The Story of Burnt Njal (Icelandic Saga). Anonymous

Hrut was sound asleep, they took their clothes and arms, and went out and came to their horses, and rode off across the river, and so up along the bank by Hiardarholt till the dale broke off among the hills, and so there they are upon the fells between Laxriverdale and Hawkdale, having got to a spot where no one could find them unless he had fallen on them by chance.

      Hauskuld wakes up that night at Hauskuldstede, and roused all his household, "I will tell you my dream," he said. "I thought I saw a great bear go out of this house, and I knew at once this beast's match was not to be found; two cubs followed him, wishing well to the bear, and they all made for Hrutstede, and went into the house there. After that I woke. Now I wish to ask if any of you saw aught about yon tall man."

      Then one man answered him—"I saw how a golden fringe and a bit of scarlet cloth peeped out at his arm, and on his right arm he had a ring of gold".

      Hauskuld said—"This beast is no man's fetch, but Gunnar's of Lithend, and now methinks I see all about it. Up! let us ride to Hrutstede." And they did so. Hrut lay in his locked bed, and asks who have come there? Hauskuld tells who he is, and asked what guests might be there in the house.

      "Only Huckster Hedinn is here," says Hrut.

      "A broader man across the back, it will be, I fear," says Hauskuld, "I guess here must have been Gunnar of Lithend."

      "Then there has been a pretty trial of cunning," says Hrut.

      "What has happened?" says Hauskuld.

      "I told him how to take up Unna's suit, and I summoned myself and he summoned after, and now he can use this first step in the suit, and it is right in law."

      "There has, indeed, been a great falling off of wit on one side," said Hauskuld, "and Gunnar cannot have planned it all by himself; Njal must be at the bottom of this plot, for there is not his match for wit in all the land."

      Now they look for Hedinn, but he is already off and away; after that they gathered folk, and looked for them three days, but could not find them. Gunnar rode south from the fell to Hawkdale and so east of Skard, and north to Holtbeaconheath, and so on until he got home.

      CHAPTER XXIV.

       GUNNAR AND HRUT STRIVE AT THE THING.

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      Gunnar rode to the Althing, and Hrut and Hauskuld rode thither too with a very great company. Gunnar pursues his suit, and began by calling on his neighbours to bear witness, but Hrut and his brother had it in their minds to make an onslaught on him, but they mistrusted their strength.

      Gunnar next went to the court of the men of Broadfirth, and bade Hrut listen to his oath and declaration of the cause of the suit, and to all the proofs which he was about to bring forward. After that he took his oath, and declared his case. After that he brought forward his witnesses of the summons, along with his witnesses that the suit had been handed over to him. All this time Njal was not at the court. Now Gunnar pursued his suit till he called on the defendant to reply. Then Hrut took witness, and said the suit was naught, and that there was a flaw in the pleading; he declared that it had broken down because Gunnar had failed to call those three witnesses which ought to have been brought before the court. The first, that which was taken before the marriage-bed, the second, before the man's door, the third, at the Hill of Laws. By this time Njal was come to the court and said the suit and pleading might still he kept alive if they chose to strive in that way.

      "No," says Gunnar, "I will not have that; I will do the same to Hrut as he did to Mord my kinsman;—or, are those brothers Hrut and Hauskuld so near that they may hear my voice?"

      "Hear it we can," says Hrut. "What dost thou wish?"

      Gunnar said—"Now all men here present be ear-witnesses, that I challenge thee Hrut to single combat, and we shall fight to-day on the holm, which is here in Axewater. But if thou wilt not fight with me, then pay up all the money this very day."

      After that Gunnar sung a stave—

      Yes, so must it be, this morning—

       Now my mind is full of fire—

       Hrut with me on yonder island

       Raises roar of helm and shield.

       All that hear my words bear witness,

       Warriors grasping Woden's guard,

       Unless the wealthy wight down payeth

       Dower of wife with flowing veil.

      After that Gunnar went away from the court with all his followers. Hrut and Hauskuld went home too, and the suit was never pursued nor defended from that day forth. Hrut said, as soon as he got inside the booth, "This has never happened to me before, that any man has offered me combat and I have shunned it".

      "Then thou must mean to fight," says Hauskuld, "but that shall not be if I have my way; for thou comest no nearer to Gunnar than Mord would have come to thee, and we had better both of us pay up the money to Gunnar."

      After that the brothers asked the householders of their own country what they would lay down, and they one and all said they would lay down as much as Hrut wished.

      "Let us go then," says Hauskuld, "to Gunner's booth, and pay down the money out of hand." That was told to Gunnar, and he went out into the doorway of the booth, and Hauskuld said—

      "Now it is thine to take the money."

      Gunnar said—

      "Pay it down, then, for I am ready to take it."

      So they paid down the money truly out of hand, and then Hauskuld said—"Enjoy it now, as thou hast gotten it". Then Gunnar sang another stave—

      Men who wield the blade of battle

       Hoarded wealth may well enjoy,

       Guileless gotten this at least,

       Golden meed I fearless take;

       But if we for woman's quarrel,

       Warriors born to brandish sword,

       Glut the wolf with manly gore,

       Worse the lot of both would be.

      Hrut answered—"Ill will be thy meed for this".

      "Be that as it may," says Gunnar.

      Then Hauskuld and his brother went home to their booth, and he had much upon his mind, and said to Hrut—

      "Will this unfairness of Gunnar's never be avenged?"

      "Not so," says Hrut; "'twill be avenged on him sure enough, but we shall have no share nor profit in that vengeance. And after all it is most likely that he will turn to our stock to seek for friends."

      After that they left off speaking of the matter. Gunnar showed Njal the money, and he said—"The suit has gone off well".

      "Ay," says Gunnar, "but it was all thy doing."

      Now men rode home from the Thing, and Gunnar got very great honour from the suit. Gunnar handed over all the money to Unna, and would have none of it, but said he thought he ought to look for more help from her and her kin hereafter than from other men. She said, so it should be.

      CHAPTER XXV.

       UNNA'S SECOND WEDDING.

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      There was a man named Valgard, he kept house at Hof by Rangriver, he was the son of Jorund the Priest, and his brother was Wolf Aurpriest. Those brothers. Wolf Aurpriest, and Valgard the guileful, set off to woo Unna, and she gave herself away to Valgard without the advice of any of her kinsfolk. But Gunnar and Njal, and many others thought ill of that, for he was a cross-grained man and had few friends. They begot between them a son, whose name was Mord, and he