The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald Part 9

But Thorvald answered, "I am content; there is no harm done it seems to me, though they do talk together."

"That is ill," said Narfi.

Not long afterwards Thorvald met his brother Thorvard and told him about Cormac's coming to his house.

"Is it right, think you," said Thorvard, "to sit still while such things happen?"

He answered that there was no harm done as yet, but that Cormac's coming pleased him not.

"I'll mend that," cried Thorvard, "if you dare not. The shame of it touches us all."

So this was the next thing,--that Thorvard came to Svinadal, and the Skiding brothers and Narfi paid a gangrel beggar-man to sing a song in the hearing of Steingerd, and to say that Cormac had made it,--which was a lie. They said that Cormac had taught this song to one called Eylaug, a kinswoman of his; and these were the words:--

(63) "I wish an old witch that I know of, So wealthy and proud of her havings, Were turned to a steed in the stable --Called Steingerd--and I were the rider!

I'd bit her, and bridle, and saddle, I'd back her and drive her and tame her; So many she owns for her masters, But mine she will never become!"

Then Steingerd grew exceedingly angry, so that she would not so much as hear Cormac named. When he heard that, he went to see her. Long time he tried in vain to get speech with her; but at last she gave this answer,--that she misliked his holding her up to shame,--"And now it is all over the country-side!"

Cormac said it was not true; but she answered, "Thou mightest flatly deny it, if I had not heard it."

"Who sang it in thy hearing?" asked he.

She told him who sang it,--"And thou needest not hope for speech with me if this prove true."

He rode away to look for the rascal, and when he found him the truth was forced out at last. Cormac was very angry, and set on Narfi and slew him. That same onset was meant for Thorvald, but he hid himself in the shadow and skulked, until men came between then and parted them. Said Cormac:--

(64) "There, hide in the house like a coward, And hope not hereafter to scare me With the scorn of thy brethren the Skidings,-- I'll set them a weft for their weaving!

I'll rhyme on the swaggering rascals Till rocks go afloat on the water; And lucky for you if ye loosen The line of your fate that I ravel!"

This went all over the country-side and the feud grew fiercer between them. The brothers Thorvald and Thorvard used big words, and Cormac was wroth when he heard them.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. How Thorvard Would Not Fight, But Tried To Get The Law Of Cormac.

After this Thorvard sent word from Fliot that he was fain to fight Cormac, and he fixed time and place, saying that he would now take revenge for that song of shame and all other slights.

To this Cormac agreed; and when the day came he went to the spot that was named, but Thorvard was not there, nor any of his men. Cormac met a woman from the farm hard by, who greeted him, and they asked each other for news.

"What is your errand?" said she; "and why are you waiting here?"

Then he answered with this song:--

(65) "Too slow for the struggle I find him, That spender of fire from the ocean, Who flung me a challenge to fight him From Fleet in the land of the North.

That half-witted hero should get him A heart made of clay for his carcase, Though the mate of the may with the necklace Is more of a fool than his fere!"

"Now," said Cormac, "I bid Thorvard anew to the holmgang, if he can be called in his right mind. Let him be every man's nithing if he come not!" and then he made this song:--

(66) "The nithing shall silence me never, Though now for their shame they attack me, But the wit of the Skald is my weapon, And the wine of the G.o.ds will uphold me.

And this they shall feel in its fulness; Here my fame has its birth and beginning; And the stout spears of battle shall see it, If I 'scape from their hands with my life."

Then the brothers set on foot a law-suit against him for libel. Cormac's kinsmen backed him up to answer it, and he would let no terms be made, saying that they deserved the shame put upon them, and no honour; he was not unready to meet them, unless they played him false. Thorvard had not come to the holmgang when he had been challenged, and therefore the shame had fallen of itself upon him and his, and they must put up with it.

So time pa.s.sed until the Huna-water Thing. Thorvard and Cormac both went to the meeting, and once they came together.

"Much enmity we owe thee," said Thorvard, "and in many ways. Now therefore I challenge thee to the holmgang, here at the Thing."

Said Cormac, "Wilt thou be fitter than before? Thou hast drawn back time after time."

"Nevertheless," said Thorvard, "I will risk it. We can abide thy spite no longer."

"Well," said Cormac, "I'll not stand in the way;" and went home to Mel.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO. What The Witch Did For Them In Their Fights.

At Spakonufell (Spae-wife's-fell) lived Thordis the spae-wife, of whom we have told before, with her husband Thorolf. They were both at the Thing, and many a man thought her good-will was of much avail. So Thorvard sought her out, to ask her help against Cormac, and gave her a fee; and she made him ready for the holmgang according to her craft.

Now Cormac told his mother what was forward, and she asked if he thought good would come of it.

"Why not?" said he.

"That will not be enough for thee," said Dalla. "Thorvard will never make bold to fight without witchcraft to help him. I think it wise for thee to see Thordis the spae-wife, for there is going to be foul play in this affair."

"It is little to my mind," said he; and yet went to see Thordis, and asked her help.

"Too late ye have come," said she. "No weapon will bite on him now. And yet I would not refuse thee. Bide here to-night, and seek thy good luck.

Anyway, I can manage so that iron bite thee no more than him."

So Cormac stayed there for the night; and, awaking, found that some one was groping round the coverlet at his head. "Who is there?" he asked, but whoever it was made off, and out at the house-door, and Cormac after. And then he saw it was Thordis, and she was going to the place where the fight was to be, carrying a goose under her arm.

He asked what it all meant, and she set down the goose, saying, "Why couldn't ye keep quiet?"

So he lay down again, but held himself awake, for he wanted to know what she would be doing. Three times she came, and every time he tried to find out what she was after. The third time, just as he came out, she had killed two geese and let the blood run into a bowl, and she had taken up the third goose to kill it.

"What means this business, foster-mother?" said he.

"True it will prove, Cormac, that you are a hard one to help," said she.

"I was going to break the spell Thorveig laid on thee and Steingerd. Ye could have loved one another been happy if I had killed the third goose and no one seen it."

"I believe nought of such things," cried he; and this song he made about it:--

(67) "I gave her an ore at the ayre, That the arts of my foe should not prosper; And twice she has taken the knife, And twice she has offered the offering; But the blood is the blood of a goose-- What boots it if two should be slaughtered?-- Never sacrifice geese for a Skald Who sings for the glory of Odin!"

So they went to the holmgang: but Thorvald gave the spae-wife a still greater fee, and offered the sacrifice of geese; and Cormac said:--