"'Hast thou ever a good sword?'

"And Kol answered: 'Many things are in the thrall's cot, not in the
king's grange.'

"'Lend me thy sword for my duel with Bjorn,' said Gisli.

"And Kol said: 'Then this thing will happen: thou wilt never wish to
give it up. And yet I tell thee, this sword will bite whatever it
falls on, nor can its edge be deadened by spells, for it was forged
by the dwarfs, and its name is Graysteel. And make up thy mind,' he
said, 'that I will take it very ill indeed if I get not my sword
back when I ask for it.'

"So Gisli took the sword and slew Bjorn with it, and got good fame
for this feat. And time rolled on, and he gave not back the sword;
and one day Kol met him, and Gisli had Graysteel in his hand, and
Kol had an ax.

"And Kol asked if the sword had done him good service at his great
need, and Gisli was full of its praises.

"'Well, now,' said Kol, 'I should like it back.'

"'Sell it to me,' said Gisli.

"'No,' said Kol.

"'I will give thee thy freedom for it,' said Gisli.

"'I will not sell it,' said Kol.

"'I will also give thee land and sheep and cattle and goods as much
as thou wantest,' said Gisli.

"'I will not sell it a whit more for that,' said Kol.

"'Put thy own price on it in money, and I will get thee a fair wife
also,' said Gisli.

"'There is no use talking about it,' said Kol. 'I will not sell it,
whatsoever thou offerest. It has come to what I said would happen:
that thou wouldst not give me back my weapon when thou knewest what
virtue was in it.'

"'And I too will say what will happen,' said Gisli. 'Good will befall
neither of us; for I will _not_ give up the sword, and it shall
never come into any man's hand but mine, if I have my will.'

"Then Kol lifted his ax, and Gisli drew Graysteel, and they smote
at each other. Kol's blow fell on Gisli's head, so that it sank
into the brain; and Graysteel fell on Kol's head, and his skull was
shattered, and Graysteel broke asunder. Then, as Kol gave up the
ghost, he said:

"'It had been better that thou hadst given me my sword when I asked
for it, for this is only the beginning of the ill fortune I will
bring on thy kith and kin forever.'

"And so it has been. For a thousand years the tellings-up of our
family are full of troubles that this thrall's curse has brought
upon us. Few of our men have grown gray-headed; in the sea and on
the battlefield they have found their graves; and the women have had
sorrow in ma