the saga of Hord

S V I N A D A L

pp

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1
It was in the days of Harald Finehair that Iceland was largely settled,
because people could not put up with his oppression and tyranny,particularly those who were of great descent and proud mind and had
good means, and they preferred to abandon their possessions than suffer
aggression and injustice, whether from the king or from anyone else.
One of these was Biorn Gullberi (gold-bearer). He went from Orkadal
to Iceland and settled the southerly Reykiardal from Grimsa to Flokadalsa and lived at Gullberastadir. Svarthofdi, Geirmund, Thiostolf were
his sons; and they do not come into this story.
The eldest of Biorn’s sons was called Grimkel. He was both big andstrong. Biorn Gullberi became an important man and of great property.
Biorn’s son Grimkel asked for the hand of Rannveig, daughter of Thorbiorn of Arnarholt—Thorbiorn was brother of Lyting, father of Geitirof Krossavik—and married her, and they were together no longer than
three winters, and she died of sickness. A daughter survived who wascalled Thurid. She was brought up with a man who was called Sigurd
Muli (snout). He lived under Fell. She was a handsome woman andskilled with her hands and of a somewhat harsh disposition. Never­theless she was popular.

2
Grimkel lived to begin with south at Fioll, not far from Olfusvatn. It
is now called Grimkelsstadir, and it is now a sheep-shed. Grimkel had
an extensive godord. He was a wealthy man and a very great leader
and said not to be in all respects a just man. He moved his farm after
his wife’s death to Olfusvatn, for he thought the qualities of the land
were better there. Thereafter he dwelt there always, as long as he lived.
He was known as Grimkel Godi.
There was a man called Hogni and he lived in Hagavik, a little way
from Olfusvatn. His wife was called Thorbiorg. They had a daughter

268

the saga of hord

who was called Gudrid. She was a handsome woman and popular.
Hogni was of an insignificant family and was nevertheless an accomplished person, but his wife Thorbiorg was of considerably greaterfamily, and yet they got on well together. Hogni had great property.
There was a man called Valbrand who lived at Breidabolstad in thenortherly Reykiardal. He was son of Valthiof the Old. Valbrand’s son
was called Torfi. Father and son owned a godord. Torfi was a clever
man and widely known. A man grew up there with the father and son
who was called Sigurd and he was son of Gunnhild. He was related to
Torfi. He was known as Sigurd Torfi’s foster-brother. He was a mostpromising man and able in most accomplishments. Valbrand had asecond child. It was a daughter who was called Signy. She was married to Thorgeir, son of Finn of Midfell the Wealthy, son of Halldor,
son of Hogni. He was dead when this story took place. Their son was
called Grim, a promising man, and he grew up with his mother. Signy
lived at Signyiarstadir a little way from Breidabolstad. She was a very
outstanding person, ready of tongue and of proud mind and harshspirited in everything. A man grew up with her there who was called
Grim. He was known as Grim the Small. He was Signy’s foster-son
and an important man, swift in his movements and intelligent aboutmost things.
Koll son of Kiallak was living then at Lund in the southerly Reykiar­
dal. He was a great leader.

3
There was a man called Thorvald who lived at Vatnshorn in Skorradal, a
big man and strong. His wife was called Thorgrima and she was known
as Smith-woman, very skilled in magic. Their son was called Indridi,
a big man and promising. Thorgrima lived the longer of the pair, andwhen she had become a widow, she lived at Hvamm in Skorradal. She
became a wealthy woman and one of importance.
It is said that one summer as on other occasions, Grimkel Godi rodeto the assembly, and one day he went from his booth with a great troopof men to Valbrand’s booth and went straight into the booth. Valbrandwelcomed him, for Grimkel was already known to him. They sat down
and began to talk together. Grimkel said:

the saga of hord 269‘I have been particularly told, Valbrand, that you have a daughter
who is called Signy, and that she is a very outstanding person. I wish
to ask for her hand, if you are willing to marry her to me.’
Valbrand replied, ‘It is known to us that you are of good family andhave much wealth and are yourself a very fine fellow. I would like togive a favourable response to this.’
Their talk ended with Valbrand betrothing his daughter Signy to
Grimkel Godi, and the wedding was to be in Double-month south at
Olfusvatn.
Torfi son of Valbrand was not at the assembly, and when Valbrandcame home from the assembly, he told his son Torfi the news. Torfi
replied:‘Very little do you value my opinions, when I am not asked aboutsuch a matter, and moreover I do not consider this match that you havearranged for your daughter as advantageous as it seems to you to be.
Signy will not get much out of it when the man is both old and harsh.’
Torfi then uttered a verse:
Old demander of mail-coat-strap wound-storm [warrior, Valbrand]—thane [Torfi] has learned this—has given brooch-prop [woman] to Grimkel.
The simple one has deprived jewel-Niorunof wealth, pleasure and happiness; I guess
the old fellow will provide her with little of that.
Signy now learned of her proposed marriage and made little response.
And when the brother and sister, Torfi and Signy, meet, he expresses
his disapproval of the match.
‘There is great love,’ he says, ‘between us; I am not pleased that you
should move away from the district with your wealth.’
She replies, ‘I have thought of a good plan to deal with this, brother.
Do not change this arrangement, but I will make over to you all my
wealth on these terms, that you are to pay my dowry, as much as myfather has agreed to, and that will certainly amount to no less thantwenty hundreds. I will give you this back in token of our friendship,
excluding my two treasures, the ones I place greatest store by. One is
my fine necklace, and the other is my horse Svartfaxi (black-mane).’Torfi expressed his satisfaction with this and spoke kindly to her.

270

the saga of hord4
Now people got ready to go to the wedding. Koll from Lund was invited
to the wedding as one of the most honoured. Father and son asked him
to lead the guests, for Valbrand was so old that he did not feel likegoing, and Torfi did not wish to go. Koll set out on the journey withthe bride, and they were thirty people in all. They lodged at Thverfellin the southerly Reykiardal.
Grim the Small, Signy’s foster-son, was to look after the horses atthe lodging, and in the morning, when he looked for them, he could not
find Signy’s horse Svartfaxi. Grim then went to search north over the
ridge to Flokadal. He followed a track in the dew. He found the horsedead in a landslide there in the valley. He took off the hobble that it had
had on it during the night, and then went back and told Signy that thatfine horse of hers was dead and how it had come about. She replies:‘That is a bad omen and bodes no good. I shall turn back and go
no further.’
Koll said that was impossible and it would not do to alter her plansof this kind for this reason, and it had to be as Koll wished; and they all
travel on together and they come to Olfusvatn and Grimkel had there alarge number of guests from his side to meet them. There was a most
magnificent feast there. It all went forward satisfactorily and splendidly.
After the feast had finished Koll went away, and the other guests,
but Signy stayed there and her nurse who was called Thordis, andGrim the Small. Grimkel had given Koll good gifts and had spoken
friendly words to him, but the father and son were considered to havetreated the business with clear contempt, when they did not attend thewedding. He also heard about Torfi’s verse and could do nothing about
it. There was now no warmth between them. Grimkel was unbending
in mood, while Signy was quiet, and there was little warmth between
them, for they could not have any friends in common, except for Grim
the Small. He managed to go on so that they were both happy. So thefirst year passed.

5the saga of hord 271

Grim the Small came to talk with Signy in the spring, he said hewanted to leave.
‘I find it hard to go between you,’ he says, ‘and it is best to part whileboth still feel well-disposed.’
Signy said, ‘Discuss it first with Grimkel and take his advice, forthen you will be better off, and I am very keen that you should be welloff, and I think he is well disposed towards you.’
Now Grim does this, he speaks to the farmer, says he wants to leave
if he will agree to it. Grimkel replies:‘My advice is that you should stay put. You shall also be better off
than before, because you depend greatly on Signy, and we depend on
you very much to compensate for our tempers.’
And Grim did this, he stayed put that year and they were both pleased
with him. But the following spring Grim spoke to the farmer, that hedid indeed want to leave, but Grimkel was rather against it.
‘Then ask for the hand of Gudrid, Hogni’s daughter, on my behalf,’says Grim, ‘if you want me to stay with you.’
Grimkel replies, ‘You are putting a high price on yourself now, forthere is a great difference of rank here; you are of small means, while
Hogni is very rich.’
Grim said, ‘Nevertheless you can arrange this.’
Grimkel replies, ‘I can try.’
He now goes to Hagavik and he is well received there. He now asks
for the hand of Gudrid on Grim’s behalf.
‘There is this to be said of the man, that he is an intelligent person
and well endowed with skills. He will also be very helpful on the farmand be able to achieve a great deal that will be of benefit to it, while
you are getting on in years, and such a connection seems to me to bevery advantageous for you.’
Hogni replies, ‘You have often tried to bring about things of greater
honour to me than anything of this kind; but mother and daughter shallhave the greatest say in this.’
Grimkel said they would not need to lay out a great deal of money.
‘And nothing is of greater importance than that you should yourself
persuade your daughter for me; but I am confident about Grim, that
he will turn out well.’There is no need to make a long tale about it; the outcome of their

272

the saga of hordtalk was that Grim got Gudrid. Their wedding was at Olfusvatn andthis went off satisfactorily. They got on well together. They were there
for the winter, and they were happy with each other.
But in the spring Grim and his wife wanted to leave. He told Signy,
but she said he must tell Grimkel and said everything would turn out
for the best if he let Grimkel decide. Now he raised it with the farmer
that he wanted to leave. Grimkel replies:‘I think it now right to do what is best for you and let you have yourway, because it is likely that you will turn out well.’Grim then bought land south from Kluptir which he called Grims­
stadir and lived there from then on. Grimkel provided all the stock,and Hogni paid for the land. Grim quickly piled up wealth; there were
two heads on everything that he had.1 He was soon reckoned among
the best farmers.

6
It is said that Signy daughter of Valbrand dreamed a dream. She seemed
to see a great tree in her and Grimkel’s bed, very beautiful and withsuch large roots that the roots of the tree reached all the buildings athome there on the farm, but the blossom on it did not seem to her tobe as great as she wished. She told the dream to her nurse Thordis,
and she interpreted it that she and Grimkel would have a child andit would be great and honourable. She said she thought it was a boy.
‘And many will be very impressed by him because of his achievements, but I wouldn’t be surprised if his circumstances did not flourish with the greatest blossoming by the end, since that great tree did
not seem to you to have as great blossom as you wished, and it is notcertain that he will enjoy much affection from most of his kinsmen.’

7
Soon after Signy gave birth to a baby boy. He was called Hord. He wasat an early age of great size and handsome in appearance, but not allthat precocious in this respect, that he could not walk on his own when
1
2

I.e. all his animals seemed to double in number.
The story of how gold came to be called ‘giants’ words’ is told in Snorri

the saga of hord 273

he was three years old. People thought this strange and not a sign ofearly development, he being an outstanding person in everything else.
And on the day when a temple festival was being held at Olfusvatn,
Grimkel being a great man for heathen sacrifices, Signy was sitting on
her seat in the middle of the living-room floor. She was then adorning
herself, and her fine necklace was lying on her knees. The boy Hord
was standing by the foot of the platform and walked now for the firsttime from the platform to his mother and stumbled onto her knees.
The necklace was flung down onto the floor and broke apart in threepieces. Signy was very angry and said:‘Evil were your first steps, and many other evil ones will follow thisone, but your last ones will be worst.’
She uttered a verse:
Broke asunder for lady
good Sirnir’s voice2 necklace.
I believe that none of mankind will repair
this again for wealth-slope [lady, Signy].
The first walk of the young gold-desirer [man, Hord]
was not good. Each hereafter will be worse.
Yet meanest will be the last.
Grimkel came into the living-room at that moment and heard what she
said. He grabbed up the boy in silence and was very angry at thesewords and uttered a verse:
Wealth-seeker [man, Hord] has got himself a no good mother.
He was first of the woman’s children, having just begun to walk,to hear temper-words from which sea-fire demander [man,Hord]will suffer. “People’s judgement lives longer than any man.”
Grimkel had become so angry that he did not want the boy to stay athome there. He went and saw Grim and Gudrid and asked them to take
Hord in and bring him up there. They said they would be very pleased
to do so and took him in joyfully and thought it to be a blessing. The
Sturluson’s Edda, p. 61.
3This conflicts with other chronological indications in the saga and probably
ought to read ‘the year before Hord was born’.

