talked about the matter of the burning. Flosi said they had
already paid a great fine, and Hall said it was pretty much what
he had guessed would come of Flosi’s and his friends’ quarrel.
Then he asked him what counsel he thought best to be taken, and
Hall answers, “The counsel is, that thou beest atoned with
Thorgeir if there be a choice, and yet he will be hard to bring
to take any atonement.”
“Thinkest thou that the manslaughters will then be brought to an
end?” asks Flosi.
“I do not think so,” says Hall; “but you will have to do with
fewer foes if Kari be left alone; but if thou art not atoned with
Thorgeir, then that will be thy bane.”
“What atonement shall we offer him?” asks Flosi.
“You will all think that atonement hard,” says Hall, “which he
will take, for he will not hear of an atonement unless he be not
called on to pay any fine for what he has just done, but he will
have fines for Njal and his sons, so far as his third share
goes.”
“That is a hard atonement,” says Flosi.
“For thee at least,” says Hall, “that atonement is not hard, for
thou hast not the blood-feud after the sons of Sigfus; their
brothers have the blood-feud, and Hammond the Halt after his son;
but thou shalt now get an atonement from Thorgeir, for I will now
ride to his house with thee, and Thorgeir will in anywise receive
me well: but no man of those who are in this quarrel will dare to
sit in his house on Fleetlithe if they are out of the atonement,
for that will be their bane; and, indeed, with Thorgeir’s turn of
mind, it is only what must be looked for.”
Now the sons of Sigfus were sent for, and they brought this
business before them; and the end of their speech was, on the
persuasion of Hall, that they all thought what he said right, and
were ready to be atoned.
Grani Gunnar’s son and Gunnar Lambi’s son, said, “It will be in
our power, if Kari be left alone behind, to take care that he be
not less afraid of us than we of him.”
“Easier said than done,” says Hall, “and ye will find it a dear
bargain to deal with him. Ye will have to pay a heavy fine
before you have done with him.”
After that they ceased speaking about it.
ENDNOTES:
(1) “With words alone.” The English proverb, “Threatened men
live long.”
(2) “Sea crags.” Hence Thorgeir got his surname “Craggeir.”
146. THE AWARD OF ATONEMENT WITH THORGEIR CRAGGEIR
Hall of the Side and his son Kol, seven of them in all, rode west
over Loomnip’s Sand, and so west over Amstacksheath, and did not
draw bridle till they came into Myrdale. There they asked
whether Thorgeir would be at home at Holt, and they were told
that they would find him at home.
