(40)
“The friend that I trusted has failed me
In the fight, and my hope is departed:
I speak what I know of; and note it,
Ye nobles,--I tell ye no leasing.
Lo, the raven is ready for carnage,
But rare are the friends who should succour.
Yet still let them scorn me and threaten,
I shrink not, I am not dismayed.”
After this, Bersi was taken home to Saurbae, and lay long in his wounds.
But when he was carried into the tent, at that very moment Steinar spoke
thus to Cormac:--
(41)
“Of the reapers in harvest of Hilda
--Thou hast heard of it--four men and eight men
With the edges of Skrymir to aid me
I have urged to their flight from the battle.
Now the singer, the steward of Odin,
Hath smitten at last even Bersi
With the flame of the weapon that feedeth
The flocks of the carrion crows.”
“I would have thee keep Skrymir now for thy own, Cormac,” said he,
“because I mean this fight to be my last.”
After that, they parted in friendly wise: Steinar went home, and Cormac
fared to Mel.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Steingerd Leaves Bersi.
Next it is told of Bersi. His wound healed but slowly. Once on a time a
many folk were met to talk about that meeting and what came of it, and
Bersi made this song:--
(42)
“Thou didst leave me forlorn to the sword-stroke,
Strong lord of the field of the serpent!
And needy and fallen ye find me,
Since my foeman ye shielded from danger.
Thus cunning and counsel are victors,
When the craft of the spear-shaft avails not;
But this, as I think, is the ending,
O Thord, of our friendship for ever!”
A while later Thord came to his bedside and brought back the luck-stone;
and with it he healed Bersi, and they took to their friendship again and
held it unbroken ever after.
Because of these happenings, Steingerd fell into loathing of Bersi and
made up her mind to part with him; and when she had got everything
ready for going away she went to him and said:--“First ye were called
Eygla's-Bersi, and then Holmgang-Bersi, but now your right name will be
Breech-Bersi!” and spoke her divorce from him.
She went north to her kinsfolk, and meeting with her brother Thorkel she
bade him seek her goods again from Bersi--her pin-money and her dowry,
saying that she would not own him now that he was maimed. Thorkel
Toothgnasher never blamed her for that, and agreed to undertake her
errand; but the winter slipped by and his going was put off.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Bane Of Thorkel Toothgnasher.
Afterwards, in the spring, Thorkel Toothgnasher set out to find Bersi
and to seek Steingerd's goods again. Bersi said that his burden was
heavy enough to bear, even though both together underwent the weight of
it. “And I shall not pay the money!” said he.
Said Thorkel, “I bid thee to the holmgang at Orrestholm beside Tjaldanes
(Tentness).”
“That ye will think hardly worth while,” said Bersi, “such a champion as
you are; and yet I undertake for to come.”
So they came to the holme and fell to the holmgang. Thord carried the
shield before Bersi, and Vali was Thorkel's shield-bearer. When two
shields had been hacked to splinters, Bersi bade Thorkel take the third;
but he would not. Bersi still had a shield, and a sword that was long
and sharp.
Said Thorkel, “The sword ye have, Bersi, is longer than lawful.”
“That shall not be,” cried Bersi; and took up his other sword, Whitting,
two-handed, and smote Thorkel his deathblow. Then sang he:--
(43)
“I have smitten Toothgnasher and slain him,
And I smile at the pride of his boasting.
One more to my thirty I muster,
And, men! say ye this of the battle:--
In the world not a lustier liveth
Among lords of the steed of the oar-bench;
Though by eld of my strength am I stinted
To stain the black wound-bird with blood.”
After these things Vali bade Bersi to the holmgang, but he answered in
this song:--
(44)
“They that waken the war of the mail-coats,
For warfare and manslaying famous,
To the lists they have bid me to battle,
Nor bitter I think it not woeful.
It is sport for yon swordsmen who goad me
To strive in the Valkyries' tempest
On the holme; but I fear not to fight them--
Unflinching in battle am I!”
The were even about to begin fighting, when Thord came and spoke to them
saying:--“Woeful waste of life I call it, if brave men shall be smitten
down for the sake of any such matters. I am ready to make it up between
ye two.”
To this they agreed, and he said:--“Vali, this methinks is the most
likely way of bringing you together. Let Bersi take thy sister Thordis
to wife. It is a match that may well be to thy worship.”
Bersi agreed to this, and it was settled that the land of Brekka should
go along with her as a dowry; and so this troth was plighted between
them. Bersi afterwards had a strong stone wall built around his
homestead, and sat there for many winters in peace.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN. The Rescue Of Steinvor Slim-ankles.
There was a man named Thorarin Alfsson, who lived in the north at
Thambardal; that is a dale which goes up from the fiord called Bitra.
He was a big man and mighty, and he was by-named Thorarin the Strong. He
had spent much of his time in seafaring (as a chapman) and so lucky was
he that he always made the harbour he aimed at.
He had three sons; one was named Alf, the next Loft, and the third
Skofti. Thorarin was a most overbearing man, and his sons took after
him. They were rough, noisy fellows.
Not far away, at Tunga (Tongue) in Bitra, lived a man called Odd. His
daughter was named Steinvor, a pretty girl and well set up; her by-name
was Slim-ankles. Living with Odd were many fisherman; among them,
staying there for the fishing-season, was one Glum, an ill-tempered
carle and bad to deal with.
