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Updated: June 17, 2025
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.
So carry it away and scatter it in the water, or else set fire to it before your enemies can get here! 'What is the use of doing anything? answered Skarphedinn, 'for if it is written that we should be burned, our foes will find some other fuel, though I were to scatter this stack to the four winds; and he went away laughing.
'May a curse be upon you! she cried, shaking her stick over it; and Skarphedinn, who had followed after her, asked wherefore she was wroth with the pile. 'Because with the fire lighted from this pile there will be a great burning, said she. 'And Njal and his sons will be burnt, and Bergthora, my foster-child.
So Kari was left free to escape, and he put out the fire that was burning him, and rested in a safe place till he could seek shelter with his friends. Thrice Skarphedinn tried to leap after Kari, and thrice the beam broke under his weight, and he was forced to climb back again. Then part of the wall fell in, and Skarphedinn fell down with it on to the floor of the hall.
'They are all mad, cried Flosi, as he saw Njal and his sons and Kari, his son-in-law, take their place on the inside of the door. 'Surely none of them can escape us now; and the fight began with a spear which was thrown at Skarphedinn. But victory was not so near as Flosi thought. Man after man fell back wounded or dead, yet Skarphedinn and his brethren remained without a wound.
Then Njal fixed a hundred ounces of silver, and Gunnar laid it down before him. 'Hallgerda does not let our servants die of old age, said Skarphedinn, as they rode home from the Thing. Now the words came true, that Gunnar had spoken, and 'blow for blow' grew to be the rule between Hallgerda and Bergthora; but for all that there was no quarrel between Njal and Gunnar.
Then Skarphedinn went to Grim, and hand in hand they two tried to stamp out the burning beams, but before they had crossed the hall Grim dropped dead, and the roof fell in, and shut Skarphedinn in a corner, so that he could not move.
He knows best, and Skarphedinn said: 'If he wishes us to enter the hall, and all to be burnt together, I am ready to do it. I care little what death I shall die, and if the time of my doom is come, it matters nothing that we try to escape. And so saying he turned to Kari, and bade him stand by his side.
Njal's sons laughed at her warnings, and took no heed to them, but for all that they knew well that it was often the truth she told them. One day Skarphedinn was standing outside the door, and the old woman came out with a stick in her hand, and she passed silently by him, and walked up the path to where a pile of dried shrubs lay above the house.
'It had been well if two of you had died and Hauskuld had lived, said Njal after he had heard the tidings, 'for I know better than you what will be the end of this. 'And what will be the end? asked Skarphedinn. 'My death, and yours, and your mother's, answered Njal. 'Shall I die also? he asked; but Njal shook his head.
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