Summary
19 - This chapter introduces Gunnar of Hlidarendi, an essentially unbeatable warrior of even-temper and true wisdom. He is also related to Unn.
20 - This chapter introduces Njal, a beardless man well-off in property with an incredible knowledge of the law. He is considered the best counsellor in Iceland. His wife, Bergthora, has a harsh temper and has many sons and daughters with Njal.
21 - Unn comes to Gunnar with a complaint that she is out of money. He offers her as much as she wants as a loan, but she expresses her desire for Hrutsstadir (Hrut's residence) instead. Mord Gigja, great lawyer as he was, had already attempted unsuccessfully to wrest the property from Hrut, so Gunnar finds it unlikely that Unn will be able to now. Unn sends him to Njal, a good friend of Gunnar's, for advice. Njal is "silent for a while" (37), but then says he has a plan that will work if Gunnar does not deviate from it in any way.
22 - Njal describes an elaborate rouse in which Gunnar will dress in a cloak in the company of several men on horses. These men will purposefully garner a reputation for reneging on deals when offering their wares; 'Peddler-Hedin', the character Gunnar will pretend to be, must garner a particularly bad reputation for being a liar as well. Gunnar will then head to Hoskuldsstadir, secure a poor reputation there, and leave in the morning for Hrutsstadir to offer the most flawed wares. Hrut, being wise, will notice these problems, at which point they will get into a mild physical altercation. Gunnar will be sent away and come back dressed as himself and bond with Hrut over men like Peddler-Hedin, which will lead into the topic of there being a lack of good men where Mord Gigja comes from. Gunnar will then go into the details of the case, and gather intel about how to make a legal summons for the case under the pretense that Gunnar wants to know how to produce a summons in general. When Hrut asks Gunnar to repeat this, he will do so poorly, even though he has memorized every word. Hrut will have no suspicions. Then, when Gunnar finally reproduces the summons correctly, he will say under his breath so his companions can hear, "I hereby make this summons in the suit turned over to me by Unn, the daughter of Mord." (39) Then, Gunnar will flee to the hill above Hrutsstadir and wait three nights with the second set of horses before making his way home as discretely as possible.
23 - Everything goes according to plan, but after Gunnar and his men ride up to the hill in the night, Hoskuld wakes up from a strange dream. He dreamt that a bear and several cubs had made the journey that Gunnar made and were staying near Hrutsstadir. He rode to Hrutsstadir immediately and determined with Hrut that Peddler-Hedin was actually Gunnar of Hlidarendi and that Njal, the only person clever enough to have come up with such an elaborate plan, had orchestrated it. They are not able to catch Gunnar, however.
24 - At the Althing, Gunnar begins his case against Hrut. Njal is noticeably absent from the proceeding. Hrut finds a hole in their defense: Gunnar had not placed his three witnesses accordingly before the trial. Then, Njal comes forth and announced that he could revive the case, but Gunnar refuses. Instead, he challenges Hrut to a duel on the island in the Oxara river. Hoskuld and Hrut know that Hrut has no chance against Gunnar, so they collect the silver to settle the case instead. When handing over the money, Hoskuld jabs at Gunnar saying, "May you enjoy it the same way you have earned it" (42). Hrut predicts that Gunnar will come to them for friendship not long from now. Gunnar takes no tax on the money when he hands every coin over to Unn.
25 - Valgard the Grey, a devious and unpopular man, comes to Unn to ask her hand in marriage. She agrees immediately without consulting her kinsmen. They quickly have a son and name him Mord. He will grow up to be a cunning and malicious person, taking a special disliking for Gunnar. Next, Njal's sons are introduced. Skarphedin, the eldest son, is rather ugly, but a good warrior. Grim is handsome, big, and strong. Helgi is the handsomest and cleverest of all. Hoskuld, Njal's fourth son, was born out of wedlock. Njal asks his sons Skarphedin and Grim if they'd like to find wives, and they both say they would. Njal finds wealthy women for them to marry; they decide to continue living with their Njal while being married.
26 - Njal thinks that Thorhalla, daughter of Asgrim, is a good match for Helgi.
