Chapter II: Biörn Asbrandson

This narrative is taken from Eyrbyggia Saga, which contains the early history of that part of Iceland lying around Snæfells, on the west coast. The Saga is not of a later date than the thirteenth century. It is given here, not because it applies largely to the question under consideration, the pre-Columbian discovery of America, but rather because it will make the reader fully acquainted with the hero, who afterwards appears.

* * * * *

Bork the Fat, and Thordis, daughter of Sur, had a daughter named Thurid, who married Thorbiörn the Fat, living on the estate of Froda. He was a son of Orne the Lean, who held and tilled the farm of Froda. Thorbiörn had before been married to Thurid, daughter of Asbrand, of Kamb, in Breidavik, and sister of Biörn Breidaviking the Athlete, soon to be mentioned in this Saga, and of Arnbiörn the Handy. The sons of Thorbiörn and Thurid, were Ketil the Champion, Gunnlaug and Hallstein.

Now this must be related of Snorre the Priest,[226] that he undertook the suit for the slaying of Thorbiörn, his kinsman. He also caused his sister to remove to his own home, at Helgefell, because it was reported that Biörn Asbrand, of Kamb, had come to pay her improper attention.

There was a man named Thorodd, of Medalfells Strand, an upright man and a good merchant. He owned a trading vessel in which he sailed to distant lands. Thorodd had sailed to the west,[227] to Dublin, on a trading voyage. At that time, Sigurd[228] Hlodverson, Earl of the Orkneys, had made an expedition towards the west, to the Hebrides and the Man, and had laid a tribute upon the habitable part of Man. Having settled the peace, he left men to collect the tribute; the earl himself returned to the Orkneys. Those who were left to collect the tribute, got all ready and set sail with a southwest wind. But after they had sailed some time, to the southeast and east, a great storm arose, which drove them to the northward as far as Ireland, and their vessel was cast away on a barren, uninhabited island. Just as they reached the island, Thorodd the Icelander came sailing by from Dublin. The shipwrecked men begged for aid. Thorodd put out a boat and went to them himself. When he reached them, the agents of Sigurd promised him money if he would carry them to their home in the Orkneys. When he told them that he could by no means do so, as he had made all ready to go back to Iceland, they begged the harder, believing that neither their money nor their liberty would be safe in Ireland or the Hebrides, whither they had just before been with a hostile army. At length Thorodd came to this, that he would sell them his ship's long-boat for a large sum of the tribute money; in this they reached the Orkneys, and Thorodd sailed to Iceland without a boat. Having reached the southern shores of the island, he laid his course along the coast to the westward, and entered Breidafiord, and came to the harbor at Dögurdarness. The same autumn he went to Helgefell to spend the winter with Snorre the Priest; and from that time he was called Thorodd the Tribute Taker. This took place just after the murder of Thorbiörn the Fat. During the same winter, Thurid, the sister of Snorre the Priest, who had been the wife of Thorbiörn the Fat, was at Helgefell. Thorodd made proposals of marriage to Snorre the Priest, with respect to Thurid. Being rich, and known by Snorre to be of good repute, and that he would be useful in supporting his administration of affairs, he consented. Therefore their marriage was celebrated during this winter, at Snorre's house, at Helgefell. In the following spring, Thorodd set himself up at Froda, and was thought an upright man. But when Thurid went to Froda, Biörn Asbrandson often paid her visits, and it was commonly reported that he had corrupted her chastity. Thorodd vainly tried to put an end to these visits. At that time Thorodd Wooden Clog lived at Arnahval. His sons, Ord and Val were men grown and youths of the greatest promise. The men blamed Thorodd for allowing himself to be insulted so greatly by Biörn, and offered him their aid, if desired, to end his coming. It chanced one time when Biörn came to Froda, that he sat with Thurid talking. It was Thorodd's custom when Biörn was there to sit in the house. But he was now nowhere to be seen. Then Thurid said, "Take care, Biörn, for I fear Thorodd means to put a stop to your visits here; I think he has secured the road, and means to attack you, and overpower you with unequal numbers." Biörn replied, "That is possible," and then sang these verses:

O Goddess[229] whom bracelet adorns,
This day (I linger
In my beloved's arms)
Stay longest in the heavens,
As we both must wish;
For I this night am drawn
To drink myself the parentals[230]
Of my oft-departing joys.

