Sjofn’s seamstress, mead-goddess, Sjofn’s seamstress: woman; mead-goddess. woman
comes to me in my sleep,
and gives this maker of verses
no cause to believe otherwise.
Wearer of brooches, wearer of brooches: lady
this keeps me not from sleep.
Then Gisli told her that the evil dream-woman also came to him often, and always wanted to smear him with gore, bathe him in sacrificial blood and act in a foul manner.
20. Not all my dreams bode well,
yet each of them must I tell.
That woman in my dreams
takes all my joy, it seems.
As I fall asleep, she appears,
and comes to me besmeared
hideously in human blood,
and washes me in gory flood.
And again he spoke:
21. Once more have I told my dream
to the makers of arrow-floods. arrow-floods: battle
And words did not fail me.
Eir’s gold, battle-thirsty men Eir’s (goddess’s) gold: woman
had me made an outlaw.
They will surely feel
my weapons bite their armour
if rage comes upon me now.
Things were quiet for a while. Gisli went back to Thorgerd and stayed with her for another winter, returning to Geirthjofsfjord the following summer where he stayed until autumn. Then he went once again to his brother, Thorkel, and knocked on his door. Thorkel did not want to come out, so Gisli took a piece of wood, scored runes on it and threw it into the house. Thorkel saw the piece of wood, picked it up, looked at it and then stood up and went outside. He greeted Gisli and asked him what news he brought.
Gisli said he had none to tell: ‘I’ve come to meet you, brother, for the last time. Assist me worthily now and I will repay you by never asking anything of you again.’
Thorkel gave him the same answer as before. He offered Gisli horses or a boat, but refused any further help. Gisli accepted the offer of a boat and asked Thorkel to help him get it afloat – which he did. Then he gave Gisli six weights of food and one hundred of homespun cloth. After Gisli had gone aboard, Thorkel stood there on the shore.
Then Gisli said, ‘You think you’re safe and sound and living in plenty, a friend of many chieftains, who has no need to be on his guard – and I am an outlaw and have many enemies. But I can tell you this, that even so you will be killed before me. We take our leave of each other now on worse terms than we ought and will never see each other again. But know this. I would never have treated you as you have treated me.’
‘Your prophecies don’t frighten me,’ said Thorkel, and after that they parted.
Gisli went out to the island of Hergilsey in Breidafjord. There he removed from his boat the decking, thwarts, oars and all else that was not fastened down, turned the boat over and let it drift ashore in the Nesjar. When people saw the boat, wrecked and washed ashore, they assumed that Gisli had taken it from his brother Thorkel, then capsized and drowned.
Gisli walked to the farmhouse on the island of Hergilsey, where a man named Ingjald lived with his wife, Thorgerd. Ingjald was Gisli’s cousin, the son of his mother’s sister, and had come to Iceland with Gisli. When they met, he put himself at Gisli’s complete disposal, offering to do for him whatever was in his power. Gisli accepted his offer and stayed there for a while.
25 There were both a male slave and a female slave at Ingjald’s house. The man was named Svart and the woman Bothild. Ingjald had a son named Helgi, as great and simple-minded an oaf as ever there was. He was tethered by the neck to a heavy stone with a hole in it and left outside to graze like an animal. He was known as Ingjald’s Fool and was a very large man, almost a troll.
Gisli stayed there for that winter and built a boat and many other things for Ingjald, and everything he made was easily recognizable because he was a superior craftsman. People showed surprise at the number of well-crafted items that Ingjald owned since it was known that he was no carpenter.
Gisli always spent the summers in Geirthjofsfjord, and by now three years had passed since he had his dreams. Ingjald had proven himself a faithful friend, but suspicions arose and people began to believe that Gisli was alive and living with Ingjald, and that he had not drowned as they had once thought. People started to remark on the fact that Ingjald had three boats and all were skilfully crafted. This gossip reached Eyjolf the Grey, and he sent Helgi out again, this time to the island of Hergilsey. Gisli always stayed in an underground passage when people came to the island. Ingjald was a good host and he invited Helgi to rest there, so he remained for the night.
