Njal's Saga

by AnonYMous

  12.

  I ride a horse

  with hoarfrost mane

  and dripping forelocks,

  bringing evil;

  the torch ends burn,

  the middle brings bane;

  Flosi’s plans

  are like a flung torch;

  Flosi’s plans

  are like a flung torch.

  Then Hildiglum saw the man throw the torch at the mountains in the east, and such a great flame sprang up that he could no longer see the mountains. He saw the man ride east and disappear in the flames.

  Hildiglum went back inside and lay down in his bed and was in a swoon for a long time and then came out of it. He remembered everything that had passed before him and told it to his father, and he asked him to tell it to Hjalti Skeggjason. Hildiglum went and told him.

  Hjalti spoke: ‘You have seen a witch-ride; it always occurs before great events.’

  126

  Flosi prepared to leave the east when it was two months before winter, and he sent for all the men who had promised to go with him. Each of them had two horses and good weapons. They all came to Svinafell and were there for the night. Flosi had mass sung early on the Lord’s Day; then he went to table. He told the members of his household what work each of them should do while he was away; then he went to his horses.

  Flosi and his men rode west to Sand.1 He told his men not to ride too hard at first – they would do that at the end of the journey – and he said that they should all wait if anyone had to fall behind. They rode west to the Skogar district and arrived at Kirkjubaer, and Flosi asked all his men to go with him to church and pray; they did so.

  Then they mounted their horses and rode up into the mountains and on to Fiskivotn lakes and on to the west of these, and then headed due west for Sand, with the glacier Eyjafjallajokul to their left, and then down to Godaland and from there to the Markarfljot river. At mid-afternoon on the second day they came to Thrihyrning ridge and waited there until early evening. By that time everybody had arrived except Ingjald of Keldur, and the Sigfussons condemned him strongly, but Flosi told them not to blame Ingjald while he was not there – ‘we’ll settle with him later.’

  127

  Now to tell about Bergthorshvol: Grim and Helgi had left there and gone to Holar – their children were being fostered there – and had told their father that they would not be back that night. They were at Holar all day. Some poor women came there and said they had come a long way. Grim and Helgi asked them for news. They said there was none to speak of, but that they could tell of something unusual. The brothers asked what unusual thing they had to tell and told them not to hide it. They said they would tell.

  ‘We were coming down from Fljotshlid and saw all the Sigfussons riding, fully armed and heading up towards Thrihyrning ridge, in a group of fifteen. We also saw Grani Gunnarsson and Gunnar Lamba-son, five men altogether, and they all rode in the same direction. You might say that everything’s hurrying and scurrying.’

  Helgi Njalsson said, ‘Then Flosi must have come from the east, and all the others are joining up with him. Grim and I should be where Skarphedin is.’

  Grim said this was so, and they set out for home.

  Back at Bergthorshvol, Bergthora spoke to her household: ‘Choose your food for tonight. Each of you is to have what he likes best, for this evening is the last time that I will serve food to my household.’

  ‘That cannot be,’ said those who were there.

  ‘Yet it will be so,’ she said, ‘and I could tell of much more, if I wanted, and this will be a sign – Grim and Helgi will come back this evening, before people are finished eating. If this proves true, then the rest will be as I say.’

  Then she brought food to the table.

  Njal spoke: ‘Strange things are happening to me. I look around the room and imagine that I see both gable-walls gone, and the table and food all covered with blood.’

  This seemed a big thing to everyone except Skarphedin. He asked them not to grieve or behave in an unseemly way that people could comment on – ‘from us more than from others it’s expected that we bear up well, and that’s as it should be.’

  Grim and Helgi came home before the tables were taken away, and everyone was much alarmed at that. Njal asked why they had returned in such a hurry, and they told what they had heard.

  Njal said that no one should go to bed that night.

  128

  To return to Flosi: he said, ‘Now let’s ride to Bergthorshvol and be there by nightfall’

  They did this. There was a depression in the knoll at Bergthorshvol, and they rode into it and tethered their horses and stayed there until late at night.

