Title: The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
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The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
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Table of Contents
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald.........................................................................................................1
Author unknown......................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER ONE. Cormac's ForeElders................................................................................................1
CHAPTER TWO. How Cormac Was Born and Bred.............................................................................2
CHAPTER THREE. How Cormac Fell In Love.....................................................................................3
CHAPTER FOUR. How Cormac Liked BlackPuddings......................................................................5
CHAPTER FIVE. They Waylay Cormac: And The Witch Curses Him.................................................6
CHAPTER SIX. Cormac Wins His Bride and Loses Her.......................................................................8
CHAPTER SEVEN. How Steingerd Was Married To Somebody Else. .................................................9
CHAPTER EIGHT. How Cormac Chased Bersi And His Bride..........................................................11
CHAPTER NINE. Of Another Witch, And Two Magic Swords..........................................................12
CHAPTER TEN. The Fight On Leidarholm.........................................................................................14
CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Songs That Were Made About The Fight. .................................................15
CHAPTER TWELVE. Bersi's Bad Luck At The Thor'sNess Thing. ..................................................17
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Steingerd Leaves Bersi. .................................................................................20
CHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Bane Of Thorkel Toothgnasher............................................................21
CHAPTER FIFTEEN. The Rescue Of Steinvor Slimankles. ..............................................................22
CHAPTER SIXTEEN. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy..............................................23
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. How Steingerd Was Married Again..........................................................25
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. Cormac's Voyage To Norway. ......................................................................26
CHAPTER NINETEEN. How Cormac Fought In Ireland, And Went Home To Iceland; And
How He Met Steingerd Again. ...............................................................................................................27
CHAPTER TWENTY. Of A Spiteful Song That Cormac Never Made; And How Angry
Steingerd Was........................................................................................................................................30
CHAPTER TWENTYONE. How Thorvard Would Not Fight, But Tried To Get The Law Of
Cormac. ..................................................................................................................................................31
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO. What The Witch Did For Them In Their Fights..................................32
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE. How Cormac Beat Thorvard Again. .................................................34
CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR. How They All Went Out To Norway.................................................35
CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE. How They Cruised With The King's Fleet, And Quarrelled, And
Made It Up.............................................................................................................................................36
CHAPTER TWENTYSIX. How Cormac Saved Steingerd Once More From Pirates; And How
They Parted For Good And All. .............................................................................................................37
CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN. The SwanSongs of Cormac............................................................38
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
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The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
Author unknown
Translation by W.G. Collingwood J. Stefansson (Ulverston, 1901)
Chapter I. Cormac’s ForeElders.
Chapter II. How Cormac Was Born and Bred.
Chapter III. How Cormac Fell In Love.
Chapter IV. How Cormac Liked BlackPuddings.
Chapter V. They Waylay Cormac: And The Witch Curses Him.
Chapter VI. Cormac Wins His Bride and Loses Her.
Chapter VII. How Steingerd Was Married To Somebody Else.
Chapter VIII. How Cormac Chased Bersi And His Bride.
Chapter IX. Of Another Witch, And Two Magic Swords.
Chapter X. The Fight On Leidarholm.
Chapter XI. The Songs That Were Made About The Fight.
Chapter XII. Bersi’s Bad Luck At The Thor’sNess Thing.
Chapter XIII. Steingerd Leaves Bersi.
Chapter XIV. The Bane Of Thorkel Toothgnasher.
Chapter XV. The Rescue Of Steinvor Slimankles.
Chapter XVI. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy.
Chapter XVII. How Steingerd Was Married Again.
Chapter XVIII. Cormac’s Voyage To Norway.
Chapter XIX. How Cormac Fought In Ireland, And Went Home To Iceland; And How He Met Steingerd
Again.
Chapter XX. Of A Spiteful Song That Cormac Never Made; And How Angry Steingerd Was.
Chapter XXI. How Thorvard Would Not Fight, But Tried To Get The Law Of Cormac.
Chapter XXII. What The Witch Did For Them In Their Fights.
Chapter XXIII. How Cormac Beat Thorvard Again.
Chapter XXIV. How They All Went Out To Norway.
Chapter XXV. How They Cruised With The King’s Fleet, And Quarrelled, And Made It Up.
Chapter XXVI. How Cormac Saved Steingerd Once More From Pirates; And How They Parted For Good
And All.
Chapter XXVII. The SwanSongs of Cormac.
CHAPTER ONE. Cormac's ForeElders.
Harald Fairhair was king of Norway when this tale begins. There was a chief in the kingdom in those days
and his name was Cormac; one of the Vikfolk by kindred, a great man of high birth. He was the mightiest of
champions, and had been with King Harald in many battles.
He had a son called Ogmund, a very hopeful lad; big and sturdy even as a child; who when he was grown of
age and come to his full strength, took to searoving in summer and served in the king's household in winter.
So he earned for himself a good name and great riches.
One summer he went roving about the British Isles and there he fell in with a man named Asmund
Ashenside, who also was a great champion and had worsted many vikings and men of war. These two heard
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tell of one another and challenges passed between them. They came together and fought. Asmund had the
greater following, but he withheld some of his men from the battle: and so for the length of four days they
fought, until many of Asmund's people were fallen, and at last he himself fled. Ogmund won the victory and
came home again with wealth and worship.
His father said that he could get no greater glory in war, "And now," said he, "I will find thee a wife.
What sayest thou to Helga, daughter of Earl Frodi?"
"So be it," said Ogmund.
Upon this they set off to Earl Frodi's house, and were welcomed with all honour. They made known their
errand, and he took it kindly, although he feared that the fight with Asmund was likely to bring trouble.
Nevertheless this match was made, and then they went their ways home. A feast was got ready for the
wedding and to that feast a very great company came together.
Helga the daughter of Earl Frodi had a nurse that was a wise woman, and she went with her. Now Asmund
the viking heard of this marriage, and set out to meet Ogmund. He bade him fight, and Ogmund agreed.
Helga's nurse used to touch men when they went to fight: so she did with Ogmund before he set out from
home, and told him that he would not be hurt much.
Then they both went to the fighting holm and fought. The viking laid bare his side, but the sword would not
bite upon it. Then Ogmund whirled about his sword swiftly and shifted it from hand to hand, and hewed
Asmund's leg from under him: and three marks of gold he took to let him go with his life.
CHAPTER TWO. How Cormac Was Born and Bred.
About this time King Harald Fairhair died, and Eric Bloodaxe reigned in his stead. Ogmund would have no
friendship with Eric, nor with Gunnhild, and made ready his ship for Iceland.
Nor Ogmund and Helga had a son called Frodi: but when the ship was nearly ready, Helga took a sickness
and died; and so did their son Frodi.
After that, they sailed to sea. When they were near the land, Ogmund cast overboard his highseatpillars;
and where the high seatpillars had already been washed ashore, there they cast anchor, and landed in
Midfiord.
At this time Skeggi of Midfiord ruled the countryside. He came riding toward them and bade them welcome
into the firth, and gave them the pick of the land: which Ogmund took, and began to mark out ground for a
house. Now it was a belief of theirs that as the measuring went, so would the luck go: if the measuringwand
seemed to grow less when they tried it again and again, so would that house's luck grow less: and if it grew
greater, so would the luck be. This time the measure always grew less, though they tried it three times over.
So Ogmund built him a house on the sandhills, and lived there ever after. He married Dalla, the daughter of
Onund the Seer, and their sons were Thorgils and Cormac. Cormac was darkhaired, with a curly lock upon
his forehead: he was bright of blee and somewhat like his mother, big and strong, and his mood was rash and
hasty. Thorgils was quiet and easy to deal with.
When the brothers were grown up, Ogmund died; and Dalla kept house with her sons. Thorgils worked the
farm, under the eye of MidfiordSkeggi.
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CHAPTER TWO. How Cormac Was Born and Bred. 2
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CHAPTER THREE. How Cormac Fell In Love.
There was a man named Thorkel lived at Tunga (Tongue). He was a wedded man, and had a daughter called
Steingerd who was fostered in Gnupsdal (Knipedale).
Now it was one autumn that a whale came ashore at Vatnsnes (Watsness), and it belonged to the brothers,
Dalla's sons. Thorgils asked Cormac would he rather go shepherding on the fell, or work at the whale. He
chose to fare on the fell with the housecarles.
Tosti, the foreman, it was should be master of the sheep gathering: so he and Cormac went together until
they came to Gnupsdal. It was night: there was a great hall, and fires for men to sit at.
That evening Steingerd came out of her bower, and a maid with her. Said the maid, "Steingerd mine, let us
look at the guests."
"Nay," she said, "no need": and yet went to the door, and stepped on the threshold, and spied across the gate.
Now there was a space between the wicker and the threshold, and her feet showed through. Cormac saw that,
and made this song:
(1)
"At the door of my soul she is standing,
So sweet in the gleam of her garment:
Her footfall awakens a fury,
A fierceness of love that I knew not,
Those feet of a wench in her wimple,
Their weird is my sorrow and troubling,
Or naught may my knowledge avail me
Both now and for aye to endure."
Then Steingerd knew she was seen. She turned aside into a corner where the likeness of Hagbard was carved
on the wall, and peeped under Hagbard's beard. Then the firelight shone upon her face.
"Cormac," said Tosti, "seest eyes out yonder by that head of Hagbard?"
Cormac answered in song:
(2)
"There breaks on me, burning upon me,
A blaze from the cheeks of a maiden,
I laugh not to look on the vision
In the light of the hall by the doorway.
So sweet and so slender I deem her,
Though I spy bug a glimpse of an ankle
By the threshold: and through me there flashes
A thrill that shall age never more."
And then he made another song:
(3)
"The moon of her brow, it is beaming
'Neath the brightlitten heaven of her forehead:
So she gleams in her white robe, and gazes
With a glance that is keen as the falcon's.
But the star that is shining upon me
What spell shall it work by its witchcraft?
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CHAPTER THREE. How Cormac Fell In Love. 3
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Ah, that moon of her brow shall be mighty
With mischief to her and to me?"
Said Tosti, "She is fairly staring at thee!" And he answered:
(4)
"She's a ringbedight oak of the alecup,
And her eyes never left me unhaunted.
The strife in my heart I could hide not,
For I hold myself bound in her bondage.
O gay in her necklet, and gainer
In the game that wins hearts on her chessboard,
When she looked at me long from the doorway
Where the likeness of Hagbard is carved."
Then the girls went into the hall, and sat down. He heard what they said about his looks, the maid, that he
was black and ugly, and Steingerd, that he was handsome and everyway as best could be, "There is only
one blemish," said she, "his hair is tufted on his forehead:" and he said:
(5)
"One flaw in my features she noted
With the flame of the wave she was gleaming
All white in the wane of the twilight
And that one was no hideous blemish.
So highborn, so haughty a lady
I should have such a dame to befriend me:
But she trows me uncouth for a trifle,
For a tuft in the hair on my brow!"
Said the maid, "Black are his eyes, sister, and that becomes him not." Cormac heard her, and said in verse:
(6)
"Yes, black are the eyes that I bring ye,
O brave in your jewels, and dainty.
But a draggletail, dirtyfoot slattern
Would dub me illfavoured and sallow.
Nay, many a maiden has loved me,
Thou may of the glittering armlet:
For I've tricks of the tongue to beguile them
And turn them from handsomer lads."
At this house they spent the night. In the morning when Cormac rose up, he went to a trough and washed
himself; then he went into the ladies' bower and saw nobody there, but heard folk talking in the inner room,
and he turned and entered. There was Steingerd, and women with her.
Said the maid to Steingerd, "There comes thy bonny man, Steingerd."
"Well, and a finelooking lad he is," said she.
Now she was combing her hair, and Cormac asked her, "Wilt thou give me leave?"
She reached out her comb for him to handle it. She had the finest hair of any woman. Said the maid, "Ye
would give a deal for a wife with hair like Steingerd's, or such eyes!"
