Part #4

Uni (son of Gardar first discoverer) and his companions slain by Leidolf in a deadly feud. Drawing and carving by Tjorvi. His satirical verses result in the death of Hroar and his sister's son. Vetrlidi settles Borgfirth (Borgarfjord.)

Chapter IV. Uni, the son of Gardar, who first discovered Iceland, went to Iceland by the advice of King Harald Fairhair, for the purpose of conquering the land; and when that should be accomplished, the King had promised him to make him his Earl. (5) Uni settled near the place which is now called Uni's Inlet and set up house there; he took land to himself to the south of Lagarfljot, all the countryside to Uni's-brook. But when the people of the land got aware of his design they began to show ill feeling towards him, and would not sell him cattle or provisions, so that he might not hold out there. Uni went to Swanfirth the southernmost, but was not able to effect a settlement there; then he went from the east with twelve men, and came in winter to Leidolf Champion in Skogahverfi, who took them in.
        Uni made love to Thorun, daughter of Leidolf, and she was with child in the spring; then Uni tried to run off with his men, but Leidolf rode after him and overtook him at Flangastead, and there they fought, because Uni would not go back with Leidolf; there fell some men on Uni's side, and he went back unwilling, because Leidolf wished him to take his daughter to wife and to settle down and take inheritance after him. Some time after Uni ran away when Leidolf was not at home. He traced him and found him at Calfpits (Kalfagrafir) and was so angry that he slew Uni and all his companions. The son of Uni and Thorun was Hroar Tongue-godi; he took all the inheritance of Leidolf; he was a man of the highest mettle; he had for wife a daughter of Hamund, who was sister of Gunnar from Lithend; their son was Hamund the Halt, who was a most warlike man. Tjorvi the Mocker, and Gunnar, were the sister sons of Hroar. Tjorvi asked for the hand of Astrid Manwit-breaker, daughter of Modolf, but her brothers, Ketil and Hrolf, refused her to him, and gave her in marriage to Thorir, the son of Ketil. Then Tjorvi drew their likeness upon the wall of the chamber and every evening when he and Hroar went to the chamber he would spit upon the likeness of Thorir and kiss the likeness of Astrid, until Hroar scraped them off the wall. After that he carved them upon his knife handle and composed this verse: ---

                The young wealth-Thrud (6) and Thorir
                I painted erst together
                There on the wall ---- the deed was
                A set off 'gainst an insult (7)
                Now the sea-acorn's-Hlin (8) I
                Have carved on my haft of alder;
                Right many a talk I've had with
                The bright Syn of the hawk-stall. (9)

Hereof arose the slaughter of Hroar (10) and his sister's sons.
        There was a man named Thorkel the Full-Sage, who settled all Njardwick and dwelt there; his daughter was Thjodhild, whom Ævar the Old had for wife, and their daughter was Yngvild, mother of Ketil in Njardwick, the son of Thidrandi. There was a man named Vetrlidi, a son of Arnbjorn, the son of Olaf Longneck; Vetrlidi was the brother of Lyting and Thorstein Turf, and Thorbjorn in Eagle-holt. Olaf Longneck was the son of Bjorn Troutside. Vetrlidi settled Borgfirth and dwelt there. There was a man named Thorir Line who settled Broadwick and dwelt there; his sons were Sveinung and Gunnstein. Now has Kolskegg (11) dictated the story henceforth of the Settlements.

Lodmund the Old and Bjolf come from Norway to Iceland. Lodmund guided by his High Seat Pillars settles between Hegoat-river and Jokul's-river on Solheima-sand --- names his dwelling Solheim = Sunhome. Lomund and Thrasi agree that Jokul's-river shall divide the East and South Quarters.

