The Sagas of the Icelanders (98 page)

15
Then Bard called to his men. The eight of them ran to the ship. They raised their sail at once and rowed as hard as they could under sail. Bard gained quickly on Ref and his sons.

Gunnar explored the fortification but what was left, no one cared to have. Then, with his men he headed out along the inner reach of the fjord to the ship.

Ref saw that Bard would quickly overtake them.

Then he spoke: ‘Now, first, we’ll run our sail down. I’m sure, because that ship goes quickly, that they can’t slow it down easily and that they don’t expect that we’ll wait for them, so their ship will run on past us on the other side. Then, Stein,’ said Ref, ‘you must cut their stays, and, Bjorn, you must splash with the oars so that it seems to them that we are rowing away smartly, but do it so that the ship moves as little as possible.’

Then Ref cut the wheels off his ship and thereupon took up a small spear and sharpened it vigorously.

Now it should be reported that Bard and his men both sailed and rowed; they had no inkling that Ref would wait for them. Their ship ran on past Ref’s. At that moment, Ref threw his spear at Bard. It flew through him and nailed him to the ship’s freeboard. Stein cut through all their stays, the sail went overboard with all its rigging and at that moment the ship seemed likely to capsize. Ref and his sons raised their sail and were quickly far ahead, and they held their course until they sailed out of the fjord. Bard’s crew managed to save their rigging and landed beneath a headland.

Gunnar and his men saw that Ref was sailing seaward down the fjord. Then he thought that the outcome of the encounter between Ref and Bard was certainly one that Bard could not report. He ordered his men to hasten to the ship and get before the mouth of the fjord. They did so. At this point, the day was drawing towards its close.

When Ref and his sons came out of the sound and the fjord opened up again, they saw that Gunnar and his men were rowing away from the land as hard as they could. As night fell it grew dark and there was little moonlight.

Then Ref spoke: ‘We must row as hard as we can, but, Bjorn, you must lower our sail little by little and after a while drop it.’

And so they did.

Then Gunnar addressed his men: ‘You’re rowing like weaklings. Just now we were so close to them that I thought we’d overtake them quickly and now they’ve got so far away from us their ship looks like a tuft of marsh grass. There’s probably more wind there so they’ll escape us. Now we’ll head back for land; we don’t want to be driven on the open sea at night chasing Ref.’

And so they did.

In the morning, Bard’s men came to Gunnar and said their course had not been smooth. They had Bard’s body with them. Gunnar went back to the settlement and was displeased with his expedition. Everyone said the same thing: that seldom would revenge attempted on just one man turn out so badly.

The sailors who had been with Bard exchanged their goods quickly, and in the autumn they sailed to Norway – and there’s no report of Gunnar’s sending any treasures to King Harald. His crew told the king about Bard’s death and his encounter with Ref. It seemed to the king that the outcome was not very unlike his surmise.

16
Then Ref and his sons went to their ship, and both parties were glad to see the other. They prepared for a sea voyage and, as soon as they were ready, they sailed into the open sea. They had a long, easy voyage. They reached Norway in the autumn and landed first at the island of Edoy. The people there asked who commanded the ship. He gave his name as Narfi and said he was an Icelander. Narfi asked where the king was in the country and the Norwegians said that he was in Trondheim. Edoy is six knots from Trondheim. Narfi sailed in to the mainland and anchored his ship in a hidden bay; he left his companions there and rented a six-oared boat and hired a guide. His sons and wife went with him; his men were to watch over the ship there.

Nothing is reported about Narfi’s trip before he reached the market town of Nidaros and rented a hut. They stayed there for some days. Narfi very strictly commanded them never to leave Helga alone there. Narfi had a
black hooded cape made for himself. He always had a walrus-skin rope around his waist. He had a white beard tied on and said that he was a merchant; then he went around the town dressed in this way. He carried a spear with a short iron-bound shaft in his hand.

The king was in the town with a great company. One of the king’s men was named Grani, who was called Sheath-Grani, a handsome man who loved fine weapons and clothing. He liked women and love-making. In this way he grieved many, but people put up with it because he enjoyed the king’s favour.

