Chapter 86
There was a man named Kolbein, and his surname was Arnljot's son; he was a man from Drontheim; he sailed out to Iceland that same summer in which Kolskegg and Njal's sons went abroad. He was that winter east in Broaddale; but the spring after, he made his ship ready for sea in Gautawick; and when men were almost "boun," a man rowed up to them in a boat, and made the boat fast to the ship, and afterwards he went on board the ship to see Kolbein.
Kolbein asked that man for his name.
"My name is Hrapp," says he.
"What wilt thou with me?" says Kolbein.
"I wish to ask thee to put me across the Iceland main."
"Whose son art thou?" asks Kolbein.
"I am a son of Aurgunleid, the son of Geirolf the fighter."
"What need lies on thee," asked Kolbein, "to drive thee abroad?"
"I have slain a man," says Hrapp.
"What manslaughter was that," says Kolbein, "and what men have the blood-feud?"
"The men of Weaponfirth," says Hrapp, "but the man I slew was Aurlyg, the son of Aurlyg, the son of Roger the white."
"I guess this," says Kolbein, "that he will have the worst of it who bears thee abroad."
"I am the friend of my friend," said Hrapp, "but when ill is done to me I repay it. Nor am I short of money to lay down for my passage."
Then Kolbein took Hrapp on board, and a little while after a fair breeze sprung up, and they sailed away on the sea.
Hrapp ran short of food at sea, and then he sate him down at the mess of those who were nearest to him. They sprang up with ill words, and so it was that they came to blows, and Hrapp, in a trice, has two men under him.
Then Kolbein was told, and he bade Hrapp to come and share his mess, and he accepted that.
Now they come off the sea, and lie outside off Agdirness.
Then Kolbein asked where that money was which he had offered to pay for his fare?
"It is out in Iceland," answers Hrapp.
"Thou wilt beguile more men than me, I fear," says Kolbein; "but now I will forgive thee all the fare."
Hrapp bade him have thanks for that. "But what counsel dost thou give as to what I ought to do?"
"That first of all," he says, "that thou goest from the ship as soon as ever thou canst, for all Easterlings will bear thee bad witness; but there is yet another bit of good counsel which I will give thee, and that is, never to cheat thy master."
Then Hrapp went on shore with his weapons, and he had a great axe with an iron-bound haft in his hand.
He fares on and on till he comes to Gudbrand of the Dale. He was the greatest friend of Earl Hacon. They two had a shrine between them, and it was never opened but when the Earl came thither. That was the second greatest shrine in Norway, but the other was at Hlada.
Thrand was the name of Gudbrand's son, but his daughter's name was Gudruna.
Hrapp went in before Gudbrand, and hailed him well. He asked whence he came and what was his name. Hrapp told him about himself, and how he had sailed abroad from Iceland.
After that he asks Gudbrand to take him into his household as a guest.
"It does not seem," said Gudbrand, "to look on thee, as though thou wert a man to bring good luck."
"Methinks, then," says Hrapp, "that all I have heard about thee has been great lies; for it is said that thou takest every one into thy house that asks thee; and that no man is thy match for goodness and kindness, far or near; but now I shall have to speak against that saying, if thou dost not take me in."
"Well, thou shalt stay here," said Gudbrand.
"To what seat wilt thou show me?" says Hrapp.
"To one on the lower bench, over against my high seat."
Then Hrapp went and took his seat. He was able to tell of many things, and so it was at first that Gudbrand and many thought it sport to listen to him; but still it came about that most men thought him too much given to mocking, and the end of it was that he took to talking alone with Gudruna, so that many said that he meant to beguile her.
But when Gudbrand was aware of that, he scolded her much for daring to talk alone with him, and bade her beware of speaking aught to him if the whole household did not hear it. She gave her word to be good at first, but still it was soon the old story over again as to their talk. Then Gudbrand got Asvard, his overseer, to go about with her, out of doors and in, and to be with her wherever she went. One day it happened that she begged for leave to go into the nut-wood for a pastime, and Asvard went along with her. Hrapp goes to seek for them and found them, and took her by the hand, and led her away alone.
Then Asvard went to look for her, and found them both together stretched on the grass in a thicket.
He rushes at them, axe in air, and smote at Hrapp's leg, but Hrapp gave himself a second turn, and he missed him. Hrapp springs on his feet as quick as he can, and caught up his axe. Then Asvard wished to turn and get away, but Hrapp hewed asunder his backbone.