Ingjald was a hard-working man and rowed out to fish whenever the weather permitted. The following morning, when he was ready to go to sea, he asked Helgi whether he was not eager to be on his way and why he was still in bed. Helgi said that he was not feeling very well, let out a long sigh and rubbed his head. Ingjald told him to lie still, and then went off to sea. Helgi began to groan heavily.
It is said that Thorgerd then went to the underground hiding place, intending to give Gisli some breakfast. There was a partition between the pantry and where Helgi lay in bed. Thorgerd left the pantry and Helgi climbed up the partition and saw that someone’s food had been served up. At that very moment, Thorgerd returned and Helgi turned round quickly and fell off the partition. Thorgerd asked him what he was doing climbing up the rafters instead of lying still. He said he was so racked with pains in his joints that he could not lie still.
‘Could you help me back to bed?’ he said.
She did as he asked and went out with the food. Then Helgi got up and followed her and saw what was going on. After that he went back to bed, lay down and stayed there for the rest of the day.
Ingjald returned that evening, went to Helgi’s bed and asked him if he felt any better. Helgi said he was improving and asked if he might be ferried from the island the following morning. He was rowed out to the island of Flatey, and from there he went south to Thorsnes, reporting that he had news that Gisli was staying at Ingjald’s house. Bork set out with a party of fourteen men, boarded a ship and sailed south across Breidafjord. That day, Ingjald went fishing and took Gisli with him. The male and female slaves, Svart and Bothild, were in a separate boat, close to the islands known as Skutileyjar.
26 Ingjald saw a ship sailing from the south, and said, ‘There’s a ship out there and I think it’s Bork the Stout.’
‘What do you suggest we do now?’ asked Gisli. ‘Let’s see whether your wits match your integrity.’
‘I’m not a clever man,’ said Ingjald, ‘but we have to decide something quickly. Let’s row as fast as we can to Hergilsey, get up on top of Vadsteinaberg and fight them off as long as we can keep standing.’
‘Just as I anticipated,’ said Gisli. ‘You hit on the very plan that best shows your integrity. But I would be paying you poorly indeed for all the help you have given me if you lose your life for my sake – and that will never happen. We’ll use a different plan. You and your slave, Svart, row out to the island and make ready to defend yourselves there. They will think that it is I who am with you when they sail up past the ness. I’ll exchange clothes with the slave, as I did once before, then I’ll get into the boat with Bothild.’
Ingjald did as he was advised, but he was clearly very angry.
When they parted company, Bothild said, ‘What can be done now?’
Gisli spoke a verse:
22. The shield-holder seeks shield-holder: warrior
a plan to part with Ingjald.
Let us pour Sudri’s mead, Sudri’s (dwarf’s) mead: poetry
slave-woman, though I
accept my fate, whatever it be.
Noble woman of low means,
lit by the blue waves lands: lit by the blue waves lands: adorned with sea-fire (gold)
I fear nothing for myself.
Then they rowed south towards Bork and his men, and behaved as if nothing were am
iss.
Gisli told them how they should act. ‘You will say,’ he told her, ‘that this is the fool on board, and I’ll sit in the prow and mimic him. I’ll wrap myself up in the tackle and hang overboard a few times and act as stupidly as I can. If they go past us a little, I’ll scull as hard as I can and try to put some more distance between us.’
Bothild rowed towards them, but not close, and pretended to be moving from one fishing ground to another. Bork called out to her and asked her if Gisli was on the island.
‘I don’t know,’ she answered. ‘But I do know there’s a man out there who surpasses all others in size and skill.’
‘I see,’ said Bork. ‘Is Ingjald the farmer at home?’
‘He rowed back to the island quite some time ago,’ she said, ‘and his slave was with him, as far as I know.’
‘That is not what’s happened,’ said Bork. ‘It must be Gisli who is with him. Let’s row after them as fast as we can.’
The men answered, ‘We’re having fun with the idiot’, and looked towards him. ‘Look at how madly he’s behaving.’
