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250 EELIGION OF THE NOETHMEN.
and thus they hewed three shields to pieces for each
other. Then it was Kormak's turn to strike. He
struck at Bersi, but the latter defended himself witl>
his sword Hviting. Skofnung (Kormak's sword) took
off the point of Hviting, but the point sprung against
Kormak's hand and wounded him slightly on the
thumb, so that the joint opened and let blood fall
upon the felld. Thereupon the seconds stepped in
between and would not allow them to fight longer.
Then said Kormak, 'This is a trifling victory that
Bersi has gained by my mishap, though we be now
separated.' Bersi demanded the h61m-fine, and
Kormak promised that it should be paid."*
It is easily seen in the foregoing descriptions, that
there was a great difference in the holmgangs, the
two first-mentioned being quite simple, and the latter
one being attended with more difliculties. We
see also in the latter that there was a distinction
made between the einvigi and the holmgdnga, and
that it was the duels of the latter sort that were
attended with such complicated diflBculties.
The Einvigi being the simplest, was probably also
the oldest form of single combat. It was gradually
made more and more complicated, so that the com-
batants might have better opportunities for display-
ing their strength and skill. The duel, however,
appears to have been always called Holmganga,
when it was resorted to for justice, whether it was of
the simpler or more complex kind. Therefore, the
two forementioned h61mgangs, taken from Egil's
* Kormaks S. 9-10.