Lögberg-Heimskringla - 17.04.1992, Blaðsíða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 17. apríl 1992 • 3
Þorkell
Retold by Einar Kvaran
In the year 1000 AD Icelanders gave
one man the power to decide how they
should resolve the conflict between the
heathens and the Christians, which
was threatening to erupt into civil war.
This man was the law-speaker Þorgeir
Þorkelsson, also known as the goði of
Ljósavatn, the Lake of Lights. Although
he was a heathen himself he chose
Christianity, because “if we tear asun-
der the law, we tear asunder the peace. ”
Þorgeir’s ability to preserve thepeace
in the country did not extend to his
own family. He had four sons, and
before long he found himself engaged
in a life and death struggle, in which he
was on one side and his sons on the
other. At stake was the fate of an out-
law who had been banished from Ice-
land for three years. He had returned
prematurely, with the blessing of a
mighty earl in Norway, who had asked
Þorgeir and Guðmundur the Powerful
to protect him. Guðmimdur the Pow-
erful was a chieftain from the nearby
Eyjafjörður and the most influential
leader in the north of Iceland. Þorgeir’s
sons sided with the party, who had
originally been injured by the outlaw in
the action which lead to his banish-
ment. In this encounter the brothers
succeeded in killing the outlaw and
driving off Guðmundur the Powerful
and his men. A little later they also
managed to make peace with their fa-
ther. A token peace settlement with
Guðmundur still left ruffled feathers
on both sides.
Þorkell Badmouth
One of Þorgeir’s sons was Þorkell,
known as Þorkell Badmouth. As a
young man Þorkell had gone abroad,
where he had eamed a reputation for
himself. He had killed an evil doer in
the forest of Jamtland in Sweden. He
had waged war in the Baltic and had
slain a man-monster there. He went
still farther east where he slew a dragon.
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These adventures were similar to those
of many other young Icelanders far
from home and far from reliable wit-
nesses; in any case he returned to Ice-
land and had the tale of his adventures
carved over his bed and on a chair.
Þorkell made it known that he was
prepared to fight any man who chal-
lenged him, and that he would never
give the slightest way for anyone. He
was known as Þorkell Badmouth be-
cause he would not go easy on anyone,
in word or in deed.
The peace settlement between
Þorkell and Guðmundur the Powerful
was before long placed under a great
strain. Guðmundur and his wife Þórlaug
attended a wedding. In the course of
the celebrations, Þórlaug and another
woman vied for the highest social sta-
tus. Finally, the other woman said: “I
know you are superiour to me in all
ways but one; my spouse is better than
yours.” When pressed to explain, she
said that according to Þorkell
Þorgrímsson, Guðmundur was a cow-
ard and stupid to boot. After Þórlaug
reported this to Guðmundur, it was
only a question of time before he sought
vengeance.
Þorkell betrayed
For two years, Guðmundur was
preoccupied with other matters, but
then he turned his attention to Þorkell
once more. He hired a small, unpre-
possessing stranger called Shrimp to
spy on Þorkell and to betray him. De-
spite the fact that Þorkell knew that he
was in danger, he maintained a small
household. Guðmundurhadpreviously
experienced Þorkell’s prowess as a
fighter, and had no desire to tangle
with him unless he had every advan-
tage. The Shrimp managed to get
permission to spend one stormy
night at Þorkell’s farm. He left marker
stones telling exactly how many men
were at home, and during the night
he unlatched the door to the house and
then fled naked into the night.
Guðmundur was waiting nearby with
a superior force of twenty men and
attacked Þorkell. After a brave de-
fence during which he wounded a
number of Guðmundur’s men, while
Guðmundurhimselfheldback, Þorkell
was slain. Guðmundur asked Þorkell’s
widow whether she wanted their
help to bury Þorkell. “By no means”,
she replied, “Go now; I would rather
be with him dead than with you
alive.”
Continued next week
Icelandic-jZanadian
0ral ílarrafives
Magnús Einarsson
Icelandic-Canadian Oral Narratives
by Magnús Einarsson
Canadian Museum of Civilization
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