Part 7

Sigmund Brestesson is Murdered.
[38]        Now it must be told of Sigmund and his friends that they swam for a while, heading for Southrey, for that was the nearest land. But it was a long sea-mile, and when they had swum halfway Einar said, "We must part here." Sigmund said that should never be. "And do thou, Einar, lean on my shoulders!" And he did so. So Sigmund swam on for a while. Then Thore said, as he swam behind him, "Kinsman Sigmund, how long wilt thou flit a dead man on thy back?" "I don't see that I need," said Sigmund. They swam on till they had only a fourth of the way to go, when Thore said, "All our lives long we have been together, kinsman Sigmund, and great love have we twain had towards each other; but now it looks as if our life together was come to an end. I have pushed on as far as I can, and now I would have thee look to thyself and thine own life and give no heed to me, for thou wilt risk thine own life, kinsman, if thou art cumbered with me." But Sigmund said, "It shall never be that we two part so, kinsman Thore. We will both of us come to land or neither." Then Sigmund took him on his shoulders, but Thore was so worn out that he could do hardly anything to help himself. Then Sigmund swam on till he got to Southrey. There was a surf running on the island, and Sigmund was so worn out by this time that he was now driven from the land, and another time borne towards it. And Thore slipped off his shoulders there and was drowned, but Sigmund got to land at last, and he was so worn out that he could not walk, but he crawled up the shore and lay down on a heap of seaweed. This was at daybreak, and he lay there till it was quite light. There was a farmstead called Sandwick on the island a little way up, where dwelt a man named Thorgrim the Wicked, a big strong man, who held under Thrond of Gate. He had two sons, Ormstan and Thorstan, both hopeful men. Thorgrim the Wicked went down to the shore that morning, and he had a pole-axe in his hand. As he went by he saw red clothes sticking out of the seaweed heap; he pushed away the wrack and saw a man lying there. He asked him who he was. Sigmund told him his name. "Low lies our lord," said he, "but what hath wrought this?" Sigmund told him all that had happened. With that his sons came up. Then Sigmund prayed them to help him. Thorgrim did not answer at once, but began to talk to his sons in a low voice. "Sigmund has so much gear on him as it seems to me we have never owned the worth of, and his gold ring is mighty thick. The best thing we can do, it seems to me, is to slay him and then hide his body; it will never be known." His sons spake against it for a while, but at last they were of the same mind. Then they went up to where Sigmund lay and caught hold of his hair, while Thorgrim the Wicked hewed off his head with the pole-axe. In this way Sigmund, that was so good a man in all ways, lost his life. They stripped off his clothes and gear, and then dragged him up under an earth-bank and buried him there. Thore's dead body was cast ashore, and they buried it beside Sigmund, and hid them both.

What the Island-Beardies did after Sigmund's Death.
[39]        Of Thrond and his fellows it must be told that they made homeward after what had happened, and the homestead in Scufey was saved by the time men got to it; it was not much burned, and few had lost their lives there. Goodwife Thurið, who was ever after called the Mighty Widow, kept the homestead at Scufey after her husband Sigmund, and there the children they two had had grew up, and they all promised to be good men. Thrond and Laf Ossursson now got all the Færeys into their hands, and held sway over them. Thrond offered Thurið the Mighty Widow to be set at one with her and her sons, but they would have nothing to do with it. Yet Sigmund's sons sought no help of the Lords of Norway, for they were but young as yet. And so two or three years went by, and there was peace in the Færeys.
        One day Thrond told Laf Ossursson that he wished to seek a match for him. "Where shall we seek?" said Laf. "Where Thora Sigmund's daughter is," answered Thrond. "I don't think that is a likely look-out," says Laf. "You will never get a wife if you don't ask for one," said Thrond. They set out to Scufey with a few men, and were coldly welcomed. Thrond and Laf offered Thurið and her sons to be set at one with them according to the award of the best men in the islands. They did not answer at once. Then Thrond spoke for Laf and asked Thora Sigmund's daughter for him in marriage, saying that he thought it the most likely way to get a firm peace, and promising to better Laf's lot with much wealth. This was taken well by them all, but Thora herself made answer, saying, "Ye must think me right eager to marry; now I will set this price on my hand. If Laf will take his oath that he was not my father's bane, and that he set no men to slay him; then will I give you this task, that he shall find out what was my father's bane, or who wrought his death; and when these things are fulfilled, then we will be set at one with you, as it shall please my brothers and my mother, and all our kinsmen and friends." They all thought this well said and wisely thought of, and it was settled so that Laf and Thrond promised what she wished: and with that they parted.

