Burnt Njal chap. 130-133 by Icelandic Saga Lyrics

CHAPTER CXXX.

OF KARI SOLMUND'S SON.


Now it is to be told of Kari Solmund's son that he fared away from that
hollow in which he had rested himself until he met Bard, and those words
passed between them which Geirmund had told.

Thence Kari rode to Mord, and told him the tidings, and he was greatly
grieved.

Kari said there were other things more befitting a man than to weep for
them dead, and bade him rather gather folk and come to Holtford.

After that he rode into Thursodale to Hjallti Skeggi's son, and as he
went along Thurso water, he sees a man riding fast behind him. Kari
waited for the man, and knows that he was Ingialld of the Springs. He
sees that he is very bloody about the thigh; and Kari asked Ingialld who
had wounded him, and he told him.
"Where met ye two?" says Kari.

"By Rangwater side," says Ingialld, "and he threw a spear over at me."

"Didst thou aught for it?" asks Kari.

"I threw the spear back," says Ingialld, "and they said that it met a
man, and he was dead at once."

"Knowest thou not," said Kari, "who the man was?"

"Methought he was like Thorstein Flosi's brother's son," says Ingialld.

"Good luck go with thy hand," says Kari.

After that they rode both together to see Hjallti Skeggi's son, and told
him the tidings. He took these deeds ill, and said there was the
greatest need to ride after them and slay them all.

After that he gathered men and roused the whole country; now he and Kari
and Ingialld ride with this band to meet Mord Valgard's son, and they
found him at Holtford, and Mord was there waiting for them with a very
great company. Then they parted the hue and cry; some fared the straight
road by the east coast to Selialandsmull, but some went up to
Fleetlithe, and other-some the higher road thence to Threecorner ridge,
and so down into Godaland. Thence they rode north to Sand. Some too rode
as far as Fishwaters, and there turned back. Some the coast road east to
Holt, and told Thorgeir the tidings, and asked whether they had not
ridden by there.
"This is how it is," said Thorgeir, "though I am not a mighty chief, yet
Flosi would take other counsel than to ride under my eyes, when he has
slain Njal, my father's brother, and my cousins; and there is nothing
left for any of you but e'en to turn back again, for ye should have
hunted longer nearer home; but tell this to Kari, that he must ride
hither to me and be here with me if he will; but though he will not
come hither east, still I will look after his farm at Dyrholms if he
will, but tell him too that I will stand by him and ride with him to the
Althing. And he shall also know this, that we brothers are the next of
kin to follow up the feud, and we mean so to take up the suit, that
outlawry shall follow and after that revenge, man for man, if we can
bring it about; but I do not go with you now, because I know naught will
come of it, and they will now be as wary as they can of themselves."

Now they ride back, and all met at Hof and talked there among
themselves, and said that they had gotten disgrace since they had not
found them. Mord said that was not so. Then many men were eager that
they should fare to Fleetlithe, and pull down the homesteads of all
those who had been at those deeds, but still they listened for Mord's
utterance.

"That," he said, "would be the greatest folly." They asked why he said
that.

"Because," he said, "if their houses stand, they will be sure to visit
them to see their wives; and then, as time rolls on, we may hunt them
down there; and now ye shall none of you doubt that I will be true to
thee Kari, and to all of you, and in all counsel, for I have to answer
for myself."
Hjallti bade him do as he said. Then Hjallti bade Kari to come and stay
with him; he said he would ride thither first. They told him what
Thorgeir had offered him, and he said he would make use of that offer
afterwards, but said his heart told him it would be well if there were
many such.

After that the whole band broke up.

Flosi and his men saw all these tidings from where they were on the
fell; and Flosi said--

"Now we will take our horses and ride away, for now it will be some
good."

The sons of Sigfus asked whether it would be worth while to get to their
homes and tell the news.

"It must be Mord's meaning," says Flosi, "that ye will visit your wives;
and my guess is, that his plan is to let your houses stand unsacked; but
my plan is that not a man shall part from the other, but all ride east
with me."

So every man took that counsel, and then they all rode east and north of
the Jokul, and so on till they came to Swinefell.

Flosi sent at once men out to get in stores, so that nothing might fall
short.

Flosi never spoke about the deed, but no fear was found in him, and he
was at home the whole winter till Yule was over.




CHAPTER CXXXI.

NJAL'S AND BERGTHORA'S BONES FOUND.


Kari bade Hjallti to go and search for Njal's bones, "for all will
believe in what thou sayest and thinkest about them".

Hjallti said he would be most willing to bear Njal's bones to church; so
they rode thence fifteen men. They rode east over Thurso-water, and
called on men there to come with them till they had one hundred men,
reckoning Njal's neighbours.

They came to Bergthorsknoll at mid-day.

