> þeir stóðu til sinnar handar hvor Víga-Hrappur og Grani Gunnarsson
> they stood to his side (on each hand/side) each (of the two)

Slayer-Hrapp and Grani Gunnar's-son


Yes, "they stood on either side of him", "one on each side".
Incidentally, I don't know if this word-order rule holds good for Old
Icelandic, but Stefán Einarsson has a handy pair of Modern Icelandic
expamples:

Björn og Jón tóku sinn hestinn hvor.
"Björn and Jón took each a horse."

Björn og Jón tóku hvor sinn hest.
"Björn and Jón took each his horse."

> þá hver að hendi

"Then each in turn", "one after another" (i.e. all stood there in a
row, all the others who aren't important enough to have their names
listed).

> þá Grímur, þá Helgi. En er þeir koma að dyrunum féllust þeim allar

kveðjur er fyrir voru.

> then Grím, then Helgi. But when they come to the door, all greetings

were-killed (suppressed?) from those who were before (them, ie present))


This is Zoega's 'falla(ast)' (7) "to fail, be foiled". CV cites this
very example, translating it "their greeting faltered, i.e. the
greeting died on their lips."

http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0140.png

> Þá mælti Hrappur: "Þar gerði nú gæfumuninn er sá hlaut skellinn er

skyldi og dró yður undir hrakningina en oss undan."

> Then Hrapp spoke: `There (it) now made (manifest) the

difference-in-luck when this-one suffered the slap who should
(deserved it) and drew you under the insult but (drew) us away. (draga
undir, you came in for hard usage and we escaped (Z10))'


Note that 'dró' is impersonal according to Zoega. I can't find this
example of 'gerði' in CV, but it seems most like D. IMPERS. - although
that's mostly weather and involuntary states happening or arising or
coming on [
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0225.png ]. Does
anyone have any similar examples?

As for the whole thing, maybe we could paraphrase as: "There was a
difference in luck there, I say. The one who deserved it got the slap.
You got a hard time of it, but we got away." (Or with a semicolon
after "I say" maybe.)

I'm not entirely sure about this, but I think it could be read
literally as 'þar ... er' "where". Granted you could also read it as
"when" and it would make good enough sense... But I think that's
because the 'er' clause is quite loosely connected to the main clause,
hence my suggestion of splitting it into separate sentences in an
idiomatic English translation. Compare the following example which
Faarlund introduces with "Finally, the relative clause may have a very
loose connection with the matrix clause" (10.1.4, p. 261).
Coincidentally, "where" works quite well there in a more idiomatic
English translation, even though the antecedent of the first relative
particle 'er' is actually 'sá':

(39) Hvílík er sá skírn, er sá er skírnarbrunni heinni, er skírðr er.

Lit. "What is that baptism like, which he is cleaner than the font,
who is baptised."

More idiomatically: "What kind of baptism is that WHERE the person who
is baptised is cleaner that the font."

> "Lítil var það gæfa," segir Helgi "að bregða trúnaði sínum við jarl

en taka þig við."

> 'Little was that good-luck,' says Helgi `(for one) to break one's

faith with (the) earl and to take you on (receive you).'


Yes, I think that's right. For this indefinite use of the reflexive,
compare 'sér' in the following example from Skáldskaparmál:

[...] en Skíðblaðnir hafði byr, þegar er segl kom á loft, hvert er
fara skyldi, en mátti vefja saman sem dúk ok hafa í pungi sér, ef þat
vildi.

"[...] but Sk. had a fair wind for sailing as soon as its sail was
hoisted, wherever one had to go, and it could be folded up like a
napkin and kept in one's pocket, if one wanted [to do] that."