POSITION OF A SLAVE. 513 



but it will be hard for me to bow before Selthorir, who is 

 thrall-born in all his kindred, 1 though he is now your drman 

 (tax-gatherer) " 2 (St. Olaf's, c. 122). 



The chief Thorolf Skjalg was a great friend of the wife of 

 the bondi Lodin. Lodin was slain at night, it was not known 

 by whom, and Thorolf took the widow home. 



"He wanted to make the sons of Lodin thralls, and suc- 

 ceeded in making a thrall of Rognvald, but not of Ulf, who was 

 sold as a thrall into far-off countries. . . . Thorolf had 

 Rognvald among his thralls, and when he was grown up he 

 placed him over other thralls to command them and keep 

 them at work" (Fornmanna Sogur, c. 145). 



If any harm was done to thralls, the master took payment 

 in the same manner as he did for harm done to his cattle, 

 horse, &c. In two cases only did the thrall himself take 

 payment when offended by another thrall, or when at the 

 Thing, church, or feast with his master ; in the first case taking 

 all the payment, in the last one-twelfth. 



" A hauld shall get 3 aurar (as rett) on the behalf of his 

 bryti and tlvjon, and deigja and seta ; and 2 aurar for all other 

 slaves. A thrall's rett shall be two-thirds less than his master's. 

 If a thrall beats another thrall this shall be paid, but the 

 master owns it not " (Frostath., xi. 21). 



" If a man's thrall follows him to church, or to a feast, or to a 

 Thing, then he is holy where the ships land or stand. If a 

 man beats him in either place, a fine in silver shall be paid 

 to the king " (Frostath., 61). 



The child of a free woman by a thrall was free, and belonged 

 to the family of the mother. 



The child of a thrall woman by a free man was a slave, and 

 belonged to the master of the mother, unless the father 

 publicly declared it to be his own, and it gained liberty before 

 it was three nights old. 3 



The price of thralls varied somewhat, and in Egil's Saga 

 we have mention of a thrall for whom three marks in silver 

 were paid, or twice as much as the average ; they were gene- 

 rally sold at two and three marks ; a common thrall woman 



1 Father's and mother's side. | 3 Gulathing's Law, 57. 



2 Cf. also Laxdsela Saga, 12, 13. 



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