Chapter 26
There was a man named Guttorm, son of Sigurd Hart. He was mother's brother to king Harold; also he had been his foster-father, and ruler over his forces, for the king was a child when he first came to the throne. Guttorm had commanded the army in all battles which Harold had fought to bring the land under his sway. But when Harold became sole king of all Norway, and sat in peace, then he gave to his kinsman Guttorm Westfold and East-Agdir, and Hringariki, and all the land that had belonged to Halfdan Swarthy his father. Guttorm had two sons and two daughters. His sons were named Sigurd and Ragnar; his daughters Ragnhildr and Aslaug.
Guttorm fell sick, and when near his end sent to king Harold, bidding him see to his children and his province. Soon after this he died. On hearing of his death, the king summoned Hallvard Hardfarer and his brother, and told them to go on a message for him eastwards to Vik, he being then at Throndheim. They made great preparations for their journey, choosing them men and the best ship they could get; it was the very ship they had taken from Thorgils Yeller. But when they were ready, the king told them their errand: they were to go eastwards to Tunsberg, the market town where Guttorm had resided. 'Ye shall,' said the king, 'bring to me Guttorm's sons, but his daughters shall be fostered there till I bestow them in marriage. I will find men to take charge of the province and foster the maidens.'
So the brothers started with a fair wind, and came in the spring eastwards to Vik and to Tunsberg, and there declared their errand. They took the sons of Guttorm, and much movable property, and went their way back. The wind was then somewhat slack, and their voyage slower, but nothing happened till they sailed northwards over the Sogn-sea, having now a good wind and bright weather, and being in merry mood.
Chapter 27
All through the summer Kveldulf and Skallagrim kept a look-out shorewards on the highway of vessels. Skallagrim was very sharp-sighted. He saw Hallvard's company sailing by, and he knew the ship, for he had seen it before when Thorgils went with it. Skallagrim watched their course, and where they lay to in haven at eventide. Then he went back to his own people, and told Kveldulf what he had seen, and withal how he had recognised the ship, being that which once was Thorolf's, and was taken by Hallvard from Thorgils, and doubtless there were some men on board who would be worth catching.
So they made them ready with both their boats, and twenty men in each. Kveldulf steered one, Skallagrim the other. Then they rowed and made for the ship. But when they came where it lay, they put in to land.
Hallvard's men had set up the tent over their ship, and laid them down to sleep. But when Kveldulf's force came upon them, then the watchmen who sat at the gangway-end leapt up, and called out to the ship; they bade the men rise, for an enemy was upon them. Hallvard's party leapt to their weapons. But when Kveldulf with his men came to the gangway-end, he went out by the stern gangway, while Skallagrim went forward to the other gangway.
Kveldulf had in his hand a battle-axe; but when he got on board, he bade his men go along the outer way by the gunwale and cut the tent from its forks, while he himself rushed aft to the stern-castle. And it is said that he then had a fit of shape-strength, as had also several of his comrades. They slew all that came in their way, the same did Skallagrim where he boarded the ship; nor did father and son stay hands till the ship was cleared. When Kveldulf came aft to the stern-castle, he brandished high his battle-axe, and smote Hallvard right through helm and head, so that the axe sank in even to the shaft; then he snatched it back towards him so forcibly that he whirled Hallvard aloft, and slung him overboard. Skallagrim cleared the forecastle, slaying Sigtrygg. Many men plunged into the sea; but Skallagrim's men took one of the boats, and rowed after and slew all that were swimming.
There were lost with Hallvard fifty men in all. The ship and the wealth that was in it Skallagrim's men took. Two or three men whom they deemed of least note they seized, and gave them their lives, asking of them who had been in the ship, and what had been the purport of the voyage. After learning all the truth about this, they looked over the slain who lay on ship-board. It was found that more had leapt overboard, and so perished, than had fallen on the ship. The sons of Guttorm had leapt overboard and perished. Of these, one was twelve years old, the other ten, and both were lads of promise.