Then Gudruna said, "Now hast thou done that deed which will hinder thy stay any Longer with my father; but still there is something behind which he will like still less, for I go with child".
"He shall not learn this from others," says Hrapp, "but I will go home and tell him both these tidings."
"Then," she says, "thou will not come away with thy life."
"I will run the risk of that," he says.
After that he sees her back to the other women, but he went home. Gudbrand sat in his high seat, and there were few men in the hall.
Hrapp went in before him, and bore his axe high.
"Why is thine axe bloody?" asks Gudbrand.
"I made it so by doing a piece of work on thy overseer Asvard's back," says Hrapp.
"That can be no good work," says Gudbrand; "thou must have slain him."
"So it is, be sure," says Hrapp.
"What did ye fall out about?" asks Gudbrand.
"Oh!" says Hrapp, "what you would think small cause enough. He wanted to hew off my leg."
"What hast thou done first?" asked Gudbrand.
"What he had no right to meddle with," says Hrapp.
"Still thou wilt tell me what it was."
"Well!" said Hrapp, "if thou must know, I lay by thy daughter's side, and he thought that bad."
"Up men!" cried Gudbrand, "and take him. He shall be slain out of hand."
"Very little good wilt thou let me reap of my son-in-lawship," says Hrapp, "but thou hast not so many men at thy back as to do that speedily."
Up they rose, but he sprang out of doors. They run after him, but he got away to the wood, and they could not lay hold of him.
Then Gudbrand gathers people, and lets the wood be searched; but they find him not, for the wood was great and thick.
Hrapp fares through the wood till he came to a clearing; there he found a house, and saw a man outside cleaving wood.
He asked that man for his name, and he said his name was Tofi.
Tofi asked him for his name in turn, and Hrapp told him his true name.
Hrapp asked why the householder had set up his abode so far from other men?
"For that here," he says, "I think I am less likely to have brawls with other men."
"It is strange how we beat about the bush in out talk," says Hrapp, "but I will first tell thee who I am. I have been with Gudbrand of the Dale, but I ran away thence because I slew his overseer; but now I know that we are both of us bad men; for thou wouldst not have come hither away from other men unless thou wert some man's outlaw. And now I give thee two choices, either that I will tell where thou art,ö or that we two have between us, share and share alike, all that is here."
"This is even as thou sayest," said the householder; "I seized and carried off this woman who is here with me, and many men have sought for me."
Then he led Hrapp in with him; there was a small house there, but well built.
The master of the house told his mistress that he had taken Hrapp into his company.
"Most men will get ill luck from this man," she says; "but thou wilt have thy way."
So Hrapp was there after that. He was a great wanderer, and was never at home. He still brings about meetings with Gudruna; her father and brother, Thrand and Gudbrand, lay in wait for him, but they could never get nigh him, and so all that year passed away.
Gudbrand sent and told Earl Hacon what trouble he had had with Hrapp, and the Earl let him be made an outlaw, and laid a price upon his head. He said too, that he would go himself to look after him; but that passed off, and the Earl thought it easy enough for them to catch him when he went about so unwarily.
Chapter 87
That same summer Njal's sons fared to Norway from the Orkneys, as was before written, and they were there at the fair during the summer. Then Thrain Sigfus' son busked his ship for Iceland, and was all but "boun". At that time Earl Hacon went to a feast at Gudbrand's house. That night Killing-Hrapp came to the shrine of Earl Hacon and Gudbrand, and he went inside the house, and there he saw Thorgerda Shrinebride sitting, and she was as tall as a full-grown man. She had a great gold ring on her arm, and a wimple on her head; he strips her of her wimple, and takes the gold ring from off her. Then he sees Thor's car, and takes from him a second gold ring; a third he took from Irpa; and then dragged them all out, and spoiled them of all their gear.
After that he laid fire to the shrine, and burnt it down, and then he goes away just as it began to dawn. He walks across a ploughed field, and there six men sprung up with weapons, and fall upon him at once; but he made a stout defence, and the end of the business was that he slays three men, but wounds Thrand to the death, and drives two to the woods, so that they could bear no news to the Earl. He then went up to Thrand and said -
"It is now in my power to slay thee if I will, but I will not do that; and now I will set more store by the ties that are between us than ye have shown to me."