  Flosi said, ‘Now let’s go up to the house and keep close together and walk slowly, and see what they do.’

  Njal was standing outside with his sons and Kari and all their servants; they had arranged themselves in the yard in front of the house, almost thirty in all.

  Flosi came to a halt and said, ‘Let’s see what they decide to do, for I don’t think that we’ll ever be able to overcome them if they stay out here.’

  ‘Our trip will be wasted,’ said Grani, ‘if we don’t dare attack them.’

  ‘It won’t come to that,’ said Flosi; ‘we’ll attack them even if they stay outside, but then we’ll pay dearly, and not many will live to say which side won.’

  Njal said to his men, ‘What do you say about the size of their force?’

  ‘They have a tough force,’ said Skarphedin, ‘and large too, but they have halted there because they think they will have a hard time defeating us.’

  ‘That’s not so,’ said Njal, ‘and I want everyone to go inside, for they had a hard time against Gunnar of Hlidarendi, and yet he faced them all alone. This house is solid, just as his was, and they won’t be able to overcome us.’

  ‘That’s not the way to look at it,’ said Skarphedin. ‘The men who attacked Gunnar were chieftains of such integrity that they would rather have turned back than burn him in his house. But these men will attack us with fire if they can’t do it in any other way, for they’ll do anything to finish us off. They must realize, and it’s not unlikely, that if we get away it will be their death. Besides, I’m not eager to let myself be suffocated like a fox in his hole.’

  Njal spoke: ‘Now it will be as often before, my sons, that you’ll over-rule me and show me no respect. When you were younger you did otherwise, and you were better off.’

  Helgi spoke: ‘Let’s do as our father wishes – that will be best for us.’

  ‘I’m not so sure about that,’ said Skarphedin, ‘for he is now a doomed man. But still, I’m ready to please him by burning in the house with him, for I’m not afraid to face my death.’

  He spoke to Kari: ‘Let’s all stay close together, brother-in-law, so that nobody is separated from the rest.’

  ‘That’s been my plan,’ said Kari, ‘but if it’s fated to be otherwise, then that’s the way it will be, and there’s nothing we can do about it.’

  ‘Avenge us,’ said Skarphedin, ‘and we shall avenge you if we live through this.’

  Kari said that he would. They all went inside then and took positions at the doors.

  Flosi spoke: ‘Now they are doomed, for they’ve gone inside. Let’s move quickly up to the house and form up tightly at the doors and see to it that no one gets away, neither Kari nor the Njalssons – otherwise it’s death for us.’

  They went up to the house and took positions all around it, in case there was a secret exit. Flosi went to the front of the house with his own men. Hroald Ozurarson ran to where Skarphedin was standing and thrust at him with his spear. Skarphedin hacked the point off his shaft and ran at him and swung his axe at him, and it came down on the shield and pushed it against him, and the forward point of the blade hit him in the face, and he fell back dead at once.

  Kari said, ‘There’s no getting away from you, Skarphedin; you’re the boldest of us all.’

  ‘I don’t know ab
out that,’ said Skarphedin and stretched his lips into a grin.

  Kari and Grim and Helgi made many spear-thrusts and wounded many men, and Flosi and his men could do nothing.

  Flosi spoke: ‘Our men have been hurt badly; many are wounded, and one is slain, the one whom we least wanted to lose. It’s clear now that we cannot defeat them with weapons – there are many here who are not attacking as sharply as they intended. Now we’ll have to try something else. There are two choices, and neither of them is good. One is to turn back, but that would lead to our death – the other is to bring fire and burn them inside, and that’s a great responsibility before God, for we’re Christian men. Still, that is the course we must take.’

  129

  Then they came with fire and started a great blaze in front of the doors.

  Skarphedin said, ‘Building a fire, boys? Are you going to cook something?’

  Grani answered, ‘That’s right, and it’ll be as hot as you need for baking.’

