HO W SLA VES OUT. 1 IM-D FREEDOM. 51 1 



made any objection thereto, was, according to law, a free man, 

 even if no freedom-ale or formal liberation had taken 



"If a thrall goes about like a free man for 20 winters or 

 more and no one hurts him or his bargains or his marriage 

 out of the fylki or in the fylki, then he is free if he wants to 

 be called free " (Gulath., 01). 



In order to replenish the waste of war, we find that thralls 

 were allowed to follow their masters on expeditions, and that 

 they could win their liberty by bravery. 



" If they meet a host and fight, and a thrall slays a man, 

 then he is free, though he was a thrall before " (Gu lathing's 

 Law, 312). 



" A boncli is not allowed to send his paid servant into a levy 

 instead of himself, unless the steersman (of the ship) consents 

 to it ; for, if a servant comes from the harbour for the bondi, he 

 shall redeem himself from flogging. If a thrall comes in 

 a levy instead of his master, the king may take him if he 

 wants to, or pronounce him free in relation to every man ' 

 (Jutland Law, iii. 2). 



Sometimes thralls were rewarded by their masters for meri- 

 torious actions. Vebjorn and his brothers went to Iceland, but 

 in a heavy storm their ship was wrecked on some rocks, and 

 they got ashore. 



" There they were entertained during the winter by Atli, 

 Geirmund Heljarskinn's thrall. When his master got the 

 news of this, he asked why he had taken care of Yebjorn and 

 his companions. The thrall replied: 'I wanted to show thus 

 what a great and splendid chief the man was who owned a 

 thrall that dared to undertake such things.' Geirmund 

 thanked him for his deed, 'and as a reward gave him his 

 liberty, and land to settle on " (Sturlunga, Part i., ch. 3). 



" Every man who is free and able shall own shield, spear. 

 and cutting weapons. Only in cases of extreme necessity, 

 where a general rising of the people takes place, the thrall 

 goes out armed like the free men " (Gulathing's Law, ch. 312). 



Any one who captured a runaway slave and brought him 

 back to his master could ask a reward according to the 

 distance at which the slave was found or captured. 



" If a man's thrall runs away and another gets hold of him 



