Njal's Saga

by AnonYMous

  He said, ‘I have killed Orlyg the son of Olvir, the son of Hrodgeir the White, and the men of Vopnafjord are the ones who will take action.’

  ‘My guess,’ said Kolbein, ‘is that whoever takes you will land in trouble.’

  Hrapp spoke: ‘I am a friend to my friends, but when something bad is done to me, I pay it back. Anyway, I will spare no expense for my passage, since I have plenty of money for that.’

  Then Kolbein took him on board.

  Soon afterward a good breeze came and they sailed out to sea. Once at sea, Hrapp ran out of food. He helped himself from those who were sitting next to him. They leaped up with curses on their lips, and this led to blows, and Hrapp quickly had two men down. This was reported to Kolbein, and he offered his food to Hrapp, and Hrapp accepted.

  They came to land and dropped anchor off Agdenes.

  Kolbein asked, ‘Where’s the money you offered for your passage?’

  Hrapp answered, ‘It’s back in Iceland.’

  Kolbein spoke: ‘You will cheat more men than me, but I’ll let you off for the passage.’

  Hrapp thanked him for this – ‘and what advice do you have for me now?’

  ‘First of all,’ said Kolbein, ‘that you leave the ship as soon as you can, for all the Norwegians are going to give you a bad word, and I have a second piece of sound advice – never betray your lord.’

  Hrapp then went ashore with his weapons; in his hand he had a large axe with a handle bound in iron. He travelled until he came to Gudbrand of Dalarna. Gudbrand was a very close friend to Earl Hakon; together they owned a temple, which was never opened unless the earl went there. It was the second largest temple in Norway; the largest was at Lade. Gudbrand had a son, Thrand, and a daughter, Gudrun.

  Hrapp went to Gudbrand and greeted him well. Gudbrand asked who he was. Hrapp gave his name and said that he came from Iceland. Then he asked Gudbrand to take him into his service.

  Gudbrand spoke: ‘You don’t look to me like a man of good luck.’

  ‘I see that a lot of lies have also been told about you,’ said Hrapp, ‘for it was said that you took in all those who asked, and that no man was as noble as you. I’ll tell a different story if you don’t take me in.’

  Gudbrand said, ‘I suppose you’ll have to stay here, then.’

  ‘Where do you want me to sit?’ said Hrapp.

  ‘On the lower bench,’ said Gudbrand, ‘facing my high seat.’

  Hrapp went to his seat. He had a lot of stories to tell, and at first Gudbrand and many others found him amusing, but as time went on they found his jesting overdone.

  After a while he started conversing with Gudrun, so that many said he was out to seduce her. When Gudbrand found out about this, he rebuked her sternly for talking to him and told her to avoid speaking with him altogether unless everybody could hear them. At first she promised to obey, but after a while they were talking as before. Then Gudbrand told Asvard, his overseer, to go with her wherever she went.

  One day she asked to go to a nut grove to amuse herself, and Asvard went with her. Hrapp went looking for them and found them in the grove and took her by the hand and led her off alone. Asvard went looking for her and found the two of them lying together in some bushes. He ran at them with his axe raised and hacked at Hrapp’s leg, but Hrapp moved quickly and Asvard missed him. Hrapp sprang to his feet as fast as he could and seized his axe. Asvard tried to get away; Hrapp hacked his backbone in two.

  Then Gudrun spoke: ‘The deed you’ve just done means that you may no longer stay with my father. But there is another thing which will displease him even more – I’m going to have a child.’

  Hrapp answered, ‘He won’t learn this from others. I’ll go back and tell him both these things.’

  ‘You won’t get away from there with your life then,’ she said.

  ‘I’ll take that chance,’ he said.

  After that he took her to the other women, and he went to the hall.

  Gudbrand was sitting in his high seat, and only a few men were in the room. Hrapp walked up to him holding his axe high.

  Gudbrand asked, ‘Why is your axe bloody?’

  ‘I have been taking care of Asvard’s backache,’ he said.

  ‘Not out of good will, I suppose,’ said Gudbrand. ‘You must have killed him.’

  ‘That’s true,’ said Hrapp.

