The Sagas of the Icelanders (46 page)

40
There was a man named Svart who brought his ship in to Minthakseyri; he was of Hebridean descent, a big strong man, not much blessed with friends and generally unpopular. He arrived with his ship badly damaged. And when men realized the sort of man he was, no one was prepared to offer him hospitality, and he went around the region until he came to Ottar’s homestead where he asked for hospitality and help.

Ottar replied, ‘It seems to me that you have been treated badly – a man such as yourself not being shown hospitality; and I want to offer you a welcome, because you are by no means an insignificant figure, and I think that you can offer me plenty of protection.’

Svart said that Ottar deserved this. Svart was not without money.

He had not been with Ottar long before his host said to him, ‘I want to send you north to Hof in Vatnsdal. There is a man named Ingolf living there; he is my enemy and has done me many a wrong, and I never receive any redress from him. Though he is a gifted man, I feel that with my guidance you will have the luck to avenge these wrongs, because I think well of you.’

Svart said that he had experience of places where not everyone saw things the same way; he also said that it was more than likely that he would succeed on this errand because he had been on raiding trips and often been the only one to escape. There was a ship laid up in the Hvita, and Svart and Ottar came to a deal as follows – Svart should cut off Ingolf’s hand or foot, or kill Gudbrand if he could not get at Ingolf, and Ottar would provide him with winter quarters, and then help him to get abroad. Svart would have to fend for himself if he did not get the job done, but could otherwise proceed to Ottar’s homestead.

Ottar got himself some wares from the ship and gave them to Svart for safe-keeping; he found a man to go with him and also two horses, informed him about the homesteads, and told him which were the best roads for travelling to or from the north.

Svart rode until he came to Hvanndalir where he unloaded his horses, checked his wares, and the horses went off to graze. Svart arrived on foot at Hof early in the day, and Ingolf was outside making shafts for spears. Svart greeted Ingolf and said that his journey had not been without problems – his two horses had disappeared on the heath and his wares were still lying there, a chest and a leather sack. He asked Ingolf to assemble some men to go with him to look for the horses, or to carry his goods to his lodgings. He said that he wanted to move on north to Eyjafjord and that he had been in Hrafnagil some years ago.

Ingolf said that at this time there were few men round the farm – ‘and I don’t want to go with you at all; be off with you at once’.

‘Then would you mind coming with me to the main track and directing me to the next farm,’ and so it was that Ingolf went with him to the road; but some foreboding put Ingolf on his guard against him, because Svart always wanted to walk behind him. He was wearing a sword and in his hand he had a long, broad-bladed spear, its shaft reinforced with iron.

Svart asked for hospitality, and said that Ingolf could have whatever he wanted from his goods – ‘you are a widely-renowned man and it is right and proper for you to take in travellers from afar, especially if they are not short of money to pay for their board’.

Ingolf said, ‘I am not in the habit of taking in unknown men; they can cause a great deal of trouble, as is not unlikely in your case because you have a grim look about you,’ and he showed him hastily off the premises and said that he had no wish to bargain with him. He then headed back home.

Svart set off and came to Gudbrand’s home and spun him the same tale.

Gudbrand said, ‘You strangers do no one any good, but I can have your goods brought here, and later we can settle your board and lodging as seems best.’

They went and found the goods, and thought that the horses had run off; but they were quickly found. Gudbrand had everything brought to his homestead and took Svart in.

When Ingolf heard this, he met with his brother and said that his dealings with Svart were risky – ‘I wish that he would go away.’

Gudbrand said that he believed the man intended him no harm, and that he had shown no inclination to do anything wrong since he arrived.

Ingolf said, ‘We don’t look at this matter in the same way, because this fellow looks like a hired killer to me and he will prove to be bad news; I don’t want him to be anywhere near you, because something tells me that he is evil, and it seems to me that forethought is better than afterthought.’

But things did not turn out this way and Svart remained there over the winter. During the spring, with summer approaching, Gudbrand moved his household up to the shieling, and things were so arranged that the mistress of the house rode on her own, Gudbrand and Svart rode together on one horse, with Svart at the rear. And when they came to the marshes now known as Svartsfell Marsh, the horse sank under their weight, and Gudbrand told Svart to slide back off the horse at that moment, and he did so; and when Svart saw that Gudbrand was not watching, he turned his spear towards him.

