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

by Martin Regal

  28 Now to pick up the story, as was written before, at the point where the berserks went to live with Styr. They had only been there a short while when Halli took to chatting with Asdis, Styr’s daughter. She was a young woman of firm character, very proud and rather strong-willed. When Styr found out about their conversations, he told Halli not to bring disgrace on him or try to provoke him by seducing his daughter.

  ‘It is not a disgrace for you if I talk to your daughter,’ replied Halli, ‘and I’m not doing this to dishonour you. To come to the point, I’ve fallen so in love with her that I can’t get her out of my mind. I now wish to strengthen the friendship between us by asking you to allow me to marry your daughter, Asdis. In return I will pledge my friendship and loyal support and such backing and might from my brother Leiknir and me that no two other men in Iceland could possibly bring you such renown through their support. Our prowess will do more to strengthen your leadership than marrying your daughter to the greatest farmer in Breidafjord. That should make up for the fact that we are not wealthy men. But if you turn me down that will be the end of our friendship, and we will both do whatever we like with our affairs. It wouldn’t be much use criticizing me then for talking to Asdis.’

  When Halli had said his piece Styr was silent and found it difficult to come up with an answer.

  Finally he said, ‘Is this an honest proposal or are you just throwing words around and trying to sound me out?’

  ‘You must give me a proper answer,’ replied Halli, ‘as mine are not empty words. Our whole friendship depends on how you answer this question.’

  ‘In that case,’ said Styr, ‘I want to discuss this matter with my friends and get their advice about how I should answer.’

  ‘You can discuss this with anyone you like within the next three days,’ said Halli. ‘I won’t wait any longer than that for an answer because I don’t want to be a suitor left in the lurch.’

  After that they parted. The next morning Styr rode over to Helgafell. When he arrived Snorri invited him to stay but Styr said he just wanted to have a talk and then ride home. Snorri asked whether it was a difficult problem he wanted to discuss.

  ‘It seems like one to me,’ Styr replied.

  ‘Then let’s walk up on to Helgafell,’ said Snorri. ‘Plans made there have less chance of coming to nothing.’

  ‘Whatever you think,’ said Styr.

  They walked up on to the mountain and sat there talking right up until evening. No one knew what they were talking about. Then Styr rode back home.

  The following morning he and Halli talked. Halli asked Styr what the situation was with his proposal.

  ‘It’s generally thought that you are rather too poor,’ replied Styr. ‘How will you make up for the fact that you have no money to offer?’

  ‘I am willing to do whatever I can, but I can’t produce money when there is none,’ Halli replied.

  ‘I see that you wouldn’t like it if I refused to marry my daughter to you,’ said Styr. ‘So I will do as men of the past used to do, and set you certain tasks to perform in order to win her hand.’

  ‘What are they?’ Halli asked.

  ‘You shall clear a road across the lava field out to Bjarnarhofn, build a field-wall over the lava between our pastures and make an enclosure on this side of the wall. When you have completed these tasks, I will give my daughter Asdis to you in marriage,’ said Styr.

  ‘I’m not used to hard work,’ said Halli, ‘but I’ll agree to it if it enables me to get married.’

  Styr then announced that they had struck a deal. Following this the berserks began to clear the road, which was quite a physical feat. They also built the wall, traces of which can still be seen, and after that they built the enclosure. But while they were doing this work, Styr had a bathhouse built on his farm at Hraun. It was dug deep into the ground and had a window above the stone oven so that water could be poured through it from the outside, which made the bathhouse incredibly hot. When all the work was nearly finished and the berserks were spending their last day on the enclosure, Styr’s daughter, Asdis, walked past them near the farm. She was dressed in her finest clothes, but when they addressed her, she did not answer.

  Then Halli spoke this verse:

  21.

  Where are you going,

  Gerd of the forearm’s fire, Gerd (goddess) of the forearm’s

  walking past so elegantly fire (gold): woman

  – never lie to me, linen-decked one –

  for I have never seen you

  dressed in such splendour,

  walking from the house this winter,

  wise goddess of table-games. goddess of table-games: woman

  Then Leiknir spoke another verse:

  22.