Hjallti asked Kari under what part of the house Njal might be lying, but
Kari showed them to the spot, and there was a great heap of ashes to dig
away. There they found the hide underneath, and it was as though it were
shrivelled with the fire. They raised up the hide, and lo! they were
unburnt under it. All praised God for that, and thought it was a great
token.

Then the boy was taken up who had lain between them, and of him a finger
was burnt off which he had stretched out from under the hide.

Njal was borne out, and so was Bergthora, and then all men went to see
their bodies.

Then Hjallti said--"What like look to you these bodies?"

They answered, "We will wait for thy utterance".

Then Hjallti said, "I shall speak what I say with all freedom of speech.
The body of Bergthora looks as it was likely she would look, and still
fair; but Njal's body and visage seem to me so bright that I have never
seen any dead man's body so bright as this."

They all said they thought so too.

Then they sought for Skarphedinn, and the men of the household showed
them to the spot where Flosi and his men heard the song sung, and there
the roof had fallen down by the gable, and there Hjallti said that they
should look. Then they did so, and found Skarphedinn's body there, and
he had stood up hard by the gable-wall, and his legs were burnt off him
right up to the knees, but all the rest of him was unburnt. He had
bitten through his under lip, his eyes were wide open and not swollen
nor starting out of his head; he had driven his axe into the gable-wall
so hard that it had gone in up to the middle of the blade, and that was
why it was not softened.

After that the axe was broken out of the wall, and Hjallti took up the
axe, and said--

"This is a rare weapon, and few would be able to wield it."

"I see a man," said Kari, "who shall bear the axe."

"Who is that?" says Hjallti.

"Thorgeir Craggeir," says Kari, "he whom I now think to be the greatest
man in all their family."

Then Skarphedinn was stripped of his clothes, for they were unburnt; he
had laid his hands in a cross, and the right hand uppermost. They found
marks on him; one between his shoulders and the other on his chest, and
both were branded in the shape of a cross, and men thought that he must
have burnt them in himself.

All men said that they thought that it was better to be near Skarphedinn
dead than they weened, for no man was afraid of him.

They sought for the bones of Grim, and found them in the midst of the
hall. They found, too, there, right over-against him under the side
wall, Thord Freedmanson; but in the weaving-room they found Saevuna the
carline, and three men more. In all they found there the bones of nine
souls. Now they carried the bodies to the church, and then Hjallti rode
home and Kari with him. A swelling came on Ingialld's leg, and then he
fared to Hjallti, and was healed there, but still he limped ever
afterwards.

Kari rode to Tongue to Asgrim Ellidagrim's son. By that time Thorhalla
was come home, and she had already told the tidings. Asgrim took Kari by
both hands, and bade him be there all that year. Kari said so it should
be.

Asgrim asked besides all the folk who had been in the house at
Bergthorsknoll to stay with him. Kari said that was well offered, and
said he would take it on their behalf.

Then all the folk were flitted thither.

Thorhall Asgrim's son was so startled when he was told that his
foster-father Njal was dead, and that he had been burnt in his house,
that he swelled all over, and a stream of blood burst out of both his
ears, and could not be staunched, and he fell into a swoon, and then it
was staunched.

After that he stood up, and said he had behaved like a coward, "but I
would that I might be able to avenge this which has befallen me on some
of those who burnt him".

But when others said that no one would think this a shame to him, he
said he could not stop the mouths of the people from talking about it.

Asgrim asked Kari what trust and help he thought he might look for from
those east of the rivers. Kari said that Mord Valgard's son, and
Hjallti, Skeggi's son, would yield him all the help they could, and so,
too, would Thorgeir Craggeir, and all those brothers.

Asgrim said that was great strength.

"What strength shall we have from thee?" says Kari.

"All that I can give," says Asgrim, "and I will lay down my life on it."

"So do," says Kari.

"I have also," says Asgrim, "brought Gizur the white into the suit, and
have asked his advice how we shall set about it."

"What advice did he give?" asks Kari.

"He counselled," answers Asgrim, "'that we should hold us quite still
till spring, but then ride east and set the suit on foot against Flosi
for the manslaughter of Helgi, and summon the neighbours from their
homes, and give due notice at the Thing of the suits for the burning,
and summon the same neighbours there too on the inquest before the
court. I asked Gizur who should plead the suit for manslaughter, but he
said that Mord should plead it whether he liked it or not, and now,' he
went on, 'it shall fall most heavily on him that up to this time all the
suits he has undertaken have had the worst ending. Kari shall also be
wroth whenever he meets Mord, and so, if he be made to fear on one side,
and has to look to me on the other, then he will undertake the duty.'"

Then Kari said, "We will follow thy counsel as long as we can, and thou
shalt lead us".

It is to be told of Kari that he could not sleep of nights. Asgrim woke
up one night and heard that Kari was awake, and Asgrim said--"Is it that
thou canst not sleep at night?"