27 - The marriage proposition goes well. Njal offers to be the foster-father of Thorhall, the brother of Helgi's new wife, Thorhalla. He accepts and the two become very close - perhaps closer than Thorhall is with his own father, Asgrim. Njal teaches him the law so well that "he became the greatest lawyer in Iceland." (45)
28 - Hallvard the White, a sailor, convinces Gunnar to go abroad with him. Gunnar asks Njal to look after his property. They sail off to the Baltic, stopping first in Norway.
29 - Gunnhild had died, and Earl Hakon Sigurdarson now rules Norway. Instead of going into the new king's service, they decide to go on raids. They stop in with Hallvard's kinsman, Olvir, who takes a liking to Gunnar, thinking him "more of a man" than Hallvard. (47) Olvir agrees to supply some men to their cause.
30 - Gunnar and company come across some notorious Viking ships owned by two brothers, Vandil and Karl. Although they try to avoid it, they end up spending the whole day fighting and killing. Kolskegg, Gunnar's brother, needs a rest, but after Gunnar ridicules him, he downs a goblet of mead and goes back to the fight. When Vandil strikes at Gunnar, he catches his sword in his shield, breaking it at the hilt. Gunnar strikes back, taking both of his legs out. Meanwhile, Kolskegg thrusts his spear through Karl. The booty and glory is Gunnar's once again. They continue to have great success raiding Denmark, Smaland, and against Vikings in Reval. When they seek rest on the island Osel, a man named Tofi approaches their company. He tells them of fierce brother warriors on the other side of the island: Hallgrim and Kolskegg. Hallgrim wields a magical weapon that makes him invincible unless his own weapon is made to strike him. Apparently before its death blow, the weapon, a halberd, would let out a loud singing noise. Tofi knows where they keep their treasure, but also knows that they are currently planning a full-scale attack against Gunnar and his company. Gunnar gifts Tofi a ring and decides that they will attack these Vikings for their treasure. Gunnar faces off against Hallgrim and is able to access the halberd after great struggle and many failed swipes. He keeps the weapon with him from then on. The two Kolskeggs fight each other in an even match before Gunnar comes by to deliver the death blow. Gunnar grants the surviving Vikings their clothing and weapons and sends them on their way. Tofi takes him to the treasure and asks only that Gunnar bring him home to Denmark. He had been living on the island for most of his life, because he was kidnapped a long time ago.
31 - The King of Denmark hears of Gunnar before they arrive and readily welcomes his company. The group stays with him for half a month and Gunnar proves superior to all the king's men in every sport they play. The king offers him a wife and lots of land, but Gunnar wants first to return to Iceland. They exchange lavish golden gifts before Gunnar takes off. Gunnar and his party return to Norway and spend time with Olvir and Earl Hakon. Gunnar and the king's kinswoman Bergljot did fall in love, but there is no marriage.
32 - Gunnar, Kolskegg, and Hallvard return to Iceland just in time for the Althing. Gunnar goes to see Njal, who says that, because Gunnar has had so many trials, he will have many more because other men will be envious. Njal says that he will not go to the Thing and wishes that Gunnar would stay home from this gathering as well.
33 - Nevertheless, Gunnar and his men ride to the Thing without Njal. They impress all the men with their fancy garments. Gunnar never turns haughty, always telling people whatever they want to hear about. As Gunnar walks from Law Rock he stumbles across some equally well-dressed women, one of whom is Hallgerd. She asks him to tell her all about his journeys, he becomes romantically curious about her. She says no man will take the risk of marrying her because she is very demanding. Gunnar insists on proposing marriage to her, but she says he must talk to her father, Hoskuld. In a tent, Gunnar consults both Hoskuld and his brother Hrut. While Hoskuld finds the match favorable, Hrut voices many concerns. Gunnar seems too blinded by infatuation to properly assess Hallgerd's character, even as Hrut lays it out. When Gunnar tells Njal about the arrangement, Njal gives a warning as foreshadowing: "Every kind of evil will come from her when she moves east" (54). Nevertheless, Gunnar is insistent and bids Njal come to the ceremony.
