Njal's Saga (16 page)

‘Who will avenge it?' she said. ‘Not that old beardless fellow?'

‘No, not him,' he said – ‘his sons will take vengeance.'

Then they talked softly together for a long time, and no one knew what sort of plans they were making.

One day it happened that Gunnar was not at home, but Sigmund and Skjold were. Thrain had come from Grjota. They sat outside with Hallgerd and talked.

Hallgerd said, ‘Sigmund and his companion Skjold have promised
to kill Thord Freed-man's son, the foster-father of Njal's sons, and you, Thrain, have promised to be standing by.'

They all confirmed that they had made these promises.

‘Now I'll give you the plan,' she said. ‘You must ride east to Hornafjord for your goods, and then come back just at the beginning of the Thing – if you're home before then, Gunnar will want you to ride to the Thing with him. Njal will be at the Thing with his sons, and Gunnar too. That's when you must kill Thord.'

They agreed that this plan ought to be carried out. After that they set off for the East Fjords; Gunnar was not alert to their plans and rode to the Thing.

Njal sent Thord Freed-man's son east to the Eyjafjoll district and told him to stay away one night. He went east, but could not come back from there because the river was so high that for a long stretch it was unfordable. Njal waited one day for him, because he had planned that Thord would ride to the Thing with him. Then he told Bergthora to send Thord along to the Thing when he got home. Two nights later Thord came from the east. Bergthora told him that he was to ride to the Thing – ‘but first ride up to Thorolfsfell and see to the farm there, and don't stay more than one or two nights.'

Sigmund and his companions returned from the east. Hallgerd told them that Thord was at home, but that he was to ride to the Thing within a few days – ‘Now you can catch him,' she said, ‘but not if you let this chance slip by'

Some people came to Hlidarendi from Thorolfsfell and told Hallgerd that Thord was up there. Hallgerd went to Thrain Sigfusson and the others and said, ‘Thord is at Thorolfsfell now, and you'll have a chance to kill him when he goes home.'

‘We'll do it,' said Sigmund.

They went out and took their weapons and horses and rode off to meet him.

Sigmund said to Thrain, ‘You don't have to do anything – this won't need all of us.'

‘I won't, then,' said Thrain.

After a little while Thord came riding towards them. Sigmund spoke to him: ‘Give yourself up,' he said, ‘for now you shall die.'

‘Not at all,' said Thord. ‘Come and fight me man-to-man.'

‘Not at all,' said Sigmund – ‘we'll make use of our numbers. But it's not strange that Skarphedin is so dauntless, for it's said that a man owes one-fourth of his character to his upbringing.'

‘You'll learn the truth of that,' said Thord, ‘for Skarphedin will avenge me.'

They began their attack, and Thord defended himself so well that he broke the shafts of both their spears. Then Skjold cut off his arm, and he defended himself with the other arm for some time, until Sigmund ran him through; then he fell dead to the ground. They covered his body with turf and stones.

Thrain spoke: ‘We have done a bad deed, and Njal's sons will take the slaying badly when they hear of it.'

They rode home and told Hallgerd, and she was pleased with the slaying.

Rannveig, Gunnar's mother, spoke: ‘There's a saying, Sigmund, that the hand's joy in the blow is brief, and so it will be here. Gunnar will resolve the matter for you, but if you rise to Hallgerd's bait again it will be your death.'

Hallgerd sent a man to Bergthorshvol to report the slaying, and she sent another man to the Thing to tell Gunnar. Bergthora said that she would not strike back at Hallgerd with harsh language: that, she said, would be no revenge for so great a matter.

When the messenger arrived at the Thing to tell him of the slaying, Gunnar spoke: ‘This has turned out badly, and no news could come to my ears which I could think worse. Still, let's go at once to Njal, and I expect he will persevere, even though he is being greatly provoked.'

They went to meet Njal and called him out for a talk. He went at once to Gunnar and they spoke together, and at first no one else was there except Kolskegg.

‘I come bearing harsh tidings for you,' said Gunnar: ‘the slaying of Thord Freed-man's son. I want to offer you the right of self-judgement for this slaying.'