He answered:
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(7)
"One eye of the far of the alehorn
Looking out of a form so bewitching,
Would a bridegroom count money to buy it
He must bring for it ransom three hundred.
The curls that she combs of a morning,
Whiteclothed in fair linen and spotless,
They enhance the bright hoard of her value,
Five hundred might barely redeem them!"
Said the maid, "It's give and take with the two of ye! But thou'lt put a big price upon the whole of her!" He
answered:
(8)
"The tree of my treasure and longing,
It would take this whole Iceland to win her:
She is dearer than faraway Denmark,
And the doughty domain of the Hunfolk.
With the gold she is combing, I count her
More costly than England could ransom:
So witty, so wealthy, my lady
Is worth them, and Ireland beside!"
Then Tosti came in, and called Cormac out to some work or other; but he said:
(9)
"Take m swiftfooted steel for thy tiding,
Ay, and stint not the lash to him, Tosti:
On the desolate downs ye may wander
And drive him along till he weary.
I care not o'er mountain and moorland
The murreybrown weathers to follow,
Far liefer, I'd linger the morning
In long, cosy chatter with Steingerd."
Tosti said he would find it a merrier game, and went off; so Cormac sat down to chess, and right gay he was.
Steingerd said he talked better than folk told of; and he sat there all the day; and then he made this song:
(10)
" 'Tis the dart that adorneth her tresses,
The deep, dewy grass of her forehead.
So kind to my keeping she gave it,
That good comb I shall ever remember!
A stranger was I when I sought her
Sweet stem with the dragon's hoard shining "
With gold like the seadazzle gleaming
The girl I shall never forget."
Tosti came off the fell and they fared home. After that Cormac used to go to Gnupsdal often to see Steingerd:
and he asked his mother to make him good clothes, so that Steingerd might like him the most that could be.
Dalla said there was a mighty great difference betwixt them, and it was far from certain to end happily if
Thorkel at Tunga got to know.
CHAPTER FOUR. How Cormac Liked BlackPuddings.
Well Thorkel soon heard what was going forward, and thought it would turn out to his own shame and his
daughter's if Cormac would not pledge himself to take her or leave her. So he sent for Steingerd, and she
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CHAPTER FOUR. How Cormac Liked BlackPuddings. 5
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went home.
Thorkel had a man called Narfi, a noisy, foolish fellow, boastful, and yet of little account. Said he to Thorkel,
"If Cormac's coming likes thee not, I can soon settle it."
"Very well," says Thorkel.
Now, in the autumn, Narfi's work it was to slaughter the sheep. Once, when Cormac came to Tunga, he saw
Steingerd in the kitchen. Narfi stood by the kettle, and when they had finished the boiling, he took up a
blackpudding and thrust it under Cormac's nose, crying:
(11)
"Cormac, how would ye relish one?
Kettleworms I call them."
To which he answered:
(12)
"Blackpuddings boiled, quoth Ogmund's son,
Are a dainty, fair befall them!"
And in the evening when Cormac made ready to go home he saw Narfi, and bethought him of those churlish
words. "I think, Narfi," said he, "I am more like to knock thee down, than thou to rule my coming and going."
And with that struck him an axe hammerblow, saying:
(13)
"Why foul with thy clowning and folly,
The food that is dressed for thy betters?
Thou blundering archer, what ails thee
To be aiming thy insults at me?"
And he made another song about:
(14)
"He asked me, the clavering cowherd
If I cared for what was it he called them?
The worms of the kettle. I warrant
He'll be wiping his eyes by the hearthstone.
I deem that yon knave of the dunghill
Who dabbles the muck on the meadow
Yon rook in his mudspattered raiment
Got a rap for his noise like a dog."
CHAPTER FIVE. They Waylay Cormac: And The Witch Curses Him.
There was a woman named Thorveig, and she knew a deal too much. She lived at Steinsstadir (Stonestead)
in Midfiord, and had two sons; the elder was Odd, and the younger Gudmund. They were great braggarts both
of them.
This Odd often came to see Thorkel at Tunga, and used to sit and talk with Steingerd. Thorkel made a great
show of friendship with the brothers, and egged them on to waylay Cormac. Odd said it was no more than he
could do.
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So one day when Cormac came to Tunga, Steingerd was in the parlour and sat on the dais. Thorveig's sons sat
in the room, ready to fall upon him when he came in; and Thorkel had put a drawn sword on one side of the
door, and on the other side Narfi had put a scythe in its shaft. When Cormac came to the halldoor the scythe
fell down and met the sword, and broke a great notch in it. Out came Thorkel and began to upbraid Cormac
for a rascal, and got fairly wild with his talk: then flung into the parlour and bade Steingerd out of it. Forth
they went by another door, and he locked her into an outhouse, saying that Cormac and she would never meet
again.
Cormac went in: and he came quicker than folk thought for, and they were taken aback. He looked about, and
no Steingerd: but he saw the brothers whetting their weapons: so he turned on his heel and went, saying:
(14)
"The weapon that mows in the meadow
It met with the gay painted buckler,
When I came to encounter a goddess
Who carries the beaker of wine.
Beware! for I warn you of evil
When warriors threaten me mischief.
It shall not be for nought that I pour ye
The newly mixed mead of the gods."
And when he could find Steingerd nowhere, he made this song:
(15)
"She has gone, with the glitter of ocean
Agleam on her wrist and her bosom,
And my heart follows hard on her footsteps,
For the hall is in darkness without her.
I have gazed, but my glances can pierce not
The gloom of the desolate dwelling;
And fierce is my longing to find her,
The fair one who only can heal me."
After a while he came to the outhouse where Steingerd was, and burst it open and had talk with her.
"This is madness," cried she, "to come talking with me; for Thorveig's sons are meant to have thy head."
But he answered:
(16)
"There wait they within that would snare me;
There whet they their swords for my slaying.
My bane they shall be not, the cowards,
The brood of the churl and the carline.
Let the twain of them find me and fight me
In the field, without shelter to shield them,
And ewes of the sheep should be surer
To shorten the days of the wolf."
So he sat there all day. By that time Thorkel saw that the plan he had made was come to nothing; and he bade
the sons of Thorveig waylay Cormac in a dale near his garth. "Narfi shall go with ye two," said he; "but I will
stay at home, and bring you help if need be."
In the evening Cormac set out, and when he came to the dale, he saw three men, and said in verse:
(17)
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"There sit they in hiding to stay me
From the sight of my queen of the jewels:
But rude will their task be to reave me
From the roof of my bounteous lady.
The fainer the hatred they harbour
For him that is free of her doorway,
The fainer my love and my longing
For the lass that is sweeter than samphire."
Then leaped up Thorveig's sons, and fought Cormac for a time: Narfi the while skulked and dodged behind
them. Thorkel saw from his house that they were getting but slowly forward, and he took his weapons. In that
nick of time Steingerd came out and saw what her father meant. She laid hold on his hands, and he got no
nearer to help the brothers. In the end Odd fell, and Gudmund was so wounded that he died afterwards.
Thorkel saw to them, and Cormac went home.
A little after this Cormac went to Thorveig and said he would have her no longer live there at the firth. "Thou
shalt flit and go thy way at such a time," said he, "and I will give no blood money for thy sons."
Thorveig answered, "It is like enough ye can hunt me out of the countryside, and leave my sons unatoned.
But this way I'll reward thee. Never shalt thou have Steingerd."
Said Cormac, "That's not for thee to make or to mar, thou wicked old hag!"
CHAPTER SIX. Cormac Wins His Bride and Loses Her.
After this, Cormac went to see Steingerd the same as ever: and once when they talked over these doings she
said no ill of them: whereupon he made this song:
(18)
"There sat they in hiding to slay me
From the sight of my bride and my darling:
But weak were the feet of my foemen
When we fought on the island of weapons.
And the rush of the mightiest rivers
Shall race from the shore to the mountains
Or ever I leave thee, my lady,
And the love that I feast on today!"
"Say no such big words about it," answered she; "Many a thing may stand in the road."
Upon which he said:
(19)
"O sweet in the sheen of thy raiment,
The sight of thy beauty is gladdening!
What man that goes marching to battle,
What mate wouldst thou choose to be thine?"
And she answered:
(20)
"O giver of gold, O ringbreaker,
If the gods and the high fates befriend me,
I'd pledge me to Frodi's blithe brother
And bind him that he should be mine."
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Then she told him to make friends with her father and get her in marriage. So for her sake Cormac gave
Thorkel good gifts. Afterwards many people had their say in the matter; but in the end it came to this, that
he asked for her, and she was pledged to him, and the wedding was fixed: and so all was quiet for a while.
Then they had words. There was some fallingout about settlements. It came to such a pass that after
everything was ready, Cormac began to cool off. But the real reason was, that Thorveig had bewitched him so
that they should never have one another.
Thorkel at Tunga had a grownup son, called Thorkel and bynamed Toothgnasher. He had been abroad
some time, but this summer he came home and stayed with his father.
Cormac never came to the wedding at the time it was fixed, and the hour passed by. This the kinsfolk of
Steingerd thought a slight, deeming that he had broken off the match; and they had much talk about it.
CHAPTER SEVEN. How Steingerd Was Married To Somebody Else.
Bersi lived in the land of Saurbae, a rich man and a good fellow: he was well to the fore, a fighter, and a
champion at the holmgang. He had been married to Finna the Fair: but she was dead: Asmund was their son,
young in years and early ripe. Helga was the sister of Bersi: she was unmarried, but a fine woman and a
pushing one, and she kept house for Bersi after Finna died.
At the farm called Muli (the Mull) lived Thord Arndisarson: he was wedded to Thordis, sister of Bork the
Stout. They had two sons who were both younger than Asmund the son of Bersi.
There was also a man with Vali. His farm was named Vali's stead, and it stood on the way to Hrutafiord.
Now Thorveig the spaewife went to see Holmgang Bersi and told him her trouble. She said that Cormac
forbade her staying in Midfiord: so Bersi bought land for her west of the firth, and she lived there for a long
time afterwards.
Once when Thorkel at Tunga and his son were talking about Cormac's breach of faith and deemed that it
should be avenged, Narfi said, "I see a plan that will do. Let us go to the west country with plenty of goods
and gear, and come to Bersi in Saurbae. He is wifeless. Let us entangle him in the matter. He would be a
great help to us."
That counsel they took. They journeyed to Saurbae, and Bersi welcomed them. In the evening they talked of
nothing but weddings. Narfi up and said there was no match so good as Steingerd, "And a deal of folk
say, Bersi, that she would suit thee."
"I have heard tell," he answered, "that there will be a rift in the road, though the match is a good one."
"If it's Cormac men fear," cried Narfi, "there is no need; for he is clean out of the way."
When Bersi heard that, he opened the matter to Thorkel Toothgnasher, and asked for Steingerd. Thorkel
made a good answer, and pledged his sister to him.
So they rode north, eighteen in all, for the wedding. There was a man named Vigi lived at Holm, a big man
and strong of his hands, a warlock, and Bersi's kinsman. He went with them, and they thought he would be a
good helper. Thord Arndisarson too went north with Bersi, and many others, all picked men.
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When they came to Thorkel's, they set about the wedding at once, so that no news of it might get out through
the countryside: but all this was sore against Steingerd's will.
Now Vigi the warlock knew every man's affairs who came to the steading or left it. He sat outmost in the
chamber, and slept by the hall door.
Steingerd sent for Narfi, and when they met she said, "I wish thee, kinsman, to tell Cormac the business
they are about: I wish thee to take this message to him."
So he set out secretly; but when he was a gone a little way Vigi came after, and bade him creep home and
hatch no plots. They went back together, and so the night passed.
Next morning Narfi started forth again; but before he had gone so far as on the evening, Vigi beset him, and
drove him back without mercy.
