when people went to the law rock Olaf stood up and asked for a
hearing, and told them first of the death of his father, "and there
are now here many men, kinsmen and friends of his. It is the will of
my brothers that I ask you to a funeral feast in memory of Hoskuld our
father. All you chieftains, for most of the mightier men are such, as
were bound by alliances to him, I let it be known that no one of the
greater men shall go away giftless. And herewith I bid all the farmers
and any who will accept--rich or poor--to a half month's feast at
Hoskuldstead ten weeks before the winter." And when Olaf finished his
speech good cheer was made thereto, and his bidding was looked upon as
a right lordly one. And when Olaf came home to the booth he told his
brothers what he had settled to do. The brothers were not much
pleased, and thought that this was going in for far too much state.
After the Thing the brothers rode home and the summer now wears on.
[Sidenote: The funeral feast] Then the brothers got ready for the
feast, and Olaf put forward unstintedly his third part, and the feast
was furnished with the best of provisions. Great stores were laid in
for this feast, for it was expected many folk would come. And when the
time came it is said that most of the chief men came that were asked.
There were so many that most men say that there could not be far short
of nine hundred (1080). This is the most crowded burial feast that has
been in Iceland, second to that which the sons of Hialti gave at the
funeral of their father, at which time there were 1440 guests. But
this feast was of the bravest in every way, and the brothers got great
honour therefrom, Olaf being at the head of the affair throughout.
Olaf took even share with his brothers in the gifts; and gifts were
bestowed on all the chiefs. When most of the men had gone away Olaf
went to have a talk with Thorliek his brother, and said, "So it is,
kinsman, as you know, that no love has been lost between us; now I
would beg for a better understanding in our brotherhood. I know you
did not like when I took the heirlooms my father gave me on his dying
day. Now if you think yourself wronged in this, I will do as much for
gaining back your whole good-will as to give fostering to your son.
For it is said that ever he is the lesser man who fosters another's
child." Thorliek took this in good part, and said, as was true, that
this was honourably offered. And now Olaf took home Bolli, the son of
Thorliek, who at this time was three winters old. They parted now with
the utmost affection, and Bolli went home to Herdholt with Olaf.
Thorgerd received him well, and Bolli grew up there and was loved no
less than their own children.
CHAP. XXVIII
The Birth of Kjartan, Olaf's Son, A.D. 978
[Sidenote: Birth of Kjartan] Olaf and Thorgerd had a son, and the boy
was sprinkled with water and a name was given him, Olaf letting him be
called Kjartan after Myrkjartan his mother's father. Bolli and Kjartan
were much of an age. Olaf and Thorgerd had still more children; three
sons were called Steinthor and Halldor and Helgi, and Hoskuld was the
name of the youngest of Olaf's sons. The daughters of Olaf and his
wife were named Bergthora, Thorgerd, and Thorbjorg. All their children
were of goodly promise as they grew up. At that time Holmgang Bersi
lived in Saurby at an abode called Tongue. He comes to see Olaf and
asked for Halldor his son to foster. Olaf agreed to this and Halldor
went home with him, being then one winter old. That summer Bersi fell
ill, and lay in bed for a great part of the summer. [Sidenote: Bersi
and Halldor] It is told how one day, when all the men were out
haymaking at Tongue and only they two, Bersi and Halldor, were left in
the house, Halldor lay in his cradle and the cradle fell over under
the boy and he fell out of it on to the floor, and Bersi could not
get to him. Then Bersi said this ditty:
Here we both lie
In helpless plight,
Halldor and I,
Have no power left us;
Old age afflicts me,
Youth afflicts you,
You will get better
But I shall get worse.
Later on people came in and picked Halldor up off the floor, and Bersi
got better. Halldor was brought up there, and was a tall man and
doughty looking. Kjartan, Olaf's son, grew up at home at Herdholt. He
was of all men the goodliest of those who have been born in Iceland.
He was striking of countenance and fair of feature, he had the finest
eyes of any man, and was light of hue. He had a great deal of hair as
fair as silk, falling in curls; he was a big man, and strong, taking
after his mother's father Egil, or his uncle Thorolf. Kjartan was
better proportioned than any man, so that all wondered who saw him. He
was better skilled at arms than most men; he was a deft craftsman, and
the best swimmer of all men. In all deeds of strength he was far
before others, more gentle than any other man, and so engaging that
every child loved him; he was light of heart, and free with his money.
Olaf loved Kjartan best of all his children. Bolli, his
foster-brother, was a great man, he came next to Kjartan in all deeds
of strength and prowess; he was strong, and fair of face and
courteous, and most warrior-like, and a great dandy. The
foster-brothers were very fond of each other. Olaf now remained
quietly in his home, and for a good many years.