Njal was silent for a while, and then spoke: ‘That is well offered,' he said, ‘and I will accept it. But it is not unlikely that I will be blamed for this by my wife and my sons, since they will take this very badly. And yet I will risk that, because I know I'm dealing with an honourable man, and I don't want any breach in our friendship to come from me.'

‘Do you want your sons to be present?' said Gunnar.

‘No, I don't,' said Njal, ‘because they will not break the settlement that I make, but if they are present they will not make it easy.'

‘So be it,' said Gunnar. ‘Take care of it yourself.'

They shook hands and settled it well and quickly.

Njal said, ‘I set the amount at two hundred ounces of silver, and this will seem high to you.'

‘I don't think it's too high,' said Gunnar, and then went back to his booth.

Njal's sons came back to the booth, and Skarphedin asked where all the good money came from that Njal was holding in his hands.

Njal said, ‘I must tell you of the slaying of your foster-father Thord; Gunnar and I have just made a settlement on it, and he has paid double compensation.'

‘Who killed him?' said Skarphedin.

‘Sigmund and Skjold, but Thrain was close at hand,' said Njal.

‘They thought they needed a lot of help,' said Skarphedin. ‘But how far must this go before we can raise our hands?'

‘Not far,' said Njal, ‘and then nothing will stop you, but now it's important to me that you do not break this settlement.'

‘Then we won't,' said Skarphedin, ‘but if anything comes up between us, we shall have this old hostility in mind.'

‘At that time I will make no requests of you,' said Njal.

People rode home from the Thing. When Gunnar came home he spoke to Sigmund: ‘You're a man of more bad luck than I thought, and you make evil use of your abilities. But still I've made a settlement for you, and you must never rise to Hallgerd's bait again. You're not at all like me: you are given to mockery and sarcasm, while I am not. You get along well with Hallgerd, because you have more in common with her.'

Gunnar reproached him at length, and Sigmund took it well and said that from then on he would follow his advice more than he had in the past. Gunnar said that it would serve him well.

The settlement held firm for a while, and Gunnar and Njal and Njal's sons were on friendly terms, but the rest of their people had little to do with each other.

It happened one day that some itinerant women came to Hlidarendi from Bergthorshvol. They were talkative and rather malicious. Hallgerd had a women's room in which she often sat, and her daughter Thorgerd and Thrain were there, as well as Sigmund and a number of women. Gunnar was not there, nor was Kolskegg.

The itinerant women went into the room. Hallgerd greeted them and found seats for them and asked them for news, but they said they had none to report. Hallgerd asked where they had been that night, and they said they had been at Bergthorshvol.

‘What was Njal up to?' she said.

‘He was working hard – at sitting,' they said.

‘What were Njal's sons doing?' she said. ‘They think of themselves as real men.'

‘They're pretty big to look at, but they are quite untested,' they said. ‘Skarphedin was sharpening his axe, Grim was fixing a shaft to his spearhead, Helgi was riveting the hilt on his sword, and Hoskuld was fastening the handle on his shield.'

‘They must be getting ready for something big,' said Hallgerd.

‘We don't know about that,' they said.

‘What were Njal's servants doing?' said Hallgerd.

‘We don't know what all of them were doing,' they said, ‘but one was carting shit to the hillocks.'

‘What's the point of that?' said Hallgerd.

‘He said this would make the hay there better than anywhere else,' they said.

‘Njal's wisdom is uneven,' said Hallgerd, ‘although he has advice on everything.'

‘What do you mean?' they said.

‘I'll point to what's true,' said Hallgerd – ‘he didn't cart dung to his beard so that he would be like other men. Let's call him “Old Beardless”, and his sons “Dung-beardlings”, and you, Sigmund, make up a poem about this and give us the benefit of your being a poet.'

Sigmund said he was up to this and came up with three or four verses, all of them malicious.
¹

‘You're a treasure,' said Hallgerd, ‘the way you do just what I want.'

At that moment Gunnar came in. He had been standing outside the room and heard all the words that had passed. They were shocked when they saw him come in. They fell silent, but before there had been loud laughter.

