Three Northern Love Stories and Other Tales
Raven answered, “Let us be courteous enough not to make this a matter of bandying of words. Let the king rule here.”
The king said, “Let Gunnlaug set forth his song first, for he will not be at peace till he has his will.”
Then Gunnlaug set forth the song which he had made to King Olaf, and when it was at an end the king spake. “Raven,” says he, “how is the song done?”
“Right well,” he answered; “it is a song full of big words and little beauty; a somewhat rugged song, as is Gunnlaug's own mood.”
“Well, Raven, thy song,” said the king.
Raven gave it forth, and when it was done the king said, “How is this song made, Gunnlaug?”
“Well it is, lord,” he said; “this is a pretty song, as is Raven himself to behold, and delicate of countenance. But why didst thou make a short song on the king, Raven? Didst thou perchance deem him unworthy of a long one?”
Raven answered, “Let us not talk longer on this; matters will be taken up again, though it be later.”
And thereat they parted.
Soon after Raven became a man of King Olaf's, and asked him leave to go away. This the king granted him. And when Raven was ready to go, he spake to Gunnlaug, and said, “Now shall our friendship be ended, for that thou must needs shame me here before great men; but in time to come I shall cast on thee no less shame than thou hadst will to cast on me here.”
Gunnlaug answers: “Thy threats grieve me nought. Nowhere are we likely to come where I shall be thought less worthy than thou.”
King Olaf gave to Raven good gifts at parting, and thereafter he went away.
How Raven came home to Iceland, and
asked for Helga to wife
Then said Raven to him, “Thine aid would I have to go a-wooing to Thorstein Egilson, to bid Helga his daughter.”
Skapti answered, “But is she not already vowed to Gunnlaug Worm-tongue?”
Said Raven, “Is not the appointed time of waiting between them passed by? And far too wanton is he withal, that he should hold or heed it aught.”
“Let us then do as thou wouldst,” said Skapti.
Thereafter they went with many men to the booth of Thorstein Egilson, and he greeted them well.
Then Skapti spoke: “Raven, my kinsman, is minded to woo thy daughter Helga. Thou knowest well his blood, his wealth, and his good manners, his many mighty kinsmen and friends.”
Thorstein said, “She is already the vowed maiden of Gunnlaug, and with him shall I hold all words spoken.”
Skapti said, “Are not the three winters worn now that were named between you?”
“Yes,” said Thorstein; “but the summer is not yet worn, and he may still come out this summer.”
Then Skapti said, “But if he cometh not this summer, what hope may we have of the matter then?”
Thorstein answered, “We are like to come here next summer, and then may we see what may wisely be done, but it will not do to speak hereof longer as at this time.”
Thereon they parted. And men rode home from the Althing. But this talk of Raven's wooing of Helga was nought hidden.
That summer Gunnlaug came not out.
The next summer, at the Althing, Skapti and his folk pushed the wooing eagerly, and said that Thorstein was free as to all matters with Gunnlaug.
Thorstein answered, “I have few daughters to see to, and fain am I that they should not be the cause of strife to any man. Now I will first see Illugi the Black.” And so he did.
And when they met, he said to Illugi, “Dost thou not think that I am free from all troth with thy son Gunnlaug?”
Illugi said, “Surely, if thou willest it. Little can I say herein, as I do not know clearly what Gunnlaug is about.”
Then Thorstein went to Skapti, and a bargain was struck that the wedding should be at Burg, about winter-nights, if Gunnlaug did not come out that summer; but that Thorstein should be free from all troth with Raven if Gunnlaug should come and fetch his bride.
After this men rode home from the Thing, and Gunnlaug's coming was long drawn out. But Helga thought evilly of all these redes.
Of how Gunnlaug must needs abide
away from Iceland
Now it is to be told of Gunnlaug that he went from Sweden the same summer that Raven went to Iceland, and good gifts he had from King Olaf at parting.
King Ethelred welcomed Gunnlaug worthily, and that winter he was with the king, and was held in great favour.
In those days Knut the Great, son of Svein, ruled in Denmark, and had new-taken his father's heritage, and he vowed ever to wage war on England, for that his father had won a great realm there before he died west in that same land.
And at that time there was a great army of Danish men west there, whose chief was Heming, the son of Earl Strut-Harald, and brother to Earl Sigvaldi, and he held for King Knut that land that Svein had won.
Now in the spring Gunnlaug asked the king for leave to go away, but he said, “It ill beseems that thou, my man, shouldst go away now, when all bodes such mighty war in the land.”
Gunnlaug said, “Thou shalt rule, lord; but give me leave next summer to depart, if the Danes come not.”
The king answered, “Then we shall see.”
Now this summer went by, and the next winter, but no Danes came; and after midsummer Gunnlaug got his leave to depart from the king, and went thence east to Norway, and found Earl Eric in Thrandheim, at Hladir, and the earl greeted him well, and bade him abide with him. Gunnlaug thanked him for his offer, but said he would first go out to Iceland, to look to his promised maiden.
The earl said, “Now all ships bound for Iceland have sailed.”
Then said one of the court: “Here lay, yesterday, Hallfred Troublous-Skald, out under Agdaness.”
The earl answered, “That may be well; he sailed hence five nights ago.”
Then Earl Eric and Gunnlaug rowed out to Hallfred, who greeted him with joy; and forthwith a fair wind bore them from land, and they were right merry.
This was late in the summer: but now Hallfred said to Gunnlaug: “Hast thou heard of how Raven, the son of Onund, is wooing Helga the Fair?”
Gunnlaug said he had heard thereof, but dimly. Hallfred tells him all he knew of it, and therewith, too, that it was the talk of many men that Raven was in nowise less brave a man than Gunnlaug.
Then Gunnlaug sang this stave:---
“Light the weather wafteth;
But if this east wind drifted
Week-long, wild upon us
Little were I recking;
More this word I mind of
Me with Raven mated,
Than gain for me the gold-foe
Of days to make me grey-haired.”
Then Hallfred said, “Well, fellow, may'st thou fare better in thy strife with Raven than I did in mine. I brought my ship some winters ago into Leiruvag, and had to pay a half-mark in silver to a house-carle of Raven's, but I held it back from him. So Raven rode at us with sixty men, and cut the moorings of the ship, and she was driven up on the shallows, and we were bound for a wreck. Then I had to give selfdoom to Raven, and a whole mark I had to pay; and that is the tale of my dealings with him.”
Then they two talked together alone of Helga the Fair, and Gunnlaug praised her much for her goodliness; and Gunnlaug sang:---
“He who brand of battle
Beareth over-wary,
Never love shall let him
Hold the linen-folded;
For we when we were younger
In many a way were playing
On the outward nesses
From golden land outstanding.”
“Well sung!” said Hallfred.
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