So Gunnar rode, and they all rode. But when they came to the
Thing they were so well arrayed that none could match them in
bravery; and men came out of every booth to wonder at them.
Gunnar rode to the booths of the men of Rangriver, and was there
with his kinsmen. Many men came to see Gunnar, and ask tidings
of him; and he was easy and merry to all men, and told them all
they wished to hear.
It happened one day that Gunnar went away from the Hill of Laws,
and passed by the booths of the men from Mossfell; then he saw a
woman coming to meet him, and she was in goodly attire; but when
they met she spoke to Gunnar at once. He took her greeting well,
and asks what woman she might be. She told him her name was
Hallgerda, and said she was Hauskuld's daughter, Dalakoll's son.
She spoke up boldly to him, and bade him tell her of his voyages;
but he said he would not gainsay her a talk. Then they sat them
down and talked. She was so clad that she had on a red kirtle,
and had thrown over her a scarlet cloak trimmed with needlework
down to the waist. Her hair came down to her bosom, and was both
fair and full. Gunnar was clad in the scarlet clothes which King
Harold Gorm's son had given him; he had also the gold ring on his
arm which Earl Hacon had given him.
So they talked long out loud, and at last it came about that he
asked whether she were unmarried. She said, so it was, "and
there are not many who would run the risk of that."
"Thinkest thou none good enough for thee?"
"Not that," she says, "but I am said to be hard to please in
husbands."
"How wouldst thou answer, were I to ask for thee?"
"That cannot be in thy mind," she says.
"It is though," says he.
"If thou hast any mind that way, go and see my father."
After that they broke off their talk.
Gunnar went straightway to the Dalesmen's booths, and met a man
outside the doorway, and asks whether Hauskuld were inside the
booth?
The man says that he was. Then Gunnar went in, and Hauskuld and
Hrut made him welcome. He sat down between them, and no one
could find out from their talk that there had ever been any
misunderstanding between them. At last Gunnar's speech turned
thither; how these brothers would answer if he asked for
Hallgerda?
"Well," says Hauskuld, "if that is indeed thy mind."
Gunnar says that he is in earnest, "but we so parted last time,
that many would think it unlikely that we should ever be bound
together."
"How thinkest thou, kinsman Hrut?" says Hauskuld.