advice] Kjartan sat by and looked on at the sports. Thurid, his
sister, went to talk to him, and said, "It is told me, brother, that
you have been rather silent all the winter, and men say it must be
because you are pining after Gudrun, and set forth as a proof thereof
that no fondness now is shown between you and Bolli, such as through
all time there had been between you. Do now the good and befitting
thing, and don't allow yourself to take this to heart, and grudge not
your kinsman a good wife. To me it seems your best counsel to marry,
as you bespoke it last summer, although the match be not altogether
even for you, where Hrefna is, for such a match you cannot find within
this land. Asgeir, her father, is a noble and a high-born man, and he
does not lack wealth wherewith to make this match fairer still;
moreover, another daughter of his is married to a mighty man. You have
also told me yourself that Kalf Asgeirson is the doughtiest of men,
and their way of life is of the stateliest. It is my wish that you go
and talk to Hrefna, and I ween you will find that there great wits and
goodliness go together." Kjartan took this matter up well, and said
she had ably pleaded the case. After this Kjartan and Hrefna are
brought together that they may have their talk by themselves, and they
talked together all day. In the evening Thurid asked Kjartan how he
liked the manner in which Hrefna turned her speech. He was well
pleased about it, and said he thought the woman was in all ways one of
the noblest as far as he could see. The next morning men were sent to
Asgeir to ask him to Asbjornness. [Sidenote: Kjartan marries Hrefna]
And now they had a parley between them on this affair, and Kjartan
wooed Hrefna, Asgeir's daughter. Asgeir took up the matter with a good
will, for he was a wise man, and saw what an honourable offer was
made to them. Kalf, too, urged the matter on very much, saying, "I
will not let anything be spared (towards the dowry)." Hrefna, in her
turn, did not make unwilling answers, but bade her father follow his