The Book: Sagas of Warrior-Poets
The Author: Various bards of the thirteenth century.
This text: Paperback anthology from a 1997 translation by various scholars
Price: Well, I paid $16.95 according to the sticker. (Penguin Classics. Amazon has an etext which is slightly cheaper, and there are probably earlier translations around.)
The Saga of Bjorn, Champion of the Hitardal People
There is Thord, famous poet and well-known Jerk.
There is Bjorn, impressive and well-built young Icelander. And there is
Oddny Isle-Candle, most beautiful woman on all of Hjorsey island. Bjorn
has been the victim of Thord's famously sharp
verses; Bjorn is in love with Oddny and frequently visits her island
home.
One day, Bjorn meets some Norwegian merchants, and
feels the lure of the sea. He joins up with the merchants, but before he
leaves, he is bethrothed to Oddny with, somewhat unusually, everyone's
full agreement and consent. The betrothal
is conditional: Bjorn is to return to Iceland within three years, and
if he's late, too bad for him.
Bjorn travels to the court of Earl Eirek of Norway,
a friend of his uncle's. When he gets there he finds that Thord has
done the same thing. The Earl assumes that since they're both from
Iceland they probably already know each other. Bjorn
and Thord are diplomatic, praising each other's poetry and bravery.
Thord proposes that they put their past behind them and become friends.
Bjorn says that he intends to make his fortune
raiding. Thord tuts about this, saying that he really should be content
with the Earl's favour, and go home to Oddny. Bjorn disagrees. Thord
then offers to take a token to Oddny, to confirm
the betrothal and reassure her that he intends to return. Against his
better judgement, Bjorn gives Thord a ring, a gift from the Earl. Thord
goes back to Iceland, Bjorn heads to Russia with the merchants.
Because of Bjorn's suspicion, and because he has
friends everywhere, Thord delivers the message and the ring faithfully
to Oddny. However, he adds a rider: that in the event of a no-show,
Bjorn has assigned the betrothal over to himself,
Thord.
In Russia, Bjorn befriends the King, Valdimar.
However, Russia is in revolt: the king's brother Kaldimar is challenging
for the throne. Valdimar offers to split the kingdom equally, but
Kaldimar insists that there can be only one king.
Rather than go to war, Valdimar offers to settle the matter in single
combat. Kaldimar, all but invincible, agrees. Then Valdimar discovers
that he can't find a single Russian to be his champion. Bjorn is
offended by what he sees as inexcusable cowardice,
and offers to be Valdimar's champion. Valdimar gratefully accepts.
Bjorn wins, but is near fatally wounded. He is laid up in Russia for far
too long.
Back in Iceland, Thord hears of Bjorn's wounding,
and bribes some merchants to say that he is dead. Thord marries Oddny.
Bjorn takes up as a raider, and has little wish to return to Iceland.
After some time has passed, Thord heads back to
Norway to claim an inheritance. He runs afoul of Bjorn's men, and
chooses to hide rather than fight. Bjorn finds him hiding in some
bushes, and confronts him with his treachery and mocks him
for his cowardice. He takes Thord's ship and goods and most of his
clothing, and sends him on to Norway.
Norway is now under new management: the saintly
King Olaf now has the throne. Thord's kin are in good with the new king,
and Bjorn is a pirate. Nevertheless, impressed by the king's reputation
and worried about his own, Bjorn heads to Norway.
He is briefly arrested for his crimes against Norwegian trade, i.e.
Thord, but when the King hears the whole story, he asks both men if he
might arbitrate between them. He declares the thefts of the woman and
the ship to be equal, demands that Thord compensate
Bjorn for the ring and some other bride goods, and declares that to be
the end of the matter and woe betide anyone who doesn't honour the
settlement.
Bjorn stays with the King as a welcome guest until
the next winter, and then heads back to Iceland. Oddny, meanwhile, has
heard that Bjorn isn't quite as dead as she'd been led to believe, and
asks her husband rather sharply for some answers.
