{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_265/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_265","id":"gutenberg_265","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/265","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Historical Novels","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Korm\u00e1kr \u00d6gmundarson, approximately 935-970 -- Romances","Sagas -- Translations into English"],"text":"Produced by Doublas B. Killings\n\n\n\n\n\nLIFE AND DEATH OF CORMAC THE SKALD\n\nBy Unknown Author\n\n\nOriginally written in Icelandic sometime between 1250 - 1300 A.D.\nalthough parts may be based on a now lost 12th century saga.\n\nTranslation by W.G. Collingwood & J. Stefansson (Ulverston, 1901).\n\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER ONE. Cormac's Fore-Elders.\n\nHarald Fairhair was king of Norway when this tale begins. There was a\nchief in the kingdom in those days and his name was Cormac; one of the\nVik-folk by kindred, a great man of high birth. He was the mightiest of\nchampions, and had been with King Harald in many battles.\n\nHe had a son called Ogmund, a very hopeful lad; big and sturdy even as a\nchild; who when he was grown of age and come to his full strength, took\nto sea-roving in summer and served in the king's household in winter. So\nhe earned for himself a good name and great riches.\n\nOne summer he went roving about the British Isles and there he fell in\nwith a man named Asmund Ashenside, who also was a great champion and had\nworsted many vikings and men of war. These two heard tell of one another\nand challenges passed between them. They came together and fought.\nAsmund had the greater following, but he withheld some of his men from\nthe battle: and so for the length of four days they fought, until many\nof Asmund's people were fallen, and at last he himself fled. Ogmund won\nthe victory and came home again with wealth and worship.\n\nHis father said that he could get no greater glory in war,--\u201cAnd now,\u201d\n said he, \u201cI will find thee a wife. What sayest thou to Helga, daughter\nof Earl Frodi?\u201d\n\n\u201cSo be it,\u201d said Ogmund.\n\nUpon this they set off to Earl Frodi's house, and were welcomed with all\nhonour. They made known their errand, and he took it kindly, although\nhe feared that the fight with Asmund was likely to bring trouble.\nNevertheless this match was made, and then they went their ways home.\nA feast was got ready for the wedding and to that feast a very great\ncompany came together.\n\nHelga the daughter of Earl Frodi had a nurse that was a wise woman, and\nshe went with her. Now Asmund the viking heard of this marriage, and set\nout to meet Ogmund. He bade him fight, and Ogmund agreed.\n\nHelga's nurse used to touch men when they went to fight: so she did with\nOgmund before he set out from home, and told him that he would not be\nhurt much.\n\nThen they both went to the fighting holm and fought. The viking laid\nbare his side, but the sword would not bite upon it. Then Ogmund whirled\nabout his sword swiftly and shifted it from hand to hand, and hewed\nAsmund's leg from under him: and three marks of gold he took to let him\ngo with his life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWO. How Cormac Was Born and Bred.\n\nAbout this time King Harald Fairhair died, and Eric Bloodaxe reigned in\nhis stead. Ogmund would have no friendship with Eric, nor with Gunnhild,\nand made ready his ship for Iceland.\n\nNor Ogmund and Helga had a son called Frodi: but when the ship was\nnearly ready, Helga took a sickness and died; and so did their son\nFrodi.\n\nAfter that, they sailed to sea. When they were near the land, Ogmund\ncast overboard his high-seat-pillars; and where the high-seat-pillars\nhad already been washed ashore, there they cast anchor, and landed in\nMidfiord.\n\nAt this time Skeggi of Midfiord ruled the countryside. He came riding\ntoward them and bade them welcome into the firth, and gave them the\npick of the land: which Ogmund took, and began to mark out ground for\na house. Now it was a belief of theirs that as the measuring went, so\nwould the luck go: if the measuring-wand seemed to grow less when they\ntried it again and again, so would that house's luck grow less: and if\nit grew greater, so would the luck be. This time the measure always grew\nless, though they tried it three times over.\n\nSo Ogmund built him a house on the sandhills, and lived there ever\nafter. He married Dalla, the daughter of Onund the Seer, and their sons\nwere Thorgils and Cormac. Cormac was dark-haired, with a curly lock upon\nhis forehead: he was bright of blee and somewhat like his mother, big\nand strong, and his mood was rash and hasty. Thorgils was quiet and easy\nto deal with.\n\nWhen the brothers were grown up, Ogmund died; and Dalla kept house with\nher sons. Thorgils worked the farm, under the eye of Midfiord-Skeggi.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THREE. How Cormac Fell In Love.\n\nThere was a man named Thorkel lived at Tunga (Tongue). He was a wedded\nman, and had a daughter called Steingerd who was fostered in Gnupsdal\n(Knipedale).\n\nNow it was one autumn that a whale came ashore at Vatnsnes (Watsness),\nand it belonged to the brothers, Dalla's sons. Thorgils asked Cormac\nwould he rather go shepherding on the fell, or work at the whale. He\nchose to fare on the fell with the house-carles.\n\nTosti, the foreman, it was should be master of the sheep-gathering: so\nhe and Cormac went together until they came to Gnupsdal. It was night:\nthere was a great hall, and fires for men to sit at.\n\nThat evening Steingerd came out of her bower, and a maid with her. Said\nthe maid, \u201cSteingerd mine, let us look at the guests.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d she said, \u201cno need\u201d: and yet went to the door, and stepped on the\nthreshold, and spied across the gate. Now there was a space between the\nwicker and the threshold, and her feet showed through. Cormac saw that,\nand made this song:--\n\n                    (1)\n     \u201cAt the door of my soul she is standing,\n     So sweet in the gleam of her garment:\n     Her footfall awakens a fury,\n     A fierceness of love that I knew not,\n     Those feet of a wench in her wimple,\n     Their weird is my sorrow and troubling,\n     --Or naught may my knowledge avail me--\n     Both now and for aye to endure.\u201d\n\nThen Steingerd knew she was seen. She turned aside into a corner\nwhere the likeness of Hagbard was carved on the wall, and peeped under\nHagbard's beard. Then the firelight shone upon her face.\n\n\u201cCormac,\u201d said Tosti, \u201cseest eyes out yonder by that head of Hagbard?\u201d\n\nCormac answered in song:--\n\n                    (2)\n     \u201cThere breaks on me, burning upon me,\n     A blaze from the cheeks of a maiden,\n     --I laugh not to look on the vision--\n     In the light of the hall by the doorway.\n     So sweet and so slender I deem her,\n     Though I spy bug a glimpse of an ankle\n     By the threshold:--and through me there flashes\n     A thrill that shall age never more.\u201d\n\nAnd then he made another song:--\n\n                    (3)\n     \u201cThe moon of her brow, it is beaming\n     'Neath the bright-litten heaven of her forehead:\n     So she gleams in her white robe, and gazes\n     With a glance that is keen as the falcon's.\n     But the star that is shining upon me\n     What spell shall it work by its witchcraft?\n     Ah, that moon of her brow shall be mighty\n     With mischief to her--and to me?\u201d\n\nSaid Tosti, \u201cShe is fairly staring at thee!\u201d--And he answered:--\n\n                    (4)\n     \u201cShe's a ring-bedight oak of the ale-cup,\n     And her eyes never left me unhaunted.\n     The strife in my heart I could hide not,\n     For I hold myself bound in her bondage.\n     O gay in her necklet, and gainer\n     In the game that wins hearts on her chessboard,--\n     When she looked at me long from the doorway\n     Where the likeness of Hagbard is carved.\u201d\n\nThen the girls went into the hall, and sat down. He heard what they said\nabout his looks,--the maid, that he was black and ugly, and Steingerd,\nthat he was handsome and everyway as best could be,--\u201cThere is only\none blemish,\u201d said she, \u201chis hair is tufted on his forehead:\u201d--and he\nsaid:--\n\n                    (5)\n     \u201cOne flaw in my features she noted\n     --With the flame of the wave she was gleaming\n     All white in the wane of the twilight--\n     And that one was no hideous blemish.\n     So highborn, so haughty a lady\n     --I should have such a dame to befriend me:\n     But she trows me uncouth for a trifle,\n     For a tuft in the hair on my brow!\u201d\n\nSaid the maid, \u201cBlack are his eyes, sister, and that becomes him not.\u201d\n Cormac heard her, and said in verse:--\n\n                    (6)\n     \u201cYes, black are the eyes that I bring ye,\n     O brave in your jewels, and dainty.\n     But a draggle-tail, dirty-foot slattern\n     Would dub me ill-favoured and sallow.\n     Nay, many a maiden has loved me,\n     Thou may of the glittering armlet:\n     For I've tricks of the tongue to beguile them\n     And turn them from handsomer lads.\u201d\n\nAt this house they spent the night. In the morning when Cormac rose up,\nhe went to a trough and washed himself; then he went into the ladies'\nbower and saw nobody there, but heard folk talking in the inner room,\nand he turned and entered. There was Steingerd, and women with her.\n\nSaid the maid to Steingerd, \u201cThere comes thy bonny man, Steingerd.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, and a fine-looking lad he is,\u201d said she.\n\nNow she was combing her hair, and Cormac asked her, \u201cWilt thou give me\nleave?\u201d\n\nShe reached out her comb for him to handle it. She had the finest hair\nof any woman. Said the maid, \u201cYe would give a deal for a wife with hair\nlike Steingerd's, or such eyes!\u201d\n\nHe answered:--\n\n                    (7)\n     \u201cOne eye of the far of the ale-horn\n     Looking out of a form so bewitching,\n     Would a bridegroom count money to buy it\n     He must bring for it ransom three hundred.\n     The curls that she combs of a morning,\n     White-clothed in fair linen and spotless,\n     They enhance the bright hoard of her value,--\n     Five hundred might barely redeem them!\u201d\n\nSaid the maid, \u201cIt's give and take with the two of ye! But thou'lt put a\nbig price upon the whole of her!\u201d He answered:--\n\n                    (8)\n     \u201cThe tree of my treasure and longing,\n     It would take this whole Iceland to win her:\n     She is dearer than far-away Denmark,\n     And the doughty domain of the Hun-folk.\n     With the gold she is combing, I count her\n     More costly than England could ransom:\n     So witty, so wealthy, my lady\n     Is worth them,--and Ireland beside!\u201d\n\nThen Tosti came in, and called Cormac out to some work or other; but he\nsaid:--\n\n                    (9)\n     \u201cTake my swift-footed steel for thy tiding,\n     Ay, and stint not the lash to him, Tosti:\n     On the desolate downs ye may wander\n     And drive him along till he weary.\n     I care not o'er mountain and moorland\n     The murrey-brown weathers to follow,--\n     Far liefer, I'd linger the morning\n     In long, cosy chatter with Steingerd.\u201d\n\nTosti said he would find it a merrier game, and went off; so Cormac sat\ndown to chess, and right gay he was. Steingerd said he talked better\nthan folk told of; and he sat there all the day; and then he made this\nsong:--\n\n                    (10)\n     \u201c'Tis the dart that adorneth her tresses,\n     The deep, dewy grass of her forehead.\n     So kind to my keeping she gave it,\n     That good comb I shall ever remember!\n     A stranger was I when I sought her\n     --Sweet stem with the dragon's hoard shining--\u201d\n      With gold like the sea-dazzle gleaming--\n     The girl I shall never forget.\u201d\n\nTosti came off the fell and they fared home. After that Cormac used to\ngo to Gnupsdal often to see Steingerd: and he asked his mother to make\nhim good clothes, so that Steingerd might like him the most that could\nbe. Dalla said there was a mighty great difference betwixt them, and it\nwas far from certain to end happily if Thorkel at Tunga got to know.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FOUR. How Cormac Liked Black-Puddings.\n\nWell Thorkel soon heard what was going forward, and thought it would\nturn out to his own shame and his daughter's if Cormac would not pledge\nhimself to take her or leave her. So he sent for Steingerd, and she went\nhome.\n\nThorkel had a man called Narfi, a noisy, foolish fellow, boastful, and\nyet of little account. Said he to Thorkel, \u201cIf Cormac's coming likes\nthee not, I can soon settle it.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well,\u201d says Thorkel.\n\nNow, in the autumn, Narfi's work it was to slaughter the sheep. Once,\nwhen Cormac came to Tunga, he saw Steingerd in the kitchen. Narfi stood\nby the kettle, and when they had finished the boiling, he took up a\nblack-pudding and thrust it under Cormac's nose, crying:--\n\n                    (11)\n     \u201cCormac, how would ye relish one?\n     Kettle-worms I call them.\u201d\n\nTo which he answered:--\n\n                    (12)\n     \u201cBlack-puddings boiled, quoth Ogmund's son,\n     Are a dainty,--fair befall them!\u201d\n\nAnd in the evening when Cormac made ready to go home he saw Narfi, and\nbethought him of those churlish words. \u201cI think, Narfi,\u201d said he, \u201cI am\nmore like to knock thee down, than thou to rule my coming and going.