Now the time for the Thing was coming on. Unna spoke to Sigmund,
Auzur's son, and asked if he would ride to the Thing with her; he
said he could not ride if his kinsman Hrut set his face against
it.
"Well!" says she, "I spoke to thee because I have better right to
ask this from thee than from any one else."
He answered, "I will make a bargain with thee: thou must promise
to ride back west with me, and to have no underhand dealings
against Hrut or myself."
So she promised that, and then they rode to the Thing. Her
father Mord was at the Thing, and was very glad to see her, and
asked her to stay in his booth while the Thing lasted, and she
did so.
"Now," said Mord, "what hast thou to tell me of thy mate, Hrut?"
Then she sung him a song, in which she praised Hrut's liberality,
but said he was not master of himself. She herself was ashamed
to speak out.
Mord was silent a short time, and then said, "Thou hast now that
on thy mind I see, daughter, which thou dost not wish that any
one should know save myself, and thou wilt trust to me rather
than any one else to help thee out of thy trouble."
Then they went aside to talk, to a place where none could
overhear what they said; and then Mord said to his daughter,
"Now, tell me all that is between you two, and don't make more of
the matter than it is worth."
"So it shall be," she answered, and sang two songs, in which she
revealed the cause of their misunderstanding; and when Mord
pressed her to speak out, she told him how she and Hrut could not
live together, because he was spellbound, and that she wished to
leave him.
"Thou didst right to tell me all this," said Mord, "and now I
will give thee a piece of advice, which will stand thee in good
stead, if thou canst carry it out to the letter. First of all,
thou must ride home from the Thing, and by that time thy husband
will have come back, and will be glad to see thee; thou must be
blithe and buxom to him, and he will think a good change has come
over thee, and thou must show no signs of coldness or ill-temper,
but when spring comes thou must sham sickness, and take to thy
bed. Hrut will not lose time in guessing what thy sickness can
be, nor will he scold thee at all, but he will rather beg every
one to take all the care they can of thee. After that he will
set off west to the Firths, and Sigmund with him, for he will
have to flit all his goods home from the Firths west, and he will
be away till the summer is far spent. But when men ride to the
Thing, and after all have ridden from the Dales that mean to ride
thither; then thou must rise from thy bed and summon men to go
along with thee to the Thing; and when thou art 'all-boun,' then
shalt thou go to thy bed, and the men with thee who are to bear
thee company, and thou shalt take witness before thy husband's
bed, and declare thyself separated from him by such a lawful
separation as may hold good according to the judgment of the
Great Thing, and the laws of the land; and at the man's door the
main door of the house, thou shalt take the same witness. After
that ride away, and ride over Laxriverdale Heath, and so on over
Holtbeacon Heath; for they will look for thee by way of
Hrutfirth. And so ride on till thou comest to me; then I will
see after the matter. But into his hands thou shalt never come
more."
Now she rides home from the Thing, and Hrut had come back before
her, and made her hearty welcome. She answered him kindly, and
was blithe and forbearing towards him. So they lived happily
together that half-year; but when spring came she fell sick, and
kept her bed. Hrut set off west to the Firths, and bade them
tend her well before he went. Now, when the time for the Thing
comes, she busked herself to ride away, and did in every way as
had been laid down for her; and then she rides away to the Thing.
The country folk looked for her, but could not find her. Mord
made his daughter welcome, and asked her if she had followed his
advice; and she says, "I have not broken one tittle of it."
Then she went to the Hill of Laws, and declared herself separated
from Hrut; and men thought this strange news. Unna went home
with her father, and never went west from that day forward.