Summary
1 - Mord Gigja is a chieftan whose word is so valued by the nation that "no verdicts were considered valid unless he had been involved" (3). In Breidafjord lives a man named Hoskuld from a long and distinguished lineage. His brother Hrut is an even-tempered and wise warrior who lives at Hrutsstadir. When Hoskuld holds a feast for his friends, it is revealed that he also has a beautiful daughter named Hallgerd. When Hoskuld asks his brother what he thinks of her, he concedes to her beauty but calls her a thief in the same breath. They don't talk for some time afterward.
2 - On the way to the Althing, a yearly legal settlement and social gathering of all free men in Iceland, Hoskuld tells his brother that he ought to take a wife and that he has found just the girl for him to take: Unn, daughter of Mord. Hrut likes her well enough, but doesn't know whether they will be happy together. Hoskuld arranges the marriage between his brother and Hallgerd nonetheless through Mord, who doesn't take the offer right away because of his unfamiliarity with Hrut. With a large dowry set, Hrut agrees to the nuptial terms. Hrut and Hoskuld ride out to Hrut's ship and run into their uncle, Ozur. He tells them of their third brother's death and the insecurity of his assets at the moment. Hrut postpones his marriage to stave off enemy attacks at his dead brother's abode, with the permission of Mord. Hrut sails to Vik (modern-day Oslo) and Hoskuld keeps order at home in Iceland.
3 - Hrut and Ozur are received by Gunnhild, the queen of Norway, and invited to stay for the winter as they inspect Hrut's claim to the land. A man named Soti has already taken the land and gold for the moment. Before being invited into her palace in the east, they were to dress in galant robes and ask the king to be taken into his service as bodyguards. The king, Gunnhild's son, is reluctant to accept them until he sees his mother's intent to host them favorably. They must return in two weeks as per tradition. Gunnhild then makes the most of the two weeks by seducing Hrut to stay in her bed with her, which was kept secret from the king.
4 - Soti flees to Denmark with the gold, leaving the land. Gunnhild gives Hrut two longships and Ulf the Unwashed, a very strong man, to go after Soti. The king offers two more ships as well.
5 - Hrut and his crew arrive in Oresund to find an outlaw from Norway named Atli. He and his men want to "earn some booty" (10) by attacking Hrut's fleet. After some brief back-and-forth conversation across the sound, Atli thrusts a spear into one of Hrut's men and a fierce battle ensues. Asolf, Atli's counterpart to Ulf, kills four of Hrut's men and nearly kills Hrut before he is fatally wounded. Atli thrusts his spear into Ulf, but Hrut manages to slice off Atli's leg, disabling him enough to incur yet another fatal wound. This time, Hrut earns some booty. Gunnhild's servant, Ogmund, sees Soti onshore back in Norway and asks him his plan. Soti replies that he will sail away and never return. Gunnhild's other son surprises Soti from behind and hangs him for his crimes. Hrut returns and offers some booty to the king and Gunnhild, which they accept.
6 - Hrut spends the season at the palace, but grows homesick for Iceland. With the king's permission, he takes off and accepts a parting gift from Gunnhild: a gold bracelet. With the gift, she also casts a spell on him to prevent him from having sexual pleasure with the woman he plans to marry in Iceland. They sail to Hoskuldsstadir and meet with Hoskuld, whom they give a season's worth of flour as a thank-you for maintaining Hrutsstadir. Hrut marries Unn as planned, but she seems sad during the wedding. Unn asks Hrut to take her to the Thing to see her father. She weeps and laments to him. Mord confronts Hrut about Unn's sadness, but he defers to Unn's opinion: "Let her speak, if she has any charges to bring against me" (14). However, she is unable to express her discontent. Their lives continue to ebb and flow between happiness and discontent whenever Hrut is away collecting payment for his wares.
7 - In secret, Unn arranges to attend the Althing again, under the condition that she has no plot to harm Hrut or the escort who will risk himself to help her. She confides in her father, Mord, that Hrut is manly in every way but cannot please her sexually, just as Gunnhild's curse prescribed. She goes into detail on the matter: it's no portent of latent homosexuality, but rather an incompatibility of sizes. Mord lays out an elaborate plan of feigned illness and affairs so that Unn can legally divorce Hrut. She follows through and when Mord declares them divorced, "people thought this was a big event" (17).
8 - When Hrut comes home, his wife is gone. He keeps calm and leaves for the Althing, where Mord Gigja is filing a claim against him for his daughter's property. A large sum is to be paid as well. Hrut responds to Mord by calling his claim aggressive and born of greed. Furthermore, he challenges him to a duel on the holy spot of Law Rock, an extraordinary suggestion. If Mord were to win the duel, he would get double the amount of the claim, but if not, he would lose the money and, very likely, his life. Mord declines the challenge and leaves, disgraced by all witnesses at Law Rock. Hoskuld and Hrut ride to Reykjadal after the Thing and stay in Lund, where a few young boys are making fun of the recent situation between Mord and Hrut. Hoskuld strikes one of the boys, cutting his face. In reaction, Hrut gives the boy a gold ring and tells him never to "give offence again" (18). This chapter ends the episode of Hrut and Mord.