  Skarphedin spoke: ‘This is how you reward me for avenging your father – you’re the kind of man who places greater value on a lesser duty’

  The women then poured whey on the flames and put them out.

  Kol Thorsteinsson said to Flosi, ‘I have a plan. I saw a loft above the crossbeams in the hall. Let’s build a fire there and start it with the pile of chickweed at the back of the house.’

  They took the chickweed and set fire to it, and the people inside did not notice it until flames started coming down all over the hall. Then Flosi and his men started big fires in front of all the doors. The women inside started to suffer badly.

  Njal spoke to them: ‘Bear this bravely and don’t express any fear, for it’s only a brief storm, and it will be a long time before we have another like it. Have faith that God is merciful, and that he will not let us burn both in this world and in the next.’

  Such were the words he had for them, and others even more reassuring.

  Now the whole house began to burn.

  Njal went to the door and said, ‘Is Flosi near enough to hear me?’

  Flosi said he could hear.

  Njal said, ‘Are you at all willing to make a settlement with my sons, or let some people leave the house?’

  Flosi answered, ‘I will not make any settlement with your sons – our dealings with them will soon be over, and we won’t leave here until they’re all dead. But I’m willing to allow the women and children and servants to come out.’

  Njal went back in and said to his people, ‘All those who’ve been allowed must now go. And you go, too, Thorhalla Asgrimsdottir, along with everybody else who has permission.’

  Thorhalla said, ‘My parting from Helgi will be different from what I had long expected, but I shall incite my father and my brothers to take vengeance for the killings which are done here.’

  Njal said, ‘You will do well, for you’re a good woman.’

  Then she left, and many others went with her.

  Astrid of Djuparbakki said to Helgi, ‘Come out with me – I’ll throw a woman’s cloak over you and wrap a kerchief around your head.’

  Helgi declined at first, but then went along with their request. Astrid wrapped a kerchief around his head, and Thorhild put the cloak on him, and he walked out between the two of them. Then his sisters Thorgerd and Helga and many others went out.

  When Helgi came out, Flosi said, ‘That woman there is big and broad-shouldered – grab her and hold on to her!’

  When Helgi heard this he threw off the cloak. He had been carrying a sword under his arm, and swung it at one of the men and hit his shield, and it cut off the lower part of the shield and the man’s leg as well. Then Flosi came up and struck at Helgi’s neck, and the head came off at once.

  Flosi went to the door and said that Njal and Bergthora should come and talk with him. They did so.

  Flosi spoke: ‘I want to offer you free exit, for you do not deserve to be burned.’

  Njal spoke: ‘I will not leave, for I’m an old man and hardly fit to avenge my sons, and I do not want to live in shame.’

  Flosi spoke to Bergthora: ‘Then you come out, Bergthora, for by no means do I want to burn you in your house.’

  Bergthora spoke: ‘I was young when I was given to Njal, and I promised him that one fate should await us both.’1

  Then the two of them went back in.

  Bergthora said, ‘What are we to do now?’

  Njal answered, ‘We will go to our bed and lie down.’

  Then she said to the boy Thord, Kari’s son, ‘Someone will carry you out – you must not be burned here.’

  ‘You promised me, grandmother,’ said the boy, ‘that we would never be parted, and so it must be, for I think it much better to die with you.’

  Then she carried the boy to the bed.

  Njal said to his foreman, ‘Now you must see where we lie down and how I lay us out, for I don’t intend to budge from this spot, no matter how much the smoke and the fire bother me – then you will know where our remains can be found.’

  He said he would. An ox had been slaughtered, and its hide was lying there. Njal told the foreman to spread the hide over them, and he promised to do so. They lay down in the bed and placed the boy between them. Then they crossed themselves and the boy and put their souls in God’s hands, and this was the last that people heard them speak. The foreman took the hide and spread it over them and then went out of the house. Ketil of Mork met him and hurried him out and asked carefully about his father-in-law Njal. The foreman told exactly what had happened.

  Ketil spoke: ‘A great ordeal has been dealt us, that we should share so much bad luck.’

