wise and all-father Odin, and Thor who loves the thunder, I give
these horses to you. Tell me whether it is your will that we go to
Iceland."

As he said that, a raven flew over his head. Ingolf watched it.

"It is Odin's will that we go," he said. "He sent his raven[12] to tell
us. It is flying straight toward Iceland."

The men shouted with joy at that.

Now they hung some of the meat of the horses on a tree near the temple.

"For the ravens of Odin," they said.

Ingolf carried the bowl of blood into the temple. He went through the
feast hall in front to a little room at the back. Here stood wooden
statues of the gods in a semicircle. Before them was a stone altar.
Ingolf took a little brush of twigs that lay on it and dipped it into
the blood and sprinkled the statues.

"You shall taste of our sacrifice," he said. "Look kindly on us from
your happy seats in Asgard."

Then they went into the feast hall. There thralls were boiling the
horseflesh in pots over the fire. The tables were standing ready before
the benches. Ingolf walked to the high seat. All the others took their
places at the benches. When the horns came round, Ingolf made this vow:

"I vow that I will build my house wherever these pillars lead me."

He put his hand upon a tall post that stood beside the high seat. There
was one at each side. They were the front posts of the chair. But they
stood up high, almost to the roof. They were wonderfully carved and
painted with men and dragons. On the top of each one was a little
statue of Thor with his hammer.

At the end of the feast Ingolf had his thralls dig these pillars up. He
had a little bronze chest filled with the earth that was under the
altar.

"I will take the pillars of my high seat to Iceland," he said, "and I
will set up my altar there upon the soil of Norway, the soil that all my
ancestors have trod, the soil that Thor loves."

So they carried the pillars and the chest of earth and the statues of
the gods, and put them into Ingolf's boat.

"It is a well-packed ship," the men said. "There is no spot to spare."

Tools, and chests of food, and tubs of drink, and chests of clothes, and
fishing nets were stowed in the bows of both boats. In the bottom were
laid some long, heavy, hewn logs.

"The trees in Iceland are little," Ingolf said. "We must take the great
beams for our homes with us."

Standing on these logs were a few cattle and sheep and horses and pigs.
The rowers' benches