The Sagas of the Icelanders (97 page)

9
And now the story turns back to the point where the people of Thorgils’ household grieved long and loudly over him when he was killed. In the evening, they went to the shore and found Thengil and Thorstein slain there, and in the morning they found the other two slain. This news went all around and few grieved for Thorgils or his sons. It was regarded as quite a job to be done by one man in one evening, and Ref was thought to have avenged the slander sharply.

Gunnar, Thorgils’ son-in-law, heard this news and had watches set at every headland around both settlements in case anyone should catch sight of Ref in the autumn. The property could not be seized because it had all been sold. Gunnar was the leading man in the Western Settlement. There was no news of Ref anywhere. In the spring, Gunnar sent men north into the wilderness to search for Ref, but he was not found and nobody heard anything of him. Gunnar began to think that Ref had perished, since he had taken a ship with only six people, none of them able-bodied. Now four years passed without any word of Ref, and the search for him was abandoned. People thought that surely he had been lost at sea or had driven his ship into the wilderness.

And now we will leave this matter for a while.

10
While these events – and Ref’s upbringing – were going on, many changes took place in the rule of Norway. King Harald Sigurdarson had succeeded to the kingdom.

In the king’s retinue was a man named Bard. He was a follower of the king’s. In summers he made trading voyages to various lands, Iceland or the British Isles, and so he did the summer we are speaking of now. He got his ship ready and intended to go out to Iceland. The king had Bard summoned to him and asked where he intended to steer his ship.

‘To Iceland,’ said Bard.

The king said, ‘I want you to proceed otherwise. You are to sail out to Greenland and bring us walrus ivory and ship ropes.’

Bard said that the king would decide.

After that, Bard put out to sea and his voyage went extremely well. He reached Greenland and arranged to winter with Gunnar. And when he had been there a while, Bard brought the matter up and asked Gunnar how much truth there was in the story he had heard that an Icelander had single-handedly killed a father and four sons in one evening and so avenged the slander regarding him they had made up. Gunnar said something like that had happened. Bard asked what had become of this man.

‘We think,’ said Gunnar, ‘that he was lost because he was so frightened that with six others he sailed into the open sea at the onset of winter.’

Bard asked what had gone on among those involved. Gunnar then told what he knew.

Bard said, ‘I would be astonished if that man who escaped your clutches by the power of his good luck would have sunk. It seems to me that his luck left him sooner than was to be expected if that happened. Now, have you searched the wildernesses?’

Gunnar said that they had searched wherever it seemed possible for people to stay and still further.

Bard said, ‘How could he go out on the open sea at the beginning of winter with only a few people in a ferry? I suppose it seems better to you to say something like that when Thorgils and his sons are unavenged. I want you to get a ship ready for us in early spring and we’ll travel the wildernesses, and I surely believe that if I don’t find him, it’ll confirm that he was lost.’

Gunnar said that so it should be. Now winter passed. As soon as the ice broke up, Gunnar got ready for his expedition. They had a ferry and seven men. They steered for the wildernesses and searched in every hidden bay and found nothing that seemed to have been a human habitation. Bard was a very sharp-sighted man.

One evening, they came to a large fjord which wound its way inland with many turns. Then it ended. They anchored for the night in a bay. Bard rowed ashore in a boat. He walked up the headland at the mouth of the fjord and looked all around. It was a bright clear night. A breeze was blowing from the sea down the fjord. He saw a raft of kelp driven down the fjord to its head, but then it completely disappeared. Bard wondered about that, and he walked all the way down the lip of the headland, and there he saw another fjord, which was wide and long, begin there. And he saw a large and beautiful valley running up to the mountains. Then he went back to the ship and lay down.

That morning, Bard asked Gunnar if they had explored the whole fjord. Gunnar said they had. Bard said that he wanted to go all the way to where it ended. And so they did, and then they came to the place where the two headlands jutted out from the opposite sides of the fjord. A sound ran between the headlands. It was quite narrow but very deep. Then the fjord opened up again and that inner fjord was very long. They came into a bay late in the evening. The crew didn’t want to explore the land, and they all lay down except for Bard. He quickly launched a boat and made for shore and then walked along the water’s edge alone until he came to a great pile of shavings. He picked up a shaving and took it with him and then went back to the ship.

In the morning, Bard showed Gunnar the shaving and said, ‘I’ve never in my life seen a shaving cut so skilfully. Was Ref something of a craftsman?’

Gunnar answered, ‘He was a master craftsman.’

Bard said, ‘I would think, in that case, that we must look for Ref as if he were alive.’

Now they and some others went from the ship. Soon they were able to see where a fortification stood near the edge of the shore. They went up to it and around it and considered it carefully, and they thought that they had never seen such a beautiful building. It was large and strongly built, untarred, and with four corners. They did not see one board overlapping another anywhere; it seemed to be made all of one plank.

