid
+them."
+
+Gunnar rode to see Njal, and told him of the horse-fight, and
+what words had passed between them, "But how dost thou think the
+horse-fight will turn out?"
+
+"Thou wilt be uppermost," says Njal, "but yet many a man's bane
+will arise out of this fight."
+
+"Will my bane perhaps come out of it?" asks Gunnar.
+
+"Not out of this," says Njal; "but still they will bear in mind
+both the old and the new feud who fare against thee, and thou
+wilt have naught left for it but to yield."
+
+Then Gunnar rode home.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  She was daughter of Hroald the Red and Hildigunna Thorstein
+     Titling's daughter.  The mother of Hildigunna was Aud Eyvind
+     Karf's daughter, the sister of Modolf the Wise of Mosfell,
+     from whom the Modylfings are sprung.
+
+
+
+58. HOW GUNNAR'S HORSE FOUGHT
+
+Just then Gunnar heard of the death of his father-in-law
+Hauskuld; a few nights after, Thorgerda, Thrain's wife, was
+delivered at Gritwater, and gave birth to a boy child.  Then she
+sent a man to her mother, and bade her choose whether it should
+be called Glum or Hauskuld.  She bade call it Hauskuld.  So that
+name was given to the boy.
+
+Gunnar and Hallgerda had two sons, the one's name was Hogni and
+the other's Grani.  Hogni was a brave man of few words,
+distrustful and slow to believe, but truthful.
+
+Now men ride to the horse-fight, and a very great crowd is
+gathered together there.  Gunnar was there and his brothers, and
+the sons of Sigfus.  Njal and all his sons.  There too was come
+Starkad and his sons, and Egil and his sons, and they said to
+Gunnar that now they would lead the horses together.
+
+Gunnar said, "That was well."
+
+Skarphedinn said, "Wilt thou that I drive thy horse, kinsman
+Gunnar?"
+
+"I will not have that," says Gunnar.
+
+"It wouldn't be amiss though," says Skarphedinn; "we are hot-
+headed on both sides."
+
+"Ye would say or do little," says Gunnar, "before a quarrel would
+spring up; but with me it will take longer, though it will be all
+the same in the end."
+
+After that the horses were led together; Gunnar busked him to
+drive his horse, but Skarphedinn led him out.  Gunnar was in a
+red kirtle, and had about his loins a broad belt, and a great
+riding-rod in his hand.
+
+Then the horses ran at one another, and bit each other long, so
+that there was no need for any one to touch them, and that was
+the greatest sport.
+
+Then Thorgeir and Kol made up their minds that they would push
+their horse forward just as the horses rushed together, and see
+if Gunnar would fall before him.
+
+Now the horses ran at one another again, and both Thorgeir and
+Kol ran alongside their horses' flank.
+
+Gunnar pushes his horse against them, and what happened in a
+trice was this, that Thorgeir and his brother fall down flat on
+their backs, and their horse a-top of them.
+
+Then they spring up and rush at Gunnar.  Gunnar swings himself
+free and seizes Kol, casts him down on the field, so that he lies
+senseless.  Thorgeir Starkad's son smote Gunnar's horse such a
+blow that one of his eyes started out.  Gunnar smote Thorgeir
+with his riding-rod, and down falls Thorgeir senseless; but
+Gunnar goes to his horse, and said to Kolskegg, "Cut off the
+horse's head; he shall not live a maimed and blemished beast."
+
+So Kolskegg cut the head off the horse.
+
+Then Thorgeir got on his feet and took his weapons, and wanted to
+fly at Gunnar, but that was stopped, and there was a great throng
+and crush.
+
+Skarphedinn said, "This crowd wearies me, and it is far more
+manly that men should fight it out with weapons; and so he sang a
+song:
+
+     "At the Thing there is a throng;
+     Past all bounds the crowding comes;
+     Hard 'twill be to patch up peace
+     'Twixt the men.  This wearies me;
+     Worthier is it far for men
+     Weapons red with gore to stain;
+     I for one would sooner tame
+     Hunger huge of cub of wolf."
+
+Gunnar was still, so that one man held him, and spoke no ill
+words.
+
+Njal tried to bring about a settlement, or to get pledges of
+peace; but Thorgeir said he would neither give nor take peace;
+far rather, he said, would he see Gunnar dead for the blow.
+
+Kolskegg said, "Gunnar has before now stood too fast, than that
+he should have fallen for words alone, and so it will be again."
+
+Now men ride away from the horse-field, every one to his home. 
+They make no attack on Gunnar, and so that halfyear passed away. 
+At the Thing, the summer after, Gunnar met Olaf the peacock, his
+cousin, and he asked him to come and see him, but yet bade him be
+ware of himself; "For," says he, "they will do us all the harm
+they can, and mind and fare always with many men at thy back."
+
+He gave him much good counsel beside, and they agreed that there
+should be the greatest friendship between them.
+
+
+
+59. OF ASGRIM AND WOLF UGGIS' SON
+
+Asgrim Ellidagrim's son had a suit to follow up at the Thing
+against Wolf Uggis' son.  It was a matter of inheritance.  Asgrim
+took it up in such a way as was seldom his wont; for there was a
+bar to his suit, and the bar was this, that he had summoned five
+neighbours to bear witness, when he ought to have summoned nine. 
+And now they have this as their bar.
+
+Then Gunnar spoke and said,"I will challenge thee to single
+combat on the island, Wolf Uggis' son, if men are not to get
+their rights by law; and Njal and my friend Helgi would like that
+I should take some share in defending thy cause, Asgrim, if they
+were not here themselves."
+
+"But," says Wolf, "this quarrel is not one between thee and me."
+
+"Still it shall be as good as though it were," says Gunnar.
+
+And the end of the suit was, that Wolf had to pay down all the
+money.
+
+Then Asgrim said to Gunnar, "I will ask thee to come and see me
+this summer, and I will ever be with thee in lawsuits, and never
+against thee."
+
+Gunnar rides home from the Thing, and a little while after he and
+Njal met.  Njal besought Gunnar to be ware of himself, and said
+he had been told that those away under the Threecorner meant to
+fall on him, and bade him never go about with a small company,
+and always to have his weapons with him.  Gunnar said so it
+should be, and told him that Asgrim had asked him to pay him a
+visit, "and I mean to go now this harvest."
+
+"Let no men know before thou farest how long thou wilt be away,"
+said Njal; "but, besides, I beg thee to let my sons ride with
+thee, and then no attack will be made on thee."
+
+So they settled that among themselves.
+
+Now the summer wears away till it was eight weeks to winter, and
+then Gunnar says to Kolskegg, "Make thee ready to ride, for we
+shall ride to a feast at Tongue."
+
+"Shall we say anything about it to Njal's sons?" said Kolskegg.
+
+"No," says Gunnar; "they shall fall into no quarrels for me."
+
+
+
+60. AN ATTACK AGAINST GUNNAR AGREED ON
+
+They rode three together, Gunnar and his brothers.  Gunnar had
+the bill and his sword, Oliver's gift; but Kolskegg had his short
+sword; Hjort, too, had proper weapons.
+
+Now they rode to Tongue, and Asgrim gave them a hearty welcome,
+and they were there some while.  At last they gave it out that
+they meant to go home there and then.  Asgrim gave them good
+gifts, and offered to ride east with them, but Gunnar said there
+was no need of any such thing; and so he did not go.
+
+Sigurd Swinehead was the name of a man who dwelt by Thurso water. 
+He came to the farm under the Threecorner, for he had given his
+word to keep watch on Gunnar's doings, and so he went and told
+them of his journey home; "and," quoth he, "there could never be
+a finer chance than just now, when he has only two men with him."
+
+"How many men shall we need to have to lie in wait for him?" says
+Starkad.
+
+"Weak men shall be as nothing before him," he says; "and it is
+not safe to have fewer than thirty men."
+
+"Where shall we lie in wait?"
+
+"By Knafaholes," he says; "there he will not see us before he
+comes on us."
+
+"Go thou to Sandgil and tell Egil that fifteen of them must busk
+themselves thence, and now other fifteen will go hence to
+Knafaholes."
+
+Thorgeir said to Hildigunna, "This hand shall show thee Gunnar
+dead this very night."
+
+"Nay, but I guess," says she, "that thou wilt hang thy head after
+ye two meet."
+
+So those four, father and sons, fare away from the Threecorner,
+and eleven men besides, and they fared to Knafaholes, and lay in
+wait there.
+
+Sigurd Swinehead came to Sandgil and said, "Hither am I sent by
+Starkad and his sons to tell thee, Egil, that ye, father and
+sons, must fare to Knafaholes to lie in wait for Gunnar."
+
+"How many shall we fare in all?" says Egil.
+
+"Fifteen, reckoning me," he says.
+
+Kol said, "Now I mean to try my hand on Kolskegg."
+
+"Then I think thou meanest to have a good deal on thy hands,"
+says Sigurd.
+
+Egil begged his Easterlings to fare with him.  They said they had
+no quarrel with Gunnar; "and besides," says Thorir, "ye seem to
+need much help here, when a crowd of men shall go against three
+men."
+
+Then Egil went away and was wroth.
+
+Then the mistress of the house said to the Easterling, "In an
+evil hour hath my daughter Gudruna humbled herself, and broken
+the point of her maidenly pride, and lain by thy side as thy
+wife, when thou wilt not dare to follow thy father-in-law, and
+thou must be a coward," she says.
+
+"I will go," he says, "with thy husband, and neither of us two
+shall come back."
+
+After that he went to Thorgrim his messmate, and said, "Take thou
+now the keys of my chests; for I shall never unlock them again. 
+I bid thee take for thine own whatever of our goods thou wilt;
+but sail away from Iceland, and do not think of revenge for me. 
+But if thou dost not leave the land, it will be thy death."
+
+So the Easterling joined himself to their band.
+
+
+
+61. GUNNAR'S DREAM
+
+Now we must go back and say that Gunnar rides east over Thurso
+water, but when he had gone a little way from the river, he grew
+very drowsy, and bade them lie down and rest there.
+
+They did so.  He fell fast asleep, and struggled much as he
+slumbered.
+
+Then Kolskegg said, "Gunnar dreams now."  But Hjort said, "I
+would like to wake him."
+
+"That shall not be," said Kolskegg, "but he shall dream his
+dream out."
+
+Gunnar lay, a very long while, and threw off his shield from him,
+and he grew very warm.  Kolskegg said, "What hast thou dreamt,
+kinsman?"
+
+"That have I dreamt," says Gunnar, "which if I had dreamt it
+there, I would never have ridden with so few men from Tongue."
+
+"Tell us thy dream," says Kolskegg.
+
+Then Gunnar sang a song:
+
+     "Chief, that chargest foes in fight!
+     Now I fear that I have ridden
+     Short of men from Tongue, this harvest;
+     Raven's fast I sure shall break.
+     Lord, that scatters Ocean's fire! (1)
+     This, at least, I long to say,
+     Kite with wolf shall fight for marrow
+     Ill I dreamt with wandering thought."
+
+"I dreamt, methought, that I was riding on by Knafaholes, and
+there I thought I saw many wolves, and they all made at me; but I
+turned away from them straight towards Rangriver, and then
+methought they pressed hard on me on all sides, but I kept them
+at bay, and shot all those that were foremost, till they came so
+close to me that I could not use my bow against them.  Then I
+took my sword, and I smote with it with one hand, but thrust at
+them with my bill with the other.  Shield myself then I did not,
+and methought then I knew not what shielded me.  Then I slew many
+wolves, and thou, too, Kolskegg; but Hjort methought they pulled
+down, and tore open his breast, and one methought had his heart
+in his maw; but I grew so wroth that I hewed that wolf asunder
+just below the brisket, and after that methought the wolves
+turned and fled.  Now my counsel is, brother Hjort, that thou
+ridest back west to Tongue."
+
+"I will not do that," says Hjort; "though I know my death is
+sure, I will stand by thee still."
+
+Then they rode and came east by Knafaholes, and Kolskegg said,
+"Seest thou, kinsman!  Many spears stand up by the holes, and men
+with weapons."
+
+"It does not take me unawares," says Gunnar, "that my dream comes
+true."
+
+"What is best to be done now?" says Kolskegg; "I guess thou wilt
+not run away from them."
+
+"They shall not have that to jeer about," says Gunnar, "but we
+will ride on down to the ness by Rangriver; there is some vantage
+ground there."
+
+Now they rode on to the ness, and made them ready there, and as
+they rode on past them, Kol called out and said, "Whither art
+thou running to now, Gunnar?"
+
+But Kolskegg said, "Say the same thing farther on when this day
+has come to an end."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+1.   "Ocean's fire," a periphrasis for "gold."  The whole line is
+     a periphrasis for "bountiful chief."
+
+
+
+62. THE SLAYING OF HJORT AND FOURTEEN MEN
+
+After that Starkad egged on his men, and then they turn down upon
+them into the ness.  Sigurd Swinehead came first and had a red
+targe, but in his other hand he held a cutlass.  Gunnar sees him
+and shoots an arrow at him from his bow; he held the shield up
+aloft when he saw the arrow flying high, and the shaft passes
+through the shield and into his eye, and so came out at the nape
+of his neck, and that was the first man slain.
+
+A second arrow Gunnar shot at Ulfhedinn, one of Starkad's men,
+and that struck him about the middle and he fell at the feet of a
+yeoman, and the yeoman over him.  Kolskegg cast a stone and
+struck the yeoman on the head, and that was his deathblow.
+
+Then Starkad said, "'Twill never answer our end that he should
+use his bow, but let us come on well and stoutly."  Then each man
+egged on the other, and Gunnar guarded himself with his bow and
+arrows as long as he could; after that he throws them down, and
+then he takes his bill and sword and fights with both hands. 
+There is long the hardest fight, but still Gunnar and Kolskegg
+slew man after man.
+
+Then Thorgeir, Starkad's son, said, "I vowed to bring Hildigunna
+thy head, Gunnar."
+
+Then Gunnar sang a song:
+
+     "Thou, that battle-sleet down bringeth,
+     Scarce I trow thou speakest truth;
+     She, the girl with golden armlets,
+     Cannot care for such a gift;
+     But, O serpent's hoard despoiler!
+     If the maid must have my head --
+     Maid whose wrist Rhine's fire (1) wreatheth,
+     Closer come to crash of spear."
+
+"She will not think that so much worth having," says Gunnar; "but
+still to get it thou wilt have to come nearer!"
+
+Thorgeir said to his brothers, "Let us run all of us upon him at
+once; he has no shield and we shall have his life in our hands."
+
+So Bork and Thorkel both ran forward and were quicker than
+Thorgeir.  Bork made a blow at Gunnar, and Gunnar threw his bill
+so hard in the way, that the sword flew out of Bork's hand; then
+he sees Thorkel standing on his other hand within stroke of
+sword.  Gunnar was standing with his body swayed a little on one
+side, and he makes a sweep with his sword, and caught Thorkel on
+the neck, and off flew his head.
+
+Kol Egil's son, said, "Let me get at Kolskegg," and turning to
+Kolskegg he said, "This I have often said, that we two would be
+just about an even match in fight."
+
+"That we can soon prove," says Kolskegg.
+
+Kol thrust at him with his spear; Kolskegg had just slain a man
+and had his hands full, and so he could not throw his shield
+before the blow, and the thrust came upon his thigh, on the
+outside of the limb and went through it.
+
+Kolskegg turned sharp round, and strode towards him, and smote
+him with his short sword on the thigh, and cut off his leg, and
+said, "Did it touch thee or not?"
+
+"Now," says Kol, "I pay for being bare of my shield."
+
+So he stood a while on his other leg and looked at the stump.
+
+"Thou needest not to look at it," said Kolskegg; "'tis even as
+thou seest, the leg is off."
+
+Then Kol fell down dead.
+
+But when Egil sees this, he runs at Gunnar and makes a cut at
+him; Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill and struck him in the
+middle, and Gunnar hoists him up on the bill and hurls him out
+into Rangriver.
+
+Then Starkad said, "Wretch that thou art indeed," Thorir
+Easterling, "when thou sittest by; but thy host, and father-in-
+law Egil, is slain."
+
+Then the Easterling sprung up and was very wroth.  Hjort had been
+the death of two men, and the Easterling leapt on him and smote
+him full on the breast.  Then Hjort fell down dead on the spot.
+
+Gunnar sees this and was swift to smite at the Easterling, and
+cuts him asunder at the waist.
+
+A little while after Gunnar hurls the bill at Bork, and struck
+him in the middle, and the bill went through him and stuck in the
+ground.
+
+Then Kolskegg cut off Hauk Egil's son's head, and Gunnar smites
+off Otter's hand at the elbow-joint.  Then Starkad said, "Let us
+fly now.  We have not to do with men!"
+
+Gunnar said, "Ye two will think it a sad story if there is naught
+on you to show that ye have both been in the battle."
+
+Then Gunnar ran after Starkad and Thorgeir, and gave them each a
+wound.  After that they parted; and Gunnar and his brothers had
+then wounded many men who got away from the field, but fourteen
+lost their lives, and Hjort the fifteenth.
+
+Gunnar brought Hjort home, laid out on his shield, and he was
+buried in a cairn there.  Many men grieved for him, for he had
+many dear friends.
+
+Starkad came home, too, and Hildigunna dressed his wounds and
+Thorgeir's, and said, "Ye would have given a great deal not to
+have fallen out with Gunnar."
+
+"So we would," says Starkad.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Rhine's fire," a periphrasis for gold.
+
+
+
+63. NJAL'S COUNSEL TO GUNNAR
+
+Steinvor, at Sandgil, besought Thorgrim the Easterling to take in
+hand the care of her goods, and not to sail away from Iceland,
+and so to keep in mind the death of his messmate and kinsman.
+
+"My messmate Thorir," said he, "foretold that I should fall by
+Gunnar's hand if I stayed here in the land, and he must have
+foreseen that when he foreknew his own death."
+
+"I will give thee," she says, "Gudruna my daughter to wife, and
+all my goods into the bargain."
+
+"I knew not," he said, "that thou wouldest pay such a long
+price."
+
+After that they struck the bargain that he shall have her, and
+the wedding feast was to be the next summer.
+
+Now Gunnar rides to Bergthorsknoll, and Kolskegg with him.  Njal
+was out of doors and his sons, and they went to meet Gunnar and
+gave them a hearty welcome.  After that they fell a-talking, and
+Gunnar said, "Hither am I come to seek good counsel and help at
+thy hand."
+
+"That is thy due," said Njal.
+
+"I have fallen into a great strait," says Gunnar, "and slain many
+men, and I wish to know what thou wilt make of the matter?"
+
+"Many will say this," said Njal, "that thou hast been driven into
+it much against thy will; but now thou shalt give me time to take
+counsel with myself."
+
+Then Njal went away all by himself, and thought over a plan, and
+came back and said, "Now have I thought over the matter somewhat,
+and it seems to me as though this must be carried through -- if
+it be carried through at all -- with hardihood and daring. 
+Thorgeir has got my kinswoman Thorfinna with child, and I will
+hand over to thee the suit for seduction.  Another suit of
+outlawry against Starkad I hand over also to thee, for having
+hewn trees in my wood on the Threecorner ridge.  Both these suits
+shalt thou take up.  Thou shalt fare too, to the spot where ye
+fought, and dig up the dead, and name witnesses to the wounds,
+and make all the dead outlaws, for that they came against thee
+with that mind to give thee and thy brothers wounds or swift
+death.  But if this be tried at the Thing, and it be brought up
+against thee that thou first gave Thorgeir a blow, and so mayst
+neither plead thine own cause nor that of others, then I will
+answer in that matter, and say that I gave thee back thy rights
+at the Thingskala-Thing, so that thou shouldest be able to plead
+thine own suit as well as that of others, and then there will be
+an answer to that point.  Thou shalt also go to see Tyrfing of
+Berianess, and he must hand over to thee a suit against Aunund of
+Witchwood, who has the blood feud after his brother Egil."
+
+Then first of all Gunnar rode home; but a few nights after Njal's
+sons and Gunnar rode thither where the bodies were, and dug them
+up that were buried there.  Then Gunnar summoned them all as
+outlaws for assault and treachery, and rode home after that.
+
+
+
+64.  OF VALGARD AND MORD
+
+That same harvest Valgard the Guileful came out to Iceland, and
+fared home to Hof.  Then Thorgeir went to see Valgard and Mord,
+and told them what a strait they were in if Gunnar were to be
+allowed to make all those men outlaws whom he had slain.
+
+Valgard said that must be Njal's counsel, and yet everything had
+not come out yet which he was likely to have taught him.
+
+Then Thorgeir begged those kinsmen for help and backing, but they
+held out a long while, and at last asked for, and got a large sum
+of money.
+
+That, too, was part of their plan, that Mord should ask for
+Thorkatla, Gizur the White's daughter, and Thorgeir was to ride
+at once west across the river with Valgard and Mord.
+
+So the day after they rode twelve of them together and came to
+Mossfell.  There they were heartily welcomed, and they put the
+question to Gizur about the wooing, and the end of it was that
+the match should be made, and the wedding feast was to be in half
+a month's space at Mossfell.
+
+They ride home, and after that they ride to the wedding and there
+was a crowd of guests to meet them, and it went off well. 
+Thorkatla went home with Mord and took the housekeeping in hand,
+but Valgard went abroad again the next summer.
+
+Now Mord eggs on Thorgeir to set his suit on foot against Gunnar,
+and Thorgeir went to find Aunund; he bids him now to begin a suit
+for manslaughter for his brother Egil and his sons; "but I will
+begin one for the manslaughter of my brothers, and for the wounds
+of myself and my father."
+
+He said he was quite ready to do that, and then they set out, and
+give notice of the manslaughter, and summon nine neighbours who
+dwelt nearest to the spot where the deed was done.  This
+beginning of the suit was heard of at Lithend; and then Gunnar
+rides to see Njal, and told him, and asked what he wished them to
+do next.
+
+"Now," says Njal, "thou shalt summon those who dwell next to the
+spot, and thy neighbours; and call men to witness before the
+neighbours, and choose out Kol as the slayer in the manslaughter
+of Hjort thy brother: for that is lawful and right; then thou
+shalt give notice of the suit for manslaughter at Kol's hand,
+though he be dead.  Then shalt thou call men to witness, and
+summon the neighbours to ride to the Allthing to bear witness of
+the fact, whether they, Kol and his companions, were on the spot,
+and in onslaught when Hjort was slain.  Thou shalt also summon
+Thorgeir for the suit of seduction, and Aunund at the suit of
+Tyrfing."
+
+Gunnar now did in everything as Njal gave him counsel.  This men
+thought a strange beginning of suits, and now these matters come
+before the Thing.  Gunnar rides to the Thing, and Njal's sons and
+the sons of Sigfus.  Gunnar had sent messengers to his cousins
+and kinsmen, that they should ride to the Thing, and come with as
+many men as they could, and told them that this matter would lead
+to much strife.  So they gathered together in a great band from
+the west.
+
+Mord rode to the Thing and Runolf of the DaIe, and those under
+the Threecorner, and Aunund of Witchwood.  But when they come to
+the Thing, they join them in one company with Gizur the White and
+Geir the Priest.
+
+
+
+65. OF FINES AND ATONEMENTS
+
+Gunnar, and the sons of Sigfus, and Njal's sons, went altogether
+in one band, and they marched so swiftly and closely that men who
+came in their way had to take heed lest they should get a fall;
+and nothing was so often spoken about over the whole Thing as
+these great lawsuits.
+
+Gunnar went to meet his cousins, and Olaf and his men greeted him
+well.  They asked Gunnar about the fight, but he told them all
+about it, and was just in all he said; he told them, too, what
+steps he had taken since.
+
+Then Olaf said,"'Tis worth much to see how close Njal stands by
+thee in all counsel."
+
+Gunnar said he should never be able to repay that, but then he
+begged them for help; and they said that was his due.
+
+Now the suits on both sides came before the court, and each
+pleads his cause.
+
+Mord asked, "How it was that a man could have the right to set a
+suit on foot who, like Gunnar, had already made himself an outlaw
+by striking Thorgeir a blow?"
+
+"Wast thou," answered Njal, "at Thingskala-Thing last autumn?"
+
+"Surely I was," says Mord.
+
+"Heardest thou," asks Njal, "how Gunnar offered him full
+atonement?  Then I gave back Gunnar his right to do all lawful
+deeds."
+
+"That is right and good law," says Mord, "but how does the matter
+stand if Gunnar has laid the slaying of Hjort at Kol's door, when
+it was the Easterling that slew him?"
+
+"That was right and lawful," says Njal, "when he chose him as the
+slayer before witnesses."
+
+"That was lawful and right, no doubt," says Mord; "but for what
+did Gunnar summon them all as outlaws?"
+
+"Thou needest not to ask about that," says Njal, "when they went
+out to deal wounds and manslaughter."
+
+"Yes," says Mord, "but neither befell Gunnar."
+
+"Gunnar's brothers," said Njal, "Kolskegg and Hjort, were there,
+and one of them got his death and the other a flesh wound."
+
+"Thou speakest nothing but what is law," says Mord, "though it is
+hard to abide by it."
+
+Then Hiallti Skeggi's son of Thursodale, stood forth and said. "I
+have had no share in any of your lawsuits; but I wish to know
+whether thou wilt do something, Gunnar, for the sake of my words
+and friendship."
+
+"What askest thou?" says Gunnar.
+
+"This," he says, "that ye lay down the whole suit to the award
+and judgment of good men and true."
+
+"If I do so," said Gunnar, "then thou shalt never be against me,
+whatever men I may have to deal with."
+
+"I will give my word to that," says Hjallti.
+
+After that he tried his best with Gunnar's adversaries, and
+brought it about that they were all set at one again.  And after
+that each side gave the other pledges of peace; but for
+Thorgeir's wound came the suit for seduction, and for the hewing
+in the wood, Starkad's wound.  Thorgeir's brothers were atoned
+for by half fines, but half fell away for the onslaught on
+Gunnar.  Egil's slaying and Tyrfing's lawsuit were set off
+against each other.  For Hjort's slaying, the slaying of Kol and
+of the Easterling were to come, and as for all the rest, they
+were atoned for with half fines.
+
+Njal was in this award, and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Hjallti
+Skeggi's son.
+
+Njal had much money out at interest with Starkad, and at Sandgil
+too, and he gave it all to Gunnar to make up these fines.
+
+So many friends had Gunnar at the Thing, that he not only paid up
+there and then all the fines on the spot, but gave besides gifts
+to many chiefs who had lent him help; and he had the greatest
+honour from the suit; and all were agreed in this, that no man
+was his match in all the South Quarter.
+
+So Gunnar rides home from the Thing and sits there in peace, but
+still his adversaries envied him much for his honour.
+
+
+
+66. OF THORGEIR OTKELL'S SON
+
+Now we must tell of Thorgeir Otkell's son; he grew up to be a
+tall strong man, true-hearted and guileless, but rather too ready
+to listen to fair words.  He had many friends among the best men,
+and was much beloved by his kinsmen.
+
+Once on a time Thorgeir Starkad's son had been to see his kinsman
+Mord.
+
+"I can ill brook," he says, "that settlement of matters which we
+and Gunnar had, but I have bought thy help so long as we two are
+above ground; I wish thou wouldest think out some plan and lay it
+deep; this is why I say it right out, because I know that thou
+art Gunnar's greatest foe, and he too thine.  I will much
+increase thine honour if thou takest pains in this matter."
+
+"It will always seem as though I were greedy of gain, but so it
+must be.  Yet it will be hard to take care that thou mayest not
+seem to be a truce-breaker, or peace-breaker, and yet carry out
+thy point.  But now I have been told that Kolskegg means to try a
+suit, and regain a fourth part of Moeidsknoll, which was paid to
+thy father as an atonement for his son.  He has taken up this
+suit for his mother, but this too is Gunnar's counsel, to pay in
+goods and not to let the land go.  We must wait till this comes
+about, and then declare that he has broken the settlement made
+with you.  He has also taken a cornfield from Thorgeir Otkell's
+son, and so broken the settlement with him too.  Thou shalt go to
+see Thorgeir Otkell's son, and bring him into the matter with
+thee, and then fall on Gunnar; but if ye fail in aught of this,
+and cannot get him hunted down, still ye shall set on him over
+and over again.  I must tell thee that Njal has "spaed" his
+fortune, and foretold about his life, if he slays more than once
+in the same stock, that it would lead him to his death, if it so
+fell out that he broke the settlement made after the deed. 
+Therefore shalt thou bring Thorgeir into the suit, because he has
+already slain his father; and now, if ye two are together in an
+affray, thou shalt shield thyself; but he will go boldly on, and
+then Gunnar will slay him.  Then he has slain twice in the same
+stock, but thou shalt fly from the fight.  And if this is to drag
+him to his death he will break the settlement afterwards, and so
+we may wait till then."
+
+After that Thorgeir goes home and tells his father secretly. 
+Then they agreed among themselves that they should work out this
+plot by stealth.
+
+
+
+67. OF THORGEIR STARKAD'S SON
+
+Sometime after Thorgeir Starkad's son fared to Kirkby to see his
+namesake, and they went aside to speak, and talked secretly all
+day; but at the end Thorgeir Starkad's son gave his namesake a
+spear inlaid with gold, and rode home afterwards; they made the
+greatest friendship the one with the other.
+
+At the Thingskala-Thing in the autumn, Kolskegg laid claim to the
+land at Moeidsknoll, but Gunnar took witness, and offered ready
+money, or another piece of land at a lawful price to those under
+the Threecorner.
+
+Thorgeir took witness also, that Gunnar was breaking the
+settlement made between them.
+
+After that the Thing was broken up, and so the next year wore
+away.
+
+Those namesakes were always meeting, and there was the greatest
+friendship between them.  Kolskegg spoke to Gunnar and said, "I
+am told that there is great friendship between those namesakes,
+and it is the talk of many men that they will prove untrue, and I
+would that thou wouldst be ware of thyself."
+
+"Death will come to me when it will come," says Gunnar, "wherever
+I may be, if that is my fate."
+
+Then they left off talking about it.
+
+About autumn, Gunnar gave out that they would work one week there
+at home, and the next down in the isles, and so make an end of
+their hay-making.  At the same time, he let it be known that
+every man would have to leave the house, save himself and the
+women.
+
+Thorgeir under Threecorner goes to see his namesake, but as soon
+as they met they began to talk after their wont, and Thorgeir
+Starkad's son, said, "I would that we could harden our hearts
+and fall on Gunnar."
+
+"Well," says Thorgeir Otkell's son, "every struggle with Gunnar
+has had but one end, that few have gained the day; besides,
+methinks it sounds ill to be called a peace-breaker."
+
+"They have broken the peace, not we," says Thorgeir Starkad's
+son.  "Gunnar took away from thee thy cornfield; and he has taken
+Moeidsknoll from my father and me."
+
+And so they settle it between them to fall on Gunnar; and then
+Thorgeir said that Gunnar would be all alone at home in a few
+nights' space, "and then thou shalt come to meet me with eleven
+men, but I will have as many."
+
+After that Thorgeir rode home.
+
+
+
+68. OF NJAL AND THOSE NAMESAKES
+
+Now when Kolskegg and the house-carles had been three nights in
+the isles, Thorgeir Starkad's son had news of that, and sends
+word to his namesake that he should come to meet him on
+Threecorner ridge.
+
+After that Thorgeir of the Threecorner busked him with eleven
+men; he rides up on the ridge and there waits for his namesake.
+
+And now Gunnar is at home in his house, and those namesakes ride
+into a wood hard by.  There such a drowsiness came over them that
+they could do naught else but sleep.  So they hung their shields
+up in the boughs, and tethered their horses, and laid their
+weapons by their sides.
+
+Njal was that night up in Thorolfsfell, and could not sleep at
+all, but went out and in by turns.
+
+Thorhilda asked Njal why he could not sleep?
+
+"Many things now flit before my eyes," said he; "I see many
+fetches of Gunnar's bitter foes, and what is very strange is
+this, they seem to be mad with rage, and yet they fare without
+plan or purpose."
+
+A little after, a man rode up to the door and got off his horse's
+back and went in, and there was come the shepherd of Thorhilda
+and her husband.
+
+"Didst thou find the sheep?" she asked.
+
+"I found what might be more worth," said he.
+
+"What was that?" asked Njal. 
+
+"I found twenty-four men up in the wood yonder; they had tethered
+their horses, but slept themselves.  Their shields they had hung
+up in the boughs."
+
+But so closely had he looked at them that he told of all their
+weapons and wargear and clothes, and then Njal knew plainly who
+each of them must have been, and said to him, "'Twere good
+hiring if there were many such shepherds; and this shall ever
+stand to thy good; but still I will send thee on an errand."
+
+He said at once he would go.
+
+"Thou shalt go," says Njal, "to Lithend and tell Gunnar that he
+must fare to Gritwater, and then send after men; but I will go to
+meet with those who are in the wood and scare them away.  This
+thing hath well come to pass, so that they shall gain nothing by
+this journey, but lose much."
+
+The shepherd set off and told Gunnar as plainly as he could the
+whole story.  Then Gunnar rode to Gritwater and summoned men to
+him.
+
+Now it is to be told of Njal how he rides to meet these
+namesakes.
+
+"Unwarily ye lie here," he says, "or for what end shall this
+journey have been made?  And Gunnar is not a man to be trifled
+with.  But if the truth must be told then, this is the greatest
+treason.  Ye shall also know this, that Gunnar is gathering
+force, and he will come here in the twinkling of an eye, and slay
+you all, unless ye ride away home."
+
+They bestirred them at once, for they were in great fear, and
+took their weapons, and mounted their horses and galloped home
+under the Threecorner.
+
+Njal fared to meet Gunnar and bade him not to break up his
+company.
+
+"But I will go and seek for an atonement; now they will be finely
+frightened; but for this treason no less a sum shall be paid when
+one has to deal with all of them, than shall be paid for the
+slaying of one or other of those namesakes, though such a thing
+should come to pass.  This money I will take into my keeping, and
+so lay it out that it may be ready to thy hand when thou hast
+need of it."
+
+
+
+69. OLAF THE PEACOCK'S GIFTS TO GUNNAR
+
+Gunnar thanked Njal for his aid, and Njal rode away under the
+Threecorner, and told those namesakes that Gunnar would not break
+up his band of men before he had fought it out with them.
+
+They began to offer terms for themselves, and were full of dread,
+and bade Njal to come between them with an offer of atonement.
+
+Njal said that could only be if there were no guile behind.  Then
+they begged him to have a share in the award, and said they would
+hold to what he awarded.
+
+Njal said he would make no award unless it were at the Thing, and
+unless the best men were by; and they agreed to that.
+
+Then NjaI came between them, so that they gave each other pledges
+of peace and atonement.
+
+Njal was to utter the award, and to name as his fellows those
+whom he chose.
+
+A little while after those namesakes met Mord Valgard's son, and
+Mord blamed them much for having laid the matter in Njal's hands,
+when he was Gunnar's great friend.  He said that would turn out
+ill for them.
+
+Now men ride to the Althing after their wont, and now both sides
+are at the Thing.
+
+Njal begged for a hearing, and asked all the best men who were
+come thither, what right at law they thought Gunnar had against
+those namesakes for their treason.  They said they thought such a
+man had great right on his side.
+
+Njal went on to ask, whether he had a right of action against all
+of them, or whether the leaders had to answer for them all in the
+suit?
+
+They say that most of the blame would fall on the leaders, but a
+great deal still on them all.
+
+"Many will say this," said Mord, "that it was not without a cause
+when Gunnar broke the settlement made with those namesakes."
+
+"That is no breach of settlement," says Njal, "that any man
+should take the law against another; for with law shall our land
+be built up and settled, and with lawlessness wasted and
+spoiled."
+
+Then Njal tells them that Gunnar had offered land for
+Moeidsknoll, or other goods.
+
+Then those namesakes thought they had been beguiled by Mord, and
+scolded him much, and said that this fine was all his doing.
+
+Njal named twelve men as judges in the suit, and then every man
+paid a hundred in silver who had gone out, but each of those
+namesakes two hundred.
+
+Njal took this money into his keeping but either side gave the
+other pledges of peace, and Njal gave out the terms.
+
+Then Gunnar rode from the Thing west to the Dales, till he came
+to Hjardarholt, and Olaf the Peacock gave him a hearty welcome. 
+There he sat half a month, and rode far and wide about the Dales,
+and all welcomed him with joyful hands.  But at their parting
+Olaf said, "I will give thee three things of price, a gold ring,
+and a cloak which Moorkjartan the Erse king owned, and a hound
+that was given me in Ireland; he is big, and no worse follower
+than a sturdy man.  Besides, it is part of his nature that he has
+man's wit, and he will bay at every man whom he knows is thy foe,
+but never at thy friends; he can see, too, in any man's face,
+whether he means thee well or ill, and he will lay down his life
+to be true to thee.  This hound's name is Sam."
+
+After that he spoke to the hound, "Now shalt thou follow Gunnar,
+and do him all the service thou canst."
+
+The hound went at once to Gunnar and laid himself down at his
+feet.
+
+Olaf bade Gunnar to be ware of himself, and said he had many
+enviers, "For now thou art thought to be a famous man throughout
+all the land."
+
+Gunnar thanked him for his gifts and good counsel, and rode home.
+
+Now Gunnar sits at home for sometime, and all is quiet.
+
+
+
+70. MORD'S COUNSEL
+
+A little after, those namesakes and Mord met, and they were not
+at all of one mind.  They thought they had lost much goods for
+Mord's sake, but had got nothing in return; and they bade him set
+on foot some other plot which might do Gunnar harm.
+
+Mord said so it should be.  "But now this is my counsel, that
+thou, Thorgeir Otkell's son shouldest beguile Ormilda, Gunnar's
+kinswoman; but Gunnar will let his displeasure grow against thee
+at that, and then I will spread that story abroad that Gunnar
+will not suffer thee to do such things.  Then ye two shall some
+time after make an attack on Gunnar, but still ye must not seek
+him at home, for there is no thinking of that while the hound is
+alive."
+
+So they settled this plan among them that it should be brought
+about.
+
+Thorgeir began to turn his steps towards Ormilda, and Gunnar
+thought that ill, and great dislike arose between them.
+
+So the winter wore away.  Now comes the summer, and their secret
+meetings went on oftener than before.
+
+As for Thorgeir of the Threecorner and Mord, they were always
+meeting; and they plan an onslaught on Gunnar when he rides down
+to the isles to see after the work done by his house-caries.
+
+One day Mord was ware of it when Gunnar rode down to the isles,
+and sent a man off under the Threecorner to tell Thorgeir that
+then would be the likeliest time to try to fall on Gunnar.
+
+They bestirred them at once, and fare thence twelve together, but
+when they came to Kirkby there they found thirteen men waiting
+for them.
+
+Then they made up their minds to ride down to Rangriver and lie
+in wait there for Gunnar.
+
+But when Gunnar rode up from the isles, Kolskegg rode with him. 
+Gunnar had his bow and his arrows and his bill.  Kolskegg had his
+short sword and weapons to match.
+
+
+
+71. THE SLAYING OF THORGEIR OTKELL'S SON
+
+That token happened as Gunnar and his brother rode up towards
+Rangriver, that much blood burst out on the bill.
+
+Kolskegg asked what that might mean.
+
+Gunnar says, "If such tokens took place in other lands, it was
+called `wound-drops,' and Master Oliver told me also that this
+only happened before great fights."
+
+So they rode on till they saw men sitting by the river on the
+other side, and they had tethered their horses.
+
+Gunnar said, "Now we have an ambush."
+
+Kolskegg answered, "Long have they been faithless; but what is
+best to be done now?"
+
+"We will gallop up alongside them to the ford," says Gunnar, "and
+there make ready for them."
+
+The others saw that and turned at once towards them.
+
+Gunnar strings his bow, and takes his arrows and throws them on
+the ground before him, and shoots as soon as ever they come
+within shot; by that Gunnar wounded many men, but some he slew.
+
+Then Thorgeir Otkell's son spoke and said, "This is no use; let
+us make for him as hard as we can."
+
+They did so, and first went Aunund the Fair, Thorgeir's kinsman. 
+Gunnar hurled the bill at him, and it fell on his shield and
+clove it in twain, but the bill rushed through Aunund.  Augmund
+Shockhead rushed at Gunnar behind his back.  Kolskegg saw that
+and cut off at once both Augmund's legs from under him, and
+hurled him out into Rangriver, and he was drowned there and then.
+
+Then a hard battle arose; Gunnar cut with one hand and thrust
+with the other.  Kolskegg slew some men and wounded many.
+
+Thorgeir Starkad's son called out to his namesake, "It looks very
+little as though thou hadst a father to avenge."
+
+"True it is," he answers, "that I do not make much way, but yet
+thou hast not followed in my footsteps; still I will not bear thy
+reproaches."
+
+With that he rushes at Gunnar in great wrath, and thrust his
+spear through his shield, and so on through his arm.
+
+Gunnar gave the shield such a sharp twist that the spearhead
+broke short off at the socket.  Gunnar sees that another man was
+come within reach of his sword, and he smites at him and deals
+him his death-blow.  After that, he clutches his bill with both
+hands; just then, Thorgeir Otkell's son had come near him with a
+drawn sword, and Gunnar turns on him in great wrath, and drives
+the bill through him, and lifts him up aloft, and casts him out
+into Rangriver, and he drifts down towards the ford, and stuck
+fast there on a stone; and the name of that ford has since been
+Thorgeir's ford.
+
+Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "Let us fly now; no victory
+will be fated to us this time."
+
+So they all turned and fled from the field.
+
+"Let us follow them up now," says Kolskegg "and take thou thy bow
+and arrows, and thou wilt come within bowshot of Thorgeir
+Starkad's son."
+
+Then Gunnar sang a song:
+
+     "Reaver of rich river-treasure,
+     Plundered will our purses be,
+     Though to-day we wound no other
+     Warriors wight in play of spears
+     Aye, if I for all these sailors
+     Lowly lying, fines must pay --
+     This is why I hold my hand,
+     Hearken, brother dear, to me."_
+
+"Our purses will be emptied," says Gunnar, "by the time that
+these are atoned for who now lie here dead."
