and bade her come back and give him his sword Footbiter, "and take
your little maid, and with her as much money as you like." Thured
answered, "Would you rather than not have the sword back?" Giermund
answered, "I would give a great deal of money before I should care to
let my sword go." Thured answered, "Then you shall never have it
again, for you have in many ways behaved cowardly towards me, and here
we shall part for good." Then Giermund said, "Little luck will you get
with the sword." Thured said she would take the risk of that. "Then I
lay thereon this spell," said Giermund, "That this sword shall do to
death the man in your family in who would be the greatest loss, and in
a manner most ill-fated." After that Thured went home to Herdholt.
Olaf had then come home, and showed his displeasure at her deed, yet
all was quiet. Thured gave Bolli, her cousin, the sword Footbiter, for
she loved him in no way less than her brothers. Bolli bore that sword
for a long time after. After this Giermund got a favourable wind, and
sailed out to sea, and came to Norway in the autumn. They sailed one
night on to some hidden rocks before Stade, and then Giermund and all
his crew perished. And that is the end of all there is to tell about
Giermund.




CHAP. XXXI

Thured's Second Marriage, A.D. 980


[Sidenote: Gudmund marries Thured] Olaf Hoskuldson now stayed at home
in much honour, as has been told before. There was a man named