Автор литература - Njal's Saga

that stands just above the house.”

Then they took the vetchstack and set fire to it, and they who

were inside were not aware of it till the whole hall was a-blaze

over their heads.

Then Flosi and his men made a great pile before each of the

doors, and then the women folk who were inside began to weep and

to wail.

Njal spoke to them and said, “Keep up your hearts, nor utter

shrieks, for this is but a passing storm, and it will be long

before ye have another such; and put your faith in God, and

believe that he is so merciful that he will not let us burn both

in this world and the next.”

Such words of comfort had he for them all, and others still more

strong.

Now the whole house began to blaze. Then Njal went to the door

and said, “Is Flosi so near that he can hear my voice.”

Flosi said that he could hear it.

“Wilt thou,” said Njal, “take an atonement from my sons, or allow

any men to go out.”

“I will not,” answers Flosi, “take any atonement from thy sons,

and now our dealings shall come to an end once for all, and I

will not stir from this spot till they are all dead; but I will

allow the women and children and housecarles to go out.”

Then Njal went into the house, and said to the fold, “Now all

those must go out to whom leave is given, and so go thou out

Thorhalla Asgrim’s daughter, and all the people also with thee

who may.”

Then Thorhalla said, “This is another parting between me and

Helgi than I thought of a while ago; but still I will egg on my

father and brothers to avenge this manscathe which is wrought

here.”

“Go, and good go with thee,” said Njal, “for thou art a brave

woman.”

After that she went out and much folk with her.

Then Astrid of Deepback said to Helgi Njal’s son, “Come thou out

with me, and I will throw a woman’s cloak over thee, and tie thy

head with a kerchief.”

He spoke against it at first, but at last he did so at the prayer

of others.

So Astrid wrapped the kerchief round Helgi’s head, but Thorhilda,

Skarphedinn’s wife, threw the cloak over him, and he went out

between them, and then Thorgerda Njal’s daughter, and Helga her

sister, and many other folk went out too.

But when Helgi came out Flosi said, “That is a tall woman and

broad across the shoulders that went yonder, take her and hold

her.”

But when Helgi heard that, he cast away the cloak. He had got

his sword under his arm, and hewed at a man, and the blow fell on

his shield and cut off the point of it, and the man’s leg as

well. Then Flosi came up and hewed at Helgi’s neck, and took off

his head at a stroke.

Then Flosi went to the door and called out to Njal, and said he

would speak with him and Bergthora.

Now Njal does so, and Flosi said, “I will offer thee, master

Njal, leave to go out, for it is unworthy that thou shouldst burn

indoors.”

“I will not go out,” said Njal, “for I am an old man, and little

fitted to avenge my sons, but I will not live in shame.”

Then Flosi said to Bergthora, “Come thou out, housewife, for I

will for no sake burn thee indoors.”

“I was given away to Njal young,” said Bergthora, “and I have

promised him this, that we would both share the same fate.”

After that they both went back into the house.

“What counsel shall we now take,” said Bergthora.

“We will go to our bed,” says Njal, “and lay us down; I have long

been eager for rest.”

Then she said to the boy Thord, Kari’s son, “Thee will I take

out, and thou shalt not burn in here.”

“Thou hast promised me this, grandmother,” says the boy, “that we

should never part so long as I wished to be with thee; but

methinks it is much better to die with thee and Njal than to live

after you.”

Then she bore the boy to her bed, and Njal spoke to his steward

and said, “Now thou shalt see where we lay us down, and how I

lay us out, for I mean not to stir an inch hence, whether reek or

burning smart me, and so thou wilt be able to guess where to look

for our bones,”

He said he would do so.

There had been an ox slaughtered and the hide lay there. Njal

told the steward to spread the hide over them, and he did so.

So there they lay down both of them in their bed, and put the boy

between them. Then they signed themselves and the boy with the

cross, and gave over their souls into God’s hand, and that was

the last word that men heard them utter.

Then the steward took the hide and spread it over them, and went

out afterwards. Kettle of the Mark caught hold of him, and

dragged him out, he asked carefully after his father-in-law Njal,

but the steward told him the whole truth. Then Kettle said,

“Great grief hath been sent on us, when we have had to share such

ill-luck together.”

Skarphedinn saw how his father laid him down, and how he laid

himself out, and then he said, “Our father goes early to bed, and

that is what was to be looked for, for he is an old man.”

Then Skarphedinn, and Kari, and Grim, caught the brands as fast

as they dropped down, and hurled them out at them, and so it went

on awhile. Then they hurled spears in at them, but they caught

them all as they flew, and sent them back again.

Then Flosi bade them cease shooting, “for all feats of arms will

go hard with us when we deal with them; ye may well wait till the

fire overcomes them.”

So they do that, and shoot no more.

Then the great beams out of the roof began to fall, and

Skarphedinn said, “Now must my father be dead, and I have neither

heard groan nor cough from him.”

Then they went to the end of the hall, and there had fallen down

a crossbeam inside which was much burnt in the middle.

Kari spoke to Skarphedinn, and said, “Leap thou out here, and I

will help thee to do so, and I will leap out after thee, and then

we shall both get away if we set about it so, for hitherward

blows all the smoke.”

“Thou shalt leap first,” said Skarphedinn; “but I will leap

straightway on thy heels.”

“That is not wise,” says Kari, “for I can get out well enough

elsewhere, though it does not come about here.”

“I will not do that,” says Skarphedinn; “leap thou out first, but

I will leap after thee at once.”

“It is bidden to every man,” says Kari, “to seek to save his life

while he has a choice, and I will do so now; but still this

parting of ours will be in such wise that we shall never see one

another more; for if I leap out of the fire, I shall have no mind

to leap back into the fire to thee, and then each of us will have

to fare his own way.”

“It joys me, brother-in-law,” says Skarphedinn, “to think that if

thou gettest away thou wilt avenge me.”

Then Kari took up a blazing bench in his hand, and runs up along

the crossbeam, then he hurls the bench out at the roof, and it

fell among those who were outside.

Then they ran away, and by that time all Kari’s upper clothing

and his hair were a-b1aze, then he threw himself down from the

roof, and so crept along with the smoke.

Then one man said who was nearest, “Was that a man that leapt out

at the roof?”

“Far from it,” says another; “more likely it was Skarphedinn who

hurled a firebrand at us.”

After that they had no more mistrust.

Kari ran till he came to a stream, and then he threw himself down