it down from top to bottom. Then Kol got a blow on the arm, from
a stone and then down fell his sword.
Thrain hews at Kol, and the stroke came on his leg so that it cut
it off. After that they slew Kol, and Thrain cut off his head,
and they threw the trunk overboard, but kept his head.
They took much spoil, and then they held on north to Drontheim,
and go to see the earl.
The earl gave Thrain a hearty welcome, and he shewed the earl
Kol’s head, but the earl thanked him for that deed.
Eric said it was worth more than words alone, and the earl said
so it was, and bade them come along with him.
They went thither, where the earl had made them make a good ship
that was not made like a common longship. It had a vulture’s
head, and was much carved and painted.
“Thou art a great man for show, Thrain,” said the earl, “and so
have both of you, kinsmen, been, Gunnar and thou; and now I will
give thee this ship, but it is called the Vulture. Along with it
shall go my friendship; and my will is that thou stayest with me
as long as thou wilt.”
He thanked him for his goodness, and said he had no longing to go
to Iceland just yet.
The earl had a journey to make to the marches of the land to meet
the Swede-king. Thrain went with him that summer, and was a
shipmaster and steered the Vulture, and sailed so fast that few
could keep up with him, and he was much envied. But it always
came out that the earl laid great store on Gunnar, for he set
down sternly all who tried Thrain’s temper.
So Thrain was all that winter with the earl, but next spring the
earl asked Thrain whether he would stay there or fare to Iceland;
but Thrain said he had not yet made up his mind, and said that he
wished first to know tidings from Iceland.
The earl said that so it should be as he thought it suited him
best; and Thrain was with the earl.
Then those tidings were heard from Iceland, which many thought
great news, the death of Gunnar of Lithend. Then the earl would
not that Thrain should fare out of Iceland, and so there he
stayed with him.
ENDNOTES:
(1) Hlada or Lada, and sometimes in the plural Ladir, was the
old capital of Drontheim, before Nidaros — the present
Drontheim — was founded. Drontheim was originally the name
of the country round the firth of the same name, and is not
used in the old sagas for a town.
(2) The country round the Christiania Firth, at the top of “the
Bay.”
(3) A town in Sweden on the Gota-Elf.
82. NJAL’S SONS SAIL ABROAD
Now it must be told how Njal’s sons, Grim and Helgi, left Iceland
the same summer that Thrain and his fellows went away; and in the