Now Hrapp means to turn back to the wood, but now he sees that men have come between him and the wood, so he dares not venture to turn thither, but lays him down in a thicket, and so lies there a while.
Earl Hacon and Gudbrand went that morning early to the shrine and found it burnt down; but the three gods were outside, stripped of all their bravery.
Then Gudbrand began to speak, and said -
"Much might is given to our gods, when here they have walked of themselves out of the fire!"
"The gods can have naught to do with it," says the Earl; "a man must have burnt the shrine, and borne the gods out; but the gods do not avenge everything on the spot. That man who has done this will no doubt be driven away out of Valhalla, and never come in thither."
Just then up ran four of the Earl's men, and told them ill tidings; for they said they had found three men slain in the field, and Thrand wounded to the death.
"Who can have done this?" says the Earl.
"Killing-Hrapp," they say.
"Then he must have burnt down the shrine," says the Earl.
They said they thought he was like enough to have done it.
"And where may he be now?" says the Earl.
They said that Thrand had told them that he had laid down in a thicket.
The Earl goes thither to look for him, but Hrapp was off and away. Then the Earl set his men to search for him, but still they could not find him. So the Earl was in the hue and cry himself, but first he bade them rest a while.
Then the Earl went aside by himself, away from other men, and bade that no man should follow him, and so he stays a while. He fell down on both his knees, and held his hands before his eyes; after that he went back to them, and then he said to them, "Come with me".
So they went along with him. He turns short away from the path on which they had walked before, and they came to a dell. There up sprang Hrapp before them, and there it was that he had hidden himself at first.
The Earl urges on his men to run after him, but Hrapp was so swift-footed that they never came near him. Hrapp made for Hlada. There both Thrain and Njal's sons lay "boun" for sea at the same time. Hrapp runs to where Njal's sons are.
"Help me, like good men and true," he said, "for the Earl will slay me."
Helgi looked at him and said -
"Thou lookest like an unlucky man, and the man who will not take thee in will have the best of it."
"Would that the worst might befall you from me," says Hrapp.
"I am the man," says Helgi, "to avenge me on thee for this as time rolls on."
Then Hrapp turned to Thrain Sigfus' son, and bade him shelter him.
"What hast thou on thy hand?" says Thrain.
"I have burnt a shrine under the Earl's eyes, and slain some men, and now he will be here speedily, for he has joined in the hue and cry himself."
"It hardly beseems me to do this," says Thrain, "when the Earl has done me so much good."
Then he showed Thrain the precious things which he had borne out of the shrine, and offered to give him the goods, but Thrain said he could not take them unless he gave him other goods of the same worth for them.
"Then," said Hrapp, "here will I take my stand, and here shall I be slain before thine eyes, and then thou wilt have to abide by every man's blame."
Then they see the Earl and his band of men coming, and then Thrain took Hrapp under his safeguard, and let them shove off the boat, and put out to his ship.
Then Thrain said, "Now this will be thy best hiding place, to knock out the bottoms of two casks, and then thou shalt get into them".
So it was done, and he got into the casks, and then they were lashed together, and lowered over-board.
Then comes the Earl with his band to Njal's sons, and asked if Hrapp had come there.
They said that he had come.
The Earl asked whither he had gone thence.
They said they had not kept eyes on him, and could not say.
"He," said the Earl, "should have great honour from me who would tell me where Hrapp was."
Then Grim said softly to Helgi -
"Why should we not say. What know I whether Thrain will repay us with any good?"
"We should not tell a whit more for that," says Helgi, "when his life lies at stake."
"Maybe," said Grim, "the Earl will turn his vengeance on us, for he is so wroth that some one will have to fall before him."
"That must not move us," says Helgi, "but still we will pull our ship out, and so away to sea as soon as ever we get a wind."
So they rowed out under an isle that lay there, and wait there for a fair breeze.
The Earl went about among the sailors, and tried them all, but they, one and all, denied that they knew aught of Hrapp.
Then the Earl said, "Now we will go to Thrain, my brother-in-arms, and he will give Hrapp up, if he knows anything of him".
After that they took a long-ship and went off to the merchant ship.
Thrain sees the Earl coming, and stands up and greets him kindly. The Earl took his greeting well and spoke thus -
"We are seeking for a man whose name is Hrapp, and he is an Icelander. He has done us all kind of ill; and now we will ask you to be good enough to give him up, or to tell us where he is."