\u201d\n And with that struck him an axe-hammer-blow, saying:--\n\n                    (13)\n     \u201cWhy foul with thy clowning and folly,\n     The food that is dressed for thy betters?\n     Thou blundering archer, what ails thee\n     To be aiming thy insults at me?\u201d\n\nAnd he made another song about:--\n\n                    (14)\n     \u201cHe asked me, the clavering cowherd\n     If I cared for--what was it he called them?--\n     The worms of the kettle.  I warrant\n     He'll be wiping his eyes by the hearth-stone.\n     I deem that yon knave of the dunghill\n     Who dabbles the muck on the meadow\n     --Yon rook in his mud-spattered raiment--\n     Got a rap for his noise--like a dog.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FIVE. They Waylay Cormac: And The Witch Curses Him.\n\nThere was a woman named Thorveig, and she knew a deal too much. She\nlived at Steins-stadir (Stonestead) in Midfiord, and had two sons; the\nelder was Odd, and the younger Gudmund. They were great braggarts both\nof them.\n\nThis Odd often came to see Thorkel at Tunga, and used to sit and\ntalk with Steingerd. Thorkel made a great show of friendship with the\nbrothers, and egged them on to waylay Cormac. Odd said it was no more\nthan he could do.\n\nSo one day when Cormac came to Tunga, Steingerd was in the parlour and\nsat on the dais. Thorveig's sons sat in the room, ready to fall upon him\nwhen he came in; and Thorkel had put a drawn sword on one side of the\ndoor, and on the other side Narfi had put a scythe in its shaft. When\nCormac came to the hall-door the scythe fell down and met the sword, and\nbroke a great notch in it. Out came Thorkel and began to upbraid Cormac\nfor a rascal, and got fairly wild with his talk: then flung into the\nparlour and bade Steingerd out of it. Forth they went by another door,\nand he locked her into an outhouse, saying that Cormac and she would\nnever meet again.\n\nCormac went in: and he came quicker than folk thought for, and they were\ntaken aback. He looked about, and no Steingerd: but he saw the brothers\nwhetting their weapons: so he turned on his heel and went, saying:--\n\n                    (14)\n     \u201cThe weapon that mows in the meadow\n     It met with the gay painted buckler,\n     When I came to encounter a goddess\n     Who carries the beaker of wine.\n     Beware!  for I warn you of evil\n     When warriors threaten me mischief.\n     It shall not be for nought that I pour ye\n     The newly mixed mead of the gods.\u201d\n\nAnd when he could find Steingerd nowhere, he made this song:--\n\n                    (15)\n     \u201cShe has gone, with the glitter of ocean\n     Agleam on her wrist and her bosom,\n     And my heart follows hard on her footsteps,\n     For the hall is in darkness without her.\n     I have gazed, but my glances can pierce not\n     The gloom of the desolate dwelling;\n     And fierce is my longing to find her,\n     The fair one who only can heal me.\u201d\n\nAfter a while he came to the outhouse where Steingerd was, and burst it\nopen and had talk with her.\n\n\u201cThis is madness,\u201d cried she, \u201cto come talking with me; for Thorveig's\nsons are meant to have thy head.\u201d\n\nBut he answered:--\n\n                    (16)\n     \u201cThere wait they within that would snare me;\n     There whet they their swords for my slaying.\n     My bane they shall be not, the cowards,\n     The brood of the churl and the carline.\n     Let the twain of them find me and fight me\n     In the field, without shelter to shield them,\n     And ewes of the sheep should be surer\n     To shorten the days of the wolf.\u201d\n\nSo he sat there all day. By that time Thorkel saw that the plan he had\nmade was come to nothing; and he bade the sons of Thorveig waylay Cormac\nin a dale near his garth. \u201cNarfi shall go with ye two,\u201d said he; \u201cbut I\nwill stay at home, and bring you help if need be.\u201d\n\nIn the evening Cormac set out, and when he came to the dale, he saw\nthree men, and said in verse:--\n\n                    (17)\n     \u201cThere sit they in hiding to stay me\n     From the sight of my queen of the jewels:\n     But rude will their task be to reave me\n     From the roof of my bounteous lady.\n     The fainer the hatred they harbour\n     For him that is free of her doorway,\n     The fainer my love and my longing\n     For the lass that is sweeter than samphire.\u201d\n\nThen leaped up Thorveig's sons, and fought Cormac for a time: Narfi the\nwhile skulked and dodged behind them. Thorkel saw from his house that\nthey were getting but slowly forward, and he took his weapons. In that\nnick of time Steingerd came out and saw what her father meant. She laid\nhold on his hands, and he got no nearer to help the brothers. In the end\nOdd fell, and Gudmund was so wounded that he died afterwards. Thorkel\nsaw to them, and Cormac went home.\n\nA little after this Cormac went to Thorveig and said he would have her\nno longer live there at the firth. \u201cThou shalt flit and go thy way at\nsuch a time,\u201d said he, \u201cand I will give no blood-money for thy sons.\u201d\n\nThorveig answered, \u201cIt is like enough ye can hunt me out of the\ncountryside, and leave my sons unatoned. But this way I'll reward thee.\nNever shalt thou have Steingerd.\u201d\n\nSaid Cormac, \u201cThat's not for thee to make or to mar, thou wicked old\nhag!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER SIX. Cormac Wins His Bride and Loses Her.\n\nAfter this, Cormac went to see Steingerd the same as ever: and once when\nthey talked over these doings she said no ill of them: whereupon he made\nthis song:--\n\n                    (18)\n     \u201cThere sat they in hiding to slay me\n     From the sight of my bride and my darling:\n     But weak were the feet of my foemen\n     When we fought on the island of weapons.\n     And the rush of the mightiest rivers\n     Shall race from the shore to the mountains\n     Or ever I leave thee, my lady,\n     And the love that I feast on to-day!\u201d\n\n\u201cSay no such big words about it,\u201d answered she; \u201cMany a thing may stand\nin the road.\u201d\n\nUpon which he said:--\n\n                    (19)\n     \u201cO sweet in the sheen of thy raiment,\n     The sight of thy beauty is gladdening!\n     What man that goes marching to battle,\n     What mate wouldst thou choose to be thine?\u201d\n\nAnd she answered:--\n\n                    (20)\n     \u201cO giver of gold, O ring-breaker,\n     If the gods and the high fates befriend me,\n     I'd pledge me to Frodi's blithe brother\n     And bind him that he should be mine.\u201d\n\nThen she told him to make friends with her father and get her in\nmarriage. So for her sake Cormac gave Thorkel good gifts. Afterwards\nmany people had their say in the matter; but in the end it came to\nthis,--that he asked for her, and she was pledged to him, and the\nwedding was fixed: and so all was quiet for a while.\n\nThen they had words. There was some falling-out about settlements. It\ncame to such a pass that after everything was ready, Cormac began to\ncool off. But the real reason was, that Thorveig had bewitched him so\nthat they should never have one another.\n\nThorkel at Tunga had a grown-up son, called Thorkel and by-named\nTooth-gnasher. He had been abroad some time, but this summer he came\nhome and stayed with his father.\n\nCormac never came to the wedding at the time it was fixed, and the hour\npassed by. This the kinsfolk of Steingerd thought a slight, deeming that\nhe had broken off the match; and they had much talk about it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER SEVEN. How Steingerd Was Married To Somebody Else.\n\nBersi lived in the land of Saurbae, a rich man and a good fellow: he was\nwell to the fore, a fighter, and a champion at the holmgang. He had been\nmarried to Finna the Fair: but she was dead: Asmund was their son,\nyoung in years and early ripe. Helga was the sister of Bersi: she was\nunmarried, but a fine woman and a pushing one, and she kept house for\nBersi after Finna died.\n\nAt the farm called Muli (the Mull) lived Thord Arndisarson: he was\nwedded to Thordis, sister of Bork the Stout. They had two sons who were\nboth younger than Asmund the son of Bersi.\n\nThere was also a man with Vali. His farm was named Vali's stead, and it\nstood on the way to Hrutafiord.\n\nNow Thorveig the spaewife went to see Holmgang Bersi and told him her\ntrouble. She said that Cormac forbade her staying in Midfiord: so Bersi\nbought land for her west of the firth, and she lived there for a long\ntime afterwards.\n\nOnce when Thorkel at Tunga and his son were talking about Cormac's\nbreach of faith and deemed that it should be avenged, Narfi said, \u201cI see\na plan that will do. Let us go to the west-country with plenty of goods\nand gear, and come to Bersi in Saurbae. He is wifeless. Let us entangle\nhim in the matter. He would be a great help to us.\u201d\n\nThat counsel they took. They journeyed to Saurbae, and Bersi welcomed\nthem. In the evening they talked of nothing but weddings. Narfi up and\nsaid there was no match so good as Steingerd,--\u201cAnd a deal of folk say,\nBersi, that she would suit thee.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have heard tell,\u201d he answered, \u201cthat there will be a rift in the\nroad, though the match is a good one.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf it's Cormac men fear,\u201d cried Narfi, \u201cthere is no need; for he is\nclean out of the way.\u201d\n\nWhen Bersi heard that, he opened the matter to Thorkel Toothgnasher, and\nasked for Steingerd. Thorkel made a good answer, and pledged his sister\nto him.\n\nSo they rode north, eighteen in all, for the wedding. There was a man\nnamed Vigi lived at Holm, a big man and strong of his hands, a warlock,\nand Bersi's kinsman. He went with them, and they thought he would be\na good helper. Thord Arndisarson too went north with Bersi, and many\nothers, all picked men.\n\nWhen they came to Thorkel's, they set about the wedding at once, so that\nno news of it might get out through the countryside: but all this was\nsore against Steingerd's will.\n\nNow Vigi the warlock knew every man's affairs who came to the steading\nor left it. He sat outmost in the chamber, and slept by the hall door.\n\nSteingerd sent for Narfi, and when they met she said,--\u201cI wish thee,\nkinsman, to tell Cormac the business they are about: I wish thee to take\nthis message to him.\u201d\n\nSo he set out secretly; but when he was a gone a little way Vigi came\nafter, and bade him creep home and hatch no plots. They went back\ntogether, and so the night passed.\n\nNext morning Narfi started forth again; but before he had gone so far as\non the evening, Vigi beset him, and drove him back without mercy.\n\nWhen the wedding was ended they made ready for their journey. Steingerd\ntook her gold and jewels, and they rode towards Hrutafiord, going rather\nslowly. When they were off, Narfi set out and came to Mel. Cormac was\nbuilding a wall, and hammering it with a mallet. Narfi rode up, with his\nshield and sword, and carried on strangely, rolling his eyes about like\na hunted beast. Some men were up on the wall with Cormac when he came,\nand his horse shied at them. Said Cormac,--\u201cWhat news, Narfi? What folk\nwere with you last night?\u201d\n\n\u201cSmall tidings, but we had guests enough,\u201d answered he.\n\n\u201cWho were the guests?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere was Holmgang Bersi, with seventeen more to sit at his wedding.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho was the bride?\u201d\n\n\u201cBersi wed Steingerd Thorkel's daughter,\u201d said Narfi. \u201cWhen they were\ngone she sent me here to tell thee the news.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou hast never a word but ill,\u201d said Cormac, and leapt upon him and\nstruck at the shield: and as it slipped aside he was smitten on the\nbreast and fell from his horse; and the horse ran away with the shield\n(hanging to it).\n\nCormac's brother Thorgils said this was too much. \u201cIt serves him right,\u201d\n cried Cormac. And when Narfi woke out of his swoon they got speech of\nhim.\n\nThorgils asked, \u201cWhat manner of men were at the wedding?\u201d\n\nNarfi told him.\n\n\u201cDid Steingerd know this before?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot till the very evening they came,\u201d answered he; and then told of his\ndealings with Vigi, saying that Cormac would find it easier to whistle\non Steingerd's tracks and go on a fool's errand than to fight Bersi.\nThen said Cormac:--\n\n                    (21)\n     \u201cNow see to thy safety henceforward,\n     And stick to thy horse and thy buckler;\n     Or this mallet of mine, I can tell thee,\n     Will meet with thine ear of a surety.\n     Now say no more stories of feasting,\n     Though seven in a day thou couldst tell of,\n     Or bumps thou shalt comb on thy brainpan,\n     Thou that breakest the howes of the dead.\n\nThorgils asked about the settlements between Bersi and Steingerd. Her\nkinsmen, said Narfi, were now quit of all farther trouble about that\nbusiness, however it might turn out; but her father and brother would be\nanswerable for the wedding.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER EIGHT. How Cormac Chased Bersi And His Bride.\n\nCormac took his horse and weapons and saddle-gear.\n\n\u201cWhat now, brother?\u201d asked Thorgils.