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

CHAPTER VI.

HRUT SAILS OUT TO ICE­LAND.

Hrut stayed with the king that win­ter in good cheer, but when spring came he grew very silent. Gunnhill­da finds that out, and said to him when they two were alone to­geth­er--

“Art thou sick at heart?”

“So it is,” said Hrut, “as the say­ing runs--'Ill goes it with those who are born on a bar­ren land'.”

“Wilt thou to Ice­land?” she asks.

“Yes,” he an­swered.

“Hast thou a wife out there?” she asked; and he an­swers, “No”.

“But I am sure that is true,” she says; and so they ceased talk­ing about the mat­ter.

[Short­ly af­ter] Hrut went be­fore the king and bade him “good day”; and the king said, “What dost thou want now, Hrut?”

“I am come to ask, lord, that you give me leave to go to Ice­land.”

“Will thine hon­our be greater there than here?” asks the king.

“No, it will not,” said Hrut; “but ev­ery one must win the work that is set be­fore him.”

“It is pulling a rope against a strong man,” said Gunnhill­da, “so give him leave to go as best suits him.”

There was a bad har­vest that year in the land, yet Gunnhill­da gave Hrut as much meal as he chose to have; and now he busks him to sail out to Ice­land, and Auzur with him; and when they were all-​boun, Hrut went to find the king and Gunnhill­da. She led him aside to talk alone, and said to him--

“Here is a gold ring which I will give thee;” and with that she clasped it round his wrist.

“Many good gifts have I had from thee,” said Hrut.

Then she put her hands round his neck and kissed him, and said--

“If I have as much pow­er over thee as I think, I lay this spell on thee that thou mayest nev­er have any plea­sure in liv­ing with that wom­an on whom thy heart is set in Ice­land, but with oth­er wom­en thou mayest get on well enough, and now it is like to go well with nei­ther of us;--but thou hast not be­lieved what I have been say­ing.”

Hrut laughed when he heard that, and went away; af­ter that he came be­fore the king and thanked him; and the king spoke kind­ly to him, and bade him “farewell”. Hrut went straight to his ship, and they had a fair wind all the way un­til they ran in­to Bor­garfirth.

As soon as the ship was made fest to the land, Hrut rode west home, but Auzur stayed by the ship to un­load her, and lay her up. Hrut rode straight to Hauskuld­st­ede, and Hauskuld gave him a hearty wel­come, and Hrut told him all about his trav­els. Af­ter that they sent men east across the rivers to tell Fid­dle Mord to make ready for the bridal feast; but the two broth­ers rode to the ship, and on the way Hauskuld told Hrut how his mon­ey mat­ters stood, and his goods had gained much since he was away. Then Hrut said--

“The re­ward is less worth than it ought to be, but I will give thee as much meal as thou needst for thy house­hold next win­ter.”

Then they drew the ship on land on rollers, and made her snug in her shed, but all the wares on board her they car­ried away in­to the Dales west­ward. Hrut stayed at home at Hrut­st­ede till win­ter was six weeks off, and then the broth­ers made ready, and Auzur with them, to ride to Hrut's wed­ding. Six­ty men ride with them, and they rode east till they came to Ran­griv­er plains. There they found a crowd of guests, and the men took their seats on bench­es down the length of the hall, but the wom­en were seat­ed on the cross bench­es on the dais, and the bride was rather down­cast. So they drank out the feast and it went off well. Mord pays down his daugh­ter's por­tion, and she rides west with her hus­band and his train. So they ride till they reach home. Hrut gave over ev­ery­thing in­to her hands in­side the house, and all were pleased at that; but for all that she and Hrut did not pull well to­geth­er as man and wife, and so things went on till spring, and when spring came Hrut had a jour­ney to make to the West­firths, to get in the mon­ey for which he had sold his wares; but be­fore he set off his wife says to him--

“Dost thou mean to be back be­fore men ride to the Thing?”

“Why dost thou ask?” said Hrut.

“I will ride to the Thing,” she said, “to meet my fa­ther.”

“So it shall be,” said he, “and I will ride to the Thing along with thee.”

“Well and good,” she says.

Af­ter that Hrut rode from home west to the Firths, got in all his mon­ey, and laid it out anew, and rode home again. When he came home he busked him to ride to the Thing, and made all his neigh­bours ride with him. His broth­er Hauskuld rode among the rest. Then Hrut said to his wife--

“If thou hast as much mind now to go to the Thing as thou saidst a while ago, busk thy­self and ride along with me.”

She was not slow in get­ting her­self ready, and then they all rode to the Thing. Un­na went to her fa­ther's booth, and he gave her a hearty wel­come, but she seemed some­what heavy-​heart­ed, and when he saw that he said to her--

“I have seen thee with a mer­ri­er face. Hast thou any­thing on thy mind?”

She be­gan to weep, and an­swered noth­ing. Then he said to her again, “Why dost thou ride to the Thing, if thou wilt not tell me thy se­cret? Dost thou dis­like liv­ing away there in the west?”

Then she an­swered him--

“I would give all I own in the world that I had nev­er gone thith­er.”

“Well!” said Mord, “I'll soon get to the bot­tom of this.” Then he sends men to fetch Hauskuld and Hrut, and they came straight­way; and when they came in to see Mord, he rose up to meet them and gave them a hearty wel­come, and asked them to sit down. Then they talked a long time in a friend­ly way, and at last Mord said to Hauskuld--

“Why does my daugh­ter think so ill of life in the west yon­der?”

“Let her speak out,” said Hrut, “if she has any­thing to lay to my charge.”

But she brought no charge against him. Then Hrut made them ask his neigh­bours and house­hold how he treat­ed her, and all bore him good wit­ness, say­ing that she did just as she pleased in the house.

Then Mord said, “Home thou shalt go, and be con­tent with thy lot; for all the wit­ness goes bet­ter for him than for thee”.

Af­ter that Hrut rode home from the Thing, and his wife with him, and all went smooth­ly be­tween them that sum­mer; but when spring came it was the old sto­ry over again, and things grew worse and worse as the spring went on. Hrut had again a jour­ney to make west to the Firths, and gave out that he would not ride to the Al­th­ing, but Un­na his wife said lit­tle about it. So Hrut went away west to the Firths.