+
+"Thou wilt never lack money," says Kolskegg; "but Thorgeir will
+never leave off before he compasses thy death."
+
+Gunnar sang another song:
+
+     "Lord of water-skates (1) that skim
+     Sea-king's fields, more good as he,
+     Shedding wounds' red stream, must stand
+     In my way ere I shall wince.
+     I, the golden armlets' warder,
+     Snakelike twined around my wrist,
+     Ne'er shall shun a foeman's faulchion
+     Flashing bright in din of fight."
+
+"He, and a few more as good as he," says Gunnar, "must stand in
+my path ere I am afraid of them."
+
+After that they ride home and tell the tidings.  Hallgerda was
+well pleased to hear them, and praised the deed much.
+
+Rannveig said, "May be the deed is good; but somehow," she says,
+"I feel too downcast about it to think that good can come of it."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Water-skates," a periphrasis for ships.
+
+
+
+72. OF THE SUITS FOR MANSLAUGHTER AT THE THING
+
+These tidings were spread far and wide, and Thorgeir's death was
+a great grief to many a man.  Gizur the White and his men rode to
+the spot and gave notice of the manslaughter, and called the
+neighbours on the inquest to the Thing.  Then they rode home
+west.
+
+Njal and Gunnar met and talked about the battle.  Then Njal said
+to Gunnar, "Now be ware of thyself.  Now hast thou slain twice in
+the same stock; and so now take heed to thy behaviour, and think
+that it is as much as thy life is worth, if thou dost not hold to
+the settlement that is made."
+
+"Nor do I mean to break it in any way," says Gunnar, "but still I
+shall need thy help at the Thing."
+
+"I will hold to my faithfulness to thee," said Njal, "till my
+death day."
+
+Then Gunnar rides home.  Now the Thing draws near; and each side
+gather a great company; and it is a matter of much talk at the
+Thing how these suits will end.
+
+Those two, Gizur the White, and Geir the Priest, talked with each
+other as to who should give notice of the suit of manslaughter
+after Thorgeir, and the end of it was that Gizur took the suit on
+his hand, and gave notice of it at the Hill of Laws, and spoke in
+these words: --
+
+"I gave notice of a suit for assault laid down by law against
+Gunnar Hamond's son; for that he rushed with an onslaught laid
+down by law on Thorgeir Otkell's son, and wounded him with a body
+wound, which proved a death wound, so that Thorgeir got his
+death.
+
+"I say on this charge he ought to become a convicted outlaw, not
+to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or harboured in
+any need.
+
+"I say that his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to the
+men of the Quarter, whose right it is by law to seize the goods
+of outlaws.
+
+"I give notice of this charge in the Quarter Court, into which
+this suit ought by law to come.
+
+"I give this lawful notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill
+of Laws.
+
+"I give notice now of this suit, and of full forfeiture and
+outlawry against Gunnar Hamond's son."
+
+A second time Gizur took witness, and gave notice of a suit
+against Gunnar Hamond's son, for that he had wounded Thorgeir
+Otkell's son with a body wound which was a death wound, and from
+which Thorgeir got his death, on such and such a spot when Gunnar
+first sprang on Thorgeir with an onslaught, laid down by law.
+
+After that he gave notice of this declaration as he had done of
+the first.  Then he asked in what Quarter Court the suit lay, and
+in what house in the district the defendant dwelt.
+
+When that was over, men left the Hill of Laws, and all said that
+he spoke well.
+
+Gunnar kept himself well in hand and said little or nothing.
+
+Now the Thing wears away till the day when the courts were to be
+set.
+
+Then Gunnar stood looking south by the court of the men of
+Rangriver, and his men with him.
+
+Gizur stood looking north, and calls his witnesses, and bade
+Gunnar to listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the suit,
+and to all the steps and proofs which he meant to bring forward. 
+After that he took his oath, and then he brought forward the suit
+in the same shape before the court, as he had given notice of it
+before.  Then he made them bring forward witness of the notice,
+then he bade the neighbours on the inquest to take their seats,
+and called upon Gunnar to challenge the inquest.
+
+
+
+73. OF THE ATONEMENT
+
+Then Njal spoke and said, "Now I can no longer sit still and take
+no part.  Let us go to where the neighbours sit on the inquest."
+
+They went thither and challenged four neighbours out of the
+inquest, but they called on the five that were left to answer the
+following question in Gunnar's favour, "Whether those namesakes
+had gone out with that mind to the place of meeting to do Gunnar
+a mischief if they could?"
+
+But all bore witness at once that so it was.
+
+Then Njal called this a lawful defence to the suit, and said he
+would bring forward proof of it unless they gave over the suit to
+arbitration.
+
+Then many chiefs joined in praying for an atonement, and so it
+was brought about that twelve men should utter an award in the
+matter.
+
+Then either side went and handselled this settlement to the
+other.  Afterwards the award was made, and the sum to be paid
+settled, and it was all to be paid down then and there at the
+Thing.
+
+But besides, Gunnar was to go abroad and Kolskegg with him, and
+they were to be away three winters; but if Gunnar did not go
+abroad when he had a chance of a passage, then he was to be slain
+by the kinsmen of those whom he had killed.
+
+Gunnar made no sign, as though he thought the terms of atonement
+were not good.  He asked Njal for that money which he had handed
+over to him to keep.  Njal had laid the money out at interest and
+paid it down all at once, and it just came to what Gunnar had to
+pay for himself.
+
+Now they ride home.  Gunnar and Njal rode both together from the
+Thing, and then Njal said to Gunnar, "Take good care, messmate,
+that thou keepest to this atonement, and bear in mind what we
+have spoken about; for though thy former journey abroad brought
+thee to great honour, this will be a far greater honour to thee. 
+Thou wilt come back with great glory, and live to be an old man,
+and no man here will then tread on thy heel; but if thou dost not
+fare away, and so breakest thy atonement, then thou wilt be slain
+here in the land, and that is ill knowing for those who are thy
+friends."
+
+Gunnar said he had no mind to break the atonement, and he rides
+home and told them of the settlement.
+
+Rannveig said it was well that he fared abroad, for then they
+must find some one else to quarrel with.
+
+
+
+74. KOLSKEGG GOES ABROAD
+
+Thrain Sigfus' son said to his wife that he meant to fare abroad
+that summer.  She said that was well.  So he took his passage
+with Hogni the White.
+
+Gunnar took his passage with Arnfin of the Bay; and Kolskegg was
+to go with him.
+
+Grim and Helgi, Njal's sons, asked their father's leave to go
+abroad too, and Njal said, "This foreign voyage ye will find hard
+work, so hard that it will be doubtful whether ye keep your
+lives; but still ye two will get some honour and glory, but it is
+not unlikely that a quarrel will arise out of your journey when
+ye come back."
+
+Still they kept on asking their father to let them go, and the
+end of it was that he bade them go if they chose.
+
+Then they got them a passage with Bard the Black, and Olof
+Kettle's son of Elda; and it is the talk of the whole country
+that all the better men in that district were leaving it.
+
+By this time Gunnar's sons, Hogni and Grani, were grown up; they
+were men of very different turn of mind.  Grani had much of his
+mother's temper, but Hogni was kind and good.
+
+Gunnar made men bear down the wares of his brother and himself to
+the ship, and when all Gunnar's baggage had come down, and the
+ship was all but "boun," then Gunnar rides to Bergthorsknoll, and
+to other homesteads to see men, and thanked them all for the help
+they had given him.
+
+The day after he gets ready early for his journey to the ship,
+and told all his people that he would ride away for good and all,
+and men took that much to heart, but still they said that they
+looked to his coming back afterwards.
+
+Gunnar threw his arms round each of the household when he was
+"boun," and every one of them went out of doors with him; he
+leans on the butt of his spear and leaps into the saddle, and he
+and Kolskegg ride away.
+
+They ride down along Markfleet, and just then Gunnar's horse
+tripped and threw him off.  He turned with his face up towards
+the Lithe and the homestead at Lithend, and said, "Fair is the
+Lithe; so fair that it has never seemed to me so fair; the corn
+fields are white to harvest and the home mead is mown; and now I
+will ride back home, and not fare abroad at all."
+
+"Do not this joy to thy foes," says Kolskegg, "by breaking thy
+atonement, for no man could think thou wouldst do thus, and thou
+mayst be sure that all will happen as Njal has said."
+
+"I will not go away any whither," said Gunnar, "and so I would
+thou shouldest do too."
+
+"That shall not be," says Kolskegg; "I will never do a base thing
+in this, nor in any thing else which is left to my good faith;
+and this is that one thing that could tear us asunder; but tell
+this to my kinsman and to my mother that I never mean to see
+Iceland again, for I shall soon learn that thou art dead,
+brother, and then there will be nothing left to bring me back."
+
+So they parted there and then.  Gunnar rides home to Lithend, but
+Kolskegg rides to the ship, and goes abroad.
+
+Hallgerda was glad to see Gunnar when he came home, but his
+mother said little or nothing.
+
+How Gunnar sits at home that fall and winter, and had not many
+men with him.
+
+Now the winter leaves the farmyard.  Olaf the Peacock asked
+Gunnar and Hallgerda to come and stay with him; but as for the
+farm, to put it into the hands of his mother and his son Hogni.
+
+Gunnar thought that a good thing at first, and agreed to it, but
+when it came to the point he would not do it.
+
+But at the Thing next summer, Gizur the White, and Geir the
+Priest, gave notice of Gunnar's outlawry at the Hill of Laws; and
+before the Thing broke up Gizur summoned all Gunnar's foes to
+meet in the "Great Rift." (1)  He summoned Starkad under the
+Threecorner, and Thorgeir his son; Mord and Valgard the Guileful;
+Geir the Priest and Hjalti Skeggi's son; Thorbrand and Asbrand,
+Thorleik's sons; Eyjulf, and Aunund his son.  Aunund of Witchwood
+and Thorgrim the Easterling of Sandgil.
+
+The Gizur spoke and said, "I will make you all this offer, that
+we go out against Gunnar this summer and slay him."
+
+"I gave my word to Gunnar," said Hjalti, "here at the Thing,
+when he showed himself most willing to yield to my prayer, that I
+would never be in any attack upon him; and so it shall be."
+
+Then Hjalti went away, but those who were left behind made up
+their minds to make an onslaught on Gunnar, and shook hands on
+the bargain, and laid a fine on any one that left the
+undertaking.
+
+Mord was to keep watch and spy out when there was the best chance
+of falling on him, and they were forty men in this league, and
+they thought it would be a light thing for them to hunt down
+Gunnar, now that Kolskegg was away, and Thrain and many other of
+Gunnar's friends.
+
+Men ride from the Thing, and Njal went to see Gunnar, and told
+him of his outlawry, and how an onslaught was planned against
+him.
+
+"Methinks thou art the best of friends," says Gunnar; "thou
+makest me aware of what is meant."
+
+"Now," says Njal, "I would that Skarphedinn should come to thy
+house, and my son Hauskuld; they will lay down their lives for
+thy life."
+
+"I will not," says Gunnar, "that thy sons should be slain for my
+sake, and thou hast a right to look for other things from me."
+
+"All thy care will come to nothing," says Njal; "quarrels will
+turn thitherward where my sons are as soon as thou art dead and
+gone."
+
+"That is not unlikely," says Gunnar, "but still it would mislike
+me that they fell into them for me; but this one thing I will ask
+of thee, that ye see after my son Hogni, but I say naught of
+Grani, for he does not behave himself much after my mind."
+
+Njal rode home, and gave his word to do that.
+
+It is said that Gunnar rode to all meetings of men, and to all
+lawful Things, and his foes never dared to fall on him.
+
+And so some time went on that he went about as a free and
+guiltless man.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Great Rift," Almannagja -- The great volcanic rift, or
+     "geo," as it would be called in Orkney and Shetland, which
+     bounds the plain of the Allthing on one side.
+
+
+
+75. THE RIDING TO LITHEND
+
+Next autumn Mord Valgard's son sent word that Gunnar would be all
+alone at home, but all his people would be down in the isles to
+make an end of their haymaking.  Then Gizur the White and Geir
+the Priest rode east over the rivers as soon as ever they heard
+that, and so east across the sands to Hof.  Then they sent word
+to Starkad under the Threecorner, and there they all met who were
+to fall on Gunnar, and took counsel how they might best bring it
+about.
+
+Mord said that they could not come on Gunnar unawares, unless
+they seized the farmer who dwelt at the next homestead, whose
+name was Thorkell, and made him go against his will with them to
+lay hands on the hound Sam, and unless he went before them to the
+homestead to do this.
+
+Then they set out east for Lithend, but sent to fetch Thorkell. 
+They seized him and bound him, and gave him two choices -- one
+that they would slay him, or else he must lay hands on the hound;
+but he chooses rather to save his life, and went with them.
+
+There was a beaten sunk road, between fences, above the farm yard
+at Lithend, and there they halted with their band.  Master
+Thorkell went up to the homestead, and the tyke lay on the top of
+the house, and he entices the dog away with him into a deep
+hollow in the path.  Just then the hound sees that there are men
+before them, and he leaps on Thorkell and tears his belly open.
+
+Aunund of Witchwood smote the hound on the head with his axe, so
+that the blade sunk into the brain.  The hound gave such a great
+howl that they thought it passing strange, and he fell down dead.
+
+
+
+76. GUNNAR'S SLAYING
+
+Gunnar woke up in his hall and said, "Thou hast been sorely
+treated, Sam, my fosterling, and this warning is so meant that
+our two deaths will not be far apart."
+
+Gunnar's hall was made all of wood, and roofed with beams above,
+and there were window-slits under the beams that carried the
+roof, and they were fitted with shutters.
+
+Gunnar slept in a loft above the hall, and so did Hallgerda and
+his mother.
+
+Now when they were come near to the house they knew not whether
+Gunnar were at home, and bade that some one would go straight up
+to the house and see if he could find out.  But the rest sat them
+down on the ground.
+
+Thorgrim the Easterling went and began to climb up on the hall;
+Gunnar sees that a red kirtle passed before the windowslit, and
+thrusts out the bill, and smote him on the middle.  Thorgrim's
+feet slipped from under him, and he dropped his shield, and down
+he toppled from the roof.
+
+Then he goes to Gizur and his band as they sat on the ground.
+
+Gizur looked at him and said, "Well, is Gunnar at home?
+
+"Find that out for yourselves," said Thorgrim; "but this I am
+sure of, that his bill is at home," and with that he fell down
+dead.
+
+Then they made for the buildings.  Gunnar shot out arrows at
+them, and made a stout defence, and they could get nothing done. 
+Then some of them got into the out houses and tried to attack him
+thence, but Gunnar found them out with his arrows there also, and
+still they could get nothing done.
+
+So it went on for a while, then they took a rest, and made a
+second onslaught.  Gunnar still shot out at them, and they could
+do nothing, and fell off the second time.  Then Gizur the White
+said, "Let us press on harder; nothing comes of our onslaught."
+
+Then they made a third bout of it, and were long at it, and then
+they fell off again.
+
+Gunnar said, "There lies an arrow outside on the wall, and it is
+one of their shafts; I will shoot at them with it, and it will be
+a shame to them if they get a hurt from their own weapons."
+
+His mother said, "Do not so, my son; nor rouse them again when
+they have already fallen off from the attack."
+
+But Gunnar caught up the arrow and shot it after them, and struck
+Eylif Aunund's son, and he got a great wound; he was standing all
+by himself, and they knew not that he was wounded.
+
+"Out came an arm yonder," says Gizur, "and there was a gold ring
+on it, and took an arrow from the roof, and they would not look
+outside for shafts if there were enough in doors; and now ye
+shall made a fresh onslaught."
+
+"Let us burn him house and all," said Mord.
+
+"That shall never be," says Gizur, "though I knew that my life
+lay on it; but it is easy for thee to find out some plan, such a
+cunning man as thou art said to be."
+
+Some ropes lay there on the ground, and they were often used to
+strengthen the roof.  Then Mord said, "Let us take the ropes and
+throw one end over the end of the carrying beams, but let us
+fasten the other end to these rocks and twist them tight with
+levers, and so pull the roof off the hall."
+
+So they took the ropes and all lent a hand to carry this out, and
+before Gunnar was aware of it, they had pulled the whole roof off
+the hall.
+
+Then Gunnar still shoots with his bow so that they could never
+come nigh him.  Then Mord said again that they must burn the
+house over Gunnar's head.  But Gizur said, "I know not why thou
+wilt speak of that which no one else wishes, and that shall never
+be."
+
+Just then Thorbrand Thorleik's son, sprang up on the roof, and
+cuts asunder Gunnar's bowstring.  Gunnar clutches the bill with
+both hands, and turns on him quickly and drives it through him,
+and hurls him down on the ground.
+
+Then up sprung Asbrand his brother.  Gunnar thrusts at him with
+his bill, and he threw his shield before the blow, but the bill
+passed clean through the shield and broke both his arms, and down
+he fell from the wall.
+
+Gunnar had already wounded eight men and slain those twain (1). 
+By that time Gunnar had got two wounds, and all men said that he
+never once winced either at wounds or death.
+
+Then Gunnar said to Hallgerda, "Give me two locks of thy hair,
+and ye two, my mother and thou, twist them together into a
+bowstring for me."
+
+"Does aught lie on it?" she says.
+
+"My life lies on it;" he said; "for they will never come to close
+quarters with me if I can keep them off with my bow."
+
+"Well!" she says, "now I will call to thy mind that slap on the
+face which thou gavest me; and I care never a whit whether thou
+holdest out a long while or a short."
+
+Then Gunnar sang a song:
+
+     "Each who hurts the gory javelin
+     Hath some honour of his own,
+     Now my helpmeet wimple-hooded
+     Hurries all my fame to earth.
+     No one owner of a war-ship
+     Often asks for little things,
+     Woman, fond of Frodi's flour (2),
+     Wends her hand as she is wont."
+
+"Every one has something to boast of," says Gunnar, "and I will
+ask thee no more for this."
+
+"Thou behavest ill," said Rannveig, "andthis shame shall long be
+had in mind."
+
+Gunnar made a stout and bold defence, and now wounds other eight
+men with such sore wounds that many lay at death's door.  Gunnar
+keeps them all off until he fell worn out with toil.  Then they
+wounded him with many and great wounds, but still he got away out
+of their hands, and held his own against them a while longer, but
+at last it came about that they slew him.
+
+Of this defence of his, Thorkell the Skald of Gota-Elf sang in
+the verses which follow --
+
+     "We have heard how south in Iceland
+     Gunnar guarded well himself,
+     Boldly battle's thunder wielding,
+     Fiercest foeman on the wave;
+     Hero of the golden collar,
+     Sixteen with the sword he wounded;
+     In the shock that Odin loveth,
+     Two before him tasted death."
+
+But this is what Thormod Olaf's son sang --
+
+     "None that scattered sea's bright sunbeams (3),
+     Won more glorious fame than Gunnar,
+     So runs fame of old in Iceland,
+     Fitting fame of heathen men;
+     Lord of fight when helms were crashing,
+     Lives of foeman twain he took,
+     Wielding bitter steel he sorely
+     Wounded twelve, and four besides."
+
+Then Gizur spoke and said, "We have now laid low to earth a
+mighty chief, and hard work has it been, and the fame of this
+defence of his shall last as long as men live in this land."
+
+After that he went to see Rannveig and said, "Wilt thou grant us
+earth here for two of our men who are dead, that they may lie in
+a cairn here?"
+
+"All the more willingly for two," she says, "because I wish with
+all my heart I had to grant it to all of you."
+
+"It must be forgiven thee," he says, "to speak thus, for thou
+hast had a great loss."
+
+Then he gave orders that no man should spoil or rob anything
+there.
+
+After that they went away.
+
+Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, "We may not be in our house at
+home for the sons of Sigfus, unless thou Gizur or thou Geir be
+here south some little while."
+
+"This shall be so," says Gizur, and they cast lots, and the lot
+fell on Geir to stay behind.
+
+After that he came to the Point, and set up his house there; he
+had a son whose name was Hroald; he was base born, and his
+mother's name was Biartey (4); he boasted that he had given
+Gunnar his death blow.  Hroald was at the Point with his father.
+
+Thorgeir Starkad's son boasted of another wound which he had
+given to Gunnar.
+
+Gizur sat at home at Mossfell.  Gunnar's slaying was heard of,
+and ill spoken of throughout the whole country, and his death was
+a great grief to many a man.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Thorgrim Easterling and Thorbrand.
+(2)  "Frodi's flour," a periphrasis for "gold."
+(3)  "Sea's bright sunbeams," a periphrasis for "gold."
+(4)  She was a sister of Thorwald the Scurvy, who was slain at
+     Horsebeck in Grimsness.
+
+
+
+
+77. GUNNAR SINGS A SONG DEAD
+
+Njal could ill brook Gunnar's death, nor could the sons of Sigfus
+brook it either.
+
+They asked whether Njal thought they had any right to give notice
+of a suit of manslaughter for Gunnar, or to set the suit on foot.
+
+He said that could not be done, as the man had been outlawed; but
+said it would be better worth trying to do something to wound
+their glory, by slaying some men in vengeance after him.
+
+They cast a cairn over Gunnar, and made him sit upright in the
+cairn.  Rannveig would not hear of his bill being buried in the
+cairn, but said he alone should have it as his own, who was ready
+to avenge Gunnar.  So no one took the bill.
+
+She was so hard on Hallgerda, that she was on the point of
+killing her; and she said that she had been the cause of her
+son's slaying.
+
+Then Hallgerda fled away to Gritwater, and her son Grani with
+her, and they shared the goods between them; Hogni was to have
+the land at Lithend and the homestead on it, but Grani was to
+have the land let out on lease.
+
+Now this token happened at Lithend, that the neat-herd and the
+serving-maid were driving cattle by Gunnar's cairn.  They thought
+that he was merry, and that he was singing inside the cairn. 
+They went home and told Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, of this token,
+but she bade them go and tell Njal.
+
+Then they went over to Bergthorsknoll and told Njal, but he made
+them tell it three times over.
+
+After that, he had a long talk all alone with Skarphedinn; and
+Skarphedinn took his weapons and goes with them to Lithend.
+
+Rannveig and Hogni gave him a hearty welcome, and were very glad
+to see him.  Rannveig asked him to stay there some time, and he
+said he would.
+
+He and Hogni were always together, at home and abroad.  Hogni was
+a brisk, brave man, well-bred and well-trained in mind and body,
+but distrustful and slow to believe what he was told, and that
+was why they dared not tell him of the token.
+
+Now those two, Skarphedinn and Hogni, were out of doors one
+evening by Gunnar's cairn on the south side.  The moon and stars
+were shining clear and bright, but every now and then the clouds
+drove over them.  Then all at once they thought they saw the
+cairn standing open, and lo!  Gunnar had turned himself in the
+cairn and looked at the moon.  They thought they saw four lights
+burning in the cairn, and none of them threw a shadow.  They saw
+that Gunnar was merry, and he wore a joyful face.  He sang a
+song, and so loud, that it might have been heard though they had
+been further off.
+
+     "He that lavished rings in largesse,
+     When the fights' red rain-drips fell,
+     Bright of face, with heart-strings hardy,
+     Hogni's father met his fate;
+     Then his brow with helmet shrouding,
+     Bearing battle-shield, he spake,
+     `I will die the prop of battle,
+     Sooner die than yield an inch,
+     Yes, sooner die than yield an inch."
+
+After that the cairn was shut up again.
+
+"Wouldst thou believe these tokens if Njal or I told them to
+thee?" says Skarphedinn.
+
+"I would believe them," he says, "if Njal told them, for it is
+said he never lies."
+
+"Such tokens as these mean much," says Skarphedinn, "when he
+shows himself to us, he who would sooner die than yield to his
+foes; and see how he has taught us what we ought to do."
+
+"I shall be able to bring nothing to pass," says Hogni, "unless
+thou wilt stand by me."
+
+"Now," says Skarphedinn, "will I bear in mind how Gunnar behaved
+after the slaying of your kinsman Sigmund; now I will yield you
+such help as I may.  My father gave his word to Gunnar to do that
+whenever thou or thy mother had need of it."
+
+After that they go home to Lithend.
+
+
+
+78. GUNNAR OF LITHEND AVENGED
+
+"Now we shall set off at once," says Skarphedinn, "this very
+night; for if they learn that I am here, they will be more wary
+of themselves."
+
+"I will fulfil thy counsel," says Hogni.
+
+After that they took their weapons when all men were in their
+beds.  Hogni takes down the bill, and it gave a sharp ringing
+sound.
+
+Rannveig sprang up in great wrath and said, "Who touches the
+bill, when I forbade every one to lay hand on it?"
+
+"I mean," says Hogni, "to bring it to my father, that he may bear
+it with him to Valhalla, and have it with him when the warriors
+meet."
+
+"Rather shalt thou now bear it," she answered, "and avenge thy
+father; for the bill has spoken of one man's death or more."
+
+Then Hogni went out, and told Skarphedinn all the words that his
+grandmother had spoken.
+
+After that they fare to the Point, and two ravens flew along with
+them all the way.  They came to the Point while it was still
+night.  Then they drove the flock before them up to the house,
+and then Hroald and Tjorfi ran out and drove the flock up the
+hollow path, and had their weapons with them.
+
+Skarphedinn sprang up and said, "Thou needest not to stand and
+think if it be really as it seems.  Men are here."
+
+Then Skarphedinn smites Tjorfi his deathblow.  Hroald had a spear
+in his hand, and Hogni rushes at him; Hroald thrusts at him, but
+Hogni hewed asunder the spear-shaft with his bill, and drives the
+bill through him.
+
+After that they left them there dead, and turn away thence under
+the Threecorner.
+
+Skarphedinn jumps up on the house and plucks the grass, and those
+who were inside the house thought it was cattle that had come on
+the roof.  Starkad and Thorgeir took their weapons and upper
+clothing, and went out and round about the fence of the yard. 
+But when Starkad sees Skarphedinn he was afraid, and wanted to
+turn back.
+
+Skarphedinn cut him down by the fence.  Then Hogni comes against
+Thorgeir and slays him with the bill.
+
+Thence they went to Hof, and Mord was outside in the field, and
+begged for mercy, and offered them full atonement.
+
+Skarphedinn told Mord the slaying of those four men, and sang a
+song:
+
+     "Four who wielded warlike weapons
+     We have slain, all men of worth,
+     Them at once, gold-greedy fellow,
+     Thou shalt follow on the spot;
+     Let us press this pinch-purse so,
+     Pouring fear into his heart;
+     Wretch! reach out to Gunnar's son
+     Right to settle all disputes."
+
+"And the like journey," says Skarphedinn, "shalt thou also fare,
+or hand over to Hogni the right to make his own award, if he will
+take these terms."
+
+Hogni said his mind had been made up not to come to any terms
+with the slayers of his father; but still at last he took the
+right to make his own award from Mord.
+
+
+
+79. HOGNI TAKES AN ATONEMENT FOR GUNNAR'S DEATH
+
+Njal took a share in bringing those who had the blood-feud after
+Starkad and Thorgeir to take an atonement, and a district meeting
+was called together, and men were chosen to make the award, and
+every matter was taken into account, even the attack on Gunnar,
+though he was an outlaw; but such a fine as was awarded, all that
+Mord paid; for they did not close their award against him before
+the other matter was already settled, and then they set off one
+award against the other.
+
+Then they were all set at one again, but at the Thing there was
+great talk, and the end of it was, that Geir the Priest and Hogni
+were set at one again, and that atonement they held to ever
+afterwards.
+
+Geir the Priest dwelt in the Lithe till his deathday, and he is
+out of the story.
+
+Njal asked as a wife for Hogni Alfeida the daughter of Weatherlid
+the Skald, and she was given away to him.  Their son was Ari, who
+sailed for Shetland, and took him a wife there; from him is come
+Einar the Shetlander, one of the briskest and boldest of men.
+
+Hogni kept up his friendship with Njal, and he is now out of the
+story.
+
+
+
+80. OF KOLSKEGG: HOW HE WAS BAPTIZED
+
+Now it is to be told of Kolskegg how he comes to Norway, and is
+in the Bay east that winter.  But the summer after he fares east
+to Denmark, and bound himself to Sweyn Forkbeard the Dane-king,
+and there he had great honour.
+
+One night he dreamt that a man came to him; he was bright and
+glistening, and he thought he woke him up.  He spoke, and said to
+him, "Stand up and come with me."
+
+"What wilt thou with me?" he asks.
+
+"I will get thee a bride, and thou shalt be my knight."
+
+He thought he said yea to that, and after that he woke up.
+
+Then he went to a wizard and told him the dream, but he read it
+so that he should fare to southern lands and become God's knight.
+
+Kolskegg was baptized in Denmark, but still he could not rest
+there, but fared east to Russia, and was there one winter.  Then
+he fared thence out to Micklegarth (1), and there took service
+with the Emperor.  The last that was heard of him was, that he
+wedded a wife there, and was captain over the Varangians, and
+stayed there till his deathday; and he, too, is out of this
+story.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Constantinople.
+
+
+
+81. OF THRAIN: HOW HE SLEW KOL
+
+Now we must take up the story, and say how Thrain Sigfus' son
+came to Norway.  They made the land north in Helgeland, and held
+on south to Drontheim, and so to Hlada (1).  But as soon as Earl
+Hacon heard of that, he sent men to them, and would know what men
+were in the ship.  They came back and told him who the men were. 
+Then the earl sent for Thrain Sigfus' son, and he went to see
+him.  The earl asked of what stock he might be.  He said that he
+was Gunnar of Lithend's near kinsman.  The earl said, "That shall
+stand thee in good stead; for I have seen many men from Iceland,
+but none his match."
+
+"Lord," said Thrain, "is it your will that I should be with you
+this winter?"
+
+The earl took to him, and Thrain was there that winter, and was
+thought much of.
+
+There was a man named Kol, he was a great sea-rover.  He was the
+son of Asmund Ashside, east out of Smoland.  He lay east in the
+Gota-Elf, and had five ships, and much force.
+
+Thence Kol steered his course out of the river to Norway and
+landed at Fold (2), in the bight of the "Bay," and came on
+Hallvard Soti unawares, and found him in a loft.  He kept them
+off bravely till they set fire to the house, then he gave himself
+up; but they slew him, and took there much goods, and sailed
+thence to Lodese (3).
+
+Earl Hacon heard these tidings, and made them make Kol an outlaw
+over all his realm, and set a price upon his head.
+
+Once on a time it so happened that the earl began to speak thus,
+"Too far off from us now is Gunnar of Lithend.  He would slay my
+outlaw if he were here; but now the Icelanders will slay him, and
+it is ill that he hath not fared to us."
+
+Then Thrain Sigfus' son answered, "I am not Gunnar, but still I
+am near akin to him, and I will undertake this voyage."
+
+The earl said, "I should be glad of that, and thou shalt be very
+well fitted out for the journey."
+
+After that his son Eric began to speak, and said, "Your word,
+father, is good to many men, but fulfilling it is quite another
+thing.  This is the hardest undertaking; for this sea-rover is
+tough and ill to deal with, wherefore thou wilt need to take
+great pains, both as to men and ships for this voyage."
+
+Thrain said, "I will set out on this voyage, though it looks
+ugly."
+
+After that the earl gave him five ships, and all well trimmed
+and manned.  Along with Thrain was Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi
+Sigurd's son.  Gunnar was Thrain's brother's son, and had come to
+him young, and each loved the other much.
+
+Eric, the earl's son, went heartily along with them, and looked
+after strength for them, both in men and weapons and made such
+changes in them as he thought were needful.  After they were
+"boun," Eric got them a pilot.  Then they sailed south along the
+land; but wherever they came to land, the earl allowed them to
+deal with whatever they needed as their own.
+
+So they held on east to Lodese, and then they heard that Kol was
+gone to Denmark.  Then they shaped their course south thither;
+but when they came south to Helsingborg, they met men in a boat
+who said that Kol was there just before them, and would be
+staying there for a while.
+
+One day when the weather was good, Kol saw the ships as they
+sailed up towards him, and said he had dreamt of Earl Hacon the
+night before, and told his people he was sure these must be his
+men, and bade them all to take their weapons.
+
+After that they busked them, and a fight arose; and they fought
+long, so that neither side had the mastery.
+
+Then Kol sprang up on Thrain's ship, and cleared the gangways
+fast, and slays many men.  He had a gilded helm.
+
+Now Thrain sees that this is no good, and now he eggs on his men
+to go along with him, but he himself goes first and meets Kol.
+
+Kol hews at him, and the blow fell on Thrain's shield, and cleft
+it down from top to bottom.  Then Kol got a blow on the arm, from
+a stone and then down fell his sword.
+
+Thrain hews at Kol, and the stroke came on his leg so that it cut
+it off.  After that they slew Kol, and Thrain cut off his head,
+and they threw the trunk overboard, but kept his head.
+
+They took much spoil, and then they held on north to Drontheim,
+and go to see the earl.
+
+The earl gave Thrain a hearty welcome, and he shewed the earl
+Kol's head, but the earl thanked him for that deed.
+
+Eric said it was worth more than words alone, and the earl said
+so it was, and bade them come along with him.
+
+They went thither, where the earl had made them make a good ship
+that was not made like a common long-ship.  It had a vulture's
+head, and was much carved and painted.
+
+"Thou art a great man for show, Thrain," said the earl, "and so
+have both of you, kinsmen, been, Gunnar and thou; and now I will
+give thee this ship, but it is called the Vulture.  Along with it
+shall go my friendship; and my will is that thou stayest with me
+as long as thou wilt."
+
+He thanked him for his goodness, and said he had no longing to go
+to Iceland just yet.
+
+The earl had a journey to make to the marches of the land to meet
+the Swede-king.  Thrain went with him that summer, and was a
+shipmaster and steered the Vulture, and sailed so fast that few
+could keep up with him, and he was much envied.  But it always
+came out that the earl laid great store on Gunnar, for he set
+down sternly all who tried Thrain's temper.
+
+So Thrain was all that winter with the earl, but next spring the
+earl asked Thrain whether he would stay there or fare to Iceland;
+but Thrain said he had not yet made up his mind, and said that he
+wished first to know tidings from Iceland.
+
+The earl said that so it should be as he thought it suited him
+best; and Thrain was with the earl.
+
+Then those tidings were heard from Iceland, which many thought
+great news, the death of Gunnar of Lithend.  Then the earl would
+not that Thrain should fare out of Iceland, and so there he
+stayed with him.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Hlada or Lada, and sometimes in the plural Ladir, was the
+     old capital of Drontheim, before Nidaros -- the present
+     Drontheim -- was founded.  Drontheim was originally the name
+     of the country round the firth of the same name, and is not
+     used in the old sagas for a town.
+(2)  The country round the Christiania Firth, at the top of "the
+     Bay."
+(3)  A town in Sweden on the Gota-Elf.
+
+
+
+82. NJAL'S SONS SAIL ABROAD
+
+Now it must be told how Njal's sons, Grim and Helgi, left Iceland
+the same summer that Thrain and his fellows went away; and in the
+ship with them were Olaf Kettle's son of Elda, and Bard the
+Black.  They got so strong a wind from the north that they were
+driven south into the main; and so thick a mist came over them
+that they could not tell whither they were driving, and they were
+out a long while.  At last they came to where was a great ground
+sea, and thought then they must be near land.  So then Njal's
+sons asked Bard if he could tell at all to what land they were
+likely to be nearest.
+
+"Many lands there are," said he, "which we might hit with the
+weather we have had -- the Orkneys, or Scotland, or Ireland."
+
+Two nights after, they saw land on both boards, and a great
+surf running up in the firth.  They cast anchor outside the
+breakers, and the wind began to fall; and next morning it was
+calm.  Then they see thirteen ships coming out to them.
+
+Then Bard spoke and said, "What counsel shall we take now, for
+these men are going to make an onslaught on us?"
+
+So they took counsel whether they should defend themselves or
+yield, but before they could make up their minds, the Vikings
+were upon them.  Then each side asked the other their names, and
+what their leaders were called.  So the leaders of the chapmen
+told their names, and asked back who led that host.  One called
+himself Gritgard, and the other Snowcolf, sons of Moldan of
+Duncansby in Scotland, kinsmen of Malcolm the Scot king.
+
+"And now," says Gritgard, "we have laid down two choices, one
+that ye go on shore, and we will take your goods; the other is,
+that we fall on you and slay every man that we can catch."
+
+"The will of the chapmen," answers Helgi, "is to defend
+themselves."
+
+But the chapmen called out, "Wretch that thou art to speak thus! 
+What defence can we make?  Lading is less than life."
+
+But Grim, he fell upon a plan to shout out to the Vikings, and
+would not let them hear the bad choice of the chapmen.
+
+Then Bard and Olaf said, "Think ye not that these Icelanders will
+make game of you sluggards; take rather your weapons and guard
+your goods."
+
+So they all seized their weapons, and bound themselves, one with
+another, never to give up so long as they had strength to fight.
+
+
+
+83. OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON
+
+Then the Vikings shot at them and the fight began, and the
+chapmen guard themselves well.  Snowcolf sprang aboard and at
+Olaf, and thrust his spear through his body, but Grim thrust at
+Snowcolf with his spear, and so stoutly, that he fell overboard. 
+Then Helgi turned to meet Grim, and they two drove down all the
+Vikings as they tried to board, and Njal's sons were ever where
+there was most need.  Then the Vikings called out to the chapmen
+and bade them give up, but they said they would never yield. 
+Just then some one looked seaward, and there they see ships
+coming from the south round the Ness, and they were not fewer
+than ten, and they row hard and steer thitherwards.  Along their
+sides were shield on shield, but on that ship that came first
+stood a man by the mast, who was clad in a silken kirtle, and had
+a gilded helm, and his hair was both fair and thick; that man had
+a spear inlaid with gold in his hand.
+
+He asked, "Who have here such an uneven game?"
+
+Helgi tells his name, and said that against them are Gritgard and
+Snowcolf.
+
+"But who are your captains?" he asks.
+
+Helgi answered, "Bard the Black, who lives, but the other, who
+is dead and gone, was called Olaf."
+
+"Are ye men from Iceland?" says he.
+
+"Sure enough we are," Helgi answers.
+
+He asked whose sons they were, and they told him, then he knew
+them and said, "Well known names have ye all, father and sons
+both.
+
+"Who art thou?" asks Helgi.
+
+"My name is Kari, and I am Solmund's son."
+
+"Whence comest thou?" says Helgi.
+
+"From the Southern Isles."
+
+"Then thou art welcome," says Helgi, "if thou wilt give us a
+little help."
+
+"I'll give ye all the help ye need," says Kari; "but what do
+ye ask?"
+
+"To fall on them," says Helgi.
+
+Kari says that so it shall be.  So they pulled up to them, and
+then the battle began the second time; but when they had fought a
+little while, Kari springs up on Snowcolf's ship; he turns to
+meet him and smites at him with his sword.  Kari leaps nimbly
+backwards over a beam that lay athwart the ship, and Snowcolf
+smote the beam so that both edges of the sword were hidden.  Then
+Kari smites at him, and the sword fell on his shoulder, and the
+stroke was so mighty that he cleft in twain shoulder, arm, and
+all, and Snowcolf got his death there and then.  Gritgard hurled
+a spear at Kari, but Kari saw it and sprang up aloft, and the
+spear missed him.  Just then Helgi and Grim came up both to meet
+Kari, and Helgi springs on Gritgard and thrusts his spear through
+him, and that was his death blow; after that they went round the
+whole ship on both boards, and then men begged for mercy.  So
+they gave them all peace, but took all their goods.  After that
+they ran all the ships out under the islands.
+
+
+
+84. OF EARL SIGURD
+
+Sigurd was the name of an earl who ruled over the Orkneys; he was
+the son of Hlodver, the son of Thorfinn the skullsplitter, the
+son of Turf-Einar, the son of Rognvald, Earl of Moeren, the son
+of Eystein the Noisy.  Kari was one of Earl Sigurd's body-guard,
+and had just been gathering scatts in the Southern Isles from
+Earl Gilli.  Now Kari asks them to go to Hrossey (1), and said
+the earl would take to them well.  They agreed to that, and went
+with Kari and came to Hrossey.  Kari led them to see the earl,
+and said what men they were.
+
+"How came they," says the earl, "to fall upon thee?"
+
+"I found them," says Kari, "in Scotland's firths, and they were
+fighting with the sons of Earl Moldan, and held their own so well
+that they threw themselves about between the bulwarks, from side
+to side, and were always there where the trial was greatest, and
+now I ask you to give them quarters among your body-guard."
+
+"It shall be as thou choosest," says the earl, "thou hast already
+taken them so much by the hand."
+
+Then they were there with the earl that winter, and were worthily
+treated, but Helgi was silent as the winter wore on.  The earl
+could not tell what was at the bottom of that, and asked why he
+was so silent, and what was on his mind.  "Thinkest thou it not
+good to be here?"
+
+"Good, methinks, it is here," he says.
+
+"Then what art thou thinking about?" asks the earl.
+
+"Hast thou any realm to guard in Scotland?" asks Helgi.
+
+"So we think," says the earl, "but what makes thee think about
+that, or what is the matter with it?"
+
+"The Scots," says Helgi, "must have taken your steward's life,
+and stopped all the messengers, that none should cross the
+Pentland Firth."
+
+"Hast thou the second sight?" said the earl.
+
+"That has been little proved," answers Helgi.
+
+"Well," says the earl, "I will increase thy honour if this be so,
+otherwise thou shalt smart for it."
+
+"Nay," says Kari, "Helgi is not that kind of man, and like enough
+his words are sooth, for his father has the second sight."
+
+After that the earl sent men south to Straumey (2) to Arnljot,
+his steward there, and after that Arnljot sent them across the
+Pentland Firth, and they spied out and learnt that Earl Hundi and
+Earl Melsnati had taken the life of Havard in Thraswick, Earl
+Sigurd's brother-in-law.  So Arnljot sent word to Earl Sigurd to
+come south with a great host and drive those earls out of his
+realm, and as soon as the earl heard that, he gathered together a
+mighty host from all the isles.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  The mainland of Orkney, now Pomona.
+(2)  Now Stroma, in the Pentland Firth.