"Ye know, Lord," said Thrain, "that I slew your outlaw, and then put my life in peril, and for that I had of you great honour."
"More honour shalt thou now have," says the Earl.
Now Thrain thought within himself, and could not make up his mind how the Earl would take it, so he denies that Hrapp is there, and bade the Earl to look for him. He spent little time on that, and went on land alone, away from other men, and was then very wroth, so that no man dared to speak to him.
"Show me to Njal's sons," said the Earl, "and I will force them to tell me the truth."
Then he was told that they had put out of the harbour.
"Then there is no help for it," says the Earl, "but still there were two water-casks alongside of Thrain's ship, and in them a man may well have been hid, and if Thrain has hidden him, there he must be; and now we will go a second time to see Thrain."
Thrain sees that the Earl means to put off again and said -
"However wroth the Earl was last time, now he will be half as wroth again, and now the life of every man on board the ship lies at stake."
They all gave their words to hide the matter, for they were all sore afraid. Then they took some sacks out of the lading, and put Hrapp down into the hold in their stead, and other sacks that were tight were laid over him.
Now comes the Earl, just as they were done stowing Hrapp away. Thrain greeted the Earl well. The Earl was rather slow to return it, and they saw that the Earl was very wroth.
Then said the Earl to Thrain -
"Give thou up Hrapp, for I am quite sure that thou hast hidden him."
"Where shall I have hidden him, Lord?" says Thrain.
"That thou knowest best," says the Earl; "but if I must guess, then I think that thou hiddest him in the water-casks a while ago."
"Well!" says Thrain, "I would rather not be taken for a liar, far sooner would I that ye should search the ship."
Then the Earl went on board the ship and hunted and hunted, but found him not.
"Dost thou speak me free now?" says Thrain. "Far from it," says the Earl, "and yet I cannot tell why we cannot find him, but methinks I see through it all when I come on shore, but when I come here, I can see nothing."
With that he made them row him ashore. He was so wroth that there was no speaking to him. His son Sweyn was there with him, and he said, "A strange turn of mind this to let guiltless men smart for one's wrath!"
Then the Earl went away alone aside from other men, and after that he went back to them at once, and said -
"Let us row out to them again," and they did so.
"Where can he have been hidden?" says Sweyn.
"There's not much good in knowing that," says the Earl, "for now he will be away thence; two sacks lay there by the rest of the lading, and Hrapp must have come into the lading in their place."
Then Thrain began to speak, and said -
"They are running off the ship again, and they must mean to pay us another visit. Now we will take him out of the lading, and stow other things in his stead, but let the sacks still lie loose. They did so, and then Thrain spoke -
"Now let us fold Hrapp in the sail."
It was then brailed up to the yard, and they did so.
Then the Earl comes to Thrain and his men, and he was very wroth, and said, "Wilt thou now give up the man, Thrain?" and he is worse now than before.
"I would have given him up long ago," answers Thrain, "if he had been in my keeping, or where can he have been?"
"In the lading," says the Earl.
"Then why did ye not seek him there?" says Thrain.
"That never came into our mind," says the Earl.
After that they sought him over all the ship, and found him not.
"Will you now hold me free?" says Thrain.
"Surely not," says the Earl, "for I know that thou hast hidden away the man, though I find him not; but I would rather that thou shouldest be a dastard to me than I to thee," says the Earl, and then they went on shore.
"Now," says the Earl, "I seem to see that Thrain has hidden away Hrapp in the sail."
Just then up sprung a fair breeze, and Thrain and his men sailed out to sea. He then spoke these words which have long been held in mind since -
Let us make the Vulture fly,Nothing now gars Thrain flinch.
But when the Earl heard of Thrain's words, then he said -
"Tis not my want of foresight which caused this, but rather their ill-fellowship, which will drag them both to death."
Thrain was a short time out on the sea, and so came to Iceland, and fared home to his house. Hrapp went along with Thrain, and was with him that year; but the spring after, Thrain got him a homestead at Hrappstede, and he dwelt there; but yet he spent most of his time At Gritwater. He was thought to spoil everything there, and some men even said that he was too good friends with Hallgerda, and that he led her astray, but some spoke against that.
Thrain gave the Vulture to his kinsman, Mord the reckless; that Mord slew Oddi Haldor's son, east in Gautawick by Berufirth.
All Thrain's kinsmen looked on him as a chief.