And while they were surveying the fortification, a man appeared on the wall. He was of large stature. He greeted Gunnar, who acknowledged the welcome. They recognized him as Ref. He asked where they intended to go.

Bard answered, ‘No farther this way.’

Ref asked the news. Bard said that no one would tell him. Then Ref said that one should not ask more than would be thought fitting.

Bard ordered them to drag wood up to the fortification. When the wood was piled all around it, they set it on fire. The wood kindled quickly. But they saw that it promptly went out. They dragged up wood to the fortification anew. Then they saw that a great stream of water came from the fortification and put the fire out. They searched all around the fortification and found no source of water. They built a fire up to the top of the fortification, but as much water came from the top as from the bottom.

Ref appeared on the wall and spoke: ‘Is the assault on the fortification going badly?’

Bard spoke: ‘You can certainly boast about your witchcraft because we will go back for now. But I promise that if you dare to stay here for another spring, Gunnar and I will have your head at our feet.’

Ref spoke: ‘It isn’t your destiny nor the destiny of the men of Greenland to guard my corpse, even if I stay here as many years as I have already unless you have the help of wiser men than yourselves.’

11
After that, Bard and Gunnar went to their ship with their men and made for the settlement. In the autumn, they reached the Western Settlement, and Bard spent a second winter with Gunnar.

The next summer, Bard fitted out his ship for Norway and Gunnar gave him gifts. Gunnar sent three valuable possessions to King Harald. The first was a full-grown and very well-trained polar bear. The second was a board game skilfully made of walrus ivory. The third was a walrus skull with all its teeth. It was engraved all over and was extensively inlaid with gold. All the teeth were fast in the skull. That was a splendid treasure.

12
Bard put out to sea and his voyage went well. He came to the ports he would have chosen to visit. He brought many excellent Greenland wares to King Harald.

One day, Bard came before the king and said, ‘Here is a board game which the most honourable man in Greenland sent you. His name is Gunnar and he wants no money for it; rather he wants your friendship. I spent two years with him and he was a good fellow to me. He is very eager to be your friend.’

The board game was both for the old game with one king and the new with two.
^*

The king examined the set for a time and ordered him to thank the one who sent him such a gift: ‘We certainly must reciprocate with our friendship.’

Not long after this, Bard had the polar bear led into the hall and before the king. The king’s followers were delighted with the bear.

Bard spoke: ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘this animal has been sent to you by Gunnar of Greenland.’

The king spoke: ‘This man’s gifts are splendid, but what does he want from us in return?’

‘Quite simply, my lord, your friendship and wise counsel.’

‘Why would that not be appropriate?’ said the king.

One day in the course of that winter, Bard requested that the king go to his meeting room. The king did so.

When they were there, Bard brought the head with all its splendour before the king and spoke: ‘That very noble man, Gunnar of Greenland, sends this treasure to you.’

The king inspected the head carefully and said that the gift seemed excellent to him and ordered Bard to take care of it.

Then the king spoke: ‘Now, Bard, tell me what is behind these gifts – now I know that there is more to it than a matter of friendship only.’

Bard spoke: ‘It’s just as I said to you, my lord. He wishes to have your friendship and your wise counsel on taking a fox who has done the people of Greenland great harm.’

The king asked what sort of a fox that might be.

Bard said, ‘There’s an Icelander who killed a father and four sons in a single evening and then sailed into the wilderness with six others, and there he built a fortification out of large timbers. We found him and fired his fortification, but water gushed from all parts of the fortification and put out the fire. There was as much water at the top and the middle as at the bottom. But we found no source of water.’

The king spoke: ‘Is this the Ref – or Fox – who built a trading vessel out in Iceland though he had never seen one and in that ship sailed to Greenland, and when he had been living there for some years, a great slander regarding him was made up and he avenged it so boldly that he killed five men in a single evening?’

Bard answered, ‘We’re talking about the same man.’

The king asked what the lie of the land was there, and Bard described it in exact detail.

‘Whatever else, such are real men,’ the king said.

Bard spoke: ‘At our parting, he said that no one would be able to drive him away from there.’

‘That could be,’ said the king, ‘but it could be that he said something quite different. But I will advise you,’ said the king, ‘not to go there again, because if you do, you won’t be coming back.’

Bard answered, ‘I have promised Gunnar I would and I can’t break my promise.’

Then they ended this talk. The winter wore on.

13
In the spring, Bard fitted out his ship and when it was ready, he went to meet with the king and spoke: ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘have you considered Gunnar’s necessity?’

The king spoke: ‘I have considered the necessity that you not go to Greenland because you are under no obligation to anger a man who has done you no evil which you should avenge. I have a premonition that the outcome will be bad for you if you go.’

Bard answered, ‘You will prophesy more accurately in other matters, my lord.’

The king spoke: ‘On the contrary, I think that if this one fails, I will seldom prophesy rightly. But if you really intend to go, then I will give you two some advice, if you and Gunnar think it is really important.’

