Sagas of Iceland · Part 10 · Njáls saga II · C1
The Burning of Njál
Part 10 of the Sagas of Iceland: the second half of Njáls saga. Njál’s sons kill an innocent man; the greatest court case in Iceland’s history nearly ends in peace, until a single gift and a single insult destroy it; and a hundred men burn Njál’s house with his family inside. Njál and his wife Bergthora choose to stay together. Reported speech and reporting verbs (offered, refused, insisted, warned), and the language of law and settlement, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria. The story includes the death of a family in a fire, told briefly and with care.
Last time, Gunnar died on his hillside. Tonight we follow his friend Njál, the wisest man in Iceland, a man who believed that the law could stop any feud. “With law shall our land be built,” he said, “and with lawlessness laid waste.”
Then this will be hard for you, Philo. Because the law nearly worked, and a careless gift and a cruel joke ruined everything. Tonight we report what people said and offered and refused, and how words, in the end, lit the fire.
Njál’s sons, led by the fierce Skarphédin, are tricked by a jealous man, Mörd, into believing that Njál’s foster-son Höskuld, a good and gentle man, is plotting against them. They kill him while he is sowing his field. Höskuld’s wife’s uncle, the chieftain Flosi, is bound to seek revenge, and the case goes to the Althing. It becomes the greatest legal battle in Icelandic history.
The judges propose a settlement: the largest compensation ever paid, a huge pile of silver. It is nearly agreed. But Njál, wanting to honour Flosi, adds a fine silk cloak and boots to the pile. Flosi asks who gave the cloak; Skarphédin answers with an insult so shameful that Flosi kicks the silver away and refuses the settlement. The peace collapses.
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