Chapter 88
Now we must take up the story, and say how, when Earl Hacon missed Thrain, he spoke to Sweyn his son, and said -
"Let us take four long-ships, and let us fare against Njal's sons and slay them, for they must have known all about it with Thrain."
"'Tis not good counsel," says Sweyn, "to throw the blame on guiltless men, but to let him escape who is guilty."
"I shall have my way in this," says the Earl.
Now they hold on after Njal's sons, and seek for them, and find them under an island.
Grim first saw the Earl's ships and said to Helgi -
"Here are war ships sailing up, and I see that here is the Earl, and he can mean to offer us no peace."
"It is said," said Helgi, "that he is the boldest man who holds his own against all comers, and so we will defend ourselves."
They all bade him take the course he thought best, and then they took to their arms.
Now the Earl comes up and called out to them, And bade them give themselves up.
Helgi said that they would defend themselves so long as they could.
Then the Earl offered peace and quarter to all who would neither defend themselves nor Helgi; but Helgi was so much beloved that all said they would rather die with him.
Then the Earl and his men fall on them, but they defended themselves well, and Njal's sons were ever where there was most need. The Earl often offered peace, but they all made the same answer, and said they would never yield.
Then Aslak of Longisle pressed them hard, and came on board their ship thrice. Then Grim said -
"Thou pressest on hard, and 'twere well that thou gettest what thou seekest;" and with that he snatched up a spear and hurled it at him, and hit him under the chin, and Aslak got his death wound there and then.
A little after, Helgi slew Egil the Earl's banner-bearer.
Then Sweyn, Earl Bacon's son, fell on them, and made men hem them in and bear them down with shields, and so they were taken captive.
The Earl was for letting them all be slain at once, but Sweyn said that should not be, and said too that it was night.
Then the Earl said, "Well, then, slay them to-morrow, but bind them fast to-night".
"So, I ween, it must be," says Sweyn; "but never yet have I met brisker men than these, and I call it the greatest manscathe to take their lives."
"They have slain two of our briskest men," said the Earl, "and for that they shall be slain."
"Because they were brisker men themselves," says Sweyn; "but still in this it must be done as thou wiliest."
So they were bound and fettered.
After that the Earl fell asleep; but when all men slept, Grim spoke to Helgi, and said, "Away would I get if I could".
"Let us try some trick then," says Helgi.
Grim sees that there lies an axe edge up, so Grim crawled thither, and gets the bowstring which bound him cut asunder against the axe, but still he got great wounds on his arms.
Then he set Helgi loose, and after that they crawled over the ship's side, and got on shore, so that neither Hacon nor his men were ware of them. Then they broke off their fetters and walked away to the other side of the island. By that time it began to dawn. There they found a ship, and knew that there was come Kari Solmund's son. They went at once to meet him, and told him of their wrongs and hardships, and showed him their wounds, and said the Earl would be then asleep.
"Ill is it," said Karl, "that ye should suffer such wrongs for wicked men; but what now would be most to your minds?"
"To fall on the Earl," they say, "and slay him."
"This will not be fated," says Kari; "but still ye do not lack heart, but we will first know whether he is there now."
After that they fared thither, and then the Earl was up and away.
Then Kari sailed in to Hlada to meet the Earl, and brought him the Orkney scatts; so the Earl said -
"Hast thou taken Njal's sons into thy keeping?"
"So it is, sure enough," says Kari.
"Wilt thou hand Njal's sons over to me?" asks the Earl.
"No, I will not," said Kari.
"Wilt thou swear this," says the Earl, "that thou wilt not fall on me with Njal's sons?"
Then Eric, the Earl's son, spoke and said -
"Such things ought not to be asked. Kari has always been our friend, and things should not have gone as they have, had I been by. Njal's sons should have been set free from all blame, but they should have had chastisement who had wrought for it. Methinks now it would be more seemly to give Njal's sons good gifts for the hardships and wrongs which have been put upon them, and the wounds they have got."
"So it ought to be, sure enough," says the Earl, "but I know not whether they will take an atonement."
Then the Earl said that Kari should try the feeling of Njal's sons as to an atonement.
After that Kari spoke to Helgi, and asked whether he would take any amends from the Earl or not.
"I will take them," said Helgi, "from his son Eric, but I will have nothing to do with the Earl."
Then Kari told Eric their answer.
"So it shall be," says Eric. "He shall take the amends from me if he thinks it better; and tell them this too, that I bid them to my house, and my father shall do them no harm."
