that one of the two foremost was the sister
whom he had that day seen buried at Greenlaw! On looking further he
saw many relations and friends long before dead; but when the two last
horses came up to him he saw that one was mounted by a dark man whose
face he had never seen before. He led the other horse, which, though
saddled and bridled, was riderless, and on this horse the whole
company wanted to compel Keane to get. He struggled violently, he
said, for some time, and at last got off by promising that one of his
family should go instead of him.

"There still lives at Longformacus his remaining son Robert; he has
the same horror of the Foul Fords that his brother had, and will not
speak, nor allow any one to speak to him on the subject.

"Three or four years ago a herd of the name of Burton was found dead
within a short distance of the spot, without any apparent cause for
his death." {272}

CHAPTER XIII
The Marvels at Froda

The following tale has all the direct simplicity and truth to human
nature which mark the ancient literature of Iceland. Defoe might have
envied the profusion of detail; "The large chest with a lock, and the
small box," and so on. Some of the minor portents, such as the
disturbances among inanimate objects, and the appearance of a glow of
mysterious light, "the Fate Moon," recur in modern tales of haunted
houses. The combination of Christian exorcism, then a novelty in
Iceland, with legal proceedings against the ghosts, is especially
characteristic.

THE MARVELS AT FRODA {273}

During that summer in which Christianity was adopted by law in Iceland
(1000 A.D.), it happened that a ship came to land at Snowfell Ness.
It was a Dublin vessel, manned by Irish and Hebrideans, with few
Norsemen on board. They lay there for a long time during the summer,
waiting for a favourable wind to sail into the firth, and many people
from the Ness went down to trade with them. There was on board a
Hebridean woman named Thorgunna, of whom her shipmates said that she
owned some costly things, the like of which would be difficult to find
in Iceland. When Thurid, the housewife at Froda, heard of this she
was very curious to see the articles, for she was a woman that was
fond of show and finery. She went to the ship and asked Thorgunna
whether she had any woman's apparel that was finer than the common.
Thorgunna said that she had nothing of the kind to sell, but had some
good things of her o