Of Thrond.
[40.]        A little after this Thrond gat him ready to set out from Gate, and Laf [would go] with him. They took ship and went twelve together. They got to Southrey and landed at Sandwick, Thorgrim the Wicked's homestead. This was some winters after Sigmund and his friend had lost their lives. They went up the island and came to the homestead. Thorgrim welcomed Thrond and his men, and they went in. Thrond and yeoman Thorgrim went into the inner room, but Laf and the others sat outside in the house by a fire that was kindled for them. Thrond and Thorgrim had a long talk. Thrond said, "What do men guess was Sigmund Brestesson's bane?" "Men don't think that is clearly known,' answered Thorgrim, "but some guess that you must have found him on the shore or swimming off and slain him." "That is a wicked guess and unlikely to boot," said Thrond, "for all men know that we wished to slay Sigmund, and why should we wish to murder him? And such things are not spoken with friendly intent." "Others say," said Thorgrim, "that they must have sunk in their swim, or that Sigmund may have got to land somewhere, for he was a passing good man in many ways, and have been slain there, as he reached the land weak and worn out, and murdered!" "That is a likely tale," says Thrond, "and it is my belief it was so; but come, fellow mine, is it as I think or not, that thou art he that wrought Sigmund's death?" Thorgrim denied it as strongly as he could. "It will do thee no good to deny it," said Thrond, "for I think I know that thou art guilty of this deed." He denied it as before. Then Thrond let call Laf and Sigurd to him and commanded that Thorgrim and his sons should be fettered; and it was done, and they were fettered and fast bound. Thrond had had a great fire kindled in the fire-house, and had four lattices set up, one at each corner; he drew also nine squares out all ways from the lattices. Then he sat down on a stool between the fire and the littices and bade no man speak to him, and they did as he bid them. He sat so for a time, and after a while there walked a man into the fire-house; he was dripping wet; they knew the man for Einar the Southrey-man. He walked up to the fire and stretched out his hands to it for a short time, then turned and went out again. After a while another man walked into the fire-house; he walked up to the fire also, stretched his hands to it, and then went out. They knew him for Thore. Soon after that a third man came into the fire-house; he was a big man, all bloody he was, and he had his head in his hand; they all knew him for Sigmund Brestesson. He stood for a while on the hearth, and then went out again. After this Thrond rose off his stool and drew a deep breath, and said, "Ye can see now what was these men's bane." Einar lost his life first, frozen to death or drowned, for he was the weakest of them; and Thore must have lost his next, and Sigmund must have carried him, and that must have tired him most of all; but he must have came ashore very weak, and these men have slain him, since he showed himself to us bloody and headless." Thrond's fellows held that he had spoken truly, and that it must have happened as he said. Then Thrond said that they must ransack everything, and so they did, but found no trace of aught. Thorgrim and his sons denied it all, and said they had not wrought the deed. Thrond told them it was no good for them to deny it, and bade his men ransack the house thoroughly, and they did so again. There was a big old ark standing in the fire-house. Thrond asked them whether they had ransacked the ark. They said they had not, and broke it open, but they could see nought but rubbish therein, though they searched it through for some time. Then said Thrond, "Turn the ark upside down," and they did so, and found a rag bag that had laid in the ark, and brought it to Thrond. He untied it, and there were a great many rags wrapped together in it, but at last Thrond found a great gold ring, and knew it was the ring that had belonged to Sigmund Brestesson, the one Earl Hacon had given him. And when Thorgrim saw this, he acknowledged the murder of Sigmund, and told all that had happened. He showed them also where Sigmund and Thore were buried; and they took their bodies away with them. Thrond likewise brought Thorgrim and his sons away with him. And afterwards they were both laid to earth, Sigmund and Thore, in the church at Scufey that Sigmund had built.

Laf takes Thora Sigmund's Daughter to Wife.
[41.] After these things Thrond had a full moot gathered at Thorshavn in Streamsey, where the Færey folks' moot-stead is, and there Thorgrim the Wicked and his sons told the slaying and death of Sigmund, so that all men at the moot heard them tell how they had slain him and afterwards murdered him. And when they had told their story, they were hanged there at the moot, and so ended their lives. Then Laf and his foster-father Thrond took up the matter of Thora's wooing, offering her folk such a settlement withal as they should be pleased with: and the matter ended so that Laf took Thora Sigmund's daughter to wife, and they were set at one with a full settlement. Laf took up his abode on his father's heritage at Temple in Southrey, and there was peace in the Færeys for some time. Thoralf Sigmund's son likewise took unto himself a wife, and set up his homestead in Dimun, and became a good franklin.