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

CHAPTER V.

ATLI ARN­VID SON'S SLAY­ING.

There was a man named Atli, son of Arn­vid, Earl of East Goth­land. He had kept back the tax­es from Ha­con Athel­stane's fos­ter child, and both fa­ther and son had fled away from Jemt­land to Goth­land. Af­ter that, Atli held on with his fol­low­ers out of the Mælar by Stock Sound, and so on to­wards Den­mark, and now he lies out in Öre­sound.[5] He is an out­law both of the Dane-​King and of the Swede-​King. Hrut held on south to the Sound, and when he came in­to it he saw many ships in the Sound. Then Wolf said--

“What's best to be done now, Ice­lander?”

“Hold on our course,” says Hrut, “'for noth­ing ven­ture, noth­ing have'. My ship and Auzur's shall go first, but thou shalt lay thy ship where thou lik­est.”

“Sel­dom have I had oth­ers as a shield be­fore me,” says Wolf, and lays his gal­ley side by side with Hrut's ship; and so they hold on through the Sound. Now those who are in the Sound see that ships are com­ing up to them, and they tell Atli.

He an­swered, “Then maybe there'll be gain to be got”.

Af­ter that men took their stand on board each ship; “but my ship,” says Atli, “shall be in the midst of the fleet”.

Mean­time Hrut's ships ran on, and as soon as ei­ther side could hear the oth­er's hail, Atli stood up and said--

“Ye fare un­war­ily. Saw ye not that war-​ships were in the Sound? But what's the name of your chief?”

Hrut tells his name.

“Whose man art thou?” says Atli.

“One of king Harold Grayfell's body-​guard.”

Atli said, “'Tis long since any love was lost be­tween us, fa­ther and son, and your Nor­way kings”.

“Worse luck for thee,” says Hrut.

“Well,” says Atli, “the up­shot of our meet­ing will be, that thou shalt not be left alive to tell the tale;” and with that he caught up a spear and hurled it at Hrut's ship, and the man who stood be­fore it got his death. Af­ter that the bat­tle be­gan, and they were slow in board­ing Hrut's ship. Wolf, he went well for­ward, and with him it was now cut, now thrust. Atli's bow­man's name was Asolf; he sprung up on Hrut's ship, and was four men's death be­fore Hrut was ware of him; then he turned against him, and when they met, Asolf thrust at and through Hrut's shield, but Hrut cut once at Asolf, and that was his death-​blow. Wolf the Un­washed saw that stroke, and called out--

“Truth to say, Hrut, thou dealest big blows, but thou'st much to thank Gunnhill­da for.”

“Some­thing tells me,” says Hrut, “that thou speak­est with a 'fey' mouth.”

Now Atli sees a bare place for a weapon on Wolf, and shot a spear through him, and now the bat­tle grows hot: Atli leaps up on Hrut's ship, and clears it fast round about, and now Auzur turns to meet him, and thrust at him, but fell down full length on his back, for an­oth­er man thrust at him. Now Hrut turns to meet Atli: he cut at once at Hrut's shield, and clove it all in two, from top to point; just then Atli got a blow on his hand from a stone, and down fell his sword. Hrut caught up the sword, and cut his foot from un­der him. Af­ter that he dealt him his death-​blow. There they took much goods, and brought away with them two ships which were best, and stayed there on­ly a lit­tle while. But mean­time Soti and his crew had sailed past them, and he held on his course back to Nor­way, and made the land at Lim­gard's side. There Soti went on shore, and there he met Aug­mund, Gunnhill­da's page; he knew him at once, and asks--

“How long mean­est thou to be here?”

“Three nights,” says Soti.

“Whith­er away, then?” says Aug­mund.

“West, to Eng­land,” says Soti, “and nev­er to come back again to Nor­way while Gunnhill­da's rule is in Nor­way.”

Aug­mund went away, and goes and finds Gunnhill­da, for she was a lit­tle way off at a feast, and Gu­dred, her son, with her. Aug­mund told Gunnhill­da what Soti meant to do, and she begged Gu­dred to take his life. So Gu­dred set off at once, and came un­awares on Soti, and made them lead up the coun­try, and hang him there. But the goods he took, and brought them to his moth­er, and she got men to car­ry them all down to the King's Crag, and af­ter that she went thith­er her­self.

Hrut came back to­wards au­tumn, and had got­ten great store of goods. He went at once to the king, and had a hearty wel­come. He begged them to take what­ev­er they pleased of his goods, and the king took a third. Gunnhill­da told Hrut how she had got hold of the in­her­itance, and had Soti slain. He thanked her, and gave her half of all he had.