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 Hill of Laws.
So the bell was rung, and all men went to the Hill 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 Hill of Laws and to their booths, but the
daysmen gathered together in the freemen's churchyard 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 Hill 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 his sons with him.
Skarphedinn went to the middle bench and stood there.
Flosi went into the Court of Laws to look closely at the 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.