straightforward wholesale way were honoured and respected; but to steal,
to creep to a man's abode secretly at dead of night and spoil his goods,
was looked upon as infamy of the worst kind. To do what lay before him
openly and like a man, without fear of either foes, fiends, or fate; to
hold his own and speak his mind, and seek fame without respect of
persons; to be free and daring in all his deeds; to be gentle and
generous to his friends and kinsmen; to be stern and grim to his foes,
but even towards them to feel bound to fulfil all bounden duties; to be
as forgiving to some as he was unyielding and unforgiving to others. To
be no truce-breaker, nor talebearer nor backbiter. To utter nothing
against any man that he would not dare to tell him to his face. To turn
no man from his door who sought food or shelter, even though he were a
foe--these were other broad principles of the Northman's life, further
features of that steadfast faithful spirit which he brought with him to
his new home....


DAILY LIFE IN NJAL'S TIME.

In the tenth century the homesteads of the Icelanders consisted of one
main building, in which the family lived by day and slept at night, and
of out-houses for offices and farm-buildings, all opening on a yard.
Sometimes these out-buildings touched the main building, and had doors
which opened into it, but in most cases they stood apart, and for
purposes of defence, no small consideration in those days, each might be
looked upon as a separate house.

The main building of the house was the stofa, or sitting and sleeping
room. In the abodes of chiefs and great men, this building had great
dimensions, and was then called a skáli, or hall. It was also called