Thiostolf had beaten one of Hauskuld’s housecarles, so he drove
him away. He took his horse and weapons, and said to Hauskuld,
“Now, I will go away and never come back.”
“All will be glad at that,” says Hauskuld.
Thiostolf rode till he came to Varmalek, and there he got a
hearty welcome from Hallgerda, and not a bad one from Glum. He
told Hallgerda how her father had driven him away, and begged her
to give him her help and countenance. She answered him by
telling him she could say nothing about his staying there before
she had seen Glum about it.
“Does it go well between you?” he says.
“Yes,” she says, “our love runs smooth enough.”
After that she went to speak to Glum, and threw her arms round
his neck and said, “Wilt thou grant me a boon which I wish to ask
of thee?”
“Grant it I will,” he says, “if it be right and seemly; but what
is it thou wishest to ask?”
“Well,” she said, “Thiostolf has been driven away from the west,
and what I want thee to do is to let him stay here; but I will
not take it crossly if it is not to thy mind.”
Glum said, “Now that thou behavest so well, I will grant thee thy
boon; but I tell thee, if he takes to any ill he shall be sent
off at once.”
She goes then to Thiostolf and tells him, and he answered, “Now,
thou art still good, as I had hoped.”
After that he was there, and kept himself down a little while,
but then it was the old story, he seemed to spoil all the good he
found; for he gave way to no one save to Hallgerda alone, but she
never took his side in his brawls with others. Thorarin, Glum’s
brother, blamed him for letting him be there, and said ill luck
would come of it, and all would happen as had happened before if
he were there. Glum answered him well and kindly, but still kept
on in his own way.
16. GLUM’S SHEEP HUNT
Now once on a time when autumn came, it happened that men had
hard work to get their flocks home, and many of Glum’s wethers
were missing. Then Glum said to Thiostolf, “Go thou up on the
fell with my housecarles and see if ye cannot find out anything
about the sheep.”
“‘Tis no business of mine,” says Thiostolf, “to hunt up sheep,
and this one thing is quite enough to hinder it. I won’t walk in
thy thralls’ footsteps. But go thyself, and then I’ll go with
thee.”
About this they had many words. The weather was good, and
Hallgerda was sitting out of doors. Glum went up to her and
said, “Now Thiostolf and I have had a quarrel, and we shall not
live much longer together.” And so he told her all that they had
been talking about.
Then Hallgerda spoke up for Thiostolf, and they had many words
about him. At last Glum gave her a blow with his hand, and said,
