Gripla - 20.12.2017, Page 54

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from Halldórr.43 following an enthusiastic but fruitless discussion, it is
Þorkell who realises that they have been wasting their time. Þorsteinn
angrily demands an agreement from Halldórr, who replies with his own
idea of what should happen:
Halldórr … mælti: “Verða mun annat, fyrr en ek mæla þat, er ek vil
eigi.” “Hvat mun þat?” spyrr Þorsteinn. “Boløx mun standa í hǫfði
þér af inum versta manni ok steypa svá ofsa þínum ok ójafnaði.”
Þorkell svarar: “Þetta er illa spát”.44
[Halldórr … said: ‘there will be another outcome before I agree to
something that I do not want.’ ‘What’s that?’ asked Þorsteinn. ‘a
wood-axe will be lodged in your head by the worst type of man
and it will put an end to your arrogance and inequity.’ Þorkell said,
‘that’s an evil prophecy.’]
When Þorkell repeats their demand, adding that Halldórr must agree now
after his misleading behaviour, Halldórr provides another prediction: “fyrr
muntu spenna um þǫngulshǫfuð á Breiðafirði en ek handsala nauðigr land
mitt” [you will embrace the tangled seaweed of Breiðafjörður before I am
coerced into the sale of my land].45
Þorkell is chastened, but Þorsteinn wants to attack. Eventually, with his
cousin’s persuasion, Þorsteinn relents and Þorkell points out why violence
would have been pointless: “sáttu eigi Beini, er hann stóð yfir þér með
reidda øxina? ok var þat in mesta ófœra, því at þegar mundi hann keyra
øxina í hǫfuð þér, er ek gerða mik líkligan til nǫkkurs” [didn’t you see
Beinir, where he stood over you with axe aloft? and it was utterly beyond
our means [to attack], because then he would have driven the axe into your
head before I was able to do anything].46 With Þorsteinn’s plans on hold,
Þorkell loads a ship with the timber he has brought back from norway
for the construction of a church. The building is intended to be the same
size as the King’s own church, a fact that earned Þorkell a warning from
King óláfr Haraldsson. Þorsteinn has a bad feeling about the voyage and
43 Ibid., 219.
44 Ibid., 220.
45 Ibid., 221.
46 Ibid., 221.