SO they parted; and Bork and his men row to the isle, and land, and
see the men on the Vadsteinberg, and make thither, and think they have done a
good stroke of business. But all the while it was only Ingialld and his thrall
who were up there.
Bork
was the first to know the men, and said to Ingialld: "The best way is to
give up Gisli, or tell where he is. Thou art a hound, and nothing else, when
thou hast hidden away my brother's murderer, and all the while art my tenant.
'Twere well if thou gottest some harm, and it were best that thou wert
slain."
"Well,"
says Ingialld, "I wear work-a-day clothes, and I don't care a button if
they are torn to bits. I will sooner lose my life than not do Gisli all the
good in my power, and keep him out of harm's way."
Men
say that Ingialld gave most help to Gisli, and was the greatest gain to him;
and it is also said that when Thorgrim Bottlenose worked his spells he used the
words that "naught should help Gisli, though men tried to shelter him here
on land;" but he forgot to add the out isles, and so his charm was only
partly fulfilled, though it was fated to be fulfilled at last.
Bork
thinks it not seemly to fall on his tenant Ingialld; so he turns away to the
homestead and there seeks for Gisli, and cannot find him, as was likely. Then
they roam over the isle, and come at last to a spot where the idiot lay and
grazed in a hollow, with the stone tied round his neck.
Then
Bork says: "Well, I always heard strange stories about Ingialld's idiot,
but I never thought he could be in two places at once. There's no use hunting
here, and we have been so heedless, I never knew the like, nor do I know how we
shall ever set it right. Why! that must have been Gisli in the boat alongside
us, and be must have passed himself off as the idiot, for he is ready at
everything, and is the biggest mockbird. 'Tis a shame to so many men if he slip
through our fingers this time. Let us hasten after him, and let him not escape
our clutches."
Then
they jump into their boat and row after them, and ply the oars fast. They soon
see that Gisli and the maid with a fair tide have got a good way across the
sound, and each boat rowed smartly. But that boat goes faster through the water
which has most men to pull, and they overhauled them so much that Bork and his
men were just a spear's throw behind them when they got to land.
Then
Gisli spoke to the maid, and said: "Now we must part, and here is a ring
which thou shalt carry to Ingialld, and another to his wife, and tell them I
say thou must have thy freedom, and send them these as tokens. My wish also is
that Swart should be set free. Thou mayest well be called my deliverer, and I
wish thee to profit by it,"
Now
they part. Gisli leaps on shore and into some crags. It was at Hjardarness that
he landed. The maid rowed off all dripping and reeking with her hard pull. Bork
and his men had no time to waste on her alone in her boat, but rowed straight
to shore, and Quarrelsome Stein was first out of the boat, and runs off to seek
for Gisli. But as he clomb the crags Gisli stood in his path with his sword
drawn, and smote him on the head, and cleft him to the chine, and down he
toppled a dead man. Bork and his men land on the isle also for it was an island
just off the mainland; but Gisli plunges into the strait and tries to swim to
the main. Just then Bork hurled a spear at him, and smote him on the calf, and
cut a piece out of it, and that was a great wound. Gisli gets rid of the spear,
but loses his sword; for be was so weary he could not hold it. It was then dark
and night. As soon as he came to land he runs into the wood, for then the land
thereabouts was overgrown with trees. Now Bork and his men row to land and hunt
for Gisli, and pen him up in the wood; for the wood was not deep, and he is so
weary and stiff he can scarce walk a step, and is now ware of men on all sides
of him. Now he takes a plan and goes down to the shore, and so comes along the
water's edge in the dark to a farm called "the Howe" and there seeks
a farmer named Ref (the Fox), who was the craftiest of men. Ref greets him, and
asks the news. Gisli told him the whole truth, and all that had happened
between him and Bork. Now Ref had a wife whose name was Elfdisa, fair of face,
but the greatest shrew, and altogether a downright scold. That was her wont
with others, but she and Ref hit it off very well together.
So
when he had told Ref how things stood Gisli asks him for help.
"They
will be here in the twinkling of an eye," said Gisli. "Now I am hard
pressed, and there are few to stand by me."
"I
will only help thee," says Ref, "if I may settle how thou art to be
helped. Thou shalt have no share in it."
"With
all my heart," says Gisli, "for I can't stir a step farther."
"Go
indoors, then," says Ref; and so they did.
Then
Ref said to Elfdisa:
"I
must be so free as to send a man into thy bed."
And
with that he takes all the clothes off the box-bed, and says that Gisli must
crouch down in the straw at the bottom. Then he heaps the clothes and bedding
on him, and last of all Elfdisa lies down atop of him.
"Stay
where thou art, whatever happens," says Ref. At the same time he bids
Elfdisa be as cross and snappish as ever she could be.
"Don't
spare, but pour out all the bad words thou knowest--curses and oaths. But I
will take the lead in talking with them, and turn my words as I think
best."
Next
time he goes out of doors he sees men coming. They were eight of Bork's band;
but Bork himself stayed at Forcewater. But these were to come and seek for
Gisli, and seize him if he had come thither.
So
Ref stays out of doors and asks, "What tidings?"
"None
but what thou must already know. Knowest thou aught of Gisli, or if he has
passed this way."
"He
hasn't passed by here," says Ref. "If he had tried it he would not
have lived long. I don't know now why ye should think me less ready to slay
Gisli than any other man; but I have just wit enough to see that the favour and
friendship of such a man as Bork would be well worth winning."
"Well,"
they answered, "will it be against thy will if we search the house?"
"With
all my heart! why not?" says Ref; "for I know ye will hunt all the
more steadily in other places if ye know of a truth that he is not here. Pray,
step in, and search for him as narrowly as ye can."
So
they go indoors, but when Elfdisa heard their stamping, she bawled out what
band of blackguards that might be, and what pack of fools it could be that
knocked men up at night. Ref begged her to keep a smooth tongue in her mouth,
but she did not spare them one of her foul words, and she yelled and hooted at
them, so that they might be less able to hunt. Still they searched and
searched, but still less than they would otherwise have done if the Goody had
not pelted them with so much slang.
After
that they go away and find nothing, and bid the farmer farewell, and he wished
them a safe journey home. So they go back to Bork, and are sore grieved at
their journey, and think they have got both harm and shame, and after all done
nothing. Now all this was noised about the countryside, and men thought it was
still the same story, and that Bork had still the same ill-luck at Gisli's
hand.
Now
Bork goes home and tells Eyjolf what ought to be done. Gisli stays with Ref
half a month, and after that he goes away. They parted good friends, and Gisli
gives him a knife and belt, and they were great treasures, though he had
nothing else with him. After this Gisli goes to his wife in Geirthiofsfirth,
and his fame waxed much after these deeds; and truth to say there never has
been a man of readier hand or more daring heart than Gisli, but he was not a
lucky man, as was proved from the very first.
----------------------
From: The Story/Saga of Gisli the Outlaw
Translated
From The Icelandic Sir George Webbe Dasent D.C.L. With Illustrations By C. E.
St. John-Mildmay
ISBN: 978-1-907256-46-2
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