274

the saga of hordprevious year3 Grim and Gudrid had had a son whom they named Geir.
He was early large and good-looking and well endowed with skills,
only that he fell short of Hord in everything. They now grew up both
together, and there soon came to be great affection between them.
Signy was now even less content after this than before, and there wasnow considerably less warmth between her and Grimkel than previously. Again she dreamed a dream, that she saw a great tree as ­before,
greatest in its roots, with many branches and there came a great dealof blossom on it. This dream was again interpreted by her nurse as
about a child being begotten between them, and it would be a daughterand much progeny would live after her, as the tree had seemed to her
to have many branches.
‘And your thinking it had much blossom must mean the change ofreligion which will come about, and her descendants will hold thatfaith which is preached then, and it will be a better one.’8
After the assembly in the summer Signy asked Grimkel to let her gonorth to her relations. He said he would let her do that, but said thatshe should not stay longer than a fortnight. Two servants went withher, and her nurse Thordis. They rode north into Reykiardal. Torfi
received them very warmly and invited her to stay for the winter, andsaid that otherwise he would feel that he had lost her affection. She
said she had been permitted to be away a fortnight and no longer. Torfi
said that was not important. She then gave in to his request and urging.
They went then on some visits during the winter and when they wereon a visit down in Bæ, Signy’s nurse died suddenly and is buried atThordisarholt. This is a little way from Bæ. Signy was greatly affectedby this. Then they went back to Breidabolstad.
And soon afterwards Signy was taken ill with childbirth labour,and her illness was looking very serious. Torfi spoke to her, said he
had never felt happy about her marriage, declared that he had always
been very much against Grimkel. She said it was not unlikely that it
4
Many sagas record that in heathen times there was a ceremony used similar
to Christian baptism.

the saga of hord 275

would have grave consequences. She gave birth to a girl-child, large
and healthy. Torfi would not have the child sprinkled with water4 until
Signy’s fate was clear. She died straight away without getting up fromchildbirth. Then Torfi got so angry that he wanted to have the child
exposed to die. He told his foster-brother Sigurd to pick up the childand take it to Reykiardalsa and destroy it there. Sigurd said that wasa very bad thing to do, but yet did not care to disobey Torfi in this.
Sigurd now picked up the child and went on his way. He thought thechild looked pretty and so did not feel like throwing it out into theriver. He set off now up to Signyiarstadir and put the child down in the
farmyard gateway and felt sure it would soon be found. Farmer Grim
was standing out under the gable of the house, Signy’s son. He saw
this, went up and picked up the child and took it home with him andmade his wife Helga pretend to be ill and say that she had given birth
to this girl. He had her sprinkled with water and named her Thorbiorg.
Grim set out for Breidabolstad. He saw a large number of people
coming out of the farm. Signy’s body was being taken to burial. Torfi
told Grim of his mother’s death.
‘And I will hand everything over to you, and yet we ought to pay
this wealth to Grimkel, but we want to do the best we can by you.’
Grim said he spoke well. Then they buried Signy and left afterwards.
Now Sigurd and Grim meet. Sigurd says he knows that Torfi will be
angry with him when he knows that he has allowed the child to live.
‘I know how to deal with this,’ says Grim, ‘I shall get you abroad
and thus reward you for the chance that has befallen you.’
And he did so. He sent Sigurd south to Eyrar and gave him two horses, and there were packs on one of them. From there he went abroad.
The next day Torfi came to Signyiarstadir and asked why Helga wasin bed, for he did not have any previous knowledge of her sickness.
He now recognised the child that lay by her and said:‘This is a very bold thing to do, that you dare to nurture a child that
I had had exposed to die.’Helga replied, ‘This child was very closely related to Grim, and heis justified in saving it.’
Then Torfi asked where Grim was. She said he had gone to see thefarm-workers. Torfi went there and saw Grim. Torfi went on in the5
Breaker of rings (i.e. of swords) means warrior; or spender of rings, generous man, i.e. Illugi.

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278

the saga of hordmost awful manner and said Grim was acting towards him with extra­
ordinary boldness and asked what he knew of Sigurd, said he deserved
to be punished for having broken his orders, declared that Grimkel had
deserved to be treated in this insulting way by him. Grim said he had
sent Sigurd to the Western Fiords to a ship. Torfi was angry at this. He
took the girl and did not feel like having her killed, for it was said tobe murder to kill children once they had been sprinkled with water. He
took the girl home and gave it for fostering to a certain slave-woman,and provided nothing for its clothing and would not remit any of theslave-woman’s labour.

9
There was a man called Sigmund. He went around begging from houseto house and his wife and son who was called Helgi. Usually they
stayed in guests’ quarters wherever they arrived, unless Sigmund was
let inside to provide entertainment. That same autumn Sigmund and his
family came to Breidabolstad. Torfi welcomed them and said to them:‘You are not to stay in the guests’ quarters, for I like the look of you,
Sigmund, and you seem to promise well.’He replies, ‘You would not be mistaken if this was your opinion.’
Torfi said he wanted to do him an honour, ‘for I shall accept thefostering of a child from you.’
Sigmund replies, ‘There is a difference of rank between us, if I
foster a child for you, for it is said that he is a lesser man who fosters
a child for another.’
Torfi said, ‘You shall take the child to Olfusvatn.’
Sigmund agrees to this. He now picks Thorbiorg up and ties her on
his back and then goes off. Torfi was intending all this as an insult to
Grimkel, and thought this man the right person to take the girl into beggary; he also did not want to risk a better person for it than Sigmund,for he thought there was nothing that Grimkel might not do if someone
had brought the child to his house whom he would have thought worth
taking vengeance on.
Sigmund now found himself well off for lodging-places, for everyone
felt themselves obliged to treat the girl well and those who travelledwith her, wherever she went, and so Sigmund decided to take the longest way round. He went out round Andakil and Melahverfi and all alongthe saga of hord 279

the coastal route round the Nesses and round past Grindavik and Olfus.
One day in the evening Sigmund and his family arrived at Olfusvatn. Sigmund was wet and very frozen. He sat out near the door, but
Grimkel sat in his place and had a sword across his knees. He asked
what sort had come. Sigmund replies:‘It is Sigmund, fosterer of your child, who has come, my dear sir,and your daughter Thorbiorg. She is the very best of children.’
Grimkel said, ‘Listen to what this beggar says. You, to be fosterer of
my child, the most miserable of vagrants? And Torfi’s enmity towards
me is not all of a piece. First he caused the mother’s death, and now
he has driven the child into beggary.’
Grimkel then uttered a verse:
Torfi did not hold back from killingthread and embroidery prop [woman, Signy].
He acts insultingly indeed towards sword-harmer [warrior,	Grimkel]in all this. Sword-snatcher sent this silver bowl Gna [woman,
	Thorbiorg]
into beggary wrongfully. It is time to pay back this suffering.
Grimkel knew all about what Torfi was planning and so did not want
the girl to be left there. Grimkel told Sigmund to be off as quickly as
he could if he did not want to be beaten up and then suffer worse. They
now had to go straight off with the child. They went over Grimsness
and across Laugardal and began to neglect the child, for they felt
uncertain whether they would ever get rid of it. They now found it
hard to get lodging. Sigmund felt he had just snapped up a fly when
he took the girl from Torfi.
They arrived at Grimsstadir one day for breakfast. They tell Grimthat they had with them a young child. Grim says he wants to see thisyoung child that people are now talking so much about.
Sigmund said it was a lot of trouble to unwrap the child, and said
that even then it would not be easy to quieten her down again. Grim
said no one would bother about that. The child was now unwrappedand shown to Grim. He then said:‘This is truly Signy’s child; it has her eyes and she would expect
this of me, that I would not let her child go from house to house if I
could do anything about it. But Torfi wants to bring great shame upon
all this child’s relations and even on himself. I shall now, Sigmund,280

the saga of hordtake off you this child and dependant.’
He was very pleased at this. They stayed there that day and thenwent down over Botnsheid. There were many who said that Grimwould be putting himself at risk from Grimkel Godi in this affair withhis temerity.

10
About the time of the moving-days Grimkel Godi set out to Olfus past
Hialli and out round Arnarbæli and up along Floi to Oddgeirsholar,
from there into Grimsness, and stayed in Laugardal and so back home.
He summoned all the farmers to a meeting with him at Midfell, thosehe had just met, after an interval of two nights, for Grimkel had the
godord over all these areas. To Midfell came sixty of his assemblymen. Grimkel told them of his need to take up a suit against Torfi anddeclared his intention of going to serve a summons on Torfi. They all
thought this was justified. They rode past Giabakki, so to Kluptir andround Ok, so the lower route down by Augastadir and so to Breidabol­stad. Torfi was not at home and had gone up into Hvitarsida. Grimkel
summonsed Torfi for plotting the death of Thorbiorg and for Signy’s
dowry. He referred the cases to the Althing and afterwards rode home,
and there was now hardly anything that was more talked about thanthe case of Grimkel and Torfi.
And when Grim the Small heard about this, he set off out to Reykiarvik to see Thorkel Mani (moon) the lawspeaker. They came to discuss
the case of Grimkel and Torfi. Grim asks what he thinks about how
this will be concluded between them. He says he thinks it does notlook good, since it was very contentious people that were involved.
Grim said:‘I would very much like you to do what you can to bring about asettlement between them, for you are both clever and well-disposed.’Thorkel replies, ‘Your request becomes you well and shows yourgood nature, and I will do what I can to reconcile them.’
Grim said, ‘I will give you money to bring about a settlement between them.’
He poured into his lap a hundred of silver and thanked him for his
promise to try to reconcile them. Thorkel said he was acting nobly.

the saga of hord 281‘But understand this, that I am giving you prospect of a settlement,
but I do not promise it.’
Grim replies, ‘Your offering a prospect is more valuable than whenmost other men promise absolutely.’
Grim left after that.
Time passed until the assembly. Both sides came with great follow­
ings. Grim was at the assembly. He went to see Thorkel Mani andasked him to seek a settlement. He said he would gain great honour
from this if he was able to reconcile the leaders. Thorkel now did this.
He went first to see Grimkel Godi and raised the question of the casewith him. Grimkel replies:‘I can tell you in brief that in relation to all our dealings as well as
Torfi’s enmity towards me I shall accept no one’s adjudication but myown, except only if it is stipulated as a basis that he pay no less thantwelve hundred triple units of cloth.’Thorkel then offered to arbitrate between them.
‘But you can see what is at stake here, for there will be open hostility if you do not reach a settlement, and we shall support the side thatacts more in accordance with our words and that is willing to respect
our decision, and that is more important than what is causing the difference between you.’
Then Grimkel said, ‘I agree that Thorkel shall adjudicate in the case.
He is known for consistently correct judgements.’
Now Torfi sees that this alone is acceptable. He says now that hetoo agrees to this.
Thorkel said, ‘This is my decision and judgement, that Torfi shallpay Grimkel six hundred triple units of cloth and have it on loan for
six winters and then pay twelve hundred.’
He said that he had now adjudicated as seemed to him most just.
Grimkel replies:‘I shall accept this arbitration because I have myself proposed it, but
it seems to me the matter has been greatly diminished. Hord, my son,shall have this money, and have it as his inheritance from his mother.’
Torfi said he would not pay Hord this money unless he did not turnout a worse man than his father. Grimkel said that to be sure it was
impossible to know this, how it would turn out, but said that Hord
would be no better off if the saying proved true that “men take mostafter their maternal uncles”.

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the saga of hord

‘For you are a shape-changer, and I think it would be worse for him
to inherit that from you than not.’
Then there was a great outcry. Neither side was pleased with thejudgement, yet it was abided by more or less.
This year passed and then another. Then Grimkel proposed a wife
for himself, Sigrid daughter of Thorbiorn of Skalmarness. This suit
was given a good response, for the man was considered noble and ofgreat family, even though he was rather past his prime. She was married
to him. Their wedding was at Olfusvatn, at Grimkel’s home. It went
forward satisfactorily and splendidly. They got on very well together.
Grimkel now kept to himself.

11
There was a man called Illugi who lived at Holm on Akraness. He wasson of Hrolf the Geitlander, son of Ulf, son of Grim the Halogalander.
Illugi’s brother was Solvi, father of Thord, father of Magnus, priest at
Reykiaholt. Illugi’s sister was Halldora (who was married to Gizur theWhite), mother of Vilborg, mother of Iorun, mother of Gudrun, motherof Einar, father of Bishop Magnus. Illugi was a big man and strong
and had great wealth. He went to Olfusvatn on a wooing journey andasked for the hand of Thurid, Grimkel’s daughter by his first marriage.
Grimkel responded well, for Illugi was known to him. This engagement
took place there. Hord was not present when this match was arranged.
The wedding was to be in Double-month at home at Olfusvatn.
And when the time arranged for this came, Illugi set out from homewith thirty people for his wedding. With him was Thorstein Oxnabrodd(oxen-goad) of Saurbæ, a great farmer, and Thormod of Brekka from
Hval­fiardarstrond. They went over the fiord to Kialarness and to thenorth of Mosfell and so up by Vilborgarkelda, on to Iorukleif and soto Haga­vik and so in to Olfusvatn and they arrived early in the day.
Illugi said:‘Where is Hord, as I do not see him, or has he not been invited?’
Grimkel said he was invited as a matter of course.
‘But I have not named him in particular for this.’
Illugi replies, ‘That is not proper, however.’He rides to Grimsstadir. The doors there were closed. They knockedon the doors. Geir went to the door and asked who had come. Illugi said

the saga of hord 283

who he was and asked for Hord. Geir said he was inside. Illugi said:‘Ask him to come out, for I wish to see him.’
Geir went in and came out, said Hord was in bed and was ill. Illugi
went in, as Hord would not come out. Illugi said:‘Of what nature is your sickness, Hord?’
He said it was nothing much. Illugi said:‘I would very much like you to come to my wedding with me andmake friends with me.’Hord said he might have said this before if he thought it was very
important.
‘I am going nowhere, for you have not involved me much in thisbusiness.’
Illugi gets nothing from Hord but strong words. He rides away
without achieving anything further.
A little later Geir said to Hord:‘It is more seemly that we go to the wedding. I shall fetch us somehorses.’Hord said he did not much care to. Geir said:‘Do it for the sake of my asking, and your honour.’Hord now did so. They then rode after them, and when they met,
Illugi was very glad and disregarded Hord’s strong words. They now
rode to the wedding and they were welcomed. Hord sat on one sideof Illugi. The wedding went forward satisfactorily and splendidly.
They all rode from the wedding together, right to Vilborgarkelda.
There the paths divided. Then said Illugi:‘Now, Hord we shall part here, and I would like us to be good friends,
and here is a shield that I would like to give you.’Hord replies, ‘My foster-father Grim has got plenty of bits of wood,’
and uttered a verse:
A shield gave me the generous weapon-reddener [warrior,
Illugi],and not a good one. He will need this thane [shield]
in Hild’s rain [battle].
Let him keep his treasure himself, this sharp one,who desires my land-thong-slope Aud [woman, Hord’s half-­
sister],breaker of oaths and rings.5

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the saga of hord

Then Illugi said, ‘Accept this ring from me, then, as a token of friendship, if you do not want the shield.’
Hord took the ring. It was a fine treasure.
‘I do not know,’ says Hord, ‘why I have the feeling that you will
not be a good brother-in-law to me, but yet we shall find out later on.’
Then they parted, and there were few expressions of goodwill, but
yet they separated on good terms for the time being. But when Hordgot home, he spoke to Thorbiorg:‘I would like to give you this ring, which Illugi gave to me, because
I love you best of everyone. But you remember this gift when I am
dead, for I know that you will live longer than I.’
Thorbiorg replies and uttered this:If you are, to my certain knowledge,
slain with weapons, or felled in battle,
to that man shall my bitter designs
for sure cause death.
Hord was now twelve years old when the saga had reached this point.
He was then equal in strength to the strongest men in the area. So
time passed until Geir was sixteen years old and Hord fifteen. He wasthen a full head higher than most other men. His eyes could never be
deceived by false appearances, for he saw everything as it was. His
hair was the finest of anyone’s and he was of mighty strength, the bestof swimmers and in every respect well endowed with skills. He waswhite of skin and light of hair. He was broad-faced and full-faced,with a bend in his nose, blue-eyed and keen-eyed and rather wideeyed, broad-shouldered, thin-waisted, broad under arm, with slender
extremities and in every way well grown. Geir was rather less strong,
and yet there were almost none his equals. He was one of the greatest
men of skills though he did not come up to Hord.