  Seldom has the field of the sea’s sun sea’s sun: gold; its field: woman

  been seen with a head-dress so high.

  The tree of the hand’s fire hand’s fire: gold; its tree: woman

  is finely attired today.

  Woman, what more is there

  than we see beneath your conceit,

  goddess of the drinking-horn, goddess of the drinking-horn:

  smiling-voiced one. woman

  After that she walked away from them. The berserks went home that evening and were extremely exhausted, as is the way with those men who are not always in human shape; they become completely drained whenever the berserk fit leaves them. Styr went to see them and thanked them for the work they had done. He suggested they take a bath and then have a rest, which is what they did. When they were in the bath, Styr had the bathhouse closed off and piled rocks on top of the trap-door over the entrance, and had a wet ox-hide spread out in front of the landing. Then he had water poured through the window above the stone oven, which made the bathhouse so hot that the berserks could not bear to stay in the bath and rushed at the door. Halli managed to break open the trap-door and get out but he fell on the ox-hide. Styr then gave him his death-wound. But when Leiknir tried to rush up through the door, Styr thrust a spear through him and he fell back into the bathhouse and died there. Then Styr arranged a burial for the bodies. They were carried out across the lava field and buried in a pit in the lava which was so deep that nothing could be seen from the bottom except the sky above. The pit was close to the path. Styr spoke this verse at the burial of the berserks:

  23.

  It seemed the strengtheners strengtheners of the spears’ meeting:

  of the spears’ meeting berserks

  might never be easy for

  the battle-hardeners to deal with. battle-hardeners: warriors

  I do not fear the fierce

  foes’ tyranny against me.

  The bold man’s blade has shown

  the berserks their resting place.

  When Snorri the Godi heard about this he rode over to Hraun where he and Styr spent the whole day talking together again. The upshot of their conversation was that Styr betrothed his daughter, Asdis, to Snorri the Godi, and the wedding took place the next autumn. Everyone thought that both men’s prestige was increased through this liaison. Snorri the Godi was a better strategist and smarter, but Styr was more aggressive. Both of them had a great many kinsmen and many followers in the district.

  29 There was a man named Thorodd whose family came from Medalfellsstrond. He was a trustworthy man and a great merchant who owned his own ship. Thorodd had sailed to Ireland to do some trading in Dublin. At that time Earl Sigurd Hlodvesson of the Orkney Islands19 had been raiding in the Hebrides and all the way west to the Isle of Man. He imposed taxes on the inhabitants of Man, and when they had accepted his terms he appointed men to collect the tax, which was paid mainly in refined silver. The earl himself sailed back north to the Orkneys.

  When those who had collected the tax were ready to sail, they set out into a south-westerly wind. After they had been at sea a while the wind swung round to the south-east, and then to the east, and a storm blew up and drove them north of Ireland where their ship broke up on t
he shore of an uninhabited island. It was there that Thorodd found them on his voyage back from Dublin. The earl’s men called out to the traders for help, and Thorodd had a boat launched and went in it himself. When they met, the earl’s men begged Thorodd to help them and offered him money to take them back to the Orkneys to Earl Sigurd, but Thorodd did not think he could do that since he was already on course to Iceland. They kept pleading with him because they believed their property and lives were at stake if they were taken captive in Ireland or the Hebrides where they had just been raiding. Finally Thorodd sold them the boat from the ship for a large portion of the tax they had collected. They then set off for the Orkneys in their boat, and Thorodd travelled to Iceland without a lifeboat. He arrived in Iceland on the southern coast and sailed west along the coast and into Breidafjord. He arrived safely at Dagverdarnes and went to stay with Snorri the Godi at Helgafell during the autumn. From that time on he was known as Thorodd the Tax-trader.

  This was just after the killing of Thorbjorn the Stout. That winter, Snorri’s sister, Thurid, who had been married to Thorbjorn, was staying at Helgafell. It was not long after Thor-odd had been back from abroad that he raised with Snorri the Godi the prospect of marrying his sister, Thurid. Since he was a wealthy man and Snorri knew his background well, and since Thurid needed to be well looked after, Snorri thought it was altogether appropriate that he should marry her, and he hosted their wedding there at Helgafell the same winter. The next spring Thorodd took over the farm at Froda and became a good and honest farmer.