Having done this, Biörn took his weapons, and went to return home. As he went up the hill Digramula, five men jumped out upon him from their hiding place. These were Thorodd and two of his men, and the sons of Thoror Wooden Clog. They attacked Biörn, but he defended himself bravely and well. The sons of Thoror pressed him sharply, but he slew them both. Thorodd then fled with his men, though he himself had only a slight wound, and the others not any. Biörn went on until he reached home, and entered the house. The lady of the house[231] ordered a maid to place food before him. When the maid came into the room with the light, and saw Biörn wounded, she went and told Asbrand his father, that Biörn had returned, covered with blood. Asbrand came into the room, and inquired what was the cause of his wounds. He said, "Have you and Thorodd had a fight!" Biörn replied that it was so. Asbrand asked how the affair ended. Biörn replied with these verses:

Not so easy against a brave man
It is to fight;
(Wooden Clog's two sons
Now I have slain).
As for the ship's commander,
A woman to embrace,
Or for the cowardly,
A golden tribute to buy.[232]

Asbrand bound up his son's wounds, and his strength was soon restored. Thorodd went to Snorre the Priest, to talk with him about setting a suit on foot against Biörn, on account of the killing of Thoror's sons. This suit was laid in the court of Thorsnesthing. It was settled that Asbrand, who became surety for his son, should pay the usual fines. Biörn was exiled for three years,[233] and went abroad the same summer. During that summer, a son was born to Thurid, who was called Kiarten. He grew up at home, in Froda, and early gave great hope and promise.

When Biörn crossed the sea he came into Denmark, and went thence to Jomsberg. At that time, Palnatoki was captain of the Jomsberg[234] Vikings. Biörn was admitted into the crew, and won the name of the Athlete. He was at Jomsberg when Styrbiörn the Hardy, assaulted it. He went into Sweden, when the Jomsberg Vikings aided Styrbiörn;[235] he was in the battle of Tynsvall, in which Styrbiörn was killed, and escaped with the other Joms-vikings in the woods. While Palnatoki lived, Biörn remained with him, distinguished among all, as a man of remarkable courage.

The same summer [A. D. 996.] the brothers, Biörn and Arnbiörn returned into Iceland to Rönhavnsos. Biörn was always afterwards called the Athlete of Breidavik. Arnbiörn, who had gotten much wealth abroad, bought the Bakka estate in Raunhavn, the same summer. He lived there with little show or ostentation, and in most affairs was silent, but was, nevertheless, a man active in all things. Biörn, his brother, after his return from abroad, lived in splendor and elegance, for during his absence, he had truly adopted the manners of courtiers. He much excelled Arnbiörn in personal appearance, and was none the less active in execution. He was far more expert than his brother in martial exercises, having improved much abroad. The same summer after his return, there was a general meeting near Headbrink,[236] within the bay of Froda. All the merchants rode thither, clothed in colored garments, and there was a great assembly. Housewife Thurid, of Froda, was there, with whom Biörn began to talk; no one censuring, because they expected their conversation would be long, as they had not seen each other for a great while. On the same day there was a fight, and one of the Nordenfield men was mortally wounded, and was carried down under a bush on the beach; so much blood flowed out of the wound, that there was a large pool of blood in the bush. The boy Kiarten, Thurid of Froda's son, was there; he had a little axe in his hand, and ran to the bush and dipped the axe in the blood. When the Sondensfield's men rode from the beach south, Thord Blig asked Biörn how the conversation between him and Thurid of Froda, ended. Biörn said that he was well satisfied. Then Thord asked if he had seen the boy Kiarten, their and Thorodd's son. "I saw him," said Biörn: "What is your opinion of him?" asked Thord. Biörn answered with the following song:

"I saw a boy run
With fearful eyes,
The woman's image, to
The wolf's well[237] in the wood;
People will say,
That his true father [was]
He that ploughed the sea,
This the boy does not know."

Thord said: "What will Thorodd say when he hears that the boy belongs to you?" Then Biörn sung:

"Then will the noble born woman [make]
Thorodd's suspicion
Come true, when she gives me
The same kind of sons;
Always the slender,
Snow-white woman loved me,
I still to her
Am a lover."

Thord said, it will he best for you not to have anything to do with each other, and that you turn your thoughts. "It is certainly a good idea," said Biörn, "but it is far from my intention; though there is some difference when I have to do with such men as her brother Snorre." "You must take care of your own business," said Thord, and that ended their talk. Biörn afterwards went home to Kamb, and took the affairs of the family into his own hands, for his father was now dead. The following winter he determined to make a journey over the hills, to Thurid. Although Thorodd disliked this, he nevertheless saw that it was not easy to prevent its occurrence, since before he was defeated by him, and Biörn was much stronger, and more skilled in arms than before. Therefore he bribed Thorgrim Galdrakin to raise a snow storm against Biörn when he crossed the hills. When a day came, Biörn made a journey to Froda. When he proposed to return home, the sky was dark and the snow storm began. When he ascended the hills, the cold became intense, and the snow fell so thickly that he could not see his way. Soon the strength of the storm increased so much that he could hardly walk. His clothes, already wet through, froze around his body, and he wandered, he did not know where. In the course of the night he reached a cave, and in this cold house he passed the night. Then Biörn sung:

"Woman that bringest
Vestments,[238] would
Not like my
Dwelling in such a storm
If she knew that
He who before steered ships,
Now in the rock cave
Lay stiff and cold."

