Njal's Saga

by AnonYMous

  Gunnar said he did not intend to break the settlement.

  He rode home and reported on the settlement. Rannveig said it would be good if he went abroad and if his enemies took on someone else for the time being.

  75

  Thrain Sigfusson told his wife that he was planning to go abroad that summer; she said that would be good. He took passage on Hogni the White’s ship. Gunnar and Kolskegg took passage with Arnfinn from Vik.

  Two of Njal’s sons, Grim and Helgi, asked their father for permission to go abroad. Njal answered, ‘Your travels will be troublesome, and it is not clear that you will hold on to your lives, though you will earn honour and respect. It is also likely that your travels will lead to problems here when you return.’

  They still asked to go, and finally he told them to go if they wished. They took passage on the ship of Bard the Black and Olaf, the son of Ketil of Elda. There was much talk then about how the district was being drained of its best men.

  Gunnar’s sons, Hogni and Grani, were now young men. They were quite different from each other: Grani had much of his mother’s character, but Hogni was a fine person.

  Gunnar had his and Kolskegg’s things brought to the ship. When everything was there and the ship was nearly ready, he rode to Bergthorshvol and other farms to thank everybody who had given him support.

  Early the next day he made ready to go to the ship and told all his people that he was leaving for good, and they took it hard but hoped for his return later. Gunnar embraced every one of them when he was ready to leave, and they all came outside with him. He thrust his halberd into the ground and leaped into his saddle, and he and Kolskegg rode off.

  They rode towards the Markarfljot river, and then Gunnar’s horse slipped, and he sprang from the saddle. He happened to be facing the hillside and the farm at Hlidarendi, and spoke: ‘Lovely is the hillside – never has it seemed so lovely to me as now, with its pale fields and mown meadows, and I will ride back home and not leave.’1

  ‘Don’t give your enemies the pleasure of breaking your agreement,’ said Kolskegg, ‘for no one would expect this from you. And you can be sure that everything will turn out just as Njal said.’

  ‘I will not leave,’ said Gunnar, ‘and I wish you wouldn’t either.’

  ‘That won’t be,’ said Kolskegg. ‘I will not be false to this agreement or to any other in which I am counted on, and this is the only thing that will separate us. Tell my kinsmen and my mother that I don’t expect to see Iceland again, for I will hear the report of your death, and then nothing will draw me back.’

  With this they parted, and Gunnar rode home to Hlidarendi, and Kolskegg rode to the ship and sailed abroad.

  Hallgerd was pleased that Gunnar returned home, but his mother had little to say. Gunnar remained at home that autumn and winter, and did not have many men around him. The winter came to an end.

  Olaf Peacock sent a man to Gunnar to ask him and Hallgerd to move west and turn over the farm to his mother and his son Hogni. Gunnar found this attractive at first and accepted, but when the time came he was not willing to go.

  At the Thing that summer Gizur and Geir the Godi declared Gunnar a full outlaw at the Law Rock. Before the Thing broke up, Gizur called all of Gunnar’s enemies together in the Almannagja gorge: Starkad from Thrihyrning and his son Thorgeir, Mord and Valgard the Grey, Geir the Godi and Hjalti Skeggjason, Thorbrand and Asbrand the sons of Thorleik, Eilif and his son Onund, Onund of Trollaskog, and Thorgrim of Sandgil.

  Gizur spoke: ‘I want to propose to you that we attack Gunnar this summer and kill him.’

  Hjalti said, ‘I made a promise to Gunnar here at the Thing, when he did just as I wished, that I would never take part in an attack against him – and I shall keep this promise.’2

  Hjalti then left, and those who remained decided to attack Gunnar. They shook hands on it and fixed a penalty for anyone who withdrew. Mord was to spy out when they might best get at Gunnar. There were forty men in this band, and they thought it an easy matter to catch Gunnar while Kolskegg and Thrain and many other friends of his were abroad.

  People rode home from the Thing.

  *

  Njal went to see Gunnar and told him of his outlawry and the planned attack on him.

  ‘You have done well,’ said Gunnar, ‘to put me on my guard.’