+
+
+
+85. THE BATTLE WITH THE EARLS
+
+After that the earl set out south with his host, and Kari went
+with him, and Njal's sons too.  They came south to Caithness. 
+The earl had these realms in Scotland, Ross and Moray,
+Sutherland, and the Dales.  There came to meet them men from
+those realms, and said that the earls were a short way off with a
+great host.  Then Earl Sigurd turns his host thither, and the
+name of that place is Duncansness above which they met, and it
+came to a great battle between them.  Now the Scots had let some
+of their host go free from the main battle, and these took the
+earl's men in flank, and many men fell there till Njal's sons
+turned against the foe, and fought with them and put them to
+flight; but still it was a hard fight, and then Njal's sons
+turned back to the front by the earl's standard, and fought well. 
+Now Kari turns to meet Earl Melsnati, and Melsnati hurled a spear
+at him, but Kari caught the spear and threw it back and through
+the earl.  Then Earl Hundi fled, but they chased the fleers until
+they learnt that Malcolm was gathering a host at Duncansby.  Then
+the earl took counsel with his men, and it seemed to all the best
+plan to turn back, and not to fight with such a mighty land
+force; so they turned back.  But when the earl came to Staumey
+they shared the battle-spoil.  After that he went north to
+Hrossey, and Njal's sons and Kari followed him.  Then the earl
+made a great feast, and at that feast he gave Kari a good sword,
+and a spear inlaid with gold; but he gave Helgi a gold ring and a
+mantle, and Grim a shield and sword.  After that he took Helgi
+and Grim into his body-guard, and thanked them for their good
+help.  They were with the earl that winter and the summer after,
+till Kari went sea-roving; then they went with him, and harried
+far and wide that summer, and everywhere won the victory.  They
+fought against Godred, King of Man, and conquered him; and after
+that they fared back, and had gotten much goods.  Next winter
+they were still with the earl, and when the spring came Njal's
+sons asked leave to go to Norway.  The earl said they should go
+or not as they pleased, and he gave them a good ship and smart
+men.  As for Kari, he said he must come that summer to Norway
+with Earl Hacon's scatts, and then they would meet; and so it
+fell out that they gave each other their word to meet.  After
+that Njal's sons put out to sea and sailed for Norway, and made
+the land north near Drontheim.
+
+
+
+86. HRAPP'S VOYAGE FROM ICELAND
+
+There was a man named Kolbein, and his surname was Arnljot's son;
+he was a man from Drontheim; he sailed out to Iceland that same
+summer in which Kolskegg and Njal's sons went abroad.  He was
+that winter east in Broaddale; but the spring after, he made his
+ship ready for sea in Gautawick; and when men were almost "boun,"
+a man rowed up to them in a boat, and made the boat fast to the
+ship, and afterwards he went on board the ship to see Kolbein.
+
+Kolbein asked that man for his name.
+
+"My name is Hrapp," says he.
+
+"What wilt thou with me?" says Kolbein.
+
+"I wish to ask thee to put me across the Iceland main."
+
+"Whose son art thou?" asks Kolbein.
+
+"I am a son of Aurgunleid, the son of Geirolf the Fighter."
+
+"What need lies on thee," asked Kolbein, "to drive thee abroad?"
+
+"I have slain a man," says Hrapp.
+
+"What manslaughter was that," says Kolbein, "and what men have
+the blood-feud?"
+
+"The men of Weaponfirth," says Hrapp, "but the man I slew was
+Aurlyg, the son of Aurlyg, the son of Roger the White."
+
+"I guess this," says Kolbein, "that he will have the worst of it
+who bears thee abroad."
+
+"I am the friend of my friend," said Hrapp, "but when ill is done
+to me I repay it.  Nor am I short of money to lay down for my
+passage."
+
+Then Kolbein took Hrapp on board, and a little while after a fair
+breeze sprung up, and they sailed away on the sea.
+
+Hrapp ran short of food at sea and then he sate him down at the
+mess of those who were nearest to him.  They sprang up with ill
+words, and so it was that they came to blows, and Hrapp, in a
+trice, has two men under him.
+
+Then Kolbein was told, and he bade Hrapp to come and share his
+mess, and he accepted that.
+
+Now they come off the sea, and lie outside off Agdirness.
+
+Then Kolbein asked where that money was which he had offered to
+pay for his fare?
+
+"It is out in Iceland," answers Hrapp.
+
+"Thou wilt beguile more men than me, I fear," says Kolbein; "but
+now I will forgive thee all the fare."
+
+Hrapp bade him have thanks for that.  "But what counsel dost thou
+give as to what I ought to do?"
+
+"That first of all," he says, "that thou goest from the ship as
+soon as ever thou canst, for all Easterlings will bear thee bad
+witness; but there is yet another bit of good counsel which I
+will give thee, and that is, never to cheat thy master."
+
+Then Hrapp went on shore with his weapons, and he had a great axe
+with an iron-bound haft in his hand.
+
+He fares on and on till he comes to Gudbrand of the Dale.  He was
+the greatest friend of Earl Hacon.  They two had a shrine between
+them, and it was never opened but when the earl came thither. 
+That was the second greatest shrine in Norway, but the other was
+at Hlada.
+
+Thrand was the name of Gudbrand's son, but his daughter's name
+was Gudruna.
+
+Hrapp went in before Gudbrand, and hailed him well.
+
+He asked whence he came and what was his name.  Hrapp told him
+about himself, and how he had sailed abroad from Iceland.
+
+After that he asks Gudbrand to take him into his household as a
+guest.
+
+"It does not seem," said Gudbrand, "to look on thee, as thou wert
+a man to bring good luck."
+
+"Methinks, then," says Hrapp, "that all I have heard about thee
+has been great lies; for it is said that thou takest every one
+into thy house that asks thee; and that no man is thy match for
+goodness and kindness, far or near; but now I shall have to speak
+against that saying, if thou dost not take me in."
+
+"Well, thou shalt stay here," said Gudbrand.
+
+"To what seat wilt thou shew me?" says Hrapp.
+
+"To one on the lower bench, over against my high seat."
+
+Then Hrapp went and took his seat.  He was able to tell of many
+things, and so it was at first that Gudbrand and many thought it
+sport to listen to him; but still it came about that most men
+thought him too much given to mocking, and the end of it was that
+he took to talking alone with Gudruna, so that many said that he
+meant to beguile her.
+
+But when Gudbrand was aware of that, he scolded her much for
+daring to talk alone with him, and bade her beware of speaking
+aught to him if the whole household did not hear it.  She gave
+her word to be good at first, but still it was soon the old story
+over again as to their talk.  Then Gudbrand got Asvard, his
+overseer, to go about with her, out of doors and in, and to be
+with her wherever she went.  One day it happened that she begged
+for leave to go into the nutwood for a pastime, and Asvard went
+along with her.  Hrapp goes to seek for them and found them, and
+took her by the hand, and led her away alone.
+
+Then Asvard went to look for her, and found them both together
+stretched on the grass in a thicket.
+
+He rushes at them, axe in air, and smote at Hrapp's leg, but
+Hrapp gave himself a sudden turn, and he missed him.  Hrapp
+springs on his feet as quick as he can, and caught up his axe. 
+Then Asvard wished to turn and get away, but Hrapp hewed asunder
+his back-bone.
+
+Then Gudruna said, "Now hast thou done that deed which will
+hinder thy stay any longer with my father; but still there is
+something behind which he will like still less, for I go with
+child."
+
+"He shall not learn this from others," says Hrapp, "but I will go
+home and tell him both these tidings."
+
+"Then," she says, "thou wilt not come away with thy life."
+
+"I will run the risk of that," he says.
+
+After that he sees her back to the other women, but he went home. 
+Gudbrand sat in his high seat, and there were few men in the
+room.
+
+Hrapp went in before him, and bore his axe high.
+
+"Why is thine axe bloody?" asks Gudbrand.
+
+"I made it so by doing a piece of work on thy overseer Asvard's
+back," says Hrapp.
+
+"That can be no good work," says Gudbrand; "thou must have slain
+him."
+
+"So it is, be sure," says Hrapp.
+
+"What did ye fall out about?" asks Gudbrand.
+
+"Oh!" says Hrapp, "what you would think small cause enough.  He
+wanted to hew off my leg."
+
+"What hadst thou done first?" asked Gudbrand.
+
+"What he had no right to meddle with," says Hrapp.
+
+"Still thou wilt tell me what it was."
+
+"Well!" said Hrapp, "if thou must know, I lay by thy daughter's
+side, and he thought that bad."
+
+"Up men!" cried Gudbrand, "and take him.  He shall be slain out
+of hand."
+
+"Very little good wilt thou let me reap of my son-in-lawship,"
+says Hrapp, "but thou hast not so many men at thy back as to do
+that speedily."
+
+Up they rose, but he sprang out of doors.  They run after him,
+but he got away to the wood, and they could not lay hold of him.
+
+Then Gudbrand gathers people, and lets the wood be searched; but
+they find him not, for the wood was great and thick.
+
+Hrapp fares through the wood till he came to a clearing; there he
+found a house, and saw a man outside cleaving wood.
+
+He asked that man for his name, and he said his name was Tofi.
+
+Tofi asked him for his name in turn, and Hrapp told him his true
+name.
+
+Hrapp asked why the householder had set up his abode so far from
+other men?
+
+"For that here," he says, "I think I am less likely to have
+brawls with other men."
+
+"It is strange how we beat about the bush in our talk," says
+Hrapp, "but I will first tell thee who I am.  I have been with
+Gudbrand of the Dale, but I ran away thence because I slew his
+overseer; but now I know that we are both of us bad men; for thou
+wouldst not have come hither away from other men unless thou wert
+some man's outlaw.  And now I give thee two choices, either that
+I will tell where thou art, or that we two have between us, share
+and share alike, all that is here."
+
+"This is even as thou savest," said the householder; "I seized
+and carried off this woman who is here with me, and many men have
+sought for me."
+
+Then he led Hrapp in with him; there was a small house there, but
+well built.
+
+The master of the house told his mistress that he had taken Hrapp
+into his company.
+
+"Most men will get ill luck from this man," she says; "but thou
+wilt have thy way."
+
+So Hrapp was there after that.  He was a great wanderer, and was
+never at home.  He still brings about meetings with Gudruna; her
+father and brother, Thrand and Gudbrand, lay in wait for him, but
+they could never get nigh him, and so all that year passed away.
+
+Gudbrand sent and told Earl Hacon what trouble he had had with
+Hrapp, and the earl let him be made an outlaw, and laid a price
+upon his head.  He said, too, that he would go himself to look
+after him; but that passed off, and the earl thought it easy
+enough for them to catch him when he went about so unwarily.
+
+
+
+87. THRAIN TOOK TO HRAPP
+
+That same summer Njal's sons fared to Norway from the Orkneys, as
+was before written, and they were there at the fair during the
+summer.  Then Thrain Sigfus' son busked his ship for Iceland, and
+was all but "boun."  At that time Earl Hacon went to a feast at
+Gudbrand's house.  That night Killing-Hrapp came to the shrine of
+Earl Hacon and Gudbrand, and he went inside the house, and there
+he saw Thorgerda Shrinebride sitting, and she was as tall as a
+fullgrown man.  She had a great gold ring on her arm, and a
+wimple on her head; he strips her of her wimple, and takes the
+gold ring from off her.  Then he sees Thor's car, and takes from
+him a second gold ring; a third he took from Irpa; and then
+dragged them all out, and spoiled them of all their gear.
+
+After that he laid fire to the shrine, and burnt it down, and
+then he goes away just as it began to dawn.  He walks across a
+ploughed field, and there six men sprang up with weapons, and
+fall upon him at once; but he made a stout defence, and the end
+of the business was that he slays three men, but wounds Thrand to
+the death, and drives two to the woods, so that they could bear
+no news to the earl.  He then went up to Thrand and said, "It is
+now in my power to slay thee if I will, but I will not do that;
+and now I will set more store by the ties that are between us
+than ye have shown to me."
+
+Now Hrapp means to turn back to the wood, but now he sees that
+men have come between him and the wood, so he dares not venture
+to turn thither, but lays him down in a thicket, and so lies
+there a while.
+
+Earl Hacon and Gudbrand went that morning early to the shrine and
+found it burnt down; but the three gods were outside, stripped of
+all their bravery.
+
+Then Gudbrand began to speak, and said, "Much might is given to
+our gods, when here they have walked of themselves out of the
+fire!"
+
+"The gods can have naught to do with it," says the earl; "a man
+must have burnt the shrine, and borne the gods out; but the gods
+do not avenge everything on the spot.  That man who has done this
+will no doubt be driven away out of Valhalla, and never come in
+thither."
+
+Just then up ran four of the earl's men, and told them ill
+tidings for they said they had found three men slain in the
+field, and Thrand wounded to the death.
+
+"Who can have done this?" says the earl.
+
+"Killing-Hrapp," they say.
+
+"Then he must have burnt down the shrine," says the earl.
+
+They said they thought he was like enough to have done it.
+
+"And where may he be now?" says the earl.
+
+They said that Thrand had told them that he had lain down in a
+thicket.
+
+The earl goes thither to look for him, but Hrapp was off and
+away.  Then the earl set his men to search for him, but still
+they could not find him.  So the earl was in the hue and cry
+himself, but first he bade them rest a while.
+
+Then the earl went aside by himself, away from other men, and
+bade that no man should follow him, and so he stays a while.  He
+fell down on both his knees, and held his hands before his eyes;
+after that he went back to them, and then he said to them, "Come
+with me."
+
+So they went along with him.  He turns short away from the path
+on which they had walked before, and they came to a dell.  There
+up sprang Hrapp before them, and there it was that he had hidden
+himself at first.
+
+The earl urges on his men to run after him, but Hrapp was so
+swift-footed that they never came near him.  Hrapp made for
+Hlada.  There both Thrain and Njal's sons lay "boun" for sea at
+the same time.  Hrapp runs to where Njal's sons are.
+
+"Help me, like good men and true," he said, "for the earl will
+slay me."
+
+Helgi looked at him, and said, "Thou lookest like an unlucky man,
+and the man who will not take thee in will have the best of it."
+
+"Would that the worst might befall you from me," says Hrapp.
+
+"I am the man," says Helgi, "to avenge me on thee for this as
+time rolls on."
+
+Then Hrapp turned to Thrain Sigfus' son, and bade him shelter
+him.
+
+"What hast thou on thy hand?" says Thrain.
+
+"I have burnt a shrine under the earl's eyes, and slain some men,
+and now he will be here speedily, for he has joined in the hue
+and cry himself."
+
+"It hardly beseems me to do this," says Thrain, "when the earl
+has done me so much good."
+
+Then he shewed Thrain the precious things which he had borne out
+of the shrine, and offered to give him the goods, but Thrain said
+he could not take them unless he gave him other goods of the same
+worth for them.
+
+"Then," said Hrapp, "here will I take my stand, and here shall
+I be slain before thine eyes, and then thou wilt have to abide by
+every man's blame."
+
+Then they see the earl and his band of men coming, and then
+Thrain took Hrapp under his safeguard, and let them shove off the
+boat, and put out to his ship.
+
+Then Thrain said, "Now this will be thy best hiding place, to
+knock out the bottoms of two casks, and then thou shalt get into
+them."
+
+So it was done, and he got into the casks, and then they were
+lashed together, and lowered overboard.
+
+Then comes the earl with his band to Njal's sons, and asked if
+Hrapp had come there.
+
+They said that he had come.
+
+The earl asked whither he had gone thence?
+
+They said they had not kept eyes on him, and could not say.
+
+"He," said the earl, "should have great honour from me who would
+tell me where Hrapp was."
+
+Then Grim said softly to Helgi, "Why should we not say, What know
+I whether Thrain will repay us with any good?"
+
+"We should not tell a whit more for that," says Helgi, "when his
+life lies at stake."
+
+"May be," said Grim, "the earl will turn his vengeance on us,
+for he is so wroth that some one will have to fall before him."
+
+"That must not move us," says Helgi, "but still we will pull our
+ship out, and so away to sea as soon as ever we get a wind."
+
+So they rowed out under an isle that lay there, and wait there
+for a fair breeze.
+
+The earl went about among the sailors, and tried them all, but
+they, one and all, denied that they knew aught of Hrapp.
+
+Then the earl said, "Now we will go to Thrain, my brother in
+arms, and he will give Hrapp up, if he knows anything of him."
+
+After that they took a long-ship and went off to the merchant
+ship.
+
+Thrain sees the earl coming, and stands up and greets him kindly. 
+The earl took his greeting well and spoke thus, -- "We are
+seeking for a man whose name is Hrapp, and he is an Icelander. 
+He has done us all kind of ill; and now we will ask you to be
+good enough to give him up, or to tell us where he is."
+
+"Ye know, lord," said Thrain, "that I slew your outlaw, and
+then put my fife in peril, and for that I had of you great
+honour."
+
+"More honour shalt thou now have," says the earl.
+
+Now Thrain thought within himself, and could not make up his mind
+how the earl would take it, so he denies that Hrapp is here, and
+bade the earl to look for him.  He spent little time on that, and
+went on land alone, away from other men, and was then very wroth,
+so that no man dared to speak to him.
+
+"Shew me to Njal's sons," said the earl, "and I will force them
+to tell me the truth."
+
+Then he was told that they had put out of the harbour.
+
+"Then there is no help for it," says the earl, "but still there
+were two water-casks alongside of Thrain's ship, and in them a
+man may well have been hid, and if Thrain has bidden him, there
+he must be; and now we will go a second time to see Thrain."
+
+Thrain sees that the earl means to put off again and said,
+"However wroth the earl was last time, now he will be half as
+wroth again, and now the life of every man on board the ship lies
+at stake."
+
+They all gave their words to hide the matter, for they were all
+sore afraid.  Then they took some sacks out of the lading, and
+put Hrapp down into the hold in their stead, and other sacks that
+were light were laid over him.
+
+Now comes the earl, just as they were done stowing Hrapp away. 
+Thrain greeted the earl well.  The earl was rather slow to return
+it, and they saw that the earl was very wroth.
+
+Then said the earl to Thrain, "Give thou up Hrapp, for I am quite
+sure that thou hast hidden him."
+
+"Where shall I have hidden him, Lord?" says Thrain.
+
+"That thou knowest best," says the earl; "but if I must guess,
+then I think that thou hiddest him in the water-casks a while
+ago."
+
+"Well!" says Thrain, "I would rather not be taken for a liar, far
+sooner would I that ye should search the ship."
+
+Then the earl went on board the ship and hunted and hunted, but
+found him not.
+
+"Dost thou speak me free now?" says Thrain.
+
+"Far from it," says the earl, "and yet I cannot tell why we
+cannot find him, but methinks I see through it all when I come on
+shore, but when I come here, I can see nothing."
+
+With that he made them row him ashore.  He was so wroth that
+there was no speaking to him.  His son Sweyn was there with him,
+and he said, "A strange turn of mind this to let guiltless men
+smart for one's wrath!"
+
+Then the earl went away alone aside from other men, and after
+that he went back to them at once, and said, "Let us row out to
+them again," and they did so.
+
+"Where can he have been hidden?" says Sweyn.
+
+"There's not much good in knowing that," says the earl, "for now
+he will be away thence; two sacks lay there by the rest of the
+lading, and Hrapp must have come into the lading in their place."
+
+Then Thrain began to speak, and said, "They are running off the
+ship again, and they must mean to pay us another visit.  Now we
+will take him out of the lading, and stow other things in his
+stead, but let the sacks still lie loose.  They did so, and then
+Thrain spoke: "Now let us fold Hrapp in the sail."
+
+It was then brailed up to the yard, and they did so.
+
+Then the earl comes to Thrain and his men, and he was very wroth,
+and said, "Wilt thou now give up the man, Thrain?" and he is
+worse now than before.
+
+"I would have given him up long ago," answers Thrain, "if he had
+been in my keeping, or where can he have been?"
+
+"In the lading," says the earl.
+
+"Then why did ye not seek him there?" says Thrain.
+
+"That never came into our mind," says the earl.
+
+After that they sought him over all the ship, and found him not. 
+
+"Will you now hold me free?" says Thrain.
+
+"Surely not," says the earl, "for I know that thou hast hidden
+away the man, though I find him not; but I would rather that thou
+shouldst be a dastard to me than I to thee," says the earl, and
+then they went on shore.
+
+"Now," says the earl, "I seem to see that Thrain has hidden away
+Hrapp in the sail."
+
+Just then, up sprung a fair breeze, and Thrain and his men sailed
+out to sea.  He then spoke these words which have long been held
+in mind since --
+
+     "Let us make the Vulture fly,
+     Nothing now gars Thrain flinch."
+
+But when the earl heard of Thrain's words, then he said, "'Tis
+not my want of foresight which caused this, but rather their
+ill-fellowship, which will drag them both to death."
+
+Thrain was a short time out on the sea, and so came to Iceland,
+and fared home to his house.  Hrapp went along with Thrain, and
+was with him that year; but the spring after, Thrain got him a
+homestead at Hrappstede, and he dwelt there; but yet he spent
+most of his time at Gritwater.  He was thought to spoil
+everything there, and some men even said that he was too good
+friends with Hallgerda, and that he led her astray, but some
+spoke against that.
+
+Thrain gave the Vulture to his kinsman, Mord the Reckless; that
+Mord slew Oddi Haldor's son, east in Gautawick by Berufirth.
+
+All Thrain's kinsmen looked on him as a chief.
+
+
+
+88. EARL HACON FIGHTS WITH NJAL'S SONS.
+
+Now we must take up the story, and say how, when Earl Hacon
+missed Thrain, he spoke to Sweyn his son, and said, "Let us take
+four long-ships, and let us fare against Njal's sons and slay
+them, for they must have known all about it with Thrain."
+
+"'Tis not good counsel," says Sweyn, "to throw the blame on
+guiltless men, but to let him escape who is guilty."
+
+"I shall have my way in this," says the earl.
+
+Now they hold on after Njal's sons, and seek for them, and find
+them under an island.
+
+Grim first saw the earl's ships and said to Helgi, "Here are war
+ships sailing up, and I see that here is the earl, and he can
+mean to offer us no peace."
+
+"It is said," said Helgi, "that he is the boldest man who holds
+his own against all comers, and so we will defend ourselves."
+
+They all bade him take the course he thought best, and then they
+took to their arms.
+
+Now the earl comes up and called out to them, and bade them give
+themselves up.
+
+Helgi said that they would defend themselves so long as they
+could.
+
+Then the earl offered peace and quarter to all who would neither
+defend themselves nor Helgi; but Helgi was so much beloved that
+all said they would rather die with him.
+
+Then the earl and his men fall on them, but they defended
+themselves well, and Njal's sons were ever where there was most
+need.  The earl often offered peace, but they all made the same
+answer, and said they would never yield.
+
+Then Aslak of Longisle pressed them hard and came on board their
+ship thrice.  Then Grim said, "Thou pressest on hard, and 'twere
+well that thou gettest what thou seekest;" and with that he
+snatched up a spear and hurled it at him, and hit him under the
+chin, and Aslak got his death wound there and then.
+
+A little after, Helgi slew Egil the earl's banner-bearer.
+
+Then Sweyn, Earl Hacon's son, fell on them, and made men hem them
+in and bear them down with shields, and so they were taken
+captive.
+
+The earl was for letting them all be slain at once, but Sweyn
+said that should not be, and said too that it was night.
+
+Then the earl said, "Well, then, slay them to-morrow, but bind
+them fast to-night."
+
+"So, I ween, it must be," says Sweyn; "but never yet have I met
+brisker men than these, and I call it the greatest manscathe to
+take their lives."
+
+"They have slain two of our briskest men," said the earl, "and
+for that they shall be slain."
+
+"Because they were brisker men themselves," says Sweyn; "but
+still in this it must be done as thou willest."
+
+So they were bound and fettered.
+
+After that the earl fell asleep; but when all men slept, Grim
+spoke to Helgi, and said, "Away would I get if I could."
+
+"Let us try some trick then," says Helgi.
+
+Grim sees that there lies an axe edge up, so Grim crawled
+thither, and gets the bowstring which bound him cut asunder
+against the axe, but still he got great wounds on his arms.
+
+Then he set Helgi loose, and after that they crawled over the
+ship's side, and got on shore, so that neither Hacon nor his men
+were ware of them.  Then they broke off their fetters, and walked
+away to the other side of the island.  By that time it began to
+dawn.  There they found a ship, and knew that there was come Kari
+Solmund's son.  They went at once to meet him, and told him of
+their wrongs and hardships, and showed him their wounds, and said
+the earl would be then asleep.
+
+"Ill is it," said Kari, "that ye should suffer such wrongs for
+wicked men; but what now would be most to your minds?"
+
+"To fall on the earl," they say, "and slay, him."
+
+"This will not be fated," says Kari; "but still ye do not lack
+heart, but we will first know whether he is there now."
+
+After that they fared thither, and then the earl was up and away.
+
+Then Kari sailed in to Hlada to meet the earl, and brought him
+the Orkney scatts, so the earl said, "Hast thou taken Njal's sons
+into thy keeping?"
+
+"So it is, sure enough," says Kari.
+
+"Wilt thou hand Njal's sons over to me?" asks the earl.
+
+"No, I will not," said Kari.
+
+"Wilt thou swear this," says the earl, "that thou wilt not fall
+on me with Njal's sons?"
+
+Then Eric, the earl's son, spoke and said, "Such things ought
+not to be asked.  Kari has always been our friend, and things
+should not have gone as they have, had I been by.  Njal's sons
+should have been set free from all blame, but they should have
+had chastisement who had wrought for it.  Methinks now it would
+be more seemly to give Njal's sons good gifts for the hardships
+and wrongs which have been put upon them, and the wounds they
+have got."
+
+"So it ought to be, sure enough," says the earl, "but I know not
+whether they will take an atonement."
+
+Then the earl said that Kari should try the feeling of Njal's
+sons as to an atonement.
+
+After that Kari spoke to Helgi, and asked whether he would take
+any amends from the earl or not.
+
+"I will take them," said Helgi, "from his son Eric, but I will
+have nothing to do with the earl."
+
+Then Kari told Eric their answer.
+
+"So it shall be." says Eric.  "He shall take the amends from me
+if he thinks it better; and tell them this too, that I bid them
+to my house, and my father shall do them no harm."
+
+This bidding they took, and went to Eric's house, and were with
+him till Kari was ready to sail west across the sea to meet Earl
+Sigurd.
+
+Then Eric made a feast for Kari, and gave him gifts, and Njal's
+sons gifts too.  After that Kari fared west across the sea, and
+met Earl Sigurd, and he greeted them very well, and they were
+with the earl that winter.
+
+But when the spring came, Kari asked Njal's sons to go on warfare
+with him, but Grim said they would only do so if he would fare
+with them afterwards out to Iceland.  Kari gave his word to do
+that, and then they fared with him a-searoving.  They harried
+south about Anglesea and all the Southern isles.  Thence they
+held on to Cantyre, and landed there, and fought with the
+landsmen, and got thence much goods, and so fared to their ships. 
+Thence they fared south to Wales, and harried there.  Then
+they held on for Alan, and there they met Godred, and fought with
+him, and got the victory, and slew Dungal the king's son.  There
+they took great spoil.  Thence they held on north to Coll, and
+found Earl Gilli there, and he greeted them well and there they
+stayed with him a while.  The earl fared with them to the Orkneys
+to meet Earl Sigurd, but next spring Earl Sigurd gave away his
+sister Nereida to Earl Gilli, and then he fared back to the
+Southern isles.
+
+
+
+89. NJAL'S SONS AND KARI COME OUT TO ICELAND
+
+That summer Kari and Njal's sons busked them for Iceland, and
+when they were "all-boun" they went to see the earl.  The earl
+gave them good gifts, and they parted with great friendship.
+
+Now they put to sea and have a short passage, and they got a fine
+fair breeze, and made the land at Eyrar.  Then they got them
+horses and ride from the ship to Bergthorsknoll, but when they
+came home all men were glad to see them.  They flitted home their
+goods and laid up the ship, and Kari was there that winter with
+Njal.
+
+But the spring after, Kari asked for Njal's daughter, Helga, to
+wife, and Helgi and Grim backed his suit; and so the end of it
+was that she was betrothed to Kari and the day for the wedding-
+feast was fixed, and the feast was held half a month before
+mid-summer, and they were that winter with Njal.
+
+Then Kari bought him land at Dyrholms, east away by Mydale, and
+set up a farm there; they put in there a grieve and housekeeper
+to see after the farm, but they themselves were ever with Njal.
+
+
+
+90. THE QUARREL OF NJAL'S SONS WITH THRAIN SIGFUS' SON
+
+Hrapp owned a farm at Hrappstede, but for all that he was always
+at Gritwater, and he was thought to spoil everything there. 
+Thrain was good to him.
+
+Once on a time it happened that Kettle of the Mark was at
+Bergthorsknoll; then Njal's sons told him of their wrongs and
+hardships, and said they had much to lay at Thrain Sigfus son's
+door, whenever they chose to speak about it.
+
+NjaI said it would be best that Kettle should talk with his
+brother Thrain about it, and he gave his word to do so.
+
+So they gave Kettle breathing-time to talk to Thrain.
+
+A little after they spoke of the matter again to Kettle, but he
+said that be would repeat few of the words that had passed
+between them, "For it was pretty plain that Thrain thought I set
+too great store on being your brother-in-law."
+
+Then they dropped talking about it, and thought they saw that
+things looked ugly, and so they asked their father for his
+counsel as to what was to be done, but they told him they would
+not let things rest as they then stood.
+
+"Such things," said Njal, "are not so strange.  It will be
+thought that they are slain without a cause, if they are slain
+now, and my counsel is, that as many men as may be should be
+brought to talk with them about these things, and thus as many as
+we can find may be ear-witnesses if they answer ill as to these
+things.  Then Kari shall talk about them too, for he is just the
+man with the right turn of mind for this; then the dislike
+between you will grow and grow, for they will heap bad words on
+bad words when men bring the matter forward, for they are foolish
+men.  It may also well be that it may be said that my sons are
+slow to take up a quarrel, but ye shall bear that for the sake of
+gaining time, for there are two sides to everything that is done,
+and ye can always pick a quarrel; but still ye shall let so much
+of your purpose out, as to say that if any wrong be put upon you
+that ye do mean something.  But if ye had taken counsel from me
+at first, then these things should never have been spoken about
+at all, and then ye would have gotten no disgrace from them; but
+now ye have the greatest risk of it, and so it will go on ever
+growing and growing with your disgrace, that ye will never get
+rid of it until ye bring yourselves into a strait, and have to
+fight your way out with weapons; but in that there is a long and
+weary night in which ye will have to grope your way."
+
+After that they ceased speaking about it; but the matter became
+the daily talk of many men.
+
+One day it happened that those brothers spoke to Kari and bade
+him go to Gritwater.  Kari said he thought he might go
+elsewhither on a better journey, but still he would go if that
+were Njal's counsel.  So after that Kari fares to meet Thrain,
+and then they talk over the matter, and they did not each look at
+it in the same way.
+
+Kari comes home, and Njal's sons ask how things had gone between
+Thrain and him.  Kari said he would rather not repeat the words
+that had passed, "But," he went on, "it is to be looked for that
+the like words will be spoken when ye yourselves can hear them."
+
+Thrain had fifteen house-carles trained to arms in his house, and
+eight of them rode with him whithersoever he went.  Thrain was
+very fond of show and dress, and always rode in a blue cloak, and
+had on a gilded helm, and the spear -- the earl's gift -- in his
+band, and a fair shield, and a sword at his belt.  Along with him
+always went Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Grani
+Gunnar of Lithend's son.  But nearest of all to him went Killing-
+Hrapp.  Lodinn was the name of his serving-man, he too went with
+Thrain when he journeyed; Tjorvi was the name of Lodinn's
+brother, and he too was one of Thrain's band.  The worst of all,
+in their words against Njal's sons, were Hrapp and Grani; and it
+was mostly their doing that no atonement was offered to them.
+
+Njal's sons often spoke to Kari that he should ride with them;
+and it came to that at last, for he said it would be well that
+they heard Thrain's answer.
+
+Then they busked them, four of Njal's sons, and Kari the fifth,
+and so they fare to Gritwater.
+
+There was a wide porch in the homestead there, so that many men
+might stand in it side by side.  There was a woman out of doors,
+and she saw their coming, and told Thrain of it; he bade them to
+go out into the porch, and take their arms, and they did so.
+
+Thrain stood in mid-door, but Killing-Hrapp and Grani Gunnar's
+son stood on either hand of him; then next stood Gunnar Lambi's
+son, then Lodinn and Tjorvi, then Lambi Sigurd's son; then each
+of the others took his place right and left; for the house-carles
+were all at home.
+
+Skarphedinn and his men walk up from below, and he went first,
+then Kari, then Hauskuld, then Grim, then Helgi.  But when they
+had come up to the door, then not a word of welcome passed the
+lips of those who stood before them.
+
+"May we all be welcome here?" said Skarphedinn.
+
+Hallgerda stood in the porch, and had been talking low to Hrapp,
+then she spoke out loud: "None of those who are here will say
+that ye are welcome."
+
+Then Skarphedinn sang a song:
+
+     "Prop of sea-waves' fire (1), thy fretting
+     Cannot cast a weight on us,
+     Warriors wight; yes, wolf and eagle
+     Willingly I feed to-day;
+     Carline thrust into the ingle,
+     Or a tramping whore, art thou;
+     Lord of skates that skim the sea-belt (2),
+     Odin's mocking cup (3) I mix"
+
+"Thy words," said Skarphedinn, "will not be worth much, for thou
+art either a hag, only fit to sit in the ingle, or a harlot."
+
+"These words of thine thou shalt pay for," she says, "ere thou
+farest home."
+
+"Thee am I come to see, Thrain," said Helgi, "and to know if thou
+wilt make me any amends for those wrongs and hardships which
+befell me for thy sake in Norway."
+
+"I never knew," said Thrain, "that ye two brothers were wont to
+measure your manhood by money; or, how long shall such a claim
+for amends stand over?"
+
+"Many will say," says Helgi, "that thou oughtest to offer us
+atonement, since thy life was at stake."
+
+Then Hrapp said, "'Twas just luck that swayed the balance, when
+he got stripes who ought to bear them; and she dragged you under
+disgrace and hardships, but us away from them."
+
+"Little good luck was there in that," says Helgi, "to break faith
+with the earl, and to take to thee instead."
+
+"Thinkest thou not that thou hast some amends to seek from me,"
+says Hrapp.  "I will atone thee in a way that, methinks, were
+fitting."
+
+"The only dealings we shall have," says Helgi, "will be those
+which will not stand thee in good stead."
+
+"Don't bandy words with Hrapp," said Skarphedinn, "but give him a
+red skin for a grey." (4)
+
+"Hold thy tongue, Skarphedinn," said Hrapp, "or I will not spare
+to bring my axe on thy head."
+
+"'Twill be proved soon enough, I dare say," says Skarphedinn,
+"which of us is to scatter gravel over the other's head."
+
+"Away with you home, ye `Dungbeardlings!'" says Hallgerda, "and
+so we will call you always from this day forth; but your father
+we will call `the Beardless Carle.'"
+
+They did not fare home before all who were there had made
+themselves guilty of uttering those words, save Thrain; he
+forbade men to utter them.
+
+Then Njal's sons went away, and fared till they came home, then
+they told their father.
+
+"Did ye call any men to witness of those words?" says Njal.
+
+"We called none," says Skarphedinn; "we do not mean to follow
+that suit up except on the battle-field."
+
+"No one will now think," says Bergthora, "that ye have the heart
+to lift your weapons."
+
+"Spare thy tongue, mistress!" says Kari, "in egging on thy sons,
+for they will be quite eager enough."
+
+After that they all talk long in secret, Njal and his sons, and
+Kari Solmund's son, their brother-in-law.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(l)  "Prop of sea-waves' fire," a periphrasis for woman that
+     bears gold on her arm.
+(2)  "Skates that skim." etc.. a periphrasis for ships.
+(3)  "Odin's mocking cup," mocking songs.
+(4)  An allusion to the Beast Epic, where the cunning fox laughs
+     at the flayed condition of his stupid foes, the wolf and
+     bear.  We should say, "Don't stop to speak with him, but
+     rather beat him black and blue."
+
+
+
+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.
+
+
+
+120. OF THE PLEADING OF THE SUIT
+
+The next day Asgrim, and Gizur the White, and Hjallti Skeggi's
+son, and Einar of Thvera, met together.  There, too, was Mord
+Valgard's son; he had then let the suit fall from his hand, and
+given it over to the sons of Sigfus.
+
+Then Asgrim spoke.
+
+"Thee first I speak to about this matter, Gizur the White and
+thee Hjallti, and thee Einar, that I may tell you how the suit
+stands.  It will be known to all of you that Mord took up the
+suit, but the truth of the matter is, that Mord was at Hauskuld's
+slaying, and wounded him with that wound, for giving which no man
+was named.  It seems to me, then, that this suit must come to
+naught by reason of a lawful flaw."
+
+"Then we will plead it at once," says Hjallti.
+
+"It is not good counsel," said Thorhall Asgrim's son, "that this
+should not be hidden until the courts are set."
+
+"How so?" asks Hjallti.
+
+"If," said Thorhall, "they knew now at once that the suit has
+been wrongly set on foot, then they may still save the suit by
+sending a man home from the Thing, and summoning the neighbours
+from home over again, and calling on them to ride to the Thing,
+and then the suit will be lawfully set on foot."
+
+"Thou art a wise man, Thorhall," say they, "and we will take
+thy counsel."
+
+After that each man went to his booth.
+
+The sons of Sigfus gave notice of their suits at the Hill of
+Laws, and asked in what Quarter Courts they lay, and in what
+house in the district the defendants dwelt.  But on the Friday
+night the courts were to go out to try suits, and so the Thing
+was quiet up to that day.
+
+Many sought to bring about an atonement between them, but Flosi
+was steadfast; but others were still more wordy, and things
+looked ill.
+
+Now the time comes when the courts were to go out, on the Friday
+evening.  Then the whole body of men at the Thing went to the
+courts.  Flosi stood south at the court of the men of Rangriver,
+and his band with him.  There with him was Hall of the Side, and
+Runolf of the Dale, Wolf Aurpriest's son, and those other men who
+had promised Flosi help.
+
+But north of the court of the men of Rangriver stood Asgrim
+Ellidagrim's son, and Gizur the White, Hjallti Skeggi's son, and
+Einar of Thvera.  But Njal's sons were at home at their booth,
+and Kari and Thorleif Crow, and Thorgeir Craggeir, and Thorgrim
+the Big.  They sate all with their weapons, and their band looked
+safe from onslaught.
+
+Njal had already prayed the judges to go into the court, and now
+the sons of Sigfus plead their suit.  They took witness and bade
+Njal's sons to listen to their oath; after that they took their
+oath, and then they declared their suit; then they brought
+forward witness of the notice, then they bade the neighbours on
+the inquest to take their seats, then they called on Njal's sons
+to challenge the inquest.
+
+Then up stood Thorhall Asgrim's son, and took witness, and
+forbade the inquest by a protest to utter their finding; and his
+ground was, that he who had given notice of the suit was truly
+under the ban of the law, and was himself an outlaw.
+
+"Of whom speakest thou this?" says Flosi.
+
+"Mord Valgard's son," said Thorhall, "fared to Hauskuld's slaying
+with Njal's sons, and wounded him with that wound for which no
+man was named when witness was taken to the death-wounds; and ye
+can say nothing against this, and so the suit comes to naught."
+
+
+
+121. OF THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT BETWEEN FLOSI AND NJAL
+
+Then Njal stood up and said, "This I pray, Hall of the Side, and
+Flosi, and all the sons of Sigfus, and all our men, too, that ye
+will not go away but listen to my words."
+
+They did so, and then he spoke thus: "It seems to me as though
+this suit were come to naught, and it is likely it should, for it
+hath sprung from an ill root.  I will let you all know that I
+loved Hauskuld more than my own sons, and when I heard that he
+was slain, methought the sweetest light of my eyes was quenched,
+and I would rather have lost all my sons, and that he were alive. 
+Now I ask thee, Hall of the Side, and thee Runolf of the Dale,
+and thee Hjallti Skeggi's son, and thee Einar of Thvera, and thee
+Hafr the Wise, that I may be allowed to make an atonement for the
+slaying of Hauskuld on my son's behalf; and I wish that those men
+who are best fitted to do so shall utter the award."
+
+Gizur, and Hafr, and Einar, spoke each on their own part, and
+prayed Flosi to take an atonement, and promised him their
+friendship in return.
+
+Flosi answered them well in all things, but still did not give
+his word.
+
+Then Hall of the Side said to Flosi, "Wilt thou now keep thy
+word, and grant me my boon which thou hast already promised me,
+when I put beyond sea Thorgrim, the son of Kettle the Fat, thy
+kinsman, when he had slain Halli the Red."
+
+"I will grant it thee, father-in-law," said Flosi, "for that
+alone wilt thou ask which will make my honour greater than it
+erewhile was."
+
+"Then," said Hall, "my wish is that thou shouldst be quickly
+atoned, and lettest good men and true make an award, and so buy
+the friendship of good and worthy men."
+
+"I will let you all know," said Flosi, "that I will do according
+to the word of Hall, my father-in-law, and other of the worthiest
+men, that he and others of the best men on each side, lawfully
+named, shall make this award.  Methinks Njal is worthy that I
+should grant him this."
+
+Njal thanked him and all of them, and others who were by thanked
+them too, and said that Flosi had behaved well.
+
+Then Flosi said, "Now will I name my daysmen (1): First, I name
+Hall, my father-in-law; Auzur from Broadwater; Surt Asbjorn's son
+of Kirkby; Modolf Kettle's son," -- he dwelt then at Asar --
+"Hafr the Wise; and Runoff of the Dale; and it is scarce worth
+while to say that these are the fittest men out of all my
+company."
+
+Now he bade Njal to name his daysmen, and then Njal stood up, and
+said, "First of these I name, Asgrim Ellidagrim's son; and
+Hjallti Skeggi's son; Gizur the White; Einar of Thvera; Snorri
+the Priest; and Gudmund the Powerful."
