Studia Islandica - 01.06.1956, Blaðsíða 23

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Þorbjorn how to win over Þorgeirr to their side (54
syll., 32 words).
In ch. 13, after Hrafnkell and his men are over-
powered and maltreated by their enemies, it is Þorgeirr,
a stranger in the district, who addresses Hrafnkell in an
insulting manner and then asks his brother Þorkell
what he prefers to do. The two periods contain 44 and
64 syllables, 29 and 39 words respectively. Finally, in
the last chapter, when Sámr is overcome by his ad-
versary Hrafnkell, Þorgeirr makes a lengthy speech,
the essence of which is contained in the reproachful
words: ‘This is now evident what a difference in wisdom
there is between the two of you, as he (Hrafnkell) let
you sit in peace and first aimed at doing away with that
man whom he considered as of greater weight than you
(Sámr) are’. — Here the author makes Þorgeirr his
mouthpiece for a retrospective summing up of the two
opponents’ character and behaviour.
The remaining two periods are most typical of the
author’s intention and skill. When, in chapter 17, Ey-
vindr, Sám’s brother, back from a lengthy sojourn over-
seas, is riding past Hrafnkell’s farm, a charwoman, busy
with her washing at the brook, observes him and his
company. She runs home — Hrafnkell has not yet risen,
it’s half past seven — and starts a speech, meant to be
overheard by him. It is a monologue of five sentences,
177 syllables, 122 words in all. ‘It is most true, as the
old saying goes, that with old age one becomes incapable.
The honour which is acquired quickly, diminishes if a
man does not hold his own in dishonour and has not the
confidence sometimes to pursue his right, and such a
thing is highly to be wondered at in a man who once
was brave. Now it is the other way round with the life
of those who grow up with their father and of whom
you do not think much in comparison with yourselves,