so struck down west on to the Sand (2). Then they left Eyjafell
Jokul on their left hand, and so came down into Godaland, and so
on to Markfleet, and came about nones (3) on the second day of
the week to Threecorner ridge, and waited till mideven. Then
all had came thither save Ingialld of the Springs.
The sons of Sigfus spoke much ill of him, but Flosi bade them not
blame Ingialld when he was not by, “But we will pay him for this
hereafter.”
ENDNOTES:
(1) “Sand,” Skeidara sand.
(2) “Sand,” Maelifell’s sand.
(3) “Nones,” the well-known canonical hour of the day, the ninth
hour from six a.m., that is, about three o’clock when one of
the church services took place.
126. OF PORTENTS AT BERGTHORSKNOLL
Now we must take up the story, and turn to Bergthorsknoll, and
say that Grim and Helgi go to Holar. They had children out at
foster there, and they told their mother that they should not
come home that evening. They were in Holar all the day, and
there came some poor women and said they had come from far.
Those brothers asked them for tidings, and they said they had no
tidings to tell, “But still we might tell you one bit of news.”
They asked what that might be, and bade them not hide it. They
said so it should be.
“We came down out of Fleetlithe, and we saw all the sons of
Sigfus riding fully armed — they made for Threecorner ridge, and
were fifteen in company. We saw too Grani Gunnar’s son and
Gunnar Lambi’s son, and they were five in all. They took the
same road, and one may say now that the whole country-side is
faring and flitting about.”
“Then,” said Helgi Njal’s son, “Flosi must have come from the
east, and they must have all gone to meet him, and we two, Grim,
should be where Skarphedinn is.”
Grim said so it ought to be, and they fared home.
That same evening Bergthora spoke to her household, and said,
“Now shall ye choose your meat to-night, so that each may have
what he likes best; for this evening is the last that I shall set
meat before my household.”
“That shall not be,” they said.
“It will be though,” she says, “and I could tell you much more
if I would, but this shall be a token, that Grim and Helgi will
be home ere men have eaten their full to-night; and if this turns
out so, then the rest that I say will happen too.”
After that she set meat on the board, and Njal said “Wondrously
now it seems to me. Methinks I see all round the room, and it
seems as though the gable wall were thrown down, but the whole
board and the meat on it is one gore of blood.”
All thought this strange but Skarphedinn, he bade men not be
downcast, nor to utter other unseemly sounds, so that men might