\n\nHe answered:--\n\n                    (22)\n     \u201cMy bride, my betrothed has been stolen,\n     And Bersi the raider has robbed me.\n     I who offer the song-cup of Odin--\n     Who else?--should be riding beside her.\n     She loved me--no lord of them better:\n     I have lost her--for me she is weeping:\n     The dear, dainty darling that kissed me,\n     For day upon day of delight.\u201d\n\nSaid Thorgils, \u201cA risky errand is this, for Bersi will get home before\nyou catch him. And yet I will go with thee.\u201d\n\nCormac said he would away and bide for no man. He leapt on his horse\nforthwith, and galloped as hard as he could. Thorgils made haste to\ngather men,--they were eighteen in all,--and came up with Cormac on the\nhause that leads to Hrutafiord, for he had foundered his horse. So they\nturned to Thorveig the spaewife's farmsteading, and found that Bersi was\ngone aboard her boat.\n\nShe had said to Bersi, \u201cI wish thee to take a little gift from me, and\ngood luck follow it.\u201d\n\nThis was a target bound with iron; and she said she reckoned Bersi would\nhardly be hurt if he carried it to shield him,--\u201cbut it is little worth\nbeside this steading thou hast given me.\u201d He thanked her for the gift,\nand so they parted. Then she got men to scuttle all the boats on the\nshore, because she knew beforehand that Cormac and his folk were coming.\n\nWhen they came and asked her for a boat, she said she would do them no\nkindness without payment;--\u201cHere is a rotten boat in the boathouse which\nI would lend for half a mark.\u201d\n\nThorgils said it would be in reason if she asked two ounces of silver.\nSuch matters, said Cormac, should not stand in the way; but Thorgils\nsaid he would sooner ride all round the water-head. Nevertheless Cormac\nhad his will, and they started in the boat; but they had scarcely put\noff from shore when it filled, and they had hard work to get back to the\nsame spot.\n\n\u201cThou shouldst pay dearly for this, thou wicked old hag,\u201d said Cormac,\n\u201cand never be paid at all.\u201d\n\nThat was no mighty trick to play them, she said; and so Thorgils paid\nher the silver; about which Cormac made this song:--\n\n                    (23)\n     \u201cI'm a tree that is tricked out in war-gear,\n     She, the trim rosy elf of the shuttle:\n     And I break into singing about her\n     Like the bat at the well, never ceasing.\n     With the dew-drops of Draupnir the golden\n     Full dearly folk buy them their blessings;\n     Then lay down three ounces and leave them\n     For the leaky old boat that we borrowed.\u201d\n\nBersi got hastily to horse, and rode homewards; and when Cormac saw that\nhe must be left behind, he made this song:--\n\n                    (24)\n     \u201cI tell you, the goddess who glitters\n     With gold on the perch of the falcon,\n     The bride that I trusted, by beauty,\n     From the bield of my hand has been taken.\n     On the boat she makes glad in its gliding\n     She is gone from me, reft from me, ravished!\n     O shame, that we linger to save her,\n     Too sweet for the prey of the raven!\n\nThey took their horses and rode round the head of the firth. They met\nVali and asked about Bersi; he said that Bersi had come to Muli and\ngathered men to him,--\u201cA many men.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen we are too late,\u201d said Cormac, \u201cif they have got men together.\u201d\n\nThorgils begged Cormac to let them turn back, saying there was little\nhonour to be got; but Cormac said he must see Steingerd.\n\nSo Vali went with them and they came to Muli where Bersi was and many\nmen with him. They spoke together. Cormac said that Bersi had betrayed\nhim in carrying off Steingerd, \u201cBut now we would take the lady with us,\nand make him amends for his honour.\u201d\n\nTo this said Thord Arndisarson, \u201cWe will offer terms to Cormac, but the\nlady is in Bersi's hands.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is no hope that Steingerd will go with you,\u201d said Bersi; \u201cbut\nI offer my sister to Cormac in marriage, and I reckon he will be well\nwedded if take Helga.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is a good offer,\u201d said Thorgils; \u201clet us think of it, brother.\u201d\n\nBut Cormac started back like a restive horse.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER NINE. Of Another Witch, And Two Magic Swords.\n\nThere was a woman called Thordis--and a shrew she was--who lived at\nSpakonufell (Spaequean's-fell), in Skagastrand. She, having foresight of\nCormac's goings, came that very day to Muli, and answered this matter on\nhis behalf, saying, \u201cNever give him yon false woman. She is a fool, and\nnot fit for any pretty man. Woe will his mother be at such a fate for\nher lad!\u201d\n\n\u201cAroint thee, foul witch!\u201d cried Thord. They should see, said he, that\nHelga would turn out fine. But Cormac answered, \u201cSaid it may be, for\nsooth it may be: I will never think of her.\u201d\n\n\u201cWoe to us, then,\u201d said Thorgils, \u201cfor listening to the words of yon\nfiend, and slighting this offer!\u201d\n\nThen spoke Cormac, \u201cI bid thee, Bersi, to the holmgang within half a\nmonth, at Leidholm, in Middal.\u201d\n\nBersi said he would come, but Cormac should be the worse for his choice.\n\nAfter this Cormac went about the steading to look for Steingerd. When he\nfound her he said she had betrayed him in marrying another man.\n\n\u201cIt was thou that made the first breach, Cormac,\u201d said she, \u201cfor this\nwas none of my doing.\u201d\n\nThen said he in verse:--\n\n                    (25)\n     \u201cThou sayest my faith has been forfeit,\n     O fair in thy glittering raiment;\n     But I wearied my steed and outwore it,\n     And for what but the love that bare thee?\n     O fainer by far was I, lady,\n     To founder my horse in the hunting--\n     Nay, I spared not the jade when I spurred it--\n     Than to see thee the bride of my foe.\u201d\n\nAfter this Cormac and his men went home. When he told his mother how\nthings had gone, \u201cLittle good,\u201d she said, \u201cwill thy luck do us. Ye have\nslighted a fine offer, and you have no chance against Bersi, for he is a\ngreat fighter and he has good weapons.\u201d\n\nNow, Bersi owned the sword they call Whitting; a sharp sword it was,\nwith a life-stone to it; and that sword he had carried in many a fray.\n\n\u201cWhether wilt thou have weapons to meet Whitting?\u201d she asked. Cormac\nsaid he would have an axe both great and keen.\n\nDalla said he should see Skeggi of Midfiord and ask for the loan of his\nsword, Skofnung. So Cormac went to Reykir and told Skeggi how matters\nstood, asking him to lend Skofnung. Skeggi said he had no mind to lend\nit. Skofnung and Cormac, said he, would never agree: \u201cIt is cold and\nslow, and thou art hot and hasty.\u201d\n\nCormac rode away and liked it ill. He came home to Mel and told\nhis mother that Skeggi would not lend the sword. Now Skeggi had the\noversight of Dalla's affairs, and they were great friends; so she said,\n\u201cHe will lend the sword, though not all at once.\u201d\n\nThat was not what he wanted, answered Cormac,--\u201cIf he withhold it not\nfrom thee, while he does withhold it from me.\u201d Upon which she answered\nthat he was a thwart lad.\n\nA few days afterwards Dalla told him to go to Reykir. \u201cHe will lend thee\nthe sword now,\u201d said she. So he sought Skeggi and asked for Skofnung.\n\n\u201cHard wilt thou find it to handle,\u201d said Skeggi. \u201cThere is a pouch to\nit, and that thou shalt let be. Sun must not shine on the pommel of the\nhilt. Thou shalt not wear it until fighting is forward, and when ye come\nto the field, sit all alone and then draw it. Hold the edge toward thee,\nand blow on it. Then will a little worm creep from under the hilt. Then\nslope thou the sword over, and make it easy for that worm to creep back\nbeneath the hilt.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere's a tale of tricks, thou warlock!\u201d cried Cormac\n\n\u201cNevertheless,\u201d answered Skeggi, \u201cit will stand thee in good stead to\nknow them.\u201d\n\nSo Cormac rode home and told his mother, saying that her will was of\ngreat avail with Skeggi. He showed the sword, and tried to draw it, but\nit would not leave the sheath.\n\n\u201cThou are over wilful, my son,\u201d said she.\n\nThen he set his feet against the hilts, and pulled until he tore the\npouch off, at which Skofnung creaked and groaned, but never came out of\nthe scabbard.\n\nWell, the time wore on, and the day came. He rode away with fifteen men;\nBersi also rode to the holm with as many. Cormac came there first, and\ntold Thorgils that he would sit apart by himself. So he sat down and\nungirt the sword.\n\nNow, he never heeded whether the sun shone upon the hilt, for he had\ngirt the sword on him outside his clothes. And when he tried to draw it\nhe could not, until he set his feet upon the hilts. Then the little worm\ncame, and was not rightly done by; and so the sword came groaning and\ncreaking out of the scabbard, and the good luck of it was gone.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TEN. The Fight On Leidarholm.\n\nAfter that Cormac went to his men. Bersi and his party had come by that\ntime, and many more to see the fight.\n\nCormac took up Bersi's target and cut at it, and sparks flew out.\n\nThen a hide was taken and spread for them to stand on. Bersi spoke and\nsaid, \u201cThou, Cormac, hast challenged me to the holmgang; instead of\nthat, I offer thee to fight in simple sword-play. Thou art a young man\nand little tried; the holmgang needs craft and cunning, but sword-play,\nman to man, is an easy game.\u201d\n\nCormac answered, \u201cI should fight no better even so. I will run the risk,\nand stand on equal footing with thee, every way.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs thou wilt,\u201d said Bersi.\n\nIt was the law of the holmgang that the hide should be five ells long,\nwith loops at its corners. Into these should be driven certain pins with\nheads to them, called tjosnur. He who made it ready should go to the\npins in such a manner that he could see sky between his legs, holding\nthe lobes of his ears and speaking the forewords used in the rite called\n\u201cThe Sacrifice of the tjosnur.\u201d Three squares should be marked round\nthe hide, each one foot broad. At the outermost corners of the squares\nshould be four poles, called hazels; when this is done, it is a hazelled\nfield. Each man should have three shields, and when they were cut up\nhe must get upon the hide if he had given way from it before, and guard\nhimself with his weapons alone thereafter. He who had been challenged\nshould strike the first stroke. If one was wounded so that blood fell\nupon the hide, he should fight no longer. If either set one foot outside\nthe hazel poles \u201che went on his heel,\u201d they said; but he \u201cran\u201d if both\nfeet were outside. His own man was to hold the shield before each of the\nfighters. The one who was wounded should pay three marks of silver to be\nset free.\n\nSo the hide was taken and spread under their feet. Thorgils held his\nbrother's shield, and Thord Arndisarson that of Bersi. Bersi struck the\nfirst blow, and cleft Cormac's shield; Cormac struck at Bersi to the\nlike peril. Each of them cut up and spoilt three shields of the\nother's. Then it was Cormac's turn. He struck at Bersi, who parried with\nWhitting. Skofnung cut the point off Whitting in front of the ridge. The\nsword-point flew upon Cormac's hand, and he was wounded in the thumb.\nThe joint was cleft, and blood dropped upon the hide. Thereupon folk\nwent between them and stayed the fight.\n\nThen said Cormac, \u201cThis is a mean victory that Bersi has gained; it is\nonly from my bad luck; and yet we must part.\u201d\n\nHe flung down his sword, and it met Bersi's target. A shard was broken\nout of Skofnung, and fire flew out of Thorveig's gift.\n\nBersi asked the money for release, Cormac said it would be paid; and so\nthey parted.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER ELEVEN. The Songs That Were Made About The Fight.\n\nSteinar was the name of a man who was the son of Onund the Seer, and\nbrother of Dalla, Cormac's mother. He was an unpeaceful man, and lived\nat Ellidi.\n\nThither rode Cormac from the holme, to see his kinsman, and told him\nof the fight, at which he was but ill pleased. Cormac said he meant to\nleave the country,--\u201cAnd I want thee to take the money to Bersi.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou art no bold man,\u201d said Steinar, \u201cbut the money shall be paid if\nneed be.\u201d\n\nCormac was there some nights; his hand swelled much, for it was not\ndressed.\n\nAfter that meeting, Holmgang Bersi went to see his brother. Folk asked\nhow the holmgang had gone, and when he told them they said that two bold\nmen had struck small blows, and he had gained the victory only through\nCormac's mishap. When Bersi met Steingerd, and she asked how it went, he\nmade this verse:--\n\n                    (26)\n     \u201cThey call him, and truly they tell it,\n     A tree of the helmet right noble:\n     But the master of manhood must bring me\n     Three marks for his ransom and rescue.\n     Though stout in the storm of the bucklers\n     In the stress of the Valkyrie's tempest\n     He will bid me no more to the battle,\n     For the best of the struggle was ours.\u201d\n\nSteinar and Cormac rode from Ellidi and passed through Saurbae. They saw\nmen riding towards them, and yonder came Bersi. He greeted Cormac and\nasked how the wound was getting on. Cormac said it needed little to be\nhealed.