Grettir the Outlaw 4

Grettir the Outlaw 4

"It is a pity Audun is not here," scoffed the serving-man, "or he would

trip up your heels and throttle you, as he did on the ice when golfing."

 

"But as he is not here," retorted Grettir, "you are not like to get the

better of me."

 

Skeggi suddenly took his axe by the haft and hewed at Grettir’s head.

Grettir saw what he was at, and instantly put up his left hand and

caught the handle below where Skeggi’s hand held it; wrenched it out of

his grasp, and struck him with it, so that his skull was cleft. The

thing was done in a moment, and Grettir had done it in self-preservation

and without premeditation. He was but a boy of fourteen, and this was a

full-grown stout churl.

 

Grettir at once seized the meal-bag, saw it was his own, and threw it

across his saddle. Then he rode after the company. Thorkel Krafla rode

at the head of his party, and he had no misgiving that anything untoward

had taken place.

 

But, when Grettir came riding up with his meal-bag, the men asked him if

he had left Skeggi still in search of his. Grettir answered in song:

 

"A rock Troll did her burden throw

Down on Skeggi’s skull, I trow.

O’er the battle-ogress saw I flow

Ruby rivers all aglow.

She her iron mouth a-gape

Did the life of Skeggi take."

 

 

This sounds like nonsense; to understand it one must have a notion of

what constituted poetry in the minds of Icelanders and Northmen. With

them the charm of poetry consisted in never calling anything by its

right name, but using instead of it some far-fetched similitude or

periphrasis. Thus—the burden of the rock Troll is iron. The Troll is

the spirit of the mountain, and the heaviest thing found in the mountain

is iron. The battle-ogress is the axe which bites in battle. The

verses that the Norse poets sang were a series of conundrums, and the

hearers puzzled their brains to make out the sense. This time they soon

understood what Grettir meant, and the men turned and went back to the

Tongue, and there found Skeggi dead.

 

Grettir went on to Thorkel, and in few words, and to the point, told how

things had fallen out. He was not the aggressor. He had merely defended

himself.

 

Thorkel was much troubled, and he told Grettir that he might either come

on to the assize or go home; that this act of man-slaughter would be

investigated at the law-gathering, and judgment given upon it.

 

Grettir agreed to go on, and see how matters would turn out for him.

 

 

 

 

*CHAPTER IV.*

 

*THE DOOM-DAY.*

 

 

_The Lava Plain—The Law of Man-slaughter—Grettir’s Sentence—The

Grettir Stone_

 

 

That evening they arrived at Thingvalla.

 

The great plain of Thingvalla is entirely composed of lava. At some

remote period before Iceland was colonized a beautiful snowy cone of

mountain, called "The Broad Shield," poured forth a deluge of molten

rock, which ran in a fiery river down a valley for some miles,

half-choking it up, and then spread out over a wide plain where

anciently there had been a great lake. Then all cooled, but after the

cooling, or whilst it was in process, there came a great crack, crack.

The great mass of lava must have been poured over some subterranean

caverns; at any rate the whole plain snapped and sank down a good many

feet, the lava becoming cracked and starred like glass. Nowadays, one

cannot cross the plain because it is all traversed with these fearful

cracks, chasms the bottom of which is filled with black water. Where

the plain sank deepest there water settled and formed the beautiful

Thingvalla Lake.

 

At the side of one of the cracks where the plain broke off and sank is a

very curious pinnacle of black rock, and this was called the Hanging

Rock, as criminals were hung from it over the chasm.

 

In one place two of the cracks unite, and there is a high mound of

blistered lava covered with turf and flowers between them. That is

called the Law Hill, because the judge and his assessors sat there, and

no one could get to them, nor could the accused get away across the

chasms.

 

Now it was the law at this time in Iceland that when any man had been

killed his nearest relatives came to the assize, and the slayer appeared

by proxy and offered blood-money—that is to say, to pay a fine to the

relations, and so patch up the quarrel. But if they refused the money

then they were at liberty to pursue and kill him. There were no police

then. If the relations wanted to have the criminal punished they must

punish him themselves.

