> Björn hét maðr.
> [There] was a man called Björn.

Incidental detail: As you may have read, in their course Old Norse Online, Krause & Slocum say somewhere that þar is never used as a dummy subject as in English "there was" or MnIc. það var, but only when it has some spacial (or temporal) meaning to add.

> Honum var allt illa gefit, er honum var sjálfrátt.
> To him was everything badly given [he was bady disposed towards
> everything?], when [it] was easy for him [he had the chance]

Yes, I think so, Honum var allt illa gefit "he was badly disposed to everthing, he was a bad lot, utterly inclined towards doing evil" (cf. Zoega gefa (6) e-m er e-t svá gefit "s-one is so disposed towards something").  In Göngu-Hrólfs saga 19, Paul Edwards and Hermann Pálsson translate the same phrase "wicked through and through".  In Hrólfs saga kraka, Elg-Fróði´s comment "Mér eru allir hlutir illa gefnir", has been rendered more literally by Jesse Byock (to me everything is ill-given) and Gwyn Jones (everything given me is ill-given) and interpreted rather differently by W Bryant Bachman and Guðmundur Erlingsson (evil is fated for me).  But as Patricia has pointed out to me, "ill-given" does actually exist in archaic Modern English (esp. Scots, according to the OED) with this meaning of being malevolant and inclined towards evil.  Typing illa gefið into Google produces lots of modern examples which suggest the meaning "inclined towards badness".

Ég hef heyrt að aðeins illa gefið siðblint (immoral) fólk lendi í fangelsum.

Það er frekar vanþroskað (immature) og illa gefið fólk sem segir manni frá myndum sem að maður er ekki búinn að sjá.  (...although personally I always ask people what happens in a film, because I want to know if it´s worth watching...)

Does anyone out there have handy a translation of Króka-Refs saga or Sneglu-Halla Þáttr?  If so, it would be interesting to see how illa gefið is treated there.

> Ferr nú svá fram um nokkura tíma,
> [It] goes now so forward a certain time,
> at Sigurðr konungsson er heima hjá föður sínum í mikilli sæmd ok
> virðingu.
> that Sigurð [the] king's son is at home by his father in great honour
> and esteem.

Yes, or more idiomatically "It/things went on thus", "So it went on for a time."  I would be inclined to leave out "a certain" since it's actually not certain at all but a completely undefined and vague length of time.  "some" time might possibly suggest to me that it was "a long time".  But I wouldn't like to be dogmatic about that.  I seem to remember a question came up once before about undefined time periods, a while back, or was it some time ago (which oddly enough doesn't necessarily sound emphatic)...?  Oh, and see comments to Patricia about the combination svá...at.

> Einn tíma bað Sigurðr föður sinn at fá sér skip ok menn
> On one [particular] occasion, Sigurð asked his father to give him a ship
> and men

Grammatically skip could be singular or plural, of course.

> "ok Björn skal fara með þér," segir konungr, "en Illugi vil ek heima
> sé."
> "and Björn shall travel with you," says [the] king, "but Illugi I want
> to be [???] at home."

"to be", yes, or rather (same verb) "to stay"--present subjunctive, or optative as it's sometimes called from uses like this where it expresses a wish.  Compare "At vísu vil ek, at Illugi fari."

> "því at hann er hverjum kappa meiri ok bilar aldri í stríði.
> "because he is than [???] every champion greater and yields never in
> adversity.

Yes, comparison can be expressed either with en "than", as in English, or with the dative and reversed word order, as here.  Cf. sólu fegri, gulli betra "fairer than the sun, better than gold".

> "Er hann ok ekki reyndr," segir hún, "vilda ek ok ekki heldr,
> "He is also not experienced," says she, "I wanted also not moreover,
> at Björn brygði honum því,
> that Björn reproaches[bregða] him with that,
> at hann þyrði ekki at berjast með þér í orrostu."
> that he dares not to fight alongside you in battle."

Yup, I reckon so.  This is where I came unstuck at first, but I think you've got it.  More colloquially maybe: "but then, (on the other hand), I wouldn't want Björn to...", or "still,...", or "mind you,..."

> Lýkr Hildr svá máli, en konungsson ferr heim til hallar ok er mjök
> óglaðr.
> Hild concludes so [the] speech [???] but the king's son goes back to
> [the] hall and is very gloomy.

I think so.  "Finishes talking."  Or "ends the conversation"?  Or could it even be "concludes the matter"?  In as much as these can be distinguished, and I'm not really sure they can be, I would guess that she just finishes what she has to say.  Excellent and very careful translation, anyway.  If I haven´t mentioned anything, assume I agree.  As you´ve been as literal as possible, I´ve occasionally suggested a more idiomatic alternative, just as I´ve offered more literal alternatives occasionally for others, more in the interests of exploration than criticism--hope that works for everyone...

Llama Nom