HORSE FIGHTING IN ICELAND 95 



value upon their steeds, especially upon their 

 dun-coloured horses, their apple-dun horses and 

 their white horses. Therefore it seems almost 

 odd that the early Norse settlers in Iceland should 

 have indulged as largely as they undoubtedly did 

 in the brutal " sport " of horse fighting, a form of 

 amusement that to this day is in vogue in parts 

 of Siam. 



The saga of Burnt Njal, with its scene laid in 

 the tenth century, refers repeatedly to incidents 

 in which the horse plays a chief part. The de- 

 scription of the mighty encounter between the 

 horse of Starkad and the horse of Gunnar of 

 Lithend is peculiarly disagreeable, but as it gives 

 us probably a very accurate idea of the way in 

 which these horse battles were arranged and 

 carried out, it is worth quoting almost in full. 



Starkad, we are told, had "a good horse of 

 chestnut hue, and it was thought that no horse 

 was his match in fight." The horse that Gunnar 

 of Lithend decided to pit against it was a brown. 

 It is practically upon the result of this fight that 

 the famous tragedy turns. 



"And now men ride to the horse fight," we 

 read, " and a very great crowd was gathered 

 together. Gunnar and his friends were there, 

 and Starkad and his sons. . . . Gunnar was in a 

 red kirtle, and had about his loins a broad belt, 

 and a riding rod in his hand. Then the horses 

 ran at one another, and bit each other long, so 



