Page:The Story of Egil Skallagrimsson.djvu/238
Feet] There is an untranslateable pun here. Egil uses ekkjur which means 'widows': but hæll which means 'widow' means also 'heel.' Ekkjur is meant to suggest hæla, then that to express 'heels.'
first days of Hacon] Hacon reigned from 975 to 995. If his 'first days' be taken to mean the first five years or so of his reign, Egil was eighty odd years old about 980 or before. Suppose him born in 898 (Munch's date). this would be so; or with Jónsson's date of birth 901 he would be eighty ('in his ninth decade') by 981, and this may equally suit. Vigfusson takes as the text ofan-verdum 'last, later' instead of öndverdum 'first, earlier.' And he puts Egil's birth in 904: thus he would be eighty in 984, and Vigfusson supposes him to die about 990. The earlier date for his birth appears better for the early incidents of the Saga. But one cannot determine precisely the age meant by 'in his ninth ten': whether 'just past eighty' or well on for ninety. Critically (according to Jónsson) öndverdum is the better reading. And with this it would seem that in the early years of Hacon's reign Egil entered on his ninth decade. But how much longer he lived one cannot determine: Jónsson thinks not later than 983. As he was 'hale and hearty save for blindness,' his death may have been several years after the beginning of his eighties; the Saga does not profess to give all the events of his old age year by year. One may be pretty sure he did not live to be over ninety.
One summer] A curious freak of the old man: one more fight he wished to see. As they would not let him have his way, he would not let them have the money.
slain Grim's thralls] How? For he was old, blind, encumbered with the chests.
Ch. XCI.—baptized when, etc.] i.e., in 1000.
Egil moved] As 'prim-signed' Egil might be buried in the outskirts of the churchyard.
Skapti] Priest from 1143 onwards.
wave-marked] Like a mussel-shell, Petersen says.
Ch. XCII.—two types] Fair and handsome, dark and ugly. The Thorolfs were, in the Saga, of the handsome type; perhaps Bodvar was so.
Skuli] His great-grandson Einar is suggested as a not improbable compiler of the Saga.
Iron Ram] 'A ship beaked with iron.' So 'barded' is used of horses in armour. This ship of Eric's is described elsewhere.