Iceland review - 2016, Page 46

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for Norway to serve the king, as young
and wealthy men commonly did. This
upset Guðrún profoundly and she plead-
ed with Kjartan to make it right. “I want
to go with you this summer, and by
taking me you can make up for deciding
this so hastily, for it’s not Iceland that I
love.” He refused, reasoning that she had
to take care of her father and brothers,
asking her to wait three years. Guðrún
wouldn’t promise Kjartan anything and
they parted in disagreement.
In Norway, Kjartan won the admira-
tion of King Ólafur Tryggvason and the
affection of his sister, Ingibjörg. Kjartan
was unable (and perhaps unwilling) to
return to Iceland after three years as
the king held him hostage due to a con-
flict over the Christianization of Iceland.
Bolli came home without him. The rela-
tionship between the two friends was
obviously not as close as it used to be: in
the past, Bolli wouldn’t have gone any-
where without Kjartan.
SETTLING FOR SECOND-BEST
Eyeing a window of opportunity, Bolli
wasted no time and came to see Guðrún.
He told her that Kjartan was involved
with the king’s sister Ingibjörg and
asked her to marry him instead. Guðrún
declared: “I’ll marry no man as long as
I know Kjartan is still alive.” But Bolli
was persistent and asked Ósvífur for his
support. Guðrún remained reluctant, yet
eventually agreed to the arrangement at
her father’s persuasion.
Meanwhile, Kjartan bid farewell to the
king and his sister. King Ólafur gave him
a sword as a parting gift and Ingibjörg
gave him a gold-embroidered head dress,
a great treasure. Both of them would
have preferred Kjartan to stay, but since
he was determined to leave, Ingibjörg
asked him to give the head dress to
Guðrún as a wedding present. Kjartan
and Ingibjörg may have had a relation-
ship, but in the end, Kjartan wanted to
reunite with his first love.
Back in Iceland, Kjartan was furious
to learn that his best friend had married
his sweetheart. His father Ólafur encour-
aged him to keep his emotions in check
and make peace with Bolli. Following his
family’s advice, Kjartan married Hrefna
Ásgeirsdóttir, a friend’s sister, and gave
her the head dress.
Kjartan wasn’t ready to forgive his
foster brother, however. After a visit to
Laugar, Bolli offered Kjartan some of his
finest horses, but Kjartan wouldn’t accept
them. Later, at Hjarðarholt, Kjartan told
Guðrún that Hrefna would now take her
place of honor. Insulted, Guðrún had
her brothers steal the sword King Ólafur
had given Kjartan. At his father’s urging,
Kjartan recovered the sword without
making a fuss about the theft.
At the next party at Laugar, Hrefna’s
head dress disappeared. Although
Guðrún wouldn’t admit to it, she was sus-
pected of having asked one of her broth-
ers to destroy it. Kjartan told Guðrún:
“You are going out of your way to insult
us, and we’ve tried to ignore your enmity
towards us for long enough. From now
on, I warn you, I will suffer it no longer.”
FEMME FATALE
Kjartan collected a group of 60 men and
rode to Laugar. They barred all entrances
for three whole days, forcing the resi-
dents to relieve themselves indoors—
the privies were outside. The people of
Laugar were infuriated and, from then
on, in open conflict with the Hjarðarholt
family. Bolli and Guðrún wanted to buy
the neighboring farm and had reached
an agreement with the owner concerning
the price. Kjartan heard of the dealings
and outbid the couple, swiftly having
witnesses make his agreement with the
owner legal instead of theirs.
This was the final straw for Guðrún,
who started plotting Kjartan’s mur-
der. Bolli refused to take part in it, but
Guðrún wouldn’t have it any other way:
“If you refuse to go, it will be the end of
our life together.” And so, Bolli agreed
to go along with Guðrún’s brothers. The
party ambushed Kjartan but Bolli kept
his distance. Kjartan called out to him:
“Why did you leave home, kinsman Bolli,
if you intended only to stand and watch?”
Eventually, Bolli drew his sword. Kjartan
refused to defend himself as Bolli passed
him a fatal blow. Regretful, Bolli held his
friend’s body in his arms.
When Bolli told Guðrún what had
happened, she coldly responded: “Most
important, to my mind, is that Hrefna
won’t go to bed with a smile on her face
this evening.” Bolli snapped: “I wonder
whether she’ll pale at the news any more
than you, and I suspect that you would
be much less upset if it were me lying
there slain and Kjartan who lived to tell
the tale.”
Soon enough, Bolli would lie there
slain, too. Even though Ólafur mourned
Kjartan deeply, he asked his sons to leave
Bolli, his foster son, alone. However,
their mother Þorgerður, daughter of the
great poet warrior Egill Skallagrímsson,
would not rest until Kjartan had been
avenged.
Guðrún and Bolli were staying at a
cabin in Sælingsdalur when Kjartan’s
brothers and their followers came rid-
ing. Bolli asked Guðrún to leave the
cabin, then defended himself as best he
could, but he was outnumbered. After
Bolli had been finished off, one of the
avengers, Helgi Harðbeinsson, walked
over to Guðrún and wiped his bloody
spear clean on the end of her shawl.
Guðrún only looked at him and smiled.
Kjartan’s brother Halldór was shocked at
her reaction. “That is a vile thing to do,
and merciless of you,” he scolded. Helgi
predicted: “Something tells me that my
own death lies under that shawl.”
CRUEL AND COLD-HEARTED?
At the time, Guðrún was pregnant with
a son, whom she named Bolli after his
father. She and Bolli had an older son
together, Þorleikur. After her third hus-
band’s death, Guðrún couldn’t bear to
live in the vicinity of Kjartan’s family
and asked her friend Snorri goði, who
had fostered her son Þórður, whether he
would trade farms with her. Snorri moved
to Laugar and Guðrún with her sons and
father to Helgafell on Snæfellsnes.
It’s easy to dismiss Guðrún as cruel
L I T E R AT U R E