  Skarphedin had seen his father lie down and how he arranged things, and he spoke: ‘Our father has gone to bed early, which is to be expected – he’s an old man.’

  Then Skarphedin and Kari and Grim seized the burning pieces as fast as they fell and threw them at those outside, and this went on for a while. Then the attackers threw spears at them, and they caught them all in the air and hurled them back.

  Flosi told them to stop – ‘for every exchange of blows with them goes badly for us. Just wait until the fire overcomes them.’

  They did as he said. Then large timbers from the roof began falling down.

  Skarphedin spoke: ‘Now my father must be dead, and not a groan or a cough has been heard from him.’

  Then they went to the end of the hall, where the crossbeam had fallen down, much burned in the middle.

  Kari said to Skarphedin, ‘Run outside on this – I’ll help you start and run right behind you, and we’ll both get away if we do this, because the smoke is all lying this way.’

  Skarphedin said, ‘You run out first, and I’ll be right behind.’

  ‘There’s no need for that,’ said Kari, ‘because I’ll get out somewhere else if I don’t make it here.’

  ‘I don’t want that,’ said Skarphedin. ‘You run out first, and I’ll be right on your heels.’

  Kari spoke: ‘Every man is obliged to save his own life, and so shall I. But our parting now will mean that we’ll never meet again. If I run out of the fire, I won’t have the courage to run back into it to join you, and then each of us will have to go his own way.’

  Skarphedin said, ‘It cheers me, brother-in-law, to think that if you escape you will avenge us.’

  Then Kari took hold of a flaming piece of wood and ran up the crossbeam and threw the piece down from the roof, and it fell on the men outside; they ran away. By then all of Kari’s clothing and even his hair were aflame. He jumped down from the roof and scurried along under cover of the smoke.

  One of the men outside said, ‘Did someone jump off the roof over there?’

  ‘Far from it,’ said another – ‘that was Skarphedin throwing another burning piece at us.’

  After that they suspected nothing. Kari ran until he came to a stream, and he threw himself into it and put out the flames. From there he ran under cover of the smoke to a hollow and rested there
, and that place has since been called Kari’s hollow.

  130

  To return to Skarphedin: he ran up the crossbeam right after Kari, but when he reached the point where it was most burned, it gave way under him. He landed on his feet and quickly tried again, this time up the wall, but then the roof beam started towards him and he stumbled back.

  Skarphedin spoke: ‘It’s clear now how it will be.’

  Then he went along the side wall.

  Gunnar Lambason leaped up on the wall and saw Skarphedin and said, ‘What’s this? Are you crying now, Skarphedin?’

  ‘Not at all,’ he said, ‘though it’s true that my eyes are smarting. But it seems to me that you’re laughing – or am I wrong?’

  ‘You’re right,’ said Gunnar, ‘and this is the first time I have laughed since you killed Thrain.’

  Skarphedin said, ‘Then here’s something to remember him by’

  He took from his purse one of the molars he had hacked out of Thrain and threw it at Gunnar’s eye and knocked it out onto his cheek. Gunnar then fell off the roof.

  Skarphedin went to his brother Grim; they joined hands and stamped out the fire. When they reached the middle of the hall Grim fell down dead. Skarphedin went on to the end of the house, and then there was a loud crash, and the whole roof fell down. He was caught between it and the gable wall and could not budge.

  *

  Flosi and his men stayed at the fire all night, until well after dawn. Then a man came riding towards them. Flosi asked his name. He said he was Geirmund, a kinsman of the Sigfussons, and he said, ‘You have done a mighty deed here.’

  Flosi answered, ‘Men will call this both a mighty and an evil deed. But that can’t be helped now.’

  Geirmund said, ‘How many notable people have died here?’

  Flosi answered, ‘Those who have died here are Njal and Bergthora, Njal’s sons Helgi and Grim and Skarphedin, Thord Karason, Kari Solmundarson, and Thord Freed-man.1 And there are others, less familiar to us, about whom we don’t know for sure.’