CHAP. XXIX
Olaf's Second Journey to Norway, A.D. 975
[Sidenote: Olaf's meeting with Giermund] It is told how one spring
Olaf broke the news to Thorgerd that he wished to go out
voyaging--"And I wish you to look after our household and children."
Thorgerd said she did not much care about doing that; but Olaf said he
would have his way. He bought a ship that stood up in the West, at
Vadill. Olaf started during the summer, and brought his ship to
Hordaland. There, a short way inland, lived a man whose name was
Giermund Roar, a mighty man and wealthy, and a great Viking; he was an
evil man to deal with, but had now settled down in quiet at home, and
was of the bodyguard of Earl Hakon. The mighty Giermund went down to
his ship and soon recognised Olaf, for he had heard him spoken of
before. Giermund bade Olaf come and stay with him, with as many of his
men as he liked to bring. Olaf accepted his invitation, and went
there with seven men. The crew of Olaf went into lodgings about
Hordaland. Giermund entertained Olaf well. His house was a lofty one,
and there were many men there, and plenty of amusement all the winter.
[Sidenote: Hakon Earl gives Olaf timber] And towards the end of the
winter Olaf told Giermund the reason of his voyage, which was that he
wished to get for himself some house-timber, and said he set great
store by obtaining timber of a choice kind. Giermund said, "Earl Hakon
has the best of woods, and I know quite well if you went to see him
you would be made welcome to them, for the Earl receives well, men who
are not half so well-bred as you, Olaf, when they go to see him." In
the spring Olaf got ready to go and find Hakon Earl; and the Earl gave
him exceeding good welcome, and bade Olaf stay with him as long as he
liked. Olaf told the Earl the reason of his journey, "And I beg this
of you, sir, that you give us permission to cut wood for
house-building from your forests." The Earl answered, "You are welcome
to load your ship with timber, and I will give it you. For I think it
no every-day occurrence when such men as you come from Iceland to
visit me." At parting the Earl gave him a gold-inlaid axe, and the
best of keepsakes it was; and therewith they parted in the greatest
friendship. [Sidenote: Giermund goes with Olaf] Giermund in the
meantime set stewards over his estates secretly, and made up his mind
to go to Iceland in the summer in Olaf's ship. He kept this secret
from every one. Olaf knew nothing about it till Giermund brought his
money to Olaf's ship, and very great wealth it was. Olaf said, "You
should not have gone in my ship if I had known of this before-hand,
for I think there are those in Iceland for whom it would be better
never to have seen you. But since you have come with so much goods, I
cannot drive you out like a straying cur." Giermund said, "I shall not
return for all your high words, for I mean to be your passenger." Olaf
and his got on board, and put out to sea. They had a good voyage and
made Broadfirth, and they put out their gangways and landed at
Salmon-river-Mouth. Olaf had the wood taken out of his ship, and the
ship put up in the shed his father had made. Olaf then asked Giermund
to come and stay with him. That summer Olaf had a fire-hall built at
Herdholt, a greater and better than had ever been seen before. Noble
legends were painted on its wainscoting and in the roof, and this was
so well done that the hall was thought even more beautiful when the
hangings were not up. Giermund did not meddle with every-day matters,
but was uncouth to most people. He was usually dressed in this way--he
wore a scarlet kirtle below and a grey cloak outside, and a bearskin
cap on his head, and a sword in his hand. This was a great weapon and
good, with a hilt of walrus tooth, with no silver on it; the brand was
sharp, and no rust would stay thereon. This sword he called Footbiter,
and he never let it out of his hands. [Sidenote: Giermund's marriage]
Giermund had not been there long before he fell in love with Thured,
Olaf's daughter, and proposed to Olaf for her hand; but he gave him a
straight refusal. Then Giermund gave some money to Thorgerd with a
view to gaining the match. She took the money, for it was offered
unstintedly. Then Thorgerd broached the matter to Olaf, and said she
thought their daughter could not be better married, "for he is a very
brave man, wealthy and high-mettled." Then Olaf answered, "I will not
go against you in this any more than in other things, though I would
sooner marry Thured to some one else." Thorgerd went away and thought
her business had sped well, and now told Giermund the upshot of it. He
thanked her for her help and her determination, and Giermund broached
the wooing a second time to Olaf, and now won the day easily. After
that Giermund and Thured were betrothed, and the wedding was to be
held at the end of the winter at Herdholt. The wedding feast was a
very crowded one, for the new hall was finished. Ulf Uggason was of
the bidden guests, and he had made a poem on Olaf Hoskuldson and of
the legends that were painted round the hall, and he gave it forth at
the feast. This poem is called the "House Song," and is well made.
