Chapter LII: Kali Goes Into Dolls Cave

ONE summer Kali went to Thrándheim; he was detained by weather in an island called Dolls, and there was a cave called Dollshellir. It was said that money was hidden there. The merchants went into the cave, and found it very difficult to penetrate into it. They came to a sheet of water stretching across the cave, and no one dared to cross it except Kali, and one of Sölmund’s domestics called Hávard. They swam across the lake, having a rope between them. Kali also carried firewood and fire-making gear between his shoulders. They came to the opposite shore, which was rugged and stony; the smell also was there very bad, so that they could hardly make a light. Kali said they should not go any farther, and piled up stones as a monument. Then Kali sang a song:

Here I raise a mighty stone-pile,
In remembrance of our daring,
In this Dolls cave, dark and gloomy,
Where we sought the goblins’ treasure.
Yet I know not how the captain
Of the ocean’s gliding snow-skates
May re-cross the dismal water:
Long and dreary is the journey.

Then they returned, and came safe to their men, and it is not mentioned that anything else happened during their journey. When they came to Biörgvin, Kali went to the same inn, to Dame Unn. Jón Pétrsson was there, and one of his domestics, by name Brynjúlf. Many other men were also there, although their names are not mentioned here.