  But once Thurid was back at Froda, Bjorn Asbrandsson started making regular visits there and the talk was on everybody’s lips that he and Thurid were lovers. Thorodd started to find fault with Bjorn’s visits but this had no effect.

  At that time, Thorir Wood-leg lived at Arnarhvol. His sons Orn and Val were now fully grown and were very promising young men. They scorned Thorodd for putting up with the shameful treatment he was getting from Bjorn and offered to support Thorodd if he wanted to retaliate.

  Once when Bjorn came to Froda and sat talking to Thurid, Thorodd was nowhere to be seen, although he usually stayed in the same room with them while Bjorn was there.

  ‘Take care when you leave, Bjorn,’ warned Thurid, ‘because I think Thorodd has decided to put an end to your visits here and I suspect that they are lying in wait for you. He won’t be intending to give you an even chance.’

  Then Bjorn spoke this verse:

  24.

  We would wish this day the longest

  between wood’s early glow and darkness

  – sometimes the pillar of strings pillar of strings: woman

  brings sorrow to me –

  since I prepare this evening,

  pine-tree of the arm’s serpent, pine-tree of the arm’s serpent:

  to drink a funeral toast woman

  to the disappearance of my joy.

  After that Bjorn took his weapons and went out heading for home. When he came up around the hill at Digrimuli, five men ambushed him. They were Thorodd, two of his farmhands and the sons of Thorir Wood-leg. They attacked Bjorn but he defended himself well and valiantly. The sons of Thorir were his most spirited attackers. They dealt him some bloody wounds but he killed them both. At this Thorodd retreated with his men. He had minor injuries but they had none.

  Bjorn walked on his way until he came home and went into the main room. The mistress of the house asked a servant woman to look after him, but when she came into the room carrying a light she saw that Bjorn was covered in blood. She went straight to his father Asbrand and told him that Bjorn had come home all bloodied.

  Asbrand went into the room and asked Bjorn why he was bloodied, ‘or did you meet Thorodd?’

  Bjorn answered that that was the case. Asbrand asked how things had gone between them.

  Bjorn replied:

  25.

  It won’t be as easy for the brave

  breaker of battle-storm’s fire battle-storm’s fire: sword;

  to harm me as for the shield-wielder its breaker: warrior

  to tumble with the woman,

  or to trade Draupnir’s treasure Draupnir’s treasure: gold

  with the cowardly bowman

  – since I have put to death

  two of Wood-leg’s sons.

  Then Asbrand dressed his wounds and he recovered completely. Thorodd sought Snorri the Godi’s support in the prosecution over the killing of Thorir’s sons, and Snorri started a case for the Thorsnes Assembly. The sons of Thorlak of Eyri, however, lent their support to the people of Breidavik in these matters. The outcome of the case was that Asbrand gave surety for his son, Bjorn, and paid the fines for the killings, but Bjorn was outlawed for three years, and went abroad the same summer. The same summer Thurid gave birth to a boy at Froda who was given the name Kjartan. He was raised at Froda and was soon a big and promising boy.

  When Bjorn had crossed the ocean he went south to Denmark and from there south to Jomsborg. At that time Palna-Toki was the leader of the Jomsvikings.20 Bjorn joined them and he was called a champion among them. He was in Jomsborg when Styrbjorn the Strong conquered it, and he travelled to Sweden when the Jomsvikings supported Styrbjorn. He was also at the battle of Fyrisvellir when Styrbjorn fell, and he escaped into the woods with other Jomsvikings. As long as Palna-Toki lived, Bjorn stayed with him and was considered a man of strong character and the bravest one in dangerous situations.