 

Upon this occasion the case was discussed in the court on the finger of

rock between the two chasms, the people standing on the further sides of

these gulfs, listening, but unable to come a step nearer; and Thorkel

appeared for Grettir and offered to pay the blood-money. The relations

of the dead Skeggi, after a little fuss, agreed to accept a certain sum,

and Thorkel at once paid it. But the court ordered that, as Grettir had

acted with undue violence, and as there was no evidence except his word

that Skeggi had made the first attack, he should be outlawed, and leave

Iceland for three winters. If he set his foot in Iceland till three

winters had passed, his life was forfeit. He was allowed a moderate and

reasonable time for finding a ship that would take him out of the

country.

 

When the assize was over all rode home, and the way that Thorkel and

Grettir went was up the valley that had been half-choked with the lava

that rolled down from Broad Shield. They came to a small grassy plain

with a gently-sloping hill rising out of it, a place where games took

place, the women sitting up the slope and watching the men below. Here

Grettir is said to have heaved an enormous stone. The stone is still

shown, and I have seen it. I also know that Grettir never lifted it; for

it has clearly been brought there by a glacier. But this is an instance

of the way in which stories get magnified in telling. No doubt that

Grettir did "put" there some big stone, and as it happened that at this

spot there was a great rock standing by itself balanced on one point, in

after days folks concluded that this must have been the stone thrown by

Grettir.

 

 

 

 

*CHAPTER V.*

 

*THE VOYAGE.*

 

 

_Preparations for a Voyage—His Grandfather’s Sword—A Bitter

Jester—Vain Reproaches—Haflid’s Stratagem—The Tables

Turned—Shipwrecked_

 

 

Grettir, then, was doomed by the court to leave his native land whilst

only a boy, and remain in banishment for three years—that is to say,

till he was eighteen. He was not over sorry for this, as he was tired

of being at home, and he wanted to see the world.

 

There was a man called Haflid who had a ship in which he intended to

sail that autumn to Norway, and Asmund sent to him to ask him to take

Grettir out with him.

 

Haflid answered that he had not heard a good account of the boy, and did

not particularly wish to have him in his boat; but he would stretch a

point, because of the regard he had for old Asmund, and he would take

him.

 

Grettir got ready to start; but Asmund would not give him much wherewith

to trade when abroad, except some rolls of home-made wadmall, a coarse

felty cloth, and a stock of victuals for his voyage. Grettir asked his

father to give him some weapon; but the old man answered that he did not

trust him with swords and axes, he might put them to a bad use, and it

would be better he went without till he had learned to control his

temper and keep a check on his hand.

 

So Grettir parted from his father without much love on either side; and

it was noticed when he left home that, though there were plenty of folks

ready to bid him farewell, hardly anyone said that he hoped to see him

come home again—a certain token that he was not liked by those who had

seen most of him. But indeed he had taken no pains to oblige anyone and

obtain the regard and love of anyone.

 

His mother was an exception. She went along the road down the valley

with him, wearing a long cloak; and when they were alone, at some

distance from the house, she halted and drew out a sword from under her

cloak, and handing it to Grettir, said: "This sword belonged to

grandfather, and many a hard fight has it been in, and much good work

has it done. I give it to you, and hope it may stand you in good

stead."

 

Grettir was highly pleased, and told his mother that he would rather

have the sword than anything else that could be given him.

 

Haflid received Grettir in a friendly manner, and he went at once on

board; the ship’s anchor was heaved, and forth they went to sea.

 

Now, directly Grettir got on board he looked about for a place where he

could be comfortable, and chose to make a berth for himself under a boat

that was slung on deck; then he put up his wadmall, making a sort of

felt lining or wall round against the wind and spray, leaving open only

the side inwards, and inside he piled his provisions and whatever he

had; then he lay down there and did not stir from his snuggery. Now, it

was the custom in those days for every man who went in a ship to help in

the navigation; but Grettir would not only do nothing, but from his den

he shouted or sang lampoons—that is, spiteful songs, making fun of every

man on board. They were not good-natured jokes, but bitter, stinging ones.