Spoken Lore

A man hight Halli lived at Jorunnarstad, who was called “Halli the white,” and he was the son of Thorbiörn, whilst his mother was Vigdis, the daughter of Andun the bald. Now Halli had fostered Einar, the son of Eyiolf, who then lived at Saurbæ. Halli was blind, and was mixed up in all the lawsuits in the country because he was both a wise man and sound in his judgment. His sons were Orm and Brusi the Skald, who lived at Törfufell, and Bárd, who lived at Skállstad. Bárd was a noisy, quarrelsome fellow, better able to fight than anybody, and reckless and abusive in his language; he had for a wife Una, the daughter of Oddkell, in Thiorsádal.

One autumn Halli missed some ten or twelve wethers out of the hill pastures, and they could not be found, so when Bárd and his father met, Halli asked his son what he thought had become of the wethers. Bárd replied, “I don’t wonder if sheep disappear, when a thief lives next door to you, ever since Hallvard came into the district. “Yes,” says Halli, “I should like you to set on foot a suit against him, and summon him for theft. I don’t think, if I make this charge against him, Glum will go the lengths of clearing him by the oath of twelve men.” “No,” answered Bárd, “it will be a difficult matter for him to get the oath of twelve men out of Glum and Vigfuss and their people.”

Viga-Glum’s Saga, Chapter 17: Paragraphs 2&3

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