  ‘What was the reason?’ said Gudbrand.

  ‘It will seem petty to you,’ said Hrapp, ‘but he was trying to cut off my leg.’

  ‘What had you done before that?’ asked Gudbrand.

  ‘Something that was none of his business,’ said Hrapp.

  ‘All the same, tell me what it was,’ said Gudbrand.

  Hrapp spoke: ‘If you really must know, I was lying with your daughter, and he didn’t like that.’

  Gudbrand spoke: ‘On your feet, men, and seize him and put him to death!’

  ‘Small benefit I get from being your son-in-law,’ said Hrapp. ‘Anyway, you don’t have the manpower for that to happen soon.’

  The men rose to their feet, but he backed out of the hall. They chased him, but he got away into the forest and they did not catch him. Gudbrand gathered men and had them search the forest, but they did not find him, for the forest was large and thick.

  Hrapp went through the forest until he saw ahead of him a clearing and a house and a man outside chopping wood. Hrapp asked his name, and he gave it as Tofi. Tofi asked his name, and Hrapp gave it. Hrapp asked why he lived so far away from other men.

  ‘Because,’ he said, ‘here I don’t have to bother with other men.’

  ‘We’re not being straight with each other,’ said Hrapp, ‘so I’ll tell you first who I am. I’ve been staying with Gudbrand of Dalarna, and I ran away because I killed his overseer. I know that both of us are bad types, because you wouldn’t be here, far away from other men, unless you were outlawed by someone. I’ll give you a choice: either we go halves on whatever is here, or I’ll give you away.’

  The farmer said, ‘It’s just as you say. I made off with this woman who’s here with me, and many a man has been looking for me.’

  Then he brought Hrapp inside. The house was small but well made. The farmer told his wife that he had arranged to have Hrapp stay with them.

  ‘Most people will have misfortune from this man,’ she said, ‘but I guess you’ll have it your way.’

  So Hrapp stayed there. He was often on the move and was never at home. He managed to see Gudrun frequently. Gudbrand and his son Thrand laid ambushes for him but were never able to get their hands on him, and it went on this way for a whole year.

  Gudbrand sent word to Earl Hakon about the problem he was having because of Hrapp. The earl had Hrapp declared an outlaw and set a price on his head, and also promised to come himself to try to find him, but never did, and yet he thought it an easy matter for someone to catch Hrapp, since he was so careless.

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  To return to the Njalssons: they travelled that same summer from Orkney to Norway and traded there.

  Thrain Sigfusson made his ship ready to sail to Iceland and was nearly set to leave.

  Earl Hakon went to a feast at Gudbrand’s. That night Killer-Hrapp went to the temple owned by the earl and Gudbrand and entered it. He saw Thorgerd Holda-bride1 in her seat; she was as tall as a grown man. She had a large gold bracelet on her arm and a linen hood on her head. He snatched off her hood and took the gold bracelet from her. Then he saw Thor’s chariot and took a bracelet from him. He took a third one from Irpa, and dragged the three idols outside the temple and took off all their garments. Then he set fire to the temple and burned it to the ground. After that he went away. The dawn was coming. He crossed a cultivated field; six armed men sprang up and attacked him there, but he put up a good defence. The outcome was that he killed three men and mortally wounded Thrand, and chased the other two into the forest so that they could not bring word to the earl.

  Then he returned to Thrand and spoke: ‘I could kil
l you now, but I won’t. I’ll show more respect for my in-laws than you and your father have shown me.’

  Hrapp was about to return to the forest, but he saw men between him and the forest and dared not risk that, so he lay down in some bushes and stayed there for a while.

  Early that morning Earl Hakon and Gudbrand went to the temple and found it burned to the ground and the three idols outside, stripped of their belongings.

  Gudbrand declared: ‘Much might has been given our gods: they walked away from the fire by themselves.’

  ‘This was not done by the gods,’ said the earl. ‘A man must have burned the temple and carried the gods out. The gods are in no hurry to avenge themselves, but the man who did this will be banished from Valhalla and never enter there.’

  At that moment four of the earl’s men came running up and told them the bad news, that they had found three men slain in the field and Thrand mortally wounded.