12
6
I.e. so as to be close to the ship and ready to load; Fell is near the south
coast of Iceland, on the Olfus river.

the saga of hord 285

That same summer a ship came from the sea to Eyrar. It was owned bya man called Bryniolf, son of Thorbiorn, son of Griotgard, a man from
Oslofiord. There were thirty men on the ship. They arrived before theassembly. Bryniolf rode to the assembly and stayed in Grimkel Godi’sbooth. He often said that he had a desire to see Hord.
‘For much has been told me,’ he says, ‘of his good looks and abilities.’
And now it happened that Hord came to the assembly, he and Geirtoo, for they were never apart. There was amazing affection between
the foster-brothers, for neither word nor deed ever came between them.
They and Bryniolf now met. They got on well together. Bryniolf said
that there had been no exaggeration about Hord as to his size andgood looks.
‘You seem to me, Hord,’ says Bryniolf, ‘a very good person to go
abroad and be among noblemen. I would like to be your friend andgive you half share in my ship with me.’Hord said, ‘You are taking on a great deal with an unknown person,
but yet I will give a good response to your proposal, and yet I shall not
promise to go away until I know what I shall have to take with me, forI have not got much so far.’Geir said, ‘This is a good suggestion, foster-brother, and it seems tome a promising plan. I shall be much in favour of it.’Hord said, ‘I am not keen to ask Grimkel to provide for me.’Geir told him not to be like that, ‘for he is very fond of you. Now I
would like you to be straightforward in these plans, and also that you
should accept gratefully what Bryniolf is offering you.’
They now travel home from the assembly, and when Hord got home,
he told his sister Thorbiorg. She said Bryniolf must be a good fellow.
Geir then again urged the journey abroad.
‘I would like,’ he said, ‘you to take Helgi son of Sigmund as yourservant.’
Thorbiorg answers, ‘I would be rather against that, because all
Sigmund’s people seem to me prone to disaster. The grief will neverleave my breast which I got from when they took me begging fromhouse to house.’
Hord answers, ‘I am not very keen on Helgi, for they have been thecause of the greatest disgrace to us,’ and he uttered a verse:
This grief in Thorbiorg’s Hlokk’s storm [mind]

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the saga of hordthat I tell of is the greatest in many men’s memory
when destroyer [warrior, Torfi] of sleeve-plain brands [swords],
her mother’s brother, asked Sigmund to bring her up in beggary.
Helgi was very persistent in asking, and Geir supported his suit verymuch. The conclusion was, by the time they had finished, that Helgishould go with them, and Hord said that they would find out rather
more clearly how mistaken it was.
After this Hord asked Grimkel for capital and requested sixty hundreds, and of this twenty hundreds was to be brown-striped. Grimkel
said:‘Your arrogance and greed is clearly apparent in this.’
He went away in silence. Grimkel’s wife Sigrid said this was equivalent to consent.
‘For this will be more or less what he had intended for trading in.’Grimkel handed over the capital, and they transported all the wares
under Fell to Sigurd Muli,6 went abroad after that with Bryniolf straightaway that summer and reached Bergen with ship unscathed.

13
King Harald Greycloak was then ruling over Norway. They straightaway looked for private lodgings for themselves and found them with
Bryniolf’s help, for he did the best he could for them in everything.
There was one day when Bryniolf had ridden up into the country, that
Geir was walking out on his own. He had a furry homespun cloak on.
Then Geir sees where a troop of men was going and one of them wasin a blue cape. They soon meet. They ask him his name. Geir tells them
what it is and asks who they are. Their leader says his name is Arnthor,
and that he is the treasurer of Gunnhild Mother of Kings. They asked
to buy Geir’s cloak, but he was not willing to sell. Then one of themsnatched the cloak from him. Geir was left standing with his hand on
his sword. They laughed then a great deal and mocked him, sayingthat the landsman7 had not held on to his cloak very hard. Both thesethings then made him angry, their mockery and losing the cloak. He
7
8

I.e. Icelander.
Probably one of the supports for the edge of the side-platforms of the hall.

the saga of hord 287

then grasped hold of the cloak, and they jerk at it for a while. Arnthor
then reached for the cloak and tried to wrench it from him. At this Geirdrew his sword and struck at Arnthor’s arm above the elbow, cutting
it off. He then got hold of his cloak and after this went back to his
lodging, for he had taken them aback. His scabbard was left behind.
They attended to Arnthor, for he was weak from loss of blood. Hord
asked, when Geir came back, why there was blood on his sword. Geirsaid what had happened. Hord answers:‘What you did was quite proper. Now we must waste no time.’
Now Arnthor was overcome from loss of blood and he collapsed in
the arms of those who were with him, and died a little later from lossof blood. Hord now sent for the Icelanders who were there. There was
Tind son of Hallkel, brother of Illugi the Black. They quickly responded
and came to meet Hord and numbered twenty-four in all. Then a horn
was blown in the town and the king was sent for and told that one of
the king’s men was slain. The king came quickly and ordered Geir tobe handed over.
‘For he has killed a friend of mine and my mother’s treasurer.’
Hord answers, ‘It is not right for us to surrender our man to yourweapons. We are willing to offer you self-judgement for the man aslong as Geir keeps life and limb unscathed.’
Just then Bryniolf came back, while they were discussing this, andsaid:‘Lord, be so good, take payment for the man, and pay regard to yourhonour and my friendship, for many a man will lose his life before
Geir is killed.’
The king replies, ‘I shall do that, Bryniolf, at your request, make asettlement with Geir and accept compensation for my part, but not on
my mother’s part.’
Bryniolf thanked him. He paid over all the money for Geir andfurthermore gave the king good gifts, for he had plenty of wealth andwas the most decent person.
But when the king had gone away, Bryniolf said:‘I am not confident that I can keep you here because of Gunnhild.
I shall send you east into Oslofiord to my father Thorbiorn for safety
and protection.’
Hord replies, ‘I shall rely on your guidance, for you are a decent
I.e. without either weapons or other possessions concealed under theirclothing.
9

288

the saga of hordperson.’They now went quickly east to Oslofiord. Thorbiorn welcomed thembecause of his son’s recommendation. They were well treated there andwere considered to be splendid men. Most people did not think Helgi
was any compensation for Hord’s character. Early in winter Bryniolf
came there to the east. They all stayed there together in f­ riendship.
In the spring Thorbiorn discussed with Hord and his friend that hewanted to send them east to Gautland ‘to see my friend Earl Haraldwith unequivocal tokens, for I know that Gunnhild will come here soonand then I shall not be able to protect you from her.’
Hord said that the father and son should decide. They now prepared
their ship.

14
When they were ready the foster-brothers and the father and son parted
in great friendship. They now make east for Gautland, go to see Earl
Harald. He received them well as soon as he saw his friend Thorbiorn’s tokens. The earl had a son who was called Hroar, and he was out
raiding, and a daughter who was called Helga, the most handsome of
women. Earl Harald made Hord sit next to himself, in his son Hroar’s
seat. They stayed there the summer.
In the autumn Hroar came back from raiding. He was made welcome.
Hord gave up his place to Hroar. So time passed until Yule, and whenpeople had taken their places on the first evening of Yule, Hroar stoodup and said:‘Here I step on the stock8 and make this vow, that I shall have broken
open the viking Soti’s grave-mound by next Yule.’
The earl said, ‘A great vow, and you will not have the power to fulfil
it on your own, for Soti was a great troll in his life and has been twice
as great a one since he died.’
Hord then stood up and said, ‘Will it not be proper to follow yourcustoms? I make this vow to go with you into Soti’s mound and not
to leave it before you.’
Geir made a vow to accompany Hord, whether he wanted to go thereor anywhere else, and never to part from him unless Hord wished it.
Helgi also made a vow to accompany Hord and Geir wherever they10

Viking swords sometimes had narrow strips of harder metal welded alongthe saga of hord 289

went if he could, and to value no one more highly while they both
lived. Hord replies:‘It is not certain that there will be long between us, and take care thatyou are not the cause of both our deaths, or even of other people’s too.’‘I would hope to do so,’ says Helgi.
The earl was well disposed to Hord and said he looked chiefly towhere Hord was for facilitating his son Hroar’s advancement.

15
And when spring came, Hroar set out in a party of twelve for Soti’smound. They rode through thick forest, and in one place Hord saw
where a small hidden path led off the forest road. He rode this path until
he came into a clearing. There he saw a building standing, both large
and splendid. A man was standing outside in front of the building ina blue-striped hooded cape. He greeted Hord by name. He responded
well and asked what he was called.
‘For I do not recognise you, though you behave as if you know me.’
‘My name is Biorn,’ says he, ‘and I recognised you when I saw
you, even though I have not seen you before. But I was friend of yourkinsmen, and I will let you benefit from this. I know that your party
is planning to break into the viking Soti’s mound and you will noteasily manage this if you are left to your own devices. But if it goesas I suspect, that you do not manage to break into the mound, thencome and see me.’Now they part. Hord rides now to meet Hroar. They get to the moundearly in the day and begin to break into it and in the evening reached
the timbers. But the following morning the mound was undisturbed
as before. So it went the second day. Then Hord rode to see Biorn andtold him how far they had got.
‘And it went,’ said Biorn, ‘as I expected, for it was not unknown tome what a troll Soti was. Now here is a sword that I shall give you,and you stick it into the opening in the mound and then see whether
the mound closes up again or not.’Now Hord goes back to the mound. Hroar says then he wants to giveup and not struggle with this devil any longer. Others were in favourof this. Hord replies then:‘It does not do to fail to fulfil one’s vow. We shall have another go.’290

the saga of hord

The third day they set about breaking into the mound. They againreached the timbers as before. Hord now stuck the sword Biorn’s gift
into the opening in the mound. They sleep through the night and cometo it in the morning and then nothing had changed there. The fourth
day they broke up all the long beams and the fifth day they took out
the door. Hord then told men to beware of the blast and stench which
was blowing out of the mound, and he himself stood behind the door
while the stench was at its greatest. Then two men were struck deadby the foul air which blew out, but they had been curious about it andnot followed Hord’s advice. Then Hord said:‘Who wants to go into the mound? And it seems to me that he who
made a vow to overcome Soti is the one who ought to.’Hroar was silent then. And when Hord saw that no one was prepared
to go into the mound, he drove into the ground two rope-pegs.
‘Now shall I,’ he says, ‘go into the mound, if I may keep the threetreasures that I choose from the mound.’Hroar said he would say yes to this for his part, and all agreed to it.
Then spoke Hord:‘What I want, Geir, is that you should hold the rope, because I trust
you best to do it.’
Then Hord went into the mound, and Geir held the rope. Hord foundno treasure in the mound and now says to Geir that he wishes him tocome into the mound with him and to take with him fire and wax.
‘For both are things of great power,’ says he. ‘Ask Hroar and Helgi
to look after the rope.’
They did so, and Geir went down into the mound. Eventually Hord
found a door and they broke it down. Then there was a great earthquake and the lights went out. A great stench blew out. There in theside mound was just a little gleam of light. Then they saw a ship andgreat treasure in it. Soti sat in the bow and was horrible to look at. Geirstood in the entrance to the mound, but Hord went up and was goingto take the treasure. Soti uttered this:Why were you so keen, Hord, to break into
the earth-dweller’s house, even though Hroar asked?
I have never to blood-serpent shaker [sword wielder, Hord]done harm in my life.
Hord said:

the saga of hord 291

This is why I came to find the fellow
and to take ancient treasure from the ghost:
it is widely known that there cannot be
anywhere in all the world
a worse man wielding weapons.
Then Soti leapt up and ran at Hord. There was a tough encounter inwhich Hord was greatly outmatched. Soti took hold of him so hardthat Hord’s flesh was bunched up into ridges. Hord told Geir to kindle
the wax candle and see how Soti responded to that. And when the lightspread over Soti, his strength diminished and he fell down. Hord thenmanaged to get a gold ring off Soti’s arm. It was such a fine treasurethat it is said that no gold ring as good has reached Iceland. And when
Soti lost the ring, he uttered this:Hord plundered me of the fine ring,
twice as bad it seems to me to lose it
than the whole of Grani’s burden.
It shall be the deadly destructionof you and all those who possess it.
Hord said:
Though I was certain of this,that all the pronouncements of the destroyer of good deeds [Soti]
would be fulfilled, yet should not the most ancient coward
longer enjoy sea’s fire [gold].
‘You shall know this for certain,’ says Soti, ‘that this ring shall cause
the death of you and of all who possess it, unless it is a woman who
possesses it.’Hord told Geir to bring the light up to him and see how friendly hewas, and at that Soti plunged down into the ground and would not wait
for the light. So they parted. Hord and Geir took all the chests and tookthem to the rope and all the treasure that they found. Hord took sword
and helmet that Soti had possessed, and they were the greatest treasures.
They now gave a pull on the rope and realised that the men had goneaway from the mound. Hord pulled himself up the rope and got out of
the mound. Geir tied the treasure on the rope and Hord pulled it out.
This is to be told about Hroar and Helgi and their companions, that292

the saga of hordwhen the earthquake happened, all the men panicked who were outside,
except for Helgi and Hroar, and they had to hold those who were outside
still. But when they met again, there was a joyful meeting. They felt
they had recovered Geir and Hord from Hel. Hroar asked Hord what
had happened, and he uttered a verse:
I did not have to deal with a wealth-maple [man]either easy or cowardly.
That devil was hard to overcome under the heathen regime.
I know, when he began to see the light
Soti’s look was ugly. The cruel keeper of spells
chose to plunge into the earth.
They now left with their booty. They could not find Biorn anywhere,
and people assumed that it must have been Odin. Hord was thought tohave achieved a famous deed in the mound-breaking. He then spokewith Hroar:‘Now I consider that I have a right to the three treasures that I choose.’
Hroar said that was true, ‘and it is most fitting for you to have them.’‘Then shall I,’ says Hord, ‘choose sword, ring and helmet.’
Then they shared out all the other treasure and there was no dispute
between them. The earl did not want any of the treasure when they
offered it to him. He said it was fitting for Hord to have the largest
share of it. They now sat in great honour and stayed there for that year.

16
In the spring Hord said that he wanted to go to Iceland, but the earland Hroar said they were very keen for him not to leave, and felt thatsuch a man had never been there before. Hord said:‘I shall propose an alternative to this for you: give me Helga, theearl’s daughter, as wife.’
The earl said this would be given a good response. The match was
fixed with the agreement of Helga and Hroar. Hord loved his wife Helgagreatly. He then had a great deal of wealth. They set out raiding in thesummer, all the foster-brothers, Hord, Hroar, Geir and Helgi, and they
took four ships; each of them was in charge of one. They were well off
for both wealth and fame and did well in their raiding.

the saga of hord 293

17
Now the story is to be taken up where earlier it was left off, that Sigurd,
Torfi’s foster-brother, went abroad from Eyrar and reached Norway
and was there the winter, and the following summer he got himself ona ship with merchants and went south to Denmark. At that time King
Harald Gormsson was ruling there. Sigurd got on good terms withthe king for he proved the most valiant man. He quickly increased
both in wealth and reputation until he got into a band of vikings andproved the greatest hero, and so it went on for some summers right
until Sigurd became leader of a viking band. He then was himself incharge of five ships.
There was one summer that he was sailing in the east past Balagards­sida, and when he got to the sounds that are called Svinasund, evening
had come. They were there during the night. And in the morning thefirst thing they knew was that vikings were rowing towards them there
on seven ships. They asked who was in charge of the ships. A man
stood up on the poop on one ship, both great and swarthy. He says
he is called Biorn Blasida (dark-side) and is son of Ulfhedin, son of
Ulfham, son of Ulf, son of Ulfham the Shape-shifter, and asked who
was their leader. Sigurd said who he was.
‘Would you rather go ashore ungirded,9 and give us ships and possessions, or do you want to fight us?’
‘We would rather choose to defend our possessions and freedom andwould rather fall honourably.’
Then both sides got ready. The most violent battle broke out there.
Sigurd went forward bravely, and eventually all Sigurd’s ships had
been cleared of defenders, and three of Biorn’s. Then Sigurd stood up
alone and defended himself for a long time and right on until shields
were borne down on him. He was then captured, and he had by thenalone killed seven men. It had then become the evening of the day. He
was then tied fast by the arms and his legs were fettered and six men
were got to guard him during the night, and he was to be executed in
the morning, but the vikings all slept ashore. Sigurd asked who wasgoing to provide the entertainment. The guards said he had no need of

294

the saga of hordentertainment ‘when you are going to die tomorrow.’‘I am not afraid of my death, and I will recite you a poem, if you like.’
They said they would agree to that. He then recited so that they all
fell asleep. He rolled himself over to where an axe was lying, managed to cut the rope off his arms and after that managed to kick off
his fetters in such a way that it took off both his heel-bones. Then hekilled all the guards. Then he dived into the water and swam ashore.
Then he walked across the headland, for he did not want to risk playing about with the vikings. Then he saw four ships lying and booths
on shore. He went boldly to the tents and it was then nearly morning.
He asks who was in charge there. They said he was called Hord, who
was their leader, Hroar and Geir and Helgi, and asked in return who hewas. He told them. Then he went up to Hord and asked the latest news.
Hord immediately realised who Sigurd was and invited him to joinhim. Sigurd said he would accept that and told him of his disastrous
expedition and asked Hord to even things up with the vikings for him.
He did not think this was likely to be possible, but yet said he would
do as he asked. They set to straight away and cleared their ships ofcargo and put rocks in its place, then rowed out past the headland. But
when the vikings became aware of this, they got ready and thought
they were lacking an expected friend in that Sigurd had gone. Now
a battle broke out between them. The foster-brothers went forward
strongly, and yet Sigurd acquitted himself blamelessly. But towards
the end of the day, Hord attempted a boarding of the ship that Biorn
Blasida was on, and Geir was right behind him. Each went along one
side of the ship and slew absolutely every mother’s child forward of
the mast. Biorn Blasida then leaps against Hord. Hord was then comeaft of the mast and Biorn strikes at Hord with a two-edged sword. Horddoes not however get his shield in front of himself. He then jumped
backwards over the mast-transom towards the bow, and the sword
goes so hard into the transom that it sinks in over both edge-strips.10
And when Hord sees this, that Biorn is bending forward after striking
the blow, he strikes both hard and swiftly across his shoulders cutting the man in two below his ribs with the sword Sotanaut, and thus
Biorn Blasida lost his life. And by the time this had been done, Geir
had slain every mother’s child on the ship, and Hroar had cleared one
ship together with Helgi. Sigurd had cleared one ship and the vikings
the edges to improve their cutting-power.
11
heath-cod = snake, whose solace is summer and whose sickness is winterthe saga of hord 295

fled on the fourth. Hord and his men took there a great deal of booty.
They now dressed their men’s wounds. Sigurd healed so that it wasno hindrance to him. He accompanied Hord all his life afterwards, aslong as he lived, and was considered the most valiant man. They now
sailed back to Gautland in the autumn and stayed the winter there withgood entertainment.

18
Geir now became keen to go to Iceland and asked Hord to give him
permission to leave. Hord told him to go as he wished, but still tomaintain his friendship with him. Helgi remained behind with Hord,and Sigurd too. Geir went away. It took a long time to get favourable
winds and they reached Oslofiord in the east and put up tents on shore.
Gunnhild Mother of Kings found this out and sent her men to kill Geir.
They came in the night and beat them up under the tents after letting
down the tents upon them. Geir alone got away with his weapons andbefore that was the death of nine men. He travelled until he got to
Bryniolf son of Thorbiorn and father and son got him on a ship andgave him some money. It was thought that Gunnhild had forced him tocome to Norway by her magic. She was now very annoyed that Geir
got away. Now they set out to sea.
Geir came out to Eyrar during the summer. Then Geir’s father Grim
was dead, and also his grandfather Hogni in Hagavik, but Gudrid
and Thorbiorg had kept the farm at Grimsstadir. Geir went there andstayed there the winter, but in the spring he bought land at Nedri-Botn
and moved his dwelling there and it was very profitable. Gudrid andThorbiorg moved there.

19
Indridi son of Thorvald and Thorgrima Smith-woman set up a farm inlower Skorradal where it is now called Indridastadir, but his motherThorgrima had been living at that time at Hvamm, while his father
Thorvald was dead.
(because they hibernate in winter).
12
Presumably an error for Hord.
13
I.e. fight a battle so that wolves may get carrion.

296

the saga of hordThat summer, the first that Geir lived at Botn, a man came out who
was called Orm, at Vikarsskeid by Thiorsa. Their ship was wrecked
and all the goods were lost. There were fifteen men on the ship andthey found no lodging. Orm had been two winters earlier at Hvita andhad had lodgings with Indridi, and now Indridi rode from the northin a party of three to see Orm and said he could not accept his being
unprovided for. He invited him home with him and all his crew. Orm
accepted this and thanked him for the offer.
They all rode from the south past Bakkarholt, over Grafning andBildsfell and so past Ulfliotsvatn and from there to Olfusvatn and got
there at dusk. Grimkel greeted them but did not invite them in. Then
Indridi asked for the hand of Grimkel’s daughter Thorbiorg.
‘You, farmer, know of my origin and also of my circumstances. I
would like to know your answer immediately.’
Grimkel said, ‘We cannot do that on the spur of the moment, andthis cannot be arranged so quickly.’
There were no invitations to them forthcoming from him. Indridi
rode to Hagavik in the evening. And when they were ridden off, thelady Sigrid said to Grimkel:‘Your attitude is very strange, not to give your daughter in marriage
to Indridi, who seems to us to be the most remarkable man, and send
after them, and do not sit in the way of your honour and that of yourdaughter.’
Grimkel said, ‘Let us do as you wish.’Then men were sent after them to Hagavik. They rode back with themessengers. Grimkel now received them very well. They now discussed
the affair and it was decided that Indridi shall marry Thorbiorg and shallget with her forty hundreds, and the wedding was to be straight away
at Olfusvatn. Indridi himself was to be responsible for how pleased
those who were not present might be.
Indridi left his companions behind there and went in a party of three
and went to fetch Thorbiorg from her home in Botn. He went over
Iorukleif and so to Grimsstadir and from there over Botnsheid andso to Botn. Geir was not at home. Many people said that Geir musthave wanted to marry Thorbiorg, but still she did not say anything in
opposition to these arrangements nor to going with Indridi. They now
travel until they get to Olfusvatn. Preparations have then been madefor the wedding.

the saga of hord 297

Grimkel went to Thorgerd Horgabrud’s temple and was going to
make a pronouncement about Thorbiorg’s marriage, but when he cameinto the temple the gods were all in a great commotion and were getting
ready to leave their pedestals. Grimkel said:‘What’s the meaning of this and where are you off to, and where
will you now direct good fortune?’Thorgerd said, ‘We shall not direct good fortune to Hord, since hehas plundered my brother Soti of that fine gold ring of his and donemuch other disgrace to him. I will though instead direct good fortune
towards Thorbiorg, and such a great light shines above her that I am
afraid that it will cause a separation between us. But you will have
only a short time to live.’He then went away and was very angry with the gods. He went home
for fire and burned up the temple and all the gods and said they should
never again tell him grievous tidings. And in the evening when people
were sitting at table, Grimkel Godi suddenly dropped dead and he wasburied south of the farmyard.
All the property came into the keeping of Indridi and Illugi, because
Hord was not here in this country. Indridi wanted to have nothing to dowith looking after Grimkel’s property except for Thorbiorg’s dowry.
Illugi took over the management straight away that autumn, but inthe spring the property was divided with Sigrid and she had land at
Olfusvatn and was considered a good mistress.

20
A few winters later Hord son of Grimkel came out to Eyrar and hiswife Helga and Sigurd Torfi’s foster-brother, Helgi Sigmund’s sonand thirty people. Hord was now thirty years of age. He had then been
abroad fifteen years together and become well off for both wealth andhonour. Illugi the Red from Holm came to the ship and invited Hord tostay and all his men and went himself to meet them and treated themin the most honourable way. Hord received this well and thought it
was a princely offer. Hord went to Illugi’s with twenty-five men andthey were served beer all winter with the greatest splendour, and Hordwas very pleased. Illugi offered him all his own property which he hadtaken into his care. Hord said he preferred to claim his property fromhis kinsman Torfi and said he would go to see him.
Then he went in a party of twelve men and came to Breidabolstad

298

the saga of hordand saw Torfi and claimed his property. Torfi said he was not sure about
this claim, ‘because I am not obliged to hand over the property to you
if you turn out a worse man than your father.’
Hord said that had hardly been put to the test yet, but said he would
pursue his claim on the property. Then Hord rode away and told Illugi,
when he got back. Illugi told Hord to give way.
‘And I feel sure that then things will be better between you, for Torfi
is a clever and cruel-minded man.’
Hord said that was the last thing he would do.
‘He has always treated us badly, and never well. I will go straightaway and get men together.’
Hord rode and gathered men from round Akraness, and Illugi gathered them from below and from the west, round Heynes and Gardar
to Fellsoxl, and round Klafastadir, and Hord west of Kuludalsa. Theyrode up over Midfell and so to Breidabolstad.
Torfi was outside and welcomed them. Illugi tried for a settlement
and said it was essential for them to be reconciled, such closely-­related
people. Torfi said it was more than likely that Hord was in the right.
‘He will surely become a man of consequence,’ he says. ‘He has
responded much more quickly. I will grant him terms and make landavailable to him here. I will hand over to him here with the land thirty
cows and thirty farm-hands. I will provide everything for the farm thisyear. I want to know what sort of man he will turn out to be. He shallbe responsible for all the property he takes over, both land and stock.’
Illugi said this was a good offer, and Hord accepted it and they werereconciled on these terms. Hord moved there in the spring and Illugi
handed over to him all his property. Hord’s farm was profitable. He
kept open house for travellers. No one tried anything on with Hord,and he did not interfere with others. He lived there two years.