When the wedding was ended they made ready for their journey. Steingerd took her gold and jewels, and they
rode towards Hrutafiord, going rather slowly. When they were off, Narfi set out and came to Mel. Cormac
was building a wall, and hammering it with a mallet. Narfi rode up, with his shield and sword, and carried on
strangely, rolling his eyes about like a hunted beast. Some men were up on the wall with Cormac when he
came, and his horse shied at them. Said Cormac, "What news, Narfi? What folk were with you last night?"
"Small tidings, but we had guests enough," answered he.
"Who were the guests?"
"There was Holmgang Bersi, with seventeen more to sit at his wedding."
"Who was the bride?"
"Bersi wed Steingerd Thorkel's daughter," said Narfi. "When they were gone she sent me here to tell thee the
news."
"Thou hast never a word but ill," said Cormac, and leapt upon him and struck at the shield: and as it slipped
aside he was smitten on the breast and fell from his horse; and the horse ran away with the shield (hanging to
it).
Cormac's brother Thorgils said this was too much. "It serves him right," cried Cormac. And when Narfi woke
out of his swoon they got speech of him.
Thorgils asked, "What manner of men were at the wedding?"
Narfi told him.
"Did Steingerd know this before?"
"Not till the very evening they came," answered he; and then told of his dealings with Vigi, saying that
Cormac would find it easier to whistle on Steingerd's tracks and go on a fool's errand than to fight Bersi.
Then said Cormac:
(21)
"Now see to thy safety henceforward,
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER SEVEN. How Steingerd Was Married To Somebody Else. 10
Page No 13
And stick to thy horse and thy buckler;
Or this mallet of mine, I can tell thee,
Will meet with thine ear of a surety.
Now say no more stories of feasting,
Though seven in a day thou couldst tell of,
Or bumps thou shalt comb on thy brainpan,
Thou that breakest the howes of the dead.
Thorgils asked about the settlements between Bersi and Steingerd. Her kinsmen, said Narfi, were now quit of
all farther trouble about that business, however it might turn out; but her father and brother would be
answerable for the wedding.
CHAPTER EIGHT. How Cormac Chased Bersi And His Bride.
Cormac took his horse and weapons and saddlegear.
"What now, brother?" asked Thorgils.
He answered:
(22)
"My bride, my betrothed has been stolen,
And Bersi the raider has robbed me.
I who offer the songcup of Odin
Who else? should be riding beside her.
She loved me no lord of them better:
I have lost her for me she is weeping:
The dear, dainty darling that kissed me,
For day upon day of delight."
Said Thorgils, "A risky errand is this, for Bersi will get home before you catch him. And yet I will go with
thee."
Cormac said he would away and bide for no man. He leapt on his horse forthwith, and galloped as hard as he
could. Thorgils made haste to gather men, they were eighteen in all, and came up with Cormac on the
hause that leads to Hrutafiord, for he had foundered his horse. So they turned to Thorveig the spaewife's
farmsteading, and found that Bersi was gone aboard her boat.
She had said to Bersi, "I wish thee to take a little gift from me, and good luck follow it."
This was a target bound with iron; and she said she reckoned Bersi would hardly be hurt if he carried it to
shield him, "but it is little worth beside this steading thou hast given me." He thanked her for the gift, and
so they parted. Then she got men to scuttle all the boats on the shore, because she knew beforehand that
Cormac and his folk were coming.
When they came and asked her for a boat, she said she would do them no kindness without payment;
"Here is a rotten boat in the boathouse which I would lend for half a mark."
Thorgils said it would be in reason if she asked two ounces of silver. Such matters, said Cormac, should not
stand in the way; but Thorgils said he would sooner ride all round the waterhead. Nevertheless Cormac had
his will, and they started in the boat; but they had scarcely put off from shore when it filled, and they had
hard work to get back to the same spot.
"Thou shouldst pay dearly for this, thou wicked old hag," said Cormac, "and never be paid at all."
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER EIGHT. How Cormac Chased Bersi And His Bride. 11
Page No 14
That was no mighty trick to play them, she said; and so Thorgils paid her the silver; about which Cormac
made this song:
(23)
"I'm a tree that is tricked out in wargear,
She, the trim rosy elf of the shuttle:
And I break into singing about her
Like the bat at the well, never ceasing.
With the dewdrops of Draupnir the golden
Full dearly folk buy them their blessings;
Then lay down three ounces and leave them
For the leaky old boat that we borrowed."
Bersi got hastily to horse, and rode homewards; and when Cormac saw that he must be left behind, he made
this song:
(24)
"I tell you, the goddess who glitters
With gold on the perch of the falcon,
The bride that I trusted, by beauty,
From the bield of my hand has been taken.
On the boat she makes glad in its gliding
She is gone from me, reft from me, ravished!
O shame, that we linger to save her,
Too sweet for the prey of the raven!
They took their horses and rode round the head of the firth. They met Vali and asked about Bersi; he said that
Bersi had come to Muli and gathered men to him, "A many men."
"Then we are too late," said Cormac, "if they have got men together."
Thorgils begged Cormac to let them turn back, saying there was little honour to be got; but Cormac said he
must see Steingerd.
So Vali went with them and they came to Muli where Bersi was and many men with him. They spoke
together. Cormac said that Bersi had betrayed him in carrying off Steingerd, "But now we would take the
lady with us, and make him amends for his honour."
To this said Thord Arndisarson, "We will offer terms to Cormac, but the lady is in Bersi's hands."
"There is no hope that Steingerd will go with you," said Bersi; "but I offer my sister to Cormac in marriage,
and I reckon he will be well wedded if take Helga."
"This is a good offer," said Thorgils; "let us think of it, brother."
But Cormac started back like a restive horse.
CHAPTER NINE. Of Another Witch, And Two Magic Swords.
There was a woman called Thordis and a shrew she was who lived at Spakonufell (Spaequean'sfell),
in Skagastrand. She, having foresight of Cormac's goings, came that very day to Muli, and answered this
matter on his behalf, saying, "Never give him yon false woman. She is a fool, and not fit for any pretty man.
Woe will his mother be at such a fate for her lad!"
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER NINE. Of Another Witch, And Two Magic Swords. 12
Page No 15
"Aroint thee, foul witch!" cried Thord. They should see, said he, that Helga would turn out fine. But Cormac
answered, "Said it may be, for sooth it may be: I will never think of her."
"Woe to us, then," said Thorgils, "for listening to the words of yon fiend, and slighting this offer!"
Then spoke Cormac, "I bid thee, Bersi, to the holmgang within half a month, at Leidholm, in Middal."
Bersi said he would come, but Cormac should be the worse for his choice.
After this Cormac went about the steading to look for Steingerd. When he found her he said she had betrayed
him in marrying another man.
"It was thou that made the first breach, Cormac," said she, "for this was none of my doing."
Then said he in verse:
(25)
"Thou sayest my faith has been forfeit,
O fair in thy glittering raiment;
But I wearied my steed and outwore it,
And for what but the love that bare thee?
O fainer by far was I, lady,
To founder my horse in the hunting
Nay, I spared not the jade when I spurred it
Than to see thee the bride of my foe."
After this Cormac and his men went home. When he told his mother how things had gone, "Little good," she
said, "will thy luck do us. Ye have slighted a fine offer, and you have no chance against Bersi, for he is a
great fighter and he has good weapons."
Now, Bersi owned the sword they call Whitting; a sharp sword it was, with a lifestone to it; and that sword
he had carried in many a fray.
"Whether wilt thou have weapons to meet Whitting?" she asked. Cormac said he would have an axe both
great and keen.
Dalla said he should see Skeggi of Midfiord and ask for the loan of his sword, Skofnung. So Cormac went to
Reykir and told Skeggi how matters stood, asking him to lend Skofnung. Skeggi said he had no mind to lend
it. Skofnung and Cormac, said he, would never agree: "It is cold and slow, and thou art hot and hasty."
Cormac rode away and liked it ill. He came home to Mel and told his mother that Skeggi would not lend the
sword. Now Skeggi had the oversight of Dalla's affairs, and they were great friends; so she said, "He will
lend the sword, though not all at once."
That was not what he wanted, answered Cormac, "If he withhold it not from thee, while he does withhold
it from me." Upon which she answered that he was a thwart lad.
A few days afterwards Dalla told him to go to Reykir. "He will lend thee the sword now," said she. So he
sought Skeggi and asked for Skofnung.
"Hard wilt thou find it to handle," said Skeggi. "There is a pouch to it, and that thou shalt let be. Sun must not
shine on the pommel of the hilt. Thou shalt not wear it until fighting is forward, and when ye come to the
field, sit all alone and then draw it. Hold the edge toward thee, and blow on it. Then will a little worm creep
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER NINE. Of Another Witch, And Two Magic Swords. 13
Page No 16
from under the hilt. Then slope thou the sword over, and make it easy for that worm to creep back beneath the
hilt."
"Here's a tale of tricks, thou warlock!" cried Cormac
"Nevertheless," answered Skeggi, "it will stand thee in good stead to know them."
So Cormac rode home and told his mother, saying that her will was of great avail with Skeggi. He showed the
sword, and tried to draw it, but it would not leave the sheath.
"Thou are over wilful, my son," said she.
Then he set his feet against the hilts, and pulled until he tore the pouch off, at which Skofnung creaked and
groaned, but never came out of the scabbard.
Well, the time wore on, and the day came. He rode away with fifteen men; Bersi also rode to the holm with as
many. Cormac came there first, and told Thorgils that he would sit apart by himself. So he sat down and
ungirt the sword.
Now, he never heeded whether the sun shone upon the hilt, for he had girt the sword on him outside his
clothes. And when he tried to draw it he could not, until he set his feet upon the hilts. Then the little worm
came, and was not rightly done by; and so the sword came groaning and creaking out of the scabbard, and the
good luck of it was gone.
CHAPTER TEN. The Fight On Leidarholm.
After that Cormac went to his men. Bersi and his party had come by that time, and many more to see the
fight.
Cormac took up Bersi's target and cut at it, and sparks flew out.
Then a hide was taken and spread for them to stand on. Bersi spoke and said, "Thou, Cormac, hast challenged
me to the holmgang; instead of that, I offer thee to fight in simple sword play. Thou art a young man and
little tried; the holmgang needs craft and cunning, but swordplay, man to man, is an easy game."
Cormac answered, "I should fight no better even so. I will run the risk, and stand on equal footing with thee,
every way."
"As thou wilt," said Bersi.
It was the law of the holmgang that the hide should be five ells long, with loops at its corners. Into these
should be driven certain pins with heads to them, called tjosnur. He who made it ready should go to the pins
in such a manner that he could see sky between his legs, holding the lobes of his ears and speaking the
forewords used in the rite called "The Sacrifice of the tjosnur." Three squares should be marked round the
hide, each one foot broad. At the outermost corners of the squares should be four poles, called hazels; when
this is done, it is a hazelled field. Each man should have three shields, and when they were cut up he must get
upon the hide if he had given way from it before, and guard himself with his weapons alone thereafter. He
who had been challenged should strike the first stroke. If one was wounded so that blood fell upon the hide,
he should fight no longer. If either set one foot outside the hazel poles "he went on his heel," they said; but he
"ran" if both feet were outside. His own man was to hold the shield before each of the fighters. The one who
was wounded should pay three marks of silver to be set free.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TEN. The Fight On Leidarholm. 14
Page No 17
So the hide was taken and spread under their feet. Thorgils held his brother's shield, and Thord Arndisarson
that of Bersi. Bersi struck the first blow, and cleft Cormac's shield; Cormac struck at Bersi to the like peril.
Each of them cut up and spoilt three shields of the other's. Then it was Cormac's turn. He struck at Bersi, who
parried with Whitting. Skofnung cut the point off Whitting in front of the ridge. The swordpoint flew upon
Cormac's hand, and he was wounded in the thumb. The joint was cleft, and blood dropped upon the hide.
Thereupon folk went between them and stayed the fight.