The housewife saw this and said, ‘Watch out for that dog, who wants to betray and kill you.’

At that instant, Svart thrust Gudbrand through with his spear – under his arm and right into his torso. Gudbrand managed to draw his sword and swung at Svart and slashed him severely in the midriff.

The mistress of the house arrived at the shieling and reported the deaths of both men, and this was considered terrible news. Ingolf heard about this and said that things had turned out as he had feared. He prepared a lawsuit against Ottar to be heard at the Althing on the grounds of his plotting to kill both him and his brother. And when men came to the assembly, compensation terms were sought, though these were hard won from Ingolf. However, because many good men took part, and also because Ingolf had
not kept to the terms of his settlement with Ottar regarding his visits to Valgerd, he finally accepted a settlement – three hundred of silver for the plot against Gudbrand; the breach of settlement with Ottar over Valgerd would then be disregarded.

With this agreed Ingolf and Ottar parted company and were reconciled. Ingolf and his wife had two sons named Surt and Hogni. Both of them were accomplished men. Ingolf was regarded as a great chieftain, in many ways following admirably in the footsteps of his father. By this time Olaf at Haukagil was ageing fast.

41
Outlaws and robbers were much in evidence at this time, both in the north and the south, so that people could hardly hold their own. One night they stole a great deal of food from Haukagil because there was plenty of everything to be had there. Olaf went and met Ingolf and told him of this. Ingolf prepared to set off from home with fourteen men. Olaf told him to be careful and said that his safe return home mattered more to him than the whereabouts of the food. They rode south over the heath and talked about the robbery at Olaf’s homestead. The thieves had stolen goods worth fifteen hundred ells.

Ingolf and his men came across their tracks and followed them until they became confused because the tracks went off in two different directions. Then the men split up, eight in one party and seven in the other, and they searched in this way for a long time. A short distance from them were some shielings and they made for them. There they saw eighteen horses by one shieling and they concluded that it must be the thieves; and they said that the best idea would be to look for their own companions.

Ingolf said that in some ways this was inadvisable, ‘because the thieves may then reach their cave, for it is only a short distance away, and they will be safe if they get there; and then our journey would be worthless – besides we are not sure where our men are’.

Ingolf jumped down off his horse and ran down into a nearby ravine, picked up two flat stones, and fixed one to his chest and the other between his shoulders, and so protected his exterior. In his hand he had the sword Aettartangi and then went into the shieling. It had two doors. Men say that Ingolf had the support of no more than one other man. Ingolf’s companion then said that they should let his other men know what was going on. Ingolf said that he would guard the shieling doors, and his companion could go off after the other men.

The companion said that he would not leave him – ‘it seems to me that your supporters here are by no means thick on the ground’.

Ingolf wanted to attack straight away and told his companion to follow him staunchly. The thieves laid into him as soon as he entered, but the stones which he was wearing protected him, and the blows glanced off him.

They then attacked Ingolf from all sides, but he defended himself bravely and well. Then he raised Aettartangi and the sword fell on the head of the man standing behind him so that he met his death, and it delivered a death blow to the man standing in front and thus Ingolf killed them both with a single blow. There was a fierce fight and, when it finished, Ingolf had killed five men, and his companion had also been struck down. They had by then come out of the shieling but Ingolf was severely wounded. His men approached him. The thieves then fled, and Ingolf’s men seized the booty and fastened it on to the horses and then headed off back northwards.

Ingolf lay wounded that winter, and the wounds healed after a fashion. But in the spring, when the weather grew warmer, his wounds opened up again, so that he was brought to his death. And before Ingolf died, he asked to be buried on a different hill from the one on which his kinsmen were buried, and said that the girls of Vatnsdal would remember him better if his grave were close to the road. He then died. The place where he was buried is called Ingolfsholt. All men lamented greatly the death of Ingolf. He had lived on in great honour for twelve years after the death of his father. Ottar married his daughter Valgerd to a Stafholt man.

When Ingolf died, Vatnsdal was without a chieftain, because the sons of Ingolf were not able to assume the godord due to their age. Men sought to know what should be done. It was the law at this time that, while heirs were still young, whoever seemed best suited amongst the thingmen should look after the godord.

