Orkneyinga Saga

 Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney, translated by Hermann Palsson and Paul Edwards, 224 pages

The Orkneyinga Saga is a prose history of the jarls who ruled Orkney between the ninth and the thirteenth centuries.  It was probably written in Iceland in the 13th century, but is largely based on older, poetic accounts of the doings of the notable men and women of the islands.  In many places the anonymous compiler incorporates bits of these into his history.

     Ships grappled

     together; gore, as foes fell,

     bathed stiff iron, black

     with Scots' blood;

     singing the bows spilt

     blood, steel bit; bright

     though the quick points quaked,

     no quenching Thorfinn.

This is all the more effective given the highly repetitive narrative, a seemingly unending series of feuds, with aggrieved parties seeking aid from Scotland and Norway, normally ending in bloodshed but occasionally in reconciliation, the bloodshed often leading to more bloodshed and the reconciliations also often leading to more bloodshed.  That is not to say that there is nothing of interest - to the contrary, there's the story of how Rognvald, hiding from his enemies, was betrayed by his own lapdog, and of the time Svein three times politely asked Arni to settle a debt before driving an ax into his skull, and of Uni's cleverness in sabotaging his enemies' watchfires, among many other memorable incidents.  It is the poetry, though, that truly enchants.

     I fear my fate

     turns my face from Ermingerd;

     many a man

     would match her if he might.

     Her brow's such a beauty -

     I'd bed her gladly, even

     once would be worth it,

     a wish come true.