Then they said what a terrible thing it was for her to have to look after this fool.
‘I agree,’ said Bothild, ‘but I think it’s just idle amusement for you. You don’t feel sorry for me at all.’
‘Let’s indulge no further in this nonsense,’ said Bork. ‘We must be on our way.’
They left, and Bork and his crew rowed out to Hergilsey and went ashore. Then they saw the men up on Vadsteinaberg and headed that way, thinking they were really in luck. But it was Ingjald and his slave up on the crag.
Bork soon recognized the men and said to Ingjald, ‘The best thing you can do is hand over Gisli – or else tell me where he is. You’re an unspeakable wretch, hiding my brother’s murderer like this when you’re my tenant. Don’t expect any mercy from me. You deserve to die for this.’
Ingjald replied, ‘My clothes are so poor that it would be no great grief if I stopped wearing them out. I’d rather die than not do all I can to keep Gisli from harm.’
It is said that Ingjald served Gisli best, and that his help was the most useful to him. When Thorgrim Nef performed his magic rite, he ordained that no assistance Gisli might receive from men on the mainland would come to anything. However, it never occurred to him to say anything about the islands, and thus Ingjald helped him for longer than most. But this could not last indefinitely.
27 Bork thought it was unwise to attack his tenant, Ingjald, so he and his men turned instead towards the farmhouse to search for Gisli. As was to be expected, they did not find him there, so they went about the island and came to a place where the fool lay eating in a small, grassy hollow, haltered by the neck to a stone.
Bork spoke: ‘Not only is there a great deal of talk about this fool, but he seems to move around a lot more than I thought. There’s nothing here. We have gone about this task so badly that it doesn’t bear thinking about, and I have no idea when we’ll be able to make matters right. That was Gisli in the boat alongside us, impersonating the fool. He’s got a whole bag of tricks, as well as being a skilled mimic. But think how much it would shame us to let him slip through our fingers. Let’s get after him quickly and make sure he doesn’t escape our clutches.’
They jumped aboard their ship and rowed after Gisli and Bothild, pulling long strokes with their oars. They saw that the two of them had gone quite some distance into the sound, and now both vessels rowed at full pace. The one with the larger crew sped along faster, and finally it came so close that Bork was within spear-throwing range as Gisli pulled ashore.
Gisli said to the slave-woman, ‘Here we part ways. Take these two gold rings – one you must take to Ingjald and the other to his wife. Tell them to give you your freedom and accept these as tokens. I also want Svart to be freed. You have truly saved my life and I want you to reap your reward.’
They parted and Gisli jumped ashore and ran to a ravine in Hjardarnes. The slave-woman rowed off so hard that the sweat rose from her like steam.
Bork and his men rowed ashore and Outlaw-Stein was the first off the boat. He ran off to look for Gisli and when he reached the ravine, Gisli was standing there with his sword drawn. He drove it at once through Outlaw-Stein’s head, split him down to the shoulders, and he fell to the ground, dead. Bork and the others then came on to the island and Gisli ran down to the water, intending to swim for the mainland. Bork threw a spear at him and it struck him in the calf of his leg, wounding him badly. Gisli removed the spear, but lost his sword, too weary to keep hold of it any longer. By then, the darkness of night had fallen.
When Gisli reached land he ran into the woods – at that time much of the country was covered with trees – and Bork and the others ran ashore to look for him, hoping to restrict him to the woodland. Gisli was so worn out and stiff that he could hardly walk, and he was also aware that he was surrounded on all sides by Bork’s party of men.
Trying to think of a plan, he went down to the sea, and in the darkness he made his way along the shoreline under the shelter of the overhanging cliffs until he came to Haug. There he met a farmer named Ref,* a very sly man. Ref greeted him and asked him what was going on. Gisli told him all that had taken place between him and Bork and his men. Ref had a wife named Alfdis, a good-looking woman, but fierce tempered and thoroughly shrewish. She and Ref were more than a match for each other. When Gisli had given his account, he urged Ref to give him all the help he could.