  30 Now we turn back to Thorolf Lame-foot. He began to age quickly, growing more ill-natured, violent and unjust with the years. His relationship with his son Arnkel grew very hostile. One day Thorolf rode over to Ulfarsfell to see the farmer Ulfar. He was a very hard worker and known for harvesting hay faster than other farmers. He was also so lucky with his livestock that none of his animals ever died from starvation or in blizzards. When Thorolf and Ulfar met, Thorolf asked what advice he would give him about conducting his farm work and what sense he had about how good a summer it would be for drying hay.

  ‘I can’t give you any advice other than what I do myself,’ replied Ulfar. ‘I am going to have the scythes brought out today and have as much grass as possible cut all through this week because I think it might become rainy, but after that my guess is that we will have good drying weather for the next fortnight.’

  It turned out just as he had said, for it was often the case that he could predict the weather better than others. Then Thorolf went home and ordered his many farm-workers to get to work at once on the meadows. The weather turned out exactly as Ulfar had said. Thorolf and Ulfar owned a common meadow up on the ridge where they both cut a lot of hay, which was then dried and gathered into haystacks. Early one morning when Thorolf got up and looked outside, the weather was cloudy and he thought that it would be no good for drying. He told his slaves to get up and gather the hay together, telling them to work as hard as they could all day, ‘because the weather doesn’t look reliable to me.’

  The slaves got dressed and went to work on the hay while Thorolf stacked it up and urged them on to get as much work done as they could. That same morning Ulfar went out early to look around and when he came back inside his workmen asked what the weather was like. He told them to sleep on undisturbed.

  ‘The weather is good,’ Ulfar said, ‘and it will clear up during the day. Today you will cut hay in the homefield, and we’ll look after the hay we have up on the ridge tomorrow.’

  The weather turned out just as he had said. In the evening Ulfar sent men up to the ridge to check on their haystacks there. Thorolf had three oxen carting hay all day, and they had gathered in all the hay he owned by mid afternoon. Then he told his men to cart Ulfar’s hay back to their farm, and they did as they were told. When Ulfar’s man saw this he ran back and told Ulfar. Ulfar went up to the ridge very angry, and asked Thorolf why he was robbing him. Thorolf declared he did not care what he said, and started using violent language and became very difficult to deal with. They came close to blows, but Ulfar saw that there was noth
ing else to do except turn away.

  Ulfar then went to see Arnkel, and told him of his loss and asked for his help, saying that without it he would not be able to do anything. Arnkel said he would ask his father to pay compensation for the hay, although he doubted very much that it would make any difference. When Arnkel and his father next met, Arnkel asked him to pay Ulfar for the hay he had taken, but Thorolf replied that the slave was much too wealthy already. Arnkel asked him to pay for the hay for his sake. Thorolf said he would not do anything for Ulfar except make things worse for him, and with that they parted.

  Arnkel told Ulfar how Thorolf had answered when he next saw him. It seemed to Ulfar that Arnkel had not pushed the matter very hard, and he said that he could handle his father in such matters if he wanted to. Arnkel paid Ulfar for the hay at the price he wanted. When Arnkel and his father next met, Arnkel again tried to collect the cost of the hay from him but Thorolf’s answers did not improve matters and they parted in anger. The next autumn Arnkel had seven of his father’s oxen driven down from the mountain pasture and had them all slaughtered for his own household. This displeased Thorolf intensely and he demanded payment for them from Arnkel, who replied that they covered the cost of Ulfar’s hay. Thorolf was even more displeased than before and blamed everything on Ulfar, and said he would take care of him.

  31 That winter around Yule Thorolf held a great feast and was very generous in providing his slaves with drinks. Once they were drunk, he egged them on to go over to Ulfarsfell and burn Ulfar to death inside his house. In exchange, he promised them their freedom. The slaves said they would do that for their freedom as long as he kept his word. Then six of them went together over to Ulfarsfell. They took a load of wood and piled it up against the house and set fire to it.

  Arnkel and his men were sitting drinking at Bolstad at the time. When they were on their way to bed, they saw the fire at Ulfarsfell, and rushed over there at once and took hold of the slaves and put out the fire. The house was only slightly burnt. The next morning Arnkel had all the slaves taken over to Vadilshofdi where they were hanged. After that Ulfar handed over all his property to Arnkel, who became Ulfar’s legal guardian.