were on trading journeys, for they could then hold free intercourse with the Christians. Early in the spring Bjalfi made his ship ready for Iceland. Sigurd, a Norwegian, the companion of Vestein, was then west in England” (Gisli Sursson’s Saga, pp. 95–97). The exposure of the child depended so entirely upon the will of the father, that not even the mother dared to oppose it; if the child was fatherless at its birth, the right was exercised by the person who ruled over the household or family, and the child was then carried out by a thrall. Such children as had not been received by the father, or with his knowledge or consent, were called _úborin börn_ (unborn or non-accepted children); the exposure itself is called _utburd_ (= carrying out, _i.e._, out of the house). There was a chief in Iceland named Asbjorn Gunnbjarnarson; his wife was Thorgerd, a fine and accomplished woman. They had a daughter, Thorny, whom Thorgerd gave in marriage to Skidi without Asbjorn’s consent. “Some years after Asbjorn rode to the _Thing_ and said to Thorgerd: ‘Now I ride to the _Thing_ as I am wont, and I know that thou art far gone with a child; now whatever it is, boy or girl, it shall not be raised, but exposed.’ She said he should not do that, so wise and powerful a man as he was; ‘for it would be an unheard-of wickedness even if a poor man did it, but especially as you do not lack goods.’ Asbjorn replied: ‘I thought when thou gavest our daughter Thorny to Skidi, the eastman, without my knowing it, that I should not raise more children for thee to give away against my will, but if thou dost not do as I tell thee, thou wilt feel it, as will all who break my orders, or do not do what I want.’ He rode to the _Thing_. A little after Thorgerd gave birth to a boy; it was large, fat, and very fine; all who saw it, both men and women, praised it. Though Thorgerd thought the child was fine and loved it much, nevertheless she wanted it to be exposed, for she knew the temper of her husband, Asbjorn, that he must have his will. Then she got men to expose the child, and prepare him, as was the custom. They took it out of the house, laid it down between two stones, and put a large slab over it; they left a piece of pork in the child’s mouth, and went away. Gest, a bondi, heard the child crying, and took it home to his wife; she was the foster-mother of Thorgerd, and recognised the boy. They agreed to raise the child as their own” (Finnbogi Rammi’s Saga). Among the chief reasons which led to the exposure of a child were deformity, and discord between man and wife; dissatisfaction of the wife’s father with the union of which the child was the fruit; persuasion of the wife if her husband got a child by a concubine; superstitions as to evil omens at the time of birth, which were thought to indicate coming misfortunes caused by the child; and, finally, the utter inability of the parents to raise the child on account of their poverty.