Then Skallagrim set free the men whose lives he had spared, and bade them go to king Harold and tell him the whole tale of what had been done there, and who had been the doers of it. 'Ye shall also,' said he, 'bear to the king this ditty:
'For a noble warrior slainVengeance now on king is ta'en:Wolf and eagle tread as preyPrinces born to sovereign sway.Hallvard's body cloven throughHeadlong in the billows flew;Wounds of wight once swift to fareSwooping vulture's beak doth tear.'
After this Skallagrim and his men took out to their ships and captured ship and her cargo. And then they made an exchange, loading the ship they had taken, but emptying one of their own which was smaller; and in this they put stones, and bored holes and sank it. Then, as soon as ever the wind was fair, they sailed out to sea.
It is said of shape-strong men, or men with a fit of Berserk fury on them, that while the fit lasted they were so strong that nought could withstand them; but when it passed off, then they were weaker than their wont. Even so it was with Kveldulf. When the shape-strong fit went from him, then he felt exhaustion from the onset he had made, and became so utterly weak that he lay in bed.
And now a fair wind took them out to sea. Kveldulf commanded the ship which they had taken from Hallvard. With the fair wind the ships kept well together, and for long time were in sight of each other.
But when they were now far advanced over the main, Kveldulf's sickness grew worse. And when it came to this, that death was near, then he called to him his shipmates, and told them that he thought it likely they and he would soon take different ways. 'I have never,' he said, 'been an ailing man; but if it so be (as now seems likely) that I die, then make me a coffin, and put me overboard: and it will go far otherwise than I think if I do not come to Iceland and take land there. Ye shall bear my greeting to my son Grim, when ye meet, and tell him withal that if he come to Iceland, and things so turn out that unlikely as it may seem I be there first, then he shall choose him a homestead as near as may be to where I have come ashore.'
Shortly after this Kveldulf died.
His shipmates did as he had bidden them do; they laid him in a coffin, and shot it overboard. There was a man named Grim, son of Thorir Kettlesson Keel-fare, of noble kin and wealthy. He was in Kveldulf's ship; he had been an old friend of both father and son, and a companion both of them and of Thorolf, for which reason he had incurred the king's anger. He now took command of the ship after Kveldulf was dead.
But when they were come to Iceland, approaching the land from the south, they sailed westwards along the coast, because they had heard that Ingolf had settled there. But coming over against Reykja-ness, and seeing the firth open before them, they steered both ships into the firth.
And now the wind came on to blow hard, with much rain and mist. Thus the ships were parted.
Grim the Halogalander and his crew sailed in up the Borgar Firth past all the skerries; then they cast anchor till the wind fell and the weather cleared. They waited for the flood-tide, and then took their ship up into a river-mouth; it is called Gufu-river. They drew the ship up this river as far as it could go; then unshipped the cargo, and remained there for the first winter. They explored the land along the sea both inwards and outwards, and they had not gone far before they found Kveldulf's coffin cast up in a creek. They carried the coffin to the ness hard by, set it down there, and raised thereover a pile of stones.
Chapter 28
Skallagrim came to land where a large ness ran out into the sea, and above the ness was a narrow isthmus; and there they put out their lading. That ness they called Ship-ness. Then Skallagrim spied out the land: there was much moorland and wide woods, and a broad space between fells and firths, seal-hunting in plenty, and good fishing. But as they spied out the land southwards along the sea, they found before them a large firth; and, turning inwards along this firth, they stayed not their going till they found their companions, Grim the Halogalander and the rest. A joyful meeting was there. They told Skallagrim of his father's death, and how Kveldulf had come to land there, and they had buried him. Then they led Skallagrim to the place, and it seemed to him that thereabouts would be a good spot to build a homestead. He then went away, and back to his shipmates; and for that winter each party remained where they had come to land. Then Skallagrim took land between fells and firths, all the moors out to Seal-loch, and the upper land to Borgarhraun, and southwards to Hafnar-fell, and all that land from the watershed to the sea. Next spring he moved his ship southwards to the firth, and into the creek close to where Kveldulf came to land; and there he set his homestead, and called it Borg, and the firth Borgar-firth, and so too the country-side further up they named after the firth.