9 - Hoskuld's daughter, Hallgerd, is reintroduced as a beautiful but harsh-tempered woman with the nickname 'Long-legs'. Her foster-father, Thjostolf, is a brutal man without honor, and people think he's a terrible influence on her. Thorvald, son of Osvif, tells his father that he wants to ask for Hallgerd's hand in marriage, but Osvif knows that their temperaments would clash. He condones the marriage nonetheless. Hoskuld and Thorvald arrange the marriage without consulting Hallgerd in any way.
10 - Hallgerd takes offense from her exclusion in the discussion and rejects the marriage on the premise that Hoskuld had promised her better. Her foster-father seems contented with the marriage because he thinks she will get married a second time. He is willing to do anything except kill Hoskuld or Hrut for his foster-daughter. Hrut is reluctant to attend the weddin,g but Hoskuld convinces him that he will gain honor if he comes. Hallgerd is cheerful at the wedding, as is Hoskuld. Hrut remains skeptical of this marriage and finds it an expensive waste.
11 - Thorvald is pleased with Hallgerd, but both Osvif and Thjostolf know that the marriage is doomed. When Hallgerd makes a personal gibe at Thorvald's upbringing, he strikes her. While he is out getting more flour and dried fish, per her request, he is met by Thjostolf who also makes personal gibes at Thorvald's incompetence as a husband. Thorvald tries to strike him, but Thjostolf anticipated this. Thjostolf dodges the blow, breaks Thorvald's arm, and crushes his skull with his axe.
12 - Thjostolf sinks Thorvald's boat and his body with it when he hears Thorvald's companions coming back. They curse Thjostolf as he sails off, but do not have the evidence of Thorvald's body to condemn him. He comes back to Hallgerd and admits, bloody axe in hand, that he killed Thorvald. Hallgerd sends him off to stay with Svan, a feared warrior who is also Hallgerd's mother's brother, while Hallgerd takes refuge with her father, Hoskuld. Osvif attempts to take vengeance on Thjostolf by taking an army up to Svan, but Svan casts a curse which conjures a black fog all around his abode. The men cannot penetrate it and turn back after several attempts. Osvif goes to Hoskuld to rectify the situation, with Hrut acting as arbitrator. Hoskuld is resentful of the large sum he is made to pay because he had no part in the death. Hrut's wisdom shows Hoskuld that his daughter's actions are an extension of his own: "the nose is near to the eyes, brother." (25) Hrut goes a step further and gifts Osvif a cloak that he purchased abroad. Not long after, Thjostolf moves in with Hoskuld and Hallgerd, which incites first great tension, but then, at last, peace.
13 - Thorarin, Ragi, and Glum, reputable sons of Oleif Hjalti, enter the saga, and Osvif leaves it. Thorarin is a wise lawspeaker; Ragi is a great fighter; and Glum is a great trader, but reveals that he is quitting the business to find a wife. He confides in Thorarin that it is Hallgerd whom he is after. Thorarin cautions him against this, but understands that Glum's desire is strong. They ride off to Hoskuldsstadir with twenty-some men to discuss the terms of marriage with Hrut and Hoskuld. Hrut gives a set of secret terms, which Hallgerd must never know, about Thjostolf: he is not to live with them and may spend no more than three days in their company before becoming an outlaw. In other words, Glum may invite Thjostolf to stay as long as he wishes, but maintains the legal right to slay him after three days.
14 - Glum and Thorarin discuss which properties they will take up after the wedding. There is some contention because Thorarin wants Varmalaek, but he is stuck with Laugarnes in the south. Glum and Hallgerd have a daughter whom they name Sigurd, after Hallgerd's mother. They get along very well. News of Svan's death from a shipwreck is heard, and Hallgerd thinks this a "big event." (30)
15 - Thjostolf is found beating one of Hoskuld's servants and is sent away. He takes refuge at Varmalaek per Hallgerd's request. Thorarin warns Glum about this decision, and although Thjostolf behaves for a time, he eventually returns to his old loutish self. Glum thinks it is time to do something about Thjostolf.
16 - One day, Glum asks Thjostolf for help tending the sheep, but Thjostolf refuses outright, throwing in insults along the way. The argument results in Glum confronting Hallgerd about Thjostolf. When she tries to defend him, Glum grows angry and strikes her. Thjostolf sees this and although Hallgerd tells him not to interfere, he walks away grinning in silence.
17 - Another feud arises between Glum and Thjostolf when they are herding sheep up a mountain and the sheep get away. After enduring many aspersions, Glum strikes Thjostolf. He blocks the attack by the side of his axe, but cuts halfway through the wedge. Thjostolf strikes back quickly and separates Glum's shoulder from his collar bone. Glum has a lethal grip on Thjostolf with his other hand, but cannot hold on because of his own fatal wound. He buries Glum, takes off his gold bracelet, and brings it to Hallgerd, bloodied. She laughs when she hears his news and then sends him to Hrutsstadir for refuge. It is late at night and Hrut is in just a tunic and boots when Thjostolf arrives. After discovering the circumstances, Thjostolf makes the first strike, anticipating Hrut's inhospitality. Hrut dodges the strike and hacks off Thjostolf's leg. He delivers a skull-crushing blow and has his servants take care of the body. When Thorarin hears of his brother Glum's death, he comes to Hoskuld for monetary retribution. Hoskuld does not want to give anything since, once again, he had nothing to do with the death and did not condone it. Hrut delivers a wise settlement of gifts, since he has already taken care of Thjostolf for Thorarin.