\n\n\u201cWilt thou let me heal thee?\u201d said Bersi; \u201cthough from me thou didst get\nit: and then it will be soon over.\u201d\n\nCormac said nay, for he meant to be his lifelong foe. Then answered\nBersi:--\n\n                    (27)\n     \u201cThou wilt mind thee for many a season\n     How we met in the high voice of Hilda.\n     Right fain I go forth to the spear-mote\n     Being fitted for every encounter.\n     There Cormac's gay shield from his clutches\n     I clave with the bane of the bucklers,\n     For he scorned in the battle to seek me\n     If we set not the lists of the holmgang.\u201d\n\nThus they parted; and then Cormac went home to Mel and saw his mother.\nShe healed his hand; it had become ugly and healed badly. The notch in\nSkofnung they whetted, but the more they whetted the bigger it was.\nSo he went to Reykir, and flung Skofnung at Skeggi's feet, with this\nverse:--\n\n                    (28)\n     \u201cI bring thee, thus broken and edgeless,\n     The blade that thou gavest me, Skeggi!\n     I warrant thy weapon could bite not:\n     I won not the fight by its witchcraft.\n     No gain of its virtue nor glory\n     I got in the strife of the weapons,\n     When we met for to mingle the sword-storm\n     For the maiden my singing adorns.\u201d\n\nSaid Skeggi, \u201cIt went as I warned thee.\u201d Cormac flung forth and went\nhome to Mel: and when he met with Dalla he made this song:--\n\n                    (29)\n     \u201cTo the field went I forth, O my mother\n     The flame of the armlet who guardest,--\n     To dare the cave-dweller, my foeman\n     And I deemed I should smite him in battle.\n     But the brand that is bruited in story\n     It brake in my hand as I held it;\n     And this that should thrust men to slaughter\n     Is thwarted and let of its might.\n\n                    (30)\n     For I borrowed to bear in the fighting\n     No blunt-edged weapon of Skeggi:\n     There is strength in the serpent that quivers\n     By the side of the land of the girdle.\n     But vain was the virtue of Skofnung\n     When he vanquished the sharpness of Whitting;\n     And a shard have I shorn, to my sorrow,\n     From the shearer of ringleted mail.\n\n                    (31)\n     Yon tusker, my foe, wrought me trouble\n     When targe upon targe I had carven:\n     For the thin wand of slaughter was shattered\n     And it sundered the ground of my handgrip.\n     Loud bellowed the bear of the sea-king\n     When he brake from his lair in the scabbard,\n     At the hest of the singer, who seeketh\n     The sweet hidden draught of the gods.\n\n                    (32)\n     Afar must I fare, O my mother,\n     And a fate points the pathway before me,\n     For that white-wreathen tree may woo not\n     --Two wearisome morrows her outcast.\n     And it slays me, at home to be sitting,\n     So set is my heart on its goddess,\n     As a lawn with fair linen made lovely\n     --I can linger no third morrow's morn.\u201d\n\nAfter that, Cormac went one day to Reykir and talked with Skeggi, who\nsaid the holmgang had been brought to scorn. Then answered Cormac:--\n\n                    (33)\n     \u201cForget it, O Frey of the helmet,\n     --Lo, I frame thee a song in atonement--\n     That the bringer of blood, even Skofnung,\n     I bare thee so strangely belated.\n     For by stirrers of storm was I wounded;\n     They smote me where perches the falcon:\n     But the blade that I borrowed, O Skeggi,\n     Was borne in the clashing of edges.\n\n                    (34)\n     I had deemed, O thou Grey of fighting,\n     Of the fierce song of Odin,--my neighbour,\n     I had deemed that a brand meet for bloodshed\n     I bare to the crossways of slaughter.\n     Nay,--thy glaive, it would gape not nor ravin\n     Against him, the rover who robbed me:\n     And on her, as the surge on the shingle,\n     My soul beats and breaks evermore.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWELVE. Bersi's Bad Luck At The Thor's-Ness Thing.\n\nIn the winter, sports were held at Saurbae. Bersi's lad, Asmund, was\nthere, and likewise the sons of Thord; but they were younger than he,\nand nothing like so sturdy. When they wrestled Asmund took no heed\nto stint his strength, and the sons of Thord often came home blue and\nbleeding. Their mother Thordis was ill pleased, and asked her husband\nwould he give Bersi a hint to make it up on behalf of his son. Nay,\nThord answered, he was loath to do that.\n\n\u201cThen I'll find my brother Bork,\u201d said she, \u201cand it will be just as bad\nin the end.\u201d\n\nThord bade her do no such thing. \u201cI would rather talk it over with him,\u201d\n said he; and so, at her wish, he met Bersi, and hinted that some amends\nwere owing.\n\nSaid Bersi, \u201cThou art far too greedy of getting, nowadays. This kind of\nthing will end in losing thee thy good name. Thou wilt never want while\nanything is to be got here.\u201d\n\nThord went home, and there was a coolness between them while that winter\nlasted.\n\nSpring slipped by, until it was time for the meeting at Thor's-ness.\nBy then, Bersi thought he saw through this claim of Thord's, and found\nThordis at the bottom of it. For all that, he made ready to go to the\nThing. By old use and wont these two neighbours should have gone riding\ntogether; so Bersi set out and came to Muli, but when he got there Thord\nwas gone.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said he, \u201cThord has broken old use and wont in awaiting me no\nlonger.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf breach there be,\u201d answered Thordis, \u201cit is thy doing. This is\nnothing to what we owe thee, and I doubt there will be more to follow.\u201d\n\nThey had words. Bersi said that harm would come of her evil counsel; and\nso they parted.\n\nWhen he left the house he said to his men, \u201cLet us turn aside to the\nshore and take a boat; it is a long way to ride round the waterhead.\u201d So\nthey took a boat--it was one of Thord's--and went their way.\n\nThey came to the meeting when most other folks were already there, and\nwent to the tent of Olaf Peacock of Hjardarholt (Herdholt), for he was\nBersi's chief. It was crowded inside, and Bersi found no seat. He used\nto sit next Thord, but that place was filled. In it there sat a big and\nstrong-looking man, with a bear-skin coat, and a hood that shaded his\nface. Bersi stood a while before him, but the seat was not given up. He\nasked the man for his name, and was told he might call him Bruin, or\nhe might call him Hoodie--which-ever he liked; whereupon he said in\nverse:--\n\n                    (35)\n     \u201cWho sits in the seat of the warriors,\n     With the skin of the bear wrapped around him,\n     So wild in his look?--Ye have welcomed\n     A wolf to your table, good kinsfolk!\n     Ah, now may I know him, I reckon!\n     Doth he name himself Bruin, or Hoodie?--\n     We shall meet once again in the morning,\n     And maybe he'll prove to be--Steinar.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd it's no use for thee to hide thy name, thou in the bearskin,\u201d said\nhe.\n\n\u201cNo more it is,\u201d he answered. \u201cSteinar I am, and I have brought money\nto pay thee for Cormac, if so be it is needed. But first I bid thee to\nfight. It will have to be seen whether thou get the two marks of silver,\nor whether thou lose them both.\u201d\n\nUpon which quoth Bersi:--\n\n                    (36)\n     \u201cThey that waken the storm of the spear-points--\n     For slaughter and strife they are famous--\n     To the island they bid me for battle,\n     Nor bitter I think it nor woeful;\n     For long in that craft am I learned\n     To loosen the Valkyrie's tempest\n     In the lists, and I fear not to fight them--\n     Unflinching in battle am I.\n\n\u201cWell I wot, though,\u201d said he, \u201cthat ye and your gang mean to make away\nwith me. But I would let you know that I too have something to say about\nit--something that will set down your swagger, maybe.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is not thy death we are seeking,\u201d answered Steinar; \u201call we want is\nto teach thee thy true place.\u201d\n\nBersi agreed to fight him, and then went out to a tent apart and took up\nhis abode there.\n\nNow one day the word went round for bathing in the sea. Said Steinar to\nBersi, \u201cWilt try a race with me, Bersi?\u201d\n\n\u201cI have given over swimming,\u201d said he, \u201cand yet I'll try.\u201d\n\nBersi's manner of swimming was to breast the waves and strike out with\nall his might. In so doing he showed a charm he wore round his neck.\nSteinar swam at him and tore off the lucky-stone with the bag it was in,\nand threw them both into the water, saying in verse:--\n\n                    (37)\n     \u201cLong I've lived,\n     And I've let the gods guide me;\n     Brown hose I never wore\n     To bring the luck beside me.\n     I've never knit\n     All to  keep me thriving\n     Round my neck a bag of worts,\n     --And lo!  I'm living!\u201d\n\nUpon that they struck out to land.\n\nBut this turn that Steinar played was Thord's trick to make Bersi lose\nhis luck in the fight. And Thord went along the shore at low water and\nfound the luck-stone, and hid it away.\n\nNow Steinar had a sword that was called after Skrymir the giant: it was\nnever fouled, and no mishap followed it. On the day fixed, Thord and\nSteinar went out of the tent, and Cormac also came to the meeting to\nhold the shield of Steinar. Olaf Peacock got men to help Bersi at the\nfight, for Thord had been used to hold his shield, but this time failed\nhim. So Bersi went to the trysting-place with a shield-bearer who is not\nnamed in the story, and with the round target that once had belonged to\nThorveig.\n\nEach man was allowed three shields. Bersi cut up two, and then Cormac\ntook the third. Bersi hacked away, but Whitting his sword stuck fast\nin the iron border of Steinar's shield. Cormac whirled it up just when\nSteinar was striking out. He struck the shield-edge, and the sword\nglanced off, slit Bersi's buttock, sliced his thigh down to the\nknee-joint, and stuck in the bone. And so Bersi fell.\n\n\u201cThere!\u201d cried Steinar, \u201cCormac's fine is paid.\u201d\n\nBut Bersi leapt up, slashed at him, and clove his shield. The\nsword-point was at Steinar's breast when Thord rushed forth and dragged\nhim away, out of reach.\n\n\u201cThere!\u201d cried Thord to Bersi, \u201cI have paid thee for the mauling of my\nsons.\u201d\n\nSo Bersi was carried to the tent, and his wound was dressed. After a\nwhile, Thord came in; and when Bersi saw him he said:--\n\n                    (38)\n     \u201cWhen the wolf of the war-god was howling\n     Erstwhile in the north, thou didst aid me:\n     When it gaped in my hand, and it girded\n     At the Valkyries' gate for to enter.\n     But now wilt thou never, O warrior,\n     At need in the storm-cloud of Odin\n     Give me help in the tempest of targes\n     --Untrusty, unfaithful art thou.\n\n                    (39)\n     \u201cFor when I was a stripling I showed me\n     To the stems of the lightning of battle\n     Right meet for the mist of the war-maids;\n     --Ah me!  that was said long ago.\n     But now, and I may not deny it\n     My neighbours in earth must entomb me,\n     At the spot I have sought for grave-mound\n     Where Saurbae lies level and green.\u201d\n\nSaid Thord, \u201cI have no wish for thy death; but I own it is no sorrow to\nsee thee down for once.\u201d\n\nTo which Bersi answered in song:--\n\n                    (40)\n     \u201cThe friend that I trusted has failed me\n     In the fight, and my hope is departed:\n     I speak what I know of; and note it,\n     Ye nobles,--I tell ye no leasing.\n     Lo, the raven is ready for carnage,\n     But rare are the friends who should succour.\n     Yet still let them scorn me and threaten,\n     I shrink not, I am not dismayed.\u201d\n\nAfter this, Bersi was taken home to Saurbae, and lay long in his wounds.\n\nBut when he was carried into the tent, at that very moment Steinar spoke\nthus to Cormac:--\n\n                    (41)\n     \u201cOf the reapers in harvest of Hilda\n     --Thou hast heard of it--four men and eight men\n     With the edges of Skrymir to aid me\n     I have urged to their flight from the battle.\n     Now the singer, the steward of Odin,\n     Hath smitten at last even Bersi\n     With the flame of the weapon that feedeth\n     The flocks of the carrion crows.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would have thee keep Skrymir now for thy own, Cormac,\u201d said he,\n\u201cbecause I mean this fight to be my last.\u201d\n\nAfter that, they parted in friendly wise: Steinar went home, and Cormac\nfared to Mel.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER THIRTEEN. Steingerd Leaves Bersi.\n\nNext it is told of Bersi. His wound healed but slowly. Once on a time a\nmany folk were met to talk about that meeting and what came of it, and\nBersi made this song:--\n\n                    (42)\n     \u201cThou didst leave me forlorn to the sword-stroke,\n     Strong lord of the field of the serpent!\n     And needy and fallen ye find me,\n     Since my foeman ye shielded from danger.\n     Thus cunning and counsel are victors,\n     When the craft of the spear-shaft avails not;\n     But this, as I think, is the ending,\n     O Thord, of our friendship for ever!\u201d\n\nA while later Thord came to his bedside and brought back the luck-stone;\nand with it he healed Bersi, and they took to their friendship again and\nheld it unbroken ever after.