Gisli Sursson's Saga and The Saga of the People of Eyri

by Martin Regal

  Meulengracht Sørensen, Preben, Saga and Society: An Introduction to Old Norse Literature, trans. John Tucker (Odense: Odense University Press, 1993).

  Miller, William Ian, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law, and Society in Saga Iceland (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990).

  Nordal, Sigurður, Icelandic Culture, trans. Vilhjálmur T. Bjarnar (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990).

  Ólason, Vésteinn, Dialogues with the Viking Age: Narration and Representation in the Sagas of Icelanders, trans. Andrew Wawn (Reykjavik: Heimsringla, 1997).

  Pulsiano, Phillip, and Kirsten Wolf, et al. (eds.), Medieval Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia (New York: Garland, 1993).

  Sawyer, Birgit and Peter, Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation, circa 800–1500 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993).

  Schach, Paul, Icelandic Sagas (Boston: Twayne, 1984).

  Steblin-Kamenskij, M. I., The Saga Mind, trans. Kenneth H. Ober (Odense: Odense University Press, 1973).

  Tucker, John (ed.), Sagas of the Icelanders (New York: Garland, 1989).

  Turville-Petre, Gabriel, Origins of Icelandic Literature (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953).

  GISLI SURSSON’S SAGA

  Foote, Peter, ‘An Essay on the Saga of Gisli and its Icelandic Background’, in The Saga of Gisli (London and Melbourne: Dent, 1963), pp. 93–134.

  Ólason, Vésteinn, ‘Gísli Súrsson – a Flawless or Flawed Hero?’, in Die Aktualität der Saga: Festschrift für Hans Schottmann (Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, 1999), pp. 163–75.

  Schach, Paul, ‘Some Observations on the Helgafell Episode in Eyrbyggja saga and Gisla saga’, in Saga och språk: Studies in Language and Literature, ed. John M. Weinstock (Austin, Texas: Jenkins, 1972), pp. 113–45.

  Turville-Petre, Gabriel, ‘Gísli Súrsson and his Poetry: Traditions and Influences’, Modern Language Review, 39 (1944), pp. 3 74-91. (Repr. with a postscript in his Nine Norse Studies (London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 1972), pp. 118–53.)

  THE SAGA OF THE PEOPLE OF EYRI

  Hollander, Lee M., ‘The Structure of Eyrbyggja Saga’, Journal of English and Germanic Philology, 58 (1959), pp. 222–7.

  McCreesh, Bernadine, ‘Structural Patterns in Eyrbyggja saga and other Sagas of the Conversion’, Medieval Scandinavia, 11 (1978–9), pp. 271–80.

  McTurk, Rory, ‘Approaches to the Structure of Eyrbyggja saga’, in Sagnaskemmtun: Studies in Honour of Hermann Pálsson, ed. R. Simek et al. (Wien, Köln, Graz: Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., 1986), pp.223–37.

  Ólason, Vésteinn, ‘ “Máhlíðingamál”: Authorship and Tradition in a Part of Eyrbyggja saga’, in Úr Dölum til Dala: Guðbrandur Vigfússon Centenary Essays, eds. Rory McTurk and Andrew Wawn, Leeds Texts and Monographs, new series, 11 (Leeds: School of English, 1989), pp. 187–203.

  Pálsson, Hermann and Paul Edwards, ‘Introduction’, in Eyrbyggja Saga, trans. Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (London: Penguin Books, 1989).

  A Note on the Translations

  The two translations in the present volume are reprinted, with only minor alterations, from The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, edited by Viðar Hreinsson and published in five volumes by Leifur Eiríksson Publishing, Reykjavík (1997):

  Gisli Sursson’s Saga, II, 1–48

  The Saga of the People of Eyri, V, 131–218

  The editions and manuscripts on which the translations are chiefly based are as follows:

  Gisli Sursson’s Saga (Gísla saga Súrssonar)

  Edition: In Íslendinga sögur og þættir, ed. Bragi Halldórsson et al., Reykjavík 1987, pp. 852–98 (shorter version – the main divergences from the longer version are discussed in the Introduction to this volume).

  Manuscript: AM 556 a 4to, a fifteenth-century saga manuscript that also contains two other outlaw sagas.

  The Saga of the People of Eyri (Eyrbyggja saga)

  Edition: In Islendinga sögur og þættir, ed. Bragi Halldórson et al., Reykjavík, 1987, pp. 537–624.