Now once upon a time these two, Odd and Glum, were in talk together
which were the greatest men in the countryside. Glum reckoned Thorarin
to be foremost, but Odd said Holmgang Bersi was better than he in every
way.
“How can ye make that out?” asked Glum.
“Is there any likeness whatever,” said Odd, “between the bravery of
Bersi and the knavery of Thorarin?”
So they talked about this until they fell out, and laid a wager upon it.
Then Glum wend and told Thorarin. He grew very angry and made many a
threat against Odd. And in a while he went and carried off Steinvor
from Tunga, all to spite her father; and he gave out that if Odd
said anything against it, the worse for him: and so took her home to
Thambardal.
Things went on so for a while, and then Odd went to see Holmgang Bersi,
and told him what had happened. He asked him for help to get Steinvor
back and to wreak vengeance for that shame. Bersi answered that such
words had been better unsaid, and bade him go home and take no share in
the business. “But yet,” added he, “I promise that I will see to it.”
No sooner was Odd gone than Bersi made ready to go from home. He rode
fully armed, with Whitting at his belt, and three spears; he came to
Thambardal when the day was far spent and the women were coming out
of the bower. Steinvor saw him and turning to meet him told of her
unhappiness.
“Make ready to go with me,” said he; and that she did.
He would not go to Thambardal for nothing, he said; and so he turned to
the door where men were sitting by long fires. He knocked at the door,
and out there came a man--his name was Thorleif. But Thorarin knew
Bersi's voice, and rushed forth with a great carving-knife and laid on
to him. Bersi was aware of it, and drew Whitting, and struck him his
death-blow.
Then he leapt on horseback and set Steinvor on his knee and took his
spears which she had kept for him. He rode some way into the wood, where
in a hidden spot he left his horse and Steinvor, bidding her await him.
Then he went to a narrow gap through which the high-road ran, and there
made ready to stand against his foes.
In Thambardal there was anything but peace. Thorleif ran to tell the
sons of Thorarin that he lay dead in the doorway. They asked who had
done the deed. He told them. Then they went after Bersi and steered the
shortest way to the gap, meaning to get there first; but by that time he
was already first at the gap.
When they came near him, Bersi hurled a spear at Alf, and it went right
through him. Then Loft cast at Bersi, but he caught the spear on his
target and it dropped off. Then Bersi threw at Loft and killed him, and
so he did by Skofti.
When all was over, the house-carles of the brothers came up. Thorleif
turned back to meet them, and they all went home together.
After that Bersi went to find Steinvor, and mounted his horse. He came
home before men were out of bed. They asked him about his journey and
he told them. When Odd met him he asked about the fight and how it had
passed, and Bersi answered in this verse:--
(45)
“There was one fed the wolves has encountered
His weird in the dale of the Bowstring--
Thorarin the Strong, 'neath the slayer
Lay slain by the might of my weapon.
And loss of their lives men abided
When Loft fell, and Alf fell, and Skofti.
They were four, yonder kinsmen, and fated--
They were fey--and I met them, alone!”
After that Odd went home, but Steinvor was with Bersi, though it
misliked Thordis, his wife. By this time his stone wall was some-what
broken down, but he had it built up again; and it is said that no
blood-money was ever paid for Thorarin and his sons. So the time went
on.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy.
Once on a day when Thordis and Bersi were talking together, said he,
“I have been thinking I might ask Olaf Peacock for a child of his to
foster.”
“Nay,” said she, “I think little of that. It seems to me a great
trouble, and I doubt if folk will reckon more of us for it.”
“It means that I should have a sure friend,” answered he. “I have many
foes, and I am growing heavy with age.”
So he went to see Olaf, and asked for a child to foster. Olaf took it
with thanks, and Bersi carried Halldor home with him and got Steinvor to
be nurse. This too misliked Thordis, and she laid hands on every penny
she could get (for fear it should go to Steinvor and the foster-child).
At last Bersi took to ageing much. There was one time when men riding to
the Thing stayed at his house. He sat all by himself, and his food was
brought him before the rest were served. He had porridge while other
folk had cheese and curds. Then he made this verse:--
(46)
“To batten the black-feathered wound-bird
With the blade of my axe have I stricken
Full thirty and five of my foemen;
I am famed for the slaughter of warriors.
May the fiends have my soul if I stain not
My sharp-edged falchion once over!
And then let the breaker of broadswords
Be borne--and with speed--to the grave!”
“What?” said Halldor; “hast thou a mind to kill another man, then?”
Answered Bersi, “I see the man it would rightly serve!”
Now Thordis let her brother Vali feed his herds on the land of Brekka.
Bersi bade his house-carles work at home, and have no dealings with
Vali; but still Halldor thought it a hardship that Bersi had not his own
will with his own wealth. One day Bersi made this verse:--
(47)
“Here we lie,
Both on one settle--
Halldor and I,
Men of no mettle.
Youth ails thee,
But thou'lt win through it;
Age ails me,
And I must rue it!”
“I do hate Vali,” said Halldor; and Bersi answered thus in verse:--
(48)
“Yon Vali, so wight as he would be,
Well wot I our pasture he grazes;
Right fain yonder fierce helmet-wearer
Under foot my dead body would trample!
But often my wrongs have I wreaked
In wrath on the mail-coated warrior--
On the stems of the sun of the ocean
I have stained the wound-serpent for less!”