21
There was a man called Aud. He lived at Audsstadir opposite Uppsalir
or a little lower down, an odd man and wealthy, of an insignificant
family and yet somewhat quarrelsome. His son was called Sigurd. He
had mares, dark piebald in colour, two of them. He was proud of thesethe saga of hord 299

horses. Illugi the Red had given Hord a stud of horses, five in all, when
he left Holm, all of them black in colour. Aud’s piebald mares began toconsort with these and they ran away from their pastures. Hord said hethought it a pity that Aud had too little benefit from his horses. Hord did
not have a very good relationship with Torfi. People did not contend
much with Hord, and he was always on good terms with people. Torfi
was then living at Uppsalir. He had a godord and was thought awkwardand difficult to deal with. A second summer it went the same way, that
Aud’s horses went away from him and to Hord’s horses. Hord ordered
his horses to be taken over the mountain so that Aud’s mares should
not find them. This was done, yet still Aud’s mares found the horses.
It happened during the mowing of the meadows that Sigurd son of
Aud came back from the stud and had not been able to catch his horses.
Then Hord sent Helgi son of Sigmund to give him help. Helgi went
with Sigurd and was in a bad temper and said Aud was the entire causeof these troubles and difficulties. And when he gets to the horses, hesees that the boy had injured the stallion. Then he said:‘You have the makings of a wicked man, and you are not going toruin many good animals from now on.’
Then he killed the boy. A little while later Hord came up and said:‘You are a wicked man, to have killed one who was only a young
person, and moreover without cause. It would be fitting for me to killyou. I do not now feel like doing that, though it would be better for
you not to live after such an evil deed. This will be the beginning ofyour ruin. It has now come about, what I had a feeling would happen,
and it is very likely that it will somehow turn out to cause the deathof both of us and of many others, along with the other things that will
happen and that must be foreordained.’
Hord then threw a cloak over the body and after that first of allwent home, and a little later Hord went to Audsstadir, and when Hord
went from the western side into the enclosure, then Aud went fromthe northern side into the enclosure, and when they met, Hord said:‘This has turned out badly, and yet against my will, that your son
was killed. I will now give you self-judgement and demonstrate that I
believe this has happened most unfortunately and pay out all the money
directly, and most people will reckon that you can hardly expect a better
outcome to the case as it now stands.’
Aud replies, ‘I have just been to see my friend Torfi and delegated the300

the saga of hordcase to him, and he has promised me to pursue it to the fullest extent
of the law, and indeed I could easily have foreseen that you people ofBreidabol would suffer a harsh fall.’
Hord said, ‘That was very wrong of you to cause trouble between
me and Torfi, and you shall now pay for it.’
Then he drew the sword Sotanaut and cut Aud apart in two pieces
and his workman. Hord had then become so angry that he burned thefarm and all the farm buildings and two women who refused to leave.
And when Torfi learned of this he said that no one before had daredto do such a thing, ‘to carry out such unparalleled wickedness against
my friends, and yet it is not easy to rid oneself of Hord.’
And when he heard that Hord was not at home he set out to Breidabolstad on a summons and referred the cases to the Althing. Afterthat he went home. And when Hord learned this, he sent Helgi south
to his brother-in-law Indridi and asked him to ride to the assembly andrespond to his cases and to offer terms. He said he could not bring himself to offer any terms himself because of his enmity with Torfi. Helgi
went and saw Indridi and told him what Hord had said. Indridi replies:‘I have promised Illugi the Red to go to the Kialarness Assembly,
but I will invite Hord to stay here with me.’Helgi replies, ‘There is less need for you to go to the Kialarness Assembly than to represent such a brave fellow as your brother-in-law,and you must be just a coward.’
Thorbiorg said, ‘It would have been some help if a reliable man had
come with the message, but now maybe nothing will come of it. This
misfortune has also come about because of you.’
Helgi went back and did not tell Hord about Indridi’s invitation, but
said that he was not willing to give him any help. He was not very
pleased with this and uttered a verse:
My brother-in-law proved unreliable to me in lawsuits,
and so is he to other wave-fire-junipers [men].
The useless heir of Thorgrima decided instead to stay at home.
Weapon-wielder [warrior, Indridi] is harsh to us,
and will be worse later.
And when people came to the assembly and the courts went into ­session,then Torfi asked if anyone was willing to bring forward compensation
on behalf of Hord.

the saga of hord 301‘I shall,’ says he, ‘accept compensation if anyone is willing to offer
it, but I am not inclined to let this case drop under my feet.’
There were no responses forthcoming and Hord was outlawed andHelgi too. And when Hord heard of his outlawry, he uttered a verse:
Great gold-ring keeper [man, Torfi] also managed indeed
at the Althing to make estuary-fire-cultivator [man, Hord]outlaw throughout sword-trees’ households
in heath-cod’s solace and snake’s sickness.11
This occasions us no fear.
He and Torfi did not meet for the time being.

22
A little later Hord went with all his people to his foster-brother Geir’s.
Hord first burned all the buildings on the farm and also the hay; he said
Torfi should gain little wealth from them. Some people say that Hord
had been living at Uppsalir at this time and Torfi at Breidabolstad. Hord
was sixteen and twenty years old when he fell into outlawry and went
to Botn. All his household went with him and his followers and set
up a garrison there. There was one day that Torfi12 uttered this verse:
Certainly Torfi, scornful land-ownerwill believe he can ride up to Botn against men.
Flingers of fire-red Nile sand [gold] will, I guess, offer­resistance.
I believe that thanes will give sustenance to the wolf13
if an equal number of targe-trees [warriors]
can be present here inside.
It was a drain on their resources that year, because supplies were lessthan they needed, and Geir did not look after the farm work as well
as before. They then got through the livestock, so that the following
summer the animals scarcely fed the people. The next autumn all the14
It may be that these words are supposed to be spoken by Geir rather thanby Hord. Otherwise Hord is distinguishing open plunder from furtive theft.

302

the saga of hord

livestock were entirely slaughtered except for just a few cows.
And one morning during the winter before Yule, Geir touched Helgion the legs. He got up straight away and they went over the ridge to
Vatnshorn in Skorradal. The farmer was not at home. He was at a
wedding at Lund in Reykiardal at Koll’s. Geir said:‘Now we shall have to get supplies for the farm as best we can, andyou must do one or the other: keep watch or go into the cowshed.’
Helgi chose to keep watch. Geir then went into the cowshed anduntied the cattle. There were two men in a hay-store playing a boardgame, and there was a light burning there. Then one of them said:‘Are the cattle loose in the cowshed?’
The other said it must be the women’s fault and they had not tiedthe cattle up. Now one of them went out to the doorway, and when
Geir saw this he leapt at him and killed him, and when the one who
had gone first was a long time, the other went, and when he got to thedoorway of the barn he met the same fate as the first. Geir killed this
one too. Then they led off a seven-year-old ox.
And when they got back to Botn, Hord was very displeased and said
he would leave if they were going to steal.
‘It seems to me,’ he said, ‘much better to go raiding if there is noother way to survive.’14
Geir told him not to part from him for this reason.
‘You alone shall make all our decisions.’
And so it was, that Hord did not go away.
But when women came to the cowshed at Vatnshorn, they thought itstrange that all the cattle were loose. They thought the herdsmen must
be asleep. They tied up the cattle, but when they got to the entrance tothe barn, they found them there dead. Then word was sent to the farmer.
He came back home. There was a great deal of talk about this thing.
Hord would not let the ox be used until a man had been sent toVatnshorn to tell the truth about Geir’s expedition. Some people also
say that Hord must have compensated the farmer at Vatnshorn for his
men and ox, and so he would not have brought a charge for the caseafterwards.

The nature of this game is unknown.
There is a discrepancy in the numbers. It presumably ought to be twelve
in both groups.
15
16

the saga of hord 303

23
Kolgrim the Old, son of Hersir Alf of Trøndelag, was living at Ferstikla at this time. He was a settler. His son was Thorhall, father ofKolgrim, father of Stein, father of Kvist, father of Kali. Kolgrim
sent word to the Botn-dwellers that they should hold ball-games andscraper-games15 with each other on Sand. They accepted. Now thegames were begun and they continued over Yule. The Botn-dwellers
generally got the worst of it, for Kolgrim contrived it that the men ofStrond were stronger in the games. The Botn-dwellers used up a lotof hide for their shoes, having to walk frequently; then the ox-hide
was cut up for footwear. People thought that Kolgrim had wanted tofind out about the disappearance of the ox and that was why he had
set up the games. He thought he recognised the ox-hide on their feet.
They were then called Ox-men. Again they were treated roughly in
the game. They then talked about it, when they got home, that they
thought they had been treated roughly, and said they would soon giveup the games. Hord spoke harshly to them and said they were not half
cowards if they didn’t dare to avenge themselves.
‘And you are,’ he says, ‘only ready for evil deeds.’
At this time there had come to Hord these two, Thord Cat and Thorgeir Gyrdilskeggi (belt-beard), an outlaw. Now Hord had horn-scrapers
made for himself during the night. Then they were all ready to go to thegame if Hord was going, though before they had been rather reluctant.
Onund son of Thormod of Brekka was set against Hord, a popular man
and of great strength. This game was very rough, and before evening
came there lay dead of the Strond-dwellers six men, but none of the
Botn-dwellers. Now both sides went home. Onund was accompaniedby all those who lived further out than Strond. And when they got toa little way in from Brekka, then Onund told them to go on ahead.
‘And I am going,’ he says, ‘to tie up my shoe.’
They did not want to leave him. He sat down, and rather heavily.
Then he died and is buried there. It is now called Onund’s hillock.
These cases were not prosecuted against Hord or his men.
At this time Thorstein Gullknapp (gold-button) lived at Thyril, mali­
1718

Kati, in English ‘cat’, was a kind of small boat.
I.e. he was panic-stunned (literally, a war-fetter came over him).

304

the saga of hordcious and underhanded, crafty and well off, but Thorvald Blaskegg(dark-beard) lived at Sand, a worthy farmer and an important man.
24
There was a man called Ref, son of Thorstein, son of Solmund, son of
Thorolf Smior (butter). He lived at Stykkisvoll in Bryniudal. He was apowerful godords-man and a strapping fellow. Later on he was known
as Ref the Old. His mother was called Thorbiorg Katla. She lived at
Hrisar. She had great skill in magic and was the greatest sorceress.
Ref’s brother was called Kiartan. He lived at Thorbrandsstadir, a big
man and strong and with a nasty character, an unfair man in everything.
As a result he was terribly unpopular with the generality of ­people.
There was a man called Orm, son of Hvamm-Thorir, a ­popular man
and a great smith. All these men were hostile to the Botn-­dwellers.
Hord and his men got news from the assembly in the summer that
there were men planning to gather together and kill them, and theyrealised that as the livestock had been slaughtered, they would now
need to go raiding. Geir told them to build a fortification and said theywould not easily be attacked. Hord said he thought they would havetheir food supplies cut off.
‘And I would rather have us go to the holm which lies here offshore
in Hvalfiord opposite Blaskeggsaros beyond Dogurdarnes. This holm
has sheer cliffs down to the sea and is as wide as a great cattle-pen.’
There they went during the assembly with everything they had. They
took a great ferry from Saurbæ from Thorstein Oxnabrodd to assist
them, and a six-oared boat from Thormod of Brekka, and a four-oared
seal-boat from Thorvald Blaskegg. They made themselves a great
long-house, and one end faced north-east and the other south-west,
and there were doors in the middle of the long-house walls on thewestern side. The long-house stood right on the southern cliff-edge,
but one could pass to the north between the cliff and the doorway thatwas in the gable-wall. Only from the north was it approachable, but
to the west of the long-house were concealed ditches. It was their law
that everyone should be thrown over the cliff if they could not get up
for more than three nights. All were bound to go wherever Hord decided, or Geir, if they themselves were with them. Tasks were sharedout between them. All the buildings had their timbers taken down

the saga of hord 305

at Botn and were transported out to Holm. This holm is now called
Geirsholm. It took its name from Geir son of Grim. A hundred andeighty people were on Holm when they were at their maximum andnever fewer than in the seventies when they were at their minimum.
These have been named: Hord and his wife Helga, the earl’s daughter, their son Grimkel, and Biorn (he was two winters old), Geir andSigurd Torfi’s foster-brother, son of Gunnhild, Helgi son of Sigmund,Thord Cat and Thorgeir Gyrdilskeggi (he was one of the worst of all
the Holm-dwellers for suggesting criminal deeds and kept urging all
kinds of outrages). Nearly all the doubtful characters found their way
there and swore oaths to Hord and Geir to be loyal and true to themand to each other. Thorgeir Gyrdilskeggi and Sigurd Torfi’s fosterbrother transported water from Blaskeggsa in a group of twelve men
and filled the seal-boat with water and poured it into the pool that wasout on Holm. So time passed for a while.