  Manuscripts: AM 448 4to, AM 442 4to, AM 450 a 4to, AM 309 4to, AM 162 e fol., AM 446 4to, AM 445 b 4to, AM 445 a 4to, Lbs. 982 4to.

  The translators’ aim in all cases has been to produce accurate and readable modern English versions of the original texts. This involves being as faithful as practicable to the spirit, style and detail of each saga, avoiding pedantic imitation of formal features, but also resisting the temptation to ‘improve’ the originals. The Complete Sagas project as a whole also sought to reflect the homogeneity of the world of the Sagas of Icelanders by aiming for consistency in the translation of certain essential vocabulary, for instance terms relating to legal practices, social and religious practices, farm layouts or types of ships.

  As is common in translations from Old Icelandic, the spelling of proper nouns has been simplified, both by the elimination of non-English letters and by the reduction of inflections. Thus ‘þórólfr’ becomes ‘Thorolf’, ‘Börkur’ becomes ‘Bork’ and ‘Vésteinn’ becomes ‘Vestein’. The reader will soon grasp that ‘-dottir’ means ‘daughter of’ and ‘-son’ means ‘son of’. Place names have been rendered in a similar way, often with an English identifier of the landscape feature in question (for example, ‘Stafa river’, in which ‘-a’ means ‘river’). A translation is given in parentheses at the first occurrence of place names when the context requires this, such as Dagverdardal (Breakfast dale). For place names outside Scandinavia, the common English equivalent is used if such exists; otherwise the Icelandic form has been transliterated. Nicknames are translated where their meanings are reasonably certain.

  The translation of the poetry is particularly challenging, both because of obscurities and corruptions in the texts, and because its intricate metre, flexible word order and compressed and often riddling diction do not transpose well into English. Translators have attempted to render something of the meaning and style of the original, but the overriding aim has been to produce English verses that are comprehensible and poetically satisfying.

  GISLI SURSSON’S SAGA

  1 This story begins at the time when King Hakon, foster-son of King Athelstan of England,1 ruled Norway and was near the end of his days.

  There was a man named Thorkel, known as Skerauki, who lived in Surnadal and held the title of hersir. He had a wife named Isgerd and they had three sons. Ari was eldest, then came Gisli,2 and finally Thorbjorn. All three were brought up at home. There was a man named Isi, who lived in the fjord of Fibule in North More with his wife, Ingigerd, and his daughter, Ingibjorg. Ari, son of Thorkel from Surnadal, asked for Ingibjorg’s hand and she was given to him with a large dowry. A slave named Kol went with her.

  There was a man named Bjorn the Black, a berserk. He went around the country challenging men to fight with him if they refused to yield or accede to his demands. One winter, he arrived at Surnadal while Thorkel’s son Ari was taking care of the farm. Bjorn gave Ari a choice: either he fight him on the island of Stokkaholm in Surnadal or hand over his wife, Ingibjorg. Without hesitation, Ari decided that he would fight Bjorn rather than bring shame on himself or his wife. The duel was to take place three days later.

  The time appointed for the duel arrived, and they fought – the result being that Ari fell and lost his life. Bjorn assumed he had won both the land and the woman, but Ari’s brother Gisli said that he would rather die than allow this to happen. He was determined to fight Bjorn.

  Then Ingibjorg spoke, ‘I did not marry Ari because I preferred him to you. Kol, my slave, has a sword called Grasida (Grey-blade).3 You must ask him to lend it to you since whoever fights with it is assured of victory.’

  Gisli asked the slave for the sword and Kol lent it to him, but with great reluctance.

  Gisli prepared himself for the duel. They fought and Bjorn was slain. Gisli felt he had won a great victory, and it is said that he asked for Ingibjorg’s hand because he did not want the family to lose a good woman. So he married her, took over her property and became a powerful figure. Thereafter G
isli’s father died, and Gisli inherited all his wealth. Gisli saw to it that all the men who had come with Bjorn were put to death.

  Kol demanded that his sword be returned. Gisli, unwilling to part with it, offered him money instead. Kol wanted nothing but the sword, but it was not returned. Greatly displeased with this, the slave attacked Gisli and wounded him badly. In response, Gisli dealt Kol such a blow to the head with Grasida that the blade broke as it smashed through his skull. Thus both men met their death.

  2 Thorbjorn then inherited all the wealth that previously belonged to his father and two brothers, and continued to live at Stokkar in Surnadal. He asked for the hand of a woman named Thora, the daughter of Raud from Fridarey, and his request was granted. The couple were well suited and soon began to have children. The eldest was a daughter named Thordis. The eldest of their sons was named Thorkel, then came Gisli and the youngest was named Ari. They were regarded in the district as the finest men of their generation. Ari was taken in as a foster-son by Styrkar, his mother’s brother. Thorkel and Gisli were brought up at home.

