THRAIN TOOK TO HRAPP.
That same summer Njal's sons fared to Norway from the Orkneys, as was
before written, and they were there at the fair during the summer. Then
Thrain Sigfus' son busked his ship for Iceland, and was all but "boun".
At that time Earl Hacon went to a feast at Gudbrand's house. That night
Killing-Hrapp came to the shrine of Earl Hacon and Gudbrand, and he went
inside the house, and there he saw Thorgerda Shrinebride sitting, and
she was as tall as a full-grown man. She had a great gold ring on her
arm, and a wimple on her head; he strips her of her wimple, and takes
the gold ring from off her. Then he sees Thor's car, and takes from him
a second gold ring; a third he took from Irpa; and then dragged them all
out, and spoiled them of all their gear.
After that he laid fire to the shrine, and burnt it down, and then he
goes away just as it began to dawn. He walks across a ploughed field,
and there six men sprung up with weapons, and fall upon him at once; but
he made a stout defence, and the end of the business was that he slays
three men, but wounds Thrand to the death, and drives two to the woods,
so that they could bear no news to the Earl. He then went up to Thrand
and said--
"It is now in my power to slay thee if I will, but I will not do that;
and now I will set more store by the ties that are between us than ye
have shown to me."
Now Hrapp means to turn back to the wood, but now he sees that men have
come between him and the wood, so he dares not venture to turn thither,
but lays him down in a thicket, and so lies there a while.
Earl Hacon and Gudbrand went that morning early to the shrine and found
it burnt down; but the three gods were outside, stripped of all their
bravery.
Then Gudbrand began to speak, and said--
"Much might is given to our gods, when here they have walked of
themselves out of the fire!"
"The gods can have naught to do with it," says the Earl; "a man must
have burnt the shrine, and borne the gods out; but the gods do not
avenge everything on the spot. That man who has done this will no doubt
be driven away out of Valhalla, and never come in thither."
Just then up ran four of the Earl's men, and told them ill tidings; for
they said they had found three men slain in the field, and Thrand
wounded to the death.
"Who can have done this?" says the Earl.
"Killing-Hrapp," they say.
"Then he must have burnt down the shrine," says the Earl.
They said they thought he was like enough to have done it.
"And where may he be now?" says the Earl.
They said that Thrand had told them that he had laid down in a thicket.
The Earl goes thither to look for him, but Hrapp was off and away. Then
the Earl set his men to search for him, but still they could not find
him. So the Earl was in the hue and cry himself, but first he bade them
rest a while.
Then the Earl went aside by himself, away from other men, and bade that
no man should follow him, and so he stays a while. He fell down on both
his knees, and held his hands before his eyes; after that he went back
to them, and then he said to them, "Come with me".
So they went along with him. He turns short away from the path on which
they had walked before, and they came to a dell. There up sprang Hrapp
before them, and there it was that he had hidden himself at first.
The Earl urges on his men to run after him, but Hrapp was so
swift-footed that they never came near him. Hrapp made for Hlada. There
both Thrain and Njal's sons lay "boun" for sea at the same time. Hrapp
runs to where Njal's sons are.
"Help me, like good men and true," he said, "for the Earl will slay me."
Helgi looked at him and said--
"Thou lookest like an unlucky man, and the man who will not take thee in
will have the best of it."
"Would that the worst might befall you from me," says Hrapp.
"I am the man," says Helgi, "to avenge me on thee for this as time rolls
on."
Then Hrapp turned to Thrain Sigfus' son, and bade him shelter him.
"What hast thou on thy hand?" says Thrain.
"I have burnt a shrine under the Earl's eyes, and slain some men, and
now he will be here speedily, for he has joined in the hue and cry
himself."
"It hardly beseems me to do this," says Thrain, "when the Earl has done
me so much good."
Then he showed Thrain the precious things which he had borne out of the
shrine, and offered to give him the goods, but Thrain said he could not
take them unless he gave him other goods of the same worth for them.
"Then," said Hrapp, "here will I take my stand, and here shall I be
slain before thine eyes, and then thou wilt have to abide by every man's
blame."
Then they see the Earl and his band of men coming, and then Thrain took
Hrapp under his safeguard, and let them shove off the boat, and put out
to his ship.
Then Thrain said, "Now this will be thy best hiding place, to knock out
the bottoms of two casks, and then thou shalt get into them".
So it was done, and he got into the casks, and then they were lashed
together, and lowered over-board.
Then comes the Earl with his band to Njal's sons, and asked if Hrapp had
come there.
They said that he had come.
The Earl asked whither he had gone thence.
They said they had not kept eyes on him, and could not say.
"He," said the Earl, "should have great honour from me who would tell me
where Hrapp was."
Then Grim said softly to Helgi--
"Why should we not say. What know I whether Thrain will repay us with
any good?"
"We should not tell a whit more for that," says Helgi, "when his life
lies at stake."
"Maybe," said Grim, "the Earl will turn his vengeance on us, for he is
so wroth that some one will have to fall before him."
"That must not move us," says Helgi, "but still we will pull our ship
out, and so away to sea as soon as ever we get a wind."
