in the Almannagya' - the Great Rift-it was determined to make an attack on the house of Bergthorsknoll, and to kill all who were in it.

Flosi, when the appointed time had come (on a Sunday in August, 1011), 'assembled at Swinefell all his men who had promised him help and company,' and

'made them say prayers betimes on the Lord's day, and afterwards they sat down to meat. He spoke to his household and told them what work each was to do while he was away. After that he went to his horses. They rode west to Woodcombe and came to Kirkby. Flosi then bade all men to come into the church and pray to God, and men did so.'*

Flosi's Christianity was at least not behind that of certain Northern pirates in the sixteenth century, who captured a priest in order that they might have service duly said on board their vessel every Sunday. Throughout, however, he seems to have been acting half-unwillingly. The whole band of 'burners,' one hundred and twenty in number, assembled at the 'ridge of the Three-corner,' and thence came down upon Bergthorsknoll, where grave portents had appeared, ominous of coming trouble, and where Njal, the foresighted man,' had long before predicted the manner of his death. On the approach of the band, Njal, his nine sons, Kari his son-in-law, and all the serving-men, who at first stood in array to meet them in the yard,' retired into the house and barricaded it. Many of Flosi's men were killed by spears flung from the window-slits; and at last he said,

It is now
There

One is to turn

"We have already gotten great manscathe. clear that we shall never master them with weapons. are but two choices left, and neither of them good. away, and that is our death; the other, to set fire to the house and burn them inside it; and that is a deed which we shall have to answer for heavily before God, since we are Christian men ourselves; but still we must take to that counsel."

'Now they took fire and made a great pile before the doors. Then Skarphedinn said,

"What, lads! are ye lighting a fire, or are ye taking to cooking? ""So shall it be," answered Grani Gunnar's son, "and thou shalt not need to be better done."

*

"Then the women threw whey on the fire, and quenched it as fast as they lit it and then they took a vetch-stack that stood above the house, and set fire to it, and they who were inside were not aware of it till the whole hall was ablaze over their heads. 'Then Flosi and his men made a great pile before each of the

* ii. 165.

doors,

doors, and then the women-folk who were inside began to weep and to wail.

'Njal spoke to them and said, "Keep up your hearts, nor utter shrieks, for this is but a passing storm, and it will be long before ye have another such; and put your faith in God, and believe that he is so merciful that he will not let us burn both in this world and the next."

'Such words of comfort had he for them all, and others still more strong.

'Now the whole house began to blaze. Then Njal went to the door and said,

666

my voice?"

""Is Flosi so near that he can hear 'Flosi said that he could hear it. ""Wilt thou," said Njal, "take an atonement from my sons, or allow any men to go out?"

"I will not," answers Flosi, "take any atonement from thy sons, and now our dealings shall come to an end once for all, and I will not stir from this spot till they are all dead; but I will allow the women and children and house-carles to go out.'

The women accordingly-all except Bergthora, the aged wife of Njal-went out; and with them went Helgi, Njal's son, wrapped in a woman's cloak. He was recognised, however, and killed by Flosi :

"Then Flosi went to the door and called out to Njal, and said he would speak with him and Bergthora.

'Now Njal does so, and Flosi said,

"I will offer thee, Master Njal, leave to go out, for it is unworthy that thou shouldst burn indoors."

"I will not go out," said Njal, "for I am an old man, and little fitted to avenge my sons; but I will not live in shame."'†

The great duty of revenge was still a principle of life, even with so gentle-minded and thoughtful a convert as Njal.

Then Flosi said to Bergthora,

"Come thou out, housewife, for I will for no sake burn thee indoors."

"I was given away to Njal young," said Bergthora, “and I have promised him this, that we would both share the same fate." 'After that they both went back into the house.

""What counsel shall we now take?" said Bergthora.

"We will go to our bed," says Njal, "and lay us down. I have long been eager for rest."

Then she said to the boy Thord, Kari's son,

"Thee will I take out, and thou shalt not burn in here."

"Thou hast promised me this, grandmother," says the boy, "that we should never part so long as I wished to be with thee; but methinks it is much better to die with thee and Njal than to live after you."

*ii. 172-174.

† ii. 175.

"Then

"Then she bore the boy to her bed, and Njal spoke to his steward and said,

66

""Now shalt thou see where we lay us down, and how I lay us out; for I mean not to stir an inch hence, whether reek or burning smart me, and so thou wilt be able to guess where to look for our bones." 'He said he would do so.

'There had been an ox slaughtered, and the hide lay there. told the steward to spread the hide over them, and he did so.

Njal

'So there they lay down both of them in their bed, and put the boy between them. Then they signed themselves and the boy with the cross, and gave over their souls into God's hand, and that was the last word that men heard them utter.

'Then the steward took the hide, and spread it over them, and went out afterwards.'*

Meanwhile the house burnt, and all perished who were still within it, with the exception of Kari, who, with his clothes and his hair all a-blaze, sprang down from the roof, and 'so crept along with the smoke.' He ran till he came to a stream, into which he threw himself, and so 'quenched the fire on him.' Mr. Metcalfe tells us that the place, now a small pit in the swamp below Bergthorsknoll, is still pointed out as 'Karitiörn,' the tarn of Kari. Flosi and his band stayed by the fire until it was broad daylight. Then they rode off together. Flosi never spoke about the deed, but no fear was found in him, and he was at home the whole winter till Yule was over.'

Meanwhile Kari, who had escaped, sought Hjallti, Skeggi's son-the same whom we already know as the successful champion of the new faith at the Althing.

'Kari bade Hjallti to go and search for Njal's bones, "for all will believe in what thou sayest and thinkest about them."

