It is frustrating sometimes to more or less get the words, but not the
meaning! Are they hanging with their knees over the poles or hanging
entirely by their tendons or are they upside down at all?

Grace



Þá taka þeir Hrafnkel ok hans menn ok bundu hendr þeira
Then they take H. and his men and bound their hands



á bak aptr. Eptir þat brutu þeir upp útibúrit ok tóku reip ofan
behind (their) back. After that they broke open the shed and removed (tóku
ofan- Gordon) rope



ór krókum, taka síðan knífa sína ok stinga raufar á hásinum
from (the ) hook, take knives afterwards and stab holes by their (Achilles?)
tendons



þeira ok draga þar í reipin ok kasta þeim svá upp yfir ásinn ok
and haul there on the rope and cast them so up over the pole and



575 binda þá svá átta saman.
bind it so eight (are) together.



Þá mælti Þorgeirr: 'Svá er komit nú kosti yðrum, Hrafnkell,
Then spoke Þorgeirr, "So (it) is come now your choice, H.,



sem makligt er, ok mundi þér þykkja þetta ólíkligt, at þú
as deserved is, and you remember to think this probable (?), that you



mundir slíka skömm fá af nökkurum manni, sem nú er orðit.
remember such shame suffer(ed) from any man, as now is happening.



Eða hvárt viltu, Þorkell, nú gera: at sitja hér hjá Hrafnkeli ok
But what do you wish, Þorkell, now to do, that here (you?)sit beside H. and



580 gæta þeira, eða viltu fara með Sámi ór garði á brott í örskotshelgi
watch them, or do you wish to go with Sam away from the farmyard into
sanctuary



við boeinn ok heyja féránsdóm á grjóthól nökkurum, þar sem
within arrow-shot of home and perform a court of confiscation on any rocky
knoll, there as

hvárki er akr né eng?'
(there is?) neither field nor meadow?"



Þetta skyldi í þann tíma gera, er sól væri í fullu suðri.
That should in time happen, when the sun would be full in (the) south.



Þorkell sagði: 'Ek vil hér sitja hjá Hrafnkeli. Sýnisk mér
Þorkell said, "I will sit here beside H. It seems to me this (is)

585 þetta starfaminna.'
less work.

Þeir Þorgeirr ok Sámr fóru þá ok háðu féránsdóm, ganga
They, Þorgeirr and Sam, went then and performed the court of confiscation,
go



heim eptir þat ok tóku Hrafnkel ofan ok hans menn ok settu
home after it and took H. and his men down and set



þá niðr í túninu, ok var sigit blóð fyrir augu þeim.
it below in the home meadow, and blood was sinking down before (their) eyes
for them.

(this is where I got the idea they had been hanging upside down)



Þá mælti Þorgeirr til Sáms, at hann skyldi gera við Hrafnkel
Then Þorgeirr spoke to Sam, that he should do with H.



590 slíkt, sem hann vildi, -- 'því at mér sýnisk nú óvandleikit við
such as he he wished, " because (it) seems to me now not difficult with

hann.'
him."


Fred and Grace Hatton
Hawley Pa