Автор литература - Njal's Saga

and many a man had his bane at his hand. Kolskegg backed him

well. As for Karli, he hastened in a ship to his brother Vandil,

and thence they fought that day. During the day Kolskegg took a

rest on Gunnar’s ship, and Gunnar sees that. Then he sung a

song —

“For the eagle ravine-eager,

Raven of my race, to-day

Better surely hast thou catered,

Lord of gold, than for thyself;

Here the morn come greedy ravens

Many any a rill of wolf (1) to sup,

But thee burning thirst down-beareth,

Prince of battle’s Parliament!”

After that Kolskegg took a beaker full of mead, and drank it off,

and went on fighting afterwards; and so it came about that those

brothers sprang up on the ship of Vandil and his brother, and

Kolskegg went on one side, and Gunnar on the other. Against

Gunnar came Vandil, and smote at once at him with his sword, and

the blow fell on his shield. Gunnar gave the shield a twist as

the sword pierced it, and broke it short off at the hilt. Then

Gunnar smote back at Vandil, and three swords seemed to be aloft,

and Vandil could not see how to shun the blow. Then Gunnar cut

both his legs from under him, and at the same time Kolskegg ran

Karli through with a spear. After that they took great war

spoil.

Thence they held on south to Denmark, and thence east to Smoland,

(2) and had victory wherever they went. They did not come back

in autumn. The next summer they held on to Reval, and fell in

there with sea-rovers, and fought at once, and won the fight.

After that they steered east to Osel,(3) and lay there somewhile

under a ness. There they saw a man coming down from the ness

above them; Gunnar went on shore to meet the man, and they had a

talk. Gunnar asked him his name, and he said it was Tofi.

Gunnar asked again what he wanted.

“Thee I want to see,” says the man. ” Two warships lie on the

other side under the ness, and I will tell thee who command them:

two brothers are the captains — one’s name is Hallgrim, and the

other’s Kolskegg. I know them to be mighty men of war; and I

know too that they have such good weapons that the like are not

to be had. Hallgrim has a bill which he had made by seething-spells; and this is what the spells say, that no weapon shall

give him his deathblow save that bill. That thing follows

it too that it is known at once when a man is to be slain with

that bill, for something sings in it so loudly that it may be

heard along way off — such a strong nature has that bill in it.”

Then Gunnar sang a song —

“Soon shall I that spearhead seize,

And the bold searover slay,

Him whose blows on headpiece ring,

Heaper up of piles of dead.

Then on Endil’s courser (4) bounding,

O’er the sea-depths I will ride,

While the wretch who spells abuseth,

Life shall lose in Sigar’s storm.” (5)

“Kolskegg has a short sword; that is also the best of weapons.

Force, too, they have — a third more than ye. They have also

much goods, and have stowed them away on land, and I know clearly

where they are. But they have sent a spy-ship off the ness, and

they know all about you. Now they are getting themselves ready

as fast as they can; and as soon as they are `boun,’ they mean

to run out against you. Now you have either to row away at once,

or to busk yourselves as quickly as ye can; but if ye win the day

then I will lead you to all their store of goods.”

Gunnar gave him a golden finger-ring, and went afterwards to his

men and told them that warships lay on the other side of the

ness, “and they know all about us; so let us take to our arms and

busk us well, for now there is gain to be got.”

Then they busked them; and just when they were `boun’ they see

ships coming up to them. And now a fight sprung up between them,

and they fought long, and many men fell. Gunnar slew many a man.

Hallgrim and his men leapt on board Gunnar’s ship. Gunnar turns

to meet him, and Hallgrim thrust at him with his bill. There was

a boom athwart the ship, and Gunnar leapt nimbly back over it.

Gunnar’s shield was just before the boom, and Hallgrim thrust his

bill into it, and through it, and so on into the boom. Gunnar

cut at Hallgrim’s arm hard, and lamed the forearm, but the sword

would not bite. Then down fell the bill, and Gunnar seized the

bill, and thrust Hallgrim through, and then sang a song —

“Slain is he who spoiled the people,

Lashing them with flashing steel;

Heard have I how Hallgrim’s magic

Helm-rod forged in foreign land;

All men know, of heart-strings doughty,

How this bill hath come to me,

Deft in fight, the wolf’s dear feeder,

Death alone us two shall part.”

And that vow Gunnar kept, in that he bore the bill while he

lived. Those namesakes the two Kolskeggs fought together, and

it was a near thing which would get the better of it. Then

Gunnar came up, and gave the other Kolskegg his deathblow.

After that the sea-rovers begged for mercy. Gunnar let them have

that choice, and he let them also count the slain, and take the

goods which the dead men owned, but he gave the others whom he

spared their arms and their clothing, and bade them be off to the

lands that fostered them. So they went off, and Gunnar took all

the goods that were left behind.

Tofi came to Gunner after the battle, and offered to lead him to

that store of goods which the sea-rovers had stowed away, and

said that it was both better and larger than that which they had

already got.

Gunnar said he was willing to go, and so he went ashore, and Tofi

before him, to a wood, and Gunnar behind him. They came to a

place where a great heap of wood was piled together. Tofi says

the goods were under there, then they tossed off the wood, and

found under it both gold and silver, clothes, and good weapons.

They bore those goods to the ships, and Gunnar asks Tofi in what

way he wished him to repay him.

Tofi answered, “I am a Dansk man by race, and I wish thou wouldst

bring me to my kinsfolk.”

Gunnar asks why he was there away east?

“I was taken by sea-rovers,” says Tofi, “and they put me on land

here in Osel, and here I have been ever since.”

ENDNOTES:

(1) Rill of wolf — stream of blood.

(2) A province of Sweden.

(3) An island in the Baltic, off the coast of Esthonia.

(4) “Endil’s courser” — periphrasis for a ship.

(5) “Sigar’s storm” — periphrasis for a sea-fight.

31. GUNNAR GOES TO KING HAROLD GORM’SSON AND EARL HACON

Gunnar took Tofi on board, and said to Kolskegg and Hallvard,

“Now we will hold our course for the north lands.”

They were well pleased at that, and bade him have his way. So

Gunnar sailed from the east with much goods. He had ten ships,

and ran in with them to Heidarby in Denmark. King Harold Gorm’s

son was there up the country, and he was told about Gunnar, and

how too that there was no man his match in all Iceland. He sent

men to him to ask him to come to him, and Gunnar went at once to

see the king, and the king made him a hearty welcome, and sat him

down next to himself. Gunnar was there half a month. The king

made himself sport by letting Gunnar prove himself in divers

feats of strength against his men, and there were none that were

his match even in one feat.

Then the king said to Gunnar, “It seems to me as though thy peer