ld
turn out to his own shame and his daughter's if Cormac would not pledge
himself to take her or leave her. So he sent for Steingerd, and she went
home.

Thorkel had a man called Narfi, a noisy, foolish fellow, boastful, and
yet of little account. Said he to Thorkel, "If Cormac's coming likes
thee not, I can soon settle it."

"Very well," says Thorkel.

Now, in the autumn, Narfi's work it was to slaughter the sheep. Once,
when Cormac came to Tunga, he saw Steingerd in the kitchen. Narfi stood
by the kettle, and when they had finished the boiling, he took up a
black-pudding and thrust it under Cormac's nose, crying:--

(11)
"Cormac, how would ye relish one?
Kettle-worms I call them."

To which he answered:--

(12)
"Black-puddings boiled, quoth Ogmund's son,
Are a dainty,--fair befall them!"

And in the evening when Cormac made ready to go home he saw Narfi, and
bethought him of those churlish words. "I think, Narfi," said he, "I am
more like to knock thee down, than thou to rule my coming and going."
And with that struck him an axe-hammer-blow, saying:--

(13)
"Why foul with thy clowning and folly,
The food that is dressed for thy betters?
Thou blundering archer, what ails thee
To be aiming thy insults at me?"

And he made another song about:--

(14)
"He asked me, the clavering cowherd
If I cared for--what was it he called them?--
The worms of the kettle. I warrant
He'll be wiping his eyes by the hearth-stone.
I deem that yon knave of the dunghill
Who dabbles the muck on the meadow
--Yon rook in his mud-spattered raiment--
Got a rap for his noise--like a dog."

CHAPTER FIVE. They Waylay Cormac: And The Witch Curses Him.

There was a woman named Thorveig, and she knew a deal too much. She
lived at Steins-stadir (Stonestead) in Midfiord, and had two sons; the
elder was Odd, and the younger Gudmund. They were great braggarts both
of them.

This Odd often came to see Thorkel at Tunga, and used to sit and
talk with Steingerd. Thorkel made a great show of friendship with the
brothers, and egged them on to waylay Cormac. Odd said it was no more
than he could do.

So one day when Cormac came to Tunga, Steingerd was in the parlour and
sat on the dais. Thorveig's sons sat in the room, ready to fall upon him
when he came in; and Thorkel had