Olaf rewarded him well for the poem. Olaf gave great gifts to all the
chief men who came. Olaf was considered to have gained in renown by
this feast.
CHAP. XXX
About Giermund and Thured, A.D. 978
[Sidenote: Giermund leaves Iceland] Giermund and Thured did not get on
very well together, and little love was lost between them on either
side. When Giermund had stayed with Olaf three winters he wished to go
away, and gave out that Thured and his daughter Groa should remain
behind. This little maid was by then a year old, and Giermund would
not leave behind any money for them. This the mother and daughter
liked very ill, and told Olaf so. Olaf said, "What is the matter now,
Thorgerd? is the Eastman now not so bounteous as he was that autumn
when he asked for the alliance?" They could get Olaf to do nothing,
for he was an easygoing man, and said the girl should remain until she
wished to go, or knew how in some way to shift for herself. At parting
Olaf gave Giermund the merchant ship all fitted out. Giermund thanked
him well therefor, and said it was a noble gift. Then he got on board
his ship, and sailed out of the Salmon-river-Mouth by a north-east
breeze, which dropped as they came out to the islands. He now lies by
Oxe-isle half a month without a fair wind rising for a start.
[Sidenote: Thured follows Giermund] At that time Olaf had to leave
home to look after his foreshore drifts. Then Thured, his daughter,
called to his house-carles, and bade them come with her. She had the
maid Groa with her, and they were a party of ten together. She lets
run out into the water a ferry-boat that belonged to Olaf, and Thured
bade them sail and row down along Hvamfirth, and when they came out to
the islands she bade them put out the cock-boat that was in the ferry.
Thured got into the boat with two men, and bade the others take care
of the ship she left behind until she returned. She took the little
maid in her arms, and bade the men row across the current until they
should reach the ship (of Giermund). She took a gimlet out of the
boat's locker, and gave it to one of her companions, and bade him go
to the cockle-boat belonging to the merchant ship and bore a hole in
it so as to disable it if they needed it in a hurry. Then she had
herself put ashore with the little maid still in her arms. This was at
the hour of sunrise. She went across the gangway into the ship, where
all men were asleep. She went to the hammock where Giermund slept. His
sword Footbiter hung on a peg pole. Thured now sets the little maid in
the hammock, and snatched off Footbiter and took it with her. Then she
left the ship and rejoined her companions. Now the little maid began
to cry, and with that Giermund woke up and recognised the child, and
thought he knew who must be at the bottom of this. He springs up
wanting to seize his sword, and misses it, as was to be expected, and
then went to the gunwale, and saw that they were rowing away from the
ship. [Sidenote: Thured's revenge] Giermund called to his men, and
bade them leap into the cockle-boat and row after them. They did so,
but when they got a little way they found how the coal-blue sea poured
into them, so they went back to the ship. Then Giermund called Thured
and bade her come back and give him his sword Footbiter, "and take
your little maid, and with her as much money as you like." Thured
answered, "Would you rather than not have the sword back?" Giermund
answered, "I would give a great deal of money before I should care to
let my sword go." Thured answered, "Then you shall never have it
again, for you have in many ways behaved cowardly towards me, and here
we shall part for good." Then Giermund said, "Little luck will you get
with the sword." Thured said she would take the risk of that. "Then I
lay thereon this spell," said Giermund, "That this sword shall do to
death the man in your family in who would be the greatest loss, and in
a manner most ill-fated." After that Thured went home to Herdholt.
Olaf had then come home, and showed his displeasure at her deed, yet
all was quiet. Thured gave Bolli, her cousin, the sword Footbiter, for
she loved him in no way less than her brothers. Bolli bore that sword
for a long time after. After this Giermund got a favourable wind, and
sailed out to sea, and came to Norway in the autumn. They sailed one
night on to some hidden rocks before Stade, and then Giermund and all
his crew perished. And that is the end of all there is to tell about
Giermund.
CHAP. XXXI
Thured's Second Marriage, A.D. 980
[Sidenote: Gudmund marries Thured] Olaf Hoskuldson now stayed at home
in much honour, as has been told before. There was a man named
Gudmund, who was the son of Solmund, and lived at Asbjornness north in
Willowdale. He wooed Thured, and got her and a great deal of wealth
with her. Thured was a wise woman, high-tempered and most stirring.
