United States or Taiwan ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Again, symbolic visions, especially of blood-dripping walls, are so common in the Icelandic sagas that the reader need only be referred to the prodigies before the burning of Njal, in the Saga of Burnt Njal. Second sight was as popular a belief among the Vikings as among the Highlanders who retain a large share of their blood.
But first sundry of Njal's friends came to see him and offered to stand by him, and to set up their tents beside his, and among them were Gizur the white and Asgrim. And at the Thing an award was made, but was made void by a quarrel between Flosi, the friend of Hauskuld the slain, and Skarphedinn, and Njal and his sons returned home, and Njal's heart was heavy.
'Will you suffer my sons to atone? asked Njal once more, 'or let them leave the house? but Flosi said: 'The women and children and thralls may go out, but, as for your sons, the time for atonement is past, and I will not leave this spot as long as one of them remains alive.
They came to his tent, and he greeted them, and then Njal said that Bergthora his wife had done great wrong in breaking the atonement, and that Gunnar must now fix the award for Kol.
'I am weary, said Njal to his wife, 'let us lay down on our bed and rest; and Bergthora bowed her head, and spoke to the boy Thord, the son of Kari: 'Come to the door with me and go forth with your kinsmen. I will not have you stay here to burn. But the boy shook off the hand she had laid on his shoulder.
Othello, Lear, Njal, Grettir, Clarissa Harlowe, the Maid of Orleans, Antigone, Prometheus, and, as I hope to show, Tristan and Isolde, these are but a few among those who must perish from no fault in themselves, but because they are too noble for their surroundings. "The greater the man, the greater his love." We should not set the genius on a pedestal to be first gaped at and then ridiculed.
The wild and often other- worldly air of much of his work is doubtless due to his wild and other- worldly mind, but owes a considerable if uncertain debt to his reading of ballads and legends, which give a little to the substance of his work and far more to the tone of it. Among other things translated at this time he mentions the "Saga of Burnt Njal." He was not happy in London.
'No, truly, answered Njal; 'stay you at home or bad will come of it. And Gunnar! What evil was likely to befall him, who wished to live at peace with everyone? But Njal only shook his head and said slowly: 'I remain in my own house, and if I had my way you should do so also. But Gunnar would not listen, and rode straight off to the Thing.
Now the children of Njal were all tall, but Helgi was tallest of all, except his brother Skarphedinn. And Flosi marked him, and said to his men: 'I like not the height of the woman who went yonder, nor the breadth of her shoulders. Seize her and hold her fast. As soon as Helgi heard that he threw his cloak aside and thrust at a man with his sword, and cut off his leg.
'You have plenty of other men whom you can better trust on such business, replied the man, as if he repented of his bargain; but Bergthora only told him that she expected her servants to do as they were bid, and sent the man to put his horse in the stable. During that summer another Thing was held and Njal and his sons went to it, and likewise Gunnar.
Word Of The Day