Sæll Haukur!
 
As usual I prepared the text, came unstuck on a couple of bits, checked the emails to see if anyone had asked the same questions I needed to ask - good old Simon had asked some - so I checked your response and here´s my attempt, plus a couple more questions...
 
Nú litlu síðar kömr Sigurðr í búðina til bróður síns ok mælti
"Tak þú nú silfrit, nú er samit kaupit."
 
why is it bróður síns and not hans?
 
why does an apparently simple phrase like ...nú er samit kaupit... confuse me totally????
 
I decided kaup is a neuter noun in the nominative meaning bargain, agreement, payment or reward;
 
samit had me lost!  If it is from samr, an adjective meaning same, why is it samit not samt for the neuter?  Or is is something completely different?!
 
Now, a little later Sigurdr came to the booth, to his brother, and said,  "now you take the silver which is....."
 
Hann svarar  "Ek fekk þér silfrit skömmu."
He answered  "I got the silver to you a short while ago"  (or)  "I gave the silver...
 
"Nei," segir Sigurðr, "ek hefi ekki á því tekit."
"No," said Sigurdr, "I have not taken (of) it."
 
Nú þræta þeir um þetta.  Eptir þat segja þeir konungi til.
Now they disputed about this.  Afterwards they told the king.
 
Konungr skilr nú ok aðrir menn at þeir eru stolnir fénu.
The king, and other men, now understand they have been robbed of their property.
 
Just wondering why skilr is in the singular when the subject of the verb is plural? - it wasn't only the king who was made aware of their dilemma.
 
Is there a reason for the dative in fénu rather than the genitive?  Or is it just a verb which takes the acc/dat - to rob someone (acc) of something (dat) therefore to be robbed of something (dat)?
 
Nú leggr konungr farbann svá at engi skip skulu sigla burt svá búit.
Now the king issued an edict that no ship should sail away in these circumstances.
 
Þetta þótti mörgum manni vanhagr mikill sem var at sitja um þat fram er markadrinn stóð.
This seemed a very troublesome state of affairs to many of the men who were located beyond where the market stood (took place).
 
Þá áttu Norðmenn stefnu sín á milli um ráðagjörðir.
Then the Norsemen had a meeting amongst themselves about their plans.
 
Þrándr var á þeiri stefnu ok mælti svá
Thrandr was in their meeting and said thus
 
"Hér eru menn mjök ráðlausir."
"Here are (These are) men lacking in resourcefulness."
 
I got shiftless for rádlaus from Zoega, and then had to look up shiftless in the Oxford English dictionary!!!
 
"Kanntu hér ráð til?"
"Can you advise us here?"
 
"Svá er víst," segir hann.
"That is certain," he said.
 
"Lát fram þá þína ráðagjörð," sögðu þeir.
"Then explain your plan," they said.
 
"Eigi mun þat kauplaust," segir hann.
"That will not be without charge," he said.
 
Þeir spyrja hvat er hann mælir til.  Hann svarar
They asked him what he was talking about.  He answered
 
"Hverr yðvarr skal fá mér eyri silfrs," segir hann.
"Which of you will give me an ounce of silver," he said.
 
Þeir kváðu þat mikit en þat varð kaup þeira at hverr maðr fekk honum hálfan eyri þá í hönd en annan hálfan ef petta yrði framgengt.
They discussed at length whether it would be to their advantage for one person to give him half an ounce of silver in his hand there and then and the other half if it ends up being successful.
 
 
I'm looking forward to finding out who the thief is now!!!
Kveðja,
Sarah.
 
p.s.  Can anyone help me with some modern Icelandic?  The phrase that I'm not sure about is underlined
 
Menn veltu vöngum hver framan í annan og héldu, að með því fengju þeir leyst úr þessari spurningu.
 
I know vangi is a cheek
and I guess veltu is a past tense verb, but somehow I still can´t grasp the sense of it.
 
Any offers?