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

CHAPTER LXII.

THE SLAY­ING OF HJORT AND FOUR­TEEN MEN.

Af­ter that Starkad egged on his men, and then they turn down up­on them in­to the ness. Sig­urd Swine­head came first and had a red targe, but in his oth­er hand he held a cut­lass. Gun­nar sees him and shoots an ar­row at him from his bow; he held the shield up aloft when he saw the ar­row fly­ing high, and the shaft pass­es through the shield and in­to his eye, and so came out at the nape of his neck, and that was the first man slain.

A sec­ond ar­row Gun­nar shot at Ulfhedinn, one of Starkad's men, and that struck him about the mid­dle and he fell at the feet of a yeo­man, and the yeo­man over him. Kolskegg cast a stone and struck the yeo­man on the head, and that was his death-​blow.

Then Starkad said, “'Twill nev­er an­swer our end that he should use his bow, but let us come on well and stout­ly”. Then each man egged on the oth­er, and Gun­nar guard­ed him­self with his bow and ar­rows as long as he could; af­ter that he throws them down, and then he takes his bill and sword and fights with both hands. There is long the hard­est fight, but still Gun­nar and Kolskegg slew man af­ter man.

Then Thorgeir Starkad's son said, “I vowed to bring Hildigun­na thy head, Gun­nar.”

Then Gun­nar sang a song--

Thou, that bat­tle-​sleet down bringeth, Scarce I trow thou speak­est truth; She, the girl with gold­en arm­lets, Can­not care for such a gift; But, O ser­pent's hoard de­spoil­er! If the maid must have my head-- Maid whose wrist Rhine's fire[25] wrea­theth, Clos­er come to crash of spear.

“She will not think that so much worth hav­ing,” says Gun­nar; “but still to get it thou wilt have to come near­er!”

Thorgeir said to his broth­ers--

“Let us run all of us up­on him at once; he has no shield and we shall have his life in our hands.”

So Bork and Thorkel both ran for­ward and were quick­er than Thorgeir. Bork made a blow at Gun­nar, and Gun­nar threw his bill so hard in the way that the sword flew out of Bork's hand; then he sees Thorkel stand­ing on his oth­er hand with­in stroke of sword. Gun­nar was stand­ing with his body swayed a lit­tle on one side, and he makes a sweep with his sword, and caught Thorkel on the neck, and off flew his head.

Kol Egil's son said, “Let me get at Kolskegg,” and turn­ing to Kolskegg he said, “This I have of­ten said, that we two would be just about an even match in fight”.

“That we can soon prove,” says Kolskegg.

Kol thrust at him with his spear; Kolskegg had just slain a man and had his hands full, and so he could not throw his shield be­fore the blow, and the thrust came up­on his thigh, on the out­side of the limb and went through it.

Kolskegg turned sharp round, and strode to­wards him, and smote him with his short sword on the thigh, and cut off his leg, and said, “Did it touch thee or not?”

“Now,” says Kol, “I pay for be­ing bare of my shield.”

So he stood a while on his oth­er leg and looked at the stump.

“Thou needest not to look at it,” said Kolskegg; “'tis even as thou seest, the leg is off.”

Then Kol fell down dead.

But when Egil sees this, he runs at Gun­nar and makes a cut at him; Gun­nar thrusts at him with the bill and struck him in the mid­dle, and Gun­nar hoists him up on the bill and hurls him out in­to Ran­griv­er.

Then Starkad said, “Wretch that thou art in­deed, Thorir East­er­ling, when thou sittest by; but thy host and fa­ther-​in-​law Egil is slain.”

Then the East­er­ling sprung up and was very wroth. Hjort had been the death of two men, and the East­er­ling leapt on him and smote him full on the breast. Then Hjort fell down dead on the spot.

Gun­nar sees this and was swift to smite at the East­er­ling, and cuts him asun­der at the waist.

A lit­tle while af­ter Gun­nar hurls the bill at Bork, and struck him in the mid­dle, and the bill went through him and stuck in the ground.

Then Kolskegg cut off Hauk Egil's son's head, and Gun­nar smites off Ot­ter's hand at the el­bow-​joint. Then Starkad said--

“Let us fly now. We have not to do with men!”

Gun­nar said, “Ye two will think it a sad sto­ry if there is naught on you to show that ye have both been in the bat­tle”.

Then Gun­nar ran af­ter Starkad and Thorgeir, and gave them each a wound. Af­ter that they part­ed; and Gun­nar and his broth­ers had then wound­ed many men who got away from the field, but four­teen lost their lives, and Hjort the fif­teenth.

Gun­nar brought Hjort home, laid out on his shield, and he was buried in a cairn there. Many men grieved for him, for he had many dear friends.

Starkad came home, too, and Hildigun­na dressed his wounds and Thorgeir's, and said, “Ye would have giv­en a great deal not to have fall­en out with Gun­nar”.

“So we would,” says Starkad.