Their sons were called Hall and Bard and Stein and Steingrim. Gudrun
and Olof were their daughters. Thorbjorg, Olaf's daughter, was of
women the most beautiful and stout of build. She was called Thorbjorg
the Stout, and was married west in Waterfirth to Asgier, the son of
Knott. He was a noble man. Their son was Kjartan, father of Thorvald,
the father of Thord, the father of Snorri, the father of Thorvald,
from whom is sprung the Waterfirth race. Afterwards, Vermund, the son
of Thorgrim, had Thorbjorg for wife. Their daughter was Thorfinna,
whom Thorstein Kuggason had for wife. Bergthora, Olaf's daughter, was
married west in Deepfirth to Thorhall the Priest. [Sidenote: Harri the
Ox] Their son was Kjartan, father of Smith-Sturla, the foster son of
Thord Gilson. Olaf Peacock had many costly cattle. He had one very
good ox named Harri; it was dapple-grey of coat, and bigger than any
other of his cattle. It had four horns, two great and fair ones, the
third stood straight up, and a fourth stood out of its forehead,
stretching down below its eyes. It was with this that he opened the
ice in winter to get water. He scraped snow away to get at pasture
like a horse. One very hard winter he went from Herdholt into the
Broadfirth-Dales to a place that is now called Harristead. There he
roamed through the winter with sixteen other cattle, and got grazing
for them all. In the spring he returned to the home pastures, to the
place now called Harris'-Lair in Herdholt land. When Harri was
eighteen winters old his ice-breaking horn fell off, and that same
autumn Olaf had him killed. The next night Olaf dreamed that a woman
came to him, and she was great and wrathful to look at. She spoke and
said, "Are you asleep?" He said he was awake. The woman said, "You are
asleep, though it comes to the same thing as if you were awake. You
have had my son slain, and let him come to my hand in a shapeless
plight, and for this deed you shall see your son, blood-stained all
over through my doing, and him I shall choose thereto whom I know you
would like to lose least of all." After that she disappeared, and Olaf
woke up and still thought he saw the features of the woman. Olaf took
the dream very much to heart, and told it to his friends, but no one
could read it to his liking. He thought those spoke best about this
matter who said that what had appeared to him was only a dream or
fancy.
CHAP. XXXII
Of Osvif Helgeson
[Sidenote: Osvif and his family] Osvif was the name of a man. He was
the son of Helgi, who was the son of Ottar, the son of Bjorn the
Eastman, who was the son of Ketill Flatnose, the son of Bjorn Buna.
The mother of Osvif was named Nidbiorg. Her mother was Kadlin, the
daughter of Ganging-Hrolf, the son of Ox-Thorir, who was a most
renowned "Hersir" (war-lord) east in Wick. Why he was so called, was
that he owned three islands with eighty oxen on each. He gave one
island and its oxen to Hakon the King, and his gift was much talked
about. Osvif was a great sage. He lived at Laugar in Salingsdale. The
homestead of Laugar stands on the northern side of Salingsdale-river,
over against Tongue. The name of his wife was Thordis, daughter of
Thjodolf the Low. Ospak was the name of one of their sons. [Sidenote:
Osvif's household] Another was named Helgi, and a third Vandrad, and a
fourth Jorrad, and a fifth Thorolf. They were all doughty men for
fighting. Gudrun was the name of their daughter. She was the goodliest
of women who grew up in Iceland, both as to looks and wits. Gudrun was
such a woman of state that at that time whatever other women wore in
the way of finery of dress was looked upon as children's gewgaws
beside hers. She was the most cunning and the fairest spoken of all
women, and an open-handed woman withal. There was a woman living with
Osvif who was named Thorhalla, and was called the Chatterer. She was
some sort of relation to Osvif. She had two sons, one named Odd and
the other Stein. They were muscular men, and in a great measure the
hardest toilers for Osvif's household. They were talkative like their
mother, but ill liked by people; yet were upheld greatly by the sons
of Osvif. At Tongue there lived a man named Thorarin, son of Thorir
Saeling (the Voluptuous). He was a well-off yeoman, a big man and
strong. He had very good land, but less of live stock. Osvif wished to
buy some of his land from him, for he had lack of land but a multitude
of live stock. So this then came about that Osvif bought of the land
of Thorarin all the tract from Gnupaskard along both sides of the
valley to Stack-gill, and very good and fattening land it was. He had
on it an out-dairy. Osvif had at all times a great many servants, and
his way of living was most noble. West in Saurby is a place called
Hol, there lived three kinsmen-in-law--Thorkell the Whelp and Knut,
who were brothers, they were very well-born men, and their
brother-in-law, who shared their household with them, who was named
Thord. He was, after his mother, called Ingun's-son. The father of
Thord was Glum Gierison. Thord was a handsome and valiant man, well
knit, and a great man of law-suits. Thord had for wife the sister of
Thorkell and Knut, who was called Aud, neither a goodly nor a bucksome
woman. Thord loved her little, as he had chiefly married her for her
money, for there a great wealth was stored together, and the household
flourished from the time that Thord came to have hand in it with them.
CHAP. XXXIII
Of Gest Oddleifson and Gudrun's Dreams