Chapter V. Thorstein Gadfly (Kleggi) (12) first settled Housewick and dwelt there; his son was An, from whom the Housewickings are descended. There was a man named Lodmund the Old, and another named Bjolf, his foster brother; they went to Iceland from Vors out of Thulaness. Lodmund was exceedingly strong and a great wizard; he cast his High Seat Pillars overboard while out at sea and vowed that he would settle there where they came to land. These foster brothers made the Eastfirths and Lodmund settled Lodmundsfirth, and dwelt there that winter; then he heard of his High Seat Posts in the Southern land. After that he bore on board ship all his goods; and when the sail was hoisted he lay down and bade no man be so daring as to name him, but when he had lain a short while, there befell a mighty din and men saw how a great landslip fell upon the homestead at which Lodmund had lived. After that he sat up and uttered these words: "It is my spell that the ship sailing out from here shall never come whole from the sea." He then held south round the Horn and west along the land and beyond Hjorleifshofdi and landed a little further to the west. He settled there where his High Seat Pillars had come ashore and that was between Hegoat's river and Foulbrook, that is now named Jokul's river on Solheima-sand; he dwelt at Lodmundhvamm and called his home there Sunhome (Solheimar).
        Then when Lodmund was old, Thrasi dwelt at Skogar; he was skilled in the art of magic; it happened once upon a time that Thrasi saw one morning a great rushing forth of waters and with his magic power he turned the waters to the east of Solheimar. Then a thrall of Lodmund's saw this and said that the sea was rushing upon them from the north of the land. Lodmund was then blind; he bade the servant bring him in a bilge water tub what he called the sea, and when he brought it Lodmund said, "that does not seem to me to be sea water"; then he bade the thrall guide him to the water, "and stick thou my staffs-pike," he said, "into the water": and Lodmund held the staff clasped with his two hands, biting the ring in it at the same time; then the waters began to flow to the westward beyond Skogar again; and in this manner each would lead the waters away from himself, until they met at certain gorges, where they made peace on the terms that the river should run there where the way was shortest to the sea; it is now called Jokul's river and parts the Quarters of the land. (13)

Bjolf settles Seydisfjord. Egil the Red settles Northfirth (Nordfjord). Freystein the Fair settles Sandvik and Cavefirth (Hellisfjord). Thorir the High settles Krossavik (Crosswick) Reydarfjord (Troutfirth). Vemund settles Faskrudsfjord. Thorhadd the Old settles Stodvarfjord.

Chapter VI. Bjolf, a foster brother of Lodmund, settled all Seydisfjord, and dwelt there all his life. He gave Helga, his daughter, to An the Strong, and she received as a dowry all the western strand of Seydisfjord to Westdale river. The son of Bjolf was named Isolf; he dwelt there afterwards, and the Seydfirthers have their origin from him.
        There was a man named Eyvind who came out with Brynjolf, and afterwards moved his household to Narrowfirth and dwelt there; his son was Hrafn, who sold Narrowfirthland to Thorkel Klaka, who dwelt there afterwards; from him are descended the family of Klaka.
        There was a man named Egil the Red, who settled North firth and dwelt there out at Ness; his son was Olaf, from whom the family called Nessmen are descended.
        There was a man named Freystein the Fair; he settled Sandwick dwelling at Bardsness and made his own also Woodfirth and Cavefirth; from him are the Sandwick men and the Woodfirthers and the Cavefirthers descended. Thorir the High and Krum, both went from Vors to Iceland, and there they settled; Thorir settled Crosswick between Gerpir and Troutfirth, thence are the Crosswickmen descended. Krum settled Hafraness to Thernaness, and all the outlying parts, both Skruday and the other outer islands off the shore and three landtakes on the other side opposite to Thernaness, thence are the Krymlings descended. Ævar was first in Troutfirth, before he went up across the mountain, but Brynjolf was left in Eskifirth, before he went up to settle Fljotsdale, as was written before.
        There was a man named Vemund, who settled all Faskrudsfirth, and dwelt there all his life; his son was Olmod, from whom the Olmodlings are descended. Thorhadd the Old was Temple Priest at Thrandheim in Mæri. (14) He desired to go to Iceland, and before going he took down the Temple and brought with him the Temple Mould and the High Seat Pillars, and when he came to Stodvarfjord he hallowed the whole firth after the fashion that obtained at Mæri, (15) and would not let them destroy any cattle there except such as were for domestic use. He dwelt there all his life and from him the Stodfirthers are descended.