When Bjorn arrives onshore, Oddny insists that he stay at their
homestead.
For the most part, Bjorn is happy to respect King
Olaf's judgement, and makes no claim on Oddny's hand. But he and she
flirt, while Oddny bickers with Thord. Thord and Bjorn get into argument
after argument, taunting each other. Poems are said that can't be unsaid.
"Hey, Bjorn, remember that time I stole your girlfriend and married her?"
"Hey, Thord, remember that time I stole all your goods and your ship while you cowered in the bushes?"
It is not a fun winter.
Eventually Bjorn decides to leave. His parting gift to Oddny is a cloak that he'd stolen from Thord.
Bjorn's new steading is close enough to Thord's
that tensions remain high. Thord composes a satirical poem about Bjorn,
and is fined for it. Thord finds a scorn-pole at his boundary and
accuses Bjorn of erecting it. Bjorn hears about this
and composes a poem about it. Bjorn is fined for the pole and the poem,
and an uneasy peace resumes.
Thord isn't satisfied; he becomes obsessed with killing Bjorn.
Thord is visited by relatives, and he convinces them
to ambush Bjorn. Bjorn's aunt is tipped off by a dream, and sends her
husband to look after him. The ambush fails and the cousins are slain.
They are considered to have acted illegally,
and no compensation is forthcoming.
Thord convinces Thorstein, the son of a mutual
friend known as Kalf the Ill-willed, that Bjorn is trying to steal their
lands. Young Thorstein ambushes Bjorn while they are out herding sheep.
Weaponless, Bjorn kills Thorstein with his bare
hands. Although there is no legal requirement, Bjorn pays compensation
to Kalf for the sake of their friendship.
The feud grows. Satirical poems are composed on
both sides. Thord has Bjorn fined for harbouring outlaws; Bjorn kills
some outlaws that Thord is harbouring. Bjorn notices that Thord's son
Kolli looks a lot like himself; he doesn't claim
paternity, but does compose an oblique poem on the subject. Thord publicly sings the praises of Bjorn's wife; Bjorn replies with the
'Isle-Candle Verses'. Thord hires outlaws to kill Bjorn; they fail, and
Bjorn ties them up and sends them back to Thord.
Thord ambushes Bjorn on his way home from a friend's house, but Bjorn
is warned by dream and comes out slightly ahead. Thord convinces Bjorn's
relative - another Thorstein - to pick a fight with him, but Thorstein
is so impressed with Bjorn's hospitality that
he reneges and swears to avenge Bjorn if anything should happen to him.
And so on, and so on.
Eventually, Thord gathers his sons and a party of
men with grievances against Bjorn, and ambush him while he is tending
his horses. Unable to draw his sword, Bjorn defends himself with the
shears he is using to trim the horses' manes. Kolli's
attacks are particularly ferocious, but Bjorn tells him he's better at
fighting than genealogy, if you know what I mean. Kolli immediately
relents and runs home to talk to his mother.
But finally, Thord and his men are victorious, and
Bjorn is beheaded. He offers Bjorn's wife the neck ornament he was
wearing when he died, who tells him scornfully to give it to his own
wife, Oddny. When Bjorn's mother sees his head, she
tells Thord to give it to Oddny, who always liked it better than his
own. For her part, when Oddny hears of Bjorn's death, she is overcome
with grief and never recovers; Thord is cut deeply, ashamed that killing
Bjorn has cost him his wife.
Bjorn's friends and kinsmen come to sue Thord for
the killing. Thord tries to con Bjorn's brother into a hasty settlement, pointing out how many of Thord's people Bjorn has killed without compensation,
but Bjorn's sworn friend and blood-brother Thorstein does not accept.
Thord is forced to pay massive punitive fines
in order to escape outlawry, even as his cohorts are outlawed
and his sons exiled.
Thord goes home, lonely, broken, and dissatisfied.
Next: Viglund's saga.
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