The story of Burnt Njal From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga

CHAPTER III.

HRUT AND GUNNHILL­DA, KINGS MOTH­ER.

At that time Harold Grayfell reigned in Nor­way; he was the son of Er­ic Blood­axe, who was the son of Harold Fairhair; his moth­er's name was Gunnhill­da, a daugh­ter of Auzur Toti, and they had their abode east, at the King's Crag. Now the news was spread, how a ship had come thith­er east in­to the Bay, and as soon as Gunnhill­da heard of it, she asked what men from Ice­land were aboard, and they told her Hrut was the man's name, Auzur's broth­er's son. Then Gunnhill­da said, “I see plain­ly that he means to claim his her­itage, but there is a man named Soti, who has laid his hands on it”.

Af­ter that she called her wait­ing-​man, whose name was Aug­mund, and said--

“I am go­ing to send thee to the Bay to find out Auzur and Hint, and tell them that I ask them both to spend this win­ter with me. Say, too, that I will be their friend, and if Hrut will car­ry out my coun­sel, I will see af­ter his suit, and any­thing else he takes in hand, and I will speak a good word, too, for him to the king.”

Af­ter that he set off and found them; and as soon as they knew that he was Gunnhill­da's ser­vant, they gave him good wel­come. He took them aside and told them his er­rand, and af­ter that they talked over their plans by them­selves. Then Auzur said to Hrut--

“Me­thinks, kins­man, here is lit­tle need for long talk, our plans are ready made for us; for I know Gunnhill­da's tem­per; as soon as ev­er we say we will not go to her she will drive us out of the land, and take all our goods by force; but if we go to her, then she will do us such hon­our as she has promised.”

Aug­mund went home, and when he saw Gunnhill­da, he told her how his er­rand had end­ed, and that they would come, and Gunnhill­da said--

“It is on­ly what was to be looked for; for Hrut is said to be a wise and well-​bred man; and now do thou keep a sharp look out, and tell me as soon as ev­er they come to the town.”

Hrut and Auzur went east to the King's Crag, and when they reached the town, their kins­men and friends went out to meet and wel­come them. They asked, whether the king were in the town, and they told them he was. Af­ter that they met Aug­mund, and he brought them a greet­ing from Gunnhill­da, say­ing, that she could not ask them to her house be­fore they had seen the king, lest men should say, “I make too much of them”. Still she would do all she could for them, and she went on, “tell Hrut to be out­spo­ken be­fore the king, and to ask to be made one of his body-​guard”; “and here,” said Aug­mund, “is a dress of hon­our which she sends to thee, Hrut, and in it thou must go in be­fore the king”. Af­ter that he went away.

The next day Hrut said--

“Let us go be­fore the king.”

“That may well be,” an­swered Auzur.

So they went, twelve of them to­geth­er, and all of them friends or kins­men, and came in­to the hall where the king sat over his drink. Hrut went first and bade the king “good day,” and the king, look­ing stead­fast­ly at the man who was well-​dressed, asked him his name. So he told his name.

“Art thou an Ice­lander?” said the king.

He an­swered, “Yes”.

“What drove thee hith­er to seek us?”

Then Hrut an­swered--

“To see your state, lord; and, be­sides, be­cause I have a great mat­ter of in­her­itance here in the land, and I shall have need of your help, if I am to get my rights.”

The king said--

“I have giv­en my word that ev­ery man shall have law­ful jus­tice here in Nor­way; but hast thou any oth­er er­rand in seek­ing me?”

“Lord!” said Hrut, “I wish you to let me live in your court, and be­come one of your men.”

At this the king holds his peace, but Gunnhill­da said--

“It seems to me as if this man of­fered you the great­est hon­our, for me thinks if there were many such men in the body-​guard, it would be well filled.”

“Is he a wise man?” asked the king.

“He is both wise and will­ing,” said she.

“Well,” said the king, “me­thinks my moth­er wish­es that thou shouldst have the rank for which thou ask­est, but for the sake of our hon­our and the cus­tom of the land, come to me in half a month's time, and then thou shalt be made one of my body-​guard. Mean­time, my moth­er will take care of thee, but then come to me.”

Then Gunnhill­da said to Aug­mund--

“Fol­low them to my house, and treat them well.”

So Aug­mund went out, and they went with him, and he brought them to a hall built of stone, which was hung with the most beau­ti­ful tapestry, and there too was Gunnhill­da's high-​seat.

Then Aug­mund said to Hrut--

“Now will be proved the truth of all that I said to thee from Gunnhill­da. Here is her high-​seat, and in it thou shalt sit, and this seat thou shalt hold, though she comes her­self in­to the hall.”

Af­ter that he made them good cheer, and they had sat down but a lit­tle while when Gunnhill­da came in. Hrut wished to jump up and greet her.

“Keep thy seat!” she says, “and keep it too all the time thou art my guest.”

Then she sat her­self down by Hrut, and they fell to drink, and at even she said--

“Thou shalt be in the up­per cham­ber with me to-​night, and we two to­geth­er.”

“You shall have your way,” he an­swers.

Af­ter that they went to sleep, and she locked the door in­side. So they slept that night, and in the morn­ing fell to drink­ing again. Thus they spent their life all that half-​month, and Gunnhill­da said to the men who were there--

“Ye shall lose noth­ing ex­cept your lives if you say to any one a word of how Hrut and I are go­ing on.”

[When the half-​month was over] Hrut gave her a hun­dred ells of house­hold woollen and twelve rough cloaks, and Gunnhill­da thanked him for his gifts. Then Hrut thanked her and gave her a kiss and went away. She bade him “farewell”. And next day he went be­fore the king with thir­ty men af­ter him and bade the king “good-​day”. The king said--

“Now, Hrut, thou wilt wish me to car­ry out to­wards thee what I promised.”

So Hrut was made one of the king's body-​guard, and he asked, “Where shall I sit?”

“My moth­er shall set­tle that,” said the king.

Then she got him a seat in the high­est room, and he spent the win­ter with the king in much hon­our.