25
Thorbiorg Katla boasted of this, that she said the Holm-dwellers
would never do her any harm, she had such great faith in her magic.
And when they heard of this on Holm, Geir said he wanted to put it to
the test and set out in a party of twelve men after the assembly. Thord
Cat went with him. And when they got to the valley they saw that the
animals had wandered north over the mountain that stands between
Bryniudal and Botn. Geir had two men look after the ferry. Thord Cat
stayed on the ridge and kept guard. And when Thorbiorg Katla cameout, she became aware by her magic and second sight that a ship wascome from Holm. She then fetched her head-scarf and waved it up
over her head. Then a great darkness came over Geir and his men. She
then sent word to her son Ref that he should gather men together. Theycame to be fifteen in all and they came upon Thord Cat unexpectedly
in the darkness and captured him and killed him, and he is buried on
the lower part of Cat’s Head. Geir and his men got to the sea. Thenthe darkness lifted and they saw them clearly, and Ref and his men
attacked and fought. All the men were killed who were with Geir, andthree of Ref’s party. Geir got onto the ship and so to Holm and wasbadly wounded. Hord mocked his expedition a great deal and said

306

the saga of hord

Katla had still not come to grips with them. Helga was a good healer
and she made Geir completely better. The men on Holm were in greatfear at all this.
And when Geir’s wounds were dressed, Hord went aboard the ship ina party of twelve and went straight in to Bryniudal and said he wanted
to put Katla to the test again. Two guarded the ship and ten went to findthe animals. Katla again shook her scarf and sent word to Ref and said
it would now be worth meeting the Holm-dwellers, ‘when their leader
is now the man with fine hair who thinks himself the greatest hero.’
Ref came in a party of six. Hord’s sight was not obscured by Katla’s
magic and they carried on as they had planned and slaughtered animals
onto their ship until they had fully loaded it, while Ref and his men
looked on. Afterwards they transported it out to Holm, and thus theyparted.

26
And when it was nearly the end of summer, Hord went in a party oftwenty-four to Saurbæ, because Thorstein Oxnabrodd had boasted ofthis, that his nurse Skroppa, who was skilled in witchcraft, would be
able to see to it by her magic that no harm should come to him fromthe Holm-dwellers. And when they came to land, seven guarded theship in the water, and seventeen went ashore. They saw a great bullon the gravel bank above the boat-shed. They wanted to have a go athim, but Hord was against it. Two men from Hord’s party went towards
the bull and followed their own counsel. The bull brought its horns
against each of them in turn; one of them aimed at its side, the otherat its head. Each of their spears flew back and at their breast, and they
were both killed. Hord said:‘Follow my advice, because not everything here is as it seems.’
Now they reached the farm. Skroppa was at home and the farmer’s
daughters, Helga and Sigrid, but Thorstein was in a shieling in
Kuvallar­dal. This is in Svinadal. She opened all the buildings. She
created an illusion, for where they sat on the platform there seemedto them to be three boxes. Hord’s men talked about wanting to break
open the boxes. Hord forbade it. Then they went north from the yard
and were going to see if they could find some animals. Now they saw

the saga of hord 307

where a young sow was running with two piglets north out of the yard.
They got in front of her. Then they seemed to see a great crowd of men
coming against them with spears and full armour, and now the sow
was to the north of them shaking its ears with its piglets. Geir said:‘Let’s go to the ship. We shall be up against odds here.’
Hord said it would be better not to run so soon without having a go.
Just then Hord took up a great stone and struck the sow to death, andwhen they went up they saw that it was Skroppa lying there dead, andthe farmer’s daughters were standing upright over her, where it had
looked like piglets. Now they saw, as soon as Skroppa was dead, that
it was a herd of cattle that was coming towards them, and not men.
They drove these same animals to the ship and slaughtered them andloaded the ferry with meat. Geir forced Sigrid to go away with him
and afterwards they went out to Holm. Skroppa was buried in from
Saurbæ, between it and Ferstikla, in Skroppa’s Gill.
Thorstein Gullknapp was left in peace by the Holm-dwellers,
because they had come to terms secretly that he should transport all
vagabonds to Holm and keep them informed of all the schemes of thepeople of the mainland. He had sworn them oaths to fulfil all this andnot to betray them in anything, and they had promised him not to do
any raiding there.

27
During the winter before Yule twelve of them in all went to Hvamm to
Orm’s at night-time. Orm was not at home. He was gone somewhereon business. He had a slave called Bolli who always looked after thefarm when Orm was not at home. They broke into the storehouse andtook out goods and food. They took Orm’s chest that had his valuables
in and went off with it all. Bolli felt it had gone badly for him when nowatch had been kept over the storehouse. He declared he would get thechest off the Holm-dwellers or die in the attempt and told them to tell
the farmer that he should be in a party of eighteen at the boat-shed thefourth night from then and should not let himself be heard.
Now Bolli got himself ready. He wore tattered shoes and a simple
hooded cloak. He stayed the first night in Bryniudal, but not at anyof the farms. He came to Thorstein Gullknapp’s and said his name308

the saga of hord

was Thorbiorn, said he was an outlaw and said he wanted to go out to
Hord and join his band. Thorstein Gullknapp took him out to Holm,and when Hord and Geir saw the fellow, he did not strike them bothin the same way. Geir thought it was a good idea to take him on, but
Hord said he thought he was a spy. Geir prevailed, however, andhe swore them oaths before they took him on. He told them a great
deal about the mainland but said he was tired. He lay down and slept
through the day. Geir and his men could not get the chest open andasked Thorbiorn how he suggested they should go about it. Thorbiorn
said there was no problem.
‘There is nothing in it,’ he said, ‘except the farmer’s workshop tools.’
He said that Orm felt the only real loss he had suffered in the Holmdwellers’ raid was that his tool-chest had gone.
‘And I was then,’ he says, ‘at Mosfell when the raid was reported. I
shall take him his chest, if you like.’
Geir thought there was little advantage to be had from the chest, since
there was nothing in it but only tools. Two nights Thorbiorn stayed
there trying to persuade them to let the chest go. Hord was not keen to
accept any advice of Thorbiorn’s, saying it would turn out badly. Geirwould have his way, however, and six of them in all went during thenight to Orm’s boat-shed. They carried the chest ashore and up into theboat-shed and placed it under the side of the hull of Orm’s ship. Then
Thorbiorn called out that they were to stand up and take the thieves.
Then they leapt up, those that had been waiting there, and attacked
them. Geir then took hold of the stub of an oar and struck out on bothsides, and thus defended himself very bravely. Geir then reached his
ship. Four of Geir’s men were lost. Orm took a ferry and rowed after
Geir. Back on Holm, Hord suddenly spoke:‘It is more than likely that Geir is in need of men, and I am not sure
how this Thorbiorn has proved for him.’
Then he took a ship and rows in along the fiord. He comes upon thechase between Orm and Geir. Then Orm soon turned back and to theshore. Geir went out to Holm with Hord.
Afterwards Orm gave Bolli freedom and land at Bollastadir and all
he needed to set up a farm. He lived there afterwards and became awealthy man and fearless.

the saga of hord 309

28
After the assembly in the summer Hord and Geir went in a party oftwenty-four men on a ferry one evening and landed in Sialfkviar, infront of the entrance to Holm. They left six to guard the ship, andeighteen went ashore. They drove animals from Akrafell. Hord saw
that a man was coming out at Holm in shirt and linen breeches. It wasat dawn. Hord recognised this as Illugi, for he was the keenest-sighted
of all men. Now Illugi noticed what they were doing and immediately
sent men to Gard[ar] and to Heyness and also to Kuvallara to gather
men. He did not move to attack them until he had thirty men. And
when Hord sees the gathering of men, he told Geir to choose which hepreferred, to slaughter the animals and cut them up and load the shipor to keep off Illugi and his men so that they couldn’t get to them. Geirsaid he would rather cut up the animals than deal with Illugi. Hord said:‘Now you have made the choice that I much prefer. I am also moreused to this. I will keep them off in a group of twelve men, and wemust always stay the same number, but you will be the fewer cutting
up the animals as any of us fall.’Thus they were fourteen who were cutting up the animals.16 Now
began the attack between Hord and Illugi. It was extraordinary how
bravely Hord defended the sheep-pens, for Illugi’s party attacked hard.
Men were continually coming to reinforce Illugi’s party, so that in theend they became altogether forty men, but Hord’s group were twelve
in all. His men now had been badly wounded, for the difference in
numbers was great. Sigurd Torfi’s foster-brother put up a valiant show,
as he always did. Helgi son of Sigmund also defended himself like aman. Thorgeir Gyrdilskeggi loaded the ferry. Geir was not backwardin slaughtering the animals and then cutting them up. Nine fell of
Hord’s party before the ferry was loaded, and when they went aboard
the ship, the others attacked hard, the men of the mainland, and thensix of Hord’s party fell before they could take cover behind the side of
the ship. Hord was wounded by a double axe; everyone was woundedin some way.
Illugi then had ships got together, although Hord and his men had
disabled all the large ships. A north-east wind was blowing against
Hord’s party. They bound their wounds and rowed along the northerly shore past Kataness and Kalmansarvik. They laid the cargo ona skerry, for the weather was pushing them back. Geir insisted upon

310

the saga of hordstaying there and one man with him, but Hord thought it foolishness
to risk themselves there. Hord held the ferry in down the fiord. Thenthey rested, for they had worked hard even though they were tough.
Illugi’s party pursued Hord’s hard, and they were coming round theness. Then Hord gave the ness a name and called it Kataness, because hethought there were a lot of cats17 going past it. As soon as Illugi’s party
came up with them, they immediately attacked them. Then Hord said:‘You are pursuing hard, brother-in-law, and I had a premonition ofthis long ago, which now has been fulfilled.’
Illugi said, ‘You have also done much to deserve it.’
Then a hard attack took place. Hord defended one side of the ferry,and six the other side. A little later Holm-dwellers arrived on three
ships and immediately leapt onto the ferry. Then Illugi retreats, andthey chase him out along the fiord.
There was a man called Brand, son of Thorbiorn Koll (top) fromunder Midfell. He went at Geir on the skerry and fought with him andkilled the one who was with him. Geir defended himself well, but
Brand was in a party of seven. Then Hord came up at that moment andsaid Geir had fared not much differently from what he had expected.
Then Brand fled. They made after him and killed him (it is now called
Brand’s Flats in from the skerry, that is east of Kalmansa) and five othermen, but the sixth got away. But Hord and Geir took all the booty toHolm. Hord then uttered a verse:
Flood-moon-trees [men] fifteen had Illugi the Red felled ­before.
Homestead-Tyr [man, Illugi] was reluctant to make peace.
Rather well did fierce-minded Geir repay that onslaught.
Now have fallen of gold-giver [Illugi]
just as many wolf-feeders [warriors].
Now the summer came to an end.

29the saga of hord 311

The next winter, after Yule, Hord and Geir and forty men went up
Alptarskard and so into Svinadal and from there into Skorradal andlay hidden during the day, but went down to some sheep-sheds during
the night and drove away from there in the morning eighty wethers
that Indridi had up along Vatn. Then there came a heavy snowfall
and a storm caused by witchcraft against them. Then the bell-wethers
became exhausted, when they got close to the mountain, and Geir andthe men wanted to leave the sheep behind, but Hord said that would
be unmanly, just because there were a few flurries of snow or a bit ofdamp weather against them. Hord then took the bell-wethers, one witheach hand, and so dragged them on over the mountain. This made adeep track. They drove along it the rest of the animals. Thus it has beencalled Geldingadragi (wether-drag) there since. And when they got
into Svinadal, there was no snow there. They went then to their shipand slaughtered the animals there. This has since been called Gorvik(gore-bay) there. They now go out to Holm. Now the winter went by.
In the springtime Hord and Geir and Sigurd Torfi’s foster-brother,Helgi and Thorgeir Gyrdilskeggi went with sixty fighting men. They
went north over Alptarskard to Indridastadir and lay hid there in thewoods until cattle were being driven to pasture. The one who was guiding the cattle was called Svart, and a small boy with him. Hord and his
party went to the cattle and drove them west of Vatn. Svart also kept
with them. They went over Geldingadragi into Svinadal. There they
killed Svart. Then they went to sleep up there in the valley. The boy
guided the cattle back while they slept. Hord woke up and watchedfrom beneath his shield. He let the boy go on his way and said to him:
‘Go now, boy, for I would rather my sister had it than the Holmdwellers.’
The boy came home and told Thorbiorg what Hord had said and said
it was a great shame about such a man.
‘And he was kind to me, but his men killed Svart.’
She made no reply to the boy. So it is now called Kuhallardal (cowturn-valley), because there the cattle turned from them. Geir awoke andwanted to go after the cattle, but Hord said they should not. Then theycollected together the farmers’ swine from Svinadal and drove themdown onto the sand and slaughtered the swine there and put them on
the ship. It is now called Svinasand there. Then they went out to Holm.