  ‘What I want now,’ said Njal, ‘is for Skarphedin and my son Hoskuld to come to you and wage their lives with yours.’

  ‘No,’ said Gunnar. ‘I don’t want your sons slain for my sake – you don’t deserve this from me.’

  ‘It won’t matter,’ said Njal. ‘Once you’re dead the trouble will be directed towards my sons.’

  ‘That’s not unlikely,’ said Gunnar, ‘but I would not like it to come from me. I want to ask you one thing, though – that you keep an eye on my son Hogni. About Grani I have nothing to say, for he does many things that are not to my liking.’

  Njal promised this and rode home.

  It is told that Gunnar rode to all gatherings and assemblies, and that his enemies never dared to attack him. And thus for a while things were as if he were not an outlaw.

  76

  That autumn Mord Valgardsson sent word that Gunnar was at home alone, while all his people were down at Eyjar to finish the haymaking. Gizur the White and Geir the Godi rode east across the rivers when they heard this, and then across the sands to Hof. Then they sent word to Starkad at Thrihyrning, and all those who were to attack Gunnar met at Hof and planned how to go about it. Mord said that they would not take Gunnar by surprise unless they seized a farmer named Thorkel from the neighbouring farm, and forced him to come along with them and go up to Gunnar’s farm, alone, to take the dog Sam.

  They went off east to Hlidarendi and sent men after Thorkel, seized him and gave him two choices: either they would kill him or he would take the dog, and he chose to preserve his life and went with them.

  There was an enclosure above the yard at Hlidarendi, and the party of attackers made a halt there. The farmer Thorkel went down to the house; the dog was lying on the roof, and Thorkel lured him away up the lane. But as soon as the dog saw that there were men up there, he jumped at Thorkel and bit him in the groin. Onund of Trollaskog hit the dog in the head with his axe, and it went right into the brain. The dog gave out a loud howl that was like none they had heard before, and then he fell down dead.

  77

  Inside the hall, Gunnar woke up and said, ‘You’ve been cruelly used, my foster-child Sam, and it is to be expected that our deaths are meant to be close together.’

  Gunnar’s hall was built entirely of wood, with overlapping boards on the outside and windows along the roof beams, fitted with shutters. Gunnar slept in a loft above the hall, together with Hallgerd and his mother.

  When the attackers came near they did not know whether Gunnar was at home, and they asked for someone to go first and find out. Thor-grim the Norwegian went to the hall while the others sat down on the ground. Gunnar saw a red tunic at the window and he made a thrust with his halberd and hit Thorgrim in the waist. The Norwegian lost his grip on his shield, his feet slipped and he fell off the roof and then walked to where Gizur and the others were sitting on the ground.

  Gizur looked at him and spoke: ‘Well, is Gunnar at home?’

  Thorgrim answered, ‘Find that out for yourselves, but I’ve found out one thing – that his halberd’s at home.’

  Then he fell down dead.

  The others then made for the buildings. Gunnar shot arrows at them and defended himself, and they could do nothing. Some men then climbed up on the buildings and planned to attack from there. Gunnar could still reach them with his arrows and they could do nothing, and it went on like this for a while. They took a rest and made a second attack. Gunnar kept shooting arrows at them, and again they could do nothing and fell back a second time.

  Gizur the White said, ‘We must attack harder – we’re not getting anywhere.’

  They made a third charge and
were at it for a long time. Then they pulled back.

  Gunnar spoke: ‘There’s an arrow out there on the edge of the roof, one of theirs, and I’ll try to shoot it at them – it will shame them to be hurt by their own weapons.’

  His mother spoke: ‘Don’t do that – don’t stir them up now that they have turned away.’

  Gunnar reached for the arrow and shot it at them. It struck Eilif Onundarson and gave him a great wound. He had been standing off by himself, and the others did not notice that he was wounded.

  ‘An arm reached out over there,’ said Gizur, ‘with a gold bracelet around it, and it grabbed an arrow that was lying on the roof; he would not be looking out here if he had enough inside. Now is the time to attack.’

  Mord spoke: ‘Let’s burn him to death inside.’