This bidding they took, and went to Eric's house, and were with him till Kari was ready to sail west across the sea to meet Earl Sigurd.
Then Eric made a feast for Kari, and gave him gifts, and Njal's sons gifts too. After that Kari fared west across the sea, and met Earl Sigurd, and he greeted them very well, and they were with the Earl that winter.
But when the spring came, Kari asked Njal's sons to go on warfare with him, but Grim said they would only do so if he would fare with them afterwards out to Iceland. Kari gave his word to do that, and then they fared with him a-sea-roving. They harried south about Anglesea and all the Southern isles. Thence they held on to Cantyre, and landed there, and fought with the landsmen, and got thence much goods, and so fared to their ships. Thence they fared south to Wales, and harried there. Then they held on for Man, and there they met Godred, and fought with him, and got the victory, and slew Dungal the king's son. There they took great spoil. Thence they held on north to Coll, and found Earl Gilli there, and he greeted them well, and there they stayed with him a while. The Earl fared with them to the Orkneys to meet Earl Sigurd, but next spring Earl Sigurd gave away his sister Nereida to Earl Gilli, and then he fared back to the Southern isles.
Chapter 89
That summer Kari and Njal's sons busked them for Iceland, and when they were "all-boun" they went to see the Earl. The Earl gave them good gifts, and they parted with great friendship.
Now they put to sea and have a short passage, and they got a fine fair breeze, and made the land at Eyrar. Then they got them horses and ride from the ship to Bergthorsknoll, but when they came home all men were glad to see them. They flitted home their goods and laid up the ship, and Kari was there that winter with Njal.
But the spring after, Kari asked for Njal's daughter, Helga, to wife, and Helgi and Grim backed his suit; and so the end of it was that she was betrothed to Kari, and the day for the wedding-feast was fixed, and the feast was held half a month before mid-summer, and they were that winter with Njal.
Then Kari bought him land at Dyrholms, east away by Mydale, and set up a farm there; they put in there a grieve and housekeeper to see after the farm, but they themselves were ever with Njal.
Chapter 90
Hrapp owned a farm at Hrappstede, but for all that he was always at Gritwater, and he was thought to spoil everything there. Thrain was good to him.
Once on a time it happened that Kettle of the Mark was at Bergthorsknoll; then Njal's sons told him of their wrongs and hardships, and said they had much to lay at Thrain Sigfus' son's door, whenever they chose to speak about it.
Njal said it would be best that Kettle should talk with his brother Thrain about it, and he gave his word to do so.
So they gave Kettle breathing-time to talk to Thrain.
A little after they spoke of the matter again to Kettle, but he said that he would repeat few of the words that had passed between them, "for it was pretty plain that Thrain thought I set too great store on being your brother-in-law".
Then they dropped talking about it, and thought they saw that things looked ugly, and so they asked their father for his counsel as to what was to be done, but they told him they would not let things rest as they then stood.
"Such things," said Njal, "are not so strange. It will be thought that they are slain without a cause, if they are slain now, and my counsel is, that as many men as may be should be brought to talk with them about these things, that thus as many as we can find may be ear-witnesses if they answer ill as to these things. Then Kari shall talk about them too, for he is just the man with the right turn of mind for this; then the dislike between you will grow and grow, for they will heap bad words on bad words when men bring the matter forward, for they are foolish men. It may also well be that it may be said that my sons are slow to take up a quarrel, but ye shall bear that for the sake of gaining time, for there are two sides to everything that is done, and ye can always pick a quarrel; but still ye shall let so much of your purpose out, as to say that if any wrong be put upon you that ye do mean something. But if ye had taken counsel from me at first, then these things should never have been spoken about at all, and then ye would have gotten no disgrace from them; but now ye have the greatest risk of it, and so it will go on ever growing and growing with your disgrace, that ye will never get rid of it until ye bring yourselves into a strait, and have to fight your way out with weapons; but in that there is a long and weary night in which ye will have to grope your way."
After that they ceased speaking about it; but the matter became the daily talk of many men.
One day it happened that those brothers spoke to Kari and bade him go to Gritwater. Kari said he thought he might go elsewhither on a better journey, but still he would go if that were Njal's counsel. So after that Kari fares to meet Thrain, and then they talk over the matter, and they did not each look at it in the same way.