Then said Cormac, "This is a mean victory that Bersi has gained; it is only from my bad luck; and yet we
must part."
He flung down his sword, and it met Bersi's target. A shard was broken out of Skofnung, and fire flew out of
Thorveig's gift.
Bersi asked the money for release, Cormac said it would be paid; and so they parted.
CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Songs That Were Made About The Fight.
Steinar was the name of a man who was the son of Onund the Seer, and brother of Dalla, Cormac's mother.
He was an unpeaceful man, and lived at Ellidi.
Thither rode Cormac from the holme, to see his kinsman, and told him of the fight, at which he was but ill
pleased. Cormac said he meant to leave the country, "And I want thee to take the money to Bersi."
"Thou art no bold man," said Steinar, "but the money shall be paid if need be."
Cormac was there some nights; his hand swelled much, for it was not dressed.
After that meeting, Holmgang Bersi went to see his brother. Folk asked how the holmgang had gone, and
when he told them they said that two bold men had struck small blows, and he had gained the victory only
through Cormac's mishap. When Bersi met Steingerd, and she asked how it went, he made this verse:
(26)
"They call him, and truly they tell it,
A tree of the helmet right noble:
But the master of manhood must bring me
Three marks for his ransom and rescue.
Though stout in the storm of the bucklers
In the stress of the Valkyrie's tempest
He will bid me no more to the battle,
For the best of the struggle was ours."
Steinar and Cormac rode from Ellidi and passed through Saurbae. They saw men riding towards them, and
yonder came Bersi. He greeted Cormac and asked how the wound was getting on. Cormac said it needed little
to be healed.
"Wilt thou let me heal thee?" said Bersi; "though from me thou didst get it: and then it will be soon over."
Cormac said nay, for he meant to be his lifelong foe. Then answered Bersi:
(27)
"Thou wilt mind thee for many a season
How we met in the high voice of Hilda.
Right fain I go forth to the spearmote
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Songs That Were Made About The Fight. 15
Page No 18
Being fitted for every encounter.
There Cormac's gay shield from his clutches
I clave with the bane of the bucklers,
For he scorned in the battle to seek me
If we set not the lists of the holmgang."
Thus they parted; and then Cormac went home to Mel and saw his mother. She healed his hand; it had
become ugly and healed badly. The notch in Skofnung they whetted, but the more they whetted the bigger it
was. So he went to Reykir, and flung Skofnung at Skeggi's feet, with this verse:
(28)
"I bring thee, thus broken and edgeless,
The blade that thou gavest me, Skeggi!
I warrant thy weapon could bite not:
I won not the fight by its witchcraft.
No gain of its virtue nor glory
I got in the strife of the weapons,
When we met for to mingle the swordstorm
For the maiden my singing adorns."
Said Skeggi, "It went as I warned thee." Cormac flung forth and went home to Mel: and when he met with
Dalla he made this song:
(29)
"To the field went I forth, O my mother
The flame of the armlet who guardest,
To dare the cavedweller, my foeman
And I deemed I should smite him in battle.
But the brand that is bruited in story
It brake in my hand as I held it;
And this that should thrust men to slaughter
Is thwarted and let of its might.
(30)
For I borrowed to bear in the fighting
No bluntedged weapon of Skeggi:
There is strength in the serpent that quivers
By the side of the land of the girdle.
But vain was the virtue of Skofnung
When he vanquished the sharpness of Whitting;
And a shard have I shorn, to my sorrow,
From the shearer of ringleted mail.
(31)
Yon tusker, my foe, wrought me trouble
When targe upon targe I had carven:
For the thin wand of slaughter was shattered
And it sundered the ground of my handgrip.
Loud bellowed the bear of the seaking
When he brake from his lair in the scabbard,
At the hest of the singer, who seeketh
The sweet hidden draught of the gods.
(32)
Afar must I fare, O my mother,
And a fate points the pathway before me,
For that whitewreathen tree may woo not
Two wearisome morrows her outcast.
And it slays me, at home to be sitting,
So set is my heart on its goddess,
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Songs That Were Made About The Fight. 16
Page No 19
As a lawn with fair linen made lovely
I can linger no third morrow's morn."
After that, Cormac went one day to Reykir and talked with Skeggi, who said the holmgang had been brought
to scorn. Then answered Cormac:
(33)
"Forget it, O Frey of the helmet,
Lo, I frame thee a song in atonement
That the bringer of blood, even Skofnung,
I bare thee so strangely belated.
For by stirrers of storm was I wounded;
They smote me where perches the falcon:
But the blade that I borrowed, O Skeggi,
Was borne in the clashing of edges.
(34)
I had deemed, O thou Grey of fighting,
Of the fierce song of Odin, my neighbour,
I had deemed that a brand meet for bloodshed
I bare to the crossways of slaughter.
Nay, thy glaive, it would gape not nor ravin
Against him, the rover who robbed me:
And on her, as the surge on the shingle,
My soul beats and breaks evermore."
CHAPTER TWELVE. Bersi's Bad Luck At The Thor'sNess Thing.
In the winter, sports were held at Saurbae. Bersi's lad, Asmund, was there, and likewise the sons of Thord;
but they were younger than he, and nothing like so sturdy. When they wrestled Asmund took no heed to stint
his strength, and the sons of Thord often came home blue and bleeding. Their mother Thordis was ill pleased,
and asked her husband would he give Bersi a hint to make it up on behalf of his son. Nay, Thord answered,
he was loath to do that.
"Then I'll find my brother Bork," said she, "and it will be just as bad in the end."
Thord bade her do no such thing. "I would rather talk it over with him," said he; and so, at her wish, he met
Bersi, and hinted that some amends were owing.
Said Bersi, "Thou art far too greedy of getting, nowadays. This kind of thing will end in losing thee thy good
name. Thou wilt never want while anything is to be got here."
Thord went home, and there was a coolness between them while that winter lasted.
Spring slipped by, until it was time for the meeting at Thor's ness. By then, Bersi thought he saw through
this claim of Thord's, and found Thordis at the bottom of it. For all that, he made ready to go to the Thing. By
old use and wont these two neighbours should have gone riding together; so Bersi set out and came to Muli,
but when he got there Thord was gone.
"Well," said he, "Thord has broken old use and wont in awaiting me no longer."
"If breach there be," answered Thordis, "it is thy doing. This is nothing to what we owe thee, and I doubt
there will be more to follow."
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWELVE. Bersi's Bad Luck At The Thor'sNess Thing. 17
Page No 20
They had words. Bersi said that harm would come of her evil counsel; and so they parted.
When he left the house he said to his men, "Let us turn aside to the shore and take a boat; it is a long way to
ride round the waterhead." So they took a boat it was one of Thord's and went their way.
They came to the meeting when most other folks were already there, and went to the tent of Olaf Peacock of
Hjardarholt (Herdholt), for he was Bersi's chief. It was crowded inside, and Bersi found no seat. He used to
sit next Thord, but that place was filled. In it there sat a big and stronglooking man, with a bearskin coat,
and a hood that shaded his face. Bersi stood a while before him, but the seat was not given up. He asked the
man for his name, and was told he might call him Bruin, or he might call him Hoodie whichever he
liked; whereupon he said in verse:
(35)
"Who sits in the seat of the warriors,
With the skin of the bear wrapped around him,
So wild in his look? Ye have welcomed
A wolf to your table, good kinsfolk!
Ah, now may I know him, I reckon!
Doth he name himself Bruin, or Hoodie?
We shall meet once again in the morning,
And maybe he'll prove to be Steinar."
"And it's no use for thee to hide thy name, thou in the bearskin," said he.
"No more it is," he answered. "Steinar I am, and I have brought money to pay thee for Cormac, if so be it is
needed. But first I bid thee to fight. It will have to be seen whether thou get the two marks of silver, or
whether thou lose them both."
Upon which quoth Bersi:
(36)
"They that waken the storm of the spearpoints
For slaughter and strife they are famous
To the island they bid me for battle,
Nor bitter I think it nor woeful;
For long in that craft am I learned
To loosen the Valkyrie's tempest
In the lists, and I fear not to fight them
Unflinching in battle am I.
"Well I wot, though," said he, "that ye and your gang mean to make away with me. But I would let you know
that I too have something to say about it something that will set down your swagger, maybe."
"It is not thy death we are seeking," answered Steinar; "all we want is to teach thee thy true place."
Bersi agreed to fight him, and then went out to a tent apart and took up his abode there.
Now one day the word went round for bathing in the sea. Said Steinar to Bersi, "Wilt try a race with me,
Bersi?"
"I have given over swimming," said he, "and yet I'll try."
Bersi's manner of swimming was to breast the waves and strike out with all his might. In so doing he showed
a charm he wore round his neck. Steinar swam at him and tore off the luckystone with the bag it was in, and
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWELVE. Bersi's Bad Luck At The Thor'sNess Thing. 18
Page No 21
threw them both into the water, saying in verse:
(37)
"Long I've lived,
And I've let the gods guide me;
Brown hose I never wore
To bring the luck beside me.
I've never knit
All to keep me thriving
Round my neck a bag of worts,
And lo! I'm living!"
Upon that they struck out to land.
But this turn that Steinar played was Thord's trick to make Bersi lose his luck in the fight. And Thord went
along the shore at low water and found the luckstone, and hid it away.
Now Steinar had a sword that was called after Skrymir the giant: it was never fouled, and no mishap followed
it. On the day fixed, Thord and Steinar went out of the tent, and Cormac also came to the meeting to hold the
shield of Steinar. Olaf Peacock got men to help Bersi at the fight, for Thord had been used to hold his shield,
but this time failed him. So Bersi went to the trystingplace with a shieldbearer who is not named in the
story, and with the round target that once had belonged to Thorveig.
Each man was allowed three shields. Bersi cut up two, and then Cormac took the third. Bersi hacked away,
but Whitting his sword stuck fast in the iron border of Steinar's shield. Cormac whirled it up just when
Steinar was striking out. He struck the shieldedge, and the sword glanced off, slit Bersi's buttock, sliced his
thigh down to the kneejoint, and stuck in the bone. And so Bersi fell.
"There!" cried Steinar, "Cormac's fine is paid."
But Bersi leapt up, slashed at him, and clove his shield. The swordpoint was at Steinar's breast when Thord
rushed forth and dragged him away, out of reach.
"There!" cried Thord to Bersi, "I have paid thee for the mauling of my sons."
So Bersi was carried to the tent, and his wound was dressed. After a while, Thord came in; and when Bersi
saw him he said:
(38)
"When the wolf of the wargod was howling
Erstwhile in the north, thou didst aid me:
When it gaped in my hand, and it girded
At the Valkyries' gate for to enter.
But now wilt thou never, O warrior,
At need in the stormcloud of Odin
Give me help in the tempest of targes
Untrusty, unfaithful art thou.
(39)
"For when I was a stripling I showed me
To the stems of the lightning of battle
Right meet for the mist of the warmaids;
Ah me! that was said long ago.
But now, and I may not deny it
My neighbours in earth must entomb me,
At the spot I have sought for gravemound
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWELVE. Bersi's Bad Luck At The Thor'sNess Thing. 19
Page No 22
Where Saurbae lies level and green."
Said Thord, "I have no wish for thy death; but I own it is no sorrow to see thee down for once."
To which Bersi answered in song:
(40)
"The friend that I trusted has failed me
In the fight, and my hope is departed:
I speak what I know of; and note it,
Ye nobles, I tell ye no leasing.
Lo, the raven is ready for carnage,
But rare are the friends who should succour.
Yet still let them scorn me and threaten,
I shrink not, I am not dismayed."
After this, Bersi was taken home to Saurbae, and lay long in his wounds.
But when he was carried into the tent, at that very moment Steinar spoke thus to Cormac:
(41)
"Of the reapers in harvest of Hilda
Thou hast heard of it four men and eight men
With the edges of Skrymir to aid me
I have urged to their flight from the battle.