\n\nBecause of these happenings, Steingerd fell into loathing of Bersi and\nmade up her mind to part with him; and when she had got everything\nready for going away she went to him and said:--\u201cFirst ye were called\nEygla's-Bersi, and then Holmgang-Bersi, but now your right name will be\nBreech-Bersi!\u201d and spoke her divorce from him.\n\nShe went north to her kinsfolk, and meeting with her brother Thorkel she\nbade him seek her goods again from Bersi--her pin-money and her dowry,\nsaying that she would not own him now that he was maimed. Thorkel\nToothgnasher never blamed her for that, and agreed to undertake her\nerrand; but the winter slipped by and his going was put off.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Bane Of Thorkel Toothgnasher.\n\nAfterwards, in the spring, Thorkel Toothgnasher set out to find Bersi\nand to seek Steingerd's goods again. Bersi said that his burden was\nheavy enough to bear, even though both together underwent the weight of\nit. \u201cAnd I shall not pay the money!\u201d said he.\n\nSaid Thorkel, \u201cI bid thee to the holmgang at Orrestholm beside Tjaldanes\n(Tentness).\u201d\n\n\u201cThat ye will think hardly worth while,\u201d said Bersi, \u201csuch a champion as\nyou are; and yet I undertake for to come.\u201d\n\nSo they came to the holme and fell to the holmgang. Thord carried the\nshield before Bersi, and Vali was Thorkel's shield-bearer. When two\nshields had been hacked to splinters, Bersi bade Thorkel take the third;\nbut he would not. Bersi still had a shield, and a sword that was long\nand sharp.\n\nSaid Thorkel, \u201cThe sword ye have, Bersi, is longer than lawful.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat shall not be,\u201d cried Bersi; and took up his other sword, Whitting,\ntwo-handed, and smote Thorkel his deathblow. Then sang he:--\n\n                    (43)\n     \u201cI have smitten Toothgnasher and slain him,\n     And I smile at the pride of his boasting.\n     One more to my thirty I muster,\n     And, men!  say ye this of the battle:--\n     In the world not a lustier liveth\n     Among lords of the steed of the oar-bench;\n     Though by eld of my strength am I stinted\n     To stain the black wound-bird with blood.\u201d\n\nAfter these things Vali bade Bersi to the holmgang, but he answered in\nthis song:--\n\n                    (44)\n     \u201cThey that waken the war of the mail-coats,\n     For warfare and manslaying famous,\n     To the lists they have bid me to battle,\n     Nor bitter I think it not woeful.\n     It is sport for yon swordsmen who goad me\n     To strive in the Valkyries' tempest\n     On the holme; but I fear not to fight them--\n     Unflinching in battle am I!\u201d\n\nThe were even about to begin fighting, when Thord came and spoke to them\nsaying:--\u201cWoeful waste of life I call it, if brave men shall be smitten\ndown for the sake of any such matters. I am ready to make it up between\nye two.\u201d\n\nTo this they agreed, and he said:--\u201cVali, this methinks is the most\nlikely way of bringing you together. Let Bersi take thy sister Thordis\nto wife. It is a match that may well be to thy worship.\u201d\n\nBersi agreed to this, and it was settled that the land of Brekka should\ngo along with her as a dowry; and so this troth was plighted between\nthem. Bersi afterwards had a strong stone wall built around his\nhomestead, and sat there for many winters in peace.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER FIFTEEN. The Rescue Of Steinvor Slim-ankles.\n\nThere was a man named Thorarin Alfsson, who lived in the north at\nThambardal; that is a dale which goes up from the fiord called Bitra.\nHe was a big man and mighty, and he was by-named Thorarin the Strong. He\nhad spent much of his time in seafaring (as a chapman) and so lucky was\nhe that he always made the harbour he aimed at.\n\nHe had three sons; one was named Alf, the next Loft, and the third\nSkofti. Thorarin was a most overbearing man, and his sons took after\nhim. They were rough, noisy fellows.\n\nNot far away, at Tunga (Tongue) in Bitra, lived a man called Odd. His\ndaughter was named Steinvor, a pretty girl and well set up; her by-name\nwas Slim-ankles. Living with Odd were many fisherman; among them,\nstaying there for the fishing-season, was one Glum, an ill-tempered\ncarle and bad to deal with.\n\nNow once upon a time these two, Odd and Glum, were in talk together\nwhich were the greatest men in the countryside. Glum reckoned Thorarin\nto be foremost, but Odd said Holmgang Bersi was better than he in every\nway.\n\n\u201cHow can ye make that out?\u201d asked Glum.\n\n\u201cIs there any likeness whatever,\u201d said Odd, \u201cbetween the bravery of\nBersi and the knavery of Thorarin?\u201d\n\nSo they talked about this until they fell out, and laid a wager upon it.\n\nThen Glum wend and told Thorarin. He grew very angry and made many a\nthreat against Odd. And in a while he went and carried off Steinvor\nfrom Tunga, all to spite her father; and he gave out that if Odd\nsaid anything against it, the worse for him: and so took her home to\nThambardal.\n\nThings went on so for a while, and then Odd went to see Holmgang Bersi,\nand told him what had happened. He asked him for help to get Steinvor\nback and to wreak vengeance for that shame. Bersi answered that such\nwords had been better unsaid, and bade him go home and take no share in\nthe business. \u201cBut yet,\u201d added he, \u201cI promise that I will see to it.\u201d\n\nNo sooner was Odd gone than Bersi made ready to go from home. He rode\nfully armed, with Whitting at his belt, and three spears; he came to\nThambardal when the day was far spent and the women were coming out\nof the bower. Steinvor saw him and turning to meet him told of her\nunhappiness.\n\n\u201cMake ready to go with me,\u201d said he; and that she did.\n\nHe would not go to Thambardal for nothing, he said; and so he turned to\nthe door where men were sitting by long fires. He knocked at the door,\nand out there came a man--his name was Thorleif. But Thorarin knew\nBersi's voice, and rushed forth with a great carving-knife and laid on\nto him. Bersi was aware of it, and drew Whitting, and struck him his\ndeath-blow.\n\nThen he leapt on horseback and set Steinvor on his knee and took his\nspears which she had kept for him. He rode some way into the wood, where\nin a hidden spot he left his horse and Steinvor, bidding her await him.\nThen he went to a narrow gap through which the high-road ran, and there\nmade ready to stand against his foes.\n\nIn Thambardal there was anything but peace. Thorleif ran to tell the\nsons of Thorarin that he lay dead in the doorway. They asked who had\ndone the deed. He told them. Then they went after Bersi and steered the\nshortest way to the gap, meaning to get there first; but by that time he\nwas already first at the gap.\n\nWhen they came near him, Bersi hurled a spear at Alf, and it went right\nthrough him. Then Loft cast at Bersi, but he caught the spear on his\ntarget and it dropped off. Then Bersi threw at Loft and killed him, and\nso he did by Skofti.\n\nWhen all was over, the house-carles of the brothers came up. Thorleif\nturned back to meet them, and they all went home together.\n\nAfter that Bersi went to find Steinvor, and mounted his horse. He came\nhome before men were out of bed. They asked him about his journey and\nhe told them. When Odd met him he asked about the fight and how it had\npassed, and Bersi answered in this verse:--\n\n                    (45)\n     \u201cThere was one fed the wolves has encountered\n     His weird in the dale of the Bowstring--\n     Thorarin the Strong, 'neath the slayer\n     Lay slain by the might of my weapon.\n     And loss of their lives men abided\n     When Loft fell, and Alf fell, and Skofti.\n     They were four, yonder kinsmen, and fated--\n     They were fey--and I met them, alone!\u201d\n\nAfter that Odd went home, but Steinvor was with Bersi, though it\nmisliked Thordis, his wife. By this time his stone wall was some-what\nbroken down, but he had it built up again; and it is said that no\nblood-money was ever paid for Thorarin and his sons. So the time went\non.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER SIXTEEN. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy.\n\nOnce on a day when Thordis and Bersi were talking together, said he,\n\u201cI have been thinking I might ask Olaf Peacock for a child of his to\nfoster.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said she, \u201cI think little of that. It seems to me a great\ntrouble, and I doubt if folk will reckon more of us for it.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt means that I should have a sure friend,\u201d answered he. \u201cI have many\nfoes, and I am growing heavy with age.\u201d\n\nSo he went to see Olaf, and asked for a child to foster. Olaf took it\nwith thanks, and Bersi carried Halldor home with him and got Steinvor to\nbe nurse. This too misliked Thordis, and she laid hands on every penny\nshe could get (for fear it should go to Steinvor and the foster-child).\n\nAt last Bersi took to ageing much. There was one time when men riding to\nthe Thing stayed at his house. He sat all by himself, and his food was\nbrought him before the rest were served. He had porridge while other\nfolk had cheese and curds. Then he made this verse:--\n\n                    (46)\n     \u201cTo batten the black-feathered wound-bird\n     With the blade of my axe have I stricken\n     Full thirty and five of my foemen;\n     I am famed for the slaughter of warriors.\n     May the fiends have my soul if I stain not\n     My sharp-edged falchion once over!\n     And then let the breaker of broadswords\n     Be borne--and with speed--to the grave!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat?\u201d said Halldor; \u201chast thou a mind to kill another man, then?\u201d\n\nAnswered Bersi, \u201cI see the man it would rightly serve!\u201d\n\nNow Thordis let her brother Vali feed his herds on the land of Brekka.\nBersi bade his house-carles work at home, and have no dealings with\nVali; but still Halldor thought it a hardship that Bersi had not his own\nwill with his own wealth. One day Bersi made this verse:--\n\n                    (47)\n     \u201cHere we lie,\n          Both on one settle--\n     Halldor and I,\n          Men of no mettle.\n     Youth ails thee,\n          But thou'lt win through it;\n     Age ails me,\n          And I must rue it!\u201d\n\n\u201cI do hate Vali,\u201d said Halldor; and Bersi answered thus in verse:--\n\n                    (48)\n     \u201cYon Vali, so wight as he would be,\n     Well wot I our pasture he grazes;\n     Right fain yonder fierce helmet-wearer\n     Under foot my dead body would trample!\n     But often my wrongs have I wreaked\n     In wrath on the mail-coated warrior--\n     On the stems of the sun of the ocean\n     I have stained the wound-serpent for less!\u201d\n\nAnd again he said:--\n\n                    (49)\n     \u201cWith eld I am listless and lamed--\n     I, the lord of the gold of the armlet:\n     I sit, and am still under many\n     A slight from the warders of spear-meads.\n     Though shield-bearers shape for the singer\n     To shiver alone in the grave-mound,\n     Yet once in the war would I redden\n     The wand that hews helms ere I fail.\u201d\n\n\u201cThy heart is not growing old, foster-father mine!\u201d cried Halldor.\n\nUpon that Bersi fell into talk with Steinvor, and said to her \u201cI am\nlaying a plot, and I need thee to help me.\u201d\n\nShe said she would if she could.\n\n\u201cPick a quarrel,\u201d said he, \u201cwith Thordis about the milk-kettle, and do\nthou hold on to it until you whelm it over between you. Then I will come\nin and take her part and give thee nought but bad words. Then go to Vali\nand tell him how ill we treat thee.\u201d\n\nEverything turned out as he had planned. She went to Vali and told him\nthat things were no way smooth for her; would he take her over the gap\n(to Bitra to her father's:) and so he did.\n\nBut when he was on the way back again, out came Bersi and Halldor to\nmeet him. Bersi had a halberd in one hand and a staff in the other, and\nHalldor had Whitting. As soon as Vali saw them he turned and hewed\nat Bersi. Halldor came at his back and fleshed Whitting in his\nhough-sinews. Thereupon he turned sharply and fell upon Halldor.\nThen Bersi set the halberd-point betwixt his shoulders. That was his\ndeath-wound.\n\nThen they set his shield at his feet and his sword at his head, and\nspread his cloak over him; and after that got on horseback and rode to\nfive homesteads to make known the deed they had done and then rode home.\nMen went and buried Vali, and the place where he fell has ever since\nbeen called Vali's fall.\n\nHalldor was twelve winters old when these doings came to pass.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER SEVENTEEN. How Steingerd Was Married Again.\n\nNow there was a man named Thorvald, the son of Eystein, bynamed\nthe Tinker: he was a wealthy man, a smith, and a skald; but he was\nmean-spirited for all that. His brother Thorvard lived in the north\ncountry at Fliot (Fleet); and they had many kinsmen,-- the Skidings they\nwere called,--but little luck or liking.\n\nNow Thorvald the Tinker asked Steingerd to wife. Her folk were for it,\nand she said nothing against it; and so she was wed to him in the very\nsame summer in which she left Bersi.