Men who wield the blade of battle
  Hoarded wealth may well enjoy,
  Guileless gotten this at least,
  Golden meed I fearless take;
  But if we for woman’s quarrel,
  Warriors born to brandish sword,
  Glut the wolf with manly gore,
  Worse the lot of both would be.

Hrut answered—­“Ill will be thy meed for this”.

“Be that as it may,” says Gunnar.

Then Hauskuld and his brother went home to their booth, and he had much upon his mind, and said to Hrut—­

“Will this unfairness of Gunnar’s never be avenged?”

“Not so,” says Hrut; “’twill be avenged on him sure enough, but we shall have no share nor profit in that vengeance.  And after all it is most likely that he will turn to our stock to seek for friends.”

After that they left off speaking of the matter.  Gunnar showed Njal the money, and he said—­“The suit has gone off well”.

“Ay,” says Gunnar, “but it was all thy doing.”

Now men rode home from the Thing, and Gunnar got very great honour from the suit.  Gunnar handed over all the money to Unna, and would have none of it, but said he thought he ought to look for more help from her and her kin hereafter than from other men.  She said, so it should be.

CHAPTER XXV.

UNNA’S SECOND WEDDING.

There was a man named Valgard, he kept house at Hof by Rangriver, he was the son of Jorund the Priest, and his brother was Wolf Aurpriest.  Those brothers.  Wolf Aurpriest, and Valgard the guileful, set off to woo Unna, and she gave herself away to Valgard without the advice of any of her kinsfolk.  But Gunnar and Njal, and many others thought ill of that, for he was a cross-grained man and had few friends.  They begot between them a son, whose name was Mord, and he is long in this story.  When he was grown to man’s estate, he worked ill to his kinsfolk, but worst of all to Gunnar.  He was a crafty man in his temper, but spiteful in his counsels.

Now we will name Njal’s sons.  Skarphedinn was the eldest of them.  He was a tall man in growth and strong withal; a good swordsman; he could swim like a seal, the swiftest-footed of men, and bold and dauntless; he had a great flow of words and quick utterance; a good skald too; but still for the most part he kept himself well in hand; his hair was dark brown, with crisp curly locks; he had good eyes; his features were sharp, and his face ashen pale, his nose turned up and his front teeth stuck out, and his mouth was very ugly.  Still he was the most soldier-like of men.

Grim was the name of Njal’s second son.  He was fair of face and wore his hair long.  His hair was dark, and he was comelier to look on than Skarphedinn.  A tall strong man.

Helgi was the name of Njal’s third son.  He too was fair of face and had fine hair.  He was a strong man and well-skilled in arms.  He was a man of sense and knew well how to behave.  They were all unwedded at that time, Njal’s sons.