To Grim the Halogalander he gave dwelling-place south of Borgar-firth, on the shore named Hvann-eyrr. A little beyond this a bay of no great size cuts into the land. There they found many ducks, wherefore they called it Duck-kyle, and the river that fell into the sea there Duck-kyle-river. From this river to the river called Grims-river, the land stretching upwards between them Grim had. That same spring, as Skallagrim had his cattle driven inwards along the sea, they came to a small ness where they caught some swans, so they called it Swan-ness. Skallagrim gave land to his shipmates. The land between Long-river and Hafs-brook he gave to Ani, who dwelt at Anabrekka. His son was Aunund Sjoni. About this was the controversy of Thorstein and Tongue Odd.
Grani dwelt at Granastead on Digraness. To Thorbjorn Krum he gave the land by Gufu-river upward, and to Thord of Beigaldi. Krum dwelt at Krums-hills, but Thord at Beigaldi. To Thorir Giant and his brothers he gave land upwards from Einkunnir and the outer part by Long-river. Thorir Giant dwelt at Giantstead. His daughter was Thordis Staung, who afterwards dwelt at Stangerholt. Thorgeir dwelt at Earthlongstead.
Skallagrim spied out the land upwards all round the country-side. First he went inwards along the Borgar-firth to its head; then followed the west bank of the river, which he called White-river, because he and his companions had never before seen waters that fell out of glaciers, and the colour of the river seemed to them wonderful.
They went up along White-river till a river was before them coming down from the fells to the north; this they called North-river. And they followed it up till yet again before them was a river bringing down but little water. This river they crossed, and still went up along North-river; then they soon saw where the little river fell out of a cleft, and they called it Cleave-river. Then they crossed North-river, and went back to White-river, and followed that upwards. Soon again a river crossed their way, and fell into White-river; this they called Cross-river. They learnt that every river was full of fish. After this they returned to Borg.
Chapter 29
Skallagrim was most industrious. He had about him always many men, whom he set to seek diligently all such provisions as could be got there for man's sustenance, because at first they had but little live-stock compared with the needs of their numerous company. But what live-stock they had went every winter self-feeding in the woods.
Skallagrim was a good shipwright, and westwards of Myrar was no lack of driftwood. He had buildings set up on Swan-ness, and had another house there. This he made a starting-point for sea-fishing, seal-hunting, and egg-gathering; in all these kinds there was plenty of provisions to get, as well as driftwood to bring to him. Whales also often came in there, and whoso would might shoot them. All such creatures were then tame on the hunting-ground, as they were unused to man. His third house he had on the sea in Western Myrar. This was even a better place to look out for driftwood. There, too, he had land sown, and called it Acres. Over against it lay islands, among which whales were found; these they called Whale-islands.
Skallagrim also sent his men up on the salmon-rivers to fish. He set Odd Lonehouse by Cleave-river to see to the salmon-fishing there. Odd dwelt under Lonehouse. Lonehouse-ness has its name from him. Sigmund was the name of the man whom Skallagrim set by North-river; he dwelt at what was then called Sigmundstead, but now Hauga. Sigmundar-ness takes its name from him. He afterwards moved his homestead to Munodar-ness, that being thought more convenient for salmon-fishing.
But as Skallagrim's live-stock multiplied, the cattle used to go up to the fells in the summer. And he found that the cattle that went on the heath were by far better and fatter; also that sheep did well through the winters in the fell-dales without being driven down. So Skallagrim set up buildings close to the fell, and had a house there; and there he had his sheep kept. Of this farm Griss was the overlooker, and after him was called Grisartongue. Thus Skallagrim's wealth had many legs to stand on.
