download - Sage's Lore Library

68
INTKODUOTION.
course of years, even to Byzantium, but finally they
are reconciled. In the meantime, however, one
Snorri Go8i kills a kinsman of Viga-St;fr ; which
act, according to the laws of retaliation, calls for
vengeance from the friends of the deceased. 2. In
HeiSarviga-saga, the " Story of the Battle on the
Heath," the friends of the murdered man avenge
themselves by slaying Hall GuSmundsson, a friend
of Snorri's, and the brothers of the latter again re-
taliate, after which the parties engage in the " Battle
on the Heath," from which the Saga is named.
Peace is. finally established by Snorri's ingenuity.
The time of action is in the latter part of the tenth
century and the beginning of the eleventh.
3. Nials-saga closes with the year 1017. In rich-
ness and variety it is far superior to any of this
class. A mass of occurrences are here brought to-
gether and arranged into a well-ordered whole.
The various personages are well delineated, while
their respective characters are maintained through-
out, and always presented with dramatic effect.
There are scenes of the most touching pathos, such
as the burning of Nial and his sons, and the narra-
tion is often relieved by a vein of humor. The numerous
assemblies of the people and legal trials
which are described, give us a good idea of the judicial
and political institutions of Iceland, Making
allowance for the tedium of some of these details,
this Saga will not lose by comparison with the
higher literature of any age. It contains many
poems, among them the celebrated song of the Val-
kyrjur.