hs, and gave out
that he would not ride to the Althing, but Unna his wife said little
about it. So Hrut went away west to the Firths.

CHAPTER VII.

UNNA SEPARATES FROM HRUT.

Now the time for the Thing was coming on, Unna spoke to Sigmund Auzur's
son, and asked if he would ride to the Thing with her; he said he could
not ride if his kinsman Hrut set his face against it.

"Well!" says she, "I spoke to thee because I have better right to ask
this from thee than from any one else."

He answered, "I will make a bargain with thee: thou must promise to ride
back west with me, and to have no underhand dealings against Hrut or
myself".

So she promised that, and then they rode to the Thing. Her father Mord
was at the Thing, and was very glad to see her, and asked her to stay in
his booth white the Thing lasted, and she did so.

"Now," said Mord, "what hast thou to tell me of thy mate, Hrut?"

Then she sung him a song, in which she praised Hrut's liberality, but
said he was not master of himself. She herself was ashamed to speak out.

Mord was silent a short time, and then said--

"Thou hast now that on thy mind I see, daughter, which thou dost not
wish that any one should know save myself, and thou wilt trust to me
rather than any one else to help thee out of thy trouble."

Then they went aside to talk, to a place where none could overhear what
they said; and then Mord said to his daughter--

"Now tell me all that is between you two, and don't make more of the
matter than it is worth."

"So it shall be," she answered, and sang two songs, in which she
revealed the cause of their misunderstanding; and when Mord pressed her
to speak out, she told him how she and Hrut could not live together,
because he was spell-bound, and that she wished to leave him.

"Thou didst right to tell me all this," said Mord, "and now I will give
thee a piece of advice, which will stand thee in good stead, if thou
canst carry it out to the letter. First of all, thou must ride home from
the Thing, and by that time thy husband will have come back, and will be
glad to see thee; thou must he blithe and buxom to him, and he will
think a good change has come over thee, and thou must show no signs of
coldness or ill-temper, but when spring comes thou must sham sickness,
and take to thy bed. Hrut will not lose time in guessing what thy
sickness can be, nor will he scold thee at all, but he will rather beg
every one to take all the care