Chapter 11
Steinar was the name of a man who was the son of Onund the Seer, and brother of Dalla, Cormac's mother. He was an unpeaceful man, and lived at Ellidi.
Thither rode Cormac from the holme, to see his kinsman, and told him of the fight, at which he was but ill pleased. Cormac said he meant to leave the country, - "And I want thee to take the money to Bersi."
"Thou art no bold man," said Steinar, "but the money shall be paid if need be."
Cormac was there some nights; his hand swelled much, for it was not dressed.
After that meeting, Holmgang Bersi went to see his brother. Folk asked how the holmgang had gone, and when he told them they said that two bold men had struck small blows, and he had gained the victory only through Cormac's mishap. When Bersi met Steingerd, and she asked how it went, he made this verse:
"They call him, and truly they tell it,A tree of the helmet right noble:But the master of manhood must bring meThree marks for his ransom and rescue.Though stout in the storm of the bucklersIn the stress of the Valkyrie's tempestHe will bid me no more to the battle,For the best of the struggle was ours."
Steinar and Cormac rode from Ellidi and passed through Saurbae. They saw men riding towards them, and yonder came Bersi. He greeted Cormac and asked how the wound was getting on. Cormac said it needed little to be healed.
"Wilt thou let me heal thee?" said Bersi; "though from me thou didst get it: and then it will be soon over."
Cormac said nay, for he meant to be his lifelong foe. Then answered Bersi:
"Thou wilt mind thee for many a seasonHow we met in the high voice of Hilda.Right fain I go forth to the spear-moteBeing fitted for every encounter.There Cormac's gay shield from his clutchesI clave with the bane of the bucklers,For he scorned in the battle to seek meIf we set not the lists of the holmgang."
Thus they parted; and then Cormac went home to Mel and saw his mother. She healed his hand; it had become ugly and healed badly. The notch in Skofnung they whetted, but the more they whetted the bigger it was. So he went to Reykir, and flung Skofnung at Skeggi's feet, with this verse:
"I bring thee, thus broken and edgeless,The blade that thou gavest me, Skeggi!I warrant thy weapon could bite not:I won not the fight by its witchcraft.No gain of its virtue nor gloryI got in the strife of the weapons,When we met for to mingle the sword-stormFor the maiden my singing adorns."
Said Skeggi, "It went as I warned thee." Cormac flung forth and went home to Mel: and when he met with Dalla he made this song:-
"To the field went I forth, O my motherThe flame of the armlet who guardest, -To dare the cave-dweller, my foemanAnd I deemed I should smite him in battle.But the brand that is bruited in storyIt brake in my hand as I held it;And this that should thrust men to slaughterIs thwarted and let of its might.
For I borrowed to bear in the fightingNo blunt-edged weapon of Skeggi:There is strength in the serpent that quiversBy the side of the land of the girdle.But vain was the virtue of SkofnungWhen he vanquished the sharpness of Whitting;And a shard have I shorn, to my sorrow,From the shearer of ringleted mail.
Yon tusker, my foe, wrought me troubleWhen targe upon targe I had carven:For the thin wand of slaughter was shatteredAnd it sundered the ground of my handgrip.Loud bellowed the bear of the sea-kingWhen he brake from his lair in the scabbard,At the hest of the singer, who seekethThe sweet hidden draught of the gods.
Afar must I fare, O my mother,And a fate points the pathway before me,For that white-wreathen tree may woo not- Two wearisome morrows her outcast.And it slays me, at home to be sitting,So set is my heart on its goddess,As a lawn with fair linen made lovely- I can linger no third morrow's morn."
After that, Cormac went one day to Reykir and talked with Skeggi, who said the holmgang had been brought to scorn. Then answered Cormac:
"Forget it, O Frey of the helmet,- Lo, I frame thee a song in atonement -That the bringer of blood, even Skofnung,I bare thee so strangely belated.For by stirrers of storm was I wounded;They smote me where perches the falcon:But the blade that I borrowed, O Skeggi,Was borne in the clashing of edges.
I had deemed, O thou Grey of fighting,Of the fierce song of Odin, - my neighbour,I had deemed that a brand meet for bloodshedI bare to the crossways of slaughter.Nay, - thy glaive, it would gape not nor ravinAgainst him, the rover who robbed me:And on her, as the surge on the shingle,My soul beats and breaks evermore."
Chapter 12
In the winter, sports were held at Saurbae. Bersi's lad, Asmund, was there, and likewise the sons of Thord; but they were younger than he, and nothing like so sturdy. When they wrestled Asmund took no heed to stint his strength, and the sons of Thord often came home blue and bleeding. Their mother Thordis was ill pleased, and asked her husband would he give Bersi a hint to make it up on behalf of his son. Nay, Thord answered, he was loath to do that.
