fact the law of debtor and creditor, and of borrowing money at usance,
was well understood in Iceland, from the very first day that the
Northmen set foot on its shores.

If we examine the condition of the sexes in this state of society, we
shall find that men and women met very nearly on equal terms. If any
woman is shocked to read how Thrain Sigfus' son treated his wife, in
parting from her, and marrying a new one, at a moment's warning, she
must be told that Gudruna, in Laxdaela, threatened one of her three
husbands with much the same treatment, and would have put her threat
into execution if he had not behaved as she commanded him. In our Saga,
too, the gudewife of Bjorn the boaster threatens him with a separation
if he does not stand faithfully by Kari; and in another Saga of equal
age and truthfulness, we hear of one great lady who parted from her
husband, because, in playfully throwing a pillow of down at her, he
unwittingly struck her with his finger. In point of fact, the customary
law allowed great latitude to separations, at the will of either party,
if good reason could be shown for the desired change. It thought that
the worst service it could render to those whom it was intended to
protect would be to force two people to live together against their
will, or even against the will of only one of them, if that person
considered him or herself, as the case might be, ill-treated or
neglected. Gunnar no doubt could have separated himself from Hallgerda
for her thieving, just as Hallgerda could have parted from Gunnar for
giving her that slap in the face; but they lived on, to Gunnar's cost
and Hallgerda's infamy. In marriage contracts the rights of brides, like
Unna the great heiress of the south-west, or Hallgerda the flower of the
western dales, were amply provided for. In the latter case it was a
curious fact that this wicked woman retained possession of Laugarness,
near Reykjavik, which was part of her second husband Glum's property, to
her dying day, and there, according to constant tradition, she was
buried in a cairn which is still shown at the present time, and which is
said to be always green, summer and winter alike. Where marriages were
so much matter of barter and bargain, the father's will went for so much
and that of the children for so little, love matches were comparatively
rare; and if the songs of Gunnlaugr snaketongue and Kormak have
described the charms of their fair ones, and the warmth of th