+
+After that Njal and Flosi, and the sons of Sigfus shook hands,
+and Njal pledged his hand on behalf of all his sons, and of Kari,
+his son-in-law, that they would hold to what those twelve men
+doomed; and one might say that the whole body of men at the Thing
+was glad at that.
+
+Then men were sent after Snorri and Gudmund, for they were in
+their booths.
+
+Then it was given out that the judges in this award would sit in
+the Court of Laws, but all the others were to go away.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  The true English word for "arbitrator," or " umpire."  See
+     "Job" ix. 33 -- "Neither is there any daysman betwixt us,
+     that might lay his hand upon us both."  See also Holland's
+     "Translations of Livy", Page 137 -- "A more shameful
+     precedent for the time to come: namely, that umpires and
+     dates-men should convert the thing in suit unto their own
+     and proper vantage."
+
+
+
+122. OF THE JUDGES
+
+Then Snorri the Priest spoke thus, "Now are we here twelve
+judges to whom these suits are handed over, now I will beg you
+all that we may have no stumbling blocks in these suits, so that
+they may not be atoned."
+
+"Will ye," said Gudmund, "award either the lesser or the greater
+outlawry?  Shall they be banished from the district, or from the
+whole land?"
+
+"Neither of them," says Snorri, "for those banishments are often
+ill fulfilled, and men have been slain for that sake, and
+atonements broken, but I will award so great a money fine that no
+man shall have had a higher price here in the land than
+Hauskuld."
+
+They all spoke well of his words.
+
+Then they talked over the matter, and could not agree which
+should first utter how great he thought the fine ought to be, and
+so the end of it was that they cast lots, and the lot fell on
+Snorri to utter it.
+
+Then Snorri said, "I will not sit long over this, I will now tell
+you what my utterance is, I will let Hauskuld be atoned for with
+triple manfines, but that is six hundred in silver.  Now ye shall
+change it, if ye think it too much or too little."
+
+They said that they would change it in nothing.
+
+"This too shall be added," he said, "that all the money shall be
+paid down here at the Thing."
+
+Then Gizur the White spoke and said, "Methinks that can hardly
+be, for they will not have enough money to pay their fines."
+
+"I know what Snorri wishes," said Gudmund the Powerful, "he wants
+that all we daysmen should give such a sum as our bounty will
+bestow, and then many will do as we do."
+
+Hall of the Side thanked him, and said he would willingly give as
+much as any one else gave, and then all the other daysmen agreed
+to that.
+
+After that they went away, and settled between them that Hall
+should utter the award at the Hill of Laws.
+
+So the bell was rung, and all men went to the Hill of Laws, and
+Hall of the Side stood up and spoke, "In this suit, in which we
+have come to an award, we have been all well agreed, and we have
+awarded six hundred in silver, and half this sum we the daysmen
+will pay, but it must all be paid up here at the Thing.  But it
+is my prayer to all the people that each man will give something
+for God's sake."
+
+All answered well to that, and then Hall took witness to the
+award, that no one should be able to break it.
+
+Njal thanked them for their award, but Skarphedinn stood by, and
+held his peace, and smiled scornfully.
+
+Then men went from the Hill of Laws and to their booths, but the
+daysmen gathered together in the freemen's churchyard the money
+which they had promised to give.
+
+Njal's sons handed over that money which they had by them, and
+Kari did the same, and that came to a hundred in silver.
+
+Njal took out that money which he had with him, and that was
+another hundred in silver.
+
+So this money was all brought before the Hill of Laws, and then
+men gave so much, that not a penny was wanting.
+
+Then Njal took a silken scarf and a pair of boots and laid them
+on the top of the heap.
+
+After that, Hall said to Njal, that he should go to fetch his
+sons, "But I will go for Flosi, and now each must give the other
+pledges of peace."
+
+Then Njal went home to his booth, and spoke to his sons and said,
+"Now are our suits come into a fair way of settlement, now are
+we men atoned, for all the money has been brought together in one
+place; and now either side is to go and grant the other peace and
+pledges of good faith.  I will therefore ask you this, my sons,
+not to spoil these things in any way."
+
+Skarphedinn stroked his brow, and smiled scornfully.  So they all
+go to the Court of Laws.
+
+Hall went to meet Flosi and said, "Go thou now to the Court of
+Laws, for now all the money has been bravely paid down, and it
+has been brought together in one place."
+
+Then Flosi bade the sons of Sigfus to go up with him, and they
+all went out of their booths.  They came from the east, but Njal
+went from the west to the Court of Laws, and his sons with him.
+
+Skarphedinn went to the middle bench and stood there.
+
+Flosi went into the Court of Laws to look closely at the money,
+and said, "This money is both great and good, and well paid
+down, as was to be looked for."
+
+After that he took up the scarf, and waved it, and asked, "Who
+may have given this?"
+
+But no man answered him.
+
+A second time he waved the scarf, and asked, "Who may have given
+this?" and laughed, but no man answered him.
+
+Then Flosi said, "How is it that none of you knows who has owned
+this gear, or is it that none dares to tell me?"
+
+"Who?" said Skarphedinn, "dost thou think, has given it?"
+
+"If thou must know," said Flosi, "then I will tell thee; I think
+that thy father the `Beardless Carle' must have given it, for
+many know not who look at him whether he is more a man than a
+woman."
+
+"Such words are ill-spoken," said Skarphedinn, "to make game of
+him, an old man, and no man of any worth has ever done so before. 
+Ye may know, too, that he is a man, for he has had sons by his
+wife, and few of our kinsfolk have fallen unatoned by our house,
+so that we have not had vengeance for them."
+
+Then Skarphedinn took to himself the silken scarf, but threw a
+pair of blue breeks to Flosi, and said he would need them more.
+
+"Why," said Flosi, "should I need these more?"
+
+"Because," said Skarphedinn, "thou art the sweetheart of the
+Swinefell's goblin, if, as men say, he does indeed turn thee into
+a woman every ninth night."
+
+Then Flosi spurned the money, and said he would not touch a penny
+of it, and then he said he would only have one of two things:
+either that Hauskuld should fall unatoned, or they would have
+vengeance for him.
+
+Then Flosi would neither give nor take peace, and he said to the
+sons of Sigfus, "Go we now home; one fate shall befall us all."
+
+Then they went home to their booth, and Hall said, "Here most
+unlucky men have a share in this suit."
+
+Njal and his sons went home to their booth, and Njal said, "Now
+comes to pass what my heart told me long ago, that this suit
+would fall heavy on us."
+
+"Not so," says Skarphedinn; "they can never pursue us by the laws
+of the land."
+
+"Then that will happen," says Njal, "which will be worse for all
+of us."
+
+Those men who had given the money spoke about it, and said that
+they should take it back; but Gudmund the Powerful said, "That
+shame I will never choose for myself, to take back what I have
+given away, either here or elsewhere."
+
+"That is well spoken," they said; and then no one would take it
+back.
+
+Then Snorri the Priest said, "My counsel is, that Gizur the White
+and Hjallti Skeggi's son keep the money till the next Althing; my
+heart tells me that no long time will pass ere there may be need
+to touch this money."
+
+Hjallti took half the money and kept it safe, but Gizur took the
+rest.
+
+Then men went home to their booths.
+
+
+
+123. AN ATTACK PLANNED ON NJAL AND HIS SONS
+
+Flosi summoned all his men up to the "Great Rift," and went
+thither himself.
+
+So when all his men were come, there were one hundred and twenty
+of them.
+
+Then Flosi spake thus to the sons of Sigfus, "In what way shall
+I stand by you in this quarrel, which will be most to your
+minds?"
+
+"Nothing will please us," said Gunnar Lambi's son, "until those
+brothers, Njal's sons, are all slain."
+
+"This," said Flosi, "will I promise to you, ye sons of Sigfus,
+not to part from this quarrel before one of us bites the dust
+before the other.  I will also know whether there be any man here
+who will not stand by us in this quarrel."
+
+But they all said they would stand by him.
+
+Then Flosi said, "Come now all to me, and swear an oath that no
+man will shrink from this quarrel."
+
+Then all went up to Flosi and swore oaths to him; and then Flosi
+said, "We will all of us shake hands on this, that he shall have
+forfeited life and land who quits this quarrel ere it be over."
+
+These were the chiefs who were with Flosi: -- Kol the son of
+Thorstein Broadpaunch, the brother's son of Hall of the Side,
+Hroald Auzur's son from Broadwater, Auzur son of Aunund Wallet-
+back, Thorstein the Fair, the son of Gerleif, Glum Hildir's son,
+Modolf Kettle's son, Thorir the son of Thord Illugi's son of
+Mauratongue, Kolbein and Egil Flosi's kinsmen, Kettle Sigfus'
+son, and Mord his brother, Ingialld of the Springs, Thorkel and
+Lambi, Grani Gunnar's son, Gunnar Lambi's son, and Sigmund
+Sigfus' son, and Hroar from Hromundstede.
+
+Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus, "Choose ye now a leader,
+whomsoever ye think best fitted; for some one man must needs be
+chief over the quarrel"
+
+Then Kettle of the Mark answered, "If the choice is to be left
+with us brothers, then we will soon choose that this duty should
+fall on thee; there are many things which lead to this.  Thou art
+a man of great birth, and a mighty chief, stout of heart, and
+strong of body, and wise withal, and so we think it best that
+thou shouldst see to all that is needful in the quarrel."
+
+"It is most fitting," said Flosi, "that I should agree to
+undertake this as your prayer asks; and now I will lay down the
+course which we shall follow, and my counsel is, that each man
+ride home from the Thing, and look after his household during the
+summer, so long as men's haymaking lasts.  I, too, will ride
+home, and be at home this summer; but when that Lord's day comes
+on which winter is eight weeks off, then I will let them sing me
+a mass at home, and afterwards ride west across Loomnips Sand;
+each of our men shall have two horses.  I will not swell our
+company beyond those which have now taken the oath, for we have
+enough and to spare if all keep true tryst.  I will ride all the
+Lord's day and the night as well, but at even on the second day
+of the week, I shall ride up to Threecorner ridge about mid-even. 
+There shall ye then be all come who have sworn an oath in this
+matter.  But if there be any one who has not come, and who has
+joined us in this quarrel, then that man shall lose nothing save
+his life, if we may have our way."
+
+"How does that hang together," said Kettle, "that thou canst ride
+from home on the Lord's day, and come the second day of the week
+to Threecorner ridge?"
+
+"I will ride," said Flosi "up from Skaptartongue, and north of
+the Eyjafell Jokul, and so down into Godaland, and it may be done
+if I ride fast.  And now I will tell you my whole purpose, that
+when we meet there all together, we shall ride to Bergthorsknoll
+with all our band, and fall on Njal's sons with fire and sword,
+and not turn away before they are all dead.  Ye shall hide this
+plan, for our lives lie on it.  And now we will take to our
+horses and ride home."
+
+Then they all went to their booths.
+
+After that Flosi made them saddle his horses, and they waited for
+no man, and rode home.
+
+Flosi would not stay to meet Hall his father-in-law, for he knew
+of a surety that Hall would set his face against all strong
+deeds.
+
+Njal rode home from the Thing and his sons.  They were at home
+that summcr.  Njal asked Kari his son-in-law whether he thought
+at all of riding east to Dyrholms to his own house.
+
+"I will not ride east," answered Kari, "for one fate shall befall
+me and thy sons.
+
+Njal thanked him, and said that was only what was likely from
+him.  There were nearly thirty fighting men in Njal's house,
+reckoning the house-carles.
+
+One day it happened that Rodny Hauskuld's daughter, the mother of
+Hauskuld Njal's son, came to the Springs.  Her brother Ingialld
+greeted her well, but she would not take his greeting, but yet
+bade him go out with her.  Ingialld did so, and went out with
+her; and so they walked away from the farm-yard both together. 
+Then she clutched hold of him and they both sat down, and Rodny
+said, "Is it true that thou hast sworn an oath to fall on Njal,
+and slay him and his sons?"
+
+"True it is," said he.
+
+"A very great dastard art thou," she says, "thou, whom Njal hath
+thrice saved from outlawry."
+
+"Still it hath come to this," says Ingialld, "that my life lies
+on it if I do not this?"
+
+"Not so," says she, "thou shalt live all the same, and be called
+a better man, if thou betrayest not him to whom thou oughtest to
+behave best."
+
+Then she took a linen hood out of her bag, it was clotted with
+blood all over, and torn and tattered, and said, "This hood,
+Hauskuld Njal's son, and thy sister's son, had on his head when
+they slew him; methinks, then, it is ill doing to stand by those
+from whom this mischief sprang."
+
+"Well!" answers Ingialld, "so it shall be that I will not be
+against Njal whatever follows after, but still I know that they
+will turn and throw trouble on me."
+
+"Now mightest thou," said Rodny, "yield Njal and his sons great
+help, if thou tellest him all these plans."
+
+"That I will not do," says Ingialld, "for then I am every man's
+dastard if I tell what was trusted to me in good faith; but it is
+a manly deed to sunder myself from this quarrel when I know that
+there is a sure looking for of vengeance but tell Njal and his
+sons to be ware of themselves all this summer, for that will be
+good counsel, and to keep many men about them."
+
+Then she fared to Bergthoknoll, and told Njal all this talk; and
+Njal thanked her, and said she had done well, "For there would be
+more wickedness in his falling on me than of all men else."
+
+She fared home, but he told this to his sons.
+
+There was a carline at Bergthorsknoll, whose name was Saevuna. 
+She was wise in many things, and foresighted; but she was then
+very old, and Njal's sons called her an old dotard, when she
+talked so much, but still some things which she said came to
+pass.  It fell one day that she took a cudgel in her hand, and
+went up above the house to a stack of vetches.  She beat the
+stack of vetches with her cudgel, and wished it might never
+thrive, "Wretch that it was!"
+
+Skarphedinn laughed at her, and asked why she was so angry with
+the vetch stack.
+
+"This stack of vetches," said the carline, "will be taken and
+lighted with fire when Njal my master is burnt, house and all,
+and Bergthorn my foster-child.  Take it away to the water, or
+burn it up as quick as you can."
+
+"We will not do that," says Skarphedinn, "for something else will
+be got to light a fire with, if that were foredoomed, though this
+stack were not here."
+
+The carline babbled the whole summer about the vetchstack that it
+should be got indoors, but something always hindered it.
+
+
+
+124. OF PORTENTS
+
+At Reykium on Skeid dwelt one Runolf Thorstein's son.  His son's
+name was Hildiglum.  He went out on the night of the Lord's day,
+when nine weeks were still to winter; he heard a great crash, so
+that he thought both heaven and earth shook.  Then he looked into
+the west "airt," and he thought he saw thereabouts a ring of
+fiery hue, and within the ring a man on a grey horse.  He passed
+quickly by him, and rode hard.  He had a flaming firebrand in his
+hand, and he rode so close to him that he could see him plainly. 
+He was as black as pitch, and he sung this song with a mighty
+voice:
+
+     "Here I ride swift steed,
+     His Bank flecked with rime,
+     Rain from his mane drips,
+     Horse mighty for harm;
+     Flames flare at each end,
+     Gall glows in the midst,
+     So fares it with Flosi's redes
+     As this flaming brand flies;
+     And so fares it with Flosi's redes
+     As this flaming brand flies."
+
+Then he thought he hurled the firebrand east towards the fells
+before him, and such a blaze of fire leapt up to meet it that he
+could not see the fells for the blaze.  It seemed as though that
+man rode east among the flames and vanished there.
+
+After that he went to his bed, and was senseless a long time,
+but at last he came to himself.  He bore in mind all that had
+happened, and told his father, but he bade him tell it to Hjallti
+Skeggi's son.  So he went and told Hjallti, but he said he had
+seen "`the Wolf's ride,' and that comes ever before great
+tidings."
+
+
+
+125. FLOSI'S JOURNEY FROM HOME
+
+Flosi busked him from the east when two months were still to
+winter, and summoned to him all his men who had promised him help
+and company.  Each of them had two horses and good weapons, and
+they all came to Swinefell, and were there that night.
+
+Flosi made them say prayers betimes on the Lord's day, and
+afterwards they sate down to meat.  He spoke to his household,
+and told them what work each was to do while he was away.  After
+that he went to his horses.
+
+Flosi and his men rode first west on the Sand (1).  Flosi bade
+them not to ride too hard at first; but said they would do well
+enough at that pace, and he bade all to wait for the others if
+any of them had need to stop.  They rode west to Woodcombe, and
+came to Kirkby.  Flosi there bade all men to come into the
+church, and pray to God, and men did so.
+
+After that they mounted their horses, and rode on the fell, and
+so to Fishwaters, and rode a little to the west of the lakes, and
+so struck down west on to the Sand (2).  Then they left Eyjafell
+Jokul on their left hand, and so came down into Godaland, and so
+on to Markfleet, and came about nones (3) on the second day of
+the week to Threecorner ridge, and waited till mid-even.  Then
+all had came thither save Ingialld of the Springs.
+
+The sons of Sigfus spoke much ill of him, but Flosi bade them not
+blame Ingialld when he was not by, "But we will pay him for this
+hereafter."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Sand," Skeidara sand.
+(2)  "Sand," Maelifell's sand.
+(3)  "Nones," the well-known canonical hour of the day, the ninth
+     hour from six a.m., that is, about three o'clock when one of
+     the church services took place.
+
+
+
+126. OF PORTENTS AT BERGTHORSKNOLL
+
+Now we must take up the story, and turn to Bergthorsknoll, and
+say that Grim and Helgi go to Holar.  They had children out at
+foster there, and they told their mother that they should not
+come home that evening.  They were in Holar all the day, and
+there came some poor women and said they had come from far. 
+Those brothers asked them for tidings, and they said they had no
+tidings to tell, "But still we might tell you one bit of news."
+
+They asked what that might be, and bade them not hide it.  They
+said so it should be.
+
+"We came down out of Fleetlithe, and we saw all the sons of
+Sigfus riding fully armed -- they made for Threecorner ridge, and
+were fifteen in company.  We saw too Grani Gunnar's son and
+Gunnar Lambi's son, and they were five in all.  They took the
+same road, and one may say now that the whole country-side is
+faring and flitting about."
+
+"Then," said Helgi Njal's son, "Flosi must have come from the
+east, and they must have all gone to meet him, and we two, Grim,
+should be where Skarphedinn is."
+
+Grim said so it ought to be, and they fared home.
+
+That same evening Bergthora spoke to her household, and said,
+"Now shall ye choose your meat to-night, so that each may have
+what he likes best; for this evening is the last that I shall set
+meat before my household."
+
+"That shall not be," they said.
+
+"It will be though," she says, "and I could tell you much more
+if I would, but this shall be a token, that Grim and Helgi will
+be home ere men have eaten their full to-night; and if this turns
+out so, then the rest that I say will happen too."
+
+After that she set meat on the board, and Njal said "Wondrously
+now it seems to me.  Methinks I see all round the room, and it
+seems as though the gable wall were thrown down, but the whole
+board and the meat on it is one gore of blood."
+
+All thought this strange but Skarphedinn, he bade men not be
+downcast, nor to utter other unseemly sounds, so that men might
+make a story out of them.
+
+"For it befits us surely more than other men to bear us well, and
+it is only what is looked for from us."
+
+Grim and Helgi came home ere the board was cleared, and men were
+much struck at that.  Njal asked why they had returned so quickly
+but they told what they had heard.
+
+Njal bade no man go to sleep, but to be ware of themselves.
+
+
+
+127. THE ONSLAUGHT (1) ON BERGTHORSKNOLL
+
+Now Flosi speaks to his men, "Now we will ride to Bergthorsknoll,
+and come thither before supper-time."
+
+They do so.  There was a dell in the knoll, and they rode
+thither, and tethered their horses there, and stayed there till
+the evening was far spent.
+
+Then Flosi said, "Now we will go straight up to the house, and
+keep close, and walk slow, and see what counsel they will take."
+
+Njal stood out of doors, and his sons, and Kari and all the
+serving-men, and they stood in array to meet them in the yard,
+and they were near thirty of them.
+
+Flosi halted and said, "Now we shall see what counsel they take,
+for it seems to me, if they stand out of doors to meet us, as
+though we should never get the mastery over them."
+
+"Then is our journey bad," says Grani Gunnar's son, "if we are
+not to dare to fall on them."
+
+"Nor shall that be," says Flosi; "for we will fall on them though
+they stand out of doors; but we shall pay that penalty, that many
+will not go away to tell which side won the day."
+
+Njal said to his men, "See ye now what a great band of men they
+have."
+
+"They have both a great and well-knit band," says Skarphedinn;
+"but this is why they make a halt now, because they think it will
+be a hard struggle to master us."
+
+"That cannot be why they halt," says Njal; "and my will is that
+our men go indoors, for they had hard work to master Gunnar of
+Lithend, though he was alone to meet them; but here is a strong
+house as there was there, and they will be slow to come to close
+quarters."
+
+"This is not to be settled in that wise," says Skarphedinn, "for
+those chiefs fell on Gunnar's house, who were so nobleminded,
+that they would rather turn back than burn him, house and all;
+but these will fall on us at once with fire, if they cannot get
+at us in any other way, for they will leave no stone unturned to
+get the better of us; and no doubt they think, as is not
+unlikely, that it will be their deaths if we escape out of their
+hands.  Besides, I am unwilling to let myself be stifled indoors
+like a fox in his earth."
+
+"Now," said Njal, "as often it happens, my sons, ye set my
+counsel at naught, and show me no honour, but when ye were
+younger ye did not so, and then your plans were better
+furthered."
+
+"Let us do," said Helgi, "as our father wills; that will be best
+for us."
+
+"I am not so sure of that," says Skarphedinn, "for now he is
+`fey'; but still I may well humour my father in this, by being
+burnt indoors along with him, for I am not afraid of my death."
+
+Then he said to Kari, "Let us stand by one another well, brother-
+in-law, so that neither parts from the other."
+
+"That I have made up my mind to do," says Kari; "but if it should
+be otherwise doomed, -- well!  then it must be as it must be, and
+I shall not be able to fight against it."
+
+"Avenge us, and we will avenge thee," says Skarphedinn, "if we
+live after thee."
+
+Kari said so it should be.
+
+Then they all went in, and stood in array at the door.
+
+"Now are they all `fey,'" said Flosi, "since they have gone
+indoors, and we will go right up to them as quickly as we can,
+and throng as close as we can before the door, and give heed that
+none of them, neither Kari nor Njal's sons, get away; for that
+were our bane."
+
+So Flosi and his men came up to the house, and set men
+to watch round the house, if there were any secret doors in it. 
+But Flosi went up to the front of the house with his men.
+
+Then Hroald Auzur's son ran up to where Skarphedinn stood, and
+thrust at him.  Skarphedinn hewed the spearhead off the shaft as
+he held it, and made another stroke at him, and the axe fell on
+the top of the shield, and dashed back the whole shield on
+Hroald's body, but the upper horn of the axe caught him on the
+brow, and he fell at full length on his back, and was dead at
+once.
+
+"Little chance had that one with thee, Skarphedinn," said Kari,
+"and thou art our boldest."
+
+"I'm not so sure of that," says Skarphedinn, and he drew up his
+lips and smiled.
+
+Kari, and Grim, and Helgi, threw out many spears, and wounded
+many men; but Flosi and his men could do nothing.
+
+At last Flosi said, "We have already gotten great manscathe in
+our men; many are wounded, and he slain whom we would choose last
+of all.  It is now clear that we shall never master them with
+weapons; many now there be who are not so forward in fight as
+they boasted, and yet they were those who goaded us on most.  I
+say this most to Grani Gunnar's son, and Gunnar Lambi's son, who
+were the least willing to spare their foes.  But still we shall
+have to take to some other plan for ourselves, and now there are
+but two choices left, and neither of them good.  One is to turn
+away, and that is our death; the other, to set fire to the house,
+and burn them inside it; and that is a deed which we shall have
+to answer for heavily before God, since we are Christian men
+ourselves; but still we must take to that counsel."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  The Icelandic word is "heimsokn," a term which still lingers
+     in the grave offence known in Scottish law as "hamesucken."
+
+
+
+128. NJAL'S BURNING
+
+Now they took fire, and made a great pile before the doors.  Then
+Skarphedinn said, "What, lads!  are ye lighting a fire, or are ye
+taking to cooking?"
+
+"So it shall be," answered Grani Gunnar's son; "and thou shalt
+not need to be better done."
+
+"Thou repayest me," said Skarphedinn, "as one may look for from
+the man that thou art.  I avenged thy father, and thou settest
+most store by that duty which is farthest from thee."
+
+Then the women threw whey on the fire, and quenched it as fast as
+they lit it.  Some, too, brought water, or slops.
+
+Then Kol Thorstein's son said to Flosi, "A plan comes into my
+mind; I have seen a loft over the hall among the crosstrees, and
+we will put the fire in there, and light it with the vetch-stack
+that stands just above the house."
+
+Then they took the vetch-stack and set fire to it, and they who
+were inside were not aware of it till the whole hall was a-blaze
+over their heads.
+
+Then Flosi and his men made a great pile before each of the
+doors, and then the women folk who were inside began to weep and
+to wail.
+
+Njal spoke to them and said, "Keep up your hearts, nor utter
+shrieks, for this is but a passing storm, and it will be long
+before ye have another such; and put your faith in God, and
+believe that he is so merciful that he will not let us burn both
+in this world and the next."
+
+Such words of comfort had he for them all, and others still more
+strong.
+
+Now the whole house began to blaze.  Then Njal went to the door
+and said, "Is Flosi so near that he can hear my voice."
+
+Flosi said that he could hear it.
+
+"Wilt thou," said Njal, "take an atonement from my sons, or allow
+any men to go out."
+
+"I will not," answers Flosi, "take any atonement from thy sons,
+and now our dealings shall come to an end once for all, and I
+will not stir from this spot till they are all dead; but I will
+allow the women and children and house-carles to go out."
+
+Then Njal went into the house, and said to the fold, "Now all
+those must go out to whom leave is given, and so go thou out
+Thorhalla Asgrim's daughter, and all the people also with thee
+who may."
+
+Then Thorhalla said, "This is another parting between me and
+Helgi than I thought of a while ago; but still I will egg on my
+father and brothers to avenge this manscathe which is wrought
+here."
+
+"Go, and good go with thee," said Njal, "for thou art a brave
+woman."
+
+After that she went out and much folk with her.
+
+Then Astrid of Deepback said to Helgi Njal's son, "Come thou out
+with me, and I will throw a woman's cloak over thee, and tie thy
+head with a kerchief."
+
+He spoke against it at first, but at last he did so at the prayer
+of others.
+
+So Astrid wrapped the kerchief round Helgi's head, but Thorhilda,
+Skarphedinn's wife, threw the cloak over him, and he went out
+between them, and then Thorgerda Njal's daughter, and Helga her
+sister, and many other folk went out too.
+
+But when Helgi came out Flosi said, "That is a tall woman and
+broad across the shoulders that went yonder, take her and hold
+her."
+
+But when Helgi heard that, he cast away the cloak.  He had got
+his sword under his arm, and hewed at a man, and the blow fell on
+his shield and cut off the point of it, and the man's leg as
+well.  Then Flosi came up and hewed at Helgi's neck, and took off
+his head at a stroke.
+
+Then Flosi went to the door and called out to Njal, and said he
+would speak with him and Bergthora.
+
+Now Njal does so, and Flosi said, "I will offer thee, master
+Njal, leave to go out, for it is unworthy that thou shouldst burn
+indoors."
+
+"I will not go out," said Njal, "for I am an old man, and little
+fitted to avenge my sons, but I will not live in shame."
+
+Then Flosi said to Bergthora, "Come thou out, housewife, for I
+will for no sake burn thee indoors."
+
+"I was given away to Njal young," said Bergthora, "and I have
+promised him this, that we would both share the same fate."
+
+After that they both went back into the house.
+
+"What counsel shall we now take," said Bergthora.
+
+"We will go to our bed," says Njal, "and lay us down; I have long
+been eager for rest."
+
+Then she said to the boy Thord, Kari's son, "Thee will I take
+out, and thou shalt not burn in here."
+
+"Thou hast promised me this, grandmother," says the boy, "that we
+should never part so long as I wished to be with thee; but
+methinks it is much better to die with thee and Njal than to live
+after you."
+
+Then she bore the boy to her bed, and Njal spoke to his steward
+and said, "Now thou shalt see where we lay us down, and how I
+lay us out, for I mean not to stir an inch hence, whether reek or
+burning smart me, and so thou wilt be able to guess where to look
+for our bones,"
+
+He said he would do so.
+
+There had been an ox slaughtered and the hide lay there.  Njal
+told the steward to spread the hide over them, and he did so.
+
+So there they lay down both of them in their bed, and put the boy
+between them.  Then they signed themselves and the boy with the
+cross, and gave over their souls into God's hand, and that was
+the last word that men heard them utter.
+
+Then the steward took the hide and spread it over them, and went
+out afterwards.  Kettle of the Mark caught hold of him, and
+dragged him out, he asked carefully after his father-in-law Njal,
+but the steward told him the whole truth.  Then Kettle said,
+"Great grief hath been sent on us, when we have had to share such
+ill-luck together."
+
+Skarphedinn saw how his father laid him down, and how he laid
+himself out, and then he said, "Our father goes early to bed, and
+that is what was to be looked for, for he is an old man."
+
+Then Skarphedinn, and Kari, and Grim, caught the brands as fast
+as they dropped down, and hurled them out at them, and so it went
+on awhile.  Then they hurled spears in at them, but they caught
+them all as they flew, and sent them back again.
+
+Then Flosi bade them cease shooting, "for all feats of arms will
+go hard with us when we deal with them; ye may well wait till the
+fire overcomes them."
+
+So they do that, and shoot no more.
+
+Then the great beams out of the roof began to fall, and
+Skarphedinn said, "Now must my father be dead, and I have neither
+heard groan nor cough from him."
+
+Then they went to the end of the hall, and there had fallen down
+a cross-beam inside which was much burnt in the middle.
+
+Kari spoke to Skarphedinn, and said, "Leap thou out here, and I
+will help thee to do so, and I will leap out after thee, and then
+we shall both get away if we set about it so, for hitherward
+blows all the smoke."
+
+"Thou shalt leap first," said Skarphedinn; "but I will leap
+straightway on thy heels."
+
+"That is not wise," says Kari, "for I can get out well enough
+elsewhere, though it does not come about here."
+
+"I will not do that," says Skarphedinn; "leap thou out first, but
+I will leap after thee at once."
+
+"It is bidden to every man," says Kari, "to seek to save his life
+while he has a choice, and I will do so now; but still this
+parting of ours will be in such wise that we shall never see one
+another more; for if I leap out of the fire, I shall have no mind
+to leap back into the fire to thee, and then each of us will have
+to fare his own way."
+
+"It joys me, brother-in-law," says Skarphedinn, "to think that if
+thou gettest away thou wilt avenge me."
+
+Then Kari took up a blazing bench in his hand, and runs up along
+the cross-beam, then he hurls the bench out at the roof, and it
+fell among those who were outside.
+
+Then they ran away, and by that time all Kari's upper clothing
+and his hair were a-b1aze, then he threw himself down from the
+roof, and so crept along with the smoke.
+
+Then one man said who was nearest, "Was that a man that leapt out
+at the roof?"
+
+"Far from it," says another; "more likely it was Skarphedinn who
+hurled a firebrand at us."
+
+After that they had no more mistrust.
+
+Kari ran till he came to a stream, and then he threw himself down
+into it, and so quenched the fire on him.
+
+After that he ran along under shelter of the smoke into a hollow,
+and rested him there, and that has since been called Kari's
+Hollow.
+
+
+
+129. SKARPHEDINN'S DEATH
+
+Now it is to be told of Skarphedinn that he runs out on the
+cross-beam straight after Kari, but when he came to where the
+beam was most burnt, then it broke down under him.  Skarphedinn
+came down on his feet, and tried again the second time, and
+climbs up the wall with a run, then down on him came the wall-
+plate, and he toppled down again inside.
+
+Then Skarphedinn said, "Now one can see what will come;" and then
+he went along the side wall.  Gunnar Lambi's son leapt up on the
+wall and sees Skarphedinn, he spoke thus, "Weepest thou now,
+Skarphedinn?"
+
+"Not so," says Skarphedinn; "but true it is that the smoke makes
+one's eyes smart, but is it as it seems to me, dost thou laugh?"
+
+"So it is surely," says Gunnar, "and I have never laughed since
+thou slewest Thrain on Markfleet."
+
+Then Skarphedinn said, "Here now is a keepsake for thee;" and
+with that he took out of his purse the jaw-tooth which he had
+hewn out of Thrain, and threw it at Gunnar, and struck him in the
+eye, so that it started out and lay on his cheek.
+
+Then Gunnar fell down from the roof.
+
+Skarphedinn then went to his brother Grim, and they held one
+another by the hand and trode the fire; but when they came to the
+middle of the hall Grim fell down dead.
+
+Then Skarphedinn went to the end of the house, and then there was
+a great crash, and down fell the roof.  Skarphedinn was then shut
+in between it and the gable, and so he could not stir a step
+thence.
+
+Flosi and his band stayed by the fire until it was broad
+daylight; then came a man riding up to them.  Flosi asked him for
+his name, but he said his name was Geirmund, and that he was a
+kinsman of the sons of Sigfus.
+
+"Ye have done a mighty deed," he says.
+
+"Men," said Flosi, "will call it both a mighty deed and an ill
+deed, but that can't be helped now."
+
+"How many men have lost their lives here?" asks Geirmund.
+
+"Here have died," says Flosi, "Njal and Bergthora and all their
+sons, Thord Kari's son, Kari Solmund's son, but besides these we
+cannot say for a surety, because we know not their names."
+
+"Thou tellest him now dead," said Geirmund, "with whom we have
+gossiped this morning."
+
+"Who is that?" says Flosi.
+
+"We two," says Geirmund, "I and my neighbour Bard, met Kari
+Solmund's son, and Bard gave him his horse, and his hair and his
+upper clothes were burned off him!"
+
+"Had he any weapons?" asks Flosi.
+
+"He had the sword `Life-luller,'" says Geirmund, "and one edge of
+it was blue with fire, and Bard and I said that it must have
+become soft, but he answered thus, that he would harden it in the
+blood of the sons of Sigfus or the other Burners."
+
+"What said he of Skarphedinn?" said Flosi.
+
+"He said both he and Grim were alive," answers Geirmund, "when
+they parted; but he said that now they must be dead."
+
+"Thou hast told us a tale," said Flosi, "which bodes us no idle
+peace, for that man hath now got away who comes next to Gunnar of
+Lithend in all things; and now, ye sons of Sigfus, and ye other
+burners, know this, that such a great blood feud, and hue and cry
+will be made about this burning, that it will make many a man
+headless, but some will lose all their goods.  Now I doubt much
+whether any man of you, ye sons of Sigfus, will dare to stay in
+his house; and that is not to be wondered at; and so I will bid
+you all to come and stay with me in the east, and let us all
+share one fate."
+
+They thanked him for his offer, and said they would be glad to
+take it.
+
+Then Modolf Kettle's son, sang a song:
+
+     "But one prop of Njal's house liveth,
+     All the rest inside are burnt,
+     All but one -- those bounteous spenders,
+     Sigfus' stalwart sons wrought this;
+     Son of Gollnir (1) now is glutted
+     Vengeance for brave Hauskuld's death,
+     Brisk flew fire through thy dwelling,
+     Bright flames blazed above thy roof."
+
+"We shall have to boast of something else than that Njal has been
+burnt in his house," says Flosi, "for there is no glory in that."
+
+Then he went up on the gable, and Glum Hilldir's son, and some
+other men.  Then Glum said, "Is Skarphedinn dead, indeed?" But
+the others said he must have been dead long ago.
+
+The fire sometimes blazed up fitfully and sometimes burned low,
+and then they heard down in the fire beneath them that this song
+was sung:
+
+     "Deep, I ween, ye Ogre offspring
+     Devilish brood of giant birth,
+     Would ye groan with gloomy visage
+     Had the fight gone to my mind;
+     But my very soul it gladdens
+     That my friends I who now boast high,
+     Wrought not this foul deed, their glory,
+     Save with footsteps filled with gore."
+
+"Can Skarphedinn, think ye, have sung this song dead or alive?"
+said Grani Gunnar's son.
+
+"I will go into no guesses about that," says Flosi.
+
+"We will look for Skarphedinn," says Grani, "and the other men
+who have been here burnt inside the house."
+
+"That shall not be," says Flosi, "it is just like such foolish
+men as thou art, now that men will be gathering force all over
+the country; and when they do come, I trow the very same man who
+now lingers will be so scared that he will not know which way to
+run; and now my counsel is that we all ride away as quickly as
+ever we can."
+
+Then Flosi went hastily to his horse and all his men.
+
+Then Flosi said to Geirmund, "Is Ingialld, thinkest thou, at home
+at the Springs?"
+
+Geirmund said he thought he must be at home.
+
+"There now is a man," says Flosi, "who has broken his oath with
+us and all good faith."
+
+Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus, "What course will ye now
+take with Ingialld; will ye forgive him, or shall we now fall on
+him and slay him?"
+
+They all answered that they would rather fall on him and slay
+him.
+
+Then Flosi jumped on his horse, and all the others, and they rode
+away.  Flosi rode first, and shaped his course for Rangriver, and
+up along the river bank.
+
+Then he saw a man riding down on the other bank of the river and
+he knew that there was Ingialld of the Springs.  Flosi calls out
+to him.  Ingialld halted and turned down to the river bank; and
+Flosi said to him, "Thou hast broken faith with us, and hast
+forfeited life and goods.  Here now are the sons of Sigfus, who
+are eager to slay thee; but methinks thou hast fallen into a
+strait, and I will give thee thy life if thou will hand over to
+me the right to make my own award."
+
+"I will sooner ride to meet Kari," said Ingialld, "than grant
+thee the right to utter thine own award, and my answer to the
+sons of Sigfus is this, that I shall be no whit more afraid of
+them than they are of me."
+
+"Bide thou there," says Flosi, "if thou art not a coward, for I
+will send thee a gift."
+
+"I will bide of a surety," says Ingialld.
+
+Thorstein Kolbein's son, Flosi's brother's son, rode up by his
+side and had a spear in his hand, he was one of the bravest of
+men, and the most worthy of those who were with Flosi.
+
+Flosi snatched the spear from him, and launched it at Ingialld,
+and it fell on his left side, and passed through the shield just
+below the handle, and clove it all asunder, but the spear passed
+on into his thigh just above the knee-pan, and so on into the
+saddle-tree, and there stood fast.
+
+Then Flosi said to Ingialld, "Did it touch thee?
+
+"It touched me sure enough," says Ingialld, "but I call this a
+scratch and not a wound."
+
+Then Ingialld plucked the spear out of the wound, and said to
+Flosi, "Now bide thou, if thou art not a milksop."
+
+Then he launched the spear back over the river.  Flosi sees that
+the spear is coming straight for his middle, and then he backs
+his horse out of the way, but the spear flew in front of Flosi's
+horse, and missed him, but it struck Thorstein's middle, and down
+he fell at once dead off his horse.
+
+Now Ingialld runs for the wood, and they could not get at him.
+
+Then Flosi said to his men, "Now have we gotten manscathe, and
+now we may know, when such things befall us, into what a luckless
+state we have got.  Now it is my counsel that we ride up to
+Threecorner Ridge; thence we shall be able to see where men ride
+all over the country, for by this time they will have gathered
+together a great band, and they will think that we have ridden
+east to Fleetlithe from Threecorner Ridge; and thence they will
+think that we are riding north up on the fell, and so east to our
+own country, and thither the greater part of the folk will ride
+after us; but some will ride the coast road east to
+Selialandsmull, and yet they will think there is less hope of
+finding us thitherward, but I will now take counsel for all of
+us, and my plan is to ride up into Threecorner-fell, and bide
+there till three suns have risen and set in heaven."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Son of Gollnir," Njal, who was the son of Thorgeir Gelling
+     or Gollnir.
+(2)  "My friends," ironically of course.
+
+
+
+130. OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON
+
+Now it is to be told of Kari Solmund's son that he fared away
+from that hollow in which he had rested himself until he met
+Bard, and those words passed between them which Geirmund had
+told.
+
+Thence Kari rode to Mord, and told him the tidings, and he was
+greatly grieved.
+
+Kari said there were other things more befitting a man than to
+weep for them dead, and bade him rather gather folk and come to
+Holtford.
+
+After that he rode into Thurso-dale to Hjallti Skeggi's son, and
+as he went along Thurso water, he sees a man riding fast behind
+him.  Kari waited for the man, and knows that he was Ingialld of
+the Springs.  He sees that he is very bloody about the thigh; and
+Kari asked Ingialld who had wounded him, and he told him.
+
+"Where met ye two?" says Kari.
+
+"By Rangwater side," says Ingialld, "and he threw a spear over
+at me."
+
+"Didst thou aught for it?" asks Kari.
+
+"I threw the spear back," says Ingialld, "and they said that it
+met a man, and he was dead at once."
+
+"Knowest thou not," said Kari, "who the man was?"
+
+"Methought he was like Thorstein Flosi's brother's son," says
+Ingialld.
+
+"Good luck go with thy hand," says Kari.
+
+After that they rode both together to see Hjallti Skeggi's son,
+and told him the tidings.  He took these deeds ill, and said
+there was the greatest need to ride after them and slay them all.
+
+After that he gathered men and roused the whole country; now he
+and Kari and Ingialld ride with this band to meet Mord Valgard's
+son, and they found him at Holtford, and Mord was there waiting
+for them with a very great company.  Then they parted the hue and
+cry; some fared the straight road by the east coast to
+Selialandsmull, but some went up to Fleetlithe, and other-some
+the higher road thence to Threecorner Ridge, and so down into
+Godaland.  Thence they rode north to Sand.  Some too rode as far
+as Fishwaters, and there turned back.  Some the coast road east
+to Holt, and told Thorgeir the tidings, and asked whether they
+had not ridden by there.