\n\nWhen Cormac heard the news he made as though he knew nothing whatever\nabout the matter; for a little earlier he had taken his goods aboard\nship, meaning to go away with his brother. But one morning early he rode\nfrom the ship and went to see Steingerd; and when he got talk with her,\nhe asked would she make him a shirt. To which she answered that he had\nno business to pay her visits; neither Thorvald nor his kinsmen would\nabide it, she said, but have their revenge.\n\nThereupon he made his voice:--\n\n                    (50)\n     \u201cNay, think it or thole it I cannot,\n     That thou, a young fir of the forest\n     Enwreathed in the gold that thou guardest,\n     Shouldst be given to a tinkering tinsmith.\n     Nay, scarce can I smile, O thou glittering\n     In silk like the goddess of Baldur,\n     Since thy father handfasted and pledged thee,\n     So famed as thou art, to a coward.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn such words,\u201d answered Steingerd, \u201can ill will is plain to hear. I\nshall tell Thorvald of this ribaldry: no man would sit still under such\ninsults.\u201d\n\nThen sang Cormac:--\n\n                    (51)\n     \u201cWhat gain is to get if he threatens,\n     White goddess in raiment of beauty,\n     The scorn that the Skidings may bear me?\n     I'll set them a weft for their weaving!\n     I'll rhyme you the roystering caitiffs\n     Till rocks go afloat on the water;\n     And lucky for them if they loosen\n     The line of their fate that I ravel!\u201d\n\nThereupon they parted with no blitheness, and Cormac went to his ship.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER EIGHTEEN. Cormac's Voyage To Norway.\n\nThe two brothers had but left the roadstead, when close beside their\nship, uprose a walrus. Cormac hurled at it a pole-staff, which struck\nthe beast, so that it sank again: but the men aboard thought that they\nknew its eyes for the eyes of Thorveig the witch. That walrus came up\nno more, but of Thorveig it was heard that she lay sick to death; and\nindeed folk say that this was the end of her.\n\nThen they sailed out to sea, and at last came to Norway, where at that\ntime Hakon, the foster-son of Athelstan, was king. He made them welcome,\nand so they stayed there the winter long with all honour.\n\nNext summer they set out to the wars, and did many great deeds. Along\nwith them went a man called Siegfried, a German of good birth; and they\nmade raids both far and wide. One day as they were gone up the country\neleven men together came against the two brothers, and set upon them;\nbut this business ended in their overcoming the whole eleven, and so\nafter a while back to their ship. The vikings had given them up for\nlost, and fain were their folk when they came back with victory and\nwealth.\n\nIn this voyage the brothers got great renown: and late in the summer,\nwhen winter was coming on, they made up their minds to steer for Norway.\nThey met with cold winds; the sail was behung with icicles, but the\nbrothers were always to the fore. It was on his voyage that Cormac made\nthe song:--\n\n                    (52)\n     \u201cO shake me yon rime from the awning;\n     Your singer's a-cold in his berth;\n     For the hills are all hooded, dear Skardi,\n     In the hoary white veil of the firth.\n     There's one they call Wielder of Thunder\n     I would were as chill and as cold;\n     But he leaves not the side of his lady\n     As the lindworm forsakes not its gold.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlways talking of her now!\u201d said Thorgils; \u201cand yet thou wouldst not\nhave her when thou couldst.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat was more the fault of witchcraft,\u201d answered Cormac, \u201cthat any want\nof faith in me.\u201d\n\nNot long after they were sailing hard among crags, and shortened sail in\ngreat danger.\n\n\u201cIt is a pity Thorvald Tinker is not with us here!\u201d said Cormac.\n\nSaid Thorgils with a smile, \u201cMost likely he is better off than we,\nto-day!\u201d\n\nBut before long they came to land in Norway.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER NINETEEN. How Cormac Fought In Ireland, And Went Home To\nIceland; And How He Met Steingerd Again.\n\nWhile they were abroad there had been a change of kings; Hakon was dead,\nand Harald Greyfell reigned in his stead. They offered friendship to the\nking, and he took their suit kindly; so they went with him to Ireland,\nand fought battles there.\n\nOnce upon a time when they had gone ashore with the king, a great host\ncame against him, and as the armies met, Cormac made this song:--\n\n                    (53)\n     \u201cI dread not a death from the foemen,\n     Though we dash at them, buckler to buckler,\n     While our prince in the power of his warriors\n     Is proud of me foremost in battle.\n     But the glimpse of a glory comes o'er me\n     Like the gleam of the moon on the skerry,\n     And I faint and I fail for my longing,\n     For the fair one at home in the North.\u201d\n\n\u201cYe never get into danger,\u201d said Thorgils, \u201cbut ye think of Steingerd!\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d answered Cormac, \u201cbut it's not often I forget her.\u201d\n\nWell: this was a great battle, and king Harald won a glorious victory.\nWhile his men drove the rout before him, the brothers were shoulder to\nshoulder; and they fell upon nine men at once and fought them. And while\nthey were at it, Cormac sang:--\n\n                    (54)\n     \u201cFight on, arrow-driver, undaunted,\n     And down with the foemen of Harald!\n     What are nine?  they are nought!  Thou and I, lad,\n     Are enough;--they are ours!--we have won them!\n     But--at home,--in the arms of an outlaw\n     That all the gods loathe for a monster,\n     So white and so winsome she nestles\n     --Yet once she was loving to me!\u201d\n\n\u201cIt always comes down to that!\u201d said Thorgils. When the fight was over,\nthe brothers had got the victory, and the nine men had fallen before\nthem; for which they won great praise from the king, and many honours\nbeside.\n\nBut while they were ever with the king in his warfarings, Thorgils was\naware that Cormac was used to sleep but little; and he asked why this\nmight be. This was the song Cormac made in answer:--\n\n                    (55)\n     \u201cSurf on a rock-bound shore of the sea-king's blue domain--\n     Look how it lashes the crags, hark how it thunders again!\n     But all the din of the isles that the Delver heaves in foam\n     In the draught of the undertow glides out to the sea-gods'\n                                   home.\n     Now, which of us two should test?  Is it thou, with thy\n                                   heart at ease,\n     Or I that am surf on the shore in the tumult of angry seas?\n     --Drawn, if I sleep, to her that shines with the ocean-\n                                   gleam,\n     --Dashed, when I wake, to woe, for the want of my\n                                   glittering dream.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd now let me tell you this, brother,\u201d he went on. \u201cHereby I give out\nthat I am going back to Iceland.\u201d\n\nSaid Thorgils, \u201cThere is many a snare set for thy feet, brother, to drag\nthee down, I know not whither.\u201d\n\nBut when the king heard of his longing to begone, he sent for Cormac,\nand said that he did unwisely, and would hinder him from his journey.\nBut all this availed nothing, and aboard ship he went.\n\nAt the outset they met with foul winds, so that they shipped great seas,\nand the yard broke. Then Cormac sang:--\n\n                    (56)\n     \u201cI take it not ill, like the Tinker\n     If a trickster had foundered his muck-sled;\n     For he loves not rough travelling, the losel,\n     And loath would he be of this uproar.\n     I flinch not,--nay, hear it, ye fearless\n     Who flee not when arrows are raining,--\n     Though the steeds of the ocean be storm-bound\n     And stayed in the harbour of Solund.\u201d\n\nSo they pushed out to sea, and hard weather they tholed. Once on a time\nwhen the waves broke over the deck and drenched them all, Cormac made\nthis song:--\n\n                    (57)\n     \u201cO the Tinker's a lout and a lubber,\n     And the life of a sailor he dares not,\n     When the snow-crested surges caress us\n     And sweep us away with their kisses,\n     He bides in a berth that is warmer,\n     Embraced in the arms of his lady;\n     And lightly she lulls him to slumber,\n     --But long she has reft me of rest!\u201d\n\nThey had a very rough voyage, but landed at last in Midfiord, and\nanchored off shore. Looking landward they beheld where a lady was riding\nby; and Cormac knew at once that it was Steingerd. He bade his men\nlaunch a boat, and rowed ashore. He went quickly from the boat, and got\na horse, and rode to meet her. When they met, he leapt from horseback\nand helped her to alight, making a seat for her beside him on the\nground.\n\nTheir horses wandered away: the day passed on, and it began to grow\ndark. At last Steingerd said, \u201cIt is time to look for our horses.\u201d\n\nLittle search would be needed, said Cormac; but when he looked about,\nthey were nowhere in sight. As it happened, they were hidden in a gill\nnot far from where the two were sitting.\n\nSo, as night was hard at hand, they set out to walk, and came to a\nlittle farm, where they were taken in and treated well, even as they\nneeded. That night they slept each on either side of the carven wainscot\nthat parted bed from bed: and Cormac made this song:--\n\n                    (58)\n     \u201cWe rest, O my beauty, my brightest,\n     But a barrier lies ever between us.\n     So fierce are the fates and so mighty\n     --I feel it--that rule to their rede.\n     Ah, nearer I would be, and nigher,\n     Till nought should be left to dispart us,\n     --The wielder of Skofnung the wonder,\n     And the wearer of sheen from the deep.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was better thus,\u201d said Steingerd: but he sang:--\n\n                    (59)\n     \u201cWe have slept 'neath one roof-tree--slept softly,\n     O sweet one, O queen of the mead-horn,\n     O glory of sea-dazzle gleaming,\n     These grim hours,--these five nights, I count them.\n     And here in the kettle-prow cabined\n     While the crow's day drags on in the darkness,\n     How loathly me seems to be lying,\n     How lonely,--so near and so far!\u201d\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d said she, \u201cis all over and done with; name it no more.\u201d But he\nsang:--\n\n                    (60)\n     \u201cThe hot stone shall float,--ay, the hearth-stone\n     Like a husk of the corn on the water,\n     --Ah, woe for the wight that she loves not!--\n     And the world,--ah, she loathes me!--shall perish,\n     And the fells that are famed for their hugeness\n     Shall fail and be drowned in the ocean,\n     Or ever so gracious a goddess\n     Shall grow into beauty like Steingerd.\u201d\n\nThen Steingerd cried out that she would not have him make songs upon\nher: but he went on:--\n\n                    (61)\n     \u201cI have known it and noted it clearly,\n     O neckleted fair one, in visions,\n     --Is it doom for my hopes,--is it daring\n     To dream?--O so oft have I seen it!--\n     Even this,--that the boughs of thy beauty,\n     O braceleted fair one, shall twine them\n     Round the hill where the hawk loves to settle,\n     The hand of thy lover, at last.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d said she, \u201cnever shall be, if I can help it. Thou didst let me\ngo, once for all; and there is no more hope for thee.\u201d\n\nSo then they slept the night long; and in the morning, when Cormac was\nmaking ready to be gone, he found Steingerd, and took the ring off his\nfinger to give her.\n\n\u201cFiend take thee and thy gold together!\u201d she cried. And this is what he\nanswered:--\n\n                    (62)\n     \u201cTo a dame in her broideries dainty\n     This drift of the furnace I tendered;\n     O day of ill luck, for a lover\n     So lured, and so heartlessly cheated!\n     Too blithe in the pride of her beauty--\n     The bliss that I crave she denies me;\n     So rich that no boon can I render,\n     --And my ring she would hurl to the fiends!\u201d\n\nSo Cormac rode forth, being somewhat angry with Steingerd, but still\nmore so with the Tinker. He rode home to Mel, and stayed there all the\nwinter, taking lodgings for his chapmen near the ship.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY. Of A Spiteful Song That Cormac Never Made; And How Angry\nSteingerd Was.\n\nNow Thorvald the Tinker lived in the north-country at Svinadal\n(Swindale), but his brother Thorvard at Fliot. In the winter Cormac took\nhis way northward to see Steingerd; and coming to Svinadal he dismounted\nand went into the chamber. She was sitting on the dais, and he took his\nseat beside her; Thorvald sat on the bench, and Narfi by him.\n\nThen said Narfi to Thorvald, \u201cHow canst thou sit down, with Cormac here?\nIt is no time, this, for sitting still!\u201d\n\nBut Thorvald answered, \u201cI am content; there is no harm done it seems to\nme, though they do talk together.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is ill,\u201d said Narfi.\n\nNot long afterwards Thorvald met his brother Thorvard and told him about\nCormac's coming to his house.\n\n\u201cIs it right, think you,\u201d said Thorvard, \u201cto sit still while such things\nhappen?\u201d\n\nHe answered that there was no harm done as yet, but that Cormac's coming\npleased him not.\n\n\u201cI'll mend that,\u201d cried Thorvard, \u201cif you dare not. The shame of it\ntouches us all.