  ‘That shall never be,’ said Gizur, ‘even if I knew that my life depended on it. But a man as cunning as you’re said to be should be able to come up with a plan that works.’

  There were ropes lying on the ground, used for securing the buildings.

  Mord said, ‘Let’s tie these ropes around the ends of the roof beams and tie the other ends to boulders, and then twist the ropes with poles and pull the whole roof frame off the hall.’

  They took the ropes and rigged them in this way, and Gunnar was not aware of it until they had pulled off the whole roof. He kept on shooting with his bow, so they could not get at him. Then Mord said once more that they should burn Gunnar to death inside.

  Gizur answered, ‘I don’t know why you want to keep talking of something that nobody else wants – that shall never be!’

  At that moment Thorbrand Thorleiksson leaped up on the roof and cut through Gunnar’s bow string. Gunnar grasped his halberd with both hands and turned quickly towards him and drove the halberd through him and flung him off the roof. Then Asbrand, Thorbrand’s brother, leaped up; Gunnar thrust at him with the halberd, and Asbrand brought his shield to meet it. The halberd went through the shield and between the upper arm and forearm. Gunnar twisted the halberd so that the shield split and both his arm-bones broke, and Asbrand fell off the roof.

  By this time Gunnar had wounded eight men and killed two. Then he received two wounds, and everybody said that he flinched at neither wounds nor death.

  He spoke to Hallgerd: ‘Give me two locks of your hair, and you and my mother twist them into a bowstring for me.’

  ‘Does anything depend on it?’ she said.

  ‘My life depends on it,’ he said, ‘for they’ll never be able to get me as long as I can use my bow.’

  ‘Then I’ll recall,’ she said, ‘the slap you gave me, and I don’t care whether you hold out for a long or a short time.’1

  ‘Everyone has some mark of distinction,’ said Gunnar, ‘and I won’t ask you again.’

  Rannveig spoke: ‘You do evil, and your infamy will long be remembered.’

  Gunnar defended himself well and courageously and wounded eight more men so badly that many were close to death. He defended himself until he fell from weariness. They dealt him many bad wounds, but he still evaded them and went on for a long time defending himself, until at last they killed him.

  Thorkel Elfaraskald wrote about his defence in this verse:

  3.

  We have heard how, in the south,

  the skipper of the sea-steed sea-steed: ship

  Gunnar, greedy for gore,

  guarded himself with his halberd.

  Wielding weapons against attack,

  he gave wounds to sixteen

  of the battle-bearers, battle-bearers: warriors

  and brought death to two.

  Gizur spoke: ‘We have now laid low a great warrior, and it has been hard for us, and his defence will be remembered as long as this land is lived in.’

  Then he went to Rannveig and said, ‘Will you give us land for our two dead men to be buried in?’

  ‘Gladly for these two, but even more gladly if it were for all of you,’ she said.

  ‘You have good reason for saying that,’ he said, ‘for your loss has been great’ – and he gave orders that they should not steal or destroy anything. Then they went away.

  Thorgeir Starkadarson said, ‘We won’t be safe from the Sigfussons at home on our farms, unless you, Gizur, or Geir stay here in the south for a while.’

  ‘That’s probably true,’ said Gizur, and he and Geir drew lots, and it fell to Geir to stay behind. He went to Oddi and settled in there. He had a son named Hroald; he was born out of wedlock and his mother was Bjartey, the sister of Thorvald the Sickly, who was slain at Hestlaek in Grimsnes.2 Hroald boasted that he had given Gunnar his death blow. He went to Oddi with his father. Thorgeir Starkadar-son boasted of the wound that he had dealt to Gunnar.

  Gizur stayed at home at Mosfell.

  The slaying of Gunnar was spoken badly of in all parts of the land, and his death brought great sorrow to many.

  78

  Njal was distressed over the death of Gunnar, and so were the Sigfussons. They asked Njal whether he thought they should give notice of the slaying and start a case. He said that that was not possible for a man who had been outlawed and that it would be better to kill some men in revenge and whittle down their honour this way.