‘They will be here soon,’ said Gisli. ‘I’m in a very tight spot and there aren’t too many people around to whom I can turn.’
‘I will help you, but on one condition,’ said Ref, ‘that I alone decide how I go about matters, and you must not interfere.’
‘I accept,’ said Gisli. ‘I will not venture any farther on my way.’
‘Come inside then,’ said Ref. And so they went in.
Then Ref said to Alfdis, ‘Now, I’m going to give you a new bedfellow.’
And he took off all the bed covering and told Gisli to lie down on the straw. Then he put the covers back over him and now Alfdis lay on top of him.
‘And now you stay put,’ said Ref, ‘whatever happens.’
Then he asked Alfdis to be as difficult to deal with as possible and to act as madly as she could.
‘And don’t hold yourself back,’ said Ref. ‘Say whatever comes into your mind. Swear and curse as much as you like. I’ll go off to talk with them and say whatever occurs to me.’
When he went out again he saw some men coming – eight of Bork’s companions. Bork himself had stayed behind at the Fossa river. These men had come to search for Gisli and to capture him if they found him. Ref was outside and asked them what they were doing.
‘We can only tell you what you must already know. Have you any idea where Gisli has gone? Has he come by here by any chance?’
‘First,’ said Ref, ‘he has not been here. If he had chanced it he would have met with a very swift end. And second, do you really think I am any less eager to kill him than you? I have sense enough to know that it would mean no small gain to be trusted by a man such as Bork and be counted his friend.’
They asked, ‘Do you mind if we search you and the farm?’
‘Of course not,’ said Ref, ‘please do. Once you’re certain he’s not here, you’ll be able to concentrate on searching elsewhere. Come in and search the place thoroughly.’
They went in, and when Alfdis heard the noise they were making she asked what gang of thugs was out there and what kind of idiots barged in on people in the middle of the night. Ref told her to calm down, and she responded with a flurry of foul language that they were unlikely to forget. They continued to search the place even so, but not as carefully as they might have done if they had not had to suffer such a torrent of abuse from the farmer’s wife. Having found nothing, they left and wished the farmer well. He, in return, wished them a good journey. Then they went back to meet Bork and were highly displeased with the whole trip. The
y felt they had lost a good man, been put to shame and achieved nothing.
News of this spread all over the country and people considered that the men had derived nothing from their futile search for Gisli. Bork went home and told Eyjolf how matters stood. Gisli stayed with Ref for two weeks and then left. They parted good friends and Gisli gave him a knife and a belt – both valuable possessions. Gisli had nothing else with him.
After that Gisli returned to his wife in Geirthjofsfjord. His reputation had increased considerably as a result of what had happened, and it is truly said that there has never been a more accomplished and courageous man than Gisli, and yet fortune did not follow him.
But now to other matters.
28 To return to Bork. That spring, he went with a large group of men to the Thorskafjord Assembly, intending to meet with his friends. Gest travelled east from Bardastrond, as did Thorkel Sursson. They arrived in separate ships.
When Gest was ready to embark, two poorly dressed young men with staffs approached him, and it was noticed that Gest spoke to them in secret. They asked if they might go with him on his ship and he granted them that favour. They journeyed with him to Hallsteinsnes, then went ashore and walked on until they came to the Thorskafjord Assembly.
There was a man named Hallbjorn, a wanderer who travelled around the country, though always with a group of ten or twelve others. He raised a booth for himself at the assembly, and this is where the two young men went. They asked him for a place in the booth, saying that they, too, were wanderers, and he said he would give shelter to anyone who asked for it.
‘I’ve come here many a springtime,’ he said, ‘and I know all the chieftains and godis.’
The lads said they would be pleased to be in his care and learn from him: ‘We’re very curious to see all the grand and mighty men we have heard so many stories about.’
Hallbjorn said he would go down to the shore and identify every ship as soon as it came in, and tell them which it was. They thanked him for his kindness, and then they all went down to the shore to watch the ships as they sailed in.
The Sagas of the Icelanders Page 74