\u201d\n\nSo this was the next thing,--that Thorvard came to Svinadal, and the\nSkiding brothers and Narfi paid a gangrel beggar-man to sing a song in\nthe hearing of Steingerd, and to say that Cormac had made it,--which was\na lie. They said that Cormac had taught this song to one called Eylaug,\na kinswoman of his; and these were the words:--\n\n                    (63)\n     \u201cI wish an old witch that I know of,\n     So wealthy and proud of her havings,\n     Were turned to a steed in the stable\n     --Called Steingerd--and I were the rider!\n     I'd bit her, and bridle, and saddle,\n     I'd back her and drive her and tame her;\n     So many she owns for her masters,\n     But mine she will never become!\u201d\n\nThen Steingerd grew exceedingly angry, so that she would not so much as\nhear Cormac named. When he heard that, he went to see her. Long time\nhe tried in vain to get speech with her; but at last she gave this\nanswer,--that she misliked his holding her up to shame,--\u201cAnd now it is\nall over the country-side!\u201d\n\nCormac said it was not true; but she answered, \u201cThou mightest flatly\ndeny it, if I had not heard it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho sang it in thy hearing?\u201d asked he.\n\nShe told him who sang it,--\u201cAnd thou needest not hope for speech with me\nif this prove true.\u201d\n\nHe rode away to look for the rascal, and when he found him the truth\nwas forced out at last. Cormac was very angry, and set on Narfi and slew\nhim. That same onset was meant for Thorvald, but he hid himself in the\nshadow and skulked, until men came between then and parted them. Said\nCormac:--\n\n                    (64)\n     \u201cThere, hide in the house like a coward,\n     And hope not hereafter to scare me\n     With the scorn of thy brethren the Skidings,--\n     I'll set them a weft for their weaving!\n     I'll rhyme on the swaggering rascals\n     Till rocks go afloat on the water;\n     And lucky for you if ye loosen\n     The line of your fate that I ravel!\u201d\n\nThis went all over the country-side and the feud grew fiercer between\nthem. The brothers Thorvald and Thorvard used big words, and Cormac was\nwroth when he heard them.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. How Thorvard Would Not Fight, But Tried To Get The\nLaw Of Cormac.\n\nAfter this Thorvard sent word from Fliot that he was fain to fight\nCormac, and he fixed time and place, saying that he would now take\nrevenge for that song of shame and all other slights.\n\nTo this Cormac agreed; and when the day came he went to the spot that\nwas named, but Thorvard was not there, nor any of his men. Cormac met a\nwoman from the farm hard by, who greeted him, and they asked each other\nfor news.\n\n\u201cWhat is your errand?\u201d said she; \u201cand why are you waiting here?\u201d\n\nThen he answered with this song:--\n\n                    (65)\n     \u201cToo slow for the struggle I find him,\n     That spender of fire from the ocean,\n     Who flung me a challenge to fight him\n     From Fleet in the land of the North.\n     That half-witted hero should get him\n     A heart made of clay for his carcase,\n     Though the mate of the may with the necklace\n     Is more of a fool than his fere!\u201d\n\n\u201cNow,\u201d said Cormac, \u201cI bid Thorvard anew to the holmgang, if he can\nbe called in his right mind. Let him be every man's nithing if he come\nnot!\u201d and then he made this song:--\n\n                    (66)\n     \u201cThe nithing shall silence me never,\n     Though now for their shame they attack me,\n     But the wit of the Skald is my weapon,\n     And the wine of the gods will uphold me.\n     And this they shall feel in its fulness;\n     Here my fame has its birth and beginning;\n     And the stout spears of battle shall see it,\n     If I 'scape from their hands with my life.\u201d\n\nThen the brothers set on foot a law-suit against him for libel. Cormac's\nkinsmen backed him up to answer it, and he would let no terms be made,\nsaying that they deserved the shame put upon them, and no honour; he was\nnot unready to meet them, unless they played him false. Thorvard had\nnot come to the holmgang when he had been challenged, and therefore the\nshame had fallen of itself upon him and his, and they must put up with\nit.\n\nSo time passed until the Huna-water Thing. Thorvard and Cormac both went\nto the meeting, and once they came together.\n\n\u201cMuch enmity we owe thee,\u201d said Thorvard, \u201cand in many ways. Now\ntherefore I challenge thee to the holmgang, here at the Thing.\u201d\n\nSaid Cormac, \u201cWilt thou be fitter than before? Thou hast drawn back time\nafter time.\u201d\n\n\u201cNevertheless,\u201d said Thorvard, \u201cI will risk it. We can abide thy spite\nno longer.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Cormac, \u201cI'll not stand in the way;\u201d and went home to Mel.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY-TWO. What The Witch Did For Them In Their Fights.\n\nAt Spakonufell (Spae-wife's-fell) lived Thordis the spae-wife, of whom\nwe have told before, with her husband Thorolf. They were both at the\nThing, and many a man thought her good-will was of much avail. So\nThorvard sought her out, to ask her help against Cormac, and gave her a\nfee; and she made him ready for the holmgang according to her craft.\n\nNow Cormac told his mother what was forward, and she asked if he thought\ngood would come of it.\n\n\u201cWhy not?\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cThat will not be enough for thee,\u201d said Dalla. \u201cThorvard will never\nmake bold to fight without witchcraft to help him. I think it wise for\nthee to see Thordis the spae-wife, for there is going to be foul play in\nthis affair.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is little to my mind,\u201d said he; and yet went to see Thordis, and\nasked her help.\n\n\u201cToo late ye have come,\u201d said she. \u201cNo weapon will bite on him now. And\nyet I would not refuse thee. Bide here to-night, and seek thy good luck.\nAnyway, I can manage so that iron bite thee no more than him.\u201d\n\nSo Cormac stayed there for the night; and, awaking, found that some one\nwas groping round the coverlet at his head. \u201cWho is there?\u201d he asked,\nbut whoever it was made off, and out at the house-door, and Cormac\nafter. And then he saw it was Thordis, and she was going to the place\nwhere the fight was to be, carrying a goose under her arm.\n\nHe asked what it all meant, and she set down the goose, saying, \u201cWhy\ncouldn't ye keep quiet?\u201d\n\nSo he lay down again, but held himself awake, for he wanted to know what\nshe would be doing. Three times she came, and every time he tried to\nfind out what she was after. The third time, just as he came out, she\nhad killed two geese and let the blood run into a bowl, and she had\ntaken up the third goose to kill it.\n\n\u201cWhat means this business, foster-mother?\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cTrue it will prove, Cormac, that you are a hard one to help,\u201d said she.\n\u201cI was going to break the spell Thorveig laid on thee and Steingerd. Ye\ncould have loved one another been happy if I had killed the third goose\nand no one seen it.\u201d\n\n\u201cI believe nought of such things,\u201d cried he; and this song he made about\nit:--\n\n                    (67)\n     \u201cI gave her an ore at the ayre,\n     That the arts of my foe should not prosper;\n     And twice she has taken the knife,\n     And twice she has offered the offering;\n     But the blood is the blood of a goose--\n     What boots it if two should be slaughtered?--\n     Never sacrifice geese for a Skald\n     Who sings for the glory of Odin!\u201d\n\nSo they went to the holmgang: but Thorvald gave the spae-wife a still\ngreater fee, and offered the sacrifice of geese; and Cormac said:--\n\n                    (68)\n     \u201cTrust never another man's mistress!\n     For I know, on this woman who weareth\n     The fire of the field of the sea-king\n     The fiends have been riding to revel.\n     The witch with her hoarse cry is working\n     For woe when we go to the holmgang,\n     And if bale be the end of the battle\n     The blame, be assured, will be hers.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d she said, \u201cI can manage so that none shall know thee.\u201d Then\nCormac began to upbraid her, saying she did nought but ill, and wanting\nto drag her out to the door to look at her eyes in the sunshine. His\nbrother Thorgils made him leave that:--\u201cWhat good will it do thee?\u201d said\nhe.\n\nNow Steingerd gave out that she had a mind to see the fight; and so she\ndid. When Cormac saw her he made this song:--\n\n                    (69)\n     \u201cI have fared to the field of the battle,\n     O fair one that wearest the wimple!\n     And twice for thy sake have I striven;\n     What stays me as now from thy favour?\n     This twice have I gotten thee glory,\n     O goddess of ocean!  and surely\n     To my dainty delight, to my darling\n     I am dearer by far than her mate.\u201d\n\nSo then they set to. Cormac's sword bit not at all, and for a long while\nthey smote strokes one upon the other, but neither sword bit. At last\nCormac smote upon Thorvard's side so great a blow that his ribs gave\nway and were broken; he could fight no more, and thereupon they parted.\nCormac looked and saw where a bull was standing, which he slew for a\nsacrifice; and being heated, he doffed his helmet from his head, saying\nthis song:--\n\n                    (70)\n     \u201cI have fared to the field of the battle,\n     O fair one that wearest the bracelet!\n     Even three times for thee have I striven,\n     And this thou canst never deny me.\n     But the reed of the fight would not redden,\n     Though it rang on the shield-bearer's harness;\n     For the spells of a spae-wife had blunted\n     My sword that was eager for blood.\u201d\n\nHe wiped the sweat from him on the corner of Steingerd's mantle; and\nsaid:--\n\n                    (71)\n     \u201cSo oft, being wounded and weary,\n     I must wipe my sad brow on thy mantle.\n     What pangs for thy sake are my portion,\n     O pine-tree with red gold enwreathed!\n     Yet beside thee he snugs on the settle\n     As thou seamest thy broidery,--that rhymester!\n     And the shame of it whelms me in sorrow,\n     O Steingerd!--that rascal unslain!\u201d\n\nAnd then Cormac prayed Steingerd that she would go with him: but Nay,\nshe said; she would have her own way about men. So they parted, and both\nwere ill pleased.\n\nThorvard was taken home, and she bound his wounds. Cormac was now always\nmeeting with Steingerd. Thorvard healed but slowly; and when he could\nget on his feet he went to see Thordis, and asked her what was best to\nhelp his healing.\n\n\u201cA hill there is,\u201d answered she, \u201cnot far away from here, where elves\nhave their haunt. Now get you the bull that Cormac killed, and redden\nthe outer side of the hill with its blood, and make a feast for the\nelves with its flesh. Then thou wilt be healed.\u201d\n\nSo they sent word to Cormac that they would buy the bull. He answered\nthat he would sell it, but then he must have the ring that was\nSteingerd's. So they brought the ring, took the bull, and did with it as\nThordis bade them do. On which Cormac made a song:--\n\n                    (72)\n     \u201cWhen the workers of wounds are returning,\n     And with them the sacrifice reddened,\n     Then a lady in raiment of linen,\n     Who loved me, time was,--she will ask:--\n     My ring,--have ye robbed me?--where is it?\n     --I have wrought them no little displeasure:\n     For the swain that is swarthy has won it,\n     The son of old Ogmund, the skald.\u201d\n\nIt fell out as he guessed. Steingerd was very angry because they had\nsold her ring.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY-THREE. How Cormac Beat Thorvard Again.\n\nAfter that, Thorvard was soon healed, and when he thought he was strong\nagain, he rode to Mel and challenged Cormac to the holmgang.\n\n\u201cIt takes thee long to tire of it,\u201d said Cormac: \u201cbut I'll not say thee\nnay.\u201d\n\nSo they went to the fight, and Thordis met Thorvard now as before, but\nCormac sought no help from her. She blunted Cormac's sword, so that\nit would not bite, but yet he struck so great a stroke on Thorvard's\nshoulder that the collarbone was broken and his hand was good for\nnothing. Being so maimed he could fight no longer, and had to pay\nanother ring for his ransom.\n\nThen Thorolf of Spakonufell set upon Cormac and struck at him. He warded\noff the blow and sang this song:--\n\n                    (73)\n     \u201cThis reddener of shields, feebly wrathful,\n     His rusty old sword waved against me,\n     Who am singer and sacred to Odin!\n     Go, snuffle, most wretched of men, thou!\n     A thrust of thy sword is as thewless\n     As thou, silly stirrer of battle.\n     What danger to me from thy daring,\n     Thou doited old witch-woman's carle?\u201d\n\nThen he killed a bull in sacrifice according to use and wont, saying,\n\u201cIll we brook your overbearing and the witchcraft of Thordis:\u201d and he\nmade this song:--\n\n                    (74)\n     \u201cThe witch in the wave of the offering\n     Has wasted the flame of the buckler,\n     Lest its bite on his back should be deadly\n     At the bringing together of weapons.\n     My sword was not sharp for the onset\n     When I sought the helm-wearer in battle;\n     But the cur got enough to cry craven,\n     With a clout that will mind him of me!