One of Eindridi’s crew was called Arni Spítulegg (stick-leg). He went to
the Orkneys during the winter with nine men. Arni was a very violent
man, daring and turbulent. He and his comrades lived at their own
expense during the winter. He bought malt and meat of a tenant of Swein,
Asleif’s son, and when he demanded payment Arni delayed to pay. When he
demanded it a second time, he was overwhelmed with abuse; and before
they parted Arni struck him with the back of his axe, saying, “Go and
tell your champion, Swein, whom you are always praising, to obtain
redress for you; you will need no more.” The man went and told Swein,
requesting him to obtain redress. He gave him a cold answer, and said he
would promise nothing. One day in the spring Swein went to collect his
rents. They were four together in a ten-oared boat. They had to pass the
island in which Arni was staying, and Swein said he would land there. It
was ebbing tide. Swein went on shore alone, carrying an axe with a short
handle, and no other weapon. He told his men to keep the boat from
getting aground. Arni Spítulegg and his comrades were lying in an
outhouse not far from the sea. Swein walked up, and found them indoors.
They greeted him. He acknowledged their greeting, and spoke to Arni,
saying that he should settle the farmer’s account. Arni replied that
there was plenty of time for that. Swein asked him to do it for his
intercession, but still Arni refused. Then Swein said he would not ask
any further, and at the same time he drove the axe into Arni’s skull, so
that the iron was buried in it, and he lost hold of the handle. Swein
ran out, and Arni’s companions after him, to the beach. As they ran fast
along the muddy shore, one of them, who was the swiftest, came to close
quarters with him. There were large roots of seaweed lying in the mud.
Swein seized one of them, and thrust it into the face of the man who had
come up with him, and he grasped at his eyes to clear the mud away, but
Swein escaped to his boat, and went home to Gáreksey. Shortly after he
went on his own business over to Caithness, and sent word to Earl
Rögnvald to settle the matter about Arni Spítulegg’s slaying. And when
the Earl received the message, he summoned together those who were
entitled to compensation for Arni, and settled the matter to their
satisfaction, he himself paying the compensation money. Many other acts
of violence perpetrated by the Eastmen and the Orkneymen during the
winter the Earl made good out of his own [funds].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account