"Then I'll find my brother Bork," said she, "and it will be just as bad in the end."
Thord bade her do no such thing. "I would rather talk it over with him," said he; and so, at her wish, he met Bersi, and hinted that some amends were owing.
Said Bersi, "Thou art far too greedy of getting, nowadays. This kind of thing will end in losing thee thy good name. Thou wilt never want while anything is to be got here."
Thord went home, and there was a coolness between them while that winter lasted.
Spring slipped by, until it was time for the meeting at Thor's- ness. By then, Bersi thought he saw through this claim of Thord's, and found Thordis at the bottom of it. For all that, he made ready to go to the Thing. By old use and wont these two neighbours should have gone riding together; so Bersi set out and came to Muli, but when he got there Thord was gone.
"Well," said he, "Thord has broken old use and wont in awaiting me no longer."
"If breach there be," answered Thordis, "it is thy doing. This is nothing to what we owe thee, and I doubt there will be more to follow."
They had words. Bersi said that harm would come of her evil counsel; and so they parted.
When he left the house he said to his men, "Let us turn aside to the shore and take a boat; it is a long way to ride round the waterhead." So they took a boat - it was one of Thord's - and went their way.
They came to the meeting when most other folks were already there, and went to the tent of Olaf Peacock of Hjardarholt (Herdholt), for he was Bersi's chief. It was crowded inside, and Bersi found no seat. He used to sit next Thord, but that place was filled. In it there sat a big and strong-looking man, with a bear-skin coat, and a hood that shaded his face. Bersi stood a while before him, but the seat was not given up. He asked the man for his name, and was told he might call him Bruin, or he might call him Hoodie - which-ever he liked; whereupon he said in verse:
"Who sits in the seat of the warriors,With the skin of the bear wrapped around him,So wild in his look? - Ye have welcomedA wolf to your table, good kinsfolk!Ah, now may I know him, I reckon!Doth he name himself Bruin, or Hoodie? -We shall meet once again in the morning,And maybe he'll prove to be - Steinar."
"And it's no use for thee to hide thy name, thou in the bearskin," said he.
"No more it is," he answered. "Steinar I am, and I have brought money to pay thee for Cormac, if so be it is needed. But first I bid thee to fight. It will have to be seen whether thou get the two marks of silver, or whether thou lose them both."
Upon which quoth Bersi:
"They that waken the storm of the spear-points -For slaughter and strife they are famous -To the island they bid me for battle,Nor bitter I think it nor woeful;For long in that craft am I learnedTo loosen the Valkyrie's tempestIn the lists, and I fear not to fight them -Unflinching in battle am I.
"Well I wot, though," said he, "that ye and your gang mean to make away with me. But I would let you know that I too have something to say about it - something that will set down your swagger, maybe."
"It is not thy death we are seeking," answered Steinar; "all we want is to teach thee thy true place."
Bersi agreed to fight him, and then went out to a tent apart and took up his abode there.
Now one day the word went round for bathing in the sea. Said Steinar to Bersi, "Wilt try a race with me, Bersi?"
"I have given over swimming," said he, "and yet I'll try."
Bersi's manner of swimming was to breast the waves and strike out with all his might. In so doing he showed a charm he wore round his neck. Steinar swam at him and tore off the lucky-stone with the bag it was in, and threw them both into the water, saying in verse:
"Long I've lived,And I've let the gods guide me;Brown hose I never woreTo bring the luck beside me.I've never knitAll to keep me thrivingRound my neck a bag of worts,- And lo! I'm living!"
Upon that they struck out to land.
But this turn that Steinar played was Thord's trick to make Bersi lose his luck in the fight. And Thord went along the shore at low water and found the luck-stone, and hid it away.
Now Steinar had a sword that was called after Skrymir the giant: it was never fouled, and no mishap followed it. On the day fixed, Thord and Steinar went out of the tent, and Cormac also came to the meeting to hold the shield of Steinar. Olaf Peacock got men to help Bersi at the fight, for Thord had been used to hold his shield, but this time failed him. So Bersi went to the trysting-place with a shield-bearer who is not named in the story, and with the round target that once had belonged to Thorveig.
Each man was allowed three shields. Bersi cut up two, and then Cormac took the third. Bersi hacked away, but Whitting his sword stuck fast in the iron border of Steinar's shield. Cormac whirled it up just when Steinar was striking out. He struck the shield-edge, and the sword glanced off, slit Bersi's buttock, sliced his thigh down to the knee-joint, and stuck in the bone. And so Bersi fell.