34 - Many relatives, friends, and relatives of friends are invited to the wedding. Gunnar sits himself at the middle of the table and places Thrain Sigfusson, his uncle, and his other kin on one side, while on his other side sit the Njalssons. Hallgerd sits opposite Gunnar with her daughter Thorgerd on one side and Thorhalla, Helgi Njalsson's wife, on the other. Thrain's wife speaks a short, admonishing poem to make Thrain stop staring at Thorgerd. This is the second instance of a couplet in the saga - the first being Svan's fog curse with a goatskin. Thrain jumps on the table and announces himself divorced on the basis of her "malicious language" (56). Thrain then asks Hoskuld for his granddaughter's hand in marriage. Naturally, Hoskuld is reluctant. He asks Gunnar to speak to Thrain's character, but he refuses on the basis of his kinship and inherent bias. Njal and Hrut believe it is an equal match and condone the marriage. Hallgerd and Thorgerd became good housewives.
Analysis
Gunnar dominates this section in what seems like a completely unrelated saga. However, when Hoskuld and Hrut reenter the saga, it becomes clear that Gunnar's raids and journeys serve as an extended and meaty exposition of his character. Like many of the men in the saga, Gunnar is described as big, strong, clever, and wise. These were clearly valuable characteristics for Icelanders at this time. Njal, on the other hand, may seem to modern readers to be a shady character. He seems more like an evil mastermind than a prescient wiseman. Nonetheless, he is extremely clever, and his plan for Gunnar works without a hitch.
There is a tendency among the 'wise' men of this saga to act faithfully on the caprices of their less wise counterparts, purely on the basis of friendship. Only the wisest of them all, Njal, ever even considers questioning his friends' motives before reluctantly giving his advice. Hallvard's kinsman Olvir helps Gunnar and his team to raid his own country's land; Gunnar helps Unn to take back land that is not really hers at all; and Njal helps Gunnar to undertake this inconceivably difficult task. The reader may remember that Unn had just lost all of her wealth in the previous section; when she asked Gunnar for help to take Hrut's land, there was almost no legal basis to take it back.
Like Unn, many of the women in Njal's Saga are characterized by traits such as capriciousness, loquaciousness, and being generally uncompromising or harsh-tempered. While these traits may seem negative on the surface, they do seem to bear good results for the time being, except for Thrain's wife's loquaciousness at the wedding. Perhaps she is better off separated from such a man who would immediately marry the girl closest to him after divorcing his wife, though. Once again, the wise men who witness this obvious character flaw do not condemn him, but rather follow through upon his caprice and stand witness to his proposal.
Njal's Saga demonstrates a legal and moral emphasis on witnesses in a way that has fallen out of fashion in modern legal systems. Whereas now a single witness may take the stand in court, making court summons in 10th century Iceland involved so many witnesses that Gunnar trips up on this point and his case is almost invalidated. Njal seemed to be aware of this, given that he made his entrance so conspicuous at the trial of Hrut for his land. There may be no doubt that Hrut's warning about Gunnar seeking his friendship will come to pass, just as so many other omens have come to pass so far. The reader may even dread the uprising of Mord's eponymous grandson, because it is said that he will torment Gunnar.
Another less explicit instance of foreshadowing comes in the seating arrangement at Gunnar's wedding to Hallgerd. As we've come to see, the seating arrangements determine the level of respect that the host has for the parties. Gunnar has spent much time sitting next to king's in this section, but at his wedding, he seats the Njalssons on one of his sides and on the other sits the Sigfussons. These two families are destined to clash in the saga, which can only be a hellish prospect for Gunnar.
A final point of interest is the naming of relatives when an important character is introduced. This tells us not only that the character is important, but also serves to color the reader's interpretation of the different characters. For example, Valgard, Unn's new husband, has a list of almost whimsically named relatives: "Hrafn the Foolish... Vemund the Eloquent, son of Thorolf Pus-nose...Harald War-tooth, the son of Hraerek the Ring-scatterer... Saemund the Learned" (43).