  ‘Who did this?’ said the earl.

  ‘Killer-Hrapp,’ they said.

  ‘Then it was he who burned down the temple,’ said the earl.

  They thought that he was indeed likely to have done this.

  ‘Where can he be now?’ said the earl.

  They said that Thrand told them that he had hidden in some bushes. The earl went looking for him there, but Hrapp had taken off. The earl then ordered them to search for him, but they could not find him. The earl himself joined the search and began by telling the men to rest. He went apart from the others and gave orders that no one should follow him and stayed away for some time. He fell to his knees and held his hands over his eyes. Then he went back to the others.

  He spoke to them: ‘Come with me.’

  They went with him, and he turned sharply from the path they had been taking and came to a dell. Hrapp turned up there, right in front of them, for that was where he had hidden himself. The earl urged his men to chase him, but Hrapp was so swift that they came nowhere near him.

  Hrapp headed for Lade. Both Thrain Sigfusson and the Njalssons were there and about to sail.

  Hrapp rushed to where the Njalssons were, still on shore. He spoke: ‘Save me, my good fellows, for the earl is out to kill me.’

  Helgi looked at him and spoke: ‘You look to me like bad luck, and things will go better for the man who does not take up with you.’

  ‘Then it’s my wish,’ said Hrapp, ‘that you two have bad trouble because of me.’

  ‘I’m man enough to pay you back for that,’ said Helgi – ‘when the time comes.’

  Then Hrapp turned to Thrain Sigfusson and asked him for help.

  ‘What trouble are you in?’ said Thrain.

  Hrapp said, ‘I have burned down the earl’s temple and killed some of his men, and he’ll be here soon, for he’s hunting me himself.’

  ‘It would not be right for me to help you,’ said Thrain, ‘after the earl has done me so much good.’

  Hrapp then showed him the treasures he had taken from the temple and offered them to him. Thrain said he would not accept them without paying for them.

  Hrapp said, ‘I’m going to stay here and be killed in front of your eyes, and for that you will receive blame from all men.’

  They could see the earl and his men coming. Thrain then took Hrapp into his care and had a boat cast off to carry them out to the ship.

  Thrain said, ‘The best way to hide you is to break out the bottoms of two barrels and let you get inside.’

  This was done, and Hrapp crawled into the barrels and they were tied together and lowered over the side of the ship.

  Then the earl arrived with his men. He approached the Njalssons and asked them whether Hrapp had come there. They said that he had. The earl asked where he had gone, and they said they had not noticed.

  The earl spoke: ‘Whoever tells me where Hrapp is will receive great honour from me.’

  Grim spoke softly to Helgi: ‘Why shouldn’t we tell? I doubt that Thrain will treat us well in any case.’

  ‘But still, we shouldn’t tell,’ said Helgi, ‘since his life is at stake.’

  Grim said, ‘It may be that the earl will turn his vengeance against us, since he’s so furious now that his wrath will have to be felt somewhere.’

  ‘We’ll not guide ourselves by that,’ said Helgi. Now we must cast off and put out to sea when the right wind comes.’

  They brought the ship out to an island and waited there for the wind.

  The earl went to the ships’ crews and asked them all, but everybody denied knowing about Hrapp.

  Then the earl said, ‘Now we must ask my friend Thrain, and he will turn the man over if he knows where he is.’

  They took one of the longships and sailed out to the trading vessel. Thrain saw the earl approaching and rose and greeted him warmly.

  The earl took the greeting well and spoke: ‘We’re looking for a man named Hrapp, an Icelander. He’s done us every kind of evil. We ask you to turn him over or tell us where he is.’

  Thrain spoke: ‘You recall, my lord, that I killed a man whom you had outlawed and risked my life in doing so, and I received great honour from you in return.’

  ‘You shall now have even greater honour,’ said the earl.

  Thrain thought things over and was not certain what the earl would place highest.2 Finally, he denied that Hrapp was there and asked the earl to search the ship. The earl spent only a short time doing so and went back to land. He walked away from the other men and was so angry that no one dared to speak with him.