312

the saga of hord30
During the Althing in the summer the Holm-dwellers went in to Dogurdarness. They went along Sildamannagata to Hvamm in Skorra­dal
and took Thorgrima Smith-woman’s oxen by Skorradal lake to thesouth and drove them south onto the ridge. One was a dapple-grey ox.
It sniffed around a lot. It ran back towards them, and then one after
another did the same, and out into the lake and they swam across where
it was narrowest and then walked back to Hvamm. Then Hord said:‘There is power in Thorgrima’s magic when cattle cannot do what
they want.’
Thorgrima had been asleep and awoke sooner than expected andlooked out. She saw the wet oxen and then said:‘You’ve had a hard time, but those fellows did not hold on very tight.’
Hord now asked his friends whether they did not now want to change
their way of life and activities.
‘It seems to me,’ he says, ‘that our situation is rather poor as it is,when we have only what we get by raiding to live on.’
They said it was up to him.
‘Then I would like,’ he says, ‘us to go to merchants in Hvita and givethem two hard choices, that they give up the ship to us or otherwise
we shall kill them.’
Geir said he was quite ready to do this.
‘But first I want us to burn in their houses Torfi son of Valbrand andKoll at Lund, Kolgrim the Old, Indridi and Illugi.’
Hord said, ‘Less than that of your great plans will be fulfilled, and
it is more likely that we shall all be killed, because people are not going to put up with all the unfairness with which we are treating them.’
There were more who were against going to the ship, but were infavour of crimes, with the exception of Sigurd Torfi’s foster-brother.
Hord said:‘ “That will have to come to pass which is fated”, and the situationis that nothing can be done about it. But it is much more against mynature to be stuck in these crimes any longer.’
They went back to Holm the same night and stayed there three weeks.
Then they went to the mainland, eighty men. Hord then said he waswilling for them to burn Illugi or Indridi in their house.
‘Since they have continually,’ he says, ‘been against me, and neveron my side, such great troubles as I have been in.’the saga of hord 313

They went during the night into Svinadal and lay there in the woods
during the day, and the second night they went into Skorradal and hid
there.

31
The same night that Hord left Holm, Thorbiorg dreamed at Indridastadir that eighty wolves were running to the farm there and flames wereburning from their mouths and one among them was a white bear, andit seemed rather sad, and they stayed a while at the farm and afterwards
ran west from the yard to a little hill and lay down there. And Indridi
said this represented the feelings of the Holm-dwellers towards him.
Thorbiorg said she thought that it must be they themselves and thatthey were coming soon. She told Indridi to channel a well-stream tothe house and to cover it over, for she claimed to dream true. This was
now done. Thorbiorg had great chimneys built. She had valuables put
up on the crossbeams because water was up to the middle of the walls.
She had no small number of men there ready.
Soon after, Hord and his men came. He went up to the doorway andwas ahead of his band. He knocked at the entrance. Thorbiorg went
to the door and greeted Hord in friendly fashion and invited him tostay and his special friends. She tried to make him leave that band ofhooligans and said that there were many who would then be on his
side. Hord asked her to come out into the open to him and said shewould be welcome to be with him if she separated from Indridi. She
said that would be less right and declared she would not separate fromhim. Then they dragged a pile of wood to the doorway and set fire to
the farm, but they fought it off with water, the people inside. The attack
made little progress. Geir was surprised at this. Hord said:‘I expect it is my sister who has suggested this water supply.’
They went to look and found the stream and channelled it away,
but yet there was enough water in the farm, so much had already run
in. Hord saw a man standing up in one of the chimneys and holding abow. Hord shot the man with a javelin and killed him. After this Hordsaw a troop approaching the farm that Thorbiorg had sent for. Geirsaid they would now have to withdraw. Hord was not against it. They
then turned away. None of the buildings there was destroyed. A large
number of men came to Indridastadir. The Holm-dwellers went home314

the saga of hordand did nothing for a while.

32
Farmers held a meeting at Leidvoll near Laxa by Grunnafiord so as
to put an end to the Holm-dwellers being allowed to continue all thecrimes that they were committing. All the local leaders were sent wordthat they were to come to this meeting, and all the farmers and workers.
And when Indridi was getting ready to go to the meeting, Thorbiorg
asked where he was planning to go. He told her.
‘Then I shall go with you,’ she says, ‘for you must know that I shallbe true to you.’
He did not want her to go to the meeting, and said it would be no
fun for her to hear what was said there. She said she was aware of that.
Then Indridi rode to the meeting.
A little later Thorbiorg had a horse saddled for herself and went
with one other person to the meeting. There was there a large crowdof people and a lot of shouting, but when she came they were as if
struck dumb and they were all silent. Then she said:‘I think I know what you are up to and your intention, and I shall nothide from you what I have in mind, that I shall be the death or have it
brought about of any man who kills my brother Hord.’
Then she rode away. At this assembly were Torfi son of Valbrand,
Koll from Lund, Indridi, Illugi, Kolgrim, Ref and Thorstein Oxnabrodd
and Orm of Hvamm and many other local leaders. Then Torfi said:‘It is obvious to the people who are present here, and everyone canbe in agreement about it, that these criminals should be put to death,otherwise first those who are closest by will be robbed of everything,
and then all the other local people. You can see that they will notspare others, when Hord has tried to burn his brother-in-law’s family
in their house. Let us quickly adopt some good plan so that no newsof it reaches them. This is for everyone the most urgent thing to do.’Illugi said they were the source of too many crimes for things to
be allowed to stand, declared that there had joined the band the mostevil people.
‘I shall pay no regard to any relationships in this. We have found out
about them, that they were planning the same thing for us as for Indridi.’
Kolgrim said that those who were closest were feeling the greatest
cold from this, but there would not be long to wait before others hadthe saga of hord 315

the same thing on their hands, though they were placed further off.
Similar things were said by one after another. Ref said the only thing to
do was for some one to be got out to Holm who would swear oaths tothem that there would be no treachery used against them, and say that
it was the wish of all the local people that they should go away from
Holm, wherever they liked, and that they should then all be reconciledwith each other. In this it was Torfi who was the greatest proponent of
this plan, and in addition it was he who recommended that they should
immediately that night ride in to the fiord so that the Holm-dwellers
should not know about it.
‘For it seems to me,’ he said, ‘that some people on Strond are to besuspected.’
They rode immediately that night. They ate breakfast the following
morning on the ness there in the fiord which they afterwards called
Dogurdarness (breakfast ness). That same morning Thorgeir Gyrdil­
skeggi and Sigurd Torfi’s foster-brother went to fetch water in a partyof twelve on a smack. The Holm-dwellers had no idea that people
were gathering together or that there was any treachery being planned
against them.

33
But when the people on the mainland found out about Sigurd and his
companions’ expedition, they sent Koll son of Kiallak in a party oftwenty-four men, and when they met, Thorgeir Gyrdilskeggi ran off
straight away with six men, but Sigurd Torfi’s foster-brother madeready to defend himself with four men, and there was a very hard
attack. Sigurd then again defended himself very bravely, for he wasboth strong and skilful with weapons. They went on fighting until all
Sigurd’s companions were fallen, but he was then still not wounded.
Thorvald Blaskegg then attacked hard and many others. Then five of
Koll’s men were fallen. Sigurd then still defends himself superbly well.
He then kills many more men; he then, however, suffers some wounds.
Thorvald Blaskegg then went at Sigurd and thrusts through him witha spear. Sigurd had been fighting with an axe. He then threw the axe
at Thorvald, and the axe hit his head, and both fell down dead. Sigurd
had then been the death of nine men, and his companions had killed
three. Altogether there fell there at the river-forks seventeen men from316

the saga of hord

the two parties. They are now called Blaskegg’s rivers.
Thorgeir Gyrdilskeggi stopped on Arnarvatn Heath and took refuge
in a cave at Fitiar and gathered together a band of men and remained
there until the men of Borgarfiord went for them. Then Thorgeir fled
north to Strandir and was killed there, as is told in the Tale of Alfgeir.

34
Now the leading men looked around for someone who could be got togo out to the Holm, but most declined to do this. Torfi then urged thatthe person that went would gain a great deal of prestige from it, andwould be thought a greater man than before, and said it was probablethat those who were on the Holm would have forfeited their good luckbecause of their crimes. Ref’s brother Kiartan son of Katla—a very
great fighter and the fastest of men—he said he would have a go at
going if they would give him the ring Sotanaut if Hord was caught.
‘But I have in any case something to pay the Holm-dwellers back for.’
They agreed to this, and he seemed the most promising for it of those
who were there then. Then Kiartan said:‘Isn’t the most obvious thing to use Thorstein Gullknapp’s boat? He
has often done us a bad turn.’
They all thought this was a good idea, and said that this would givethe Holm-dwellers the least ground for suspicion.
Kiartan son of Katla now rowed out on Thorstein Gullknapp’s boat.
He was wearing a mail-coat under his cloak, and when he got to Holm,he told Hord that the people on the mainland wanted to make peace.
He said Illugi and his friends had played a major role in letting themgo free. Geir believed this and thought it was probably true, since hewas using Thorstein Gullknapp’s boat, for he had sworn oaths that hewould never behave treacherously towards them. Many were keen to
get away and were tired of being there and urged going with Kiartan
away from Holm. Then Hord said:‘Geir and I have very often not been of one mind, for frequently wehave seen things differently. I think it is an evil man they have chosen
for this, in the person of Kiartan, to be the bearer of such importantthe saga of hord 317

matters, such great problems depending on it for both sides. There has
also not been great friendship between us and Kiartan.’
Then he said: ‘Let’s not bring that up now, for that is not appropriate
for those who are bringing proposals of peace, but it is nothing but
the truth I am telling you, and I will swear to it if you find that moreconvincing.’
Hord said he looked to him as if his oaths would not be reliable, andthen uttered a verse:
This weapon-storm-tree [warrior, Kiartan]
who anxiously urges departure seems to me
that he cannot fail to be spying.
This wave-burning-Baldr [man, Kiartan] would never
get away unharmed, who urged this,if bow-destroyer [warrior, Hord] had his way.
Then nearly all were in favour of leaving. Some took passage forthemselves with Kiartan straight away. Hord said he would not go at all.
‘But I am quite happy for them to find out how true Kiartan will beto them. But I think,’ he says, ‘that you will be less cheerful by thelatter part of the day.’
Kiartan was the better pleased the more he took away. Many boarded
the ferry. Kiartan said they would come themselves to fetch their fellows on the next trip.
They now left Holm. The gathering of men could not be seen until
the ship came round the point. But when they had beached the ship,
the farmers penned them in with their great numbers. And when theycame ashore, they were all taken and held and sticks were twisted intheir hair and every one of them was beheaded. Then the men of themainland rejoiced that they had had so little trouble with such criminals, and they thought the prospects were now good that they would
all be defeated.

35
Kiartan went a second time out to Holm. The Holm-dwellers asked
why their comrades had not come to meet them. Kiartan said they had
been so happy at their release that they had run ashore in high spirits.

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the saga of hord

Geir believed this and accompanied Kiartan aboard with many men.
Hord was against this trip and said it would have dire consequences.
He refused to go. Helgi son of Sigmund remained behind with him
and Helga the earl’s daughter and their two sons and six other men.
Geir and the others now went away from Holm, and Hord was not at
all pleased that Geir wished to go with Kiartan. But when they rowedon round the ness, Geir saw the crowd of men on shore. He realised
then that they must have been betrayed. Then he said:‘ “Bad counsels turn out badly”, and are often seen so too late, andHord has often been closer to the mark than I. I think that once again
it will be so, and it is now most likely that here there will be an end to
all our activities, and it would be well if Hord got away, for he alone
will be a greater loss than all of us together.’
They had now very nearly reached the shore. Geir then leapt overboard into the water and swam along by the rock. There was an Easterner called Orm who was with Indridi, a man of great strength. He
could shoot better than anyone and was well equipped with all skills.
He shot a javelin after Geir and it hit him between the shoulders andit caused his death. He was greatly praised for this deed. It is called
Geir’s point where the body drifted ashore.