Kari comes home, and Njal's sons ask how things had gone between Thrain and him. Kari said he would rather not repeat the words that had passed, "but," he went on, "it is to be looked for that the like words will be spoken when ye yourselves can hear them".
Thrain had fifteen house-earles trained to arms in his house, and eight of them rode with him whithersoever he went. Thrain was very fond of show and dress, and always rode in a blue cloak, and had on a guilded helm, and the spear - the Earl's gift - in his hand, and a fair shield, and a sword at his belt. Along with him always went Gunnar Lambi's son, and Lambi Sigurd's son, and Grani, Gunnar of Lithend's son. But nearest of all to him went Killing-Hrapp. Lodinn was the name of his serving-man, he too went with Thrain when he journeyed; Tjorvi was the name of Loddin's brother, and he too was one of Thrain's band. The worst of all, in their words against Njal's sons, were Hrapp and Grani; and it was mostly their doing that no atonement was offered to them.
Njal's sons often spoke to Kari that he should ride with them; and it came to that at last, for he said it would be well that they heard Thrain's answer.
Then they busked them, four of Njal's sons, and Kari the fifth, and so they fare to Gritwater.
There was a wide porch in the homestead there, so that many men might stand in it side by side. There was a woman out of doors, and she saw their coming, and told Thrain of it; he bade them to go out into the porch, and take their arms, and they did so.
Thrain stood in mid-door, Killing-Hrapp and Grani Gunnar's son stood on either hand of him; then next stood Gunnar Lambi's son, then Lodinn and Tjorvi, then Lambi Sigurd's son; then each of the others took his place right and left; for the house-earles were all at home.
Skarphedinn and his men walk up from below, and he went first, then Kari, then Hauskuld, then Grim, then Helgi. But when they had come up to the door, then not a word of welcome passed the lips of those who stood before them.
"May we all be welcome here?" said Skarphedinn.
Hallgerda stood in the porch, and had been talking low to Hrapp, then she spoke out loud -
"None of those who are here will say that ye are welcome."
Then Skarphedinn sang a song.
Prop of sea-waves' fire,ö thy frettingCannot cast a weight on us,Warriors wight; yes, wolf and eagleWillingly I feed to-day;Carline thrust into the ingle,Or a tramping whore, art thou;Lord of skates that skim the sea-belt,öOdin's mocking cupö I mix.
"Thy words," said Skarphedinn, "will not be worth much, for thou art either a hag, only fit to sit in the ingle, or a harlot."
"These words of thine thou shalt pay for," she says, "ere thou farest home."
"Thee am I come to see, Thrain," said Helgi, "and to know if thou will make me any amends for those wrongs and hardships which befell me for thy sake in Norway."
"I never knew," said Thrain, "that ye two brothers were wont to measure your manhood by money; or, how long shall such a claim for amends stand over?"
"Many will say," says Helgi, "that thou oughtest to offer us atonement, since thy life was at stake."
Then Hrapp said, "'Twas just luck that swayed the balance, when he got stripes who ought to bear them; and she dragged you under disgrace and hardship, but us away from them."
"Little good luck was there in that," says Helgi, "to break faith with the Earl, and to take to thee instead."
"Thinkest thou not that thou hast some amends to seek from me?" says Hrapp, "I will atone thee in a way that, methinks, were fitting."
"The only dealings we shall have," says Helgi, "will be those which will not stand thee in good stead."
"Don't bandy words with Hrapp," said Skarphedinn, "but give him a red skin for a grey."ö
"Hold thy tongue, Skarphedinn," said Hrapp, "or I will not spare to bring my axe on thy head."
"'Twill be proved soon enough, I dare say," says Skarphedinn, "which of us is to scatter gravel over the other's head."
"Away with you home, ye 'Dung-beardlings!'" says Hallgerda, "and so we will call you always from this day forth; but your father we will call 'the Beardless Carle'."
They did not fare home before all who were there had made themselves guilty of uttering those words, save Thrain; he forbade men to utter them.
Then Njal's sons went away, and fared till they came home; then they told their father.
"Did ye call any men to witness of those words?" says Njal.
"We called none," says Skarphedinn; "we do not mean to follow that suit up except on the battlefield."
"No one will now think," says Bergthora, "that ye have the heart to lift your weapons."
"Spare thy tongue, mistress!" says Kari, "in egging on thy sons, for they will be quite eager enough."
After that they all talk long in secret, Njal and his sons, and Kari Solmund's son, their brother-in-law.