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[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] across their path and turned them, so the whole work was to do again. I asked him with strained courtesy if he could milk, shear, wield scythe or flail, and he said no, he had never lived on a farm. That s a shame, I remarked, for everyone on Iceland does, unless he be outlawed. He flushed at my tone. I can do enough else, he answered. Give me some tools and I ll show you good metalwork. That brightened me, for truth to tell, none of our household was a gifted smith. That s an honorable trade, I said, and you can be of great help. I have a broken sword and several bent spearheads to be mended, and it were no bad idea to shoe the horses. His admission that he did not know how to put on a shoe was not very dampening to me then. We had returned home as we talked, and Thorgunna came angrily forward. That s no way to treat a guest, Father, she said. Making him work like a carle, indeed! Gerald smiled. I ll be glad to work, he said. I need a... a stake... something to start me afresh. Also, I want to repay a little of your kindness. Those words made me mild toward him, and I said it was not his fault they had Page 77 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html different ways in the United States. On the morrow he could begin in the smithy, and I would pay him, yet he would be treated as an equal since craftsmen are valued. This earned him black looks from the housefolk. That evening he entertained us well with stories of his home; true or not, they made good listening. However, he had no real polish, being unable to compose a line of verse. They must be a raw and backward lot in the United States. He said his task in the war host had been to keep order among the troops. Helgi said this was unheard of, and he must be bold who durst offend so many men, but Gerald said folk obeyed him out of fear of the king. When he added that the term of a levy in the United States was two years, and that men could be called to war even in harvest time, I said he was well out of a country with so ruthless and powerful a lord. No, he answered wistfully, we are a free folk, who say what we please. But it seems you may not do as you please, said Helgi. Well, Gerald said, we may not murder a man just because he aggrieves us. Not even if he has slain your own kin? asked Helgi. No. It is for the... the king to take vengeance, on behalf of the whole folk whose peace has been broken. I chuckled. Your yarns are cunningly wrought, I said, but there you ve hit a snag. How could the king so much as keep count of the slaughters, let alone avenge them? Why, he d not have time to beget an heir! Gerald could say no more for the laughter that followed. The next day he went to the smithy, with a thrall to pump the bellows for him. I was gone that day and night, down to Reykjavik to dicker with Hjalmar Broadnose about some sheep. I invited him back for an overnight stay, and we rode into my steading with his son Ketill, a red-haired sulky youth of twenty winters who had been refused by Thorgunna. I found Gerald sitting gloomily on a bench in the hall. He wore the clothes I had given him, his own having been spoilt by ash and sparks; what had he awaited, the fool? He talked in a low voice with my daughter. Well, I said as I trod in, how went the tasks? My man Grim snickered. He ruined two spearheads, but we put out the fire he started ere the whole smithy burned. How s this? I cried. You said you were a smith. Gerald stood up, defiant. I worked with different tools, and better ones, at home, he replied. You do it otherwise here. They told me he had built up the fire too hot; his hammer had struck everywhere but the place it should; he had wrecked the temper of the steel through not knowing when to quench it. Smithcraft takes years to learn, of course, but he might have owned to being not so much as an apprentice. Well, I snapped, what can you do, then, to earn your bread? It irked me to be made a ninny of before Hjalmar and Ketill, whom I had told about the stranger. Odin alone knows, said Grim. I took him with me to ride after your goats, and never have I seen a worse horseman. I asked him if maybe he could spin or weave, and he said no. That was no question to ask a man! flared Thorgunna. He should have slain you for it. He should indeed, laughed Grim. But let me carry on the tale. I thought we would also repair your bridge over the foss. Well, he can barely handle a saw, but he nigh took his own foot off with the adze. We don t use those tools, I tell you! Gerald doubled his fists and looked close to tears. I motioned my guests to sit down. I don t suppose you can butcher or smoke a hog, either, I said, or salt a fish or turf a roof. No. I could hardly hear him. Well, then, man, whatever can you do? I He could get no words out. Page 78 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html You were a warrior, said Thorgunna. Yes, that I was! he said, his face kindling. Small use on Iceland when you have no other skills, I grumbled, but maybe, if you can get passage to the eastlands, some king will take you in his guard. Myself I doubted it, for a guardsman needs manners that will do credit to his lord; but I had not the heart to say so. Ketill Hjalmarsson had plainly not liked the way Thorgunna stood close to Gerald and spoke for him. Now he leered and said: I might also doubt your skill in fighting. That I have been trained for, said Gerald grimly. Will you wrestle with me? asked Ketill. Gladly! spat Gerald. Priest, what is a man to think? As I grow older, I find life to be less and less the good-and-evil, black-and-white thing you call it; we are each of us some hue of gray. This useless fellow, this spiritless lout who could be asked if he did women s work and not lift ax, went out into the yard with Ketill Hjalmarsson and threw him three times running. He had a trick of grabbing the clothes as Ketill rushed him... I cried a stop when the youth was nearing murderous rage, praised them both, and filled the beer horns. But Ketill brooded sullen on the bench the whole evening. Gerald said something about making a gun like his own, but bigger, a cannon he called it, which would sink ships and scatter hosts. He would need the help of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |