124 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



Gunnar and his friends were there, and Starkad and his sons, 

 ' and they said to Gunnar that now they would lead the horses 

 together/ Gunnar said that was well. Skarphedinn said, 

 ' Wilt thou that I drive thy horse, kinsman Gunnar V ' I will 

 not have that,' says Gunnar. ' It would not be amiss, though,' 

 says Skarphedinn ; ' we are hot-headed on both sides.' ' Ye 

 would say or do little/ says Gunnar, 'on both sides before a 

 quarrel would spring up ; but with me it will take longer, 

 though it will be all the same in the end/ After that the 

 horses were led together ; Gunnar busked him to drive his 

 horse, but Skarphedinn led him out. Gunnar was in a red 

 kirtle, and had about his loins a broad belt, and a riding-rod 

 in his hand (see Fig. 51). Then the horses ran at one another, 

 and bit each other long (cf. Fig. 51), so that there was no need 

 for anyone to touch them, and that was the greatest sport. 

 Then Thorgeir and Kol made up their minds that they would 

 push their horse forward just as the horses rushed together, 

 and see if Gunnar would fall before him. Now the horses ran 

 at one another again, and both Thorgeir and Kol ran alongside 

 their horse's flank. Gunnar pushed his horse against them, 

 and what happened in a trice was this, that Thorgeir and his 

 brother fall down flat on their backs, and their horse atop 

 of them/' After this the horse-fight, as Gunnar had foreseen, 

 turned into a man- fight. In the course of the struggle 

 Thorgeir knocked out one of the eyes of Gunnar's brown 

 horse, in consequence of which Gunnar has him killed. I here 

 reproduce (after Brunn 1 ) a picture of a medieval horse-fight 

 still preserved in the library at Reykjavik. 



Again, " Otkell had two horses, dun-coloured, with a black 

 stripe down the back. They were the best steeds to ride in 

 all the country round' 2 ." From this it is clear that though the 

 Norwegian dun-coloured pony with a black dorsal stripe was 

 already known it was regarded as a very exceptional animal 

 both in colour and quality. 



It is therefore clear that the light dun pony with a dark 

 line down the centre of the back, which has long been a 



1 Op. cit., p. 49, fig. 33. 2 Burnt Njal, LIT. 



