DWORDS AS III-: I It LOOMS. 



" King Athelstan gave him a sword, with hilt and guards 

 of gold, but the l>lad<- was still better; with it Hakon cut 

 a millstone through to the centre hole, 1 and therefore the 

 s\\ord was afterwards called kvernl)it (mill-biter). It was tlie 

 best sword that ever came to Norway' (Ulaf Tryggvason's 

 Saga; Fornmanna Sogur). 



Many were considered valuable heirlooms in families, and 

 their possession was so much coveted that even burial mounds 

 were broken open in order to get them. 



Grettir had broken into the mound of the Norwegian chief 

 Kar, with whose son, Thorfinn, he was residing, and had 

 taken therefrom a great deal of property. 



" Late at night he returned to his house, and placed on the 

 table before Thorfinn the property he had taken from the 

 mound. Among the treasures was a sax, such a good weapon 

 that Grettir said he had never seen a better. He wanted to 

 have this very much, but produced it last of all (the treasures). 

 Thorfinn's face brightened when he saw the sax, for it was a 

 great treasure, and had never gone out of his family ; he 

 asked how he (Grettir) got it, and Grettir told him. . . . 

 Thorfinn said : ' Thou must accomplish something that I 

 think famous, before I will let thee have the sax, for my 

 father never allowed me to use it ' ' (Gretti's Saga, ch. 18). 



" Arinbjorn gave to Egil a sword called Dragvandil, which 

 Thorolf Skallagrimsson had given to him ; Skallagrim had 

 got it from his brother Thorolf, and Grim Lodinkinni (shaggy- 

 cheek) had given it to Thorolf. Ketil Hoang, Griin's father, 

 had owned it, and carried it in single-fights ; it was sharper 

 than any other sword " (Egil's Saga, c. 64). 



" He (King Magnus) was girt with a sword called Leyyliit 

 (the leg-biter) ; its guards were of walrus-tusk, and its hilt 

 \\as covered with gold; it was one of the best of weapons" 

 (Magnus Barefoot's Saga, ch. 26). 2 



In time of peace warriors wrapped round their swords what 

 was called Fridbond (peace-band) This was a strap wound 

 round the sheath, and fastened to the hilt, but unfastened in 

 case of war. 



Thorkel, Gisli's brother, was well dressed at the Thorska- 

 fjardar-thing. 



Hole in middle of millstone. | 2 Cfr. also An's Saga Bogsveigis, ch. 1. 



G 2 