18 - Mord Gigja dies, which is "thought a great loss" (34). Unn inherits his property and proves improvident by wasting all the wealth away.
Analysis
This section is neatly linked to the introduction of Mord Gigja in Chapter 1 and his death in Chapter 18. At first, he is known as a man of such perfectly sound reason that no legal decision is considered settled without his word, but when his daughter Unn's missteps come into the legal realm, it leads to his moral and intellectual demise. Like many of the characters in the saga, Mords characterization is best summarized in the form of a dichotomy: familial pride v. legal justice. He asks for too much from Hrut in the divorce settlement, and is met with one of Hrut's main characterizers: instinctual justice. Although Hrut is also a wise person, his wisdom stems from a psychological basis rather than a legal one. Throughout these chapters, he gives gifts to his enemies to ease tensions and instate good will, but he also knows when physical violence is the only way to abolish tensions. His brother, Hoskuld, is a man who suffers much loss because of his brother's instinctual justice, but he always comes out in good graces.
The first eighteen chapters of the saga introduce many other characters and plots as well, some of which are wholly an explicitly finished, e.g.: "Osvif is now out of the saga" (26); "Three brothers are now brought into the saga" (26). These literary practices are helpful to the reader, who can conclusively determine which lingering skeins and plot-lines to continue to think about, and which to ponder for the final time. But this also introduces another common communication tactic within the saga: passive voicing. With the advent of modernism and psychological interiority, readers became accustomed to accessing a form of proof surrounding statements like 'everyone thought it was a big deal'. A typical acknowledgement of the reader's distrust in this statement might be a few examples of individuals who think 'it's a big deal', or the relevant deductions and axioms involved with this being a 'big deal'. In Njal's Saga, however, the tone is generally less interested in explanations for why some people might feel strongly: the focus is rather that they do think strongly and, furthermore, that they act strongly. The saga does not shy away from the physical symptoms of emotions, such as when Hoskuld "turned blood red and said nothing for a while" (25). These emotional instances tend to emphasize either appropriate stoicism or inappropriate belligerence, such as when Thjostolf "went away grinning" (31).
For an ostensibly historical account of Iceland, there is a surprising amount of pure magic in these chapters. When Gunnhild curses Hrut to be incapable of sexually pleasing his wife in Iceland, the reader does not expect it to work. When the reason for Unn's dissatisfaction with Hrut is finally revealed, the reader may be surprised and shocked at the level of detail surrounding exactly how the curse manifested in Hrut. Likewise, when Svan harnesses the natural elements with a goatskin and a poem to create a black fog to blind his enemies, this seems like wishful thinking—but Osvif and his men almost die trying to pursue Svan and Thjolstof in the fog. They turn back, dishonored. While it is unfair that a wicked man like Thjolstof should survive, this also calls into question whether familial revenge is becoming an archaic system of justice. This is of course reversed when Hrut, a technical kinsman of the deceased, brutally dismembers Thjolstof.
Through the highs and lows of the plot, the reader can glean a good deal of insight about Icelandic warrior moral code. Almost every misfortune is accompanied by earlier foreshadowing and a warning from somebody wise, so it is not difficult to predict these violent incidents. Whereas Thorvald naively trusted Hallgerd's laughter to express her true happiness, Osvif knows that "her laughter doesn't seem as good to me as it does to you... and the proof of this will come later" (21). Likewise the boys who make fun of Hrut and Mord were "very chatty, since they didn't know any better" (18). Inevitably, it is the wise person who pays the price for the impulsive or unreasonable person.
But the moral aspect of Njal's Saga is not limited to the plot and the dialogue: it extends to the symbols and images of the story. In both instances of conflict between Glum and Thjolstof, it is sheep that incite their anger. What better symbol is there of innocence? It is only in the second confrontation, when the sheep are no longer visible, that all bets are off and Glum is killed. There is always an exchange of tokens after violence, which is based on a psychological principle that people are more likely to conciliate when they are gifted something (just as an artist on the street may hand you his art before asking for a donation). This is a moral imperative that humans feel, whether they be in 10th century Iceland or 21st century America.
Perhaps the most distressing element of these introductory chapters is a conspicuous omission of the title character, Njal. The modern reader may be used to certain levels of omission such as physical absence (think Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, where the title character is discussed, but not seen until the end), but for all these conclusive plots to have occurred without Njal seems almost a mistake at this point. The term 'epic' has come to be synonymous with long-form adventure films, whereas in reality, epics often include a historical and personal account of the various incidents, and are not tethered to the tenets of plot that one might see in Greek tragedies or other dramas.