‘I am not the one to decide that,’ said Bard.

‘Then,’ said the king, ‘I will suppose that in the little valley that runs up to the glacier there is a lake. Ref probably made a conduit by laying down timber pipes, one after another, until the water reached the lowest-lying corner of the fortification. There, I suppose, are two timber pipes and the water will flow from the one into both, which then fill both sections of the fortification with water. The whole fortification is made of hollow timbers, and every timber connects with the one below and with the one above, so that they fill the whole wall, from top to bottom, with water. In this way, I believe, the system supplies the water. And it seemed to you that there were
no joins in the wood of the wall where the water gushed out everywhere around the fortification because, I believe, he has drilled holes in the timbers, and these are so small that only the wood that can be shaved thinnest can close them, and I surmise that he has used this wood for all the timbers of the wall. And I suppose that all of these twig-like plugs are connected to and withdrawn by a mechanism that he moved only a little when he wanted water to flow from the wall. All these plugs have been skilfully made, and one kind of wood will have been used in making the plugs and timbers.

‘Now my advice for Gunnar is that you should go north in two ships, twelve in each. One crew should dig a ditch as long as the fortification is wide, north of it, and quite deep enough to reach up to a man’s armpits, and then they will probably find the arrangement for the stream of water. And if it is like that, they can cut off the flow so that it does not supply water to the fortification. The other twelve men should carry wood to the fortification. After that it would seem likely to me that you can burn the fortification because of the water. And now I have given such advice that I promise Gunnar that either Ref will flee the fortification and Greenland or Gunnar will be able to capture him. I am unable to see how he can get away if all this is done, unless he has great cunning in his heart. But I would not wish that you go, Bard, because I don’t know what you will bring back from Ref’s place.’

Bard said that it could not be otherwise and thanked the king for his advice and cast off from his moorings.

14
To go back to him, Ref was living in the wilderness. His sons became very capable men. This same spring, Ref sent them south to the settlement to meet with those men who had promised him their support as was told before. The brothers went secretly and Gunnar got no intelligence of their movements. When his friends received Ref’s messages, they were glad and went at once to meet with him. Then Ref proceeded to have the ship he had sailed from Iceland launched. The boat-shed and tar had protected it so well that it was as tight as a bucket. Then, Ref had the ship loaded with Greenland goods, walrus-hide ropes, walrus ivory and furs. As soon as the ship was ready, they sailed it north into the next fjord and anchored it in a hidden bay. On board were Helga, Ref’s wife, Thormod their son and her foster-father Thormod, and the twelve men who came from the settlement. Ref said that he and his older sons would stay in the fortification for a while.

It should be reported that Bard’s voyage went extremely well. He made his landfall in Greenland exactly where he would have chosen. Gunnar welcomed Bard joyfully. They immediately assigned men to attend to Bard’s cargo, and set off at once for the wilderness with the number of men the king had specified. Now they were familiar with the territory and quickly found their way to the fjord where Ref’s fortification stood. Gunnar landed his ship in the outer reach of the fjord because it was loaded with their provisions and awkward to row. It seemed to them easier to walk on in along the fjord. Bard and his crew rowed hard all the way to the fortification. Then Gunnar and his crew arrived. They all walked up to the fortification. As far as they could see, nothing was changed except that a ditch had been dug as wide as the part of the fortification facing the water. The ditch reached to the edge of the shore. The water was very deep at the shore even at low tide. The ditch was no deeper than up to a man’s belt.

Just then, a man came walking on the wall. They recognized this man; it was Ref. He greeted them and asked the news.

Bard said he would tell him no news – ‘other than that the legs you’re standing on in the fortification are doomed’.

‘That is,’ he said, ‘hardly news.’

Bard proceeded at once to have a ditch dug, and they soon found timbers which were wrapped with birch bark. They chopped into the timbers and a great stream of water gushed out. Gunnar and his crew dragged wood up to the fortification and set it alight. At first a great flow of water gushed from the fortification, but it soon dried up. Ref went out on the wall and asked who had given them this advice. Bard said that did not matter.

Ref spoke: ‘I know,’ he said, ‘that none of you would have hit on this plan unless you profited from the counsel of wiser men than yourselves.’

Bard answered, ‘Whoever taught us this plan, we will master you and your possessions today and hang you up where you can overlook this homestead of yours – otherwise you’ll have to burn.’

Then Ref spoke in a verse:

Ref went back into the fortification. They built up the fire and at this point there was a great bed of coals and only a little steam. In that instant, they heard a great crash in the fortification, and quite unexpectedly the part of the wall facing the water fell into the ditch. It was aimed so straight that the wall fell into the ditch running to the shore. The wall was as smooth as a single plank. And just when the wall fell, a ship on wheels ran along it and down to the water. Ref and his sons hoisted the sail. There was a bit of wind blowing along the mountains from the north. Four of Bard’s men were under the part of the fortification that fell and they were killed instantly.