Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1977, Blaðsíða 139

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own stock. Borir was not very pleased! He got hold of Borvaldr the
son of Oddr of Tunga, bribed him, and together they accused
Blund-Ketill of taking the hay. A Norwegian who lived with Blund-
Ketill shot an arrow at the men with Borir and Borvaldr. The arrow
hit and instantly killed the foster-son of Hænsa-Borir. Borir leant
over the dead boy, and then he said that the boy told him “twice
over, the words: Burn, burn Blund-Ketill in his homestead.”
When night feil, they went back to Ornolfsdalr and burned down
the farm and every living soul there.
There was a great to-do after the burning of Blund-Ketill and
many chiefs were drawn into the affair. Borbr gellir from Dalir
in the West became the leader against the burners, while Oddr of
Tunga led the group protecting them. It came about that the
burners were prosecuted at the Althing; and Hersteinn, the son
of Blund-Ketill, killed Hænsa-Borir.
This law-suit brought to light an imperfection in the Icelandic
constitution, and it was improved by dividing the country into
four sections and instituting new rules governing lawsuits. It was
because of this that Ari the Learned summarised these events in
Islendingabok (ch. V):
Bingadeild mikil var5 å milli jieira Borbar gellis, sonar Oleifs
feilans or Breibafirbi, ok Odds jjess er kallabr var Tungu-Oddr.
Hann var borgfirzkr. Borvaldr sonr hans var at brennu Bor-
kels Blund-Ketilssonar meb Hæsna-Bori i Ornolfsdali. En Borbr
gellir varb hofbingi at sokinni, af J>vi at Hersteinn Borkelssonr
Blund-Ketilssonar åtti Borunni systurdottur hans. Hon var
Helgu dottir ok Gunnars, systir Jof ribar er Borsteinn åtti
Egilssonr. En J>eir våru sottir å Jnngi Jm er var i Borgarfirbi
i Jieim stab er siban er kallat Bingnes. Bat våru J)å log at vig-
sakar skyldi sækja å J)vi jiingi er næst var vettvangi. En J>eir
borbusk J)ar ok måtti joingit eigi heyjask at logum. Bar feil
Borolfr refr, brobir Alfs i Dolum, or libi Borbar gellis. En siban
foru sakarnar til aljnngis, ok borbusk j)eir jmr j)å enn. Bå fellu
menn or libi Odds, enda varb sekr hann Hæsna-Borir ok drep-
inn siban ok fleiri jaeir er at brennunni våru.
If these few words are compared with Hænsa-Boris saga it ap-
pears that they have much in common. There is, however, one