  Then the earl said, ‘Bring me to the Njalssons. I’ll force them to tell me the truth.’

  He was told that they had already launched their ship.

  ‘That’s out, then,’ he said. ‘But there were two water casks beside Thrain’s ship, and a man could easily have hidden in them. If Thrain was hiding Hrapp, he must be there, so let’s go and visit Thrain once more.’

  Thrain saw that the earl was setting out again and said, ‘The earl was angry before, but now he’ll be twice as angry, and the lives of all of us on board are at risk.’

  They all promised to keep quiet, for every man feared for his life. They took some sacks out of the cargo and put Hrapp in their place, and then other, lighter sacks were placed on top of him. The earl arrived just when they had finished with him. Thrain greeted the earl, and the earl took his time returning the greeting, and they could see that he was very angry.

  The earl spoke to Thrain: ‘Hand over Hrapp, since I know for a fact that you’ve hidden him.’

  ‘Where would I have hidden him, my lord?’ said Thrain.

  ‘That’s for you to know,’ said the earl, ‘but if I am to make a guess, I would say that you hid him in the water casks the last time.’

  ‘I wish you wouldn’t charge me with lying, my lord,’ said Thrain, ‘and I would rather have you search the ship.’

  The earl boarded the ship and searched it, but found nothing.

  ‘Will you clear me now?’ said Thrain.

  ‘Far from it,’ said the earl, ‘but we can’t find him, and I don’t know why not. I seem to see through everything when I come ashore, but not when I come here.’

  He had himself rowed ashore. He was so angry that no one could speak with him.

  His son Svein was with him. He spoke: ‘This is strange behaviour, letting innocent men feel one’s wrath.’

  The earl walked away from the other men again. Then he returned to them and said, ‘Let’s row out to them once more.’

  They did.

  ‘Where do you suppose he was hiding?’ asked Svein.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ said the earl, ‘because he will have left that place by now, but there were two sacks lying to the side of the cargo. He probably took their place in the pile.’

  Thrain spoke: ‘The earl and his men are putting their ship out again and will come to us. Let’s take Hrapp out of the cargo and put something else in his place, but leave those two sacks where they are.’

  They did this.

>   Then Thrain said, ‘Let’s put Hrapp into the sail where it is rolled up on the yard.’

  They did this. Then the earl arrived. He was very angry and said, ‘Will you hand the man over now, Thrain? This is getting worse and worse.’

  Thrain said, ‘I would have handed him over long ago if he’d been in my care. Where might he have been?’

  ‘Among the cargo,’ said the earl.

  ‘Why didn’t you look for him there?’ said Thrain.

  ‘It didn’t occur to us,’ said the earl.

  Then they searched all over the ship and did not find him.

  Thrain said, ‘Will you clear me now, my lord?’

  ‘Certainly not,’ said the earl, ‘for I know you’ve hidden him, even though I can’t find him. But I would rather that you were false to me than I to you.’

  He returned to land.

  ‘Now I see it,’ said the earl: ‘he hid Hrapp in the sail’

  The wind came up then, and Thrain sailed away into the sea. He spoke this couplet, which has been repeated ever since:

  5.

  Let Griffin fly forward,

  Thrain does not flinch.

  When the earl learned what Thrain had spoken, he said, ‘This was not due to my lack of insight, but to the friendship between Thrain and Hrapp, which will drag them both to their deaths.’

  Thrain had a swift sea journey to Iceland and went home to his farm. Hrapp went with him and stayed with him for a year, and the following summer Thrain gave him a farm at Hrappsstadir. Hrapp lived there, but spent most of his time at Grjota. There he was thought to be harmful in every way. Some said that he and Hallgerd were on friendly terms and that he had seduced her, but others denied this. Thrain gave his ship to his kinsman Mord the Careless. This Mord killed Odd Halldorsson out east at Gautavik in Berufjord.

  All of Thrain’s kinfolk looked on him as a chieftain.

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  To return to the point where Earl Hakon let Thrain slip away: the earl said to his son Svein, ‘Let’s take four longships and row out after the Njalssons and kill them, since they must have been in on this with Thrain.’