Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Ay," replied Ketill, "a burial worthy of King Estein, and a royal feast we shall have to follow it." "Men say he means to set out on a Viking foray, and that before many days are past," said the other. "They speak truth," answered Ketill. "Many a man will he give to the wolves, and eager am I to sail with him. There never was a bolder captain than Estein."
Jorunn, "Men's Wit-breaker," was the name of yet another of Ketill's daughters. She was the mother of Ketill the Finn, who settled on land at Kirkby. His son was Asbjorn, father of Thorstein, father of Surt, the father of Sighat the Speaker-at-Law. Ketill and his Sons prepare to leave Norway
"Right glad I am to see this victory, Ketill, and gallantly you must have fought, but when has it become our custom to slay our prisoners?" "Ay," answered Helgi, "we could well have missed this part." "Know you not that the Jemtlanders slew the twenty who followed you to King Bue?" answered the black-bearded captain. "They slew them like cattle, Estein; and shall we spare the murderers now?
Yet there was something daunting in the other's pale eye, and though the Viking moved the halberd uneasily on his shoulder, his own glance shifted. With the slightest intonation of contempt, the traveller asked, "Who bids me make way?" The black-bearded man looked at him with an air of some astonishment, and then answered shortly, "They call me Ketill; but what is that to you?"
Shall we slay him now, or keep that sport till we have better light to see him die?" "I have other work on hand than drinking. Liot and I have an account to settle at daybreak." Ketill stared at him in astonishment. "You mean then in very truth to fight?" he cried. "Well, do as you wish; but it is a strange spell."
The little army came to a halt, and a poor-looking man, clad in a skin coat, and trembling violently as they dragged him along, was brought before Estein. "Spare my life, noble captain!" he pleaded, casting himself on his knees. "I am but a poor man, I beseech you." "Silence, rascal!" thundered Ketill, "or we will have your coward's tongue out by the root."
We have never had a burning before, Estein, and it is better to begin as the burners than the burned." "I have lately heard tell of another. It is no work for brave men." Helgi shrugged his shoulders. "Let us drown them then," he said. Ketill gave another short, gruff laugh. "Nay, Ketill, I am not jesting; in truth I am in little humour for that.
"Think you I would trust my sons with Norsemen? Those boys were thralls. They died for their country as I die," and his head fell back upon the snow. "Dastard!" cried Ketill, "you die indeed." He raised his sword as he spoke; but Estein caught his arm before it could descend, saying, "You cannot slay the dead, Ketill." "Has he baulked me then?" said Ketill, bending over his fallen foe.
They had been told that there was good land to be had there, and no need to pay money for it; they said there was plenty of whale and salmon and other fishing all the year round there. But Ketill said, "Into that fishing place I shall never come in my old age." So Ketill then told his mind, saying his desire was rather to go west over the sea, for there was a chance of getting a good livelihood.
Perhaps it was the allusion to the "witch" that brought Estein to his senses, for his eyes suddenly softened. "I was wrong, Ketill," he said. "The wrath of the gods is upon me, and I am not myself." He turned away abruptly, and gazed moodily into the fog; while Ketill, with the look of one who is dealing with a madman, left the poop. "It is ill sailing with a bewitched leader," he muttered.
Word Of The Day