Thorfinn was five winters old when their father fell. When the King of Scots heard of the Earl’s death he bestowed Caithness and Sutherland upon his grandson, with the title of Earl, and gave him men to rule the domain along with him. Earl Thorfinn was very precocious in the maturity of all his powers. He was of large stature and strong, but ungainly. As he grew up it soon became apparent that he was avaricious, harsh, and cruel, yet a very clever man. The brothers Einar and Brúsi were different in their dispositions. Brúsi was clever and fond of company, eloquent and beloved. Einar was stubborn and taciturn, disagreeable and avaricious, yet a great warrior. Sumarlidi was like Brúsi in his disposition. He was the eldest, and the most short-lived of the brothers. He died on a sickbed. After his death Thorfinn demanded his share of [Sumarlidi’s portion of] the Orkneys, although he already had Caithness and Sutherland which had belonged to his father Sigurd. This Einar considered to be much more than a third of the Orkneys, and he would not give up any part of them to Thorfinn. Brúsi, however, consented to give up his share [of the portion belonging to Sumarlidi], saying that he did not covet more of the land than his own proper third. Then Einar took possession of two shares of the islands. He became then a powerful man, and had a large number of retainers. In the summer he made war expeditions, calling out great levies of his men from their homes; but these expeditions were not always successful, and the Bœndr[238] began to grow tired of them, but the Earl exacted all his services with violence, and did not suffer any one to speak against them. He was indeed a man of the greatest violence. Then there arose great scarcity in the islands on account of the labour and large expense to which the Bœndr were thus subjected. However, in the parts belonging to Brúsi there were good seasons and easy life, and he was greatly liked by the Bœndr. CHAPTER II OF AMUNDI AND THORKEL. THERE was a powerful and wealthy man, by name Amundi, who lived in Hrossey,[239] at Sandvik on Laufandaness. He had a son, by name Thorkel, who was the most accomplished man in all the Orkneys. One spring the Earl called out the Bœndr as usual, but they murmured greatly, and brought their grievances before Amundi, and asked him to say a good word for them to the Earl. He replied that the Earl was not disposed to listen to advice, and it would be of no avail to ask him to do this, as he and the Earl were such good friends; he further said that, from what he knew of his own temper and that of the Earl, there was great danger that they might become enemies, and he would have nothing to do with the matter. Then they asked Thorkel, and he was very reluctant, although at last he yielded to their solicitations, but Amundi thought he had been too rash to promise.