t began at
Thorar's house. The brothers-in-law drank together, and Thorod and the
sons of the peasants by themselves; and it was a drinking match. In the
evening words arose, and comparisons between the men of Sweden and of
Norway, and then between their kings both of former times and at the
present, and of the manslaughters and robberies that had taken place
between the countries. Then said the peasants sons, "If our king has
lost most people, his sheriffs will make it even with the lives of
twelve men when they come from the south after Yule; and ye little
know, ye silly fools, why ye are kept here." Thorod took notice of these
words, and many made jest about it, and scoffed at them and their king.
When the ale began to talk out of the hearts of the Jamtalanders, what
Thorod had before long suspected became evident. The day after Thorod
and his comrade took all their clothes and weapons, and laid them ready;
and at night, when the people were all asleep, they fled to the forest.
The next morning, when the Jamtalanders were aware of their flight, men
set out after them with dogs to trace them, and found them in a wood in
which they had concealed themselves. They brought them home to a room in
which there was a deep cellar, into which they were thrown, and the door
locked upon them. They had little meat, and only the clothes they had on
them. In the middle of Yule, Thorar, with all his freeborn men, went to
his brother's-in-law, where he was to be a guest until the last of
Yule. Thorar's slaves were to keep guard upon the cellar, and they were
provided with plenty of liquor; but as they observed no moderation in
drinking, they became towards evening confused in the head with the ale.
As they were quite drunk, those who had to bring meat to the prisoners
in the cellar said among themselves that they should want for nothing.
Thorod amused the slaves by singing to them. They said he was a clever
man, and gave him a large candle that was lighted; and the slaves
who were in went to call the others to come in; but they were all so
confused with the ale, that in going out they neither locked the cellar
nor the room after them. Now Thorod and his comrades tore up their skin
clothes in strips, knotted them together, made a noose at one end, and
threw up the rope on the floor of the room. It fastened itself around a
chest, by which they tried to haul themselves up. Thorod lifted up his
comrade until he stood on his shoulders, and f