Автор литература - Njal's Saga

men’s roofs; but as for NjaI, I am his debtor for much honour,

and never will I be egged on by thee like a fool.”

After that they set off home.

“Mind this Bergthora,” said Hallgerda, “that we shall meet

again.”

Bergthora said she should not be better off for that. Gunnar

said nothing at all, but went home to Lithend, and was there at

home all the winter. And now the summer was running on towards

the Great Thing.

36. KOL SLEW SWART

Gunnar rode away to the Thing, but before he rode from home he

said to Hallgerda, “Be good now while I am away, and show none of

thine ill temper in anything with which my friends have to do.”

“The trolls take thy friends,” says Hallgerda.

So Gunnar rode to the Thing, and saw it was not good to come to

words with her. Njal rode to the Thing too, and all his sons

with him.

Now it must be told of what tidings happened at home. Njal and

Gunnar owned a wood in common at Redslip; they had not shared the

wood, but each was wont to hew in it as he needed, and neither

said a word to the other about that. Hallgerda’s grieve’s (1)

name was Kol; he had been with her long, and was one of the worst

of men. There was a man named Swart; he was Njal’s and

Bergthora’s housecarle; they were very fond of him. Now

Bergthora told him that he must go up into Redslip and hew wood;

but she said, “I will get men to draw home the wood.”

He said he would do the work she set him to win; and so he went

up into Redslip, and was to be there a week.

Some gangrel men came to Lithend from the east across Markfleet,

and said that Swart had been in Redslip, and hewn wood, and done

a deal of work.

“So,” says Hallgerda, “Bergthora must mean to rob me in many

things, but I’ll take care that he does not hew again.”

Rannveig, Gunnar’s mother, heard that, and said, “There have been

good housewives before now, though they never set their hearts on

manslaughter.”

Now the night wore away, and early next morning Hallgerda came to

speak to Kol, and said, “I have thought of some work for thee;”

and with that she put weapons into his hands, and went on to say

— “Fare thou to Redslip; there wilt thou find Swart.”

“What shall I do to him?” he says.

“Askest thou that, when thou art the worst of men?” she says.

“Thou shalt kill him.”

“I can get that done,” he says, “but ‘tis more likely that I

shall lose my own life for it.”

“Everything grows big in thy eyes,” she says, “and thou behavest

ill to say this after I have spoken up for thee in everything. I

must get another man to do this if thou darest not.”

He took the axe, and was very wroth, and takes a horse that

Gunnar owned, and rides now till he comes east of Markfleet.

There he got off and bided in the wood, till they had carried

down the firewood, and Swart was left alone behind. Then Kol

sprang on him, and said, “More folk can hew great strokes than

thou alone;” and so he laid the axe on his head, and smote him

his deathblow, and rides home afterwards, and tells Hallgerda of

the slaying.

She said, “I shall take such good care of thee, that no harm

shall come to thee.”

“May be so,” says he, “but I dreamt all the other way as I slept

ere I did the deed.”

Now they come up into the wood, and find Swart slain, and bear

him home. Hallgerda sent a man to Gunnar at the Thing to tell

him of the slaying. Gunnar said no hard words at first of

Hallgerda to the messenger, and men knew not at first whether he

thought well or ill of it. A little after he stood up, and bade

his men go with him: they did so, and fared to Njal’s booth.

Gunnar sent a man to fetch Njal, and begged him to come out.

Njal went out at once, and he and Gunnar fell a-talking, and

Gunnar said, “I have to tell thee of the slaying of a man, and my

wife and my grieve Kol were those who did it; but Swart, thy

housecarle, fell before them.”

Njal held his peace while he told him the whole story. Then Njal

spoke, “Thou must take heed not to let her have her way in

everything.”

Gunnar said, “Thou thyself shalt settle the terms.”

Njal spoke again, “‘Twill be hard work for thee to atone for all

Hallgerda’s mischief; and somewhere else there will be a broader

trail to follow than this which we two now have a share in, and

yet, even here there will be much awanting before all be well;

and herein we shall need to bear in mind the friendly words that

passed between us of old; and something tells me that thou wilt

come well out of it, but still thou wilt be sore tried.”

Then Njal took the award into his own hands from Gunnar, and

said, “I will not push this matter to the uttermost; thou shalt

pay twelve ounces of silver; but I will add this to my award,

that if anything happens from our homestead about which thou hast

to utter an award, thou wilt not be less easy in thy terms.”

Gunnar paid up the money out of hand, and rode home afterwards.

Njal, too, came home from the Thing, and his sons. Bergthora saw

the money, and said, “This is very justly settled; but even as

much money shall be paid for Kol as time goes on.”

Gunnar came home from the Thing and blamed Hallgerda. She said,

better men lay unatoned in many places. Gunnar said, she might

have her way in beginning a quarrel, “but how the matter is to be

settled rests with me.”

Hallgerda was for ever chattering of Swart’s slaying, but

Bergthora liked that ill. Once Njal and her sons went up to

Thorolfsfell to see about the housekeeping there, but that

selfsame day this thing happened when Bergthora was out of doors:

she sees a man ride up to the house on a black horse. She stayed

there and did not go in, for she did not know the man. That man

had a spear in his hand, and was girded with a short sword. She

asked this man his name.

“Atli is my name,” says he.

She asked whence he came.

“I am an Eastfirther,” he says.

“Whither shalt thou go?” she says.

“I am a homeless man,” says he, “and I thought to see Njal and

Skarphedinn, and know if they would take me in.”

“What work is handiest to thee?” says she.

“I am a man used to field-work,” he says, “and many things else

come very handy to me; but I will not hide from thee that I am a

man of hard temper, and it has been many a man’s lot before now

to bind up wounds at my hand.”

“I do not blame thee,” she says, “though thou art no milksop.”

Atli said, “Hast thou any voice in things here?”

“I am Njal’s wife,” she says, “and I have as much to say to our

housefolk as he.”

“Wilt thou take me in then?” says he.

“I will give thee thy choice of that,” says she. “If thou wilt

do all the work that I set before thee, and that, though I wish

to send thee where a man’s life is at stake.”

“Thou must have so many men at thy beck,” says he, “that thou

wilt not need me for such work.”

“That I will settle as I please,” she says.

“We will strike a bargain on these terms,” says he.

Then she took him into the household. Njal and his sons came

home and asked Bergthora what man that might be?

“He is thy housecarle,” she says, “and I took him in.” Then she

went on to say he was no sluggard at work.