Автор литература - Njal's Saga

into it, and so quenched the fire on him.

After that he ran along under shelter of the smoke into a hollow,

and rested him there, and that has since been called Kari’s

Hollow.

129. SKARPHEDINN’S DEATH

Now it is to be told of Skarphedinn that he runs out on the

crossbeam straight after Kari, but when he came to where the

beam was most burnt, then it broke down under him. Skarphedinn

came down on his feet, and tried again the second time, and

climbs up the wall with a run, then down on him came the wall-plate, and he toppled down again inside.

Then Skarphedinn said, “Now one can see what will come;” and then

he went along the side wall. Gunnar Lambi’s son leapt up on the

wall and sees Skarphedinn, he spoke thus, “Weepest thou now,

Skarphedinn?”

“Not so,” says Skarphedinn; “but true it is that the smoke makes

one’s eyes smart, but is it as it seems to me, dost thou laugh?”

“So it is surely,” says Gunnar, “and I have never laughed since

thou slewest Thrain on Markfleet.”

Then Skarphedinn said, “Here now is a keepsake for thee;” and

with that he took out of his purse the jaw-tooth which he had

hewn out of Thrain, and threw it at Gunnar, and struck him in the

eye, so that it started out and lay on his cheek.

Then Gunnar fell down from the roof.

Skarphedinn then went to his brother Grim, and they held one

another by the hand and trode the fire; but when they came to the

middle of the hall Grim fell down dead.

Then Skarphedinn went to the end of the house, and then there was

a great crash, and down fell the roof. Skarphedinn was then shut

in between it and the gable, and so he could not stir a step

thence.

Flosi and his band stayed by the fire until it was broad

daylight; then came a man riding up to them. Flosi asked him for

his name, but he said his name was Geirmund, and that he was a

kinsman of the sons of Sigfus.

“Ye have done a mighty deed,” he says.

“Men,” said Flosi, “will call it both a mighty deed and an ill

deed, but that can’t be helped now.”

“How many men have lost their lives here?” asks Geirmund.

“Here have died,” says Flosi, “Njal and Bergthora and all their

sons, Thord Kari’s son, Kari Solmund’s son, but besides these we

cannot say for a surety, because we know not their names.”

“Thou tellest him now dead,” said Geirmund, “with whom we have

gossiped this morning.”

“Who is that?” says Flosi.

“We two,” says Geirmund, “I and my neighbour Bard, met Kari

Solmund’s son, and Bard gave him his horse, and his hair and his

upper clothes were burned off him!”

“Had he any weapons?” asks Flosi.

“He had the sword `Life-luller,’” says Geirmund, “and one edge of

it was blue with fire, and Bard and I said that it must have

become soft, but he answered thus, that he would harden it in the

blood of the sons of Sigfus or the other Burners.”

“What said he of Skarphedinn?” said Flosi.

“He said both he and Grim were alive,” answers Geirmund, “when

they parted; but he said that now they must be dead.”

“Thou hast told us a tale,” said Flosi, “which bodes us no idle

peace, for that man hath now got away who comes next to Gunnar of

Lithend in all things; and now, ye sons of Sigfus, and ye other

burners, know this, that such a great blood feud, and hue and cry

will be made about this burning, that it will make many a man

headless, but some will lose all their goods. Now I doubt much

whether any man of you, ye sons of Sigfus, will dare to stay in

his house; and that is not to be wondered at; and so I will bid

you all to come and stay with me in the east, and let us all

share one fate.”

They thanked him for his offer, and said they would be glad to

take it.

Then Modolf Kettle’s son, sang a song:

“But one prop of Njal’s house liveth,

All the rest inside are burnt,

All but one — those bounteous spenders,

Sigfus’ stalwart sons wrought this;

Son of Gollnir (1) now is glutted

Vengeance for brave Hauskuld’s death,

Brisk flew fire through thy dwelling,

Bright flames blazed above thy roof.”

“We shall have to boast of something else than that Njal has been

burnt in his house,” says Flosi, “for there is no glory in that.”

Then he went up on the gable, and Glum Hilldir’s son, and some

other men. Then Glum said, “Is Skarphedinn dead, indeed?” But

the others said he must have been dead long ago.

The fire sometimes blazed up fitfully and sometimes burned low,

and then they heard down in the fire beneath them that this song

was sung:

“Deep, I ween, ye Ogre offspring

Devilish brood of giant birth,

Would ye groan with gloomy visage

Had the fight gone to my mind;

But my very soul it gladdens

That my friends I who now boast high,

Wrought not this foul deed, their glory,

Save with footsteps filled with gore.”

“Can Skarphedinn, think ye, have sung this song dead or alive?”

said Grani Gunnar’s son.

“I will go into no guesses about that,” says Flosi.

“We will look for Skarphedinn,” says Grani, “and the other men

who have been here burnt inside the house.”

“That shall not be,” says Flosi, “it is just like such foolish

men as thou art, now that men will be gathering force all over

the country; and when they do come, I trow the very same man who

now lingers will be so scared that he will not know which way to

run; and now my counsel is that we all ride away as quickly as

ever we can.”

Then Flosi went hastily to his horse and all his men.

Then Flosi said to Geirmund, “Is Ingialld, thinkest thou, at home

at the Springs?”

Geirmund said he thought he must be at home.

“There now is a man,” says Flosi, “who has broken his oath with

us and all good faith.”

Then Flosi said to the sons of Sigfus, “What course will ye now

take with Ingialld; will ye forgive him, or shall we now fall on

him and slay him?”

They all answered that they would rather fall on him and slay

him.

Then Flosi jumped on his horse, and all the others, and they rode

away. Flosi rode first, and shaped his course for Rangriver, and

up along the river bank.

Then he saw a man riding down on the other bank of the river and

he knew that there was Ingialld of the Springs. Flosi calls out

to him. Ingialld halted and turned down to the river bank; and

Flosi said to him, “Thou hast broken faith with us, and hast

forfeited life and goods. Here now are the sons of Sigfus, who

are eager to slay thee; but methinks thou hast fallen into a

strait, and I will give thee thy life if thou will hand over to

me the right to make my own award.”

“I will sooner ride to meet Kari,” said Ingialld, “than grant

thee the right to utter thine own award, and my answer to the

sons of Sigfus is this, that I shall be no whit more afraid of

them than they are of me.”

“Bide thou there,” says Flosi, “if thou art not a coward, for I

will send thee a gift.”

“I will bide of a surety,” says Ingialld.

Thorstein Kolbein’s son, Flosi’s brother’s son, rode up by his

side and had a spear in his hand, he was one of the bravest of

men, and the most worthy of those who were with Flosi.

Flosi snatched the spear from him, and launched it at Ingialld,