So they rowed out under an isle that lay there, and wait there for a
fair breeze.
The Earl went about among the sailors, and tried them all, but they, one
and all, denied that they knew aught of Hrapp.
Then the Earl said, "Now we will go to Thrain, my brother-in-arms, and
he will give Hrapp up, if he knows anything of him".
After that they took a long-ship and went off to the merchant ship.
Thrain sees the Earl coming, and stands up and greets him kindly. The
Earl took his greeting well and spoke thus--
"We are seeking for a man whose name is Hrapp, and he is an Icelander.
He has done us all kind of ill; and now we will ask you to be good
enough to give him up, or to tell us where he is."
"Ye know, Lord," said Thrain, "that I slew your outlaw, and then put my
life in peril, and for that I had of you great honour."
"More honour shalt thou now have," says the Earl.
Now Thrain thought within himself, and could not make up his mind how
the Earl would take it, so he denies that Hrapp is there, and bade the
Earl to look for him. He spent little time on that, and went on land
alone, away from other men, and was then very wroth, so that no man
dared to speak to him.
"Show me to Njal's sons," said the Earl, "and I will force them to tell
me the truth."
Then he was told that they had put out of the harbour.
"Then there is no help for it," says the Earl, "but still there were two
water-casks alongside of Thrain's ship, and in them a man may well have
been hid, and if Thrain has hidden him, there he must be; and now we
will go a second time to see Thrain."
Thrain sees that the Earl means to put off again and said--
"However wroth the Earl was last time, now he will be half as wroth
again, and now the life of every man on board the ship lies at stake."
They all gave their words to hide the matter, for they were all sore
afraid. Then they took some sacks out of the lading, and put Hrapp down
into the hold in their stead, and other sacks that were tight were laid
over him.
Now comes the Earl, just as they were done stowing Hrapp away. Thrain
greeted the Earl well. The Earl was rather slow to return it, and they
saw that the Earl was very wroth.
Then said the Earl to Thrain--
"Give thou up Hrapp, for I am quite sure that thou hast hidden him."
"Where shall I have hidden him, Lord?" says Thrain.
"That thou knowest best," says the Earl; "but if I must guess, then I
think that thou hiddest him in the water-casks a while ago."
"Well!" says Thrain, "I would rather not be taken for a liar, far sooner
would I that ye should search the ship."
Then the Earl went on board the ship and hunted and hunted, but found
him not.
"Dost thou speak me free now?" says Thrain. "Far from it," says the
Earl, "and yet I cannot tell why we cannot find him, but methinks I see
through it all when I come on shore, but when I come here, I can see
nothing."
With that he made them row him ashore. He was so wroth that there was no
speaking to him. His son Sweyn was there with him, and he said, "A
strange turn of mind this to let guiltless men smart for one's wrath!"
Then the Earl went away alone aside from other men, and after that he
went back to them at once, and said--
"Let us row out to them again," and they did so.
"Where can he have been hidden?" says Sweyn.
"There's not much good in knowing that," says the Earl, "for now he will
be away thence; two sacks lay there by the rest of the lading, and Hrapp
must have come into the lading in their place."
Then Thrain began to speak, and said--
"They are running off the ship again, and they must mean to pay us
another visit. Now we will take him out of the lading, and stow other
things in his stead, but let the sacks still lie loose. They did so, and
then Thrain spoke--
"Now let us fold Hrapp in the sail."
It was then brailed up to the yard, and they did so.
Then the Earl comes to Thrain and his men, and he was very wroth, and
said, "Wilt thou now give up the man, Thrain?" and he is worse now than
before.
"I would have given him up long ago," answers Thrain, "if he had been in
my keeping, or where can he have been?"
"In the lading," says the Earl.
"Then why did ye not seek him there?" says Thrain.
"That never came into our mind," says the Earl.
After that they sought him over all the ship, and found him not.
"Will you now hold me free?" says Thrain.
"Surely not," says the Earl, "for I know that thou hast hidden away the
man, though I find him not; but I would rather that thou shouldest be a
dastard to me than I to thee," says the Earl, and then they went on
shore.
"Now," says the Earl, "I seem to see that Thrain has hidden away Hrapp
in the sail."
Just then up sprung a fair breeze, and Thrain and his men sailed out to
sea. He then spoke these words which have long been held in mind since--
Let us make the Vulture fly,
Nothing now gars Thrain flinch.
But when the Earl heard of Thrain's words, then he said--
"Tis not my want of foresight which caused this, but rather their
ill-fellowship, which will drag them both to death."
Thrain was a short time out on the sea, and so came to Iceland, and
fared home to his house. Hrapp went along with Thrain, and was with him
that year; but the spring after, Thrain got him a homestead at
Hrappstede, and he dwelt there; but yet he spent most of his time At
Gritwater. He was thought to spoil everything there, and some men even
said that he was too good friends with Hallgerda, and that he led her
astray, but some spoke against that.
Thrain gave the Vulture to his kinsman, Mord the reckless; that Mord
slew Oddi Haldor's son, east in Gautawick by Berufirth.
All Thrain's kinsmen looked on him as a chief.