The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald [Iceland] | Page 5

doughty domain of the Hun-folk.?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 swift-footed 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 murrey-brown 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 sea-dazzle 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 Black-Puddings.
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 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 black-pudding and thrust it under Cormac's nose, crying: --
(11)?"Cormac, how would ye relish one??Kettle-worms I call them."
To which he answered: --
(12)?"Black-puddings 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 axehammer -blow, 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 hearth-stone.?I deem that yon knave of the dunghill?Who dabbles the muck on the meadow
? Yon rook in his mud-spattered 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 Steins-stadir (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.
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 hall-door 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