Hjalti settles Broaddale; Herjolf settles Hvalness Screes; Thjodrek settles Berufjord and Bulandness. The ring in each chief Temple. Form of the oath upon the ring.

Chapter VII. There was a man named Hjalti, who settled Kleifland and all Broaddale upward; his son was Kolgrim, and many men are descended from him. There was a man named Herjolf, who settled land all out to Hvalsness Screes; his son was Vapni, from whom the Vapnlings are descended. Herjolf, brother of Brynjolf, settled Heydaleland down below Finnadale's river and out to Orm's river; his son was Ozur, from whom the Broaddalers are descended. There was a man named Skjoldolf, who settled Street all out from Gnup, and inward on the opposite side to Os (16) and Skjoldolfness by Fagradale river in Broaddale; his son was Haleyg, who dwelt there afterwards, and from him the family of Haleygar are descended.
        There was a man named Thjodrek, he first settled all Broaddale, but he had to bolt from thence before Brynjolf south into Berufjord, and settled all the northern strand of Berufirth and to the south out round Bulandness and up the other side into Red Screes, and dwelt three winters in that place which is now called Scale; then Bjorn the High bought lands from him, and from him are the Berufirthers descended.
        There was a man named Bjorn "Singed-horn," who settled the northernmost Swanfirth in from Red Screes and Svidinhornadal or Singedhornsdale. Thorstein Trumpet-bone was the name of a kinsman of Bodvar the White and he went with him to Iceland and settled land out from Miry-Creek to Whaleness Screes; his son was Koll the Gray, the father of Thorstein, the father of Thorgrim in Burghaven, the father of Steinun, whom Guzur the Bishop married. Bodvar the White was son of Thorleif Middling, a son of Bodvar Snowthunder, the son of Thorleif Whaleskuft, the son of An, the son of King Orn the Horny, the son of Thorir the King, the son of Swine-Bodvar, the son of Kaun the King, the son of King Solgi, the son of Hrolf from Berg; he (Bodvar the White) and Brandonund his kinsman, went from Vors to Iceland and came to Swanfirth the southernmost. Bodvar settled the land in from Miry-Creek and all the dales that lie there and out on the opposite side to Muli and dwelt at Hof; he built there a large Temple.

Notes:
5. Herein we have in evidence, as elsewhere also in the Landnama, that Harald after having by his unbearable tyranny driven the Norse chieftains to seek homes elsewhere, yet follows them up and endeavours to enslave them in the land of their refuge. [Back]
6. Wealth-Thrud: Thrud, the daughter of Thor, a goddess; the goddess of wealth, a woman whose personal ornaments are of precious metal. [Back]
7. The insult ('gletta') was that Astrid was refused him in marriage. The prep. 'við' = against, justifies the translation. [Back]
8. Sea-acorn or acorn of the sea = a stone, boulder, or pebble, thence precious stone, jewel, the Hlin or goddess--- Hlin was one of the goddesses of Asgarth --- of jewels = woman. [Back]
9. Hawk-stall, the stall whereon the hunting falcon perches, hand, the Syn = goddess of the hand, that is, the fine or delicate or jewel-bedecked hand = woman. Syn is counted in Snorri's Edda among the female deities of Asgarth; she was the doorkeeper in Valhall. [Back]
10. Hroar married the sister of Gunnar of Lithend --- the hero of the Njala. [Back]
11. This refers to Kolskegg Asbiornson the Learned, who according to this passage, described or dictated the story of the Eastfirths Settlement. [Back]
12. Nickname, meaning horsefly or gadfly. Compare Cumberland "cleg." [Back]
13. That is the Eastfirths Quarter and the Southlanders Quarter. According to the explanation here given, the division is made at the watershed or waterparting. See Map. [Back]
14. A county in Norway; it also gives its name to Mæri, a famed Temple in Drontheim. [Back]
15. Literally "he made a holy Mæri of the whole firth." [Back]
16. That is, "the river's mouth." [Back]