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Page 52
"Tell, oh tell in the dwellings abroad
tell thou hast met with Saddle-head.
The handler of dice in sable cowl
sat on his back; hasten, oh Halli!"
Then they parted. Halli went along the road as far as Kalfanes
before he met Sveinn. They greeted each other hurriedly and
Sveinn said:
"Saw you that loafer ride from the dwellings?
Sorely he means my patience to try.
The people about shall deal with him roughly;
blue shall his body be if I meet him."
"You can know from what I tell you," said Halli, "that I met the
man who said he was riding Saddle-head, and he told me to spread
it abroad in the dwellings and the district. He was a huge man
in a black cloak."
"Well, he seems to think something of himself," said the bondi.
"I mean to know who he is."
Then he went on after him. Grettir came to Deildartunga and
found a woman outside. He began to talk to her and spoke a
verse:
"Mistress august! Go tell of the jest
that the serpent of earth has past on his way.
The garrulous brewer of Odin's mead
will come to Gilsbakki before he will rest."
The woman learned the verse and Grettir rode on. Soon after
Sveinn rode up; she was still outside, and when he came he spoke
the verse:
"Who was the man who a moment ago
rode past on a dusky horse in the storm?
The hound-eyed rascal, practised in mischief.
This day I will follow his steps to the end."
She told him as she had been taught. He considered the lines and
said: "It is not unlikely that this man is no play-fellow for me.
But I mean to catch him."
He then rode along the cultivated country. Each could see the
other's path. The weather was stormy and wet. Grettir reached
Gilsbakki that day, where Grim the son of Thorhall welcomed him
warmly and begged him to stay, which he did. He let Saddle-head
run loose and told Grim how he had come by her. Then Sveinn came
up, dismounted and saw his horse. Then he said:
"Who has ridden on my mare?
Who will pay me for her hire?
Who ever saw such an arrant thief?
What next will be the cowl-man's game?"
Grettir had then put off his wet clothes, and heard the ditty.
He said:
"Home I rode the mare to Grim's,
a better man than the hovel-dweller!
Nothing will I pay for hire!
Now we may be friends again."
"Just so shall it be," said the bondi. "Your ride on the horse
is fully paid for."
Then they each began repeating verses, and Grettir said he could
not blame him for looking after his property. The bondi stayed
there the night and they had great jokes about the matter. The
verses they made were called "Saddle-head verses." In the
morning the bondi rode home, parting good friends with Grettir.
Grim told Grettir of many things that had been done in Midfjord
in the North during his absence, and that no blood-money had been
paid for Atli. Thorbjorn Oxmain's interest, he said, was so
great that there was no certainty of Grettir's mother, Asdis,
being allowed to remain at Bjarg if the feud continued.
Grettir stayed but a few nights with Grim, for he did not want it
to become known that he was about to travel North across the
Heath. Grim told him to come back to visit him if he needed
protection. "Yet," he said, "I would gladly avoid the penalty of
being outlawed for harbouring you."
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