CHAPTER XIV. OF MATTERS AT THE ALTHING.

SO weareth the time on till men ride to the Thing, and there is much arraying of men in the countryside, and either company rides wondrous many.

But when Thord Gellir and his men come to Gunnarstead, then is Herstein sick, and may not fere to the Thing ; so he hands his cases over to Others : thirty men abode behind with him ; but Thord rides to the Thing. He gathereth to him kinsfolk and friends, and cometh to the Thing betimes, which in those days was held under Annansfell, and as the companies come in Thord has a great gathering.

Now is Odd-a-Tbngue seen coming. Thord ndeth to meet him, and would not that he should

156 The Saga Library.

get him the peace of the hallowed Thing. Odd is riding with three hundred men. So Thord and his folk guard the Thingstead, and men fall to fight straightway, and very many are hurt.

There fell six of Odd's men, for Thord had many more than he. Now worthy men see that great troubles will come of it if the whole Thing gets to fighting, and late will it be amended ; so they go betwixt them and part them, and turn the case to a peaceful awarding ; for Odd was overborne by numbers and had to give way ; yea, both because he was deemed to have the heavier case to back, and because he had the weaker force.

So it was proclaimed that Odd was to pitch his tents away from the peace of the Thing, and to go to the courts, and about his errands, and to fare with meek demeanour, showing no stiff-neckedness, neither he nor his men.

Then men sit over the cases, and seek how they may appease them, and it went heavily with Odd, mostly, indeed, because there was over-mastery against him.