Then Kari sang this song--

Bender of the bow of battle,
Sleep will not my eyelids seal,
Still my murdered messmates' bidding
Haunts my mind the livelong night;
Since the men their brands abusing
Burned last autumn guileless Njal,
Burned him house and home together,
Mindful am I of my hurt.

Kari spoke of no men so often as of Njal and Skarphedinn, and Bergthora
and Helgi. He never abused his foes, and never threatened them.




CHAPTER CXXXII.

FLOSI'S DREAM.


One night it so happened that Flosi struggled much in his sleep. Glum
Hilldir's son woke him up, and then Flosi said--

"Call me Kettle of the Mark."

Kettle came thither, and Flosi said, "I will tell thee my dream".

"I am ready to hear it," says Kettle.

"I dreamt," says Flosi, "that methought I stood below Loom-nip, and went
out and looked up to the Nip, and all at once it opened, and a man came
out of the Nip, and he was clad in goatskins, and had an iron staff in
his hand. He called, as he walked, on many of my men, some sooner and
some later, and named them by name. First he called Grim the Red my
kinsman, and Arni Kol's son. Then methought something strange followed,
methought he called Eyjolf Bolverk's son, and Ljot son of Hall of the
Side, and some six men more. Then he held his peace awhile. After that
he called five men of our band, and among them were the sons of Sigfus,
thy brothers; then he called other six men, and among them were Lambi,
and Modolf, and Glum. Then he called three men. Last of all he called
Gunnar Lambi's son, and Kol Thorstein's son. After that he came up to
me; I asked him 'what news'. He said he had tidings enough to tell. Then
I asked him for his name, but he called himself Irongrim. I asked him
whither he was going; he said he had to fare to the Althing. 'What
shalt thou do there?' I said. 'First I shall challenge the inquest,' he
answers, 'and then the courts, then clear the field for fighters.' After
that he sang this song--

"'Soon a man death's snake-strokes dealing
High shall lift his head on earth,
Here amid the dust low rolling
Battered brainpans men shall see:
Now upon the hills in hurly
Buds the blue steel's harvest bright;
Soon the bloody dew of battle
Thigh-deep through the ranks shall rise.'

"Then he shouted with such a mighty shout that methought everything near
shook, and dashed down his staff, and there was a mighty crash. Then he
went back into the fell, but fear clung to me; and now I wish thee to
tell me what thou thinkest this dream is."

"It is my foreboding," says Kettle, "that all those who were called must
be 'fey'. It seems to me good counsel that we tell this dream to no man
just now."

Flosi said so it should be. Now the winter passes away till Yule was
over. Then Flosi said to his men--

"Now I mean that we should fare from home, for methinks we shall not be
able to have an idle peace. Now we shall fare to pray for help, and now
that will come true which I told you, that we should have to bow the
knee to many ere this quarrel were ended."




CHAPTER CXXXIII.

OF FLOSI'S JOURNEY AND HIS ASKING FOR HELP.


After that they busked them from home all together. Flosi was in
long-hose because he meant to go on foot, and then he knew that it would
seem less hard to the others to walk.

Then they fared from home to Knappvale, but the evening after to
Broadwater, and then to Calffell, thence by Bjornness to Hornfirth,
thence to Staffell in Lon, and then to Thvattwater to Hall of the Side.

Flosi had to wife Steinvora, his daughter.

Hall gave them a very hearty welcome, and Flosi said to Hall--

"I will ask thee, father-in-law, that thou wouldst ride to the Thing
with me with all thy Thingmen."

"Now," answered Hall, "it has turned out as the saw says, 'but a short
while is hand fain of blow'; and yet it is one and the same man in thy
band who now hangs his head, and who then goaded thee on to the worst of
deeds when it was still undone. But my help I am bound to lend thee in
all such places as I may."

"What counsel dost thou give me," said Flosi, "in the strait in which I
now am?"

"Thou shalt fare," said Hall, "north, right up to Weaponfirth, and ask
all the chiefs for aid, and thou wilt yet need it all before the Thing
is over."

Flosi stayed there three nights, and rested him, and fared thence east
to Geitahellna, and so to Berufirth; there they were the night. Thence
they fared east to Broaddale in Haydale. There Hallbjorn the strong
dwelt. He had to wife Oddny the sister of Saurli Broddhelgi's son, and
Flosi had a hearty welcome there.

Hallbjorn asked how far north among the firths Flosi meant to go. He
said he meant to go as far as Weaponfirth. Then Flosi took a purse of
money from his belt, and said he would give it to Hallbjorn. He took the
money, but yet said he had no claim on Flosi for gifts, but still I
would be glad to know in what thou wilt that I repay thee.

"I have no need of money," says Flosi, "but I wish thou wouldst ride to
the Thing with me, and stand by me in my quarrel, but still I have no
ties or kinship to tell towards thee."