Now the singer, the steward of Odin,
Hath smitten at last even Bersi
With the flame of the weapon that feedeth
The flocks of the carrion crows."
"I would have thee keep Skrymir now for thy own, Cormac," said he, "because I mean this fight to be my
last."
After that, they parted in friendly wise: Steinar went home, and Cormac fared to Mel.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Steingerd Leaves Bersi.
Next it is told of Bersi. His wound healed but slowly. Once on a time a many folk were met to talk about that
meeting and what came of it, and Bersi made this song:
(42)
"Thou didst leave me forlorn to the swordstroke,
Strong lord of the field of the serpent!
And needy and fallen ye find me,
Since my foeman ye shielded from danger.
Thus cunning and counsel are victors,
When the craft of the spearshaft avails not;
But this, as I think, is the ending,
O Thord, of our friendship for ever!"
A while later Thord came to his bedside and brought back the luckstone; and with it he healed Bersi, and
they took to their friendship again and held it unbroken ever after.
Because of these happenings, Steingerd fell into loathing of Bersi and made up her mind to part with him;
and when she had got everything ready for going away she went to him and said: "First ye were called
Eygla'sBersi, and then HolmgangBersi, but now your right name will be BreechBersi!" and spoke her
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Steingerd Leaves Bersi. 20
Page No 23
divorce from him.
She went north to her kinsfolk, and meeting with her brother Thorkel she bade him seek her goods again from
Bersi her pin money and her dowry, saying that she would not own him now that he was maimed.
Thorkel Toothgnasher never blamed her for that, and agreed to undertake her errand; but the winter slipped
by and his going was put off.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Bane Of Thorkel Toothgnasher.
Afterwards, in the spring, Thorkel Toothgnasher set out to find Bersi and to seek Steingerd's goods again.
Bersi said that his burden was heavy enough to bear, even though both together underwent the weight of it.
"And I shall not pay the money!" said he.
Said Thorkel, "I bid thee to the holmgang at Orrestholm beside Tjaldanes (Tentness)."
"That ye will think hardly worth while," said Bersi, "such a champion as you are; and yet I undertake for to
come."
So they came to the holme and fell to the holmgang. Thord carried the shield before Bersi, and Vali was
Thorkel's shield bearer. When two shields had been hacked to splinters, Bersi bade Thorkel take the third;
but he would not. Bersi still had a shield, and a sword that was long and sharp.
Said Thorkel, "The sword ye have, Bersi, is longer than lawful."
"That shall not be," cried Bersi; and took up his other sword, Whitting, twohanded, and smote Thorkel his
deathblow. Then sang he:
(43)
"I have smitten Toothgnasher and slain him,
And I smile at the pride of his boasting.
One more to my thirty I muster,
And, men! say ye this of the battle:
In the world not a lustier liveth
Among lords of the steed of the oarbench;
Though by eld of my strength am I stinted
To stain the black woundbird with blood."
After these things Vali bade Bersi to the holmgang, but he answered in this song:
(44)
"They that waken the war of the mailcoats,
For warfare and manslaying famous,
To the lists they have bid me to battle,
Nor bitter I think it not woeful.
It is sport for yon swordsmen who goad me
To strive in the Valkyries' tempest
On the holme; but I fear not to fight them
Unflinching in battle am I!"
The were even about to begin fighting, when Thord came and spoke to them saying: "Woeful waste of life
I call it, if brave men shall be smitten down for the sake of any such matters. I am ready to make it up
between ye two."
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Bane Of Thorkel Toothgnasher. 21
Page No 24
To this they agreed, and he said: "Vali, this methinks is the most likely way of bringing you together. Let
Bersi take thy sister Thordis to wife. It is a match that may well be to thy worship."
Bersi agreed to this, and it was settled that the land of Brekka should go along with her as a dowry; and so
this troth was plighted between them. Bersi afterwards had a strong stone wall built around his homestead,
and sat there for many winters in peace.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN. The Rescue Of Steinvor Slimankles.
There was a man named Thorarin Alfsson, who lived in the north at Thambardal; that is a dale which goes up
from the fiord called Bitra. He was a big man and mighty, and he was bynamed Thorarin the Strong. He had
spent much of his time in seafaring (as a chapman) and so lucky was he that he always made the harbour he
aimed at.
He had three sons; one was named Alf, the next Loft, and the third Skofti. Thorarin was a most overbearing
man, and his sons took after him. They were rough, noisy fellows.
Not far away, at Tunga (Tongue) in Bitra, lived a man called Odd. His daughter was named Steinvor, a pretty
girl and well set up; her byname was Slimankles. Living with Odd were many fisherman; among them,
staying there for the fishingseason, was one Glum, an illtempered carle and bad to deal with.
Now once upon a time these two, Odd and Glum, were in talk together which were the greatest men in the
countryside. Glum reckoned Thorarin to be foremost, but Odd said Holmgang Bersi was better than he in
every way.
"How can ye make that out?" asked Glum.
"Is there any likeness whatever," said Odd, "between the bravery of Bersi and the knavery of Thorarin?"
So they talked about this until they fell out, and laid a wager upon it.
Then Glum wend and told Thorarin. He grew very angry and made many a threat against Odd. And in a while
he went and carried off Steinvor from Tunga, all to spite her father; and he gave out that if Odd said anything
against it, the worse for him: and so took her home to Thambardal.
Things went on so for a while, and then Odd went to see Holmgang Bersi, and told him what had happened.
He asked him for help to get Steinvor back and to wreak vengeance for that shame. Bersi answered that such
words had been better unsaid, and bade him go home and take no share in the business. "But yet," added he,
"I promise that I will see to it."
No sooner was Odd gone than Bersi made ready to go from home. He rode fully armed, with Whitting at his
belt, and three spears; he came to Thambardal when the day was far spent and the women were coming out of
the bower. Steinvor saw him and turning to meet him told of her unhappiness.
"Make ready to go with me," said he; and that she did.
He would not go to Thambardal for nothing, he said; and so he turned to the door where men were sitting by
long fires. He knocked at the door, and out there came a man his name was Thorleif. But Thorarin knew
Bersi's voice, and rushed forth with a great carvingknife and laid on to him. Bersi was aware of it, and drew
Whitting, and struck him his deathblow.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER FIFTEEN. The Rescue Of Steinvor Slimankles. 22
Page No 25
Then he leapt on horseback and set Steinvor on his knee and took his spears which she had kept for him. He
rode some way into the wood, where in a hidden spot he left his horse and Steinvor, bidding her await him.
Then he went to a narrow gap through which the highroad ran, and there made ready to stand against his
foes.
In Thambardal there was anything but peace. Thorleif ran to tell the sons of Thorarin that he lay dead in the
doorway. They asked who had done the deed. He told them. Then they went after Bersi and steered the
shortest way to the gap, meaning to get there first; but by that time he was already first at the gap.
When they came near him, Bersi hurled a spear at Alf, and it went right through him. Then Loft cast at Bersi,
but he caught the spear on his target and it dropped off. Then Bersi threw at Loft and killed him, and so he
did by Skofti.
When all was over, the housecarles of the brothers came up. Thorleif turned back to meet them, and they all
went home together.
After that Bersi went to find Steinvor, and mounted his horse. He came home before men were out of bed.
They asked him about his journey and he told them. When Odd met him he asked about the fight and how it
had passed, and Bersi answered in this verse:
(45)
"There was one fed the wolves has encountered
His weird in the dale of the Bowstring
Thorarin the Strong, 'neath the slayer
Lay slain by the might of my weapon.
And loss of their lives men abided
When Loft fell, and Alf fell, and Skofti.
They were four, yonder kinsmen, and fated
They were fey and I met them, alone!"
After that Odd went home, but Steinvor was with Bersi, though it misliked Thordis, his wife. By this time his
stone wall was somewhat broken down, but he had it built up again; and it is said that no bloodmoney was
ever paid for Thorarin and his sons. So the time went on.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy.
Once on a day when Thordis and Bersi were talking together, said he, "I have been thinking I might ask Olaf
Peacock for a child of his to foster."
"Nay," said she, "I think little of that. It seems to me a great trouble, and I doubt if folk will reckon more of
us for it."
"It means that I should have a sure friend," answered he. "I have many foes, and I am growing heavy with
age."
So he went to see Olaf, and asked for a child to foster. Olaf took it with thanks, and Bersi carried Halldor
home with him and got Steinvor to be nurse. This too misliked Thordis, and she laid hands on every penny
she could get (for fear it should go to Steinvor and the fosterchild).
At last Bersi took to ageing much. There was one time when men riding to the Thing stayed at his house. He
sat all by himself, and his food was brought him before the rest were served. He had porridge while other folk
had cheese and curds. Then he made this verse:
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER SIXTEEN. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy. 23
Page No 26
(46)
"To batten the blackfeathered woundbird
With the blade of my axe have I stricken
Full thirty and five of my foemen;
I am famed for the slaughter of warriors.
May the fiends have my soul if I stain not
My sharpedged falchion once over!
And then let the breaker of broadswords
Be borne and with speed to the grave!"
"What?" said Halldor; "hast thou a mind to kill another man, then?"
Answered Bersi, "I see the man it would rightly serve!"
Now Thordis let her brother Vali feed his herds on the land of Brekka. Bersi bade his housecarles work at
home, and have no dealings with Vali; but still Halldor thought it a hardship that Bersi had not his own will
with his own wealth. One day Bersi made this verse:
(47)
"Here we lie,
Both on one settle
Halldor and I,
Men of no mettle.
Youth ails thee,
But thou'lt win through it;
Age ails me,
And I must rue it!"
"I do hate Vali," said Halldor; and Bersi answered thus in verse:
(48)
"Yon Vali, so wight as he would be,
Well wot I our pasture he grazes;
Right fain yonder fierce helmetwearer
Under foot my dead body would trample!
But often my wrongs have I wreaked
In wrath on the mailcoated warrior
On the stems of the sun of the ocean
I have stained the woundserpent for less!"
And again he said:
(49)
"With eld I am listless and lamed
I, the lord of the gold of the armlet:
I sit, and am still under many
A slight from the warders of spearmeads.
Though shieldbearers shape for the singer
To shiver alone in the gravemound,
Yet once in the war would I redden
The wand that hews helms ere I fail."
"Thy heart is not growing old, fosterfather mine!" cried Halldor.
Upon that Bersi fell into talk with Steinvor, and said to her "I am laying a plot, and I need thee to help me."
She said she would if she could.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER SIXTEEN. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy. 24
Page No 27
"Pick a quarrel," said he, "with Thordis about the milkkettle, and do thou hold on to it until you whelm it
over between you. Then I will come in and take her part and give thee nought but bad words. Then go to Vali
and tell him how ill we treat thee."
Everything turned out as he had planned. She went to Vali and told him that things were no way smooth for
her; would he take her over the gap (to Bitra to her father's:) and so he did.
But when he was on the way back again, out came Bersi and Halldor to meet him. Bersi had a halberd in one
hand and a staff in the other, and Halldor had Whitting. As soon as Vali saw them he turned and hewed at
Bersi. Halldor came at his back and fleshed Whitting in his houghsinews. Thereupon he turned sharply and
fell upon Halldor. Then Bersi set the halberdpoint betwixt his shoulders. That was his deathwound.
Then they set his shield at his feet and his sword at his head, and spread his cloak over him; and after that got
on horseback and rode to five homesteads to make known the deed they had done and then rode home. Men
went and buried Vali, and the place where he fell has ever since been called Vali's fall.
Halldor was twelve winters old when these doings came to pass.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. How Steingerd Was Married Again.
Now there was a man named Thorvald, the son of Eystein, bynamed the Tinker: he was a wealthy man, a
smith, and a skald; but he was meanspirited for all that. His brother Thorvard lived in the north country at
Fliot (Fleet); and they had many kinsmen, the Skidings they were called, but little luck or liking.