  They raised a burial mound for Gunnar and placed him in it sitting up. Rannveig did not want the halberd to go into the mound and said that only a man who was willing to avenge Gunnar should have it. So no one took the halberd. She was so fierce towards Hallgerd that she was on the verge of killing her, and she said that Hallgerd had brought about the slaying of her son. Hallgerd fled to Grjota, along with her son Grani. They made a division of the property: Hogni was to have the land and the farm at Hlidarendi, and Grani was to have the land which was rented out.

  One day at Hlidarendi it happened that a shepherd and a servant woman were driving cattle past Gunnar’s mound. Gunnar seemed to them to be in high spirits and reciting verses in the mound. They went home and told this to Gunnar’s mother Rannveig, and she asked them to tell Njal. They went off to Bergthorshvol and told him, and he had them repeat it three times. Then he talked privately with Skarphedin for a long time.

  Skarphedin took his axe and went with the servants to Hlidarendi. Hogni and Rannveig welcomed him and were happy to see him. Rannveig asked him to stay for a long time, and he promised to do so. He and Hogni were always going in and out together. Hogni was a courageous and capable man, but not easily persuaded, and for this reason they did not dare to tell him about the apparition.

  One evening Skarphedin and Hogni were outside, to the south of Gunnar’s mound. The moon was shining brightly, though occasionally dimmed by clouds. It appeared to them that the mound was open, and that Gunnar had turned around and was looking at the moon. They thought they saw four lights burning in the mound, and there were no shadows. They saw that Gunnar was happy and had a very cheerful look. He recited a verse so loudly that they could hear it clearly, even at a distance:

  4.

  The bright bestower of rings,

  the man bold in deeds, who

  fought with full courage, the

  father of Hogni, spoke:

  the shield-holding ghost would sooner

  wear his helmet high

  than falter in the fray,

  rather die for battle-Freyja battle-Freyja: valkyrie

  – and die for battle-Freyja.

  Then the mound closed again.

  ‘Would you have believed this,’ said Skarphedin, ‘if others told it to you?’

  ‘I would believe it if Njal told me,’ said Hogni, ‘for it’s said that he never lies.’

  ‘Such an apparition is full of meaning,’ said Skarphedin, ‘when Gunnar comes forth and tells us that he preferred to die rather than falter before his enemies. He has taught us what to do.’

  ‘I won’t get anywhere,’ said Hogni, ‘unless you help me.’

  Skarphedin spoke: ‘I remember how Gunnar behaved after the slaying of your kinsman Sigmund.1 I wil
l now give you whatever help I can. My father promised this to Gunnar, whenever you and his mother should need it.’

  Then they walked back to Hlidarendi.

  79

  Skarphedin spoke: ‘Let’s start out at once, tonight, for if word gets around that I’m here, they’ll be much more on their guard.’

  ‘I’ll do whatever you say’ said Hogni.

  When everyone else was in bed, they took their weapons. Hogni took down the halberd, and it rang. Rannveig jumped up in a rage and asked, ‘Who’s taking the halberd, after I gave orders that no one should touch it?’

  ‘I’m bringing it to my father,’ said Hogni, ‘so that he may have it with him in Valhalla and use it in battle.’

  ‘First you must carry it yourself and avenge your father,’ she said, ‘because the halberd is announcing death, for one man or more.’

  Hogni then went out and told Skarphedin of his words with his grandmother.

  After this they went to Oddi. Two ravens flew with them all the way. They came to Oddi during the night and drove the sheep up to the house. Hroald and Tjorvi rushed out and chased the sheep into the lanes, and had their weapons with them.

  Skarphedin jumped out and said, ‘You don’t have to look further -it’s just what you think.’

  Then he dealt Tjorvi his death blow.

  Hroald had a spear in his hand, and Hogni sprang at him. Hroald made a thrust at him. Hogni severed his spear shaft with the halberd and then drove it through him.

  They left the dead men and went up to Thrihyrning. Skarphedin leaped up on the roof and began pulling out the grass, and the people inside thought that it was sheep. Starkad and Thorgeir took their weapons and clothing and ran outside and along the wall, and when Starkad saw Skarphedin he was frightened and wanted to turn back. Skarphedin struck him dead by the side of the wall. Then Hogni faced Thorgeir and killed him with the halberd.