  There was a young man named Bard who lived in Surnadal, who had recently inherited his father’s wealth. Another young man named Kolbjorn lived at Hella in Surnadal. He, too, had newly inherited his father’s property.

  There was a rumour abroad that Bard had seduced Thordis, Thorbjorn’s daughter, a good-looking and intelligent girl. Thorbjorn took this badly and said that there would be trouble if his son Ari were living at home. Bard remarked that he took no heed of the words of idle men – ‘I will continue as before,’ he said.

  Thorkel was a close friend of Bard’s and party to this liaison. Gisli, however, was as deeply offended as his father by the way people were talking.

  It is said that Gisli went along with Thorkel and Bard one time to Bard’s farm at Granaskeid. When they were halfway there, with no warning whatsoever, Gisli dealt Bard his death blow. Thorkel was angry and told Gisli that he had done great wrong. Gisli told his brother to calm down and jested with him.

  ‘We’ll swap swords,’ he said, ‘then you’ll have the one with the better bite.’

  Thorkel composed himself and sat down beside Bard’s body. Gisli rode off home to tell his father, who was greatly pleased by the news. There was never the same warmth between the two brothers after this. Thorkel refused the exchange of weapons and, having no desire to stay at home, he went to stay with a close relative of Bard’s, called Skeggi the Dueller, who lived on the island of Saxo. He strongly urged Skeggi the Dueller to avenge his kinsman’s death and take Thordis as his wife.

  Twenty men set off for Stokkar and when they reached the farm, Skeggi the Dueller suggested to Thorbjorn that their families be united. ‘I’ll marry your daughter, Thordis,’ he said.

  But Thorbjorn did not want the man to marry his daughter. Thordis, it was said, had since become friendly with Kolbjorn. Suspecting this was the real reason his proposal had been rejected, Skeggi went to meet Kolbjorn and challenged him to a duel on the island of Saxo. Kolbjorn agreed to take up the challenge, saying that he would not be worthy of Thordis if he dared not fight Skeggi. Thorkel and Skeggi returned to Saxo and stayed there until the fight was due to be fought. Twenty other men went with them.

  After three nights had passed, Gisli went to meet Kolbjorn and asked him if he was ready for the duel. Kolbjorn answered him by asking whether this was really the way to achieve what he wanted.

  ‘What kind of talk is that?’ said Gisli.

  ‘I don’t think I’ll fight Skeggi to win Thordis,’ said Kolbjorn.

  Gisli told Kolbjorn he was the greatest scoundrel living – ‘And though it shame you forever,’ he said, ‘I will go instead.’

  Gisli went to the island of Saxo with eleven men. Skeggi had already arrived at the spot where the duel was to be fought. He announced the rules and marked out where Kolbjorn was to stand, but he could not see his opponent nor anyone to replace him.

  There was a man named Ref, who worked for Skeggi as a carpenter. Skeggi asked him to make wooden effigies in the likenesses of Gisli and Kolbjorn.

  ‘And one will stand behind the other,’4 he said, ‘and these figures of scorn will remain like that forever to mock them.’

  Gisli, who was in the woods, heard this and answered, ‘Find some better employment for your farmhands. Here is a man who dares to fight you.’

  They took up their duelling positions and began to fight, each of them bearing a shield. Skeggi had a sword called Gunnlogi (War-flame) that rang loud in the air as it struck out at Gisli. Then Skeggi said,

  1.

  War-flame sang

  Saxo is amused.

  Gisli struck back with his halberd which sliced through the lower end of Skeggi’s shield and cut off his leg. Then Gisli spoke:

  2.

  Spear swept

  I struck at Skeggi.

  Skeggi bought his way out of the duel, and from that time he walked with a wooden leg. Thorkel went home with his brother Gisli. The two of them were now on very good terms, and Gisli’s reputation was thought to have increased considerably as a result of this affair.

  3 Two brothers are mentioned in the story: Einar and Arni, the sons of Skeggi from Saxo. They lived at Flyndrenes, north of Trondheim. The following spring, Einar and Arni gathered together a large party of men and went to see Kolbjorn in Surnadal. They offered him a choice – either he go with them and burn Thorbjorn and his sons to death in their house or they kill him on the spot. He chose to go with them.