Some time after Skallagrim's coming out, a ship put into Borgar-firth from the main, commanded by a man named Oleif Halt. With him were his wife and children and other of his kin, and the aim of his voyage was to get him a home in Iceland. Oleif was a man wealthy, high-born, and fore-seeing. Skallagrim asked Oleif and all his company to his house for lodging. Oleif accepted this, and was with Skallagrim for his first winter in Iceland.
But in the following spring Skallagrim showed him to choice land south of White-river upwards from Grims-river to Flokadale-river. Oleif accepted this, and moved thither his household, and set there his homestead by Warm-brook as it is called. He was a man of renown; his sons were Ragi in Hot-spring-dale, and Thorarin, Ragi's brother, who took the law-speakership next after Hrafn Hængsson. Thorarin dwelt at Warm-brook; he had to wife Thordis, daughter of Olaf Shy, sister of Thord Yeller.
Chapter 30
King Harold Fair-hair took for his own all those lands that Kveldulf and Skallagrim had left behind in Norway, and all their other property that he could lay hands on. He also sought diligently after those men who had been in the counsels or confidence or in any way helpers of Skallagrim and his folk in the deeds which they wrought before Skallagrim went abroad out of the land. And so far stretched the enmity of the king against father and son, that he bore hatred against their kith and kin, or any whom he knew to have been their dear friends. Some suffered punishment from him, many fled away and sought refuge, some within the land, some out of the land altogether. Yngvar Skallagrim's wife's father was one of these men aforesaid. This rede did he take, that he turned all his wealth that he could into movables, then gat him a sea-going ship and a crew thereto, and made ready to go to Iceland, for he had heard that Skallagrim had taken up his abode there, and there would be no lack of choice land there with Skallagrim. So when they were ready and a fair wind blew, he sailed out to sea, and his voyage sped well. He came to Iceland on the south coast, and held on westwards past Reykja-ness, and sailed into Borgar-firth, and entering Long-river went up it even to the Falls. There they put out they ship's lading.
But when Skallagrim heard of Yngvar's coming, he at once went to meet him and bade him to his house with as many men as he would. Yngvar accepted this offer. The ship was drawn up, and Yngvar went to Borg with many men, and stayed that winter with Skallagrim. In the spring Skallagrim offered him choice land. He gave Yngvar the farm which he had on Swan-ness, and land inwards to Mud-brook and outwards to Strome-firth. Thereupon Yngvar went out to this farm and took possession, and he was a most able man and a wealthy. Skallagrim then built a house on Ship-ness, and this he kept for a long time thereafter.
Skallagrim was a good iron-smith, and in winter wrought much in red iron ore. He had a smithy set up some way out from Borg, close by the sea, at a place now called Raufar-ness. The woods he thought were not too far from thence. But since he could find no stone there so hard or smooth as he thought good for hammering iron on (for there are no beach pebbles, the seashore being all fine sand), one evening, when other were gone to sleep, Skallagrim went to the sea, and pushed out an eight-oared boat he had, and rowed out to the Midfirth islands. There he dropped an anchor from the bows of the boat, then stepped overboard, and dived down to the bottom, and brought up a large stone, and lifted it into the boat. Then he himself climbed into the boat and rowed to land, and carried the stone to the smithy and laid it down before the smithy door, and thenceforth he hammered iron on it. That stone lies there yet, and much slag beside it; and the marks of the hammering may be seen on its upper face, and it is a surf-worn boulder, unlike the other stones that are there. Four men nowadays could not lift a larger mass. Skallagrim worked hard at smithying, but his house-carles grumbled thereat, and thought it over early rising. Then Skallagrim composed this stave:
'Who wins wealth by ironRight early must rise:Of the sea's breezy brotherWind-holders need blast.On furnace-gold glowingMy stout hammer rings,While heat-feeding bellowsA whistling storm stir.'