Lögberg-Heimskringla - 09.02.1990, Síða 5

Lögbeig - Heimskringla • Föstudagur 9. Febrúar 1990 • S
Skallagrímur Kveldúlfsson
Skallagrímur and
his father, Kveldúlfur,
left Norway to escape
from the tyrany of King
Haraldur Fairhair.
They intended to settle
in Iceland. Kveldúlfur died during the
voyage but his coffin showed Skalla-
grimur where he should claim land and
settle. Skallagrímurclaimedalargetract
ofland. Hegavemanyofhisfiiendsand
shipmates parts of it, and a new commu-
nity grew up in his neighborhood. Skak
lagrímur was a hard worker and engaged
in a multitude of activities. As they had
but few cattle and sheep to begin with, he
had men go fishing and seal hunting,
gather driftwood, and carry out many
other activities to enable them to sur-
vive. He was a good smith and wood-
worker, as well as an excellent
boatbuilder. Skallagrímur and his wife
Bera Yngvarsdóttir had two sons and
two daughters. The elder son, pórólfur,
went to Norway and made peace with the
new King of Norway, King Haraldur's
sonEiríkur Bloodaxe. Before he left for
Iceland again, the King gave him an axe
to give to his father as an offering of
friendship. The axe had a large half-
moon shaped blade, trimmed with gold.
The handle was silver inlaid and the
whole thing was a very valuable artifact.
pórólfur gave the axe to his father with
the King's greetings. Skallagrímur stud-
ied it carefully, said nothing but hung it
up by his bed. That fall, Skallagrímur
had a number of cattle driven to the farm.
They were to be slaughtered. Skalla-
grímur placed two oxen facing oposite
directions with their heads overlapping.
He put a large, flat stone under the necks
oftheoxen. Hethentooktheaxegiven
by the King and struck off the heads of
both oxen with one blow. The axe struck
the stone with such force that the cutting
edge broke completely, and the blade
cracked. Skallagrímur looked at the
blade, but did not say a word. He took
the axe into the kitchen and placed it
above the door. There it remained all
winter. The following spring, pórólfur
and his younger brother Egill left for
Norway. As they were about to leave,
Skallagrímur brought forth the axe
which the King had given him. The
handle was black from the smoke of the
open cooking fire, and the blade was
rusty. He told pórólfur to return it, as he
had no need for a cracked axe with a
shattered blade. Aspórólfur's ship made
its way out to sea, he cast the axe into the
ocean, and it was not seen again.
Many years later, when Skallagrímur
was an old man, pórólfur was long dead,
Egill had returned to Iceland and taken
overtherunningofthefamilyfarm. One
day Egill was about to leave to attend a
feastatthehomeofafriend. AsEgillwas
about to mount his horse, Skallagrímur
cameoutandspoketohim. "Itseemsto
me," he said, "that you are somewhat
slow in giving me the money that King
Aðalsteinn sent to me as compensation
for the loss of my son." pórólfur had died
in the service of the English King, who
had given Egill two chests of silver to be
given to Skallagrímur. "Are you in need
ofmoney,£ather?"askedEgill. "Asfaras
I know you stáll have a chest or two full of
silver." "You have apparently already
decided how to share our cash," said
Skallagrímur.' You will not mind then, if
I use what I see fit." "You do not need my
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certainly do as you please, whatever I
may say." Egill then left for the feast,
which was to last for three nights. That
evening Skallagrímur had his horse
saddled and rode away when the farm
people went to bed. He had a large chest
on his knees and a copper pot under one
arm. It is believed that he threw one or
both of these into a quagmire known as
Krumskelda and then dropped a huge
boulder on top. Skallagrímur arrived
home at midnight and went to bed wear-
ingallhisclothes. Inthemorning.when
the people started to arise at dawn, he
wassittingonhisbedside, dead. Hewas
so stiff that he could neither be straight-
enednormoved. A messenger was sent
to Egill, who retumed at once. He en-
tered through a side door and ap-
proached Skallgrímur from behind.
Egill placed his hands on his fáther's
shoulders and jerked him backwards
with great force, laid him on the bed and
closed his eyes and mouth. He then
called for tools and had the wall of the
room torn down. Egill picked up
Skallagrímur’s upper body, while others
carried his feet, and Skallagrímur was
carried out through the hole in the wall.
(Egill was taking no chances that Skalla-
grímur would come back to haunt the
farm. He avoided looking into his eyes,
and ghosts usually entered through the
doorway by which their body had been
removed.) Egill raised a burial mound
and placed Skallagrímur in it. With him
were placed his horse, his weapons and
his smith's tools. There is no mention of
any money having been placed in the
mound.
Despite the lifelong tension that ex-
isted between Skallagrímur and Egill,
due to their almost identical natures,
there can be no doubt that the son ad-
miredhisfathergreatly. Sometimeafter
the death of Skallagrímur, Egih lost his
favorite son Böðvar. The teenager was
drowned. As soon as Egill recovered his
body, he opened Skallagrímur's mound
and placed Böðvar by his grandfather's
side.
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It so happened, (as things always
do), that Fusi was meandering in the
bush, looking for rabbits, prairie
chickens, or any other potable. On this
cold blustery morn, with his trusty
carbine cradled lovingly in his arms,
he felt confident that today he could,
and would, replenish the larder, which
was desperately low.
His journey continued to his neigh-
bour Dmetro’s farmstead, and as the
clock showed ten, he knew a pot of fra-
grant and wholesome coffee was only
a few short paces away.
“Ello?” came from within after he
knocked on Dmetro’s door. “Kom inn!”
Fusi entered and wiped his feet.
The familiar aroma and kitchen table
were comfort to him. He had known
Dmetro since ’97 and the animosities
between Ukrainian settlers and
Icelander “homesteaders” was dimin-
ishing. Twenty-seven years was
enough!
“What brings a Goolie out in this
weather?” asked Dmetro.
“Kona threw me out.” replied Fusi.
“She said bara hunt, fish or starve.”
“Dey are that way,” said Dmetro,
“mine too!”
“Maybe we should go together,”
Fusi suggested, as he helped him-
self to another cup of coffee and
pönnukökur.
“Good idea” was the answer. “Let’s
try McDowalI’s bush!”
So, with full hearts and bellies they
sojourned.
They were a matched team. Six
foot-five inch, three hundred pound
Dmetro,
and five
foot-six
inch, one
hundred pound Fusi. With the mas-
sive Ukrainian breaking the way, and
diminutive Fusi following, they pro-
gressed to Scotty McDowall’s back
forty in record time.
Lo! Behold! There was a signifi-
cant silhouette of the biggest moose
they had ever seen. Both fearless
hunters dropped to the standard
crouch-prone position in harmony,
and fired in unison.
The huge animal dropped! With
gleeful surprise the providers ran
forth and proceeded to efficiently
hack off the best parts and arrange
them in moveable portions. Dmetro
was careful to assure that Fusi had
the larger share, and thus, packed
with the kill, they started for home,
Fusi leading this time.
When they arrived at Dmetro’s,
they thought a feast was in order, both
to celebrate and to cement their friend-
ship. Since Fusi had the larger quan-
tity, they sawed off a few huge steaks,
and waited over a sip of fermented
potato juice as Olga fried the lovely
meat.
When they had finished, Dmetro
remarked, “That was the biggest
moose I ever see’d. You good shot
Fusi”.
Fusi drank his last sip of juice. As
he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
“Já, Já” he said, as Icelanders do, “But
I would love to see Scotty’s expression
when his cow doesn’t come home
tonight for milking.”