36
Helga the earl’s daughter was standing out on Holm and saw what happened. She told Hord and told him to look. It did not look the same toboth of them. She said it would lead to dire consequences. The men of
the mainland praised Kiartan highly and said he would prosper greatly
from these trips. They said there were not many left now. Kiartan said
he was now going to knock in the final nail by getting Hord and duping him into it also in the end. He used a six-oared boat and now goesout to Holm. Hord asked where Geir was and why he did not come tomeet him. Kiartan said he had been kept on the mainland until he came.
‘Thus peace can be made between everyone at once.’
Hord said, ‘You are taking on a great deal, Kiartan, in transporting
all of us Holm-dwellers to the mainland, and you must be getting a
big reward from the people of the mainland. I shall not go anywhere.
I have always mistrusted you, and one can never read anything fromthe saga of hord 319

a man’s appearance if you turn out well.’Kiartan said, ‘Surely you are not so much more cowardly than yourmen, that you dare not go ashore.’
Hord then leapt up and could not put up with his goading and said
he thought he would have no reason to taunt him about his courageby the time their dealings came to an end. Hord said Helga should gowith him. She said she would not go and not her sons either, and said
it had now come about, as they say, that “you cannot save a doomedman”. Helga then wept bitterly.
Hord went aboard the ship in great anger and they go now until theycome to where Geir was floating dead by a skerry. Hord then leaped
up and said to Kiartan:‘Most miserable of men, and a short time shall you have to enjoy
this treachery.’Hord then struck at him with the sword Sotanaut and clove him
lengthwise down to where his belt was, his whole body with double
mail-coat. Just then the ship ran ashore and they were all captured who
were on the ship. Indridi was the first to lay hands on Hord and tied
his arms rather tightly. Then Hord said:‘Rather hard are you tying now, brother-in-law.’
Indridi answers, ‘You taught me how to do that when you tried toburn me in my house.’
Illugi said to Indridi, ‘Yet Hord has not got good brothers-in-law,and indeed he has not deserved them.’
Indridi answers, ‘He has long ago forfeited the right for any such
relationships to be paid regard to.’He then pointed his axe forward and gave a sign that someone should
strike at Hord, but no one would do it. Hord then twisted himself roundhard and got free. He grabbed the axe from Indridi’s hand and leapt out
over the circle of men three deep. Helgi son of Sigmund got free andleapt straight after him. Ref mounted a horse and rode after them andcould not catch them. Then war-paralysis came over Hord;18 he struck
it off himself the first time and the second. A third time war-paralysis
came over him and then they managed to pen him in and made a circle round him and he again jumped out over them, first killing threemen. He took Helgi son of Sigmund on his back. Then he ran to themountain. They chased hard after him. Ref was fastest, for he was on
horseback, and he dared not attack Hord. Then came war-paralysis

320

the saga of hordagain over Hord. Then the main rout got to him. Then he threw Helgi
off his back. Then he said:‘Powerful sorcerers are involved here, but you shall not have yourwill over anything I can do something about.’
Then he cut Helgi in two in the middle and declared they were
not going to kill his foster-brother before his very eyes. It looked to­people as though Helgi was more or less dead already. Hord was thenso furious and terrible to look at that none of them dared to approachhim from the front. Torfi said that anyone who dared to strike at Hordshould have the ring Sotanaut which Hord had on his arm. Then they
made a circle round him. Then Thorstein Gullknapp arrived from hishome at Thyril. They then attacked Hord hard. He even then caused six
men’s death. Then his axe came off its shaft. At that moment Thorstein
Gullknapp struck at the nape of his neck with a long-shafted axe, fornone of them dared to go for him from the front, even though he waswithout a weapon. From this wound Hord got his death. He had thenkilled of them thirteen men including the four he killed by the ship
before he was captured. Everyone praised his valour, both his friends
and enemies, and it is considered that there has been no one of histime who has been braver in every way and wiser than Hord, though
he was not blessed with success. It was also his followers who were
responsible for this, if he got involved in such crimes, and this also,that “there is no escaping fate”.

37
The men of the mainland praised Thorstein Gullknapp for this deed
and gave him the ring Sotanaut and said they were very pleased for
him to have it. But when Thorstein heard of Thorbiorg’s pronouncement, he heartily wished he had never done the deed. Nearly sixty
men were killed of the Holm-dwellers besides the foster-brothers on
Dogurdarness. Now the leading men talked about it being advisable
to fetch Helga and kill her and Hord’s sons. Then some thought it toolate in the day. Then they made a compact about this that they should
be granted no truce nor given any help, otherwise they would all takevengeance. Thus it was laid down with great emphasis. They planned
to go out in the morning, but stayed there during the night.

the saga of hord 321

38
Helga remains now on the island and feels certain now of all the tricks
and treachery of the people of the mainland. She now considers her
position. What she now decides to do is that she throws herself into thewater and swims ashore from the Holm during the night and carried
with her her four-year-old son Biorn to Blaskeggsa, and then went tomeet her eight-year-old son Grimkel, for his swimming was then getting
weak, and carried him ashore. This is now called Helga’s sound. They
went during the night up onto the mountain from Thyril and rested in
the ravine which is now called Helga’s ravine. She carried Biorn on
her back, but Grimkel walked.
They go on until they and she come to Indridastadir. She then sat
down out under the enclosure wall and sent Grimkel to the house tobeg Thorbiorg for sanctuary. Thorbiorg was sitting on the platform
when the boy came in. He asked her for sanctuary, and she stood up
and took him by the hand and went out with him and asked who hewas. He told her. She asked what had happened and where Helga was.
Grimkel told what he knew and took her to Helga. Thorbiorg thencould not speak, she was so overcome. She took them to an outhouseand locked them in there.
Late that day Indridi came and a lot of men in his party. There wasno sign that anything was wrong with Thorbiorg, and she served foodto the guests. But when they told her the news and that it was Thorstein
Gullknapp who had killed Hord and attacked him from the rear while
he had stood before him motionless, then Thorbiorg uttered a verse:
There was in hard Unn’s storm [battle]
Hord felled to earth.
He has beaten eight
and five in battle.
Magic of mighty spells was able to hold rather strongly.
Brand of bitter brands [warrior, Hord]
would otherwise still be standing.
And when they got into bed in the evening, Thorbiorg drew a knife andtried to stab her husband Indridi, but he held it off and was wounded
deeply in the hand. Then he said:

322

the saga of hord

‘There are now two things, Thorbiorg, that we have a serious problem, and you want to take serious steps about it; so what must be done
to bring about a reconciliation between us?’‘Nothing but this, that you bring me Thorstein Gullknapp’s head.’
Indridi agreed to do this.
He set out in the morning on his own and rode straight to Thyril.
He then dismounted and walked down Indridastig (Indridi’s path) pastThyril and waited there until Thorstein went to his sacrificial temple
as was his custom. And when Thorstein came, he went into the temple
and prostrated himself before the stone where he sacrificed which stoodthere in the temple, and prayed. Indridi was standing outside near thetemple. He heard this uttered from inside the stone:
You have here
for the last timewith doomed feet
trodden the earth.
On you shall rightly
before the sun shines
harsh Indridi
repay hatred.
Then Thorstein went out and towards his house. Indridi easily saw him
going. Indridi told him not to run so hard. He then got round in frontof him and immediately struck him with the sword Sotanaut ­under thethroat so that it took off his head. He announced this killing as his deedback at Thyril. He said Thorstein had long been disloyal. He rode homeand gave Thorbiorg the head. She said she was not ­bothered about it,
now it was off the body.
‘Now you will,’ says Indridi, ‘be reconciled with me.’She said that would not happen until he took Helga and her sons in, if
they chanced to come there, and gave them all the support they needed.
‘Then I shall,’ she said, ‘give you all my love from then on.’Indridi said he thought they must have jumped into the sea anddrowned, as they were not found on the Holm.
‘And I will promise you this, since I know that there will be no needto take it up.’
Then Thorbiorg fetched Helga and the boys and brought them in.

the saga of hord 323

Then Indridi spoke and was not pleased:‘I have opened my mouth quite wide enough, and yet the only thing
to do now is keep one’s word.’
And he did fulfil all his promises and no one blamed him for this.
Everyone thought Thorbiorg had behaved magnificently.

39
There was a man called Thorolf and he was known as Starri (stiff),skilled with his hands and quite wealthy, uncaring and irreverent, bold
and aggressive and tough in everything. He came the same autumn toIndridastadir and offered the farmer his services. Thorbiorg said heshould certainly take him on, and he did so. He stayed there for a while
doing smith’s work. Helga the earl’s daughter was pleasant with him,
and Thorbiorg was too. He believed he was having an affair with theearl’s daughter, and she was not unresponsive. Thorolf had been with
Ref that summer and had not liked it there. He now asked Thorbiorg
if he could stay the winter. She replies:‘I will let you stay the winter and give you the ring Sotanaut, Helgathe earl’s daughter and much other wealth if you kill Ref in Bryniudal.’He replies, ‘That is not a bad job for me. I believe I am just the man
to be able to get that done if I have the sword Sotanaut. And it is not to
be expected that I would do a small service and take a great reward.’
They made it a bargain. It was not easy to get the sword, for Indridi
had it always on him wherever he went. One day Thorbiorg took thesword Sotanaut and made gaps here and there [in the scabbard] so thatthe sword could fall down of itself. And when Indridi went to gird on
the sword it fell down out of the sheath. He found this strange, but
Thorbiorg said that was the nature of the sword if it knew something
was going to happen. He told her to mend the sheath. She said shewould do it when she had time.
Indridi had to go west to Myrar to settle a dispute between his friends.
He did not take the sword with him. And when he had gone, Thorbiorg
gave Thorolf the sword Sotanaut and told him to use it like a man if
he wanted to be married to Helga.
Thorolf went to Ref’s and got there late in the day. He hid in a pileof turf and heaped peat round him so that nothing showed except justhis nostrils. Ref was wary, so that he bolted the doors every evening
and had torches taken round all the buildings twice, first before the324

the saga of hordevening meal and again before people went to bed, and this was done
now as well. Thorolf was still not discovered. Thorolf could imitateanyone’s voice. He stood up, as soon as they had gone to bed. He woke
up Ref’s servant-woman and said he was a shepherd. He told her to
ask Ref for some shoe-leather, because he said he had to go up on themountain in the morning. She said he did not stint his work, said heshould not by any means have less than others.
‘And there is none of the workers who is more useful than you.’
He said that should be so by the time he was finished. Ref slept
in a bed-closet and he would not allow anyone to go to him there atnight. Nevertheless she went and told Ref of the shepherd’s request
for shoe-leather. She said it wasn’t right for him to be without shoesor anything else that he needed to have ‘when he is concerned all thetime for your property, both night and day.’Ref was cross with her for coming with such a matter to him at night.
‘But there is a bit of poor shagreen out in the peat-shed, and he cantake some shoe-leather for himself from that.’
And when she had gone, Thorolf pushed a piece of wood in the shutter so that it did not close. He had been standing up over Ref while they
had been talking, and he was afraid to do anything. Ref fell asleep, but
Thorolf daredn’t attack him. Ref’s mother, Thorbiorg Katla, called out:
‘Wake up, my son, the devil is standing over you and is going tokill you.’
Then Ref went to stand up, and at that moment Thorolf struck off
both his feet from under him, one where the calf was narrowest, theother at the ankle. Then Thorolf leapt out into the room from the bedcloset. Then Thorbiorg Katla went up to him and grabbed him andforced him under her and bit his windpipe in two and so left him dead.
Ref took the sword Sotanaut, but the ring disappeared from Thorolf,
the one that Thorbiorg and Helga had given him, and which Hord hadtaken from Soti. Ref was healed and carried on a chair ever after, forhe never managed to walk, and yet he lived on a long time after this,so that he came to be called Ref the Old, and was always considered
the most worthy man.

40

the saga of hord 325

A little later Indridi came home and heard what had happened. He felt
sure that Thorbiorg must have been involved in the plot. But he did
not want to lose the sword. Afterwards he went to see Ref and asked
him to hand over the sword.
‘For I have had nothing to do with this plot,’ he says.
Ref gave him the sword.
‘I do not want to lose your friendship,’ says Ref.
Indridi then took his sword and rode home afterwards. It can beremarked by this what a leader Indridi has been, that such a warrior
as Ref was dared do nothing other than hand over the sword to Indridi
when he asked, such a great mutilation as he had suffered from it.
A little later there was a meeting between Thorgrima Smith-woman
and Ref’s mother, Thorbiorg Katla, and afterwards they were bothfound dead on Mulafell. They were all torn and cut asunder in pieces,and it has been thought to be haunted there afterwards near their gravemounds. People assumed that Indridi’s mother Thorgrima must havewanted to get the ring Sotanaut for Indridi, but Katla wanted to keep
it from her and would not let it go and so they killed each other off.
The ring was never found afterwards.

41
A few winters later a ship came to Breidavik. On it was Tind son of
Hallkel and Thord son of Kolgrim from Ferstikla. They rode from theship, Tind to Hallkelsstadir and Thord over Hvita and was making forhome. And when Helga the earl’s daughter found out this, she said toher son Grimkel that his father’s death was slow to come into his mind.
She told him then to lie in wait for Thord son of Kolgrim.
‘For his father was your father Hord’s greatest opponent.’
Grimkel was then twelve years old.
‘I would like you, kinsman,’ she says, ‘to kill Thord, for valid vengeance is in him.’
Grimkel was in a party of three. They met near Bakkavad on theeastern side of Hvita below some stacks of turf. A little later they were
all found dead from both parties. There was a man called Skeif who
lived at Hvitarvellir, a man of small means. Some supposed that he musthave killed wounded men and then taken fine possessions that Thord326

the saga of hord

had had with him and were never heard of again. Skeif went abroadand never came out again and got to be rolling in money.
Indridi did not want to risk Helga here in this country and her son Biorn. They went abroad from Eyrar to Norway and then on to Gautland,and Hroar was still alive then. He was glad to see his sister Helga, butthought Hord was a great loss. Helga did not marry again as far as istold. Biorn became a great man and came back to Iceland and killed
many men in vengeance for his father and became the most valiant man.
Twenty-four men were killed in vengeance for Hord. Compensation
was paid for none of them. Some were killed by Hord’s sons and kinsmen and relatives by marriage, and some by Hroar. Thorbiorg daughterof Grimkel was involved in the killing of nearly all of them; she isthought to have been a most remarkable woman. She and Indridi lived
at Indridastadir until old age and were ­considered very great people,
and there are many people descended from them.
Hord was nineteen and twenty winters old when he was killed, andmost of these years had brought him honour and esteem, except for thethree winters that he was in outlawry. The priest Styrmir the Wise alsosays that he thinks he was in the first rank of outlawed men ­becauseof his wisdom and skill with weapons and all kinds of abilities; andbecause of this also, that he was so highly esteemed abroad that theearl in Gautland gave him his daughter in marriage; and thirdly because
for no single man in Iceland have so many men been killed in vengeance, and they were all uncompensated for. Now here we end the sagaof the Holm-dwellers. God give us all good days without end. Amen.

the saga of hord 327

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