Natural history -- Scotland -- Orkney; Orkney (Scotland) -- Description and travel; Orkney (Scotland) -- History
“They fared till they came to Galicialand in the winter before Yule, and
meant to sit there Yule over. They dealt with the landsmen, and begged
them to set them a market to buy food; for the land was barren and bad
for food, and the landsmen thought it hard to feed that host of men.
Now these tidings had happened there, that in that land sat a chief who
was a stranger, in a castle, and he had laid on the landsmen very heavy
burdens. He harried them on the spot if they did not agree at once to all
that he asked, and he offered them the greatest tyranny and oppression.
And when the earl spoke to the landsmen about bringing him food to
buy, they made him that offer, that they would set them up a market
thenceforth on till Lent, but they must rid them in some way or other of
the men in the castle; but Earl Rognvald was to bear the brunt in return
for the right of having all the goods that were gotten from them.
“The earl laid this bare before his men, and sought counsel from them as
to which choice he should take; but most of them were eager to fall on
the castlemen, and thought it bid fair for spoil. And so Earl Rognvald
and his host went into that agreement with the landsmen. But when it drew
near to Yule, Earl Rognvald called his men to a talk, and said,—
“‘Now have we sat here awhile, and yet we have had nothing to do with
the castlemen, but the landsmen are getting rather slack in their
dealings with us. Methinks they think that what we promised them will
have no fulfilment; but still that is not manly not to turn our hands to
what we have promised. Now, kinsman Erling, will I take counsel from you
in what way we shall win the castle, for I know that ye are here some of
you the greatest men for good counsel; but still I will beg all those men
who are here that each will throw in what he thinks is likeliest to be
worth trying.’
“Erling answered the earl’s speech: ‘I will not be silent at your
bidding. But I am not a man for counsel, and it would be better rather
to call on those men for that who have seen more, and are more wont to
such exploits, as is Eindrid the Young. But here it will be as the saying
goes, “You must shoot at a bird before you get him.” And so we will try
to give some counsel, whatever comes of it. We shall to-day, if it seems
to you not bad counsel or to the other shipmasters, go all of us to the
wood, and bear each of us three shoulder-bundles of fagots on our backs
under the castle; for it seems to me as though the lime will not be
trusty if a great fire is brought to it. We shall let this go on for the
three next days and see what turn things take.’
“They did as Erling bade; and when that toil was over, it was come right
on to Yule. The bishop would not let them make their onslaught while the
Yule high feast stood over them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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