Now Thorvald the Tinker asked Steingerd to wife. Her folk were for it, and she said nothing against it; and so
she was wed to him in the very same summer in which she left Bersi.
When Cormac heard the news he made as though he knew nothing whatever about the matter; for a little
earlier he had taken his goods aboard ship, meaning to go away with his brother. But one morning early he
rode from the ship and went to see Steingerd; and when he got talk with her, he asked would she make him a
shirt. To which she answered that he had no business to pay her visits; neither Thorvald nor his kinsmen
would abide it, she said, but have their revenge.
Thereupon he made his voice:
(50)
"Nay, think it or thole it I cannot,
That thou, a young fir of the forest
Enwreathed in the gold that thou guardest,
Shouldst be given to a tinkering tinsmith.
Nay, scarce can I smile, O thou glittering
In silk like the goddess of Baldur,
Since thy father handfasted and pledged thee,
So famed as thou art, to a coward."
"In such words," answered Steingerd, "an ill will is plain to hear. I shall tell Thorvald of this ribaldry: no man
would sit still under such insults."
Then sang Cormac:
(51)
"What gain is to get if he threatens,
White goddess in raiment of beauty,
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. How Steingerd Was Married Again. 25
Page No 28
The scorn that the Skidings may bear me?
I'll set them a weft for their weaving!
I'll rhyme you the roystering caitiffs
Till rocks go afloat on the water;
And lucky for them if they loosen
The line of their fate that I ravel!"
Thereupon they parted with no blitheness, and Cormac went to his ship.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. Cormac's Voyage To Norway.
The two brothers had but left the roadstead, when close beside their ship, uprose a walrus. Cormac hurled at it
a polestaff, which struck the beast, so that it sank again: but the men aboard thought that they knew its eyes
for the eyes of Thorveig the witch. That walrus came up no more, but of Thorveig it was heard that she lay
sick to death; and indeed folk say that this was the end of her.
Then they sailed out to sea, and at last came to Norway, where at that time Hakon, the fosterson of
Athelstan, was king. He made them welcome, and so they stayed there the winter long with all honour.
Next summer they set out to the wars, and did many great deeds. Along with them went a man called
Siegfried, a German of good birth; and they made raids both far and wide. One day as they were gone up the
country eleven men together came against the two brothers, and set upon them; but this business ended in
their overcoming the whole eleven, and so after a while back to their ship. The vikings had given them up for
lost, and fain were their folk when they came back with victory and wealth.
In this voyage the brothers got great renown: and late in the summer, when winter was coming on, they made
up their minds to steer for Norway. They met with cold winds; the sail was behung with icicles, but the
brothers were always to the fore. It was on his voyage that Cormac made the song:
(52)
"O shake me yon rime from the awning;
Your singer's acold in his berth;
For the hills are all hooded, dear Skardi,
In the hoary white veil of the firth.
There's one they call Wielder of Thunder
I would were as chill and as cold;
But he leaves not the side of his lady
As the lindworm forsakes not its gold."
"Always talking of her now!" said Thorgils; "and yet thou wouldst not have her when thou couldst."
"That was more the fault of witchcraft," answered Cormac, "that any want of faith in me."
Not long after they were sailing hard among crags, and shortened sail in great danger.
"It is a pity Thorvald Tinker is not with us here!" said Cormac.
Said Thorgils with a smile, "Most likely he is better off than we, today!"
But before long they came to land in Norway.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. Cormac's Voyage To Norway. 26
Page No 29
CHAPTER NINETEEN. How Cormac Fought In Ireland, And Went Home
To Iceland; And How He Met Steingerd Again.
While they were abroad there had been a change of kings; Hakon was dead, and Harald Greyfell reigned in
his stead. They offered friendship to the king, and he took their suit kindly; so they went with him to Ireland,
and fought battles there.
Once upon a time when they had gone ashore with the king, a great host came against him, and as the armies
met, Cormac made this song:
(53)
"I dread not a death from the foemen,
Though we dash at them, buckler to buckler,
While our prince in the power of his warriors
Is proud of me foremost in battle.
But the glimpse of a glory comes o'er me
Like the gleam of the moon on the skerry,
And I faint and I fail for my longing,
For the fair one at home in the North."
"Ye never get into danger," said Thorgils, "but ye think of Steingerd!"
"Nay," answered Cormac, "but it's not often I forget her."
Well: this was a great battle, and king Harald won a glorious victory. While his men drove the rout before
him, the brothers were shoulder to shoulder; and they fell upon nine men at once and fought them. And while
they were at it, Cormac sang:
(54)
"Fight on, arrowdriver, undaunted,
And down with the foemen of Harald!
What are nine? they are nought! Thou and I, lad,
Are enough; they are ours! we have won them!
But at home, in the arms of an outlaw
That all the gods loathe for a monster,
So white and so winsome she nestles
Yet once she was loving to me!"
"It always comes down to that!" said Thorgils. When the fight was over, the brothers had got the victory, and
the nine men had fallen before them; for which they won great praise from the king, and many honours
beside.
But while they were ever with the king in his warfarings, Thorgils was aware that Cormac was used to sleep
but little; and he asked why this might be. This was the song Cormac made in answer:
(55)
"Surf on a rockbound shore of the seaking's blue domain
Look how it lashes the crags, hark how it thunders again!
But all the din of the isles that the Delver heaves in foam
In the draught of the undertow glides out to the seagods'
home.
Now, which of us two should test? Is it thou, with thy
heart at ease,
Or I that am surf on the shore in the tumult of angry seas?
Drawn, if I sleep, to her that shines with the ocean
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER NINETEEN. How Cormac Fought In Ireland, And Went Home To Iceland; And How He Met Steingerd Again. 27
Page No 30
gleam,
Dashed, when I wake, to woe, for the want of my
glittering dream."
"And now let me tell you this, brother," he went on. "Hereby I give out that I am going back to Iceland."
Said Thorgils, "There is many a snare set for thy feet, brother, to drag thee down, I know not whither."
But when the king heard of his longing to begone, he sent for Cormac, and said that he did unwisely, and
would hinder him from his journey. But all this availed nothing, and aboard ship he went.
At the outset they met with foul winds, so that they shipped great seas, and the yard broke. Then Cormac
sang:
(56)
"I take it not ill, like the Tinker
If a trickster had foundered his mucksled;
For he loves not rough travelling, the losel,
And loath would he be of this uproar.
I flinch not, nay, hear it, ye fearless
Who flee not when arrows are raining,
Though the steeds of the ocean be stormbound
And stayed in the harbour of Solund."
So they pushed out to sea, and hard weather they tholed. Once on a time when the waves broke over the deck
and drenched them all, Cormac made this song:
(57)
"O the Tinker's a lout and a lubber,
And the life of a sailor he dares not,
When the snowcrested surges caress us
And sweep us away with their kisses,
He bides in a berth that is warmer,
Embraced in the arms of his lady;
And lightly she lulls him to slumber,
But long she has reft me of rest!"
They had a very rough voyage, but landed at last in Midfiord, and anchored off shore. Looking landward they
beheld where a lady was riding by; and Cormac knew at once that it was Steingerd. He bade his men launch a
boat, and rowed ashore. He went quickly from the boat, and got a horse, and rode to meet her. When they
met, he leapt from horseback and helped her to alight, making a seat for her beside him on the ground.
Their horses wandered away: the day passed on, and it began to grow dark. At last Steingerd said, "It is time
to look for our horses."
Little search would be needed, said Cormac; but when he looked about, they were nowhere in sight. As it
happened, they were hidden in a gill not far from where the two were sitting.
So, as night was hard at hand, they set out to walk, and came to a little farm, where they were taken in and
treated well, even as they needed. That night they slept each on either side of the carven wainscot that parted
bed from bed: and Cormac made this song:
(58)
"We rest, O my beauty, my brightest,
But a barrier lies ever between us.
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CHAPTER NINETEEN. How Cormac Fought In Ireland, And Went Home To Iceland; And How He Met Steingerd Again. 28
Page No 31
So fierce are the fates and so mighty
I feel it that rule to their rede.
Ah, nearer I would be, and nigher,
Till nought should be left to dispart us,
The wielder of Skofnung the wonder,
And the wearer of sheen from the deep."
"It was better thus," said Steingerd: but he sang:
(59)
"We have slept 'neath one rooftree slept softly,
O sweet one, O queen of the meadhorn,
O glory of seadazzle gleaming,
These grim hours, these five nights, I count them.
And here in the kettleprow cabined
While the crow's day drags on in the darkness,
How loathly me seems to be lying,
How lonely, so near and so far!"
"That," said she, "is all over and done with; name it no more." But he sang:
(60)
"The hot stone shall float, ay, the hearthstone
Like a husk of the corn on the water,
Ah, woe for the wight that she loves not!
And the world, ah, she loathes me! shall perish,
And the fells that are famed for their hugeness
Shall fail and be drowned in the ocean,
Or ever so gracious a goddess
Shall grow into beauty like Steingerd."
Then Steingerd cried out that she would not have him make songs upon her: but he went on:
(61)
"I have known it and noted it clearly,
O neckleted fair one, in visions,
Is it doom for my hopes, is it daring
To dream? O so oft have I seen it!
Even this, that the boughs of thy beauty,
O braceleted fair one, shall twine them
Round the hill where the hawk loves to settle,
The hand of thy lover, at last."
"That," said she, "never shall be, if I can help it. Thou didst let me go, once for all; and there is no more hope
for thee."
So then they slept the night long; and in the morning, when Cormac was making ready to be gone, he found
Steingerd, and took the ring off his finger to give her.
"Fiend take thee and thy gold together!" she cried. And this is what he answered:
(62)
"To a dame in her broideries dainty
This drift of the furnace I tendered;
O day of ill luck, for a lover
So lured, and so heartlessly cheated!
Too blithe in the pride of her beauty
The bliss that I crave she denies me;
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CHAPTER NINETEEN. How Cormac Fought In Ireland, And Went Home To Iceland; And How He Met Steingerd Again. 29
Page No 32
So rich that no boon can I render,
And my ring she would hurl to the fiends!"
So Cormac rode forth, being somewhat angry with Steingerd, but still more so with the Tinker. He rode home
to Mel, and stayed there all the winter, taking lodgings for his chapmen near the ship.
CHAPTER TWENTY. Of A Spiteful Song That Cormac Never Made; And
How Angry Steingerd Was.
Now Thorvald the Tinker lived in the northcountry at Svinadal (Swindale), but his brother Thorvard at Fliot.
In the winter Cormac took his way northward to see Steingerd; and coming to Svinadal he dismounted and
went into the chamber. She was sitting on the dais, and he took his seat beside her; Thorvald sat on the bench,
and Narfi by him.
Then said Narfi to Thorvald, "How canst thou sit down, with Cormac here? It is no time, this, for sitting
still!"
But Thorvald answered, "I am content; there is no harm done it seems to me, though they do talk together."
"That is ill," said Narfi.
Not long afterwards Thorvald met his brother Thorvard and told him about Cormac's coming to his house.
"Is it right, think you," said Thorvard, "to sit still while such things happen?"
He answered that there was no harm done as yet, but that Cormac's coming pleased him not.
"I'll mend that," cried Thorvard, "if you dare not. The shame of it touches us all."
So this was the next thing, that Thorvard came to Svinadal, and the Skiding brothers and Narfi paid a
gangrel beggarman to sing a song in the hearing of Steingerd, and to say that Cormac had made it, which
was a lie. They said that Cormac had taught this song to one called Eylaug, a kinswoman of his; and these
were the words:
(63)
"I wish an old witch that I know of,
So wealthy and proud of her havings,
Were turned to a steed in the stable
Called Steingerd and I were the rider!
I'd bit her, and bridle, and saddle,
I'd back her and drive her and tame her;
So many she owns for her masters,
But mine she will never become!"