+
+"This is how it is," said Thorgeir, "though I am not a mighty
+chief, yet Flosi would take other counsel than to ride under my
+eyes, when he has slain Njal, my father's brother, and my
+cousins; and there is nothing left for any of you but e'en to
+turn back again, for ye should have hunted longer nearer home;
+but tell this to Kari, that he must ride hither to me and be here
+with me if he will; but though he will not come hither east,
+still I will look after his farm at Dyrholms if he will, but tell
+him too that I will stand by him and ride with him to the
+Althing.  And he shall also know this, that we brothers are the
+next of kin to follow up the feud, and we mean so to take up the
+suit, that outlawry shall follow and after that revenge, man for
+man, if we can bring it about; but I do not go with you now,
+because I know naught will come of it, and they will now be as
+wary as they can of themselves."
+
+Now they ride back, and all met at Hof and talked there among
+themselves, and said that they had gotten disgrace since they had
+not found them.  Alord said that was not so.  Then many men were
+eager that they should fare to Fleetlithe, and pull down the
+homesteads of all those who had been at those deeds, but still
+they listened for Mord's utterance.
+
+"That," he said, "would be the greatest folly."  They asked why
+he said that.
+
+"Because," he said, "if their houses stand, they will be sure to
+visit them to see their wives; and then, as time rolls on, we may
+hunt them down there; and now ye shall none of you doubt that I
+will be true to thee Kari, and to all of you, and in all counsel,
+for I have to answer for myself."
+
+Hjallti bade him do as he said.  Then Hjallti bade Kari to come
+and stay with him, he said he would ride thither first.  They
+told him what Thorgeir had offered him, and he said he would make
+use of that offer afterwards, but said his heart told him it
+would be well if there were many such.
+
+After that the whole band broke up.
+
+Flosi and his men saw all these tidings from where they were on
+the fell; and Flosi said, "Now we will take our horses and ride
+away, for now it will be some good."
+
+The sons of Sigfus asked whether it would be worth while to get
+to their homes and tell the news.
+
+"It must be Mord's meaning," says Flosi, "that ye will visit your
+wives; and my guess is, that his plan is to let your houses stand
+unsacked; but my plan is that not a man shall part from the
+other, but all ride east with me."
+
+So every man took that counsel, and then they all rode east and
+north of the Jokul, and so on till they came to Swinefell.
+
+Flosi sent at once men out to get in stores, so that nothing
+might fall short.
+
+Folsi never spoke about the deed, but no fear was found in him,
+and he was at home the whole winter till Yule was over.
+
+
+
+131. NJAL'S AND BERGTHORA'S BONES FOUND
+
+Kari bade Hjallti to go and search for Njal's bones, "For all
+will believe in what thou sayest and thinkest about them."
+
+Hjallti said he would be most willing to bear Njal's bones to
+church; so they rode thence fifteen men.  They rode east over
+Thurso-water, and called on men there to come with them till they
+had one hundred men, reckoning Njal's neighbours.
+
+They came to Bergthorsknoll at mid-day.
+
+Hjallti asked Kari under what part of the house Njal might be
+lying, but Kari showed them to the spot, and there was a great
+heap of ashes to dig away.  There they found the hide underneath,
+and it was as though it were shrivelled with the fire.  They
+raised up the hide, and lo! they were unburnt under it.  All
+praised God for that, and thought it was a great token.
+
+Then the boy was taken up who had lain between them, and of him a
+finger was burnt off which he had stretched out from under the
+hide.
+
+Njal was home out, and so was Bergthora, and then all men went to
+see their bodies.
+
+Then Hjallti said, "What like look to you these bodies?"
+
+They answered, "We will wait for thy utterance."
+
+Then Hjallti said, "I shall speak what I say with all freedom of
+speech.  The body of Bergthora looks as it was likely she would
+look, and still fair; but Njal's body and visage seem to me so
+bright that I have never seen any dead man's body so bright as
+this."
+
+They all said they thought so too.
+
+Then they sought for Skarphedinn, and the men of the household
+showed them to the spot where Flosi and his men heard the song
+sung, and there the roof had fallen down by the gable, and there
+Hjallti said that they should look.  Then they did so, and found
+Skarphedinn's body there, and he had stood up hard by the gable-
+wall, and his legs were burnt off him right up to the knees, but
+all the rest of him was unburnt.  He had bitten through his under
+lip, his eyes were wide open and not swollen nor starting out of
+his head; he had driven his axe into the gable-wall so hard that
+it had gone in up to the middle of the blade, and that was why it
+was not softened.
+
+After that the axe was broken out of the wall, and Hjallti took
+up the axe, and said, "This is a rare weapon, and few would be
+able to wield it."
+
+"I see a man," said Kari, "who shall bear the axe."
+
+"Who is that?" says Hjallti.
+
+"Thorgeir Craggeir," says Kari, "he whom I now think to be the
+greatest man in all their family."
+
+Then Skarphedinn was stripped of his clothes, for they were
+unburnt, he had laid his hands in a cross, and the right hand
+uppermost.  They found marks on him; one between his shoulders
+and the other on his chest, and both were branded in the shape of
+a cross, and men thought that he must have burnt them in himself.
+
+All men said that they thought that it was better to be near
+Skarphedinn dead than they weened, for no man was afraid of him.
+
+They sought for the bones of Grim, and found them in the midst
+of the hall.  They found, too, there, right over against him
+under the side wall, Thord Freedmanson; but in the weaving-room
+they found Saevuna the carline, and three men more.  In all they
+found there the bones of nine souls.  Now they carried the bodies
+to the church, and then Hjallti rode home and Kari with him.  A
+swelling came on Ingialld's leg, and then he fared to Hjallti,
+and was healed there, but still he limped ever afterwards.
+
+Kari rode to Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son.  By that time
+Thorhalla was come home, and she had already told the tidings. 
+Asgrim took Kari by both hands, and bade him be there all that
+year.  Kari said so it should be.
+
+Asgrim asked besides all the folk who had been in the house at
+Bergthorsknoll to stay with him.  Kari said that was well
+offered, and said he would take it on their behalf.
+
+Then all the folk were flitted thither.
+
+Thorhall Asgrim's son was so startled when he was told that his
+foster-father Njal was dead, and that he had been burnt in his
+house, that he swelled all over, and a stream of blood burst out
+of both his ears, and could not be staunched, and he fell into a
+swoon, and then it was staunched.
+
+After that he stood up, and said he had behaved like a coward,
+"But I would that I might be able to avenge this which has
+befallen me on some of those who burnt him."
+
+But when others said that no one would think this a shame to him,
+he said he could not stop the mouths of the people from talking
+about it.
+
+Asgrim asked Kari what trust and help he thought he might look
+for from those east of the rivers.  Kari said that Mord Valgard's
+son, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, would yield him all the help they
+could, and so, too, would Thorgeir Craggeir and all those
+brothers.
+
+Asgrim said that was great strength.
+
+"What strength shall we have from thee?" says Kari.
+
+"All that I can give," says Asgrim, "and I will lay down my life
+on it."
+
+"So do," says Kari.
+
+"I have also," says Asgrim, "brought Gizur the White into the
+suit, and have asked his advice how we shall set about it."
+
+"What advice did he give?" asks Kari.
+
+"He counselled," answers Asgrim, "`that we should hold us quite
+still till spring, but then ride east and set the suit on foot
+against Flosi for the manslaughter of Helgi, and summon the
+neighbours from their homes, and give due notice at the Thing of
+the suits for the burning, and summon the same neighbours there
+too on the inquest before the court.  I asked Gizur who should
+plead the suit for manslaughter, but he said that Mord should
+plead it whether he liked it or not, and now,' he went on, `it
+shall fall most heavily on him that up to this time all the suits
+he has undertaken have had the worst ending.  Kari shall also be
+wroth whenever he meets Mord, and so, if he be made to fear on
+one side, and has to look to me on the other, then he will
+undertake the duty.'"
+
+Then Kari said, "We will follow thy counsel as long as we can,
+and thou shalt lead us."
+
+It is to be told of Kari that he could not sleep of nights. 
+Asgrim woke up one night and heard that Kari was awake, and
+Asgrim said, "Is it that thou canst not sleep at night?"
+
+Then Kari sang this song:
+
+     "Bender of the bow of battle,
+     Sleep will not my eyelids seal,
+     Still my murdered messmates' bidding
+     Haunts my mind the livelong night;
+     Since the men their brands abusing
+     Burned last autumn guileless Njal,
+     Burned him house and home together,
+     Mindful am I of my hurt."
+
+Kari spoke of no men so often as of Njal and Skarphedinn, and
+Bergthora and Helgi.  He never abused his foes, and never
+threatened them.
+
+
+
+132. FLOSI'S DREAM
+
+One night it so happened that Flosi struggled much in his sleep. 
+Glum Hildir's son woke him up, and then Flosi said, "Call me
+Kettle of the Mark."
+
+Kettle came thither, and Flosi said, "I will tell thee my dream."
+
+"I am ready to hear it," says Kettle.
+
+"I dreamt," says Flosi, "that methought I stood below Loom-nip,
+and went out and looked up to the Nip, and all at once it opened,
+and a man came out of the Nip, and he was clad in goatskins, and
+had an iron staff in his hand.  He called, as he walked, on many
+of my men, some sooner and some later, and named them by name. 
+First he called Grim the Red my kinsman, and Ami Kol's son.  Then
+methought something strange followed, methought he called Eyjolf
+Bolverk's son, and Ljot son of Hall of the Side, and some six men
+more.  Then he held his peace awhile.  After that he called five
+men of our band, and among them were the sons of Sigfus, thy
+brothers; then he called other six men, and among them were
+Lambi, and Modolf, and Glum.  Then he called three men.  Last of
+all he called Gunnar Lambi's son, and Kol Tborstein's son.  After
+that he came up to me; I asked him `What news?'  He said he had
+tidings enough to tell.  Then I asked him for his name, but he
+called himself Irongrim.  I asked him whither he was going; he
+said he had to fare to the Althing.  `What shalt thou do there?'
+I said.  `First I shall challenge the inquest,' he answers, `and
+then the courts, then clear the field for fighters.'  After that
+he sang this song:
+
+     "Soon a man death's snake-strokes dealing
+     High shall lift his head on earth,
+     Here amid the dust low rolling
+     Battered brainpans men shall see;
+     Now upon the hills in hurly
+     Buds the blue steel's harvest bright;
+     Soon the bloody dew of battle
+     Thigh-deep through the ranks shall rise."
+
+"Then he shouted with such a mighty shout that methought
+everything near shook, and dashed down his staff, and there was a
+mighty crash.  Then he went back into the fell, but fear clung to
+me; and now I wish thee to tell me what thou thinkest this dream
+is."
+
+"It is my foreboding," says Kettle, "that all those who were
+called must be `fey.'  It seems to me good counsel that we tell
+this dream to no man just now."
+
+Flosi said so it should be.  Now the winter passes away till Yule
+was over.  Then Flosi said to his men, "Now I mean that we should
+fare from home, for methinks we shall not be able to have an idle
+peace.  Now we shall fare to pray for help, and now that will
+come true which I told you, that we should have to bow the knee
+to many ere this quarrel were ended."
+
+
+
+133. OF FLOSI'S JOURNEY AND HIS ASKING FOR HELP
+
+After that they busked them from home all together.  Flosi was in
+long-hose because he meant to go on foot, and then he knew that
+it would seem less hard to the others to walk.
+
+Then they fared from home to Knappvale, but the evening after to
+Broadwater, and then to Calffell, thence by Bjornness to
+Hornfirth, thence to Staffell in Lon, and then to Thvattwater to
+Hall of the Side.
+
+Flosi had to wife Steinvora, his daughter.
+
+Hall gave them a very hearty welcome, and Flosi said to Hall, "I
+will ask thee, father-in-law, that thou wouldst ride to the Thing
+with me with all thy Thingmen."
+
+"Now," answered Hall, "it has turned out as the saw says, `but a
+short while is hand fain of blow'; and yet it is one and the same
+man in thy band who now hangs his head, and who then goaded thee
+on to the worst of deeds when it was still undone.  But my help I
+am bound to lend thee in all such places as I may."
+
+"What counsel dost thou give me," said Flosi, "in the strait in
+which I now am."
+
+"Thou shalt fare," said Hall, "north, right up to Weaponfirth,
+and ask all the chiefs for aid, and thou wilt yet need it all
+before the Thing is over."
+
+Flosi stayed there three nights, and rested him, and fared thence
+east to Geitahellna, and so to Berufirth; there they were the
+night.  Thence they fared east to Broaddale in Haydale.  There
+Hallbjorn the Strong dwelt.  He had to wife Oddny the sister of
+Saurli Broddhelgi's son, and Flosi had a hearty welcome there.
+
+Hallbjorn asked how far north among the firths Flosi meant to go. 
+He said he meant to go as far as Weaponfirth.  Then Flosi took a
+purse of money from his belt, and said he would give it to
+Hallbjorn.  He took the money, but yet said he had no claim on
+Flosi for gifts, "But still I would be glad to know in what thou
+wilt that I repay thee."
+
+"I have no need of money," says Flosi, "but I wish thou wouldst
+ride to the Thing with me, and stand by me in my quarrel, but
+still I have no ties or kinship to tell towards thee."
+
+"I will grant thee that," said Hallbjorn, "to ride to the Thing
+with thee, and to stand by thee in thy quarrel as I would by my
+brother."
+
+Flosi thanked him, and Hallbjorn asked much about the burning,
+but they told him all about it at length.
+
+Thence Flosi fared to Broaddale's heath, and so to Hrafnkelstede,
+there dwelt Hrafnkell, the son of Thorir, the son of Hrafnkell
+Raum.  Flosi had a hearty welcome there, and sought for help and
+a promise to ride to the Thing from Hrafnkell, but he stood out a
+long while, though the end of it was that he gave his word that
+his son Thorir should ride with all their Thingmen, and yield him
+such help as the other priests of the same district.
+
+Flosi thanked him and fared away to Bersastede.  There Holmstein
+son of Bersi the Wise dwelt, and he gave Flosi a very hearty
+welcome.  Flosi begged him for help.  Holmstein said he had been
+long in his debt for help.
+
+Thence they fared to Waltheofstede -- there Saurli Broddhelgi's
+son, Bjarni's brother, dwelt.  He had to wife Thordisa, a
+daughter of Gudmund the Powerful, of Modruvale.  They had a
+hearty welcome there.  But next morning Flosi raised the question
+with Saurli that he should ride to the Althing with him, and bid
+him money for it.
+
+"I cannot tell about that," says Saurli, "so long as I do not
+know on which side my father-in-law Gudmund the Powerful stands,
+for I mean to stand by him on whichever side he stands."
+
+"Oh!" said Flosi, "I see by thy answer that a woman rules in this
+house."
+
+Then Flosi stood up and bade his men take their upper clothing
+and weapons, and then they fared away, and got no help there.  So
+they fared below Lagarfleet and over the heath to Njardwick;
+there two brothers dwelt, Thorkel the Allwise, and Thorwalld his
+brother; they were sons of Kettle, the son of Thidrandi the Wise,
+the son of Kettle Rumble, son of Thorir Thidrandi.  The mother of
+Thorkel the Allwise and Thorwalld was Yngvillda, daughter of
+Thorkel the Wise.  Flosi got a hearty welcome there, he told
+those brothers plainly of his errand, and asked for their help;
+but they put him off until he gave three marks of silver to each
+of them for their aid; then they agreed to stand by Flosi.
+
+Their mother Yngvillda was by when they gave their words to ride
+to the Althing, and wept.  Thorkel asked why she wept; and she
+answered, "I dreamt that thy brother Thorwalld was clad in a red
+kirtle, and methought it was so tight as though it were sewn on
+him; methought too that he wore red hose on his legs and feet,
+and bad shoethongs were twisted round them; methought it ill to
+see when I knew he was so uncomfortable, but I could do naught
+for him."
+
+They laughed and told her she had lost her wits, and said her
+babble should not stand in the way of their ride to the Thing.
+
+Flosi thanked them kindly, and fared thence to Weaponfirth and
+came to Hof.  There dwelt Bjarni Broddhelgi's son (1).  Bjarni
+took Flosi by both hands, and Flosi bade Bjarni money for his
+help.
+
+"Never," said Bjarni, "have I sold my manhood or help for bribes,
+but now that thou art in need of help, I will do thee a good turn
+for friendship's sake, and ride to the Thing with thee, and stand
+by thee as I would by my brother."
+
+"Then thou hast thrown a great load of debt on my hands," said
+Flosi, "but still I looked for as much from thee."
+
+Thence Flosi and his men fared to Crosswick.  Thorkell Geitis'
+son was a great friend of his.  Flosi told him his errand, and
+Thorkel said it was but his duty to stand by him in every way in
+his power, and not to part from his quarrel.  Thorkel gave Flosi
+good gifts at parting.
+
+Thence they fared north to Weaponfirth and up into the Fleetdale
+country, and turned in as guests at Holmstein's, the son of Bersi
+the Wise.  Flosi told him that all had backed him in his need and
+business well, save Saurli Broddhelgi's son.  Holmstein said the
+reason of that was that he was not a man of strife.  Holmstein
+gave Flosi good gifts.
+
+Flosi fared up Fleetdale, and thence south on the fell across
+Oxenlaya and down Swinehorndale, and so out by Alftafirth to the
+west, and did not stop till he came to Thvattwater to his father-
+in-law Hall's house.  There he stayed half a month, and his men
+with him and rested him.
+
+Flosi asked Hall what counsel he would now give him, and what he
+should do next, and whether he should change his plans.
+
+"My counsel," said Hall, "is this, that thou goest home to thy
+house, and the sons of Sigfus with thee, but that they send men
+to set their homesteads in order.  But first of all fare home,
+and when ye ride to the Thing, ride all together, and do not
+scatter your band.  Then let the sons of Sigfus go to see their
+wives on the way.  I too will ride to the Thing, and Ljot my son
+with all our Thing-men, and stand by thee with such force as I
+can gather to me."
+
+Flosi thanked him, and Hall gave him good gifts at parting.
+
+Then Flosi went away from Thvattwater, and nothing is to be told
+of his journey till he comes home to Swinefell.  There he stayed
+at home the rest of the winter, and all the summer right up to
+the Thing.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Broddhelgi was the son of Thorgil, the son of Thorstein the
+     White, the son of Oliver, the son of Eyvalld, the son of
+     Oxen-Thorir.  The mother of Bjarni was Halla, the daughter
+     of Lyting.  The mother of Broddhelgi was Asvora, the
+     daughter of Thorir, the son of Porridge-Atli, the son of
+     Thorir Thidrandi.  Bjarni Broddhelgi's son had to wife
+     Rannveiga the daughter of Thorgeir, the son of Eric of
+     Gooddale, the son of Geirmund, the son of Hroald, the son of
+     Eric Frizzelbeard.
+
+
+
+134. OF THORHALL AND KARI
+
+Thorhall Asgrim's son, and Kari Solmund's son, rode one day to
+Mossfell to see Gizur the White; he took them with both hands,
+and there they were at his house a very long while.  Once it
+happened as they and Gizur talked of Njal's burning, that Gizur
+said it was very great luck that Kari had got away.  Then a song
+came into Kari's mouth.
+
+     "I who whetted helmet-hewer (1),
+     I who oft have burnished brand,
+     From the fray went all unwilling
+     When Njal's rooftree crackling roared;
+     Out I leapt when bands of spearmen
+     Lighted there a blaze of flame!
+     Listen men unto my moaning,
+     Mark the telling of my grief."
+
+Then Gizur said, "It must be forgiven thee that thou art mindful,
+and so we will talk no more about it just now."
+
+Kari says that he will ride home; and Gizur said, "I will now
+make a clean breast of my counsel to thee.  Thou shalt not ride
+home, but still thou shalt ride away, and east under Eyjafell, to
+see Thorgeir Craggeir, and Thorleif Crow.  They shall ride from
+the east with thee.  They are the next of kin in the suit, and
+with them shall ride Thorgrim the Big, their brother.  Ye shall
+ride to Mord Valgard's son's house, and tell him this message
+from me, that he shall take up the suit for manslaughter for
+Helgi Njal's son against Flosi.  But if he utters any words
+against this, then shalt thou make thy self most wrathful, and
+make believe as though thou wouldst let thy axe fall on his head;
+and in the second place, thou shalt assure him of my wrath if he
+shows any ill will.  Along with that shalt thou say, that I will
+send and fetch away my daughter Thorkatla, and make her come home
+to me; but that he will not abide, for he loves her as the very
+eyes in his head."
+
+Kari thanked him for his counsel.  Kari spoke nothing of help to
+him, for he thought he would show himself his good friend in this
+as in other things.
+
+Thence Kari rode east over the rivers, and so to Fleetlithe, and
+east across Markfleet, and so on to Selialandsmull.  So they ride
+east to Holt.
+
+Thorgeir welcomed them with the greatest kindliness.  He told
+them of Flosi's journey, and how great help he had got in the
+east firths.
+
+Kari said it was no wonder that he, who had to answer for so
+much, should ask for help for himself.
+
+Then Thorgeir said, "The better things go for them, the worse it
+shall be for them; we will only follow them up so much the
+harder."
+
+Kari told Thorgeir of Gizur's advice.  After that they ride from
+the east to Rangrivervale to Mord Valgard's son's house.  He gave
+them a hearty welcome.  Kari told him the message of Gizur his
+father-in-law.  He was slow to take the duty on him, and said it
+was harder to go to law with Flosi than with any other ten men.
+
+"Thou behavest now as he (1) thought," said Kari; "for thou art a
+bad bargain in every way; thou art both a coward and heartless,
+but the end of this shall be as is fitting, that Thorkatla shall
+fare home to her father."
+
+She busked her at once, and said she had long been "boun" to part
+from Mord.  Then he changed his mood and his words quickly, and
+begged off their wrath, and took the suit upon him at once.
+
+"Now," said Kari, "thou has taken the suit upon thee, see that
+thou pleadest it without fear, for thy life lies on it."
+
+Mord said he would lay his whole heart on it to do this well and
+manfully.
+
+After that Mord summoned to him nine neighbours, they were all
+near neighbours to the spot where the deed was done.  Then Mord
+took Thorgeir by the hand and named two witnesses to bear
+witness, "That Thorgeir Thorir's son hands me over a suit for
+manslaughter against Flosi Thord's son, to plead it for the
+slaying of Helgi Njal's son, with all those proofs which have to
+follow the suit.  Thou handest over to me this suit to plead and
+to settle, and to enjoy all rights in it, as though I were the
+rightful next of kin.  Thou handest it over to me by law, and I
+take it from thee by law."
+
+A second time Mord named his witnesses, "To bear witness," said
+he, "that I give notice of an assault laid down by law against
+Flosi Thord's son, for that he dealt Helgi Njal's son a brain, or
+a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death wound; and from
+which Helgi got his death.  I give notice of this before five
+witnesses" -- here he named them all by name -- "I give this
+lawful notice.  I give notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's
+son has handed over to me."
+
+Again he named witnesses "To bear witness that I give notice of a
+brain, or a body, or a marrow wound against Flosi Thord's son,
+for that wound which proved a death wound, but Helgi got his
+death therefrom on such and such a spot, when Flosi Thord's son
+first rushed on Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid down by
+law.  I give notice of this before five neighbours" -- then he
+named them all by name -- "I give this lawful notice.  I give
+notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over to
+me."
+
+Then Mord named his witnesses again "To bear witness," said he,
+"that I summon these nine neighbours who dwell nearest the spot"
+-- here he named them all by name -- "to ride to the Althing, and
+to sit on the inquest to find whether Flosi Thord's son rushed
+with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's son, on that
+spot where Flosi Thord's son dealt Helgi Njal's son a brain, or a
+body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death wound, and from
+which Helgi got his death.  I call on you to utter all those
+words which ye are bound to find by law, and which I shall call
+on you to utter before the court, and which belong to this suit;
+I call upon you by a lawful summons -- I call on you so that ye
+may yourselves hear -- I call on you in the suit which Thorgeir
+Thorir's son has handed over to me."
+
+Again Mord named his witnesses "To bear witness, that I summon
+these nine neighbours who dwell nearest to the spot to ride to
+the Althing, and to sit on an inquest to find whether Flosi
+Thord's son wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or body, or
+marrow wound, which proved a death wound, and from which Helgi
+got his death, on that spot where Flosi Thord's son first rushed
+on Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid down by law.  I call on
+you to utter all those words which ye are bound to find by law,
+and which I shall call on you to utter before the court, and
+which belong to this suit.  I call upon you by a lawful summons
+-- I call on you so that ye may yourselves hear -- I call on you
+in the suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over to me."
+
+Then Mord said, "Now is the suit set on foot as ye asked, and
+now I will pray thee, Thorgeir Craggeir, to come to me when thou
+ridest to the Thing, and then let us both ride together, each
+with our band, and keep as close as we can together, for my band
+shall be ready by the very beginning of the Thing, and I will be
+true to you in all things."
+
+They showed themselves well pleased at that, and this was fast
+bound by oaths, that no man should sunder himself from another
+till Kari willed it, and that each of them should lay down his
+life for the other's life.  Now they parted with friendship, and
+settled to meet again at the Thing.
+
+Now Thorgeir rides back east, but Kari rides west over the rivers
+till he came to Tongue, to Asgrim's house.  He welcomed them
+wonderfully well, and Kari told Asgrim all Gizur the White's
+plan, and of the setting on foot of the suit.
+
+"I looked for as much from him," says Asgrim, "that he would
+behave well, and now he has shown it."
+
+Then Asgrim went on, "What heardest thou from the east of Flosi?"
+
+"He went east all the way to Weaponfirth," answers Kari, "and
+nearly all the chiefs have promised to ride with him to the
+Althing, and to help him.  They look, too, for help from the
+Reykdalesmen, and the men of Lightwater, and the Axefirthers."
+
+Then they talked much about it, and so the time passes away up to
+the Althing.
+
+Thorhall Asgrim's son took such a hurt in his leg that the foot
+above the ankle was as big and swollen as a woman's thigh, and he
+could not walk save with a staff.  He was a man tall in growth,
+and strong and powerful, dark of hue in hair and skin, measured
+and guarded in his speech, and yet hot and hasty tempered.  He
+was the third greatest lawyer in all Iceland.
+
+Now the time comes that men should ride from home to the Thing,
+Asgrim said to Kari, "Thou shalt ride at the very beginning gf
+the Thing, and fit up our booths, and my son Thorhall with thee. 
+Thou wilt treat him best and kindest, as he is footlame, but we
+shall stand in the greatest need of him at this Thing.  With you
+two, twenty men more shall ride."
+
+After that they made ready for their journey, and then they rode
+to the Thing, and set up their booths, and fitted them out well.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Helmet-hewer," sword.
+(2)  Gizur.
+
+
+
+135. OF FLOSI AND THE BURNERS
+
+Flosi rode from the east and those hundred and twenty men who had
+been at the burning with him.  They rode till they came to
+Fleetlithe.  Then the sons of Sigfus looked after their
+homesteads and tarried there that day, but at even they rode west
+over Thurso-water, and slept there that night.  But next morning
+early they saddled their horses and rode off on their way.
+
+Then Flosi said to his men, "Now will we ride to Tongue to Asgrim
+to breakfast, and trample down his pride a little."
+
+They said that were well done.  They rode till they had a short
+way to Tongue.  Asgrim stood out of doors, and some men with him. 
+They see the band as soon as ever they could do so from the
+house.  Then Asgrim's men said, "There must be Thorgeir
+Craggeir."
+
+"Not he," said Asgrim.  "I think so all the more because these
+men fare with laughter and wantonness; but such kinsmen of Njal
+as Thorgeir is would not smile before some vengeance is taken for
+the burning, and I will make another guess, and maybe ye will
+think that unlikely.  My meaning is that it must be Flosi and the
+burners with him, and they must mean to humble us with insults,
+and we will now go indoors all of us."
+
+Now they do so, and Asgrim made them sweep the house and put up
+the hangings, and set the boards and put meat on them.  He made
+them place stools along each bench, all down the room.
+
+Flosi rode into the "town," and bade men alight from their horses
+and go in.  They did so, and Flosi and his men went into the
+hall.  Asgrim sate on the cross-bench on the dais.  Flosi looked
+at the benches and saw that all was made ready that men needed to
+have.  Asgrim gave them no greeting, but said to Flosi, "The
+boards are set, so that meat may be free to those that need it."
+
+Flosi sat down to the board, and all his men; but they laid their
+arms up against the wainscot.  They sat on the stools who found
+no room on the benches; but four men stood with weapons just
+before where Flosi sat while they ate.
+
+Asgrim kept his peace during the meat, but was as red to look on
+as blood.
+
+But when they were full, some women cleared away the boards,
+while others brought in water to wash their hands.  Flosi was in
+no greater hurry than if he had been at home.  There lay a
+pole-axe in the corner of the dais.  Asgrim caught it up with
+both hands, and ran up to the rail at the edge of the dais, and
+made a blow at Flosi's head.  Glum Hilldir's son happened to see
+what he was about to do, and sprang up at once, and got hold of
+the axe above Asgrim's hands, and turned the edge at once on
+Asgrim; for Glum was very strong.  Then many more men ran up and
+seized Asgrim, but Flosi said that no man was to do Asgrim any
+harm, "For we put him to too hard a trial, and he only did what
+he ought, and showed in that that he had a big heart."
+
+Then Flosi said to Asgrim, "Here, now, we shall part safe and
+sound, and meet at the Thing, and there begin our quarrel over
+again."
+
+"So it will be," says Asgrim; "and I would wish that, ere this
+Thing be over, ye should have to take in some of your sails."
+
+Flosi answered him never a word, and then they went out, and
+mounted their horses, and rode away.  They rode till they came to
+Laugarwater, and were there that night; but next morning they
+rode on to Baitvale, and baited their horses there, and there
+many bands rode to meet them.  There was Hall of the Side, and
+all the Eastfirthers.  Flosi gretted them well, and told them of
+his journeys and dealings with Asgrim.  Many praised him for
+that, and said such things were bravely done.
+
+Then Hall said, "I look on this in another way than ye do, for
+methinks it was a foolish prank -- they were sure to bear in mind
+their griefs, even though they were not reminded of them anew;
+but those men who try others so heavily must look for all evil."
+
+It was seen from Hall's way that he thought this deed far too
+strong.  They rode thence all together, till they came to the
+Upper Field, and there they set their men in array, and rode down
+on the Thing.
+
+Flosi had made them fit out Byrgir's booth ere be rode to the
+Thing; but the Eastfirthers rode to their own booths.
+
+
+
+136. OF THORGEIR CRAGGEIR
+
+Thorgeir Craggier rode from the east with much people.  His
+brothers were with him, Thorleif Crow and Thorgrim the Big.  They
+came to Hof, to Mord Valgard's son's house, and bided there till
+he was ready.  Mord had gathered every man who could bear arms,
+and they could see nothing about him but that he was most
+steadfast in everything, and now they rode until they came west
+across the rivers.  Then they waited for Hjallti Skeggi's son. 
+He came after they had waited a short while, and they greeted him
+well, and rode afterwards all together till they came to Reykia
+in Bishop's tongue, and bided there for Asgrim Ellidagrim's son,
+and he came to meet them there.  Then they rode west across
+Bridgewater.  Then Asgrim told them all that had passed between
+him and Flosi; and Thorgeir said, "I would that we might try
+their bravery ere the Thing closes."
+
+They rode until they came to Baitvale.  There Gizur the White
+came to meet them with a very great company, and they fell to
+talking together.  Then they rode to the Upper Field, and drew up
+all their men in array there, and so rode to the Thing.
+
+Flosi and his men all took to their arms, and it was within an
+ace that they would fall to blows.  But Asgrim and his friends
+and their followers would have no hand in it, and rode to their
+booths; and now all was quiet that day, so that they had naught
+to do with one another.  Thither were come chiefs from all the
+Quarters of the land; there had never been such a crowded Thing
+before, that men could call to mind.
+
+
+
+137. OF EYJOLF BOLVERK'S SON
+
+There was a man named Eyjolf.  He was the son of Bolverk, the son
+of Eyjolf the Guileful, of Otterdale (1).  Eyjolf was a man of
+great rank, and best skilled in law of all men, so that some said
+he was the third best lawyer in Iceland.  He was the fairest in
+face of all men, tall and strong, and there was the making of a
+great chief in him.  He was greedy of money, like the rest of his
+kinsfolk.
+
+One day Flosi went to the booth of Bjarni Broddhelgi's son. 
+Bjarni took him by both hands, and sat Flosi down by his side. 
+They talked about many things, and at last Flosi said to Bjarni,
+"What counsel shall we now take?"
+
+"I think," answered Bjarni, "that it is now hard to say what to
+do, but the wisest thing seems to me to go round and ask for
+help, since they are drawing strength together against you.  I
+will also ask thee, Flosi, whether there be any very good lawyer
+in your band; for now there are but two courses left; one to ask
+if they will take an atonement, and that is not a bad choice, but
+the other is to defend the suit at law, if there be any defence
+to it, though that will seem to be a bold course; and this is why
+I think this last ought to be chosen, because ye have hitherto
+fared high and mightily, and it is unseemly now to take a lower
+course."
+
+"As to thy asking about lawyers said Flosi, "I will answer thee
+at once that there is no such man in our band; nor do I know
+where to look for one except it be Thorkel Geitir's son, thy
+kinsman."
+
+"We must not reckon on him," said Bjarni, "for though he knows
+something of law, he is far too wary, and no man need hope to
+have him as his shield; but he will back thee as well as any man
+who backs thee best, for he has a stout heart; besides, I must
+tell thee that it will be that man's bane who undertakes the
+defence in this suit for the burning, but I have no mind that
+this should befall my kinsmen Thorkel, so ye must turn your eyes
+elsewhither."
+
+Flosi said he knew nothing about who were the best lawyers.
+
+"There is a man named Eyjolf," said Bjarni; "he is Bolverk's son,
+and he is the best lawyer in the Westfirther's Quarter; but you
+will need to give him much money if you are to bring him into the
+suit, but still we must not stop at that.  We must also go with
+our arms to all law business, and be most wary of ourselves, but
+not meddle with them before we are forced to fight for our lives. 
+And now I will go with thee, and set out at once on our begging
+for help, for now methinks the peace will be kept but a little
+while longer."
+
+After that they go out of the booth, and to the booths of the
+Axefirthers.  Then Bjarni talks with Lyting and Bleing, and Hroi
+Arnstein's son, and he got speedily whatever he asked of them. 
+Then they fared to see Kol, the son of Killing-Skuti, and Eyvind
+Thorkel's son, the son of Askel the Priest, and asked them for
+their help; but they stood out a long while, but the end of it
+was that they took three marks of silver for it, and so went into
+the suit with them.
+
+Then they went to the booths of the men of Lightwater, and stayed
+there some time.  Flosi begged the men of Lightwater for help,
+but they were stubborn and hard to win over, and then Flosi said,
+with much wrath, "Ye are ill-behaved!  Ye are grasping and
+wrongful at home in your own country, and ye will not help men at
+the Thing, though they need it.  No doubt you will be held up to
+reproach at the Thing, and very great blame will be laid on you
+if ye bear not in mind that scorn and those biting words which
+Skarphedinn hurled at you men of Lightwater."
+
+But on the other hand, Flosi dealt secretly with them, and bade
+them money for their help, and so coaxed them over with fair
+words, until it came about that they promised him their aid, and
+then became so steadfast that they said they would fight for
+Flosi, if need were.
+
+Then Bjarni said to Flosi, "Well done!  Well done!  Thou art a
+mighty chief, and a bold outspoken man, and reckest little what
+thou savest to men."
+
+After that they fared away west across the river, and so to the
+Hladbooth.  They saw many men outside before the booth.  There
+was one man who had a scarlet cloak over his shoulders, and a
+gold band round his head, and an axe studded with silver in his
+hand.
+
+"This is just right," said Bjarni, "here now is the man I spoke
+of, Eyjolf Bolverk's son, if thou wilt see him, Flosi."
+
+Then they went to meet Eyjolf, and hailed him.  Eyjolf knew
+Bjarni at once, and greeted him well.  Bjarni took Eyjolf by the
+hand, and led him up into the "Great Rift."  Flosi's and Bjarni's
+men followed after, and Eyjolf's men went also with him.  They
+bade them stay upon the lower brink of the Rift, and look about
+them, but Flosi, and Bjarni, and Eyjolf went on till they came to
+where the path leads down from the upper brink of the Rift.
+
+Flosi said it was a good spot to sit down there, for they could
+see around them far and wide.  Then they sat them down there. 
+They were four of them together, and no more.
+
+Then Bjarni spoke to Eyjolf, and said "Thee, friend, have we come
+to see, for we much need thy help in every way."
+
+"Now," said Eyjolf, "there is good choice of men here at the
+Thing, and ye will not find it hard to fall on those who will be
+a much greater strength to you than I can be."
+
+"Not so," said Bjarni, "thou hast many things which show that
+there is no greater man than thou at the Thing; first of all,
+that thou art so well-born, as all those men are who are sprung
+from Ragnar Hairybreeks; thy forefathers, too, have always stood
+first in great suits, both here at the Thing and at home in their
+own country, and they have always had the best of it; we think,
+therefore, it is likely that thou wilt be lucky in winning suits,
+like thy kinsfolk."
+
+"Thou speakest well, Bjarni," said Evjolf; "but I think that I
+have small share in all this that thou savest."
+
+Then Flosi said, "There is no need beating about the bush as to
+what we have in mind.  We wish to ask for thy help, Eyjolf, and
+that thou wilt stand by us in our suits, and go to the court with
+us, and undertake the defence, if there be any, and plead it for
+us, and stand by us in all things that may happen at this Thing."
+
+Eyjolf jumped up in wrath, and said that no man had any right to
+think that he could make a catspaw of him, or drag him on if he
+had no mind to go himself.
+
+"I see, too, now," he says, "what has led you to utter all those
+fair words with which ye began to speak to me."
+
+Then Hallbjorn the Strong caught hold of him and sate him down by
+his side, between him and Bjarni, and said, "No tree falls at the
+first stroke, friend, but sit here awhile by us."  Then Flosi
+drew a gold ring off his arm.
+
+"This ring will I give thee, Eyjolf, for thy help and friendship,
+and so show thee that I will not befool thee.  It will be best
+for thee to take the ring, for there is no man here at the Thing
+to whom I have ever given such a gift."
+
+The ring was such a good one, and so well made, that it was worth
+twelve hundred yards of russet stuff.
+
+Hallbjorn drew the ring on Eyjolf's arm; and Eyjolf said, "It is
+now most fitting that I should take the ring, since thou behavest
+so handsomely; and now thou mayest make up thy mind that I will
+undertake the defence, and do all things needful."
+
+"Now," said Bjarni, "ye behave handsomely on both sides, and here
+are men well fitted to be witnesses, since I and Hallbjorn are
+here, that thou hast undertaken the suit."
+
+Then Eyjolf arose, and Flosi too, and they took one another by
+the hand; and so Eyjolf undertook the whole defence of the suit
+off Flosi's hands, and so, too, if any suit arose out of the
+defence, for it often happens that what is a defence in one suit,
+is a plaintiff's plea in another.  So he took upon him all the
+proofs and proceedings which belonged to those suits, whether
+they were to be pleaded before the Quarter Court or the Fifth
+Court.  Flosi handed them over in lawful form, and Eyjolf took
+them in lawful form, and then he said to Flosi and Bjarni, "Now I
+have undertaken this defence just as ye asked, but my wish it is
+that ye should still keep it secret at first; but if the matter
+comes into the Fifth Court, then be most careful not to say that
+ye have given goods for my help."
+
+Then Flosi went home to his booth, and Bjarni with him, but
+Eyjolf went to the booth of Snorri the Priest, and sate down by
+him, and they talked much together.
+
+Snorri the Priest caught hold of Eyjolf's arm, and turned up the
+sleeve, and sees that he had a great ring of gold on his arm. 
+Then Snorri the Priest said, "Pray, was this ring bought or
+given?"
+
+Eyjolf was put out about it, and had never a word to say.  Then
+Snorri said, "I see plainly that thou must have taken it as a
+gift, and may this ring not be thy death!"
+
+Eyjolf jumped up and went away, and would not speak about it; and
+Snorri said, as Eyjolf arose, "It is very likely that thou wilt
+know what kind of gift thou hast taken by the time this Thing is
+ended."
+
+Then Eyjolf went to his booth.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  Eyjolf the Guileful was the son of Thord Gellir, the son of
+     Oleif Feilan.  The mother of Eyjolf the Guileful was Rodny,
+     the daughter of Skeggi of Midfirth.
+
+
+
+138. OF ASGRIM, AND GIZUR, AND KARI
+
+Now Asgrim Ellidagrim's son talks to Gizur the White, and Kari
+Solmund's son, and to Hjallti Skeggi's son, Mord Valgard's son,
+and Thorgeir Craggeir, and says, "There is no need to have any
+secrets here, for only those men are by who know all our counsel. 
+Now I will ask you if ye know anything of their plans, for if you
+do, it seems to me that we must take fresh counsel about our own
+plans."
+
+"Snorri the Priest," answers Gizur the White, "sent a man to me,
+and bade him tell me that Flosi had gotten great help from the
+Northlanders; but that Eyjolf Bolverk's son, his kinsman, had had
+a gold ring given him by some one, and made a secret of it, and
+Snorri said it was his meaning that Eyjolf Bolverk's son must be
+meant to defend the suit at law, and that the ring must have been
+given him for that."
+
+They were all agreed that it must be so.  Then Gizur spoke to
+them, "Now has Mord Valgard's son, my son-in-law, undertaken a
+suit, which all must think most hard, to prosecute Flosi; and now
+my wish is that ye share the other suits amongst you, for now it
+will soon be time to give notice of the suits at the Hill of
+Laws.  We shall need also to ask for more help."
+
+Asgrim said so it should be, "but we will beg thee to go round
+with us when we ask for help."  Gizur said he would be ready to
+do that.
+
+After that Gizur picked out all the wisest men of their company
+to go with him as his backers.  There was Hjallti Skeggi's son,
+and Asgrim, and Kari, and Thorgeir Craggeir.
