will give thee a piece of advice, which will stand thee in good
stead, if thou canst carry it out to the letter. First of all,
thou must ride home from the Thing, and by that time thy husband
will have come back, and will be glad to see thee; thou must be
blithe and buxom to him, and he will think a good change has come
over thee, and thou must show no signs of coldness or ill-temper,
but when spring comes thou must sham sickness, and take to thy
bed. Hrut will not lose time in guessing what thy sickness can
be, nor will he scold thee at all, but he will rather beg every
one to take all the care they can of thee. After that he will
set off west to the Firths, and Sigmund with him, for he will
have to flit all his goods home from the Firths west, and he will
be away till the summer is far spent. But when men ride to the
Thing, and after all have ridden from the Dales that mean to ride
thither; then thou must rise from thy bed and summon men to go
along with thee to the Thing; and when thou art “allboun,” then
shalt thou go to thy bed, and the men with thee who are to bear
thee company, and thou shalt take witness before thy husband’s
bed, and declare thyself separated from him by such a lawful
separation as may hold good according to the judgment of the
Great Thing, and the laws of the land; and at the man’s door the
main door of the house, thou shalt take the same witness. After
that ride away, and ride over Laxriverdale Heath, and so on over
Holtbeacon Heath; for they will look for thee by way of
Hrutfirth. And so ride on till thou comest to me; then I will
see after the matter. But into his hands thou shalt never come
more.”
Now she rides home from the Thing, and Hrut had come back before
her, and made her hearty welcome. She answered him kindly, and
was blithe and forbearing towards him. So they lived happily
together that halfyear; but when spring came she fell sick, and
kept her bed. Hrut set off west to the Firths, and bade them
tend her well before he went. Now, when the time for the Thing
comes, she busked herself to ride away, and did in every way as
had been laid down for her; and then she rides away to the Thing.
The country folk looked for her, but could not find her. Mord
made his daughter welcome, and asked her if she had followed his
advice; and she says, “I have not broken one tittle of it.”
Then she went to the Hill of Laws, and declared herself separated
from Hrut; and men thought this strange news. Unna went home
with her father, and never went west from that day forward.
8. MORD CLAIMS HIS GOODS FROM HRUT
Hrut came home, and knit his brows when he heard his wife was
gone, but yet kept his feelings well in hand, and stayed at home
all that halfyear, and spoke to no one on the matter. Next
summer he rode to the Thing, with his brother Hauskuld, and they
had a great fellowing. But when he came to the Thing, he asked
whether Fiddle Mord were at the Thing, and they told him he was;
and all thought they would come to words at once about their