It happened that one day the king held a large assembly and the public was summoned by a blowing of horns. Narfi went to the assembly, with his sons Stein and Thormod. Bjorn stayed behind with his mother. He was no less curious than the others about what was being talked about at the assembly and so he went. Narfi noticed Bjorn and asked him who was with Helga. He said no one. Then Narfi started back towards the hut.

Shortly after Bjorn set out, a man came into the hut. He was dressed in black clothing and acted very grandly. Helga greeted him and asked his name. He said his name was Grani and that he was one of the king’s men.

‘I’ve come here,’ he said, ‘to buy a woman.’

She told him to go elsewhere for that. Grani said that it was a shame that an old man had a young woman so fair and beautiful. She said that, for all of him, she would decide that herself. He said he was not going to be fastidious and reached for her. She sprang up and defended herself. It turned into a wrestling match, and at that moment Narfi came to the window and looked in. When Grani saw a shadow falling on the window, he tore himself free of Helga and went for the door. Narfi wanted to get in front of the door, but Grani got there first and ran for it.

Helga ran to the door and wanted to lay hold of Narfi.

‘Let Grani go,’ she said, ‘he hasn’t harmed anything of yours.’

Narfi tore himself away from Helga and ran after Grani and called to him to stop running. Nonetheless, Grani ran until he came to a wooden fence. There was not much distance between them, and Grani saw that he was going to be caught.

He turned around and spoke, ‘Consider what you can do. Even if you kill me, it will be the death of you. But as long as you are in the town, I will never do you any harm.’

He tried to talk his way out of it as well as he could.

Narfi spoke, ‘It’s true that you are ill-disposed in every way. You’re an
extravagant fop, you think you’re a man of great ability and power, you bring shame on many people – and now you are so frightened you don’t know what to do or how to conduct yourself. Now prepare yourself because asking for peace will do no good.’

Narfi thrust at him with the spear. Grani had an axe in his hand and parried the thrust. So it went several times. Narfi was too tough for him, and it ended with his driving the spear right through Grani. Narfi dragged him up under the fence while he was in his death throes and then covered up his corpse.

It occurred to Narfi that it was not a good idea to keep the killing secret and so be guilty of murdering the man, and it seemed best to announce the manslaughter to the king himself. First, Narfi went home to the hut and asked Helga to take their things and get them to the ship along with their guide.

Then Narfi went to the assembly. There was a great crowd of people there. Narfi pressed his way between people until he came before the king. At that moment, the king was talking about urgent public matters.

For all that, Narfi spoke up like this:

‘My lord king,’ he said, ‘the two of us, Sword-house Grani and I, had a soup-understanding today when he told my wife he wanted to buy a swamp. I lady-pigged him through the wall’s eye. Then he searched it thoroughly and then I searched it thoroughly. Then I nest-balled him and he many-horsed at that. Then I cloak-stuffed him, my lord, and at that he tarred like a ship, and then I wild-swined him, my lord, to a wooden fence not far off and at: the end I counterpaned him.’

Narfi immediately left and went to his boat and made his trip as quickly as he could. They kept going through the evening and the night until they reached Narfi’s merchantman. Then they put out to sea at once.

17
To return to King Harald, he was at the assembly, as was reported earlier. While Narfi made his announcement, the king did not interrupt his own speech, and no one noticed that he paid any attention to what Narfi was saying.

When he finished his speech, the king had a signal blown for silence and afterwards he spoke: ‘Who was this man, unknown to us, who stood before us for a time dressed in his black hooded cloak and belted with a great walrus-hide rope and with his spear in his hand and whence did he come?’

People said that they never knew where he was from; they said he had been in town for a few days and had rented a hut and given his name as Narfi.

The king spoke: ‘What did it seem to you he was saying?’

They said that they never knew that was anything other than silliness and folly.

‘So it might be,’ said the king, ‘but he did not seem an insignificant man to me, and where is our follower, Sheath-Grani? Call him into my presence.’

They did so, but did not find him.