Again he sang:

"The cold field of the swans,
From the east with loaded ship I ploughed,
Because the woman inspired me with love;
I know that I have great trouble suffered,
And now, for a time, the hero is,
Not in a woman's bed, but in a cave."

Biörn stayed three days in the cave, before the storm subsided; and on the fourth day he came home from the mountain to Kamb. He was very weary. The domestic asked him where he was during the storm. Biörn sung:

"My deeds under
Styrbiörn's proud banner are known.
It came about that steel-clad Eric
Slew men in battle;
Now I on the wide heath,
Lost my way [and],
Could not in the witch-strong
Storm, find the road."[239]

Biörn passed the rest of the winter at home; the following spring his brother Arnbiörn fixed his abode in Bakka, in Raunhafn, but Biörn lived at Kamb, and had a grand house....

This same summer, Thorodd the Tribute Taker invited Snorre the Priest, his kinsman, to a feast at his house in Froda. Snorre went there with twenty men. In the course of the feast, Thorodd told Snorre how much he was hurt and disgraced by the visits of Biörn Asbrandson, to Thurid, his wife, Snorre's sister, saying that it was right for Snorre to do away with this scandal. Snorre after passing some days feasting with Thorodd went home with many presents. Then Snorre the Priest rode over the hills and spread the report that he was going down to his ship in the bay of Raunhafn. This happened in summer, in the time of haymaking. When he had gone as far south as the Kambian hills, Snorre said: "Now let us ride back from the hills to Kamb; let it be known to you," he added, "what I wish to do. I have resolved to attack and destroy Biörn. But I am not willing to attack and destroy him in his house, for it is a strong one, and Biörn is stout and active, while our number is small. Even those who with greater numbers, have attacked brave men in their houses, have fared badly; an example of which you know in the case of Gissur the White; who, when with eighty men, they attacked Gunnar[240] of Lithend, alone in his house, many were wounded and many were killed, and they would have been compelled to give up the attack, if Geir the Priest had not learned that Gunnar was short of arrows. Therefore," said he, "as we may expect to find Biörn out of doors, it being the time of haymaking, I appoint you my kinsman, Mar, to give him the first wound; but I would have you know this, that there is no room for child's play, and you must expect a contest with a hungry wolf, unless your first wound shall be his death blow." As they rode from the hills towards his homestead, they saw Biörn in the fields; he was making a sledge,[241] and no one was near him. He had no weapon but a small axe, and a large knife in his hand of a span's length, which he used to round the holes in the sledge. Biörn saw Snorre riding down from the hills, and recognized them. Snorre the Priest had on a blue cloak, and rode first. The idea suddenly occurred to Biörn, that he ought to take his knife and go as fast as he could to meet them, and as soon as he reached them, lay hold of the sleeve of Snorre with one hand, and hold the knife in the other, so that he might be able to pierce Snorre to the heart, if he saw that his own safety required it. Going to meet them, Biörn gave them hail; and Snorre returned the salute. The hands of Mar fell, for he saw that if he attacked Biörn, the latter would at once kill Snorre. Then Biörn walked along with Snorre and his comrades, asked what was the news, keeping his hands as at first. Then he said: "I will not try to conceal, neighbor Snorre, that my present attitude and look seem threatening to you, which might appear wrong, but for that I have understood that your coming is hostile. Now I desire that if you have any business to transact with me, you will take another course than the one you intended, and that you will transact it openly. If none, I will that you make peace, which when done, I will return to my work, as I do not wish to be led about like a fool." Snorre replied: "Our meeting has so turned out that we shall at this time part in the same peace as before; but I desire to get a pledge from you, that from this time you will leave off visiting Thurid, because if you go on in this, there can never be any real friendship between us." Biörn replied: "This I will promise, and will keep it; but I do not know how I shall be able to keep it, so long as Thurid and I live in the same land." "There is nothing so great binding you here," said Snorre, "as to keep you from going to some other land." "What you now say is true," replied Biörn, "and so let it be, and let our meeting end with this pledge, that neither you nor Thorodd shall have any trouble from my visits to Thurid, in the next year." With this they parted. Snorre the Priest rode down to his ship, and then went home to Helgefell. The day after, Biörn rode south to Raunhafn, and engaged his passage in a ship for the same summer. [A. D. 999.] When all was ready they set sail with a northeast wind which blew during the greater part of that summer. Nothing was heard of the fate of the ship for a very long time.[242]