Then Steingerd grew exceedingly angry, so that she would not so much as hear Cormac named. When he
heard that, he went to see her. Long time he tried in vain to get speech with her; but at last she gave this
answer, that she misliked his holding her up to shame, "And now it is all over the countryside!"
Cormac said it was not true; but she answered, "Thou mightest flatly deny it, if I had not heard it."
"Who sang it in thy hearing?" asked he.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTY. Of A Spiteful Song That Cormac Never Made; And How Angry Steingerd Was. 30
Page No 33
She told him who sang it, "And thou needest not hope for speech with me if this prove true."
He rode away to look for the rascal, and when he found him the truth was forced out at last. Cormac was very
angry, and set on Narfi and slew him. That same onset was meant for Thorvald, but he hid himself in the
shadow and skulked, until men came between then and parted them. Said Cormac:
(64)
"There, hide in the house like a coward,
And hope not hereafter to scare me
With the scorn of thy brethren the Skidings,
I'll set them a weft for their weaving!
I'll rhyme on the swaggering rascals
Till rocks go afloat on the water;
And lucky for you if ye loosen
The line of your fate that I ravel!"
This went all over the countryside and the feud grew fiercer between them. The brothers Thorvald and
Thorvard used big words, and Cormac was wroth when he heard them.
CHAPTER TWENTYONE. How Thorvard Would Not Fight, But Tried To
Get The Law Of Cormac.
After this Thorvard sent word from Fliot that he was fain to fight Cormac, and he fixed time and place,
saying that he would now take revenge for that song of shame and all other slights.
To this Cormac agreed; and when the day came he went to the spot that was named, but Thorvard was not
there, nor any of his men. Cormac met a woman from the farm hard by, who greeted him, and they asked
each other for news.
"What is your errand?" said she; "and why are you waiting here?"
Then he answered with this song:
(65)
"Too slow for the struggle I find him,
That spender of fire from the ocean,
Who flung me a challenge to fight him
From Fleet in the land of the North.
That halfwitted hero should get him
A heart made of clay for his carcase,
Though the mate of the may with the necklace
Is more of a fool than his fere!"
"Now," said Cormac, "I bid Thorvard anew to the holmgang, if he can be called in his right mind. Let him be
every man's nithing if he come not!" and then he made this song:
(66)
"The nithing shall silence me never,
Though now for their shame they attack me,
But the wit of the Skald is my weapon,
And the wine of the gods will uphold me.
And this they shall feel in its fulness;
Here my fame has its birth and beginning;
And the stout spears of battle shall see it,
If I 'scape from their hands with my life."
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYONE. How Thorvard Would Not Fight, But Tried To Get The Law Of Cormac. 31
Page No 34
Then the brothers set on foot a lawsuit against him for libel. Cormac's kinsmen backed him up to answer it,
and he would let no terms be made, saying that they deserved the shame put upon them, and no honour; he
was not unready to meet them, unless they played him false. Thorvard had not come to the holmgang when
he had been challenged, and therefore the shame had fallen of itself upon him and his, and they must put up
with it.
So time passed until the Hunawater Thing. Thorvard and Cormac both went to the meeting, and once they
came together.
"Much enmity we owe thee," said Thorvard, "and in many ways. Now therefore I challenge thee to the
holmgang, here at the Thing."
Said Cormac, "Wilt thou be fitter than before? Thou hast drawn back time after time."
"Nevertheless," said Thorvard, "I will risk it. We can abide thy spite no longer."
"Well," said Cormac, "I'll not stand in the way;" and went home to Mel.
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO. What The Witch Did For Them In Their Fights.
At Spakonufell (Spaewife'sfell) lived Thordis the spaewife, of whom we have told before, with her
husband Thorolf. They were both at the Thing, and many a man thought her goodwill was of much avail. So
Thorvard sought her out, to ask her help against Cormac, and gave her a fee; and she made him ready for the
holmgang according to her craft.
Now Cormac told his mother what was forward, and she asked if he thought good would come of it.
"Why not?" said he.
"That will not be enough for thee," said Dalla. "Thorvard will never make bold to fight without witchcraft to
help him. I think it wise for thee to see Thordis the spaewife, for there is going to be foul play in this affair."
"It is little to my mind," said he; and yet went to see Thordis, and asked her help.
"Too late ye have come," said she. "No weapon will bite on him now. And yet I would not refuse thee. Bide
here tonight, and seek thy good luck. Anyway, I can manage so that iron bite thee no more than him."
So Cormac stayed there for the night; and, awaking, found that some one was groping round the coverlet at
his head. "Who is there?" he asked, but whoever it was made off, and out at the housedoor, and Cormac
after. And then he saw it was Thordis, and she was going to the place where the fight was to be, carrying a
goose under her arm.
He asked what it all meant, and she set down the goose, saying, "Why couldn't ye keep quiet?"
So he lay down again, but held himself awake, for he wanted to know what she would be doing. Three times
she came, and every time he tried to find out what she was after. The third time, just as he came out, she had
killed two geese and let the blood run into a bowl, and she had taken up the third goose to kill it.
"What means this business, fostermother?" said he.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO. What The Witch Did For Them In Their Fights. 32
Page No 35
"True it will prove, Cormac, that you are a hard one to help," said she. "I was going to break the spell
Thorveig laid on thee and Steingerd. Ye could have loved one another been happy if I had killed the third
goose and no one seen it."
"I believe nought of such things," cried he; and this song he made about it:
(67)
"I gave her an ore at the ayre,
That the arts of my foe should not prosper;
And twice she has taken the knife,
And twice she has offered the offering;
But the blood is the blood of a goose
What boots it if two should be slaughtered?
Never sacrifice geese for a Skald
Who sings for the glory of Odin!"
So they went to the holmgang: but Thorvald gave the spaewife a still greater fee, and offered the sacrifice of
geese; and Cormac said:
(68)
"Trust never another man's mistress!
For I know, on this woman who weareth
The fire of the field of the seaking
The fiends have been riding to revel.
The witch with her hoarse cry is working
For woe when we go to the holmgang,
And if bale be the end of the battle
The blame, be assured, will be hers."
"Well," she said, "I can manage so that none shall know thee." Then Cormac began to upbraid her, saying she
did nought but ill, and wanting to drag her out to the door to look at her eyes in the sunshine. His brother
Thorgils made him leave that: "What good will it do thee?" said he.
Now Steingerd gave out that she had a mind to see the fight; and so she did. When Cormac saw her he made
this song:
(69)
"I have fared to the field of the battle,
O fair one that wearest the wimple!
And twice for thy sake have I striven;
What stays me as now from thy favour?
This twice have I gotten thee glory,
O goddess of ocean! and surely
To my dainty delight, to my darling
I am dearer by far than her mate."
So then they set to. Cormac's sword bit not at all, and for a long while they smote strokes one upon the other,
but neither sword bit. At last Cormac smote upon Thorvard's side so great a blow that his ribs gave way and
were broken; he could fight no more, and thereupon they parted. Cormac looked and saw where a bull was
standing, which he slew for a sacrifice; and being heated, he doffed his helmet from his head, saying this
song:
(70)
"I have fared to the field of the battle,
O fair one that wearest the bracelet!
Even three times for thee have I striven,
And this thou canst never deny me.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYTWO. What The Witch Did For Them In Their Fights. 33
Page No 36
But the reed of the fight would not redden,
Though it rang on the shieldbearer's harness;
For the spells of a spaewife had blunted
My sword that was eager for blood."
He wiped the sweat from him on the corner of Steingerd's mantle; and said:
(71)
"So oft, being wounded and weary,
I must wipe my sad brow on thy mantle.
What pangs for thy sake are my portion,
O pinetree with red gold enwreathed!
Yet beside thee he snugs on the settle
As thou seamest thy broidery, that rhymester!
And the shame of it whelms me in sorrow,
O Steingerd! that rascal unslain!"
And then Cormac prayed Steingerd that she would go with him: but Nay, she said; she would have her own
way about men. So they parted, and both were ill pleased.
Thorvard was taken home, and she bound his wounds. Cormac was now always meeting with Steingerd.
Thorvard healed but slowly; and when he could get on his feet he went to see Thordis, and asked her what
was best to help his healing.
"A hill there is," answered she, "not far away from here, where elves have their haunt. Now get you the bull
that Cormac killed, and redden the outer side of the hill with its blood, and make a feast for the elves with its
flesh. Then thou wilt be healed."
So they sent word to Cormac that they would buy the bull. He answered that he would sell it, but then he
must have the ring that was Steingerd's. So they brought the ring, took the bull, and did with it as Thordis
bade them do. On which Cormac made a song:
(72)
"When the workers of wounds are returning,
And with them the sacrifice reddened,
Then a lady in raiment of linen,
Who loved me, time was, she will ask:
My ring, have ye robbed me? where is it?
I have wrought them no little displeasure:
For the swain that is swarthy has won it,
The son of old Ogmund, the skald."
It fell out as he guessed. Steingerd was very angry because they had sold her ring.
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE. How Cormac Beat Thorvard Again.
After that, Thorvard was soon healed, and when he thought he was strong again, he rode to Mel and
challenged Cormac to the holmgang.
"It takes thee long to tire of it," said Cormac: "but I'll not say thee nay."
So they went to the fight, and Thordis met Thorvard now as before, but Cormac sought no help from her. She
blunted Cormac's sword, so that it would not bite, but yet he struck so great a stroke on Thorvard's shoulder
that the collarbone was broken and his hand was good for nothing. Being so maimed he could fight no longer,
and had to pay another ring for his ransom.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYTHREE. How Cormac Beat Thorvard Again. 34
Page No 37
Then Thorolf of Spakonufell set upon Cormac and struck at him. He warded off the blow and sang this song:
(73)
"This reddener of shields, feebly wrathful,
His rusty old sword waved against me,
Who am singer and sacred to Odin!
Go, snuffle, most wretched of men, thou!
A thrust of thy sword is as thewless
As thou, silly stirrer of battle.
What danger to me from thy daring,
Thou doited old witchwoman's carle?"
Then he killed a bull in sacrifice according to use and wont, saying, "Ill we brook your overbearing and the
witchcraft of Thordis:" and he made this song:
(74)
"The witch in the wave of the offering
Has wasted the flame of the buckler,
Lest its bite on his back should be deadly
At the bringing together of weapons.
My sword was not sharp for the onset
When I sought the helmwearer in battle;
But the cur got enough to cry craven,
With a clout that will mind him of me!"
After that each party went home, and neither was well pleased with these doings.
CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR. How They All Went Out To Norway.
Now all the winter long Cormac and Thorgils laid up their ship in Hrutafiord; but in spring the chapmen were
off to sea, and so the brothers made up their minds for the voyage. When they were ready to start, Cormac
went to see Steingerd: and before they two parted he kissed her twice, and his kisses were not at all hasty.
The Tinker would not have it; and so friends on both sides came in, and it was settled that Cormac should pay
for this that he had done.
"How much?" asked he.
"The two rings that I parted with," said Thorvard. Then Cormac made a song:
(75)
"Here is gold of the other's well gleaming
In guerdon for this one and that one,
Here is treasure of Fafnir the firedrake
In fee for the kiss of my lady.
Never wearer of ring, never wielder
Of weapon has made such atonement;
Never dearer were deeplydrawn kisses,
For the dream of my bliss is betrayed."
And then, when he started to go aboard his ship he made another song:
(76)
"One song from my heart would I send her
Ere we shall, ere I leave her and lose her,
That dainty one, decked in her jewels
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR. How They All Went Out To Norway. 35
Page No 38
Who dwells in the valley of Swindale.
And each word that I utter shall enter
The ears of that lady of bounty,
Saying Bright one, my beauty, I love thee,
Ah, better by far than my life!"
So Cormac went abroad and his brother Thorgils went with him; and when they came to the king's court they
were made welcome.