  Sixty of them left for Stokkar by night and set fire to the houses there. Thorbjorn, his sons and Thordis were all asleep in an outbuilding. In the same outbuilding were two barrels of whey. Gisli, his father and his brother took two goat hides, dipped them in the whey to fight the fire and managed to douse it three times. Then they broke down a wall, and ten of them succeeded in escaping to the mountainside, using the smoke as cover. They were now such a distance from the farm as to be out of range of the dogs’ barking.5 Twelve people were burned to death in the fire. The attackers believed they had killed everyone.

  Those who went with Gisli journeyed until they reached Styrkar’s farm on Fridarey. There they gathered a force of forty men, went to Kolbjorn’s farm and, without warning, set fire to his house. Kolbjorn was burned to death with eleven other men. Then they sold up their lands, bought a ship and left with all their belongings. There were sixty of them on board.6 They arrived at a group of islands called the Asen and laid over there before setting out to sea.

  They left the Asen Islands in two boats, forty men in all, and sailed north to Flyndrenes. At the same time, Skeggi’s two sons were on their way to collect land rent with a group of seven men. Gisli’s party confronted them and killed them all. Gisli slew three men and Thorkel two. From there they went to the farm and took a great deal of goods and livestock. Skeggi the Dueller was there at his sons’ farm. This time Gisli cut off his head.

  4 After this, they went back to their ship and set out to sea. They sailed for more than sixty days and nights, finally reaching the mouth of the Haukadalsa river on the south side of Dyrafjord in the west of Iceland.

  Two men are mentioned, both named Thorkel, who lived on opposite sides of the fjord. One of them, Thorkel Eiriksson, lived at Saurar in Keldudal on the south side, and the other, known as Thorkel the Wealthy, lived on the north side at Alvidra. Thorkel Eiriksson was the first man of standing to go down to the ship to greet Thorbjorn Sur (Whey),7 who was called that since the time he used whey to escape being burned to death. None of the lands on either side of the fjord were settled at the time, so Thorbjorn Sur bought some land at Saebol in Haukadal on the south side. Gisli built a farm there at which they lived from that time on.

  There was a man named Bjartmar who lived at the head of Arnarfjord. His wife, Thurid, was the daughter of Hrafn from Ketilseyri in Dyrafjord, and Hrafn was the son of Dyri who first settled the fjord. Bjartmar and Thurid had several children. The eldest was a girl named Hild, and their sons were n
amed Helgi, Sigurd and Vestgeir.

  There was a Norwegian named Vestein, who arrived at the time of the settlement. He lodged at Bjartmar’s farm. Vestein took Bjartmar’s daughter, Hild, as his wife, and it was not long before they had two children, a daughter named Aud and a son named Vestein.

  Vestein the Norwegian was the son of Vegeir, the brother of Vebjorn the Champion of Sognefjord. Bjartmar was the son of An Red-cloak, son of Grim Hairy-cheeks, brother of Arrow-Odd, son of Ketil Haeng, son of Hallbjorn Half-troll. An Red-cloak’s mother was Helga, the daughter of An Bow-bender.

  Vestein Vesteinsson eventually became a skilled seafarer, though at this point in the story he lived on a farm in Onund-arfjord below Hest mountain. He had a wife, Gunnhild, and two sons, Berg and Helgi.

  Soon after, Thorbjorn Sur passed away, followed by his wife, Thora. Gisli and his brother Thorkel took over the farm. Thorbjorn and Thora were laid to rest in a burial mound.

  5 There was a man named Thorbjorn, nicknamed Selagnup (Seals’ Peak). He lived at Kvigandafell in Talknafjord. He was married to a woman called Thordis and had a daughter named Asgerd. Thorkel, the son of Thorbjorn Sur, asked for Asgerd’s hand and she became his wife. Gisli asked for the hand of Aud, Vestein’s sister, and married her. The two brothers lived together in Haukadal.

  One spring, Thorkel the Wealthy travelled to the Thorsnes Assembly,8 and Thorbjorn Sur’s two sons accompanied him. At that time, Thorstein Cod-biter,9 the son of Thorolf Moster-beard, was living at Thorsnes with his wife, Thora, the daughter of Olaf Thorsteinsson, and their children, Thordis, Thorgrim and Bork the Stout. Thorkel settled his business at the assembly, and when it was over, Thorstein invited him, along with Gisli and Thorkel, to his home. When they left, he gave them good gifts, and they responded by inviting Thorstein’s sons to their assembly in the west the following spring.