1>S( ; HOUSES WAGGONS. 



son of Hviting, also white, was in Thorarinsdal ; but the mares 

 (with him) were black. Bjorn had the stud-horses led to 

 Thorstein, and said lie wished to give them to him. Thorstein 

 said he would not take them ; " for I am not yet worthy of 

 gifts from thee, and if I reward thee not for this entertainment 

 which I have now received from thee then I shall probably not 

 reward thee for further benefits, but, if I reward the entertain- 

 ment as well as thou deservest, then I will receive the horse, 

 and see that thou gettest something in return " (Bjorn Hitdaela 

 kappi's tSaga, p. 55). 



An Icelander, Odd Ufeigsson, had traded with the Finns, 

 which no man was allowed to do without the king's leave. 

 Thorstein, one of Harald Hardradi's hirdmen, saved him from 

 Harald, who wanted to slay him, and Odd escaped to Iceland. 

 On one occasion, when Harek, Thorstein's kinsman came to 

 Iceland. 



" Odd sent with him to Norway a good stud of horses as a 

 gift to Thorstein, and said, as was true, that Thorstein had 

 saved the lives of him and his crew. Harek came to Norway 

 to his kinsman Thorstein, who was still with the king. He 

 brought him the horses and said they were sent to him by Odd. 

 Thorstein said: 'This is very unfortunate for me as but for 

 this the help that I gave Odd and his men would not have 

 been known ; now I cannot hide it, and it is somewhat difficult 

 to escape.' Thorstein showed the horses to the king, and said, 

 ' they were a gift sent by Odd.' The king answered : ' [ was 



/ C* *< o 



not worthy of gifts from Odd ; he has sent them to thee and 

 not to me' " l (Fornmanna Sogur, vi. 383-384). 



The magnificence with which the harness used by these 

 people was ornamented is shown by their horse-collars, several 

 of which, made of wood and richly decorated, are now in the 



/ 



Museum of Northern Antiquities in Copenhagen. The fact 

 that such collars have always been found in pairs shows that 

 two horses were generally harnessed to the waggons used ; the 

 pair is always similar, and the ornamentation at the ends, 

 often of bronze gilt, or silver, or gold, generally consists 

 of animals' heads such as are so commonly represented on 

 fibuhe. At the top of the collars is a hole, through which the 



1 Cf. also Finnboga Saga, c. 23 ; Gunulaug Ormstunga's Saga, e. 5. 



