Free Njal's Saga by Anonymous Page A

your confidence? Don’t you find it good out there in the west?’
    She answered, ‘I would give everything I own never to have gone there.’
    Mord said, ‘I’ll soon get to the bottom of this.’
    He sent a man to fetch Hoskuld and Hrut, and they came at once. When they came into Mord’s presence, he rose and greeted them warmly and asked them to sit down. They spoke at length and it went well.
    Then Mord said to Hrut, ‘Why does my daughter find it so bad out there in the west?’
    Hrut said, ‘Let her speak, if she has any charges to bring against me.’
    But no charges were brought. Hrut then had his neighbours and his household questioned as to how he treated her. They gave him a good report and said that she had sole authority over as much as she wanted.
    Mord said, ‘Go home and be content with your lot, for all the evidence favours him rather than you.’
    Then Hrut rode home from the Thing, together with his wife, and things went well between them that summer. But when winter came the difficulty returned, and it became worse as spring drew on. Hrut had to make another trip to the West Fjords and declared that he would not be riding to the Althing. His wife Unn had nothing to say about this. Hrut set off as soon as he was ready.

7
    The time for the Thing came near. Unn spoke with Sigmund Ozurarson 1 and asked if he would ride to the Thing with her. He said he would not, if it displeased his kinsman Hrut.
    â€˜I appealed to you because I thought that you, of all people, owed me a favour,’ she said.
    He answered, ‘I’ll make this condition, that you ride back again with me and have no hidden plot against Hrut or me.’
    She promised this, and they rode to the Thing.
    Mord, her father, was there. He welcomed her and asked her to stay in his booth during the Thing, and she did so.
    Mord spoke: ‘What have you to tell me about your partner Hrut?’
    She answered, ‘I can say only good things about him in the matters over which he has control’
    Mord took this silently.
    â€˜What’s bothering you, daughter?’ he said. ‘I can see that you don’t want anybody to know about this but me, and you can count on me as the best one to solve the problem.’
    They went off to where no one could hear what they said.
    Then Mord spoke to his daughter: ‘Now tell me everything that’s going on between you, however big it may seem in your eyes.’
    â€˜All right then,’ she said. ‘I want to divorce Hrut, and I can tell you what my main charge against him is – he is not able to have sexualintercourse in a way that gives me pleasure, though otherwise his nature is that of the manliest of men.’
    â€˜How can that be?’ said Mord. ‘Give me more details.’
    She answered, ‘When he comes close to me his penis is so large that he can’t have any satisfaction from me, and yet we’ve both tried every possible way to enjoy each other, but nothing works. By the time we part, however, he shows that he’s just like other men.’
    Mord spoke: ‘You’ve done well to tell me this. Now I have a plan which will serve you well, as long as you follow it carefully and don’t deviate from it. First you must ride home from the Thing – your husband will have returned and will welcome you. Be pleasant and compliant, and he will think that there’s been a change for the better. Don’t show any sign of coldness. When spring comes you must pretend to be sick and stay in bed. Hrut will not try to get at the cause of your sickness and he will not find any fault with you – in fact he will ask everybody to do their best in caring for you. Then he will go to the West Fjords, together with Sigmund, to bring back all his holdings from there, and he will be away for much of the summer. When people ride to the Thing, and when all those from Dalir who plan to go have set off,