Kúgi (G., Cogadh), 1128-1137, was a wealthy bóndi and a gœðingr of earl Páll, and lived in Hreppisnes, now Rapnes, in Westrey, which he would have held as _veizlu-jörð_. Nothing is told of his family or relations. He is described as a _vitr_, wise man, and had the _uppkvöð_, calling out of the levy, in Westrey. As a schemer himself, he smelt a rat when the invading earl Rögnvaldr played a clever trick in getting the Fair Isle beacon lit; and his pawky _eyrendi_, speech, thwarted the internecine complications which that deed was designed to arouse. Earl Rögnvaldr, however, unexpectedly, landed in Westrey, whereupon the _eyjarskeggjar_, the “island beards,” _hljópu saman_, louped together, to get Kúgi’s _ráð_, advice, which was that they should at once get _grið_, peace, from the earl; and he and the Vestreyingar submitted to the earl and swore oaths to him. One night, however, the earl’s men caught Kúgi napping at a secret meeting for _svíkræði_, treachery, against the earl. He was promptly put _í fjötra_, in fetters. When the earl arrived on the scene, Kúgi fell at his feet and _bauð_, offered or left, all his case in God’s hands and the earl’s. He then tried to shift the blame on to others, and asserted that he had been brought to the þing, _nauðigr_, unwilling, and that all the bœndr had wanted him to be the _upphafsmaðr_, instigator, of the _ráð_, plot. The Saga states that Kúgi pleaded his own cause _orðfærliga_, with great elocution or glibly. Fortunately for Kúgi’s life, the humour of the situation tickled the earl’s poetic fancy to such a degree that he could not resist the temptation of letting off steam in one of his habitual improvisations, stuffed with scathing ridicule; a lasting punishment, more severe than the decapitation, or sound drubbing, which the object of his poetic flight so richly deserved. The earl referred to the fettered man before him as a _kveld-förlestr karl_, a night-journey-hampered carl or old duffer, and advised him, in future, never to hold _nátt-þing_, night meetings--which Vigfússon says were not considered proper. The earl, further, admonished him that it was needful to keep one’s oath and covenant. _Grið_, peace, was given to all, and they bound their fellowship anew. Exit Kúgi, of whom nothing further is related, beyond the one line which is preserved of _Kúga drápa_, in praise of Kúgi, and which runs: _Megin-hræddir ro menn við Kúga, meiri ertu hverjom þeira._[10] All are afraid of Kúgi, thou outdoest them all. [10] _Skálda._ This can only have been intended as biting sarcasm. His name and character indicate that he was a typical bad Gael of his class. SVEINN GROUP. The next persons to be described are the family, relatives and companions of Sveinn Ásleifarson.