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INDEX
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NOW people came to the Christmas feast, and those who
were to sit together were told off in messes of twelve. Lots were cast
to see who should sit next to Astrida, the daughter of the chief Vigfuss,
and Eyiolf always drew the lot for sitting by her side. No one observed
that they talked together more than other persons did, but still men said
that it was fated to come about in that way that he should marry her.
The feast came to an end, after being celebrated with great splendour,
and the guest were dismissed with presents. Eyiolf went sea-roving for
four summers, and was held to be a very valiant man. He gained great reputation
and much booty. It happened one winter that a certain Thorstein came to
Vorz, who was a great friend of the brothers, and lived in the upland
country. He told them of the strait he was in; how the Berserker, 1
who was called Asgaut, had challenged him to the "holmgang," because he
had refused to give him his sister, and he asked them to escort him to
the field with a large number of men, so that the pirate might not seize
on his property. He added that Asgaut had killed many of his people, and
that he must give up his sister to him if they would not support him;
"for," said he, "I have no confidence in the result of the ‘holmgang,’
unless I have the benefit of the good luck which attends you."
Footnotes1 It is hardly necessary to explain that the Berserkers were men who were ready to fight anybody, and who worked themselves into a frenzy by drugs or other means, as a North American savage does by his war-dance. They appear in some cases to have made a profession of challenging every one, to whose land, or wife, or sister they took a fancy. A story very similar to this is told in the Egil’s Saga, and in the Eyrbyggia Saga Styrr, the son of Thorgrim, gets rid of two of these men by the most unscrupulous treachery. They were probably such a nuisance to society that anything was thought fair against them. The "Holmgang" was so called because the parties used often to fight in a "holm," or small island. Compare the preface to Mr. Dasent’s Nial’s Saga, and Maurer, Enstehung des Isländ. Staats, ss. 596, 599. Se also the story which follows in chapter vi. 2 That is to say to act as his second. See the story of Hermund, quoted by Maruer, from the Saga of Gunnlaug Ormstunga Enstehung des Isländischen Staats, s. 202.
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Family TreesDedicationPrefaceChapter IChapter IIChapter IIIChapter IVChapter VChapter VIChapter VIIChapter VIIIChapter IXChapter XChapter XIChapter XIIChapter XIIIChapter XIVChapter XVChapter XVIChapter XVIIChapter XVIIIChapter XIXChapter XXChapter XXIChapter XXIIChapter XXIIIChapter XXIVChapter XXVChapter XXVIChapter XXVIIChapter XXVIIISupplementary Note |