lip. Helgi made no sign, and he said never a word. Hauskuld
went off with Bergthora; she came into the room again, and
fretted and foamed much.
Njal spoke and said, “`Slow and sure,’ says the proverb,
mistress! and so it is with many things, though they try men’s
tempers, that there are always two sides to a story, even when
vengeance is taken.”
But at even when Njal was come into his bed, he heard that an axe
came against the panel and rang loudly, but there was another
shut bed, and there the shields were hung up, and he sees that
they are away. He said, “Who have taken down our shields?”
“Thy sons went out with them,” says Bergthora.
Njal pulled his shoes on his feet, and went out at once, and
round to the other side of the house, and sees that they were
taking their course right up the slope; he said, “Whither away,
Skarphedinn?”
“To look after thy sheep,” he answers.
“You would not then be armed,” said Njal, “if you meant that, and
your errand must be something else.”
Then Skarphedinn sang a song,
“Squanderer of hoarded wealth,
Some there are that own rich treasure,
Ore of sea that clasps the earth,
And yet care to count their sheep;
Those who forge sharp songs of mocking,
Death songs, scarcely can possess
Sense of sheep that crop the grass;
Such as these I seek in fight;”
and said afterwards, “We shall fish for salmon, father.”
“‘Twould be well then if it turned out so that the prey does not
get away from you.”
They went their way, but Njal went to his bed, and he said to
Bergthora, “Thy sons were out of doors all of them, with arms,
and now thou must have egged them on to something.”
“I will give them my heartfelt thanks,” said Bergthora, “if they
tell me the slaying of Sigmund.”
ENDNOTES:
(1) “Swanbath’s beams” — periphrasis for gold.
45. THE SLAYING OF SIGMUND AND SKIOLLD
Now they, Njal’s sons, fare up to Fleetlithe, and were that night
under the Lithe, and when the day began to break, they came near
to Lithend. That same morning both Sigmund and Skiolld rose up
and meant to go to the studhorses; they had bits with them, and
caught the horses that were in the “town” and rode away on them.
They found the studhorses between two brooks. Skarphedinn
caught sight of them, for Sigmund was in bright clothing.
Skarphedinn said, “See you now the red elf yonder, lads?” They
looked that way, and said they saw him.
Skarphedinn spoke again: “Thou, Hauskuld, shalt have nothing to
do with it, for thou wilt often be sent about alone without due
