SOIL'S SOBROW. 415 



and there went at once to the locked bed-closet where lie was 

 wont to sleep; he laid himself down and locked himself up, 

 and nobody dared talk to him. When they laid Bodvar 

 down in the mound, Egil wore hose fitting tight to the leg ; a 

 fustian-kirtle, red, narrow, small at the upper end, and laced 

 on the side, but he swelled so much from grief that the kirtle 

 as well as the hose were rent. The next day Egil did not 

 unlock the door, nor did he take any food or drink. He lay 

 there that day, and the night following it ; nobody dared speak 

 to him. The third morning at dawn Asgerd made a man take 

 horse and ride as swiftly as he could west to Hjardarholt, and 

 tell Thorgerd (daughter of Egil, wife of Olaf Hoskuldsson) 

 all these tidings. He arrived there about noon, and said that 

 Asgerd asked her to come as soon as possible to Borg. Thor- 

 gerd at once had a horse saddled, and two men followed her. 

 They rode that evening and all night till they reached Borg. 

 Thorgerd at once went into the hall ; Asgerd greeted her, and 

 asked if they had supped. Thorgerd said loudly " I have had 

 no supper, and shall have none until with Freyja. 1 I know of no 

 better resolve than to do like my father. I will not live after 

 my father and brother." She went to the bedroom, and shouted, 

 'Father, open the door. I want you to go with me.' Egil 

 drew back the latch. Thorgerd went up and shut the door ; 

 she laid herself down in another bed which was there. Then 

 Egil said ' Thou didst well, daughter, in wishing to follow 

 thy father. Thou hast shown me much love. Who can expect 

 me to live with this grief ? ' Then they were silent for a while. 

 Then Egil said ' What is that, daughter ? Dost thou chew 

 anything ? ' 'I am chewing samphire (sea-weed),' she answered, 

 * and I think that I shall suffer for it ; otherwise I think I shall 

 live too long.' ' Is it hurtful ? ' asked Egil. ' Very much so,' 

 said she ; ' wilt thou eat ? ' ' What does it matter ? ' said he. 

 Soon after she called and asked for drink. Water was then 

 given her to drink. Then Egil said : ' When one eats 

 samphire, one gets more and more thirsty.' 'Wilt thou 

 drink, father? ' said she. He took deep draughts from a horn. 

 Then Thorgerd said : ' We are deceived, this is milk.' Egil 

 bit from the horn what his teeth clutched, and threw it away. 

 Thorgerd said : 'What shall we do, now that this plan is upset ? 

 I should like, father, to lengthen our life, so that thou mightest 

 compose a funeral poem on Bodvar, and I will carve it on a 

 stick of wood ; then let us die if we like. I think thy son 

 Thorstein will be slow in making a poem 'on him, but it is not 

 proper that there should be no funeral feast, for I do not think 



1 Meaning that she would have no I she intended to die with her father, 

 meals before she came to the gods, as | 



