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

CHAPTER LXXXI.

OF THRAIN: HOW HE SLEW KOL.

Now we must take up the sto­ry, and say how Thrain Sig­fus' son came to Nor­way. They made the land north in Hel­ge­land, and held on south to Dron­theim, and so to Hla­da.[32] But as soon as Earl Ha­con heard of that, he sent men to them, and would know what men were in the ship. They came back and told him who the men were. Then the Earl sent for Thrain Sig­fus' son, and he went to see him. The Earl asked of what stock he might be. He said that he was Gun­nar of Lithend's near kins­man. The Earl said--

“That shall stand thee in good stead; for I have seen many men from Ice­land, but none his match.”

“Lord,” said Thrain, “is it your will that I should be with you this win­ter?”

The Earl took to him, and Thrain was there that win­ter, and was thought much of.

There was a man named Kol, he was a great sea-​rover. He was the son of As­mund Ash­side, east out of Smoland. He lay east in the Gö­ta-​Elf, and had five ships, and much force.

Thence Kol steered his course out of the riv­er to Nor­way, and land­ed at Fold,[33] in the bight of the “Bay,” and came on Hal­lvard Soti un­awares, and found him in a loft. He kept them off brave­ly till they set fire to the house, then he gave him­self up; but they slew him, and took there much goods, and sailed thence to Lödese.[34]

Earl Ha­con heard these tid­ings, and made them make Kol an out­law over all his realm, and set a price up­on his head.

Once on a time it so hap­pened that the Earl be­gan to speak thus--

“Too far off from us now is Gun­nar of Lithend. He would slay my out­law if he were here; but now the Ice­landers will slay him, and it is ill that he hath not fared to us.”

Then Thrain Sig­fus' son an­swered--

“I am not Gun­nar, but still I am near akin to him, and I will un­der­take this voy­age.”

The Earl said, “I should be glad of that, and thou shalt be very well fit­ted out for the jour­ney”.

Af­ter that his son Er­ic be­gan to speak, and said--

“Your word, fa­ther, is good to many men, but ful­fill­ing it is quite an­oth­er thing. This is the hard­est un­der­tak­ing; for this sea-​rover is tough and ill to deal with, where­fore thou wilt need to take great pains, both as to men and ships for this voy­age.”

Thrain said, “I will set out on this voy­age, though it looks ug­ly”.

Af­ter that the Earl gave him five ships, and all well trimmed and manned. Along with Thrain was Gun­nar Lam­bi's son, and Lam­bi Sig­urd's son. Gun­nar was Thrain's broth­er's son, and had come to him young, and each loved the oth­er much.

Er­ic, the Earl's son, went hearti­ly along with them, and looked af­ter strength for them, both in men and weapons, and made such changes in them as he thought were need­ful. Af­ter they were “boun,” Er­ic got them a pi­lot. Then they sailed south along the land; but wher­ev­er they came to land, the Earl al­lowed them to deal with what­ev­er they need­ed as their own.

So they held on east to Lödese, and then they heard that Kol was gone to Den­mark. Then they shaped their course south thith­er; but when they came south to Hels­ing­borg, they met men in a boat, who said that Kol was there just be­fore them, and would be stay­ing there for a while.

One day when the weath­er was good, Kol saw the ships as they sailed up to­wards him, and said he had dreamt of Earl Ha­con the night be­fore, and told his peo­ple he was sure these must be his men, and bade them all to take their weapons.

Af­ter that they busked them, and a fight arose; and they fought long, so that nei­ther side had the mas­tery.

Then Kol sprang up on Thrain's ship, and cleared the gang­ways fast, and slays many men. He had a gild­ed helm.

Now Thrain sees that this is no good, and now he eggs on his men to go along with him, but he him­self goes first and meets Kol.

Kol hews at him, and the blow fell on Thrain's shield, and cleft it down from top to bot­tom. Then Kol got a blow on the arm from a stone, and then down fell his sword.

Thrain hews at Kol, and the stroke came on his leg so that it cut it off. Af­ter that they slew Kol, and Thrain cut off his head, and they threw the trunk over-​board, but kept his head.

There they took much spoil, and then they held on north to Dron­theim, and go to see the Earl.

The Earl gave Thrain a hearty wel­come, and he showed the Earl Kol's head, but the Earl thanked him for that deed.

Er­ic said it was worth more than words alone, and the Earl said so it was, and bade them come along with him.

They went thith­er, where the Earl had made them make a good ship that was not made like a com­mon long-​ship. It had a vul­ture's head, and was much carved and paint­ed.

“Thou art a great man for show, Thrain,” said the Earl, “and so have both of you, kins­men, been, Gun­nar and thou; and now I will give thee this ship, but it is called the 'Vul­ture'. Along with it shall go my friend­ship; and my will is that thou stayest with me as long as thou wilt.”

He thanked him for his good­ness, and said he had no long­ing to go to Ice­land just yet.

The Earl had a jour­ney to make to the march­es of the land to meet the Swede-​king. Thrain went with him that sum­mer, and was a ship­mas­ter and steered the Vul­ture, and sailed so fast that few could keep up with him, and he was much en­vied. But it al­ways came out that the Earl laid great store on Gun­nar, for he set down stern­ly all who tried Thrain's tem­per.

So Thrain was all that win­ter with the Earl, but next spring the Earl asked Thrain whether he would stay there or fare to Ice­land; but Thrain said he had not yet made up his mind, and said that he wished first to know tid­ings from Ice­land.

The Earl said that so it should be as he thought it suit­ed him best; and Thrain was with the Earl.

Then those tid­ings were heard from Ice­land, which many thought great news, the death of Gun­nar of Lithend. Then the Earl would not that Thrain should fare out to Ice­land, and so there he stayed with him.