42
Thorkel Scratcher, son of Thorgrim, was both big and strong; he was twelve years old when these events were taking place. Thorgrim did not acknowledge him as his son, but Thorkel was much braver than Thorgrim’s legitimate sons. Thorkel Silver from Helgavatn was a great shape-shifter and also wise in the ways of magic. He was very wealthy, without friends, disliked by many men, and yet a very worthy fellow.

The same day on which the meeting about the godord had been arranged at Karnsa, the wife of Thorkel Silver said, ‘What do you intend to do today?’

Thorkel replied, ‘Go to the meeting and be a godi by the time I return home this evening.’

‘I do not want you to go,’ she said, ‘intending to become chieftain of the Vatnsdal people, because this will not be granted to you, and indeed you are not cut out for it.’

He replied, ‘Your advice would count in other matters, but not in this.’

Klakka-Orm also intended to attend the meeting, and also Thorgrim from Karnsa, Ingimund’s grandson. Thorgrim was considered best suited for the chieftain’s role because of his kinship with the Vatnsdal people, but it was to be settled by lot, because many others thought themselves well suited. This meeting was set for the last month of winter at Klakka-Orm’s homestead in Forsaeludal.

Thorkel Silver had a dream on the night before the meeting, and told his wife Signy that he thought he was riding down through Vatnsdal on a red horse, and he hardly seemed to be touching the ground, ‘and I interpret this to mean that something red is burning ahead, and this bodes well for my honour’.

Signy said that she thought otherwise – ‘this seems to me to be an evil dream’; and said that the horse was called Nightmare and a mare is a man’s fetch; she said also that red can be seen if things are to turn out bloody, ‘and it may be that you will be killed at the meeting if you intend to win the godord, because there are enough people who would begrudge you this’.

Thorkel acted as if he had not heard this, and prepared himself well for his journey as regards clothing and weapons, for he was a very showy fellow; and he arrived at the last moment.

Thorgrim arrived early in the day and sat on the high seat next to Orm; he had never acknowledged that he was the father of Thorkel Scratcher. Thorkel was playing on the floor with other children and was both big and strong and a very handsome youth. He stopped in front of Thorgrim and gazed at him for a very long time and at the small axe which he was holding. Thorgrim asked why this slave-woman’s son was staring at him as he was. Thorkel said that it was no great thrill for him even though he was looking at him.

Thorgrim asked, ‘What are you prepared to do, Scratcher, first in return for my giving you the axe, because I see that you like it very much; and also in return for my acknowledging kinship with you?’

Thorkel asked him to name his terms.

Thorgrim said, ‘You must bury the axe in Silver’s head, so that he never
gets the Vatnsdal godord; it seems to me that you would then have shown yourself worthy of Vatnsdal kinship.’

Thorkel said that he would do this. Thorgrim instructed him that he should behave as badly as possible with the other boys. Silver always sat with his chin in his hand and his legs crossed. Thorkel was to rush off into the mud, and then hurry back inside and brush against Silver’s clothing and see whether he became angry.

They now discussed the godord and reached no agreement; everyone wanted his own way. The lots were then placed in a small cloth and it was always Silver’s lot which came up, because of his magic powers. Thorgrim then went off and met Thorkel Scratcher in the doorway with the boys.

Thorgrim said, ‘I now want you to pay for the axe.’

Thorkel said, ‘I long to own the axe, and I will now pay for it in full, though not in the way that you would wish.’

Thorgrim replied, ‘More than one method of payment will be acceptable.’

Thorkel said, ‘Do you want me to kill Silver now?’

‘Yes,’ said Thorgrim.

Silver’s lot had secured the godord.

Thorkel Scratcher came into the main room and brushed past Silver and bumped into his foot; and Silver kicked him away and called him a slave-woman’s son. Thorkel leapt up on to the seat right by him, and buried the axe in his head, and Thorkel Silver died instantly, and Thorkel said that he had not had to do too much to acquire the axe.

Thorgrim said that the boy had been sorely harassed, ‘and he has not stood up to it well; but has now shown himself to be very much a Vatnsdal man, and I will now acknowledge that I am your father’.

Thorgrim then took over the godord and was called the Godi of Karnsa. A settlement was agreed for the killing of Silver because his sons were young. Thorkel went home to Karnsa with his father and asked permission to go abroad and find out how things would turn out if he met up with his kinsman Earl Sigurd, son of Hlodver. Thorgrim said that he should have whatever he wanted.