These grassy plains border two places of historical importance in Iceland. This is the margin of the _Njal Country_. At the foot of the trifingered mountain in the fertile plains of the _Markarfljót_ is _Hlíðarendi_, Grass-Slope, the home of _Gunnar_ of _Saga_ fame. In his day _Hekla_ had wrought but little of the present desolation and the land was rich in flocks and herds cared for by numerous thralls. The ice-capped mountain rose behind the farm and towards the sea sloped the productive meads. _Gunnar_ and his friend, _Kolskegg_, were exiled for three winters for the part they had taken in a blood feud. As they rode down to the _Lithe_ on their way to take ship to foreign shores, _Gunnar’s_ horse stumbled and threw him. As he rose to his feet he looked towards his pleasant home and exclaimed,—“Fair is the _Lithe_; so fair that it has never seemed to me so fair; the corn fields are white to harvest, and the home mead is mown; and now I will ride back home, and will not fare abroad at all.” If an outlawed man refused within the given time to go into the specified exile, any one could slay him without breaking any law. This his enemies took advantage of and during the following autumn killed him in his house. Near at hand is _Oddi_, Point, as of land, made famous by the school of _Saemund Sigfusson_, the Learned, a popular center of learning in the ancient days of Icelandic glory. Here, also, in 1181 went the youthful _Snorri Sturlason_ then only three years of age, into fostering. This school was called the “highest-head-stead” which signifies that it was not only the wealthiest in Iceland but the most renowned for scholarship. _Snorri_ was an apt pupil, a brilliant scholar and one who delved deeply into the old Latin manuscripts, long since lost, in the rich library at _Oddi_. It was here that he acquired the knowledge of European history which gave birth to his story of the Round World, _Heimskringla_, a story of the Kings of Norway. _Snorri_ was the first pragmatic historian who ever wrote in the Teutonic language. To him are indebted the German and the English historians of later days, though they do not always take the trouble to acknowledge it. Without his gleanings from that old library at _Oddi_ many pages of history would be missing. That he was faithful we may well believe when we note the following from his preface:—