+
+Then Gizur the White said, "Now will we first go to the booth of
+Skapti Thorod's son," and they do so.  Gizur the White went
+first, then Hjallti, then Kari, then Asgrim, then Thorgeir
+Craggeir, and then his brothers.
+
+They went into the booth.  Skapti sat on the cross bench on the
+dais, and when he saw Gizur the White he rose up to meet him, and
+greeted him and all of them well, and bade Gizur to sit down by
+him, and he does so.  Then Gizur said to Asgrim, "Now shalt thou
+first raise the question of help with Skapti, but I will throw in
+what I think good."
+
+"We are come hither," said Asgrim, "for this sake, Skapti, to
+seek help and aid at thy hand."
+
+"I was thought to be hard to win the last time," said Skapti,
+"when I would not take the burden of your trouble on me."
+
+"It is quite another matter now," said Gizur.  "Now the feud is
+for master Njal and mistress Bergthora, who were burnt in their
+own house without a cause, and for Njal's three sons, and many
+other worthy men, and thou wilt surely never be willing to yield
+no help to men, or to stand by thy kinsmen and connections."
+
+"It was in my mind," answers Skapti, "when Skarphedinn told me
+that I had myself borne tar on my own head, and cut up a sod of
+turf and crept under it, and when he said that I had been so
+afraid that Thorolf Lopt's son of Eyrar bore me abroad in his
+ship among his meal-sacks, and so carried me to Iceland, that I
+would never share in the blood feud for his death."
+
+"Now there is no need to bear such things in mind," said Gizur
+the White, "for he is dead who said that, and thou wilt surely
+grant me this, though thou wouldst not do it for other men's
+sake."
+
+"This quarrel," says Skapti, "is no business of thine, except
+thou choosest to be entangled in it along with them."
+
+Then Gizur was very wrath, and said, "Thou art unlike thy father,
+though he was thought not to be quite cleanhanded; yet was he
+ever helpful to men when they needed him most."
+
+"We are unlike in temper," said Skapti.  "Ye two, Asgrim and
+thou, think that ye have had the lead in mighty deeds; thou,
+Gizur the White, because thou overcamest Gunnar of Lithend; but
+Asgrim, for that he slew Gauk, his foster-brother."
+
+"Few," said Asgrim, "bring forward the better if they know the
+worse, but many would say that I slew not Gauk ere I was driven
+to it.  There is some excuse for thee for not helping us, but
+none for heaping reproaches on us; and I only wish before this
+Thing is out that thou mayest get from this suit the greatest
+disgrace, and that there may be none to make thy shame good."
+
+Then Gizur and his men stood up all of them, and went out, and so
+on to the booth of Snorri the Priest.
+
+Snorri sat on the cross-bench in his booth; they went into the
+booth, and he knew the men at once, and stood up to meet them,
+and bade them all welcome, and made room for them to sit by him.
+
+After that, they asked one another the news of the day.
+
+Then Asgrim spoke to Snorri, and said, "For that am I and my
+kinsman Gizur come hither, to ask thee for thy help."
+
+"Thou speakest of what thou mayest always be forgiven for asking,
+for help in the blood-feud after such connections as thou hadst. 
+We, too, got many wholesome counsels from Njal, though few now
+bear that in mind; but as yet I know not of what ye think ye
+stand most in need."
+
+"We stand most in need," answers Asgrim, "of brisk lads and good
+weapons, if we fight them here at the Thing."
+
+"True it is," said Snorri, "that much lies on that, and it is
+likeliest that ye will press them home with daring, and that they
+will defend themselves so in like wise, and neither of you will
+allow the others' right.  Then ye will not bear with them and
+fall on them, and that will be the only way left; for then they
+will seek to pay you off with shame for manscathe, and with
+dishonour for loss of kin."
+
+It was easy to see that he goaded them on in everything.
+
+Then Gizur the White said "Thou speakest well, Snorri, and thou
+behavest ever most like a chief when most lies at stake."
+
+"I wish to know," said Asgrim, "in what way thou wilt stand by
+us if things turn out as thou sayest."
+
+"I will show thee those marks of friendship," said Snorri, "on
+which all your honour will hang, but I will not go with you to
+the court.  But if ye fight here on the Thing, do not fall on
+them at all unless ye are all most steadfast and dauntless, for
+you have great champions against you.  But if ye are overmatched,
+ye must let yourselves be driven hither towards us, for I shall
+then have drawn up my men in array hereabouts, and shall be ready
+to stand by you.  But if it falls out otherwise, and they give
+way before you, my meaning is that they will try to run for a
+stronghold in the "Great Rift."  But if they come thither, then
+ye will never get the better of them.  Now I will take that on my
+hands, to draw up my men there, and guard the pass to the
+stronghold, but we will not follow them whether they turn north
+or south along the river.  And when you have slain out of their
+band about as many as I think ye will be able to pay blood-fines
+for, and yet keep your priesthoods and abodes, then I will run up
+with all my men and part you.  Then ye shall promise to do as I
+bid you, and stop the battle, if I on my part do what I have now
+promised."
+
+Gizur thanked him kindly, and said that what he had said was just
+what they all needed, and then they all went out.
+
+"Whither shall we go now?" said Gizur.
+
+"To the Nortlanders' booth," said Asgrim.
+
+Then they fared thither.
+
+
+
+139. OF ASGRIM AND GUDMUND
+
+And when they came into the booth then they saw where Gudmund the
+Powerful sate and talked with Einar Conal's son, his foster-
+child; he was a wise man.
+
+Then they come before him, and Gudmund welcomed them very
+heartily, and made them clear the booth for them, that they might
+all be able to sit down.
+
+Then they asked what tidings, and Asgrim said, "There is no need
+to mutter what I have to say.  We wish, Gudmund, to ask for thy
+steadfast help."
+
+"Have ye seen any other chiefs before?" said Gudmund.
+
+They said they had been to see Skapti Thorod's son and Snorri the
+Priest, and told him quietly how they had fared with each of
+them.
+
+Then Gudmund said, "Last time I behaved badly and meanly to you. 
+Then I was stubborn, but now ye shall drive your bargain with me
+all the more quickly because I was more stubborn then, and now I
+will go myself with you to the court with all my Thing-men, and
+stand by you in all such things as I can, and fight for you
+though this be needed, and lay down my life for your lives.  I
+will also pay Skapti out in this way, that Thorstein Gape-mouth
+his son shall be in the battle on our side, for he will not dare
+to do aught else than I will, since he has Jodisa my daughter to
+wife, and then Skapti will try to part us."
+
+They thanked him, and talked with him long and low afterwards, so
+that no other men could hear.
+
+Then Gudmund bade them not to go before the knees of any other
+chiefs, for he said that would be little-hearted.
+
+"We will now run the risk with the force that we have.  Ye must
+go with your weapons to all law-business, but not fight as things
+stand."
+
+Then they went all of them home to their booths, and all this was
+at first with few men's knowledge.
+
+So now the Thing goes on.
+
+
+
+140. OF THE DECLARATIONS OF THE SUITS
+
+It was one day that men went to the Hill of Laws, and the chiefs
+were so placed that Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Gizur the White,
+and Gudmund the Powerful, and Snorri the Priest, were on the
+upper hand by the Hill of Laws; but the Eastfirthers stood down
+below.
+
+Mord Valgard's son stood next to Gizur his father-in-law, he was
+of all men the readiest-tongued.
+
+Gizur told him that he ought to give notice of the suit for
+manslaughter, and bade him speak up, so that all might hear him
+well.
+
+Then Mord took witness and said, "I take witness to this that I
+give notice of an assault laid down by law against Flosi Thord's
+son, for that be rushed at Helgi Njal's son and dealt him a
+brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound,
+and from which Helgi got his death.  I say that in this suit he
+ought to be made a guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to
+be forwarded, not to be helped or harboured in any need.  I say
+that all his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to the men
+of the Quarter, who have a right by law to take his forfeited
+goods.  I give notice of this suit for manslaughter in the
+Quarter Court into which this suit ought by law to come.  I give
+notice of this lawful notice; I give notice in the hearing of all
+men on the Hill of Laws; I give notice of this suit to be pleaded
+this summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son; I
+give notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son has handed over
+to me."
+
+Then a great shout was uttered at the Hill of Laws, that Mord
+spoke well and boldly.
+
+Then Mord began to speak a second time.
+
+"I take you to witness to this," says he, "that I give notice
+of a suit against Flosi Thord's son.  I give notice for that he
+wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or a body, or a marrow
+wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his
+death on that spot where Flosi Thord's son had first rushed on
+Helgi Njal's son with an assault laid down by law.  I say that
+thou, Flosi, ought to be made in this suit a guilty man, an
+outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or
+harboured in any need.  I say that all thy goods are forfeited,
+half to me and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a right
+by law to take the goods which have been forfeited by thee.  I
+give notice of this suit in the Quarter Court into which it ought
+by law to come; I give notice of this lawful notice; I give
+notice of it in the hearing of all men on the Hill of Laws; I
+give notice of this suit to be pleaded this summer, and of full
+outlawry against Flosi Thord's son.  I give notice of the suit
+which Thorgeir Thorir's son hath handed over to me."
+
+After that Mord sat him down.
+
+Flosi listened carefully, but said never a word the while.
+
+Then Thorgeir Craggeir stood up and took witness, and said, "I
+take witness to this, that I give notice of a suit against Glum
+Hilldir's son, in that he took firing and lit it, and bore it to
+the house at Bergthorsknoll, when they were burned inside it, to
+wit, Njal Thorgeir's son, and Bergthora Skarphedinn's daughter,
+and all those other men who were burned inside it there and then. 
+I say that in this suit he ought to be made a guilty man, an
+outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or
+harboured in any need.  I say that all his goods are forfeited. 
+half to me, and half to the men of the Quarter, who have a right
+by law to take his forfeited goods; I give notice of this suit in
+the Quarter Court, into which it ought by law to come.  I give
+notice in the hearing of all men on the Hill of Laws.  I give
+notice of this suit to be pleaded this summer, and of full
+outlawry against Glum Hilldir's son."
+
+Kari Solmund's son declared his suits against Kol Thorstein's
+son, and Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, and it was
+the common talk of men that he spoke wondrous well.
+
+Thorleif Crow declared his suit against all the sons of Sigfus,
+but Thorgrim the Big, his brother, against Modolf Kettle's son,
+and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Hroar Hamond's son, brother of
+Leidolf the Strong.
+
+Asgrim Ellidagrim's son declared his suit against Leidolf and
+Thorstein Geirleif's son, Arni Kol's son, and Grim the Red.
+
+And they all spoke well. 
+
+After that other men gave notice of their suits, and it was far
+on in the day that it went on so.
+
+Then men fared home to their booths.
+
+Eyjolf Bolverk's son went to his booth with Flosi, they passed
+east around the booth and Flosi said to Eyjolf.
+
+"See'st thou any defence in these suits."
+
+"None," says Eyjolf.
+
+"What counsel is now to be taken?" says Flosi.
+
+"I will give thee a piece of advice," said Eyjolf.  "Now thou
+shalt hand over thy priesthood to thy brother Thorgeir, but
+declare that thou hast joined the Thing of Askel the Priest the
+son of Thorkettle, north away in Reykiardale; but if they do not
+know this, then may be that this will harm them, for they will be
+sure to plead their suit in the Eastfirthers' court, but they
+ought to plead it in the Northlanders' court, and they will
+overlook that, and it is a Fifth Court matter against them if
+they plead their suit in another court than that in which they
+ought, and then we will take that suit up, but not until we have
+no other choice left."
+
+"May be," said Flosi, "that we shall get the worth of the ring."
+
+"I don't know that," says Eyjolf; "but I will stand by thee at
+law, so that men shall say that there never was a better defence. 
+Now, we must send for Askel, but Thorgeir shall come to thee at
+once, and a man with him."
+
+A little while after Thorgeir came, and then he took on him
+Flosi's leadership and priesthood.
+
+By that time Askel was come thither too, and then Flosi declared
+that he had joined his Thing, and this was with no man's
+knowledge save theirs.
+
+Now all is quite till the day when the courts were to go out to
+try suits.
+
+
+
+141. NOW MEN GO TO THE COURTS
+
+Now the time passes away till the courts were to go out to try
+suits.  Both sides then made them ready to go thither, and armed
+them.  Each side put war-tokens on their helmets.
+
+Then Thorhall Asgrim's son said, "Walk hastily in nothing father
+mine, and do everything as lawfully and rightly as ye can, but if
+ye fall into any strait let me know as quickly as ye can, and
+then I will give you counsel."
+
+Asgrim and the others looked at him, and his face was as though
+it were all blood, but great teardrops gushed out of his eyes. 
+He bade them bring him his spear, that had been a gift to him
+from Skarphedinn, and it was the greatest treasure.
+
+Asgrim said as they went away, "Our kinsman Thorhall was not easy
+in his mind as we left him behind in the booth, and I know not
+what he will be at."
+
+Then Asgrim said again, "Now we will go to Mord Valgard's son,
+and think of nought else but the suit, for there is more sport in
+Flosi than in very many other men."
+
+Then Asgrim sent a man to Gizur the White, and Hjallti Skeggi's
+son, and Gudmund the Powerful.  Now they all came together, and
+went straight to the court of Eastfirthers.  They went to the
+court from the south, but Flosi and all the Eastfirthers with him
+went to it from the north.  There were also the men of Reykdale
+and the Axefirthers with Flosi.  There, too, was Eyjolf Bolverk's
+son.  Flosi looked at Eyjolf, and said, "All now goes fairly, and
+may be that it will not be far off from thy guess."
+
+"Keep thy peace about it," says Eyjolf, "and then we shall be
+sure to gain our point."
+
+Now Mord took witness, and bade all those men who had suits of
+outlawry before the court to cast lots who should first plead or
+declare his suit, and who next, and who last; he bade them by a
+lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges heard it. 
+Then lots were cast as to the declarations, and he, Mord, drew
+the lot to declare his suit first.
+
+Now Mord Valgard's son took witness the second time, and said, "I
+take witness to this, that I except all mistakes in words in my
+pleading, whether they be too many or wrongly spoken, and I claim
+the right to amend all my words until I have put them into proper
+lawful shape.  I take witness to myself of this."
+
+Again Mord said, "I take witness to this, that I bid Flosi
+Thord's son, or any other man who has undertaken the defence made
+over to him by Flosi, to listen for him to my oath, and to my
+declaration of my suit, and to all the proofs and proceedings
+which I am about to bring forward against him; I bid him by a
+lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges may hear it
+across the court."
+
+Again Mord Valgard's son said, "I take witness to this, that I
+take an oath on the book, a lawful oath, and I say it before God,
+that I will so plead this suit in the most truthful, and most
+just and most lawful way, so far as I know; and that I will bring
+forward all my proofs in due form, and utter them faithfully so
+long as I am in this suit."
+
+After that he spoke in these words, "I have called Thorodd as my
+first witness, and Thorbjorn as my second; I have called them to
+bear witness that I gave notice of an assault laid down by law
+against Flosi Thord's son, on that spot where he, Flosi Thord's
+son, rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi Njal's son,
+when Flosi Thord's son wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain, or
+a body, or a marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from
+which Helgi got his death.  I said that he ought to be made in
+this suit a guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be
+forwarded, not to be helped or harboured in any need; I said that
+all his goods were forfeited half to me and half to the men of
+the Quarter who have the right by law to take the goods which he
+has forfeited; I gave notice of the suit in the quarter Court
+into which the suit ought by law to come; I gave notice of that
+lawful notice; I gave notice in the hearing of all men at the
+Hill of Laws; I gave notice of this suit to be pleaded now this
+summer, and of full outlawry against Flosi Thord's son.  I gave
+notice of a suit which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to
+me; and I had all these words in my notice which I have now used
+in this declaration of my suit.  I now declare this suit of
+outlawry in this shape before the court of the Eastfirthers over
+the head of John, as I uttered it when I gave notice of it."
+
+Then Mord spoke again, "I have called Thorodd as my first
+witness, and Thorbjorn as my second.  I have called them to bear
+witness that I gave notice of a suit against Flosi Thord's son
+for that he wounded Helgi Njal's son with a brain or a body, or a
+marrow wound, which proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi
+got his death.  I said that he ought to be made in this suit a
+guilty man, an outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to
+be helped or harboured in any need; I said that all his goods
+were forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the Quarter who
+have the right by law to take the goods which he has forfeited; I
+gave notice of the suit in the Quarter Court into which the suit
+ought by law to come; I gave notice of that lawful notice; I gave
+notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill of Laws; I gave
+notice of this suit to be pleaded now this summer, and of full
+outlawry against Flosi Thord's son.  I gave notice of a suit
+which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to me; and I had all
+these words in my notice which I have now used in this
+declaration of my suit.  I now declare this suit of outlawry in
+this shape before the court of the Eastfirthers over the head of
+John, as I uttered it when I gave notice of it."
+
+Then Mord's witnesses to the notice came before the court, and
+spake so that one uttered their witness, but both confirmed it by
+their common consent in this form, "I bear witness that Mord
+called Thorodd as his first witness, and me as his second, and my
+name is Thorbjorn" -- then he named his father's name -- "Mord
+called us two as his witnesses that he gave notice of an assault
+laid down by law against Flosi Thord's son when he rushed on
+Helgi Njal's son, in that spot where Flosi Thord's son dealt
+Helgi Njal's son a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, that
+proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his death.  He
+said that Flosi ought to be made in this suit a guilty man, an
+outlaw, not to be fed, not to be forwarded, not to be helped or
+harboured by any man; he said that all his goods were forfeited,
+half to himself and half to the men of the Quarter who have the
+right by law to take the goods which he had forfeited; he gave
+notice of the suit in the Quarter Court into which the suit ought
+by law to come; he gave notice of that lawful notice; he gave
+notice in the hearing of all men at the Hill of Laws; he gave
+notice of this suit to be pleaded now this summer, and of full
+outlawry against Flosi Thord's son.  He gave notice of a suit
+which Thorgeir Thorir's son had handed over to him.  He used all
+those words in his notice which he used in the declaration of his
+suit, and which we have used in bearing witness; we have now
+borne our witness rightly and lawfully, and we are agreed in
+bearing it; we bear this witness in this shape before the
+Eastfirthers' Court over the head of John, as Mord uttered it
+when he gave his notice."
+
+A second time they bore their witness of the notice before the
+court, and put the wounds first and the assault last, and used
+all the same words as before, and bore their witness in this
+shape before the Eastfirthers' Court just as Mord uttered them
+when he gave his notice.
+
+Then Mord's witnesses to the handing over of the suit went before
+the court, and one uttered their witness, and both confirmed it
+by common consent, and spoke in these words, "That those two,
+Mord Valgard's son and Thorgeir Thorir's son, took them to
+witness that Thorgeir Thorir's son handed over a suit for
+manslaughter to Mord Valgard's son against Flosi Thord's son for
+the slaying of Helgi Njal's son; he handed over to him then this
+suit, with all the proofs and proceedings which belonged to the
+suit, he handed it over to him to plead and to settle, and to
+make use of all rights as though he were the rightful next of
+kin: Thorgeir handed it over lawfully, and Mord took it lawfully.
+
+They bore witness of the handing over of the suit in this shape
+before the Eastfirther's Court over the head of John, just as
+Mord or Thorgeir had called them as witnesses to prove.
+
+They made all these witnesses swear on oath ere they bore
+witness, and the judges too.
+
+Again Mord Valgard's son took witness.  "I take witness to this,"
+said he, "that I bid those nine neighbours whom I summoned when I
+laid this suit against Flosi Thord's son, to take their seats
+west on the river-bank, and I call on the defendant to challenge
+this request, I call on him by a lawful bidding before the court
+so that the judges may hear."
+
+Again Mord took witness.  "I take witness to this, that I bid
+Flosi Thord's son, or that other man who has the defence handed
+over to him, to challenge the inquest which I have caused to,
+take their seats west on the river-bank.  I bid thee by a lawful
+bidding before the court so that the judges may hear."
+
+Again Mord took witness.  "I take witness to this, that now are
+all the first steps and proofs brought forward which belong to
+the suit.  Summons to bear my oath, oath taken, suit declared,
+witness borne to the notice, witness home to the handing over of
+the suit, the neighbours on the inquest bidden to take their
+seats, and the defendant bidden to challenge the inquest.  I take
+this witness to these steps and proofs which are now brought
+forward, and also to this that I shall not be thought to have
+left the suit though I go away from the court to look up proofs,
+or on other business."
+
+Now Flosi and his men went thither where the neighbours on the
+inquest sate.
+
+Then Flosi said to his men, "The sons of Sigfus must know best
+whether these are the rightful neighbours to the spot who are
+here summoned."
+
+Kettle of the Mark answered, "Here is that neighbour who held
+Mord at the font when he was baptized, but another is his second
+cousin by kinship.
+
+Then they reckoned up his kinship, and proved it with an oath.
+
+Then Eyjolf took witness that the inquest should do nothing till
+it was challenged.
+
+A second time Eyjolf took witness, "I take witness to this," said
+he, "that I challenge both these men out of the inquest, and set
+them aside" -- here he named them by name, and their fathers as
+well -- "for this sake, that one of them is Mord's second cousin
+by kinship, but the other for gossipry (2), for which sake it is
+lawful to challenge a neighbour on the inquest; ye two are for a
+lawful reason incapable of uttering a finding, for now a lawful
+challenge has overtaken you, therefore I challenge and set you
+aside by the rightful custom of pleading at the Althing, and by
+the law of the land; I challenge you in the cause which Flosi
+Thord's son has handed over to me."
+
+Now all the people spoke out, and said that Mord's suit had come
+to naught, and all were agreed in this that the defence was
+better than the prosecution.
+
+Then Asgrim said to Mord, "The day is not yet their own, though
+they think now that they have gained a great step; but now some
+one shall go to see Thorhall my son, and know what advice he
+gives us."
+
+Then a trusty messenger was sent to Thorhall, and told him as
+plainly as he could how far the suit had gone, and how Flosi and
+his men thought they had brought the finding of the inquest to a
+dead lock.
+
+"I will so make it out," says Thorhall, "that this shall not
+cause you to lose the suit; and tell them not to believe it,
+though quirks and quibbles be brought against them, for that
+wiseacre Eyjolf has now overlooked something.  But now thou shalt
+go back as quickly as thou canst, and say that Mord Valgard's son
+must go before the court, and take witness that their challenge
+has come to naught," and then he told him step by step how they
+must proceed.
+
+The messenger came and told them Thorhall's advice.
+
+Then Mord Valgard's son went to the court and took witness.  "I
+take witness to this," said he, "that I make Eyjolf's challenge
+void and of none effect; and my ground is, that he challenged
+them not for their kinship to the true plaintiff, the next of
+kin, but for their kinship to him who pleaded the suit; I take
+this witness to myself, and to all those to whom this witness
+will be of use."
+
+After that he brought that witness before the court.
+
+Now he went whither the neighbours sate on the inquest, and bade
+those to sit down again who had risen up, and said they were
+rightly called on to share in the finding of the inquest.
+
+Then all said that Thorhall had done great things, and all
+thought the prosecution better than the defence.
+
+Then Flosi said to Eyjolf, "Thinkest thou that this is good law?"
+
+"I think so, surely," he says, "and beyond a doubt we overlooked
+this; but still we will have another trial of strength with
+them."
+
+Then Eyjolf took witness.  "I take witness to this," said he,
+"that I challenge these two men out of the inquest" -- here he
+named them both -- "for that sake that they are lodgers, but not
+householders; I do not allow you two to sit on the inquest, for
+now a lawful challenge has overtaken you; I challenge you both
+and set you aside out of the inquest, by the rightful custom of
+the Althing and by the law of the land."
+
+Now Eyjolf said he was much mistaken if that could be shaken; and
+then all said that the defence was better than the prosecution.
+
+Now all men praised Eyjolf, and said there was never a man who
+could cope with him in lawcraft.
+
+Mord Valgard's son and Asgrim Ellidagrim's son now sent a man to
+Thorhall to tell him how things stood; but when Thorhall heard
+that, he asked what goods they owned, or if they were paupers?
+
+The messenger said that one gained his livelihood by keeping
+milch-kine, and "he has both cows and ewes at his abode; but the
+other has a third of the land which he and the freeholder farm,
+and finds his own food: and they have one hearth between them, he
+and the man who lets the land, and one shepherd."
+
+Then Thorhall said, "They will fare now as before, for they must
+have made a mistake, and I will soon upset their challenge and
+this though Eyjolf had used such big words that it was law."
+
+Now Thorhall told the messenger plainly, step by step, how they
+must proceed; and the messenger came back and told Mord and
+Asgrim all the counsel that Thorhall had given.
+
+Then Mord went to the court and took witness.  "I take witness to
+this, that I bring to naught Eyjolf Bolverk's son's challenges
+for that he has challenged those men out of the inquest who have
+a lawful right to be there; every man has a right to sit on an
+inquest of neighbours, who owns three hundreds in land or more,
+though he may have no dairystock; and he too has the same right
+who lives by dairystock worth the same sum, though he leases no
+land."
+
+Then he brought this witness before the court, and then he went
+whither the neighbours on the inquest were, and bade them sit
+down, and said they were rightfully among the inquest.
+
+Then there was a great shout and cry and then all men said that
+Flosi's and Eyjolf's cause was much shaken, and now men were of
+one mind as to this, that the prosecution was better than the
+defence.
+
+Then Flosi said to Eyjolf, "Can this be law?"
+
+Eyjolf said be had not wisdom enough to know that for a surety,
+and then they sent a man to Skapti, the Speaker of the Law, to
+ask whether it were good law, and he sent them back word that it
+was surely good law, though few knew it.
+
+Then this was told to Flosi, and Eyjolf Bolverk's son asked the
+sons of Sigfus as to the other neighbours who were summoned
+thither.
+
+They said there were four of them who were wrongly summoned; "for
+those sit now at home who were nearer neighbours to the spot."
+
+Then Eyjolf took witness that he challenged all those four men
+out of the inquest, and that he did it with lawful form of
+challenge.  After that he said to the neighbours, "Ye are bound
+to render lawful justice to both sides, and now ye shall go
+before the court when ye are called, and take witness that ye
+find that bar to uttering your finding; that ye are but five
+summoned to utter your finding, but that ye ought to be nine;. 
+and now Thorhall may prove and carry his point in every suit, if
+he can cure this flaw in this suit."
+
+And now it was plain in everything that Flosi and Eyjolf were
+very boastful; and there was a great cry that now the suit for
+the burning was quashed, and that again the defence was better
+than the prosecution.
+
+Then Asgrim spoke to Mord, "They know not yet of what to boast
+ere we have seen my son Thorhall.  Njal told me that he had so
+taught Thorhall law, that he would turn out the best lawyer in
+Iceland whenever it were put to the proof."
+
+Then a man was sent to Thorhall to tell him how things stood, and
+of Flosi's and Eyjolf's boasting, and the cry of the people that
+the suit for the burning was quashed in Mord's hands.
+
+"It will be well for them," says Thorhall, "if they get not
+disgrace from this.  Thou shalt go and tell Mord to take witness
+and swear an oath, that the greater part of the inquest is
+rightly summoned, and then he shall bring that witness before the
+court, and then he may set the prosecution on its feet again; but
+he will have to pay a fine of three marks for every man that he
+has wrongly summoned; but he may not be prosecuted for that at
+this Thing; and now thou shalt go back."
+
+He does so, and told Mord and Asgrim all, word for word, that
+Thorhall had said.
+
+Then Mord went to the court, and took witness, and swore an oath
+that the greater part of the inquest was rightly summoned, and
+said then that he had set the prosecution on its feet again, and
+then he went on, "And so our foes shall have honour from
+something else than from this, that we have here taken a great
+false step."
+
+Then there was a great roar that Mord handled the suit well; but
+it was said that Flosi and his men betook them only to quibbling
+and wrong.
+
+Flosi asked Eyjolf if this could be good law, but he said he
+could not surely tell, but said the Lawman must settle this
+knotty point.
+
+Then Thorkel Geiti's son went on their behalf to tell the Lawman
+how things stood, and asked whether this were good law that Mord
+had said.
+
+"More men are great lawyers now," says Skapti, "than I thought. 
+I must tell thee, then, that this is such good law in all points,
+that there is not a word to say against it; but still I thought
+that I alone would know this, now that Njal was dead, for he was
+the only man I ever knew who knew it."
+
+Then Thorkell went back to Flosi and Eyjolf, and said that this
+was good law.
+
+Then Mord Valgard's son went to the court and took witness.  "I
+take witness to this," he said, "that I bid those neighbours on
+the inquest in the suit which I set on foot against Flosi Thord's
+son now to utter their finding, and to find it either against him
+or for him; I bid them by a lawful bidding before the court, so
+that the judges may hear it across the court."
+
+Then the neighbours on Mord's inquest went to the court, and one
+uttered their finding, but all confirmed it by their consent; and
+they spoke thus, word for word, "Mord Valgard's son summoned nine
+of us thanes on this inquest, but here we stand five of us, but
+four have been challenged and set aside, and now witness has been
+home as to the absence of the four who ought to have uttered this
+finding along with us, and now we are bound by law to utter our
+finding.  We were summoned to bear this witness, whether Flosi
+Thord's son rushed with an assault laid down by law on Helgi
+Njal's son, on that spot where Flosi Thord's son wounded Helgi
+Njal's son with a brain, or a body, or a marrow wound, which
+proved a death-wound, and from which Helgi got his death.  He
+summoned us to utter all those words which it was lawful for us
+to utter, and which he should call on us to answer before the
+court, and which belong to this suit; he summoned us, so that we
+heard what he said; he summoned us in a suit which Thorgeir
+Thorir's son had handed over to him, and now we have all sworn an
+oath, and found our lawful finding, and are all agreed, and we
+utter our finding against Flosi, and we say that he is truly
+guilty in this suit.  We nine men on this inquest of neighbours
+so shapen, utter this our finding before the Eastfirthers' Court
+over the head of John, as Mord summoned us to do; but this is the
+finding of all of us."
+
+Again a second time they uttered their finding against Flosi, and
+uttered it first about the wounds, and last about the assault,
+but all their other words they uttered just as they had before
+uttered their finding against Flosi, and brought him in truly
+guilty in the suit.
+
+Then Mord Valgard's son went before the court, and took witness
+that those neighbours whom he had summoned in the suit which he
+had set on foot against Flosi Thord's son had now uttered their
+finding, and brought him in truly guilty in the suit; he took
+witness to this for his own part, or for those who might wish to
+make use of this witness.
+
+Again a second time Mord took witness and said, "I take witness
+to this that I call on Flosi, or that man who has to undertake
+the lawful defence which he has handed over to him, to begin his
+defence to this suit which I have set on foot against him, for
+now all the steps and proofs have been brought forward which
+belong by law to this suit; all witness home, the finding of the
+inquest uttered and brought in, witness taken to the finding, and
+to all the steps which have gone before; but if any such thing
+arises in their lawful defence which I need to turn into a suit
+against them, then I claim the right to set that suit on foot
+against them.  I bid this my lawful bidding before the court, so
+that the judges may hear."
+
+"It gladdens me now, Eyjolf," said Flosi, "in my heart to think
+what a wry face they will make, and how their pates will tingle
+when thou bringest forward our defence."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  John for a man, and Gudruna for a woman, were standing names
+     in the Formularies of the Icelandic code, answering to the
+     "M or N" in our Liturgy, or to those famous fictions of
+     English law, "John Doe and Richard Roe."
+(2)  "Gossipry," that is, because they were gossips, "God's sib",
+     relations by baptism.
+
+
+
+142. OF EYJOLF BOLVERK'S SON
+
+Then Eyjolf Bolverk's son went before the court, and took witness
+to this, "I take witness that this is a lawful defence in this
+cause, that ye have pleaded the suit in the Eastfirthers' Court,
+when ye ought to have pleaded it in the Northlanders' Court; for
+Flosi has declared himself one of the Thingmen of Askel the
+Priest and here now are those two witnesses who were by, and who
+will bear witness that Flosi handed over his priesthood to his
+brother Thorgeir, but afterwards declared himself one of Askel
+the Priest's Thingmen.  I take witness to this for my own part,
+and for those who may need to make use of it."
+
+Again Eyjolf took witness, "I take witness," he said, "to this,
+that I bid Mord who pleads this suit, or the next of kin, to
+listen to my oath, and to my declaration of the defence which I
+am about to bring forward; I bid him by a lawful bidding before
+the court, so that the judges may hear me."
+
+Again Eyjolf took witness, "I take witness to this, that I swear
+an oath on the book, a lawful oath, and say it before God, that I
+will so defend this cause, in the most truthful, and most just,
+and most lawful way, so far as I know, and so fulfil all lawful
+duties which belong to me at this Thing."
+
+Then Eyjolf said, "These two men I take to witness that I bring
+forward this lawful defence that this suit was pleaded in another
+Quarter Court, than that in which it ought to have been pleaded;
+and I say that for this sake their suit has come to naught; I
+utter this defence in this shape before the Eastfirthers' Court."
+
+After that he let all the witness be brought forward which
+belonged to the defence, and then he took witness to all the
+steps in the defence to prove that they had all been duly taken.
+
+After that Eyjolf again took witness and said, "I take witness to
+this, that I forbid the judges, by a lawful protest before the
+priest, to utter judgment in the suit of Mord and his friends,
+for now a lawful defence has been brought before the court.  I
+forbid you by a protest made before a priest; by a full, fair,
+and binding protest; as I have a right to forbid you by the
+common custom of the Althing, and by the law of the land."
+
+After that be called on the judges to pronounce for the defence.
+
+Then Asgrim and his friends brought on the other suits for the
+burning, and those suits took their course.
+
+
+
+143. THE COUNSEL OF THORHALL ASGRIM'S SON
+
+Now Asgrim and his friends sent a man to Thorhall, and let him be
+told in what a strait they had come.
+
+"Too far off was I now," answers Thorhall, "for this cause might
+still not have taken this turn if I had been by.  I now see their
+course that they must mean to summon you to the Fifth Court for
+contempt of the Thing.  They must also mean to divide the
+Eastfirthers Court in the suit for the burning, so that no
+judgment may be given, for now they behave so as to show that
+they will stay at no ill.  Now shaft thou go back to them as
+quickly as thou canst, and say that Mord must summon them both,
+both Flosi and Eyjolf, for having brought money into the Fifth
+Court, and make it a case of lesser outlawry.  Then he shall
+summon them with a second summons for that they have brought
+forward that witness which had nothing to do with their cause,
+and so were guilty of contempt of the Thing; and tell them that I
+say this, that if two suits for lesser outlawry hang over one and
+the same man, that he shall be adjudged a thorough outlaw at
+once.  And for this ye must set your suits on foot first, that
+then ye will first go to trial and judgment."
+
+Now the messenger went his way back and told Mord and Asgrim.
+
+After that they went to the Hill of Laws, and Mord Valgard's son
+took witness.  "I take witness to this that I summon Flosi
+Thord's son, for that he gave money for his help here at the
+Thing to Eyjolf Bolverk's son.  I say that he ought on this
+charge to be made a guilty outlaw, for this sake alone to be
+forwarded or to be allowed the right of frithstow (1), if his
+fine and bail are brought forward at the execution levied on his
+house and goods, but else to become a thorough outlaw.  I say all
+his goods are forfeited, half to me and half to the men of the
+Quarter who have the right by law to take his goods after he has
+been outlawed.  I summon this cause before the Fifth Court,
+whither the cause ought to come by law; I summon it to be pleaded
+now and to full outlawry.  I summon with a lawful summons.  I
+summon in the hearing of all men at the Hill of Laws."
+
+With a like summons he summoned Eyjolf Bolverk's son, for that he
+had taken and received the money, and he summoned him for that
+sake to the Fifth Court.
+
+Again a second time he summoned Flosi and Eyjolf, for that sake
+that they had brought forward that witness at the Thing which had
+nothing lawfully to do with the cause of the parties, and had so
+been guilty of contempt of the Thing; and he laid the penalty for
+that at lesser outlawry.
+
+Then they went away to the Court of Laws, there the Fifth Court
+was then set.
+
+Now when Mord and Asgrim had gone away, then the judges in the
+Eastfirthers' Court could not agree how they should give
+judgment, for some of them wished to give judgment for Flosi, but
+some for Mord and Asgrim.  Then Flosi and Eyjolf tried to divide
+the court, and there they stayed, and lost time over that while
+the summoning at the Hill of Laws going on.  A little while after
+Flosi and Eyjolf were told that they had been summoned at the
+Hill of Laws into the Fifth Court, each of them with two summons. 
+Then Eyjolf said, "In an evil hour have we loitered here while
+they have been before us in quickness of summoning.  Now hath
+come out Thorhall's cunning, and no man is his match in wit.  Now
+they have the first right to plead their cause before the court,
+and that was everything for them; but still we will go to the
+Hill of Laws, and set our suit on foot against them, though that
+will now stand us in little stead."
+
+Then they fared to the Hill of Laws, and Eyjolf summoned them for
+contempt of the Thing.
+
+After that they went to the Fifth Court.
+
+Now we must say that when Mord and Asgrim came to the Fifth
+Court, Mord took witness and bade them listen to his oath and the
+declaration of his suit, and to all those proofs and steps which
+he meant to bring forward against Flosi and Eyjolf.  He bade them
+by a lawful bidding before the court, so that the judges could
+hear him across the court.
+
+In the Fifth Court vouchers had to follow the oaths of the
+parties, and they had to take an oath after them.
+
+Mord took witness.  "I take witness," he said, "to this, that I
+take a Fifth Court oath.  I pray God so to help me in this light
+and in the next, as I shall plead this suit as I know to be most
+truthful, and just, and lawful.  I believe with all my heart that
+Flosi is truly guilty in this suit, if I may bring forward my
+proofs; and I have not brought money into this court in this
+suit, and I will not bring it.  I have not taken money, and I
+will not take it, neither for a lawful nor for an unlawful end."
+
+The men who were Mord's vouchers then went two of them before the
+court, and took witness to this -- "We take witness that we take
+an oath on the book, a lawful oath; we pray God so to help us two
+in this light and in the next, as we lay it on our honour that we
+believe with all our hearts that Mord will so plead this suit as
+he knows to be most truthful, and most just, and most lawful, and
+that he hath not brought money into this court in this suit to
+help himself, and that he will not offer it, and that he hath not
+taken money, nor will he take it, either for a lawful or unlawful
+end."
+
+Mord had summoned nine neighbours who lived next to the
+Thingfield on the inquest in the suit, and then Mord took
+witness, and declared those four suits which he had set on foot
+against Flosi and Eyjolf; and Mord used all those words in his
+declaration that he had used in his summons.  He declared his
+suits for outlawry in the same shape before the Fifth Court as he
+had uttered them when he summoned the defendants.
+
+Mord took witness, and bade those nine neighbours on the inquest
+to take their seats west on the river bank.
+
+Mord took witness again, and bade Flosi and Eyjolf to challenge
+the inquest.
+
+They went up to challenge the inquest, and looked narrowly at
+them, but could get none of them set aside; then they went away
+as things stood, and were very ill pleased with their case.
+
+Then Mord took witness, and bade those nine neighbours whom he
+had before called on the inquest, to utter their finding, and to
+bring it in either for or against Flosi.
+
+Then the neighbours on Mord's inquest came before the court, and
+one uttered the finding, but all the rest confirmed it by their
+consent.  They had all taken the Fifth Court oath, and they
+brought in Flosi as truly guilty in the suit, and brought in
+their finding against him.  They brought it in such a shape
+before the Fifth Court over the head of the same man over whose
+head Mord had already declared his suit.  After that they brought
+in all those findings which they were bound to bring in all the
+other suits, and all was done in lawful form.
+
+Eyjolf Bolverk's son and Flosi watched to find a flaw in the
+proceedings, but could get nothing done.
+
+Then Mord Valgard's son took witness.  "I take witness," said he,
+"to this, that these nine neighbours whom I called on these suits
+which I have had hanging over the heads of Flosi Thord's son, and
+Eyjolf Bolverk's son, have now uttered their finding, and have
+brought them in truly guilty in these suits."
+
+He took this witness for his own part.
+
+Again Mord took witness.  "I take witness," he said, "to this,
+that I bid Flosi Thord's son, or that other man who has taken his
+lawful defence in hand, now to begin their defence; for now all
+the steps and proofs have been brought forward in the suit,
+summons to listen to oaths, oaths taken, suit declared, witness
+taken to the summons, neighbours called on to take their seats on
+the inquest, defendant called on to challenge the inquest,
+finding uttered, witness taken to the finding."
+
+He took this witness to all the steps that had been taken in the
+suit.
+
+Then that man stood up over whose head the suit had been declared
+and pleaded, and summed up the case.  He summed up first how Mord
+had bade them listen to his oath, and to his declaration of the
+suit, and to all the steps and proofs in it; then he summed up
+next how Mord took his oath and his vouchers theirs; then he
+summed up how Mord pleaded his suit, and used the very words in
+his summing up that Mord had before used in declaring and
+pleading his suit, and which he had used in his summons, and he
+said that the suit came before the Fifth Court in the same shape
+as it was when he uttered it at the summoning.  Then he summed up
+that men had borne witness to the summoning, and repeated all
+those words that Mord had used in his summons, and which they had
+used in bearing their witness, "and which I now," he said, "have
+used in my summing up, and they bore their witness in the same
+shape before the Fifth Court as he uttered them at the
+summoning."  After that he summed up that Mord bade the
+neighbours on the inquest to take their seats, then he told next
+of all how he bade Flosi to challenge the inquest, or that man
+who had undertaken this lawful defence for him; then he told how
+the neighbours went to the court, and uttered their finding, and
+brought in Flosi truly guilty in the suit, and how they brought
+in the finding of an inquest of nine men in that shape before the
+Fifth Court.  Then he summed up how Mord took witness to all the
+steps in the suit, and how he had bidden the defendant to begin
+his defence.
+
+After that Mord Valgard's son took witness.  "I take witness," he
+said, "to this, that I forbid Flosi Thord's son, or that other
+man who has undertaken the lawful defence for him, to set up his
+defence; for now are all the steps taken which belong to the
+suit, when the case has been summed up and the proofs repeated."