'Hjallti said he would be most willing to bear Njal's bones to church; so they rode thence fifteen men.

At last

they had one hundred men, reckoning Njal's neighbours.

They came to Bergthorsknoll at midday. Hjallti asked Kari under what part of the house Njal might be lying, but Kari showed them to the spot, and there there was a great heap of ashes to dig away. There they found the hide underneath, and it was as though it were shrivelled with the fire. They raised up the hide, and, lo! they were unburnt under it. All praised God for that, and thought it was a great token. 'Njal was borne out, and so was Bergthora; and then all men went to see their bodies.

'Then Hjallti said, "What like look to you these bodies?"

They answered, "We will wait for thy utterance."

"Then Hjallti said, "I shall speak what I say with all freedom of speech. The body of Bergthora looks as it was likely she would

* ii. 176, 177.

look,

look, and still fair; but Njal's body and visage seem to me so bright that I have never seen any dead man's body so bright as this.” 'They all said they thought so too.'*

In all, the bones of nine souls' were discovered; all of which were solemnly conveyed to the churchyard and interred. During the heathen period interments had been made in cairns, not far from the dwelling. But, immediately after the reception of Christianity, churches, with the consecrated enclosure about them, were built in different parts of the island, and in spite of the difficulty of conveying the dead across flooded rivers, and over wild mountain ridges, they were now carefully laid to rest under the shadow of the holy walls. These, as they still are for the most part throughout Iceland, were of wood, either from the drift-logs brought to the coast by the Gulf-stream, or of pine and oak sent for this express purpose from Norway and Great Britain. They were roofed with turf. The churches were nowhere large-although the great landowners, no doubt, did their best for them, since they believed that as many souls would be saved by their means as the church they built could contain. In form they were probably long parallelograms, resembling the stone church of which the ruins have been found on the coast of Greenland. For a certain time after consecration these first churches were said to be in albis,' like men after baptism. An early Icelandic name for the altar, 'Paxspialld-the table of peace'-is not apparently found elsewhere. It is eminently suggestive of what appeared to the first converts one of the greatest distinctions between the old faith and the new-the duty of abandoning revenge. Even Njal, as we have just seen, chose to die rather than to live without the power of avenging the loss of his sons. A truer Christian spirit appears in Hall of the Side, Thangbrand's earliest convert, who, when his son Ljot had been killed in a fight at the Althing, would demand no blood-wite' for him. 'I will put no price on my son,' he said, 'and yet will come forward and grant both pledges and peace to those who are my adversaries.' A great 'hum in his favour followed,' we are told, and all praised his gentleness and good will,' which few, however, were as yet found ready to imitate. But the peace of the Church' made a great step under Gizur, the second Bishop of Skalholt, who persuaded the Icelanders to appear without their weapons at the Althing.

On the fate of the burners, all of whom were exiled at the next Althing, we cannot dwell. Flosi himself was banished for three years, and undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. Many of his followers sailed from Iceland with him.' Their ship was wrecked

* ii. p. 193.

on

on the Orkneys, where Flosi was made Earl Sigurd's henchman, ' and soon won his way to great love with the Earl.' At Yuletide, Sigtrygg of the silken beard,' King of the Northmen settled in Ireland, came to seek Earl Sigurd's help in a struggle with the famous Over-king of Ireland, Brian Boroimhe- Brian of the Tribute.' Sigurd consented to assist him, and Flosi offered to join the expedition, but the Earl would not permit him, since he had his pilgrimage to fulfil.' Flosi then offered fifteen men of his band, whom the Earl accepted. In this manner the first race of Icelandic converts were represented in 'Brian's Battle,' where, in Mr. Das ent's words, the old and new faith met in the lists, face to face, for their last struggle.'

'King Sigtrygg's stronghold was the fort at Dublin, near the bridge, and thither by Palm Sunday the whole heathen host had met; but Brian, warned in time by Ospak, was not only ready to meet them, should they fall upon him, but ready to march against and fall upon them. He, too, on Palm Sunday had gathered the Christian host in his leaguer at Clontarf, and so the two armies lay watching one another through Passion week. Brodir, skilled in sorcery, betook himself to his black arts, and from the first got little comfort either for himself or his brothers in arms. If the battle were fought before Good Friday, the heathen host would be utterly routed and lose its chiefs; but if the struggle were delayed till Good Friday, then King Brian would fall, but still win the day. On Good Friday, then, which fell in 1014 on the 18th of April, the heathen made up their minds to fight; and that nothing might be wanting to stamp the struggle with the seal of the ancient faith, Odin himself, as the legend darkly hints, rode up, as we are told in many like stories, on an applegrey horse, holding a halbert in his hand, and held a council of war with Kormlada, King Sigtrygg, and the other chiefs;-one of the last appearances of the god of battles struggling with the fate which now at last had overtaken him, and helping his own on the very eve of battle with his comfort and advice. Nor were other tokens wanting. In Iceland itself, at Swinefell, where Flosi and the burners had so long stayed, blood burst out on the priest's vestments on Good Friday; and at Thvattwater, Hall's abode, on the same day, the priest saw an abyss open hard by the altar as he sang mass, in which were strange and awful things. The Northern mind plainly long looked on Brian's battle as a blow that went home to the heart of many a household. In Caithness, and in other parts of the west, the Valkyries, Odin's corsechoosing maidens, were seen, twelve of them riding together, dismounting, entering a bower, setting up their mystic loom, and there weaving out of the entrails of men, with swords for their shuttles, that grim Woof of War, which is at once one of the last, as it is one of the grandest flights of the Scandinavian Swan-maiden, ere she wing her way for ever from the world, together with the faith to which she and that wild strain of melody belonged.'*

*Vol. i., Introd. cxciv-vi.

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