Then the king spoke, ‘This matter has taken a turn for the worse. This man said “we two, sword-house Grani and I, had a soup-understanding today. He told my wife he wanted to buy a swamp.” I guess,’ said the king, ‘that he encountered my follower, Sheath-Grani, because a sheath is the house of a sword. He probably went around the inns looking for women. It may be that he encountered this Narfi’s wife. There’s a drink in Iceland called “mysa”, but “mysa”, or soup, is much the same. So, they had a “mys”-understanding. He said that Sheath-Grani told Narfi’s wife he wanted to buy a swamp, but a swamp is a moor and an amour is intercourse, which Grani wanted with her. Then, Narfi said that he “lady-pigged him through the wall’s eye”, and that’s an apt expression since a “lady-pig” is a sow. And you know that a window in a house can be called an eye in its wall, so Narfi “saw” him through the “window” of the room the couple shared. “Then I searched all round, king,” he said, “and he searched all round.” But when you search something thoroughly, you ransack it, so both of them ran. Narfi must have run along the outside wall of the hut when he saw what was going on between Grani and his wife. Grani probably heard that and broke off the work he had in hand. He tried to save himself by running. “Then I nest-balled him,” Narfi said. He must have egged Grani on to take a stand because an egg is a nest-ball. “And he many-horsed at that.” But if many horses are always together, they are called a stud of horses, so Grani stood. Then Narfi said he “cloak-stuffed him” and Grani “tarred like a ship”. The stuff for making cloaks is wool, so Narfi woolled or walloped him – ran him through with his spear. “And at that he tarred like a ship”, but tar is pitch, so Grani pitched like a ship in a storm in his death-throes. “Then I wild-swined him to a wooden fence,” said he, “not far off.” A wild swine is called a boar, thus Narfi bore Grani’s body to a wooden fence. Then he said that he counterpaned him afterwards. A “counterpane” is a quilt or bedcover, thus Narfi covered Grani’s body at the end. Now I wish,’ said the king, ‘that you search for these men, both him who has been slain and the slayer.’

Men did as the king commanded. Then they found Grani dead and Narfi nowhere.

The next morning, the king had the signal blown for an assembly and said this: ‘Events that should not be repeated took place here yesterday and therein our follower was slain. I did not expect that any Icelander would dare to do that within our domain. But now I will guess at this man’s identity: that same Ref who caused the people of Greenland so much woe has been here.’

And after that the king appointed men to search for this man both by land and by sea. They proceeded according to the king’s orders.

18
To turn to Ref’s voyage, they sailed directly to Denmark without stopping. Ref immediately sought an audience with the king and told him all the circumstances of his coming and asked to be taken in.

The king said that it seemed to him that necessity had often driven Ref to act harshly: ‘You and your sons impress me as persons in whom I would find good service. Now because you have sought to meet with us, and because you have brought those goods – like walrus-hide ropes for our ships – to our country which for some time have not been easy to obtain because of our enemies, we will take you in. I will obtain a farmstead and estates for you as seems good to us, but your sons, Stein and Bjorn, are to stay here with us. Their advancement will depend on my judgement of their qualities when they are put to the test. And your son Thormod is to stay with you.’

Ref said that it was good that the king should make these provisions by himself: ‘But, my lord, we will first take care of our business dealings and then prepare the brothers for your service.’

The king said that so it should be.

Ref and his sons went to their ship. It became known that they had great wealth in walrus-hide ropes, walrus ivory and furs, and that they had many kinds of Greenland wares which were seldom seen in Denmark. They had five polar bears and fifty falcons, including fifteen white ones.

19
To go back to the ship which Bard had commanded, it came to Norway that autumn. Then the king learned of the death of Bard and its circumstances.

Then the king had the signal blown for an assembly and announced publicly the death of Bard, his follower from Greenland.

‘From this and the events,’ said the king, ‘surrounding the killing of Grani,
I now know with certainty that this Narfi was Ref Steinsson. I will grant him an addition to his name and call him Ref the Sly. Even though he is a powerful and strong man, we must preserve our dignity and make others fear to slay our followers, and therefore we here today make this man an outlaw the length and breadth of Norway and as far as our realm extends.’

After that, the king appointed Eirik, Grani’s brother, and with him sixty men, to go south to Denmark and assassinate Ref.