At that time there came over Iceland a famine the like of which had
never been seen before. Nearly all the fisheries failed, and also the
drift wood. So it continued for many years.
One autumn some traders in a sea-going ship, who had been driven out of
their course, were wrecked at Vik. Flosi took in four or five of
them with their captain, named Steinn. They all found shelter in the
neighbourhood of Vik and tried to rig up a ship out of the wreckage, but
were not very successful. The ship was too narrow in the bow and stern
and too broad amidships. In the spring a northerly gale set in which
lasted nearly a week, after which men began to look for drift.
There was a man living in Reykjanes named Thorsteinn. He found a whale
stranded on the south side of the promontory at the place now called
Rifsker. It was a large rorqual, and he at once sent word by a messenger
to Flosi in Vik and to the nearest farms.
At Gjogr lived a man named Einar, a tenant of the Kaldbak men whom they
employed to look after the drift on that side of the fjord. He got to
know of the whale having been stranded and at once rowed across the
fjord in his boat to Byrgisvik, whence he sent a messenger to Kaldbak.
When Thorgrim and his brother heard the news they got ready to go with
all speed to the spot. There were twelve of them in a ten-oared boat,
and six others, with Ivar and Leif, sons of Kolbeinn. All the farmers
who could get away went to the whale.
In the meantime Flosi had sent word to his kinsmen in the North at
Ingolfsfjord and Ofeigsfjord and to Olaf the son of Eyvind who lived at
Drangar. The first to arrive were Flosi and the men of Vik, who at once
began to cut up the whale, carrying on shore the flesh as it was cut.
At first there were about twenty men, but more came thronging in. Then
there came the men of Kaldbak with four ships. Thorgrim laid claim to
the whale and forbade the men of Vik to cut, distribute, or carry away
any portion of it. Flosi called upon him to show proof that Eirik had
in express words given over the drift to Onund; if not, he said he would
prevent them by force. Thorgrim saw that he was outnumbered and would
not venture on fighting. Then there came a ship across the fjords, the
men rowing with all their might. They came up; it was Svan of Hol from
Bjarnarfjord with his men, and he at once told Thorgrim not to let
himself be robbed. The two men had been great friends, and Svan offered
Thorgrim his aid, which the brothers accepted, and they attacked
valiantly. Thorgeir Bottleback was the first to get on to the whale
where Flosi's men were. Thorfinn, who was spoken of before, was cutting
it up, standing near the head on the place where he had been carving.
"Here I bring you your axe," said Thorgeir. Then he struck at Thorfinn's
neck and cut off his head. Flosi was up on the beach and saw it. He
urged on his men to give it them back. They fought for a long time and
the Kaldbak people were getting the best of it. Most of them had no
weapons but the axes with which they were cutting up the whale and short
knives. The men of Vik were driven from the whale on to the sandbanks.
The men from the East, however, were armed and able to deal wounds.
Their captain Steinn cut off the leg of Kolbeinn's son Ivar, and Ivar's
brother Leif beat one of Steinn's men to death with a rib of the whale.
Then they fought with anything they could get, and men were slain on
both sides. At last Olaf came up with a number of ships from Drangar and
joined Flosi; the men of Kaldbak were then overpowered by numbers. They
had already loaded their ships, and Svan told them to get on board. They
therefore retired towards the ships, the men of Vik after them. Svan on
reaching the sea struck at Steinn their captain, wounding him badly, and
then sprang into his own ship. Thorgrim gave Flosi a severe wound and
escaped. Olaf wounded Ofeig Grettir fatally, but Thorgeir carried him
off and sprang on to his ship with him. The Kaldbak men rowed into the
fjord and the two parties separated.
The following verse was composed on these doings:
"Hard were the blows which were dealt at Rifsker;
no weapons they had but steaks of the whale.
They belaboured each other with rotten blubber.
Unseemly methinks is such warfare for men."
After this they made peace, and the dispute was laid before the
All-Thing. On the side of the Kaldbak men were Thorodd the Godi, Skeggi
of Midfjord, and many others from the South. Flosi was exiled, along
with several others who had been with him. He was put to great expense,
for he insisted upon paying all the fines himself. Thorgrim and his
brothers were unable to show that they had paid any money either for the
land or for the drift which Flosi claimed. The Lawman was Thorkell Mani,
and the question was referred to him. He declared that by law something
must have been paid, though not necessarily the full value.
"There was a case in point," he said, "between my grandfather Ingolf and
a woman named Steinvor the Old. He gave her the whole of Rosmhvalanes
and she gave him a dirty cloak for it; the transfer was afterwards held
to be valid. That was a much more important affair than this. My advice
is that the land be divided in equal portions between the two; and
henceforward it shall be legally established that all drift shall be the
property of the owner of the land upon which it has been stranded."
This was agreed to. Thorgrim and his brothers were to give up
Reykjarfjord with all on that side, and were to keep Kamb. For Ofeig
a large sum of money was paid, and Thorfinn was assessed at nothing at
all; Thorgeir received compensation for the attack made upon his life,
and all the parties were reconciled. Flosi went to Norway with Steinn
the captain and sold his lands in Vik to Geirmund Hvikatimbr, who lived
there thenceforward.
The ship which Steinn's sailors had built was rather a tub. She was
called Trekyllir--Tree-sack. Flosi went on his journey in her, but
was driven back to Oxarfjord; out of this arose the saga of Bodmod the
Champion and Grimolf.