\u201d\n\nAfter that each party went home, and neither was well pleased with these\ndoings.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR. How They All Went Out To Norway.\n\nNow all the winter long Cormac and Thorgils laid up their ship in\nHrutafiord; but in spring the chapmen were off to sea, and so the\nbrothers made up their minds for the voyage. When they were ready to\nstart, Cormac went to see Steingerd: and before they two parted he\nkissed her twice, and his kisses were not at all hasty. The Tinker would\nnot have it; and so friends on both sides came in, and it was settled\nthat Cormac should pay for this that he had done.\n\n\u201cHow much?\u201d asked he.\n\n\u201cThe two rings that I parted with,\u201d said Thorvard. Then Cormac made a\nsong:--\n\n                    (75)\n     \u201cHere is gold of the other's well gleaming\n     In guerdon for this one and that one,--\n     Here is treasure of Fafnir the fire-drake\n     In fee for the kiss of my lady.\n     Never wearer of ring, never wielder\n     Of weapon has made such atonement;\n     Never dearer were deeply-drawn kisses,--\n     For the dream of my bliss is betrayed.\u201d\n\nAnd then, when he started to go aboard his ship he made another song:--\n\n                    (76)\n     \u201cOne song from my heart would I send her\n     Ere we shall, ere I leave her and lose her,\n     That dainty one, decked in her jewels\n     Who dwells in the valley of Swindale.\n     And each word that I utter shall enter\n     The ears of that lady of bounty,\n     Saying--Bright one, my beauty, I love thee,\n     Ah, better by far than my life!\u201d\n\nSo Cormac went abroad and his brother Thorgils went with him; and when\nthey came to the king's court they were made welcome.\n\nNow it is told that Steingerd spoke to Thorvald the Tinker that they\nalso should abroad together. He answered that it was mere folly, but\nnevertheless he could not deny her. So they set off on their voyage: and\nas they made their way across the sea, they were attacked by vikings who\nfell on them to rob them and to carry away Steingerd. But it so happened\nthat Cormac heard of it; and he made after them and gave good help, so\nthat they saved everything that belonged to them, and came safely at\nlast to the court of the king of Norway.\n\nOne day Cormac was walking in the street, and spied Steingerd sitting\nwithin doors. So he went into the house and sat down beside her, and\nthey had a talk together which ended in his kissing her four kisses. But\nThorvald was on the watch. He drew his sword, but the women-folk rushed\nin to part them, and word was sent to King Harald. He said they were\nvery troublesome people to keep in order.--\u201cBut let me settle this\nmatter between you,\u201d said he; and they agreed.\n\nThen spake the king:--\u201cOne kiss shall be atoned for by this, that Cormac\nhelped you to get safely to land. The next kiss is Cormac's, because he\nsaved Steingerd. For the other two he shall pay two ounces of gold.\u201d\n\nUpon which Cormac sang the same song that he had made before:--\n\n                    (77)\n     \u201cHere is gold of the otter's well gleaming\n     In guerdon for this one and that one,--\n     Here is treasure of Fafnir the fire-drake\n     In fee for the kiss of my lady.\n     Never wearer of ring, never wielder\n     Of weapon has made such atonement;\n     Never dearer were deeply-drawn kisses--\n     And the dream of my bliss is betrayed.\u201d\n\nAnother day he was walking in the street and met Steingerd again. He\nturned to her and prayed her to walk with him. She would not; whereupon\nhe laid hand on her, to lead her along. She cried out for help; and as\nit happened, the king was standing not far off, and went up to them.\nHe thought this behaviour most unseemly, and took her away, speaking\nsharply to Cormac. King Harald made himself very angry over this affair;\nbut Cormac was one of his courtiers, and it was not long before he got\ninto favour again, and then things went fair and softly for the rest of\nthe winter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE. How They Cruised With The King's Fleet, And\nQuarrelled, And Made It Up.\n\nIn the following spring King Harald set forth to the land of Permia with\na great host. Cormac was one of the captains in that warfaring, and in\nanother ship was Thorvald: the other captains of ships are not named in\nour story.\n\nNow as they were all sailing in close order through a narrow sound,\nCormac swung his steering-oar and hit Thorvald a clout on the ear, so\nthat he fell from his place at the helm in a swoon; and Cormac's ship\nhove to, when she lost her rudder. Steingerd had been sitting beside\nThorvald; she laid hold of the tiller, and ran Cormac down. When he saw\nwhat she was doing, he sang:--\n\n                    (78)\n     \u201cThere is one that is nearer and nigher\n     To the noblest of dames than her lover:\n     With the haft of the helm is he smitten\n     On the hat-block--and fairly amidships!\n     The false heir of Eystein--he falters--\n     He falls in the poop of his galley!\n     Nay!  steer not upon me, O Steingerd,\n     Though stoutly ye carry the day!\u201d\n\nSo Cormac's ship capsized under him; but his crew were saved without\nloss of time, for there were plenty of people round about. Thorvald soon\ncame round again, and they all went on their way. The king offered\nto settle the matter between them; and when they both agreed, he gave\njudgment that Thorvald's hurt was atoned for by Cormac's upset.\n\nIn the evening they went ashore; and the king and his men sat down to\nsupper. Cormac was sitting outside the door of a tent, drinking out of\nthe same cup with Steingerd. While they were busy at it, a young fellow\nfor mere sport and mockery stole the brooch out of Cormac's fur cloak,\nwhich he had doffed and laid aside; and when he came to take his cloak\nagain, the brooch was gone. He sprang up and rushed after the young\nfellow, with the spear that he called Vigr (the spear) and shot at him,\nbut missed. This was the song he made about it:--\n\n                    (79)\n     \u201cThe youngster has pilfered my pin,\n     As I pledged the gay dame in the beaker;\n     And now must we brawl for a brooch\n     Like boys when they wrangle and tussle.\n     Right well have I shafted my spear,\n     Though I shot nothing more than the gravel:\n     But sure, if I missed at my man,\n     The moss has been prettily slaughtered!\u201d\n\nAfter this they went on their way to the land of Permia, and after that\nthey went home again to Norway.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY-SIX. How Cormac Saved Steingerd Once More From Pirates;\nAnd How They Parted For Good And All.\n\nThorvald the Tinker fitted out his ship for a cruise to Denmark, and\nSteingerd sailed with him. A little afterwards the brothers set out on\nthe same voyage, and late one evening they made the Brenneyjar.\n\nThere they saw Thorvald's ship riding, and found him aboard with part of\nhis crew; but they had been robbed of all their goods, and Steingerd\nhad been carried off by Vikings. Now the leader of those Vikings was\nThorstein, the son of that Asmund Ashenside, the old enemy of Ogmund,\nthe father of Cormac and Thorgils.\n\nSo Thorvald and Cormac met, and Cormac asked how came it that his voyage\nhad been so unlucky.\n\n\u201cThings have not turned out for the best, indeed,\u201d said he.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter?\u201d asked Cormac. \u201cIs Steingerd missing?\u201d\n\n\u201cShe is gone,\u201d said Thorvald, \u201cand all our goods.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy don't you go after her?\u201d asked Cormac.\n\n\u201cWe are not strong enough,\u201d said Thorvald.\n\n\u201cDo you mean to say you can't?\u201d said Cormac.\n\n\u201cWe have not the means to fight Thorstein,\u201d said Thorvald. \u201cBut if thou\nhast, go in and fight for thy own hand.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will,\u201d said Cormac.\n\nSo at nightfall the brothers went in a boat and rowed to the Viking\nfleet, and boarded Thorstein's ship. Steingerd was in the cabin on the\npoop; she had been allotted to one of the Vikings; but most of the crew\nwere ashore round the cooking-fires. Cormac got the story out of the men\nwho were cooking, and they told all the brothers wanted to know. They\nclambered on board by the ladder; Thorgils dragged the bridegroom out to\nthe gunwale, and Cormac cut him down then and there. Then he dived into\nthe sea with Steingerd and swam ashore; but when he was nearing the land\na swarm of eels twisted round his hands and feet, so that he was dragged\nunder. On which he made this song:--\n\n                    (80)\n     \u201cThey came at me yonder in crowds,\n     O kemp of the shield-serpents' wrangle!\n     When I fared on my way through the flood,\n     That flock of the wights of the water.\n     And ne'er to the gate of the gods\n     Had I got me, if there had I perished;\n     Yet once and again have I won,\n     Little woman, thy safety in peril!\u201d\n\nSo he swam ashore and brought Steingerd back to her husband.\n\nThorvald bade Steingerd to go, at last, along with Cormac, for he had\nfairly won her, and manfully. That was what he, too, desired, said\nCormac; but \u201cNay,\u201d said Steingerd, \u201cshe would not change knives.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Cormac, \u201cit was plain that this was not to be. Evil\nbeings,\u201d he said, \u201cill luck, had parted them long ago.\u201d And he made this\nsong:--\n\n                    (81)\n     \u201cNay, count not the comfort had brought me,\n     Fair queen of the ring, thy embrace!\n     Go, mate with the man of thy choosing,\n     Scant mirth will he get of thy grace!\n     Be dearer henceforth to thy dastard,\n     False dame of the coif, than to me;--\n     I have spoken the word; I have sung it;--\n     I have said my last farewell to thee.\u201d\n\nAnd so he bade her begone with her husband.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN. The Swan-Songs of Cormac.\n\nAfter these things the brothers turned back to Norway, and Thorvald the\nTinker made his way to Iceland. But the brothers went warfaring round\nabout Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland, and they were reckoned to\nbe the most famous of men. It was they who first built the castle of\nScarborough; they made raids into Scotland, and achieved many great\nfeats, and led a mighty host; and in all that host none was like Cormac\nin strength and courage.\n\nOnce upon a time, after a battle, Cormac was driving the flying foe\nbefore him while the rest of his host had gone back aboard ship. Out of\nthe woods there rushed against him one as monstrous big as an idol--a\nScot; and a fierce struggle began. Cormac felt for his sword, but it\nhad slipped out of the sheath; he was over-matched, for the giant was\npossessed; but yet he reached out, caught his sword, and struck the\ngiant his death-blow. Then the giant cast his hands about Cormac, and\ngripped his sides so hard that the ribs cracked, and he fell over, and\nthe dead giant on top of him, so that he could not stir. Far and wide\nhis folk were looking for him, but at last they found him and carried\nhim aboard ship. Then he made this song:--\n\n                    (82)\n     \u201cWhen my manhood was matched in embraces\n     With the might of yon horror, the strangler,\n     Far other I found it than folding\n     That fair one ye know in my arms!\n     On the high-seat of heroes with Odin\n     From the horn of the gods I were drinking\n     O'er soon--let me speak it to warriors--\n     If Skrymir had failed of his aid.\u201d\n\nThen his wounds were looked to; they found that his ribs were broken on\nboth sides. He said it was no use trying to heal him, and lay there in\nhis wounds for a time, while his men grieved that he should have been so\nunwary of his life.\n\nHe answered them in song:--\n\n                    (83)\n     \u201cOf yore never once did I ween it,\n     When I wielded the cleaver of targets,\n     That sickness was fated to foil me--\n     A fighter so hardy as I.\n     But I shrink not, for others must share it,\n     Stout shafts of the spear though they deem them,\n     --O hard at my heart is the death-pang,--\n     Thus hopeless the bravest may die.\u201d\n\nAnd this song also:--\n\n                    (84)\n     \u201cHe came not with me in the morning,\n     Thy mate, O thou fairest of women,\n     When we reddened for booty the broadsword,\n     So brave to the hand-grip, in Ireland:\n     When the sword from its scabbard was loosened\n     And sang round my cheeks in the battle\n     For the feast of the Fury, and blood-drops\n     Fell hot on the neb of the raven.\u201d\n\nAnd then he began to fail.\n\nThis was his last song:--\n\n                    (85)\n     \u201cThere was dew from the wound smitten deeply\n     That drained from the stroke of the sword-edge;\n     There was red on the weapon I wielded\n     In the war with the glorious and gallant:\n     Yet not where the broadsword,--the blood wand,--\n     Was borne by the lords of the falchion,\n     But low in the straw like a laggard,\n     O my lady, dishonoured I die!\u201d\n\nHe said that his will was to give Thorgils his brother all he had,--the\ngoods he owned and the host he led; for he would like best, he said,\nthat his brother should have the use of them.\n\nSo then Cormac died. Thorgils became captain over the host, and was long\ntime in viking.\n\nAnd so ends the story.","title":"The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":18125}