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"On that ness," said Audun, "stands a barrow, great and strong, wherein was laid Karr the Old, Thorfinn's father; at first father and son had but one farm in the island; but since Karr died he has so haunted this place that he has swept away all farmers who owned lands here, so that now Thorfinn holds the whole island; but whatsoever man Thorfinn holds his hand over, gets no scathe."
Then he went to the rope with the treasure, and lo, Audun was clean gone, so he had to get up the rope by his hands; he had tied a line to the treasure, and therewith he now haled it up. Grettir had got very stiff with his dealings with Karr, and now he went back to Thorfinn's house with the treasures, whenas all folk had set them down to table.
Thorfinn's life forms the subject of no less than twenty-six chapters of the Orkneyinga Saga.
The date of the succession of Paul and Erlend to the Norse jarldom was, as we have seen, after 1057. Possibly in 1059, or certainly not later than 1064 or 1065, Ingibjorg, Thorfinn's widow, as by Norse law widows alone had the right to do, "gave herself away" to the Scot-King Malcolm III, known as Malcolm Canmore. As a matter of policy, the marriage was a wise step.
But, while Ragnvald was in Little Papey now Papa Stronsay to fetch malt for Yuletide, Thorfinn returned, and surrounded the house in which Ragnvald was, by night; and, on his escaping by leaping through the besiegers in priestly disguise, Thorfinn's men followed him, and, led by his lapdog's barking, discovered him among the rocks by the sea, where Thorkel Fostri slew him, Thorfinn meanwhile annihilating his following, save one man.
<i>How Thorfinn met Grettir at Haramsey again</i>. After Yule Thorfinn made ready for coming home, and he let those folk go with good gifts whom he had bidden to his feast. Now he fares with his following till he comes hard by his boat-stands; they saw a ship lying on the strand, and soon knew it for Thorfinn's bark, the big one.
He, however, induced the berserkers to lay aside their arms, and when evening was come, brought them beer in abundance, and entertained them with tales and merry jests. After a while he proposed to lead them to Thorfinn's treasure house: nothing loth they followed readily; when they were all inside he managed to slip out and lock them in.
Over Thorfinn's bed there hangs the great halberd which belonged to Kar the Old; there, too, is a helmet and a corselet and a good short sword. The weapons will not fail if your heart holds firm." Grettir took the helmet and spear, girt the sword about him and went quickly out. The mistress called to her men and bade them follow their brave champion.
The two jarls met in battle in the Pentland Firth, off Rautharbiorg or Rattar Brough in Caithness, east of Dunnet Head, Kalf Arnason with his six ships standing out of the fight. Thorfinn had sixty ships, smaller, and, save Thorfinn's own, lower in the waist than those of his enemy, who thus easily boarded them, and then attacked Thorfinn.
We should also note that Thorfinn's cruelty made it difficult for him ever to hope to obtain and keep the throne of Scotland, which thus fell to Macbeth. Meantime Jarl Brusi had died about 1031, and though he left a son Ragnvald, this son was long abroad in Norway, where he was taught all the accomplishments suitable to his rank, and remained there at the time of his father's death.
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