Gunnar was very angry and said to Sigmund, ‘You are foolish and unable to follow good advice if you are willing to slander Njal's sons, and even worse, Njal himself, on top of what you have already done to them, and this will lead to your death. And if any man here repeats these words he'll be sent away, and bear my anger besides.'

They were so terrified by him that no one dared repeat the words. After that he left.

The itinerant women talked among themselves about how they would get a reward from Bergthora if they told her what had been said. They went down to Bergthorshvol and told her, in private and without being asked.

Bergthora spoke to the men while they were at table: ‘Gifts have been given to you all, father and sons, and you're not real men unless you repay them.'

‘What gifts are these?' said Skarphedin.

‘You, my sons, have all received the same gift: you have been called “Dung-beardlings”, and my husband has been called “Old Beardless”.'

‘We're not made like women, that we become furious over everything,' said Skarphedin.

‘But Gunnar became furious, on your behalf,' she said, ‘and he is said to be gentle. If you don't avenge this, you'll never avenge any shame.'

‘The old lady enjoys all this,' said Skarphedin and grinned, but sweat formed on his brow and red spots on his cheeks, and this was unusual for him.

Grim was silent and bit his lip. Helgi showed no change. Hoskuld went out with Bergthora.

She came in again and went on raging.

Njal spoke: ‘Everything works itself out, woman, though it may take time. And it happens in many cases where men's tempers have been tried that the effect is two-sided, even after vengeance has been taken.'

That night, when Njal had gone to bed, he heard an axe strike the wall of his bed closet and make a loud ringing noise; there was another bed closet where the shields were hung up, and he saw that the shields were gone.

He said, ‘Who's taken down our shields?'

‘Your sons have gone out with them,' said Bergthora.

He pulled his shoes on his feet and went out at once and around to the other side of the house and saw that they were heading up the slope.

He said, ‘Where are you going, Skarphedin?'

‘To look for your sheep,' he said.

Njal said, ‘You wouldn't be armed if you planned that, so it must be something else.'

‘We're going salmon-fishing, father, if we don't find the sheep,' he said.

‘If that's so, then it would be a good thing if the prey didn't slip away,' said Njal.

They went on their way, and Njal went in to bed.

He said to Bergthora, ‘Your sons were outside, all of them, with weapons, and you must have egged them on to something.'

‘I will give them all my thanks if they tell me of the slaying of Sigmund,' said Bergthora.

To return to Njal's sons: they went up to Fljotshlid and stayed there that night, and when morning broke they went closer to Hlidarendi. That same morning Sigmund and Skjold got up and planned to go out to the breeding horses. They took bridles with them and caught horses in the hayfield and rode away. They looked for the stallion on the slope and found him between two brooks and brought the horses a good way down towards the road.

Skarphedin saw them, because Sigmund was in coloured clothing. He spoke: ‘Do you see that red elf?'
¹

They looked and said they could see him.

Skarphedin said, ‘You must have nothing to do with this, Hoskuld, for you will often be sent out alone and unprepared. I've marked Sigmund for myself – that's a man's job. And Grim and Helgi are to take on Skjold.'

Hoskuld sat down, and they went on until they met up with them.

Skarphedin spoke to Sigmund: ‘Take your weapons and defend yourself; you need that more than you need to make lampoons about us.'

Sigmund took his weapons, and Skarphedin waited for him. Skjold turned to face Grim and Helgi, and they fought violently. Sigmund had a helmet on his head and a shield and a sword at his belt and a spear in his hand. He turned to face Skarphedin and thrust at him with his spear and it struck the shield. Skarphedin cut through the spearshaft with his axe and raised his axe again and swung at Sigmund, and it struck the shield and split it down to below the handle. Sigmund drew his sword with his right hand and struck at Skarphedin, but the sword hit the shield and stuck fast there. Skarphedin twisted the shield so quickly that Sigmund lost his grip on the sword. Then Skarphedin swung at Sigmund with his axe; Sigmund was wearing a corslet. The axe came down on his shoulder. Skarphedin cut through the shoulder blade and pulled the axe towards himself so that Sigmund fell forward on both his knees, but sprang up at once.