OF THE JUDGES.
Then Snorri the priest spoke thus--"Now are we here twelve judges to
whom these suits are handed over, now I will beg you all that we may
have no stumbling-blocks in these suits, so that they may not be
atoned".
"Will ye," said Gudmund, "award either the lesser or the greater
outlawry? Shall they be banished from the district, or from the whole
land?"
"Neither of them," says Snorri, "for those banishments are often ill
fulfilled, and men have been slain for that sake, and atonements broken,
but I will award so great a money fine that no man shall have had a
higher price here in the land than Hauskuld."
They all spoke well of his words.
Then they talked over the matter, and could not agree which should first
utter how great he thought the fine ought to be, and so the end of it
was that they cast lots, and the lot fell on Snorri to utter it.
Then Snorri said, "I will not sit long over this, I will now tell you
what my utterance is, I will let Hauskuld be atoned for with triple
manfines, but that is six hundred in silver. Now ye shall change it, if
ye think it too much or too little."
They said that they would change it in nothing.
"This too shall be added," he said, "that all the money shall be paid
down here at the Thing."
Then Gizur the white spoke and said--
"Methinks that can hardly be, for they will not have enough money to pay
their fines."
"I know what Snorri wishes," said Gudmund the powerful, "he wants that
all we daysmen should give such a sum as our bounty will bestow, and
then many will do as we do."
Hall of the Side thanked him, and said he would willingly give as much
as any one else gave, and then all the other daysmen agreed to that.
After that they went away, and settled between them that Hall should
utter the award at the Court of Laws.
So the bell was rung, and all men went to the Court of Laws, and Hall of
the Side stood up and spoke--
"In this suit, in which we have come to an award, we have been all well
agreed, and we have awarded six hundred in silver, and half this sum we
the daysmen will pay, but it must all be paid up here at the Thing. But
it is my prayer to all the people that each man will give something for
God's sake."
All answered well to that, and then Hall took witness to the award, that
no one should be able to break it.
Njal thanked them for their award, but Skarphedinn stood by, and held
his peace, and smiled scornfully.
Then men went from the Court of Laws and to their booths, but the
daysmen gathered together in the freeman's church-yard the money which
they had promised to give.
Njal's sons handed over that money which they had by them, and Kari did
the same, and that came to a hundred in silver.
Njal took out that money which he had with him, and that was another
hundred in silver.
So this money was all brought before the Court of Laws, and then men
gave so much, that not a penny was wanting.
Then Njal took a silken scarf and a pair of boots and laid them on the
top of the heap.
After that, Hall said to Njal, that he should go to fetch his sons, "but
I will go for Flosi, and now each must give the other pledges of peace".
Then Njal went home to his booth, and spoke to his sons and said, "Now,
are our suits come into a fair way of settlement, now are we men atoned,
for all the money has been brought together in one place; and now either
side is to go and grant the other peace and pledges of good faith. I
will therefore ask you this, my sons, not to spoil these things in any
way."
Skarphedinn stroked his brow, and smiled scornfully. So they all go to
the Court of Laws.
Hall went to meet Flosi and said--
"Go thou now to the Court of Laws, for now all the money has been
bravely paid down, and it has been brought together in one place."
Then Flosi bade the sons of Sigfus to go up with him, and they all went
out of their booths. They came from the east, but Njal went from the
west to the Court of Laws, and the sons with him.
Skarphedinn went to the middle bench and stood there.
Flosi went into the Court of Laws to look closely at his money, and
said--
"This money is both great and good, and well paid down, as was to be
looked for."
After that he took up the scarf, and waved it, and asked--
"Who may have given this?"
But no man answered him.
A second time he waved the scarf, and asked--
"Who may have given this?" and laughed, but no man answered him.
Then Flosi said--
"How is it that none of you knows who has owned this gear, or is it that
none dares to tell me?"
"Who?" said Skarphedinn, "dost thou think, has given it?"
"If thou must know," said Flosi, "then I will tell thee; I think that
thy father the 'Beardless Carle' must have given it, for many know not
who look at him whether he is more a man than a woman."
"Such words are ill-spoken," said Skarphedinn, "to make game of him, an
old man, and no man of any worth has ever done so before. Ye may know,
too, that he is a man, for he has had sons by his wife, and few of our
kinsfolk have fallen unatoned by our house, so that we have not had
vengeance for them."
Then Skarphedinn took to himself the silken scarf, but threw a pair of
blue breeks to Flosi, and said he would need them more.
"Why," said Flosi, "should I need these more?"
"Because," said Skarphedinn, "thou art the sweetheart of the Swinefell's
goblin, if, as men say, he does indeed turn thee into a woman every
ninth night."
Then Flosi spurned the money, and said he would not touch a penny of it,
and then he said he would only have one of two things: either that
Hauskuld should fall unatoned, or they would have vengeance for him.
Then Flosi would neither give nor take peace, and he said to the sons of
Sigfus--
"Go we now home; one fate shall befall us all."
Then they went home to their booth, and Hall said--
"Here most unlucky men have a share in this suit."
Njal and his sons went home to their booth, and Njal said--
"Now comes to pass what my heart told me long ago, that this suit would
fall heavy on us."
"Not so," says Skarphedinn; "they can never pursue us by the laws of the
land."
"Then that will happen," says Njal, "which will be worse for all of us."
Those men who had given the money spoke about it, and said that they
should take it back; but Gudmund the powerful said--
"That shame I will never choose for myself, to take back what I have
given away, either here or elsewhere."
"That is well spoken," they said; and then no one would take it back.
Then Snorri the priest said, "My counsel is, that Gizur the white and
Hjallti Skeggi's son keep the money till the next Althing; my heart
tells me that no long time will pass ere there may be need to touch this
money".
Hjallti took half the money and kept it safe, but Gizur took the rest.
Then men went home to their booths.