The Story of Rolf and the Viking's Bow

very weary. So his melancholy gained on him again. There came a morning when he was tr

rks terribly. Better to be an outlaw, and go where I will-as

e and son; and is not the time short enough until the ban lea

field, and I left my work and my land; some good reason I had, but it is not clear to me now. I did not go a bow-shot beyond the boundary

he: "Now take thy boat and fish near the rocks

anst thou ask me to fish when so

the northern slope, at the plough

replied Hiarandi. "But on the south slope, where th

, "and have it at thy side as thou w

e sun and the air will clear my head, and we will laugh at th

to work. Now that was a fine spring day, so fine that the like of it seldom com

will lay by the door thy father's sword and thy bow, so that thou canst snatch them at need. Be near thy father this

n and the air cleared from Rolf's head all fear of ill. Yet Hiarandi was still gloomy and absent-minded. Then when they stopped

f man is that outlaw Grettir the S

aid that he hath no fear of three, nor would he flee from four; but with five he would not fight unless he must. All his life he has been rough, impatient of control, and at home only amid str

swam the sound, and came to the hall where those lights were, and therein people were feasting. Then he went into the hall; but so huge is he, and so covered with ice were his clothes and hair and beard, that those in the hall thought him a troll. Up they sprang and set upon him, and some snatched firebrands to attack him, for no weapons will bite on witch or troll. He took a brand and warded himself, and won his way out, but not before fire had sprung from the brands to the straw in the hall. And he swam back with his brand to his

ry, when he turned to the thrall who s

he thrall, and turned

hand," said Hiarandi. "And is there something there

nswered the

olf, and fetch me my sword; for I rep

ng, and he saw nothing at all in the willows, so he said to the thrall: "Now let us go again to work." But they had not worked long when the thrall looked privily,

Hiarandi's boundary, and toward the sea on Einar's land was the thicket of dwarf will

but Hiarandi used thought; for he turned a little toward the clump of willows, and cut the thrall off from them, where he might have hidden. Yet he might not catch the man, who fled past the oak. Then Hiarandi heard the voice of Rolf, calling hi

e armed men. Then that struggle around Hiarandi suddenly ceased, and the men fled in all directions, not stopping for their companion; but one of them carried a shaft in his shoulder, and a third bore one in his leg. And then Rol

ay at the foot of the tree. He loo