Njall 139 part 3 / Alan's Comment

Grace, Brian

Re: Fár bregður hinu betra ef hann veit hið verra

My reading of it was that Asgrim was saying that:

(A) few (people) (ie some, not necessarily everyone) disregard (or ignore) (the) good (things that a person does) if he knows (or is aware of) (the) worse (things that a person does.)

or, briefly, there are a few who only see the bad and ignore the good

and Asgrim is accusing Skapti of being one of those people. In other words, the statement is not really “proverbial” as MM&HP seemed to have made it by turning it around.

Cheers

Alan