Now it is told that Steingerd spoke to Thorvald the Tinker that they also should abroad together. He answered
that it was mere folly, but nevertheless he could not deny her. So they set off on their voyage: and as they
made their way across the sea, they were attacked by vikings who fell on them to rob them and to carry away
Steingerd. But it so happened that Cormac heard of it; and he made after them and gave good help, so that
they saved everything that belonged to them, and came safely at last to the court of the king of Norway.
One day Cormac was walking in the street, and spied Steingerd sitting within doors. So he went into the
house and sat down beside her, and they had a talk together which ended in his kissing her four kisses. But
Thorvald was on the watch. He drew his sword, but the womenfolk rushed in to part them, and word was
sent to King Harald. He said they were very troublesome people to keep in order. "But let me settle this
matter between you," said he; and they agreed.
Then spake the king: "One kiss shall be atoned for by this, that Cormac helped you to get safely to land.
The next kiss is Cormac's, because he saved Steingerd. For the other two he shall pay two ounces of gold."
Upon which Cormac sang the same song that he had made before:
(77)
"Here is gold of the otter's well gleaming
In guerdon for this one and that one,
Here is treasure of Fafnir the firedrake
In fee for the kiss of my lady.
Never wearer of ring, never wielder
Of weapon has made such atonement;
Never dearer were deeplydrawn kisses
And the dream of my bliss is betrayed."
Another day he was walking in the street and met Steingerd again. He turned to her and prayed her to walk
with him. She would not; whereupon he laid hand on her, to lead her along. She cried out for help; and as it
happened, the king was standing not far off, and went up to them. He thought this behaviour most unseemly,
and took her away, speaking sharply to Cormac. King Harald made himself very angry over this affair; but
Cormac was one of his courtiers, and it was not long before he got into favour again, and then things went
fair and softly for the rest of the winter.
CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE. How They Cruised With The King's Fleet, And
Quarrelled, And Made It Up.
In the following spring King Harald set forth to the land of Permia with a great host. Cormac was one of the
captains in that warfaring, and in another ship was Thorvald: the other captains of ships are not named in our
story.
Now as they were all sailing in close order through a narrow sound, Cormac swung his steeringoar and hit
Thorvald a clout on the ear, so that he fell from his place at the helm in a swoon; and Cormac's ship hove to,
when she lost her rudder. Steingerd had been sitting beside Thorvald; she laid hold of the tiller, and ran
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYFIVE. How They Cruised With The King's Fleet, And Quarrelled, And Made It Up. 36
Page No 39
Cormac down. When he saw what she was doing, he sang:
(78)
"There is one that is nearer and nigher
To the noblest of dames than her lover:
With the haft of the helm is he smitten
On the hatblock and fairly amidships!
The false heir of Eystein he falters
He falls in the poop of his galley!
Nay! steer not upon me, O Steingerd,
Though stoutly ye carry the day!"
So Cormac's ship capsized under him; but his crew were saved without loss of time, for there were plenty of
people round about. Thorvald soon came round again, and they all went on their way. The king offered to
settle the matter between them; and when they both agreed, he gave judgment that Thorvald's hurt was atoned
for by Cormac's upset.
In the evening they went ashore; and the king and his men sat down to supper. Cormac was sitting outside the
door of a tent, drinking out of the same cup with Steingerd. While they were busy at it, a young fellow for
mere sport and mockery stole the brooch out of Cormac's fur cloak, which he had doffed and laid aside; and
when he came to take his cloak again, the brooch was gone. He sprang up and rushed after the young fellow,
with the spear that he called Vigr (the spear) and shot at him, but missed. This was the song he made about it:
(79)
"The youngster has pilfered my pin,
As I pledged the gay dame in the beaker;
And now must we brawl for a brooch
Like boys when they wrangle and tussle.
Right well have I shafted my spear,
Though I shot nothing more than the gravel:
But sure, if I missed at my man,
The moss has been prettily slaughtered!"
After this they went on their way to the land of Permia, and after that they went home again to Norway.
CHAPTER TWENTYSIX. How Cormac Saved Steingerd Once More
From Pirates; And How They Parted For Good And All.
Thorvald the Tinker fitted out his ship for a cruise to Denmark, and Steingerd sailed with him. A little
afterwards the brothers set out on the same voyage, and late one evening they made the Brenneyjar.
There they saw Thorvald's ship riding, and found him aboard with part of his crew; but they had been robbed
of all their goods, and Steingerd had been carried off by Vikings. Now the leader of those Vikings was
Thorstein, the son of that Asmund Ashenside, the old enemy of Ogmund, the father of Cormac and Thorgils.
So Thorvald and Cormac met, and Cormac asked how came it that his voyage had been so unlucky.
"Things have not turned out for the best, indeed," said he.
"What is the matter?" asked Cormac. "Is Steingerd missing?"
"She is gone," said Thorvald, "and all our goods."
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYSIX. How Cormac Saved Steingerd Once More From Pirates; And How They Parted For Good And All. 37
Page No 40
"Why don't you go after her?" asked Cormac.
"We are not strong enough," said Thorvald.
"Do you mean to say you can't?" said Cormac.
"We have not the means to fight Thorstein," said Thorvald. "But if thou hast, go in and fight for thy own
hand."
"I will," said Cormac.
So at nightfall the brothers went in a boat and rowed to the Viking fleet, and boarded Thorstein's ship.
Steingerd was in the cabin on the poop; she had been allotted to one of the Vikings; but most of the crew
were ashore round the cookingfires. Cormac got the story out of the men who were cooking, and they told
all the brothers wanted to know. They clambered on board by the ladder; Thorgils dragged the bridegroom
out to the gunwale, and Cormac cut him down then and there. Then he dived into the sea with Steingerd and
swam ashore; but when he was nearing the land a swarm of eels twisted round his hands and feet, so that he
was dragged under. On which he made this song:
(80)
"They came at me yonder in crowds,
O kemp of the shieldserpents' wrangle!
When I fared on my way through the flood,
That flock of the wights of the water.
And ne'er to the gate of the gods
Had I got me, if there had I perished;
Yet once and again have I won,
Little woman, thy safety in peril!"
So he swam ashore and brought Steingerd back to her husband.
Thorvald bade Steingerd to go, at last, along with Cormac, for he had fairly won her, and manfully. That was
what he, too, desired, said Cormac; but "Nay," said Steingerd, "she would not change knives."
"Well," said Cormac, "it was plain that this was not to be. Evil beings," he said, "ill luck, had parted them
long ago." And he made this song:
(81)
"Nay, count not the comfort had brought me,
Fair queen of the ring, thy embrace!
Go, mate with the man of thy choosing,
Scant mirth will he get of thy grace!
Be dearer henceforth to thy dastard,
False dame of the coif, than to me;
I have spoken the word; I have sung it;
I have said my last farewell to thee."
And so he bade her begone with her husband.
CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN. The SwanSongs of Cormac.
After these things the brothers turned back to Norway, and Thorvald the Tinker made his way to Iceland. But
the brothers went warfaring round about Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland, and they were reckoned to be
the most famous of men. It was they who first built the castle of Scarborough; they made raids into Scotland,
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN. The SwanSongs of Cormac. 38
Page No 41
and achieved many great feats, and led a mighty host; and in all that host none was like Cormac in strength
and courage.
Once upon a time, after a battle, Cormac was driving the flying foe before him while the rest of his host had
gone back aboard ship. Out of the woods there rushed against him one as monstrous big as an idol a Scot;
and a fierce struggle began. Cormac felt for his sword, but it had slipped out of the sheath; he was
overmatched, for the giant was possessed; but yet he reached out, caught his sword, and struck the giant his
deathblow. Then the giant cast his hands about Cormac, and gripped his sides so hard that the ribs cracked,
and he fell over, and the dead giant on top of him, so that he could not stir. Far and wide his folk were
looking for him, but at last they found him and carried him aboard ship. Then he made this song:
(82)
"When my manhood was matched in embraces
With the might of yon horror, the strangler,
Far other I found it than folding
That fair one ye know in my arms!
On the highseat of heroes with Odin
From the horn of the gods I were drinking
O'er soon let me speak it to warriors
If Skrymir had failed of his aid."
Then his wounds were looked to; they found that his ribs were broken on both sides. He said it was no use
trying to heal him, and lay there in his wounds for a time, while his men grieved that he should have been so
unwary of his life.
He answered them in song:
(83)
"Of yore never once did I ween it,
When I wielded the cleaver of targets,
That sickness was fated to foil me
A fighter so hardy as I.
But I shrink not, for others must share it,
Stout shafts of the spear though they deem them,
O hard at my heart is the deathpang,
Thus hopeless the bravest may die."
And this song also:
(84)
"He came not with me in the morning,
Thy mate, O thou fairest of women,
When we reddened for booty the broadsword,
So brave to the handgrip, in Ireland:
When the sword from its scabbard was loosened
And sang round my cheeks in the battle
For the feast of the Fury, and blooddrops
Fell hot on the neb of the raven."
And then he began to fail.
This was his last song:
(85)
"There was dew from the wound smitten deeply
That drained from the stroke of the swordedge;
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN. The SwanSongs of Cormac. 39
Page No 42
There was red on the weapon I wielded
In the war with the glorious and gallant:
Yet not where the broadsword, the blood wand,
Was borne by the lords of the falchion,
But low in the straw like a laggard,
O my lady, dishonoured I die!"
He said that his will was to give Thorgils his brother all he had, the goods he owned and the host he led;
for he would like best, he said, that his brother should have the use of them.
So then Cormac died. Thorgils became captain over the host, and was long time in viking.
And so ends the story.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
CHAPTER TWENTYSEVEN. The SwanSongs of Cormac. 40
Bookmarks
1. Table of Contents, page = 3
2. The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald, page = 4
3. Author unknown, page = 4
4. CHAPTER ONE. Cormac's Fore-Elders., page = 4
5. CHAPTER TWO. How Cormac Was Born and Bred., page = 5
6. CHAPTER THREE. How Cormac Fell In Love., page = 6
7. CHAPTER FOUR. How Cormac Liked Black-Puddings., page = 8
8. CHAPTER FIVE. They Waylay Cormac: And The Witch Curses Him., page = 9
9. CHAPTER SIX. Cormac Wins His Bride and Loses Her., page = 11
10. CHAPTER SEVEN. How Steingerd Was Married To Somebody Else., page = 12
11. CHAPTER EIGHT. How Cormac Chased Bersi And His Bride., page = 14
12. CHAPTER NINE. Of Another Witch, And Two Magic Swords., page = 15
13. CHAPTER TEN. The Fight On Leidarholm., page = 17
14. CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Songs That Were Made About The Fight., page = 18
15. CHAPTER TWELVE. Bersi's Bad Luck At The Thor's-Ness Thing., page = 20
16. CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Steingerd Leaves Bersi., page = 23
17. CHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Bane Of Thorkel Toothgnasher., page = 24
18. CHAPTER FIFTEEN. The Rescue Of Steinvor Slim-ankles., page = 25
19. CHAPTER SIXTEEN. How Vali Fell Before An Old Man And A Boy., page = 26
20. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. How Steingerd Was Married Again., page = 28
21. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. Cormac's Voyage To Norway., page = 29
22. CHAPTER NINETEEN. How Cormac Fought In Ireland, And Went Home To Iceland; And How He Met Steingerd Again., page = 30
23. CHAPTER TWENTY. Of A Spiteful Song That Cormac Never Made; And How Angry Steingerd Was., page = 33
24. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. How Thorvard Would Not Fight, But Tried To Get The Law Of Cormac., page = 34
25. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO. What The Witch Did For Them In Their Fights., page = 35
26. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE. How Cormac Beat Thorvard Again., page = 37
27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR. How They All Went Out To Norway., page = 38
28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE. How They Cruised With The King's Fleet, And Quarrelled, And Made It Up., page = 39
29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX. How Cormac Saved Steingerd Once More From Pirates; And How They Parted For Good And All., page = 40
30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN. The Swan-Songs of Cormac., page = 41