"There!" cried Steinar, "Cormac's fine is paid."
But Bersi leapt up, slashed at him, and clove his shield. The sword-point was at Steinar's breast when Thord rushed forth and dragged him away, out of reach.
"There!" cried Thord to Bersi, "I have paid thee for the mauling of my sons."
So Bersi was carried to the tent, and his wound was dressed. After a while, Thord came in; and when Bersi saw him he said:
"When the wolf of the war-god was howlingErstwhile in the north, thou didst aid me:When it gaped in my hand, and it girdedAt the Valkyries' gate for to enter.But now wilt thou never, O warrior,At need in the storm-cloud of OdinGive me help in the tempest of targes- Untrusty, unfaithful art thou.
"For when I was a stripling I showed meTo the stems of the lightning of battleRight meet for the mist of the war-maids;- Ah me! that was said long ago.But now, and I may not deny itMy neighbours in earth must entomb me,At the spot I have sought for grave-moundWhere Saurbae lies level and green."
Said Thord, "I have no wish for thy death; but I own it is no sorrow to see thee down for once."
To which Bersi answered in song:
"The friend that I trusted has failed meIn the fight, and my hope is departed:I speak what I know of; and note it,Ye nobles, - I tell ye no leasing.Lo, the raven is ready for carnage,But rare are the friends who should succour.Yet still let them scorn me and threaten,I shrink not, I am not dismayed."
After this, Bersi was taken home to Saurbae, and lay long in his wounds.
But when he was carried into the tent, at that very moment Steinar spoke thus to Cormac:
"Of the reapers in harvest of Hilda- Thou hast heard of it - four men and eight menWith the edges of Skrymir to aid meI have urged to their flight from the battle.Now the singer, the steward of Odin,Hath smitten at last even BersiWith the flame of the weapon that feedethThe flocks of the carrion crows."
"I would have thee keep Skrymir now for thy own, Cormac," said he, "because I mean this fight to be my last."
After that, they parted in friendly wise: Steinar went home, and Cormac fared to Mel.
Chapter 13
Next it is told of Bersi. His wound healed but slowly. Once on a time a many folk were met to talk about that meeting and what came of it, and Bersi made this song:
"Thou didst leave me forlorn to the sword-stroke,Strong lord of the field of the serpent!And needy and fallen ye find me,Since my foeman ye shielded from danger.Thus cunning and counsel are victors,When the craft of the spear-shaft avails not;But this, as I think, is the ending,O Thord, of our friendship for ever!"
A while later Thord came to his bedside and brought back the luck-stone; and with it he healed Bersi, and they took to their friendship again and held it unbroken ever after.
Because of these happenings, Steingerd fell into loathing of Bersi and made up her mind to part with him; and when she had got everything ready for going away she went to him and said: "First ye were called Eygla's-Bersi, and then Holmgang-Bersi, but now your right name will be Breech-Bersi!" and spoke her divorce from him.
She went north to her kinsfolk, and meeting with her brother Thorkel she bade him seek her goods again from Bersi - her pin- money and her dowry, saying that she would not own him now that he was maimed. Thorkel Toothgnasher never blamed her for that, and agreed to undertake her errand; but the winter slipped by and his going was put off.
Chapter 14
Afterwards, in the spring, Thorkel Toothgnasher set out to find Bersi and to seek Steingerd's goods again. Bersi said that his burden was heavy enough to bear, even though both together underwent the weight of it. "And I shall not pay the money!" said he.
Said Thorkel, "I bid thee to the holmgang at Orrestholm beside Tjaldanes (Tentness)."
"That ye will think hardly worth while," said Bersi, "such a champion as you are; and yet I undertake for to come."
So they came to the holme and fell to the holmgang. Thord carried the shield before Bersi, and Vali was Thorkel's shield- bearer. When two shields had been hacked to splinters, Bersi bade Thorkel take the third; but he would not. Bersi still had a shield, and a sword that was long and sharp.
Said Thorkel, "The sword ye have, Bersi, is longer than lawful."
"That shall not be," cried Bersi; and took up his other sword, Whitting, two-handed, and smote Thorkel his deathblow. Then sang he:-
"I have smitten Toothgnasher and slain him,And I smile at the pride of his boasting.One more to my thirty I muster,And, men! say ye this of the battle:In the world not a lustier livethAmong lords of the steed of the oar-bench;Though by eld of my strength am I stintedTo stain the black wound-bird with blood."
After these things Vali bade Bersi to the holmgang, but he answered in this song:
"They that waken the war of the mail-coats,For warfare and manslaying famous,To the lists they have bid me to battle,Nor bitter I think it not woeful.It is sport for yon swordsmen who goad meTo strive in the Valkyries' tempestOn the holme; but I fear not to fight them -Unflinching in battle am I!"
