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Go, children, and put up the sheep." "But I have not got the sheep either," said Gudbrand. "I went on a while, and then I exchanged it for a goose." "You shall have thanks for that," said the wife, "many thanks! What would we have done with a sheep? I have no spinning-wheel nor distaff, and I should not care to bother about making clothes. We can buy clothes, as we have always done.
Run out, child, and put up the goat." "Nay, but I haven't the goat either," said Gudbrand, "for a little farther on I traded it away and got a fine sheep instead!" "You don't say so!" cried his wife, "why, you do everything to please me, just as if I had been with you. What do we want with a goat? If I had it I should lose half my time in climbing up the hills to get it down.
'Ah! said Gudbrand, 'but I haven't the goose either; for when I had gone a bit farther I swopped it away for a cock. 'Dear me! cried his wife, 'how you think of everything! just as I should have done myself. A cock! think of that! why it's as good as an eight-day clock, for every morning the cock crows at four o'clock, and we shall be able to stir our stumps in good time.
After that he went on home till he reached his nearest neighbour's house, where he turned in. 'Well', said the owner of the house, 'how did things go with you in town? 'Rather so so', said Gudbrand, 'I can't praise my luck, nor do I blame it either', and with that he told the whole story from first to last.
So the wife asked how things had gone with him in town? 'Oh! only so so', answered Gudbrand; 'not much to brag of. When I got to the town there was no one who would buy the cow, so you must know I swopped it away for a horse. 'For a horse', said his wife; 'well that is good of you; thanks with all my heart.
In the following night Gudbrand dreamed a dream. A man came to him, a shining one, from whom went forth great terror. And thus he spake: 'Thy son went not on a path of victory against King Olaf; and far worse wilt thou fare if thou resolvest to do battle with the King, for thou wilt fall, thyself and all thy people, and thee and thine will wolves tug and ravens rend.
Then Gudbrand opened the door and said; 'Well, what do you say now? Have I won the hundred dollars? and his neighbour was forced to allow that he had. Once on a time there was an old beggar-woman, who had gone out to beg. She had a little lad with her, and when she had got her bag full, she struck across the hills towards her own home.
There was a man named Onund, the son of Ofeig Clumsyfoot, who was the son of Ivar Horsetail. Onund was the brother of Gudbjorg, the mother of Gudbrand Knob, the father of Asta, the mother of King Olaf the Saint. His mother came from the Upplands, while his father's relations were mostly in Rogaland and Hordland. He was a great viking and used to harry away in the West over the sea.
Thorgeir was the name of a son of Snorri, Karlsefni's son; he was father of Yngvild, the mother of the first Bishop Brand. And here ends this story. Gudbrand Vigfusson's Icelandic Prose Reader. The passages in square brackets are taken from the Hauks-bok version given in Antiquitates Americanæ.
The general view of human nature is good and kindly. The happiness of married life was never more prettily told than in 'Gudbrand on the Hillside', No. xxi, where the tenderness of the wife for her husband weighs down all other considerations; and we all agree with M. Moe that it would be well if there were many wives like Gudbrand's.
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