+
+After that the foreman added these words of Mord to his summing
+up.
+
+Then Mord took witness, and prayed the judges to give judgment in
+this suit.
+
+Then Gizur the White said, "Thou wilt have to do more yet, Mord,
+for four twelves can have no right to pass judgment."
+
+Now Flosi said to Eyjolf, "What counsel is to be taken now?"
+
+Then Eyjolf said, "Now we must make the best of a bad business;
+but still we will bide our time, for now I guess that they will
+make a false step in their suit, for Mord prayed for judgment at
+once in the suit, but they ought to call and set aside six men
+out of the court, and after that they ought to offer us to call
+and set aside six other men, but we will not do that, for then
+they ought to call and set aside those six men, and they will
+perhaps overlook that; then all their case has come to naught if
+they do not do that, for three twelves have to judge in every
+cause."
+
+"Thou art a wise man, Eyjolf," said Flosi, "so that few can come
+nigh thee."
+
+Mord Valgard's son took witness. "I take witness," he said "to
+this, that I call and set aside these six men out of the court" 
+-- and named them all by name -- "I do not allow you to sit in
+the court; I call you out and set you aside by the rightful
+custom of the Althing, and the law of the land."
+
+After that he offered Eyjolf and Flosi, before witnesses, to call
+out by name and set aside other six men, but Flosi and Eyjolf
+would not call them out.
+
+Then Mord made them pass judgment in the cause; but when the
+judgment was given, Eyjolf took witness, and said that all their
+judgment had come to naught, and also everything else that had
+been done, and his ground was that three twelves and one half had
+judged, when three only ought to have given judgment.
+
+"And now we will follow up our suits before the Fifth Court,"
+said Eyjolf, "and make them outlaws."
+
+Then Gizur the White said to Mord Valgard's son, "Thou hast made
+a very great mistake in taking such a false step, and this is
+great ill-luck; but what counsel shall we now take, kinsman
+Asgrim?" says Gizur.
+
+Then Asgrim said, "Now we will send a man to my son Thorhall,
+and know what counsel he will give us."
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  An old English law term for asylum or sanctuary.
+
+
+
+144. BATTLE AT THE ALTHING
+
+Now Snorri the Priest hears how the causes stood, and then he
+begins to draw up his men in arry below "the Great Rift," between
+it and Hadbooth, and laid down beforehand to his men how they
+were to behave.
+
+Now the messenger comes to Thorhall Asgrim's son, and tells him
+how things stood, and how Mord Valgard's son and his friends
+would all be made outlaws, and the suits for manslaughter be
+brought to naught.
+
+But when he heard that, he was so shocked at it that he could not
+utter a word.  He jumped up then from his bed, and clutched with
+both hands his spear, Skarphedinn's gift, and drove it through
+his foot; then flesh clung to the spear, and the eye of the boil
+too, for he had cut it clean out of the foot, but a torrent of
+blood and matter poured out, so that it fell in a stream along
+the floor.  Now he went out of the booth unhalting, and walked so
+hard that the messenger could not keep up with him, and so he
+goes until he came to the Fifth Court.  There he met Grim the
+Red, Flosi's kinsman, and as soon as ever they met, Thorhall
+thrust at him with the spear, and smote him on the shield and
+clove it in twain, but the spear passed right through him, so
+that the point came out between his shoulders.  Thorhall cast him
+off his spear.
+
+Then Kari Solmund's son caught sight of that, and said to Asgrim,
+"Here, now, is come Thorhall thy son, and has straightway slain
+a man, and this is a great shame, if he alone shall have the
+heart to avenge the burning."
+
+"That shall not be," says Asgrim, "but let us turn on them now."
+
+Then there was a mighty cry all over the host, and then they
+shouted their war-cries.
+
+Flosi and his friends then turned against their foes, and both
+sides egged on their men fast.
+
+Kari Solmund's son turned now thither where Ami Kol's son and
+Hallbjorn the Strong were in front, and as soon as ever Hallbjorn
+saw Kari, he made a blow at him, and aimed at his leg, but Kari
+leapt up into the air, and Hallbjorn missed him.  Kari turned on
+Arni Kol's son and cut at him, and smote him on the shoulder, and
+cut asunder the shoulder blade and collar-bone, and the blow went
+right down into his breast, and Ami fell down dead at once to
+earth.
+
+After that he hewed at Hallbjorn and caught him on the shield,
+and the blow passed through the shield, and so down and cut off
+his great toe.  Holmstein hurled a spear at Kari, but he caught
+it in the air, and sent it back, and it was a man's death in
+Flosi's band.
+
+Thorgeir Craggeir came up to where Hallbjorn the Strong was
+in front, and Thorgeir made such a spear-thrust at him with his
+left hand that Hallbjorn fell before it, and had hard work to get
+on his feet again, and turned away from the fight there and then. 
+Then Thorgeir met Thorwalld Kettle Rumble's son, and hewed at him
+at once with the axe, "the ogress of war," which Skarphedinn had
+owned.  Thorwalld threw his shield before him, and Thorgeir hewed
+the shield and cleft it from top to bottom, but the upper horn of
+the axe made its way into his breast, and passed into his trunk,
+and Thorwalld fell and was dead at once.
+
+Now it must be told how Asgrim Ellidagrim's son, and Thorhall his
+son, Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Gizur the White, made an onslaught
+where Flosi and the sons of Sigfus and the other burners were; --
+then there was a very hard fight, and the end of it was that they
+pressed on so hard, that Flosi and his men gave way before them. 
+Gudmund the Powerful, and Mord Valgard's son, and Thorgeir
+Craggeir, made their onslaught where the Axefirthers and
+Eastfirthers, and the men of Reykdale stood, and there too there
+was a very hard fight.
+
+Kari Solmund's son came up where Bjarni Broddhelgi's son had the
+lead.  Kari caught up a spear and thrust at him, and the blow
+fell on his shield.  Bjarni slipped the shield on one side of
+him, else it had gone straight through him.  Then he cut at Kari
+and aimed at his leg, but Kari drew back his leg and turned short
+round on his heel, and Bjarni missed him.  Kari cut at once at
+him, and then a man ran forward and threw his shield before
+Bjarni.  Kari cleft the shield in twain, and the point of the
+sword caught his thigh, and ripped up the whole leg down to the
+ankle.  That man fell there and then, and was ever after a
+cripple so long as he lived.
+
+Then Kari clutched his spear with both hands, and turned on
+Bjarni and thrust at him; he saw he had no other chance but to
+throw himself down sidelong away from the blow, but as soon as
+ever Bjarni found his feet, away he fell back out of the fight.
+
+Thorgeir Craggeir and Gizur the White fell on there where
+Holmstein the son of Bersi the Wise, and Thorkel Geiti's son were
+leaders, and the end of the struggle was, that Holmstein and
+Thorkel gave way, and then arose a mighty hooting after them from
+the men of Gudmund the Powerful.
+
+Thorwalld Tjorfi's son of Lightwater got a great wound, he was
+shot in the forearm, and men thought that Halldor Gudmund the
+Powerful's son had hurled the spear, but he bore that wound about
+with him all his life long, and got no atonement for it.
+
+Now there was a mighty throng.  But though we here tell of some
+of the deeds that were done, still there are far many more of
+which men have handed down no stories.
+
+Flosi had told them that they should make for the stronghold in
+the Great Rift if they were worsted, "For there," said he, "they
+will only be able to attack us on one side."  But the band which
+Hall of the Side and his son Ljot led, had fallen away out of the
+fight before the onslaught of that father and son, Asgrim and
+Thorhall.  They turned down east of Axewater, and Hall said,
+"This is a sad state of things when the whole host of men at the
+Thing fight, and I would, kinsman Ljot, that we begged us help
+even though that be brought against us by some men, and that we
+part them.  Thou shalt wait for me at the foot of the bridge, and
+I will go to the booths and beg for help."
+
+"If I see," said Ljot, "that Flosi and his men need help from our
+men, then I will at once run up and aid them."
+
+"Thou wilt do in that as thou pleasest," says Hall, "but I pray
+thee to wait for me here."
+
+Now flight breaks out in Flosi's band, and they all fly west
+across Axewater; but Asgrim and Gizur the White went after them
+and all their host.  Flosi and his men turned down between the
+river and the Outwork booth.  Snorri the Priest had drawn up his
+men there in array, so thick that they could not pass that way,
+and Snorri the Priest called out then to Flosi, "Why fare ye in
+such haste, or who chase you?"
+
+"Thou askest not this," answered Flosi, "because thou dost not
+know it already; but whose fault is it that we cannot get to the
+stronghold in the Great Rift?"
+
+"It is not my fault," says Snorri, "but it is quite true that I
+know whose fault it is, and I will tell thee if thou wilt; it is
+the fault of Thorwalld Cropbeard and Kol."
+
+They were both then dead, but they had been the worst men in all
+Flosi's band.
+
+Again Snorri said to his men, "Now do both, cut at them and
+thrust at them, and drive them away hence, they will then hold
+out but a short while here, if the others attack them from below;
+but then ye shall not go after them, but let both sides shift for
+themselves."
+
+The son of Skapti Thorod's son was Thorstein gapemouth, as was
+written before, he was in the battle with Gudmund the Powerful,
+his father-in-law, and as soon as Skapti knew that, he went to
+the booth of Snorri the Priest, and meant to beg for help to part
+them; but just before he had got as far as the door of Snorri's
+booth, there the battle was hottest of all.  Asgrim and his
+friends, and his men were just coming up thither, and then
+Thorhall said to his father Asgrim, "See there now is Skapti
+Thorod's son, father."
+
+"I see him kinsman," said Asgrim, and then he shot a spear at
+Skapti, and struck him just below where the calf was fattest, and
+so through both his legs.  Skapti fell at the blow, and could not
+get up again, and the only counsel they could take who were by,
+was to drag Skapti flat on his face into the booth of a turf-
+cutter.
+
+Then Asgrim and his men came up so fast that Flosi and his men
+gave way before them south along the river to the booths of the
+men of Modruvale.  There there was a man outside one booth whose
+name was Solvi; he was boiling broth in a great kettle, and had
+just then taken the meat out, and the broth was boiling as hotly
+as it could.
+
+Solvi cast his eyes on the Eastfirthers as they fled, and they
+were then just over against him, and then he said, "Can all these
+cowards who fly here be Eastfirthers, and yet Thorkel Geiti's
+son, he ran by as fast as any one of them, and very great lies
+have been told about him when men say that he is all heart, but
+now no one ran faster than he."
+
+Hallbjorn the Strong was near by then, and said, "Thou shalt not
+have it to say that we are all cowards."
+
+And with that he caught hold of him, and lifted him up aloft, and
+thrust him head down into the broth-kettle.  Solvi died at once;
+but then a rush was made at Hallbjorn himself, and he had to turn
+and fly.
+
+Flosi threw a spear at Bruni Haflidi's son, and caught him at the
+waist, and that was his bane; he was one of Gudmund the
+Powerful's band.
+
+Thorstein Hlenni's son took the spear out of the wound, and
+hurled it back at Flosi, and hit him on the leg, and he got a
+great wound and fell; he rose up again at once.
+
+Then they passed on to the Waterfirthers' booth, and then Hall
+and Ljot came from the east across the river, with all their
+band; but just when they came to the lava, a spear was hurled out
+of the band of Gudmund the Powerful, and it struck Ljot in the
+middle, and he fell down dead at once; and it was never known
+surely who had done that manslaughter.
+
+Flosi and his men turned up round the Waterfirther's booth, and
+then Thorgeir Craggeir said to Kari Solmund's son, "Look, yonder
+now is Eyjolf Bolverk's son, if thou hast a mind to pay him off
+for the ring."
+
+"That I ween is not far from my mind," says Kari, and snatched a
+spear from a man, and hurled it at Eyjolf, and it struck him in
+the waist, and went through him, and Eyjolf then fell dead to
+earth.
+
+Then there was a little lull in the battle, and then Snorri the
+Priest came up with his band, and Skapti was there in his
+company, and they ran in between them, and so they could not get
+at one another to fight.
+
+Then Hall threw in his people with theirs, and was for parting
+them there and then, and so a truce was set, and was to be kept
+throughout the Thing, and then the bodies were laid out and borne
+to the church, and the wounds of those men were bound up who were
+hurt.
+
+The day after men went to the Hill of Laws.  Then Han of the Side
+stood up and asked for a hearing, and got it at once; and he
+spoke thus, "Here there have been hard happenings in lawsuits
+and loss of life at the Thing, and now I will show again that I
+am little-hearted, for I will now ask Asgrim and the others who
+take the lead in these suits, that they grant us an atonement on
+even terms;" and so he goes on with many fair words.
+
+Kari Solmund's son said, "Though all others take an atonement in
+their quarrels, yet will I take no atonement in my quarrel; for
+ye will wish to weigh these manslayings against the burning, and
+we cannot bear that."
+
+In the same way spoke Thorgeir Craggeir.
+
+Then Skapti Thorod's son stood up and said, "Better had it been
+for thee, Kari, not to have run away from thy father-in-law and
+thy brothers-in-law, than now to sneak out of this atonement."
+
+Then Kari sang these verses:
+
+     "Warrior wight that weapon wieldest
+     Spare thy speering why we fled,
+     Oft for less falls hail of battle,
+     Forth we fled to wreak revenge;
+     Who was he, fainthearted foeman,
+     Who, when tongues of steel sung high,
+     Stole beneath the booth for shelter,
+     While his beard blushed red for shame?
+
+     "Many fetters Skapti fettered
+     When the men, the Gods of fight,
+     From the fray fared all unwilling
+     Where the skald scarce held his shield;
+     Then the suttlers dragged the lawyer
+     Stout in scolding to their booth,
+     Laid him low amongst the riffraff,
+     How his heart then quaked for fear.
+
+     "Men who skim the main on sea stag
+     Well in this ye showed your sense
+     Making game about the Burning,
+     Mocking Helgi, Grim, and Njal;
+     Now the moor round rocky Swinestye (1),
+     As men run and shake their shields,
+     With another grunt shall rattle
+     When this Thing is past and gone."
+
+Then there was great laughter.  Snorri the Priest smiled and sang
+this between his teeth, but so that many heard:
+
+     "Skill hath Skapti us to tell
+     Whether Asgrim's shaft flew well;
+     Holmstein hurried swift to flight,
+     Thorstein turned him soon to fight."
+
+Now men burst out in great fits of laughter.
+
+Then Hall of the Side said, "All men know what a grief I have
+suffered in the loss of my son Ljot; many will think that he
+would be valued dearest of all those men who have fallen here;
+but I will do this for the sake of an atonement -- I will put no
+price on my son, and yet will come forward and grant both pledges
+and peace to those who are my adversaries.  I beg thee, Snorri
+the Priest, and other of the best men, to bring this about, that
+there may be an atonement between us."
+
+Now he sits him down, and a great hum in his favour followed, and
+all praised his gentleness and goodwill.
+
+Then Snorri the Priest stood up and made a long and clever
+speech, and begged Asgrim and the others who took the lead in the
+quarrel to look towards an atonement.
+
+Then Asgrim said, "I made up my mind when Flosi made an inroad
+on my house that I would never be atoned with him; but now Snorri
+the Priest, I will take an atonement from him for thy word's sake
+and other of our friends."
+
+In the same way spoke Thorleif Crow and Thorgrim the Big, that
+they were willing to be atoned, and they urged in every way their
+brother Thorgeir Craggeir to take an atonement also; but he hung
+back, and says he would never part from Kari.
+
+Then Gizur the White said, "Now Flosi must see that he must make
+his choice, whether he will be atoned on the understanding that
+some will be out of the atonement."
+
+Flosi says he will take that atonement; "And methinks it is so
+much the better," he says, "that I have fewer good men and true
+against me."
+
+Then Gudmund the Powerful said, "I will offer to handsel peace
+on my behalf for the slayings that have happened here at the
+Thing, on the understanding that the suit for the burning is not
+to fall to the ground."
+
+In the same way spoke Gizur the White and Hjallti Skeggi's son,
+Asgrim Ellidagrim's son and Mord Valgard's son.
+
+In this way the atonement came about, and then hands were shaken
+on it, and twelve men were to utter the award; and Snorri the
+Priest was the chief man in the award, and others with him.  Then
+the manslaughters were set off the one against the other, and
+those men who were over and above were paid for in fines.  They
+also made an award in the suit about the burning.
+
+Njal was to be atoned for with a triple fine, and Bergthora with
+two.  The slaying of Skarphedinn was to be set off against that
+of Hauskuld the Whiteness Priest.  Both Grim and Helgi were to be
+paid for with double fines; and one full man-fine should be paid
+for each of those who had been burnt in the house.
+
+No atonement was taken for the slaying of Thord Kari's son.
+
+It was also in the award that Flosi and all the burners should go
+abroad into banishment, and none of them was to sail the same
+summer unless he chose; but if he did not sail abroad by the time
+that three winters were spent, then he and all the burners were
+to become thorough outlaws.  And it was also said that their
+outlawry might be proclaimed either at the Harvest-Thing or
+Spring-Thing, whichever men chose; and Flosi was to stay abroad
+three winters.
+
+As for Gunnar Lambi's son, and Grani Gunnar's son, Glum Hilldir's
+son, and Kol Thorstein's son, they were never to be allowed to
+come back.
+
+Then Flosi was asked if he would wish to have a price put upon
+his wound, but he said he would not take bribes for his hurt.
+
+Eyjolf Bolverk's son had no fine awarded for him, for his
+unfairness and wrongfulness.
+
+And now this settlement and atonement was handselled and was well
+kept afterwards.
+
+Asgrim and his friends gave Snorri the priest good gifts, and he
+had great honour from these suits.
+
+Skapti got a fine for his hurt.
+
+Gizur the White, and Hjallti Skeggi's son, and Asgrim
+Ellidagrim's son, asked Gudmund the Powerful to come and see them
+at home.  He accepted the bidding, and each of them gave him a
+gold ring.
+
+Now Gudmund rides home north and had praise from every man for
+the part he had taken in these quarrels.
+
+Thorgeir Craggeir asked Kari to go along with him, but yet first
+of all they rode with Gudmund right up to the fells north.  Kari
+gave Gudmund a golden brooch, but Thorgeir gave him a silver
+belt, and each was the greatest treasure.  So they parted with
+the utmost friendship, and Gudmund is out of this story.
+
+Kari and Thorgeir rode south from the fell, and down to the
+Rapes (1), and so to Thurso-water.
+
+Flosi, and the burners along with him, rode east to Fleetlithe,
+and he allowed the sons of Sigfus to settle their affairs at
+home.  Then Flosi heard that Thorgeir and Kari had ridden north
+with Gudmund the Powerful, and so the burners thought that Kari
+and his friend must mean to stay in the north country; and then
+the sons of Sigfus asked leave to go east under Eyjafell to get
+in their money, for they had money out on call at Headbrink. 
+Flosi gave them leave to do that, but still bade them be ware of
+themselves, and be as short a time about it as they could.
+
+Then Flosi rode up by Godaland, and so north of Eyjafell Jokul,
+and did not draw bridle before he came home east to Swinefell.
+
+Now it must be said that Hall of the Side had suffered his son to
+fall without a fine, and did that for the sake of an atonement,
+but then the whole host of men at the Thing agreed to pay a fine
+for him, and the money so paid was not less than eight hundred in
+silver, but that was four times the price of a man; but all the
+others who had been with Flosi got no fines paid for their hurts,
+and were very ill pleased at it.
+
+The sons of Sigfus stayed at home two nights, but the third day
+they rode east to Raufarfell, and were there the night.  They
+were fifteen together, and had not the least fear for themselves. 
+They rode thence late, and meant to reach Headbrink about even. 
+They baited their horses in Carlinedale, and then a great slumber
+came over them.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Swinestye," ironically for Swinefell, where Flosi lived.
+(2)  This is the English equivalent for the Icelandic Hrep, a
+     district.  It still lingers in "the Rape of Bramber," and
+     other districts in Sussex and the southeast.
+
+
+
+145. OF KARI AND THORGEIR
+
+Those two, Kari Solmund's son and Thorgeir Craggeir, rode that
+day east across Markfleet, and so on east to Selialandsmull. 
+They found there some women.  The wives knew them, and said to
+them, "Ye two are less wanton than the sons of Sigfus yonder, but
+still ye fare unwarily."
+
+"Why do ye talk thus of the sons of Sigfus, or what do ye know
+about them?"
+
+"They were last night," they said, "at Raufarfell, and meant to
+get to Myrdale to-night, but still we thought they must have some
+fear of you, for they asked when ye would be likely to come
+home."
+
+Then Kari and Thorgeir went on their way and spurred their
+horses.
+
+"What shall we lay down for ourselves to do now," said Thorgeir,
+"or what is most to thy mind?  Wilt thou that we ride on their
+track?"
+
+"I will not hinder this," answers Kari, "nor will I say what
+ought to be done, for it may often be that those live long who
+are slain with words alone (1); but I well know what thou meanest
+to take on thyself, thou must mean to take on thy hands eight
+men, and after all that is less than it was when thou slewest
+those seven in the sea-crags (2), and let thyself down by a rope
+to get at them; but it is the way with all you kinsmen, that ye
+always wish to be doing some famous feat, and now I can do no
+less than stand by thee and have my share in the story.  So now
+we two alone will ride after them, for I see that thou hast so
+made up thy mind."
+
+After that they rode east by the upper way, and did not pass by
+Holt, for Thorgeir would not that any blame should be laid at his
+brother's door for what might be done.
+
+Then they rode east to Myrdale, and there they met a man who had
+turf-panniers on his horse.  He began to speak thus, "Too few
+men, messmate Thorgeir, hast thou now in thy company."
+
+"How is that?" says Thorgeir.
+
+"Why," said the other, "because the prey is now before thy hand. 
+The sons of Sigfus rode by a while ago, and mean to sleep the
+whole day east in Carlinedale, for they mean to go no farther
+to-night than to Headbrink."
+
+After that they rode on their way east on Arnstacks heath, and
+there is nothing to be told of their journey before they came to
+Carlinedale-water.
+
+The stream was high, and now they rode up along the river, for
+they saw there horses with saddles.  They rode now thitherward,
+and saw that there were men asleep in a dell and their spears
+were standing upright in the ground a little below them.  They
+took the spears from them, and threw them into the river.
+
+Then Thorgeir said, "Wilt thou that we wake them?"
+
+"Thou hast not asked this," answers Kari, "because thou hast not
+already made up thy mind not to fall on sleeping men, and so to
+slay a shameful manslaughter."
+
+After that they shouted to them, and then they all awoke and
+grasped at their arms.
+
+They did not fall on them till they were armed.
+
+Thorgeir Craggeir runs thither where Thorkell Sigfus' son stood,
+and just then a man ran behind his back, but before he could do
+Thorgeir any hurt, Thorgeir lifted the axe, "the ogress of war,"
+with both hands, and dashed the hammer of the axe with a back-
+blow into the head of him that stood behind him, so that his
+skull was shattered to small bits.
+
+"Slain is this one," said Thorgeir; and down the man fell at
+once, and was dead.
+
+But when he dashed the axe forward, he smote Thorkell on the
+shoulder, and hewed it off, arm and all.
+
+Against Kari came Mord Sigfus' son, and Sigmund Sigfus' son, and
+Lambi Sigurd's son; the last ran behind Kari's back, and thrust
+at him with a spear; Kari caught sight of him, and leapt up as
+the blow fell, and stretched his legs far apart, and so the blow
+spent itself on the ground, but Kari jumped down on the spear-
+shaft, and snapped it in sunder.  He had a spear in one hand, and
+a sword in the other, but no shield.  He thrust with the right
+hand at Sigmund Sigfus' son, and smote him on his breast, and the
+spear came out between his shoulders, and down he fell and was
+dead at once, With his left hand he made a cut at Mord, and smote
+him on the hip, and cut it asunder, and his backbone too; he fell
+flat on his face, and was dead at once.
+
+After that he turned sharp round on his heel like a whipping-top,
+and made at Lambi Sigurd's son, but he took the only way to save
+himself, and that was by running away as hard as he could.
+
+Now Thorgeir turns against Leidolf the Strong, and each hewed at
+the other at the same moment, and Leidolf's blow was so great
+that it shore off that part of the shield on which it fell.
+
+Thorgeir had hewn with "the ogress of war," holding it with both
+hands, and the lower horn fell on the shield and clove it in
+twain, but the upper caught the collarbone and cut it in two and
+tore on down into the breast and trunk.  Kari came up just then,
+and cut off Leidolf's leg at mid-thigh, and then Leidolf fell and
+died at once.
+
+Kettle of the Mark said, "We will now run for our horses, for we
+cannot hold our own here, for the overbearing strength of these
+men."
+
+Then they ran for their horses, and leapt on their backs; and
+Thorgeir said, "Wilt thou that we chase them?  If so, we shall
+yet slay some of them."
+
+"He rides last," says Kari, "whom I would not wish to slay, and
+that is Kettle of the Mark, for we have two sisters to wife; and
+besides, he has behaved best of all of them as yet in our
+quarrels."
+
+Then they got on their horses, and rode till they came home to
+Holt.  Then Thorgeir made his brothers fare away east to Skoga,
+for they had another farm there, and because Thorgeir would not
+that his brothers should be called truce-breakers.
+
+Then Thorgeir kept many men there about him, so that there were
+never fewer than thirty fighting men there.
+
+Then there was great joy there, and men thought Thorgeir had
+grown much greater, and pushed himself on; both he and Kari too. 
+Men long kept in mind this hunting of theirs, how they rode upon
+fifteen men and slew those five, but put those ten to flight who
+got away.
+
+Now it is to be told of Kettle, that they rode as they best might
+till they came home to Swinefell, and told how bad their journey
+had been.
+
+Flosi said it was only what was to be looked for; "And this is a
+warning that ye should never do the like again."
+
+Flosi was the merriest of men, and the best of hosts, and it is
+so said that he had most of the chieftain in him of all the men
+of his time.
+
+He was at home that summer, and the winter too.
+
+But that winter, after Yule, Hall of the Side came from the east,
+and Kol his son.  Flosi was glad at his coming, and they often
+talked about the matter of the burning.  Flosi said they had
+already paid a great fine, and Hall said it was pretty much what
+he had guessed would come of Flosi's and his friends' quarrel. 
+Then he asked him what counsel he thought best to be taken, and
+Hall answers, "The counsel is, that thou beest atoned with
+Thorgeir if there be a choice, and yet he will be hard to bring
+to take any atonement."
+
+"Thinkest thou that the manslaughters will then be brought to an
+end?" asks Flosi.
+
+"I do not think so," says Hall; "but you will have to do with
+fewer foes if Kari be left alone; but if thou art not atoned with
+Thorgeir, then that will be thy bane."
+
+"What atonement shall we offer him?" asks Flosi.
+
+"You will all think that atonement hard," says Hall, "which he
+will take, for he will not hear of an atonement unless he be not
+called on to pay any fine for what he has just done, but he will
+have fines for Njal and his sons, so far as his third share
+goes."
+
+"That is a hard atonement," says Flosi.
+
+"For thee at least," says Hall, "that atonement is not hard, for
+thou hast not the blood-feud after the sons of Sigfus; their
+brothers have the blood-feud, and Hammond the Halt after his son;
+but thou shalt now get an atonement from Thorgeir, for I will now
+ride to his house with thee, and Thorgeir will in anywise receive
+me well: but no man of those who are in this quarrel will dare to
+sit in his house on Fleetlithe if they are out of the atonement,
+for that will be their bane; and, indeed, with Thorgeir's turn of
+mind, it is only what must be looked for."
+
+Now the sons of Sigfus were sent for, and they brought this
+business before them; and the end of their speech was, on the
+persuasion of Hall, that they all thought what he said right, and
+were ready to be atoned.
+
+Grani Gunnar's son and Gunnar Lambi's son, said, "It will be in
+our power, if Kari be left alone behind, to take care that he be
+not less afraid of us than we of him."
+
+"Easier said than done," says Hall, "and ye will find it a dear
+bargain to deal with him.  Ye will have to pay a heavy fine
+before you have done with him."
+
+After that they ceased speaking about it.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "With words alone."  The English proverb, "Threatened men
+     live long."
+(2)  "Sea crags." Hence Thorgeir got his surname "Craggeir."
+
+
+
+146. THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT WITH THORGEIR CRAGGEIR
+
+Hall of the Side and his son Kol, seven of them in all, rode west
+over Loomnip's Sand, and so west over Amstacksheath, and did not
+draw bridle till they came into Myrdale.  There they asked
+whether Thorgeir would be at home at Holt, and they were told
+that they would find him at home.
+
+The men asked whither Hall meant to go.
+
+"Thither to Holt," he said.
+
+They said they were sure he went on a good errand.
+
+He stayed there some while and baited their horses, and after
+that they mounted their horses and rode to Solheim about even,
+and they were there that night, but the day after they rode to
+Holt.
+
+Thorgeir was out of doors, and Kari too, and their men, for they
+had seen Hall's coming.  He rode in a blue cape, and had a little
+axe studded with silver in his hand; but when they came into the
+"town," Thorgeir went to meet him, and helped him off his horse,
+and both he and Kari kissed him and led him in between them into
+the sittingroom, and sate him down in the high seat on the dais,
+and they asked him tidings about many things.
+
+He was there that night.  Next morning Hall raised the question
+of the atonement with Thorgeir, and told him what terms they
+offered him; and he spoke about them with many fair and kindly
+words.
+
+"It may be well known to thee," answers Thorgeir, "that I said I
+would take no atonement from the burners."
+
+"That was quite another matter then," says Hall; "ye were then
+wroth with fight, and, besides, ye have done great deeds in the
+way of manslaying since."
+
+"I daresay ye think so," says Thorgeir, "but what atonement do ye
+offer to Kari?"
+
+"A fitting atonement shall be offered him," says Hall, "if he
+will take it."
+
+Then Kari said, "I pray this of thee, Thorgeir, that thou wilt be
+atoned, for thy lot cannot be better than good."
+
+"Methinks," says Thorgeir, "it is ill done to take in atonement,
+and sunder myself from thee, unless thou takest the same
+atonement as I"
+
+"I will not take any atonement," says Kari, "but yet I say that
+we have avenged the burning; but my son, I say, is still
+unavenged, and I mean to take that on myself alone, and see what
+I can get done."
+
+But Thorgeir would take no atonement before Kari said that he
+would take it ill if he were not atoned.  Then Thorgeir
+handselled a truce to Flosi and his men, as a step to a meeting
+for atonement; but Hall did the same on behalf of Flosi and the
+sons of Sigfus.
+
+But ere they parted, Thorgeir gave Hall a gold ring and a scarlet
+cloak, but Kari gave him a silver brooch, and there were hung to
+it four crosses of gold.  Hall thanked them kindly for their
+gifts, and rode away with the greatest honour.  He did not draw
+bridle till he came to Swinefell, and Flosi gave him a hearty
+welcome.  Hall told Flosi all about his errand and the talk he
+had with Thorgeir, and also that Thorgeir would not take the
+atonement till Kari told him he would quarrel with him if he did
+not take it; but that Kari would take no atonement.
+
+"There are few men like Kari," said Flosi, "and I would that my
+mind were shapen altogether like his."
+
+Hall and Kol stayed there some while, and afterwards they rode
+west at the time agreed on to the meeting for atonement, and met
+at Headbrink, as had been settled between them.
+
+Then Thorgeir came to meet them from the west, and then they
+talked over their atonement, and all went off as Hall had said.
+
+Before the atonement, Thorgeir said that Kari should still have
+the right to be at his house all the same if he chose.
+
+"And neither side shall do the others any harm at my house; and I
+will not have the trouble of gathering in the fines from each of
+the burners; but my will is that Flosi alone shall be answerable
+for them to me, but he must get them in from his followers.  My
+will also is that all that award which was made at the Thing
+about the burning shall be kept and held to; and my will also is,
+Flosi, that thou payest me up my third share in unclipped coin."
+
+Flosi went quickly into all these terms.
+
+Thorgeir neither gave up the banishment nor the outlawry.
+
+Now Flosi and Hall rode home east, and then Hall said to Flosi,
+"Keep this atonement well, son-in-law, both as to going abroad
+and the pilgrimage to Rome (1), and the fines, and then thou wilt
+be thought a brave man, though thou hast stumbled into this
+misdeed, if thou fulfillest handsomely all that belongs to it."
+
+Flosi said it should be so.
+
+Now Hall rode home east, but Flosi rode home to Swinefell, and
+was at home afterwards.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Pilgrimage to Rome."  This condition had not been mentioned
+     before.
+
+
+
+147. KARI COMES TO BJORN'S HOUSE IN THE MARK
+
+Thorgeir Craggeir rode home from the peace meeting, and Kari
+asked whether the atonement had come about.  Thorgeir said that
+they now fully atoned.
+
+Then Kari took his horse and was for riding away.
+
+"Thou hast no need to ride away," says Thorgeir, "for it was laid
+down in our atonement that thou shouldst be here as before if
+thou chosest."
+
+"It shall not be so, cousin, for as soon as ever I slay a man
+they will be sure to say that thou wert in the plot with me, and
+I will not have that!  But I wish this, that thou wouldst let me
+hand over in trust to thee my goods, and the estates of me and my
+wife Helga Njal's daughter, and my three daughters, and then they
+will not be seized by those adversaries of mine."
+
+Thorgeir agreed to what Kari wished to ask of him, and then
+Thorgeir had Kari's goods handed over to him in trust.
+
+After that Kari rode away.  He had two horses and his weapons and
+outer clothing, and some ready money in gold and silver.
+
+Now Kari rode west by Selialandsmull and up along Markfleet, and
+so on up into Thorsmark.  There there are three farms all called
+"Mark."  At the midmost farm dwelt that man whose name was Bjorn,
+and his surname was Bjorn the White; he was the son of Kadal, the
+son of Bjalfi.  Bjalfi had been the freedman of Asgerda, the
+mother of Njal and Holt-Thorir; Bjorn had to wife Valgerda, she
+was the daughter of Thorbrand, the son of Asbrand.  Her mother's
+name was Gudlauga, she was a sister of Hamond, the father of
+Gunnar of Lithend; she was given away to Bjorn for his money's
+sake, and she did not love him much, but yet they had children
+together, and they had enough and to spare in the house.
+
+Bjorn was a man who was always boasting and praising himself, but
+his housewife thought that bad.  He was sharpsighted and swift of
+foot.
+
+Thither Kari turned in as a guest, and they took him by both
+hands, and he was there that night.  But the next morning Kari
+said to Bjom, "I wish thou wouldst take me in, for I should think
+myself well housed here with thee.  I would too that thou
+shouldst be with me in my journeyings, as thou art a
+sharpsighted, swiftfooted man, and besides I think thou wouldst
+be dauntless in an onslaught."
+
+"I can't blame myself," says Bjorn, "for wanting either sharp
+sight, or dash, or any other bravery; but no doubt thou camest
+hither because all thy other earths are stopped.  Still at thy
+prayer, Kari, I will not look on thee as an everyday man; I will
+surely help thee in all that thou askest."
+
+"The trolls take thy boasting and bragging," said his housewife,
+"and thou shouldst not utter such stuff and silliness to any one
+than thyself.  As for me, I will willingly give Kari meat and
+other good things, which I know will be useful to him; but on
+Bjom's hardihood, Kari, thou shalt not trust, for I am afraid
+that thou wilt find it quite otherwise than he says."
+
+"Often hast thou thrown blame upon me," said Bjorn, "but for all
+that I put so much faith in myself that though I am put to the
+trial I will never give way to any man; and the best proof of it
+is this, that few try a tussle with me because none dare to do
+so."
+
+Kari was there some while in hiding, and few men knew of it.
+
+Now men think that Kari must have ridden to the north country to
+see Gudmund the Powerful, for Kari made Bjorn tell his neighbours
+that he had met Kari on the beaten track, and that he rode thence
+up into Godaland, and so north to Goose-sand, and then north to
+Gudmund the Powerful at Modruvale.
+
+So that story was spread over all the country.
+
+
+
+148. OF FLOSI AND THE BURNERS
+
+Now Flosi spoke to the burners, his companions, "It will no
+longer serve our turn to sit still, for now we shall have to
+think of our going abroad and of our fines, and of fulfilling our
+atonement as bravely as we can, and let us take a passage
+wherever it seems most likely to get one."
+
+They bade him see to all that.  Then Flosi said, "We will ride
+east to Hornfirth; for there that ship is laid up, which is owned
+by Eyjolf Nosy, a man from Drontheim, but he wants to take to him
+a wife here, and he will not get the match made unless he settles
+himself down here.  We will buy the ship of him, for we shall
+have many men and little freight.  The ship is big and will take
+us all."
+
+Then they ceased talking of it.
+
+But a little after they rode east, and did not stop before they
+came east to Bjornness in Homfirth, and there they found Eyjolf,
+for he had been there as a guest that winter.
+
+There Flosi and his men had a hearty welcome, and they were there
+the night.  Next morning Flosi dealt with the captain for the
+ship, but he said he would not be hard to sell the ship if he
+could get what he wanted for her.  Flosi asked him in what coin
+he wished to be paid for her; the Easterling says he wanted land
+for her near where he then was.
+
+Then Eyjolf told Flosi all about his dealings with his host, and
+Flosi says he will pull an oar with him, so that his marriage
+bargain might be struck, and buy the ship of him afterwards.  The
+Easterling was glad at that.  Flosi offered him land at
+Borgarhaven, and now the Easterling holds on with his suit to his
+host when Flosi was by, and Flosi threw in a helping word, so
+that the bargain was brought about between them.
+
+Flosi made over the land at Borgarhaven to the Easterling, but
+shook hands on the bargain for the ship.  He got also from the
+Easterling twenty hundreds in wares, and that was also in their
+bargain for the land.
+
+Now Flosi rode back home.  He was so beloved by his men that
+their wares stood free to him to take either on loan or gift,
+just as he chose.
+
+He rode home to Swinefell, and was at home a while.
+
+Then Flosi sent Kol Thorstein's son and Gunnar Lambi's son east
+to Hornfirth.  They were to be there by the ship, and to fit her
+out, and set up booths, and sack the wares, and get all things
+together that were needful.
+
+Now we must tell of the sons of Sigfus how they say to Flosi that
+they will ride west to Fleetlithe to set their houses in order,
+and get wares thence, and such other things as they needed. 
+"Kari is not there now to be guarded against," they say, "if he
+is in the north country as is said."
+
+"I know not," answers Flosi, "as to such stories, whether there
+be any truth in what is said of Kari's journeyings; methinks, we
+have often been wrong in believing things which are nearer to
+learn than this.  My counsel is that ye go many of you together,
+and part as little as ye can, and be as wary of yourselves as ye
+may.  Thou, too, Kettle of the Mark shalt bear in mind that dream
+which I told thee, and which thou prayedst me to hide; for many
+are those in thy company who were then called."
+
+"All must come to pass as to man's life," said Kettle, "as it is
+foredoomed; but good go with thee for thy warning."
+
+Now they spoke no more about it.
+
+After that the sons of Sigfus busked them and those men with them
+who were meant to go with them.  They were eight in all, and then
+they rode away, and ere they went they kissed Flosi, and he bade
+them farewell, and said he and some of those who rode away would
+not see each other more.  But they would not let themselves be
+hindered.  They rode now on their way, and Flosi said that they
+should take his wares in Middleland, and carry them east, and do
+the same in Landsbreach and Woodcombe.
+
+After that they rode to Skaptartongue, and so on the fell, and
+north of Eyjafell Jokul, and down into Godaland, and so down into
+the woods in Thorsmark.
+
+Bjorn of the Mark caught sight of them coming, and went at once
+to meet them.
+
+Then they greeted each other well, and the sons of Sigfus asked
+after Kari Solmund's son.
+
+"I met Kari," said Bjorn, "and that is now very long since; he
+rode hence north on Goose-sand, and meant to go to Gudmund the
+Powerful, and methought if he were here now, he would stand in
+awe of you, for he seemed to be left all alone."
+
+Grani Gunnar's son said, "He shall stand more in awe of us yet
+before we have done with him, and he shall learn that as soon as
+ever he comes within spearthrow of us; but as for us, we do not
+fear him at all, now that he is all alone."
+
+Kettle of the Mark bade them be still, and bring out no big
+words.
+
+Bjorn asked when they would be coming back.
+
+"We shall stay near a week in Fleetlithe," said they, and so they
+told him when they should be riding back on the fell.
+
+With that they parted.
+
+Now the sons of Sigfus rode to their homes, and their households
+were glad to see them.  They were there near a week.
+
+Now Bjorn comes home and sees Kari, and told him all about the
+doings of the sons of Sigfus, and their purpose.
+
+Kari said he had shown in this great faithfulness to him, and
+Bjorn said, "I should have thought there was more risk of any
+other man's failing in that than of me if I had pledged my help
+or care to any one."
+
+"Ah," said his mistress, "but you may still be bad and yet not be
+so bad as to be a traitor to thy master."
+
+Kari stayed there six nights after that.
+
+
+
+149. OF KARI AND BJORN
+
+Now Kari talks to Bjorn and says, "We shall ride east across the
+fell and down into Skaptartongue, and fare stealthily over
+Flosi's country, for I have it in my mind to get myself carried
+abroad east in Alftafirth."
+
+"This is a very riskful journey," said Bjorn, "and few would have
+the heart to take it save thou and I."
+
+"If thou backest Kari ill," said his housewife, "know this, that
+thou shalt never come afterwards into my bed, and my kinsmen
+shall share our goods between us."
+
+"It is likelier, mistress," said he, "that thou wilt have to look
+out for something else than this if thou hast a mind to part from
+me: for I will bear my own witness to myself what a champion and
+daredevil I am when weapons clash."
+
+Now they rode that day east on the fell to the north of the
+Jokul, but never on the highway, and so down into Skaptartongue,
+and above all the homesteads to Skaptarwater, and led their
+horses into a dell, but they themselves were on the look-out, and
+had so placed themselves that they could not be seen.
+
+Then Kari said to Bjorn, "What shall we do now if they ride down
+upon us here from the fell?"