The were even about to begin fighting, when Thord came and spoke to them saying: "Woeful waste of life I call it, if brave men shall be smitten down for the sake of any such matters. I am ready to make it up between ye two."
To this they agreed, and he said: "Vali, this methinks is the most likely way of bringing you together. Let Bersi take thy sister Thordis to wife. It is a match that may well be to thy worship."
Bersi agreed to this, and it was settled that the land of Brekka should go along with her as a dowry; and so this troth was plighted between them. Bersi afterwards had a strong stone wall built around his homestead, and sat there for many winters in peace.
Chapter 15
There was a man named Thorarin Alfsson, who lived in the north at Thambardal; that is a dale which goes up from the fiord called Bitra. He was a big man and mighty, and he was by-named Thorarin the Strong. He had spent much of his time in seafaring (as a chapman) and so lucky was he that he always made the harbour he aimed at.
He had three sons; one was named Alf, the next Loft, and the third Skofti. Thorarin was a most overbearing man, and his sons took after him. They were rough, noisy fellows.
Not far away, at Tunga (Tongue) in Bitra, lived a man called Odd. His daughter was named Steinvor, a pretty girl and well set up; her by-name was Slim-ankles. Living with Odd were many fisherman; among them, staying there for the fishing-season, was one Glum, an ill-tempered carle and bad to deal with.
Now once upon a time these two, Odd and Glum, were in talk together which were the greatest men in the countryside. Glum reckoned Thorarin to be foremost, but Odd said Holmgang Bersi was better than he in every way.
"How can ye make that out?" asked Glum.
"Is there any likeness whatever," said Odd, "between the bravery of Bersi and the knavery of Thorarin?"
So they talked about this until they fell out, and laid a wager upon it.
Then Glum wend and told Thorarin. He grew very angry and made many a threat against Odd. And in a while he went and carried off Steinvor from Tunga, all to spite her father; and he gave out that if Odd said anything against it, the worse for him: and so took her home to Thambardal.
Things went on so for a while, and then Odd went to see Holmgang Bersi, and told him what had happened. He asked him for help to get Steinvor back and to wreak vengeance for that shame. Bersi answered that such words had been better unsaid, and bade him go home and take no share in the business. "But yet," added he, "I promise that I will see to it."
No sooner was Odd gone than Bersi made ready to go from home. He rode fully armed, with Whitting at his belt, and three spears; he came to Thambardal when the day was far spent and the women were coming out of the bower. Steinvor saw him and turning to meet him told of her unhappiness.
"Make ready to go with me," said he; and that she did.
He would not go to Thambardal for nothing, he said; and so he turned to the door where men were sitting by long fires. He knocked at the door, and out there came a man - his name was Thorleif. But Thorarin knew Bersi's voice, and rushed forth with a great carving-knife and laid on to him. Bersi was aware of it, and drew Whitting, and struck him his death-blow.
Then he leapt on horseback and set Steinvor on his knee and took his spears which she had kept for him. He rode some way into the wood, where in a hidden spot he left his horse and Steinvor, bidding her await him. Then he went to a narrow gap through which the high-road ran, and there made ready to stand against his foes.
In Thambardal there was anything but peace. Thorleif ran to tell the sons of Thorarin that he lay dead in the doorway. They asked who had done the deed. He told them. Then they went after Bersi and steered the shortest way to the gap, meaning to get there first; but by that time he was already first at the gap.
When they came near him, Bersi hurled a spear at Alf, and it went right through him. Then Loft cast at Bersi, but he caught the spear on his target and it dropped off. Then Bersi threw at Loft and killed him, and so he did by Skofti.
When all was over, the house-carles of the brothers came up. Thorleif turned back to meet them, and they all went home together.
After that Bersi went to find Steinvor, and mounted his horse. He came home before men were out of bed. They asked him about his journey and he told them. When Odd met him he asked about the fight and how it had passed, and Bersi answered in this verse:
"There was one fed the wolves has encounteredHis weird in the dale of the Bowstring -Thorarin the Strong, 'neath the slayerLay slain by the might of my weapon.And loss of their lives men abidedWhen Loft fell, and Alf fell, and Skofti.They were four, yonder kinsmen, and fated -They were fey - and I met them, alone!"
After that Odd went home, but Steinvor was with Bersi, though it misliked Thordis, his wife. By this time his stone wall was some-what broken down, but he had it built up again; and it is said that no blood-money was ever paid for Thorarin and his sons. So the time went on.