That same summer Hjallti Skeggi’s son was outlawed at the Thing
for blasphemy against the Gods.
Thangbrand told King Olaf of all the mischief that the Icelanders
had done to him, and said that they were such sorcerers there
that the earth burst asunder under his horse and swallowed up the
horse.
Then King Olaf was so wroth that he made them seize all the men
from Iceland and set them in dungeons, and meant to slay them.
Then they, Gizur the White and Hjallti, came up and offered to
lay themselves in pledge for those men, and fare out to Iceland
and preach the faith. The king took this well, and they got them
all set free again.
Then Gizur and Hjallti busked their ship for Iceland, and were
soon “boun.” They made the land at Eyrar when ten weeks of
summer had passed; they got them horses at once, but left other
men to strip their ship. Then they ride with thirty men to the
Thing, and sent word to the Christian men that they must be ready
to stand by them.
Hjallti stayed behind at Reydarmull, for he had heard that he had
been made an outlaw for blasphemy, but when they came to the
“Boiling Kettle” (1) down below the brink of the Rift (2), there
came Hjallti after them, and said he would not let the heathen
men see that he was afraid of them.
Then many Christian men rode to meet them, and they ride in
battle array to the Thing. The heathen men had drawn up their
men in array to meet them, and it was a near thing that the whole
body of the Thing had come to blows, but still it did not go so
far.
ENDNOTES:
(1) “Boiling kettle.” This was a hyer, or hot spring.
(2) This was the “Raven’s Rift,” opposite to the “Great Rift” on
the other side of Thingfield.
101. OF THORGEIR OF LIGHTWATER
There was a man named Thorgeir who dwelt at Lightwater; he was
the son of Tjorfi, the son of Thorkel the Long, the son of Kettle
Longneck. His mother’s name was Thoruna, and she was the
daughter of Thorstein, the son of Sigmund, the son of Bard of the
Nip. Gudrida was the name of his wife; she was a daughter of
Thorkel the Black of Hleidrargarth. His brother was Worm Wallet-back, the father of Hlenni the Old of Saurby (1).
The Christian men set up their booths, and Gizur the White and
Hjallti were in the booths of the men from Mossfell. The day
after both sides went to the Hill of Laws, and each, the
Christian men as well as the heathen, took witness, and declared
themselves out of the other’s laws, and then there was such an
uproar on the Hill of Laws that no man could hear the other’s
voice.
After that men went away, and all thought things looked like the
greatest entanglement. The Christian men chose as their Speaker
Hall of the Side, but Hall went to Thorgeir, the priest of
