There was a man whose name was Sigmund. He was the son of Lambi,
the son of Sighvat the Red. He was a great voyager, and a comely
and a courteous man; tall too, and strong. He was a man of proud
spirit, and a good skald, and well trained in most feats of
strength. He was noisy and boisterous, and given to jibes and
mocking. He made the land east in Homfirth. Skiolld was the
name of his fellow-traveller; he was a Swedish man, and ill to do
with. They took horse and rode from the east out of Hornfirth,
and did not draw bridle before they came to Lithend, in the
Fleetlithe. Gunnar gave them a hearty welcome, for the bonds of
kinship were close between them. Gunnar begged Sigmund to stay
there that winter, and Sigmund said he would take the offer if
Skiolld his fellow might be there too.
"Well, I have been so told about him," said Gunnar, "that he is
no betterer of thy temper; but as it is, thou rather needest to
have it bettered. This, too, is a bad house to stay at, and I
would just give both of you a bit of advice, my kinsman, not to
fire up at the egging on of my wife Hallgerda; for she takes much
in hand that is far from my will."
"His hands are clean who warns another," says Sigmund.
"Then mind the advice given thee," says Gunnar, "for thou art
sure to be sore tried; and go along always with me, and lean upon
my counsel."
After that they were in Gunnar's company. Hallgerda was good to
Sigmund; and it soon came about that things grew so warm that she
loaded him with money, and tended him no worse than her own
husband; and many talked about that, and did not know what lay
under it.
One day Hallgerda said to Gunnar, "It is not good to be content
with that hundred in silver which thou tookest for my kinsman
Brynjolf. I shall avenge him if I may," she says.
Gunnar said he had no mind to bandy words with her, and went
away. He met Kolskegg, and said to him, "Go and see Njal; and
tell him that Thord must be ware of himself though peace has been
made for, methinks, there is faithlessness somewhere."
He rode off and told Njal, but Njal told Thord, and Kolskegg rode
home, and Njal thanked them for their faithfulness.
Once on a time they two were out in the "town," Njal and Thord; a
he-goat was wont to go up and down in the "town," and no one was
allowed to drive him away. Then Thord spoke and said, "Well,
this is a wondrous thing!"
"What is it that thou see'st that seems after a wondrous
fashion?" says Njal.
"Methinks the goat lies here in the hollow, and he is all one
gore of blood."
Njal said that there was no goat there, nor anything else.
"What is it then?" says Thord.
"Thou must be a `fey' man," says Njal, "and thou must have seen
the fetch that follows thee, and now be ware of thyself."
"That will stand me in no stead," says Thord, "if death is doomed
for me."
Then Hallgerda came to talk with Thrain Sigfus' son, and said, "I
would think thee my son-in-law indeed," she says, "if thou
slayest Thord Freedmanson."
"I will not do that," he says, "for then I shall have the wrath
of my kinsman Gunnar; and besides, great things hang on this
deed, for this slaying would soon be avenged."
"Who will avenge it?" she asks; "is it the beardless carle?"
"Not so," says he, "his sons will avenge it."
After that they talked long and low, and no man knew what counsel
they took together.
Once it happened that Gunnar was not at home, but those
companions were. Thrain had come in from Gritwater, and then he
and they and Hallgerda sat out of doors and talked. Then
Hallgerda said, "This have ye two brothers in arms, Sigmund and
Skiolld, promised to slay Thord Freedmanson; but Thrain thou hast
promised me that thou wouldst stand by them when they did the
deed."
They all acknowledged that they had given her this promise.
"Now I will counsel you how to do it," she says: "Ye shall ride
east into Homfirth after your goods, and come home about the
beginning of the Thing, but if ye are at home before it begins,
Gunnar will wish that ye should ride to the Thing with him. Njal
will be at the Thing and his sons and Gunnar, but then ye two
shall slay Thord."
They all agreed that this plan should be carried out. After that
they busked them east to the Firth, and Gunnar was not aware of
what they were about, and Gunnar rode to the Thing. Njal sent
Thord Freedmanson away east under Eyjafell, and bade him be away
there one night. So he went east, but he could not get back from
the east, for the Fleet had risen so high that it could not be
crossed on horseback ever so far up. Njal waited for him one
night, for he had meant him to have ridden with him; and Njal
said to Bergthora that she must send Thord to the Thing as soon
as ever he came home. Two nights after, Thord came from the
east, and Bergthora told him that he must ride to the Thing, "But
first thou shalt ride up into Thorolfsfell and see about the farm
there, and do not be there longer than one or two nights."