+
+"Are there not but two things to be done," said Bjorn; "one to
+ride away from them north under the crags, and so let them ride
+by us, or to wait and see if any of them lag behind, and then to
+fall on them."
+
+They talked much about this, and one while Bjorn was for flying
+as fast as he could in every word he spoke, and at another for
+staying and fighting it out with them, and Kari thought this the
+greatest sport.
+
+The sons of Sigfus rode from their homes the same day that they
+had named to Bjorn.  They came to the Mark and knocked at the
+door there, and wanted to see Bjorn; but his mistress went to the
+door and greeted them.  They asked at once for Bjorn, and she
+said he had ridden away down under Eyjafell, and so east under
+Selialandsmull, and on east to Holt, "for he has some money to
+call in thereabouts," she said.
+
+They believed this, for they knew that Bjorn had money out at
+call there.
+
+After that they rode east on the fell, and did not stop before
+they came to Skaptartongue, and so rode down along Skaptarwater,
+and baited their horses just where Kari had thought they would. 
+Then they split their band.  Kettle of the Mark rode east into
+Middleland, and eight men with him, but the others laid them down
+to sleep, and were not ware of aught until Kari and Bjorn came up
+to them.  A little ness ran out there into the river; into it
+Kari went and took his stand, and bade Bjorn stand back to back
+with him, and not to put himself too forward, "but give me all
+the help thou canst."
+
+"Well," says Bjorn, "I never had it in my head that any man
+should stand before me as a shield, but still as things are thou
+must have thy way; but for all that, with my gift of wit and my
+swiftness I may be of some use to thee, and not harmless to our
+foes."
+
+Now they all rose up and ran at them, and Modolf Kettle's son was
+quickest of them, and thrust at Kari with his spear.  Kari had
+his shield before him, and the blow fell on it, and the spear
+stuck fast in the shield.  Then Kari twists the shield so
+smartly, that the spear snapped short off, and then he drew his
+sword and smote at Modolf; but Modolf made a cut at him too, and
+Kari's sword fell on Modolf's hilt, and glanced off it on to
+Modolf's wrist, and took the arm off, and down it fell, and the
+sword too.  Then Kari's sword passed on into Modolf's side, and
+between his ribs, and so Modolf fell down and was dead on the
+spot.
+
+Grani Gunnar's son snatched up a spear and hurled it at Kari, but
+Kari thrust down his shield so hard that the point stood fast in
+the ground, but with his left hand he caught the spear in the
+air, and hurled it back at Grani, and caught up his shield again
+at once with his left hand.  Grani had his shield before him, and
+the spear came on the shield and passed right through it, and
+into Grani's thigh just below the small guts, and through the
+limb, and so on, pinning him to the ground, and he could not get
+rid of the spear before his fellows drew him off it, and carried
+him away on their shields, and laid him down in a dell.
+
+There was a man who ran up to Kari's side, and meant to cut off
+his leg, but Bjorn cut off that man's arm, and sprang back again
+behind Kari, and they could not do him any hurt.  Kari made a
+sweep at that same man with his sword, and cut him asunder at the
+waist.
+
+Then Lambi Sigfus' son rushed at Kari, and hewed at him with his
+sword.  Kari caught the blow sideways on his shield, and the
+sword would not bite; then Kari thrust at Lambi with his sword
+just below the breast, so that the point came out between his
+shoulders, and that was his deathblow.
+
+Then Thorstein Geirleif's son rushed at Kari, and thought to take
+him in flank, but Kari caught sight of him, and swept at him with
+his sword across the shoulders, so that the man was cleft asunder
+at the chine.
+
+A little while after he gave Gunnar of Skal, a good man and true,
+his deathblow.  As for Bjorn, he had wounded three men who had
+tried to give Kari wounds, and yet he was never so far forward
+that he was in the least danger, nor was he wounded, nor was
+either of those companions hurt in that fight, but all those that
+got away were wounded.
+
+Then they ran for their horses, and galloped them off across
+Skaptarwater as hard as they could, and they were so scared that
+they stopped at no house, nor did they dare to stay and tell the
+tidings anywhere.
+
+Kari and Bjorn hooted and shouted after them as they galloped
+off.  So they rode east to Woodcombe, and did not draw bridle
+till they came to Swinefell.
+
+Flosi was not at home when they came thither, and that was why no
+hue and cry was made thence after Kari.
+
+This journey of theirs was thought most shameful by all men.
+
+Kari rode to Skal, and gave notice of these manslayings as done
+by his hand; there, too, he told them of the death of their
+master and five others, and of Grani's wound, and said it would
+be better to bear him to the house if he were to live.
+
+Bjorn said he could not bear to slay him, though he said he was
+worthy of death; but those who answered him said they were sure
+few had bitten the dust before him.  But Bjorn told them he had
+it now in his power to make as many of the Sidemen as he chose
+bite the dust; to which they said it was a bad look out.
+
+Then Kari and Bjorn ride away from the house.
+
+
+
+150. MORE OF KARI AND BJORN
+
+Then Kari asked Bjorn, "What counsel shall we take now?  Now I
+will try what thy wit is worth."
+
+"Dost thou think now," answered Bjorn, "that much lies on our
+being as wise as ever we can?"
+
+"Ay," said Kari, "I think so surely."
+
+"Then our counsel is soon taken," says Bjorn.  "We will cheat
+them all as though they were giants; and now we will make as
+though we were riding north on the fell, but as soon as ever we
+are out of sight behind the brae, we will turn down along
+Skaptarwater, and hide us there where we think handiest, so long
+as the hue and cry is hottest, if they ride after us."
+
+"So will we do," said Kari; "and this I had meant to do all
+along."
+
+"And so you may put it to the proof," said Bjorn, "that I am no
+more of an every-day body in wit than I am in bravery."
+
+Now Kari and his companion rode as they had purposed down along
+Skaptarwater, till they came where a branch of the stream ran
+away to the south-east; then they turned down along the middle
+branch, and did not draw bridle till they came into Middleland,
+and on that moor which is called Kringlemire; it has a stream of
+lava all around it.
+
+Then Kari said to Bjorn that he must watch their horses, and keep
+a good look-out; "But as for me," he says, "I am heavy with
+sleep."
+
+So Bjorn watched the horses, but Kari lay him down, and slept but
+a very short while ere Bjorn waked him up again, and he had
+already led their horses together, and they were by their side. 
+Then Bjorn said to Kari, "Thou standest in much need of me
+though!  A man might easily have run away from thee if he had not
+been as brave-hearted as I am; for now thy foes are riding upon
+thee, and so thou must up and be doing."
+
+Then Kari went away under a jutting crag, and Bjorn said, "Where
+shall I stand now?"
+
+"Well!" answers Kari, "now there are two choices before thee; one
+is, that thou standest at my back and have my shield to cover
+thyself with, if it can be of any use to thee; and the other is,
+to get on thy horse and ride away as fast as thou canst."
+
+"Nay," says Bjorn, "I will not do that, and there are many things
+against it; first of all, may be, if I ride away, some spiteful
+tongues might begin to say that I ran away from thee for faint-
+heartedness; and another thing is, that I well know what game
+they will think there is in me, and so they will ride after me,
+two or three of them, and then I should be of no use or help to
+thee after all.  No! I will rather stand by thee and keep them
+off so long as it is fated."
+
+Then they had not long to wait ere horses with packsaddles were
+driven by them over the moor, and with them went three men.
+
+Then Kari said, "These men see us not."
+
+"Then let us suffer them to ride on," said Bjorn.
+
+So those three rode on past them; but the six others then came
+riding right up to them, and they all leapt off their horses
+straightway in a body, and turned on Kari and his companion.
+
+First, Glum Hildir's son rushed at them, and thrust at Kari with
+a spear; Kari turned short round on his heel, and Glum missed
+him, and the blow fell against the rock.  Bjorn sees that and
+hewed at once the head off Glum's spear.  Kari leant on one side
+and smote at Glum with his sword, and the blow fell on his thigh,
+and took off the limb high up in the thigh, and Glum died at
+once.
+
+Then Vebrand and Asbrand the sons of Thorbrand ran up to Kari,
+but Kari flew at Vebrand and thrust his sword through him, but
+afterwards he hewed off both of Asbrand's feet from under him.
+
+In this bout both Kari and Bjorn were wounded.
+
+Then Kettle of the Mark rushed at Kari, and thrust at him with
+his spear.  Kari threw up his leg, and the spear stuck in the
+ground, and Kari leapt on the spear-shaft, and snapped it in
+sunder.
+
+Then Kari grasped Kettle in his arms, and Bjorn ran up just then,
+and wanted to slay him, but Kari said, "Be still now.  I will
+give Kettle peace; for though it may be that Kettle's life is in
+my power, still I will never slay him."
+
+Kettle answers never a word, but rode away after his companions,
+and told those the tidings who did not know them already.
+
+They told also these tidings to the men of the Hundred, and they
+gathered together at once a great force of armed men, and went
+straightway up all the water-courses, and so far up on the fell
+that they were three days in the chase; but after that they
+turned back to their own homes, but Kettle and his companions
+rode east to Swinefell, and told the tidings these.
+
+Flosi was little stirred at what had befallen them, but said, "No
+one could tell whether things would stop there, for there is no
+man like Kari of all that are now left in Iceland."
+
+
+
+151. OF KARI AND BJORN AND THORGEIR
+
+Now we must tell of Bjorn and Kari that they ride down on the
+Sand, and lead their horses under the banks where the wild oats
+grew, and cut the oats for them, that they might not die of
+hunger.  Kari made such a near guess, that he rode away thence at
+the very time that they gave over seeking for him.  He rode by
+night up through the Hundred, and after that he took to the fell;
+and so on all the same way as they had followed when they rode
+east, and did not stop till they came at Midmark.
+
+Then Bjorn said to Kari, "Now shalt thou be my great friend
+before my mistress, for she will never believe one word of what I
+say; but everything lies on what you do, so now repay me for the
+good following which I have yielded to thee."
+
+"So it shall be; never fear," says Kari.
+
+After that they ride up to the homestead, and then the mistress
+asked them what tidings, and greeted them well.
+
+"Our troubles have rather grown greater, old lass!"
+
+She answered little, and laughed; and then the mistress went on
+to ask, "How did Bjorn behave to thee, Kari?"
+
+"Bare is back," he answers, "without brother behind it, and Bjorn
+behaved well to me.  He wounded three men, and, besides, he is
+wounded himself, and he stuck as close to me as he could in
+everything."
+
+They were three nights there, and after that they rode to Holt to
+Thorgeir, and told him alone these tidings, for those tidings had
+not yet been heard there.
+
+Thorgeir thanked him, and it was quite plain that he was glad at
+what he heard.  He asked Kari what now was undone which he meant
+to do.
+
+"I mean," answers Kari, "to kill Gunnar Lambi's son and Kol
+Thorstein's son, if I can get a chance.  Then we have slain
+fifteen men, reckoning those five whom we two slew together.  But
+one boon I will now ask of thee."
+
+Thorgeir said he would grant him whatever he asked.
+
+"I wish, then, that thou wilt take under thy safeguard this man
+whose name is Bjorn, and who has been in these slayings with me,
+and that thou wilt change farms with him, and give him a farm
+ready stocked here close by thee, and so hold thy hand over him
+that no-vengeance may befall him; but all this will be an easy
+matter for thee who art such a chief."
+
+"So it shall be," says Thorgeir.
+
+Then he gave Bjorn a ready-stocked farm at Asolfskal, but he took
+the farm in the Mark into his own hands.  Thorgeir flitted all
+Bjorn's household stuff and goods to Asolfskal, and all his live
+stock; and Thorgeir settled all Bjorn's quarrels for him, and he
+was reconciled to them with a full atonement.  So Bjorn was
+thought to be much more of a man than he had been before.
+
+Then Kari rode away, and did not draw rein till he came west to
+Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son.  He gave Kari a most hearty
+welcome, and Kari told him of all the tidings that had happened
+in these slayings.
+
+Asgrim was well pleased at them, and asked what Kari meant to do
+next.
+
+"I mean," said Kari, "to fare abroad after them, and so dog their
+footsteps and slay them, if I can get at them."
+
+Asgrim said there was no man like him for bravery and hardihood.
+
+He was there some nights, and after that he rode to Gizur the
+White, and he took him by both hands.  Kari stayed there somme
+while, and then he told Gizur that he wished to ride down to
+Eyrar.
+
+Gizur gave Kari a good sword at parting.
+
+Now he rode down to Eyrar, and took him a passage with Kolbein
+the Black; he was an Orkneyman and an old friend of Kari, and he
+was the most forward and brisk of men.
+
+He took Kari by both hands, and said that one fate should befall
+both of them.
+
+
+
+152. FLOSI GOES ABROAD
+
+Now Flosi rides east to Hornfirth, and most of the men in his
+Thing followed him, and bore his wares east, as well as all his
+stores and baggage which he had to take with him.
+
+After that they busked them for their voyage, and fitted out
+their ship.
+
+Now Flosi stayed by the ship until they were "boun."  But as soon
+as ever they got a fair wind they put out to sea.  They had it
+long passage and hard weather.
+
+Then they quite lost their reckoning, and sailed on and on, and
+all at once three great waves broke over their ship, one after
+the other.  Then Flosi said they must be near some land, and that
+this was a ground-swell.  A great mist was on them, but the wind
+rose so that a great gale overtook them, and they scarce knew
+where they were before they were dashed on shore at dead of
+night, and the men were saved, but the ship was dashed all to
+pieces, and they could not save their goods.
+
+Then they had to look for shelter and warmth for themselves, and
+the day after they went up on a height.  The weather was then
+good.
+
+Flosi asked if any man knew this land, and there were two men of
+their crew who had fared thither before, and said they were quite
+sure they knew it, and, say they, "We are come to Hrossey in the
+Orkneys."
+
+"Then we might have made a better landing," said Flosi, "for Grim
+and Helgi, Njal's sons, whom I slew, were both of them of Earl
+Sigurd Hlodver's son's bodyguard."
+
+Then they sought for a hiding-place and spread moss over
+themselves, and so lay for a while, but not for long, ere Flosi
+spoke and said, "We will not lie here any longer until the
+landsmen are ware of us."
+
+Then they arose, and took counsel, and then Flosi said to his
+men, "We will go all of us and give ourselves up to the earl; for
+there is naught else to do, and the earl has our lives at his
+pleasure if he chooses to seek for them."
+
+Then they all went away thence, and Flosi said that they must
+tell no man any tidings of their voyage, or what manner of men
+they were, before he told them to the earl.
+
+Then they walked on until they met men who showed them to the
+town, and then they went in before the earl, and Flosi and all
+the others hailed him.
+
+The earl asked what men they might be, and Flosi told his name,
+and said out of what part of Iceland he was.
+
+The earl had already heard of the burning, and so be knew the men
+at once, and then the earl asked Flosi, "What hast thou to tell
+me about Helgi Njal's son, my henchman."
+
+"This," said Flosi, "that I hewed off his head."
+
+"Take them all," said the earl.
+
+Then that was done, and just then in came Thorstein, son of Hall
+of the Side.  Flosi had to wife Steinvora, Thorstein's sister. 
+Thorstein was one of Earl Sigurd's bodyguard, but when be saw
+Flosi seized and held, he went in before the earl, and offered
+for Flosi all the goods he had.
+
+The earl was very wroth a long time, but at last the end of it
+was, by the prayer of good men and true, joined to those of
+Thorstein, for he was well backed by friends, and many threw in
+their word with his, that the earl took an atonement from them,
+and gave Flosi and all the rest of them peace.  The earl held to
+that custom of mighty men that Flosi took that place in his
+service which Helgi Njal's son had filled.
+
+So Flosi was made Earl Sigurd's henchman, and he soon won his way
+to great love with the earl.
+
+
+
+153. KARI GOES ABROAD
+
+Those messmates Kari and Kolbein the Black put out to sea from
+Eyrar half a month later than Flosi and his companions from
+Hornfirth.
+
+They got a fine fair wind, and were but a short time out.  The
+first land they made was the Fair Isle, it lies between Shetland
+and the Orkneys.  There that man whose name was David the White
+took Kari into his house, and he told him all that he had heard
+for certain about the doings of the burners.  He was one of
+Kari's greatest friends, and Kari stayed with him for the winter.
+
+There they heard tidings from the west out of the Orkneys of all
+that was done there.
+
+Earl Sigurd bade to his feast at Yule Earl Gilli, his brother-
+in-law, out of the Southern isles; he had to wife Swanlauga, Earl
+Sigurd's sister; and then, too, came to see Earl Sigurd that king
+from Ireland whose name was Sigtrygg.  He was a son of Olaf
+Rattle, but his mother's name was Kormlada; she was the fairest
+of all women, and best gifted in everything that was not in her
+own power, but it was the talk of men that she did all things ill
+over which she had any power.
+
+Brian was the name of the king who first had her to wife, but
+they were then parted.  He was the best-natured of all kings.  He
+had his seat in Connaught, in Ireland; his brother's name was
+Wolf the Quarrelsome, the greatest champion and warrior; Brian's
+foster-child's name was Kerthialfad.  He was the son of King
+Kylfi, who had many wars with King Brian, and fled away out of
+the land before him, and became a hermit; but when King Brian
+went south on a pilgrimage, then he met King Kylfi, and then they
+were atoned, and King Brian took his son Kerthialfad to him, and
+loved him more than his own sons.  He was then full grown when
+these things happened, and was the boldest of all men.
+
+Duncan was the name of the first of King Brian's sons; the second
+was Margad; the third, Takt, whom we call Tann, he was the
+youngest of them; but the elder sons of King Brian were full
+grown, and the briskest of men.
+
+Kormlada was not the mother of King Brian's children, and so grim
+was she against King Brian after their parting, that she would
+gladly have him dead.
+
+King Brian thrice forgave all his outlaws the same fault, but if
+they misbehaved themselves oftener, then he let them be judged by
+the law; and from this one may mark what a king he must have
+been.
+
+Kormlada egged on her son Sigtrygg very much to kill King Brian,
+and she now sent him to Earl Sigurd to beg for help.
+
+King Sigtrygg came before Yule to the Orkneys, and there, too,
+came Earl Gilli, as was written before.
+
+The men were so placed that King Sigtrygg sat in a high seat in
+the middle, but on either side of the king sat one of the earls. 
+The men of King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli sate on the inner side
+away from him, but on the outer side away from Earl Sigurd, sate
+Flosi and Thorstein, son of Hall of the Side, and the whole hall
+was full.
+
+Now King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli wished to hear of these tidings
+which had happened at the burning, and so, also, what had
+befallen since.
+
+Then Gunnar Lambi's son was got to tell the tale, and a stool was
+set for him to sit upon.
+
+
+
+154. GUNNAR LAMBI'S SON'S SLAYING
+
+Just at that very time Kari and Kolbein and David the White came
+to Hrossey unawares to all men.  They went straightway up on
+land, but a few men watched their ship.
+
+Kari and his fellows went straight to the earl's homestead, and
+came to the hall about drinking time.
+
+It so happened that just then Gunnar was telling the story of the
+burning, but they were listening to him meanwhile outside.  This
+was on Yule-day itself.
+
+Now King Sigtrygg asked, "How did Skarphedinn bear the burning?"
+
+"Well at first for a long time," said Gunnar, "but still the end
+of it was that he wept."  And so he went on giving an unfair
+leaning in his story, but every now and then he laughed out loud.
+
+Kari could not stand this, and then he ran in with his sword
+drawn, and sang this song:
+
+     "Men of might, in battle eager,
+     Boast of burning Njal's abode,
+     Have the Princes heard how sturdy
+     Seahorse racers sought revenge?
+     Hath not since, on foemen holding
+     High the shield's broad orb aloft,
+     All that wrong been fully wroken?
+     Raw flesh ravens got to tear."
+
+So he ran in up the hall, and smote Gunnar Lambi's son on the
+neck with such a sharp blow, that his head spun off on to the
+board before the king and the earls, and the board was all one
+gore of blood, and the earl's clothing too.
+
+Earl Sigurd knew the man that had done the deed, and called out,
+"Seize Kari and kill him."
+
+Kari had been one of Earl Sigurd's bodyguard, and he was of all
+men most beloved by his friends; and no man stood up a whit more
+for the earl's speech.
+
+"Many would say, Lord," said Kari, "that I have done this deed on
+your behalf, to avenge your henchman."
+
+Then Flosi said, "Kari hath not done this without a cause; he is
+in no atonement with us, and he only did what he had a right to
+do."
+
+So Kari walked away, and there was no hue and cry after him. 
+Kari fared to his ship, and his fellows with him.  The weather
+was then good, and they sailed off at once south to Caithness,
+and went on shore at Thraswick to the house of a worthy man whose
+name was Skeggi, and with him they stayed a very long while.
+
+Those behind in the Orkneys cleansed the board, and bore out the
+dead man.
+
+The earl was told that they had set sail south for Scotland, and
+King Sigtrygg said, "This was a mighty bold fellow, who dealt his
+stroke so stoutly, and never thought twice about it!"
+
+Then Earl Sigurd answered, "There is no man like Kari for dash
+and daring."
+
+Now Flosi undertook to tell the story of the burning, and he was
+fair to all; and therefore what he said was believed.
+
+Then King Sigtrygg stirred in his business with Earl Sigurd, and
+bade him go to the war with him against King Brian.
+
+The earl was long steadfast, but the end of it was that he let
+the king have his way, but said he must have his mother's hand
+for his help, and be king in Ireland, if they slew Brian.  But
+all his men besought Earl Sigurd not to go into the war, but it
+was all no good.
+
+So they parted on the understanding that Earl Sigurd gave his
+word to go; but King Sigtrygg promised him his mother and the
+kingdom.
+
+It was so settled that Earl Sigurd was to come with all his host
+to Dublin by Palm Sunday.
+
+Then King Sigtrygg fared south to Ireland, and told his mother
+Kormlada that the earl had undertaken to come, and also what he
+had pledged himself to grant him.
+
+She showed herself well pleased at that, but said they must
+gather greater force still.
+
+Sigtrygg asked whence this was to be looked for?
+
+She said there were two vikings lying off the west of Man; and
+that they had thirty ships, and, she went on, "They are men of
+such hardihood that nothing can withstand them.  The one's name
+is Ospak, and the other's Brodir.  Thou shalt fare to find them,
+and spare nothing to get them into thy quarrel, whatever price
+they ask."
+
+Now King Sigtrygg fares and seeks the vikings, and found them
+lying outside off Man; King Sigtrygg brings forward his errand at
+once, but Brodir shrank from helping him until he, King Sigtrygg,
+promised him the kingdom and his mother, and they were to keep
+this such a secret that Earl Sigurd should know nothing about it;
+Brodir too was to come to Dublin on Palm Sunday.
+
+So King Sigtrygg fared home to his mother, and told her how
+things stood.
+
+After that those brothers, Ospak and Brodir, talked together, and
+then Brodir told Ospak all that he and Sigtrygg had spoken of,
+and bade him fare to battle with him against King Brian, and said
+he set much store on his going.
+
+But Ospak said he would not fight against so good a king.
+
+Then they were both wroth, and sundered their band at once. 
+Ospak had ten ships and Brodir twenty.
+
+Ospak was a heathen, and the wisest of all men.  He laid his
+ships inside in a sound, but Brodir lay outside him.
+
+Brodir had been a Christian man and a mass-deacon by
+consecration, but he had thrown off his faith and become God's
+dastard, and now worshipped heathen fiends, and he was of all men
+most skilled in sorcery.  He had that coat of mail on which no
+steel would bite.  He was both tall and strong, and had such long
+locks that he tucked them under his belt.  His hair was black.
+
+
+
+155. OF SIGNS AND WONDERS
+
+It so happened one night that a great din passed over Brodir and
+his men, so that they all woke, and sprang up and put on their
+clothes.
+
+Along with that came a shower of boiling blood.
+
+Then they covered themselves with their shields, but for all that
+many were scalded.
+
+This wonder lasted all till day, and a man had died on board
+every ship.
+
+Then they slept during the day, but the second night there was
+again a din, and again they all sprang up.  Then swords leapt out
+of their sheaths, and axes and spears flew about in the air and
+fought.
+
+The weapons pressed them so hard that they had to shield
+themselves, but still many were wounded, and again a man died out
+of every ship.
+
+This wonder lasted all till day.
+
+Then they slept again the day after.
+
+But the third night there was a din of the same kind, and then
+ravens flew at them, and it seemed to them as though their beaks
+and claws were of iron.
+
+The ravens pressed them so hard that they had to keep them off
+with their swords, and covered themselves with their shields, and
+so this went on again till day, and then another man had died in
+every ship.
+
+Then they went to sleep first of all, but when Brodir woke up, he
+drew his breath painfully, and bade them put off the boat. 
+"For," he said, "I will go to see Ospak."
+
+Then he got into the boat and some men with him, but when he
+found Ospak he told him of the wonders which had befallen them,
+and bade him say what he thought they bodcd.
+
+Ospak would not tell him before he pledged him peace, and Brodir
+promised him peace, but Ospak still shrank from telling him till
+night fell.
+
+Then Ospak spoke and said, "When blood rained on you, therefore
+shall ye shed many men's blood, both of your own and others.  But
+when ye heard a great din, then ye must have been shown the crack
+of doom, and ye shall all die speedily.  But when weapons fought
+against you, that must forebode a battle; but when ravens pressed
+you, that marks the devils which ye put faith in, and who will
+drag you all down to the pains of hell."
+
+Then Brodir was so wroth that he could answer never a word, but
+he went at once to his men, and made them lay his ships in a line
+across the sound, and moor them by bearing their cables on shore
+at either end of the line, and meant to slay them all next
+morning.
+
+Ospak saw all their plan, and then he vowed to take the true
+faith, and to go to King Brian, and follow him till his death-
+day.
+
+Then he took that counsel to lay his ships in a line, and punt
+them along the shore with poles, and cut the cables of Brodir's
+ships.  Then the ships of Brodir's men began to fall aboard of
+one another when they were all fast asleep; and so Ospak and his
+men got out of the firth, and so west to Ireland, and came to
+Connaught.
+
+Then Ospak told King Brian all that he had learnt, and took
+baptism, and gave himself over into the king's hand.
+
+After that King Brian made them gather force over all his realm,
+and the whole host was to come to Dublin in the week before Palm
+Sunday.
+
+
+
+156. BRIAN'S BATTLE
+
+Earl Sigurd Hlodver's son busked him from the Orkneys, and Flosi
+offered to go with him.
+
+The earl would not have that, since he had his pilgrimage to
+fulfil.
+
+Flosi offered fifteen men of his band to go on the voyage, and
+the earl accepted them, but Flosi fared with Earl Gilli to the
+Southern isles.
+
+Thorstein, the son of Hall of the Side, went along with Earl
+Sigurd, and Hrafn the Red, and Erling of Straumey.
+
+He would not that Hareck should go, but said he would be sure to
+be the first to tell him the tidings of his voyage.
+
+The earl came with all his host on Palm Sunday to Dublin, and
+there too was come Brodir with all his host.
+
+Brodir tried by sorcery how the fight would go, but the answer
+ran thus, that if the fight were on Good-Friday King Brian would
+fall but win the day; but if they fought before, they would all
+fall who were against him.
+
+Then Brodir said that they must not fight before the Friday.
+
+On the fifth day of the week a man rode up to Kormlada and her
+company on an apple-grey horse, and in his hand he held a
+halberd; he talked long with them.
+
+King Brian came with all his host to the Burg, and on the Friday
+the host fared out of the Burg, and both armies were drawn up in
+array.
+
+Brodir was on one wing of the battle, but King Sigtrygg on the
+other.
+
+Earl Sigurd was in the mid battle.
+
+Now it must be told of King Brian that he would not fight on the
+fast-day, and so a shieldburg (1) was thrown round him, and his
+host was drawn up in array in front of it.
+
+Wolf the Quarrelsome was on that wing of the battle against which
+Brodir stood; but on the other wing, where Sigtrygg stood against
+them, were Ospak and his sons.
+
+But in mid battle was Kerthialfad, and before him the banners
+were home.
+
+Now the wings fall on one another, and there was a very hard
+fight.  Brodir went through the host of the foe, and felled all
+the foremost that stood there, but no steel would bite on his
+mail.
+
+Wolf the Quarrelsome turned then to meet him, and thrust at him
+thrice so hard that Brodir fell before him at each thrust, and
+was well-nigh not getting on his feet again; but as soon as ever
+he found his feet, he fled away into the wood at once.
+
+Earl Sigurd had a hard battle against Kerthialfad, and
+Kerthialfad came on so fast that he laid low all who were in the
+front rank, and he broke the array of Earl Sigurd right up to his
+banner, and slew the banner-bearer.
+
+Then he got another man to bear the banner, and there was again a
+hard fight.
+
+Kerthialfad smote this man too his death blow at once, and so on
+one after the other all who stood near him.
+
+Then Earl Sigurd called on Thorstein the son of Hall of the Side,
+to bear the banner, and Thorstein was just about to lift the
+banner, but then Asmund the White said, "Don't bear the banner!
+For all they who bear it get their death."
+
+"Hrafn the Red!" called out Earl Sigurd, "bear thou the banner."
+
+"Bear thine own devil thyself," answered Hrafn.
+
+Then the earl said, "`Tis fittest that the beggar should bear the
+bag;'" and with that he took the banner from the staff and put it
+under his cloak.
+
+A little after Asmund the White was slain, and then the earl was
+pierced through with a spear.
+
+Ospak had gone through all the battle on his wing, he had been
+sore wounded, and lost both his sons ere King Sigtrygg fled
+before him.
+
+Then flight broke out throughout all the host.
+
+Thorstein Hall of the Side's son stood still while all the others
+fled, and tied his shoe-string.  Then Kerthialfad asked why he
+ran not as the others.
+
+"Because," said Thorstein, "I can't get home to-night, since I
+am at home out in Iceland."
+
+Kerthialfad gave him peace.
+
+Hrafn the Red was chased out into a certain river; he thought he
+saw there the pains of hell down below him, and he thought the
+devils wanted to drag him to them.
+
+Then Hrafn said, "Thy dog (2), Apostle Peter!  hath run twice to
+Rome, and he would run the third time if thou gavest him leave."
+
+Then the devils let him loose, and Hrafn got across the river.
+
+Now Brodir saw that King Brian's men were chasing the fleers, and
+that there were few men by the shieldburg.
+
+Then he rushed out of the wood, and broke through the shieldburg,
+and hewed at the king.
+
+The lad Takt threw his arm in the way, and the stroke took it off
+and the king's head too, but the king's blood came on the lad's
+stump, and the stump was healed by it on the spot.
+
+Then Brodir called out with a loud voice, "Now let man tell man
+that Brodir felled Brian."
+
+Then men ran after those who were chasing the fleers, and they
+were told that King Brian had fallen, and then they turned back
+straightway, both Wolf the Quarrelsome and Kerthialfad.
+
+Then they threw a ring round Brodir and his men, and threw
+branches of trees upon them, and so Brodir was taken alive.
+
+Wolf the Quarrelsome cut open his belly, and led him round and
+round the trunk of a tree, and so wound all his entrails out of
+him, and he did not die before they were all drawn out of him.
+
+Brodir's men were slain to a man.
+
+After that they took King Brian's body and laid it out.  The
+king's head had grown fast to the trunk.
+
+Fifteen men of the burners fell in Brian's battle, and there,
+too, fell Halldor the son of Gudmund the Powerful, and Erling
+of Straumey.
+
+On Good-Friday that event happened in Caithness that a man whose
+name was Daurrud went out.  He saw folk riding twelve together to
+a bower, and there they were all lost to his sight.  He went to
+that bower and looked in through a window slit that was in it,
+and saw that there were women inside, and they had set up a loom. 
+Men's heads were the weights, but men's entrails were the warp
+and weft, a sword was the shuttle, and the reels were arrows.
+
+They sang these songs, and he learnt them by heart:
+
+THE WOOF OF WAR.
+
+     "See! warp is stretched
+     For warriors' fall,
+     Lo! weft in loom
+     'Tis wet with blood;
+     Now fight foreboding,
+     'Neath friends' swift fingers,
+     Our grey woof waxeth
+     With war's alarms,
+     Our warp bloodred,
+     Our weft corseblue.
+
+     "This woof is y-woven
+     With entrails of men,
+     This warp is hardweighted
+     With heads of the slain,
+     Spears blood-besprinkled
+     For spindles we use,
+     Our loom ironbound,
+     And arrows our reels;
+     With swords for our shuttles
+     This war-woof we work;
+     So weave we, weird sisters,
+     Our warwinning woof.
+
+     "Now Warwinner walketh
+     To weave in her turn,
+     Now Swordswinger steppeth,
+     Now Swiftstroke, now Storm;
+     When they speed the shuttle
+     How spearheads shall flash!
+     Shields crash, and helmgnawer (3)
+     On harness bite hard!
+
+     "Wind we, wind swiftly
+     Our warwinning woof
+     Woof erst for king youthful
+     Foredoomed as his own,
+     Forth now we will ride,
+     Then through the ranks rushing
+     Be busy where friends
+     Blows blithe give and take.
+
+     "Wind we, wind swiftly
+     Our warwinning woof,
+     After that let us steadfastly
+     Stand by the brave king;
+     Then men shall mark mournful
+     Their shields red with gore,
+     How Swordstroke and Spearthrust
+     Stood stout by the prince.
+
+     "Wind we, wind swiftly
+     Our warwinning woof.
+     When sword-bearing rovers
+     To banners rush on,
+     Mind, maidens, we spare not
+     One life in the fray!
+     We corse-choosing sisters
+     Have charge of the slain.
+
+     "Now new-coming nations
+     That island shall rule,
+     Who on outlying headlands
+     Abode ere the fight;
+     I say that King mighty
+     To death now is done,
+     Now low before spearpoint
+     That Earl bows his head.
+
+     "Soon over all Ersemen
+     Sharp sorrow shall fall,
+     That woe to those warriors
+     Shall wane nevermore;
+     Our woof now is woven.
+     Now battlefield waste,
+     O'er land and o'er water
+     War tidings shall leap.
+
+     "Now surely 'tis gruesome
+     To gaze all around.
+     When bloodred through heaven
+     Drives cloudrack o'er head;
+     Air soon shall be deep hued
+     With dying men's blood
+     When this our spaedom
+     Comes speedy to pass.
+
+     "So cheerily chant we
+     Charms for the young king,
+     Come maidens lift loudly
+     His warwinning lay;
+     Let him who now listens
+     Learn well with his ears
+     And gladden brave swordsmen
+     With bursts of war's song.
+
+     "Now mount we our horses,
+     Now bare we our brands,
+     Now haste we hard, maidens,
+     Hence far, far, away."
+
+Then they plucked down the Woof and tore it asunder, and each
+kept what she had hold of.
+
+Now Daurrud goes away from the Slit, and home; but they got on
+their steeds and rode six to the south, and the other six to the
+north.
+
+A like event befell Brand Gneisti's son in the Faroe Isles.
+
+At Swinefell, in Iceland, blood came on the priest's stole on
+Good-Friday, so that he had to put it off.
+
+At Thvattwater the priest thought he saw on Good-Friday a long
+deep of the sea hard by the altar, and there he saw many awful
+sights, and it was long ere he could sing the prayers.
+
+This event happened in the Orkneys, that Hareck thought he saw
+Earl Sigurd, and some men with him.  Then Hareck took his horse
+and rode to meet the earl.  Men saw that they met and rode under
+a brae, but they were never seen again, and not a scrap was ever
+found of Hareck.
+
+Earl Gilli in the Southern isles dreamed that a man came to him
+and said his name was Hostfinn, and told him he was come from
+Ireland.
+
+The earl thought he asked him for tidings thence, and then he
+sang this song:
+
+     "I have been where warriors wrestled,
+     High in Erin sang the sword,
+     Boss to boss met many bucklers,
+     Steel rung sharp on rattling helm;
+     I can tell of all their struggle;
+     Sigurd fell in flight of spears;
+     Brian fell, but kept his kingdom
+     Ere he lost one drop of blood."
+
+Those two, Flosi and the earl, talked much of this dream.  A week
+after, Hrafn the Red came thither, and told them all the tidings
+of Brian's battle, the fall of the king, and of Earl Sigurd, and
+Brodir, and all the Vikings.
+
+"What," said Flosi, "hast thou to tell me of my men?
+
+"They all fell there," says Hrafn, "but thy brother-in-law
+Thorstein took peace from Kerthialfad, and is now with him."
+
+Flosi told the earl that he would now go away, "For we have our
+pilgrimage south to fulfil."
+
+The earl bade him go as he wished, and gave him a ship and all
+else that he needed, and much silver.
+
+Then they sailed to Wales, and stayed there a while.
+
+
+ENDNOTES:
+
+(1)  "Shieldburg," that is, a ring of men holding their shields
+     locked together.
+(2)  "Thy dog," etc.  Meaning that he would go a third time on a
+     pilgrimage to Rome if St. Peter helped him out of this
+     strait.
+(3)  "Helmgnawer," the sword that bites helmets.
+
+
+
+157. THE SLAYING OF KOL THORSTEIN'S SON
+
+Kari Solmund's son told master Skeggi that he wished he would get
+him a ship.  So master Skeggi gave Kari a longship, fully trimmed
+and manned, and on board it went Kari, and David the White, and
+Kolbein the Black.
+
+Now Kari and his fellows sailed south through Scotland's firths,
+and there they found men from the Southern isles.  They told Kari
+the tidings from Ireland, and also that Flosi was gone to Wales,
+and his men with him.
+
+But when Kari heard that, he told his messmates that he would
+hold on south to Wales, to fall in with Flosi and his band.  So
+he bade them then to part from his company, if they liked it
+better, and said that he would not wish to beguile any man into
+mischief, because he thought he had not yet had revenge enough on
+Flosi and his band.
+
+All chose to go with him; and then he sails south to Wales, and
+there they lay in hiding in a creek out of the way.
+
+That morning Kol Thorstein's son went into the town to buy
+silver.  He of all the burners had used the bitterest words.  Kol
+had talked much with a mighty dame, and he had so knocked the
+nail on the head, that it was all but fixed that he was to have
+her, and settle down there.
+
+That same morning Kari went also into the town.  He came where
+Kol was telling the silver.
+
+Kari knew him at once, and ran at him with his drawn sword and
+smote him on the neck; but he still went on telling the silver,
+and his head counted "ten" just as it spun off his body.
+
+Then Kari said, "Go and tell this to Flosi, that Kari Solmund's
+son hath slain Kol Thorstein's son.  I give notice of this
+slaying as done by my hand."
+
+Then Kari went to his ship, and told his shipmates of the
+manslaughter.
+
+Then they sailed north to Beruwick, and laid up their ship, and
+fared up into Whitherne in Scotland, and were with Earl Malcolm
+that year.
+
+But when Flosi heard of Kol's slaying, he laid out his body, and
+bestowed much money on his burial.
+
+Flosi never uttered any wrathful words against Kari.
+
+Thence Flosi fared south across the sea and began his pilgrimage,
+and went on south, and did not stop till he came to Rome.  There
+he got so great honour that he took absolution from the Pope
+himself, and for that he gave a great sum of money.
+
+Then he fared back again by the east road, and stayed long in
+towns, and went in before mighty men, and had from them great
+honour.
+
+He was in Norway the winter after, and was with Earl Eric till he
+was ready to sail, and the earl gave him much meal, and many
+other men behaved handsomely to him.
+
+Now he sailed out to Iceland, and ran into Hornfirth, and thence
+fared home to Swinefell.  He had then fulfilled all the terms of
+his atonement, both in fines and foreign travel.
+
+
+
+158. OF FLOSI AND KARI
+
+Now it is to be told of Kari that the summer after he went down
+to his ship and sailed south across the sea, and began his
+pilgrimage in Normandy, and so went south and got absolution and
+fared back by the western way, and took his ship again in
+Normandy, and sailed in her north across the sea to Dover in
+England.
+
+Thence he sailed west, round Wales, and so north, through
+Scotland's firths, and did not stay his course till he came to
+Thraswick in Caithness, to master Skeggi's house.
+
+There he gave over the ship of burden to Kolbein and David, and
+Kolbein sailed in that ship to Norway, but David stayed behind in
+the Fair Isle.
+
+Kari was that winter in Caithness.  In this winter his housewife
+died out in Iceland.
+
+The next summer Kari busked him for Iceland.  Skeggi gave him a
+ship of burden, and there were eighteen of them on board her.
+
+They were rather late "boun," but still they put to sea, and had
+a long passage, but at last they made Ingolf's Head.  There their
+ship was dashed all to pieces, but the men's lives were saved. 
+Then, too, a gale of wind came on them.
+
+Now they ask Kari what counsel was to be taken; but he said their
+best plan was to go to Swinefell and put Flosi's manhood to the
+proof.
+
+So they went right up to Swinefell in the storm.  Flosi was in
+the sitting-room.  He knew Kari as soon as ever he came into the
+room, and sprang up to meet him, and kissed him, and sate him
+down in the high seat by his side.
+
+Flosi asked Kari to be there that winter, and Kari took his
+offer.  Then they were atoned with a full atonement.
+
+Then Flosi gave away his brother's daughter Hildigunna, whom
+Hauskuld the priest of Whiteness had had to wife to Kari, and
+they dwelt first of all at Broadwater.
+
+Men say that the end of Flosi's life was, that he fared abroad,
+when he had grown old, to seek for timber to build him a hall;
+and he was in Norway that winter, but the next summer he was late
+"boun"; and men told him that his ship was not seaworthy.
+
+Flosi said she was quite good enough for an old and deathdoomed
+man, and bore his goods on shipboard and put out to sea.  But of
+that ship no tidings were ever heard.
+
+These were the children of Kari Solmund's son and Helga Njal's
+daughter -- Thorgerda and Ragneida, Valgerda, and Thord who was
+burnt in Njal's house.  But the children of Hildigunna and Kari,
+were these, Starkad, and Thord, and Flosi.
+
+The son of Burning-Flosi was Kolbein, who has been the most
+famous man of any of that stock.
+
+And here we end the STORY of BURNT NJAL.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Njal's Saga by Unknown Icelanders
+
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