"I will grant thee that," said Hallbjorn, "to ride to the Thing with
thee, and to stand by thee in thy quarrel as I would by my brother."

Flosi thanked him, and Hallbjorn asked much about the Burning, but they
told him all about it at length.

Thence Flosi fared to Broaddale's heath, and so to Hrafnkelstede, there
dwelt Hrafnkell, the son of Thorir, the son of Hrafnkell Raum. Flosi had
a hearty welcome there, and sought for help and a promise to ride to the
Thing from Hrafnkell, but he stood out a long while, though the end of
it was that he gave his word that his son Thorir should ride with all
their Thingmen, and yield him such help as the other priests of the same
district.

Flosi thanked him and fared away to Bersastede. There Holmstein son of
Bersi the wise dwelt, and he gave Flosi a very hearty welcome. Flosi
begged him for help. Holmstein said he had been long in his debt for
help.

Thence they fared to Waltheofstede--there Saurli Broddhelgi's son,
Bjarni's brother, dwelt. He had to wife Thordisa, a daughter of Gudmund
the powerful, of Modruvale. They had a hearty welcome there. But next
morning Flosi raised the question with Saurli that he should ride to the
Althing with him, and bid him money for it.

"I cannot tell about that," says Saurli, "so long as I do not know on
which side my father-in-law Gudmund the powerful stands, for I mean to
stand by him on whichever side he stands."

"Oh!" said Flosi, "I see by thy answer that a woman rules in this
house."

Then Flosi stood up and bade his men take their upper clothing and
weapons, and then they fared away, and got no help there. So they fared
below Lagarfleet and over the heath to Njardwick; there two brothers
dwelt, Thorkel the allwise, and Thorwalld his brother; they were sons of
Kettle, the son of Thidrandi the wise, the son of Kettle rumble, son of
Thorir Thidrandi. The mother of Thorkel the allwise and Thorwalld was
Yngvillda, daughter of Thorkel the wise. Flosi got a hearty welcome
there; he told those brothers plainly of his errand, and asked for their
help; but they put him off until he gave three marks of silver to each
of them for their aid; then they agreed to stand by Flosi.

Their mother Yngvillda was by when they gave their words to ride to the
Althing, and wept. Thorkel asked why she wept; and she answered--

"I dreamt that thy brother Thorwalld was clad in a red kirtle, and
methought it was so tight as though it were sewn on him; methought too
that he wore red hose on his legs and feet, and bad shoethongs were
twisted round them; methought it ill to see when I knew he was so
uncomfortable, but I could do naught for him."

They laughed and told her she had lost her wits, and said her babble
should not stand in the way of their ride to the Thing.

Flosi thanked them kindly, and fared thence to Weaponfirth and came to
Hof. There dwelt Bjarni Broddhelgi's son. Bjarni took Flosi by both
hands, and Flosi bade Bjarni money for his help.

"Never," says Bjarni, "have I sold my manhood or help for bribes, but
now that thou art in need of help, I will do thee a good turn for
friendship's sake, and ride to the Thing with thee, and stand by thee as
I would by my brother."

"Then thou hast thrown a great load of debt on my hands," said Flosi,
"but still I looked for as much from thee."

Thence Flosi and his men fared to Crosswick. Thorkel Geiti's son was a
great friend of his. Flosi told him his errand, and Thorkel said it was
but his duty to stand by him in every way in his power, and not to part
from his quarrel. Thorkel gave Flosi good gifts at parting.

Thence they fared north to Weaponfirth and up into the Fleetdale
country, and turned in as guests at Holmstein's, the son of Bersi the
wise. Flosi told him that all had backed him in his need and business
well, save Saurli Broddhelgi's son. Holmstein said the reason of that
was that he was not a man of strife. Holmstein gave Flosi good gifts.

Flosi fared up Fleetdale, and thence south on the fell across Oxenlava
and down Swinehorndale, and so out by Alftafirth to the west, and did
not stop till he came to Thvattwater to his father-in-law Hall's house.
There he stayed half a month, and his men with him and rested him.

Flosi asked Hall what counsel he would now give him, and what he should
do next, and whether he should change his plans.

"My counsel," said Hall, "is this, that thou goest home to thy house,
and the sons of Sigfus with thee, but that they send men to set their
homesteads in order. But first of all fare home, and when ye ride to the
Thing, ride all together, and do not scatter your band. Then let the
sons of Sigfus go to see their wives on the way. I too will ride to the
Thing, and Ljot my son with all our Thingmen, and stand by thee with
such force as I can gather to me."

Flosi thanked him, and Hall gave him good gifts at parting.

Then Flosi went away from Thvattwater, and nothing is to be told of his
journey till he comes home to Swinefell. There he stayed at home the
rest of the winter, and all the summer right up to the Thing.