Thanks, Brian. This last section seemed unusually fraught with gramatic
perils.
Grace

> Skyldu endarnir torfunnar vera fastir í vellinum en sá
> maður er skírsluna skyldi fram flytja skyldi þar ganga
> undir.

> The ends of the turf should be firmly in the grounds
> and/but such a man is put-to-the-test should perform
> should there undergo.

> The ends of the turfs should be attached in the field and
> that man who should perform the ordeal should go there
> beneath.

> The ends of the turf (sod) should be sticking-fast in
> the-ground but that man who should undertake (undergo,
> flytja fram?) the ordeal should creep under there
> (literally under-go!).

No creeping is involved: apparently the turf is cut in a
semi-circular strip whose ends are left attached to the
ground, the strip is then raised up in an arch, and the
person undergoing the ordeal tries to walk under the arch
without collapsing it.

> Þorkell trefill grunar nokkuð hvort þannig mun farið hafa
> um líflát manna sem þeir Guðmundur höfðu sagt hið síðara
> sinni.

> Thorkell Tatter suspects somewhat whether that way will
> have gone about people's loss-of-life as Gudmund had
> himself said earlier.

> Thorkell tatters suspects something how thus will have
> gone concerning (the) people's loss of life as Gudmund had
> said the later time.

> Þorkell Rag doubted somewhat whether (it) will have gone
> thus concerning (the) death(s) of people as they (he and )
> Guðmundr had said the latter time (most recently?) .

Recall that Guðmundr had told a different story before
Þorkell got to him; 'the later time' refers to the jointly
arranged version.

The point is that Þorkell isn't at all sure that the account
that he arranged with Guðmundr is correct, and since (as we
see in the next sentence) he takes the ordeal seriously,
he's not sure that he can pass it. That's why arranges to
cheat.

> Ekki þóttust heiðnir menn minna eiga í ábyrgð þá er slíka
> hluti skyldi fremja en nú þykjast eiga kristnir menn þá er
> skírslur eru gervar.

> It was not thought (by) heathen men (to) remind (to) have
> responsibility then is such position should practice but
> now it is thought (to) have Christian men then which
> ordeals were accomplished.

> Heathen men did not think (themselves) less obliged in
> responsibility then when such conditions should be
> performed than now Christian people think themselves to be
> obliged when ordeals are done.

> Heathen people bethought-themselves not less to have
> responsibility, those who should practice (fremja) such
> things than now(adays) those Christian people who are put
> to ordeals (tests) bethink-themselves to have.

Grace is correct in seeing <þá er> as 'when', but it's not
passive: <fremja> is the 3rd person plural present active,
with <heiðnir menn> the implied subject. <Slíka hluti> is,
as you say, an accusative plural, 'such things', so it's
'when [they] should practise such things'.

> Þorkell gerði ráð við tvo menn að þeir skyldu sig láta á
> skilja um einnhvern hlut og vera þar nær staddir þá er
> skírslan væri frömd og koma við torfuna svo mjög að allir
> sæju að þeir felldu hana.

> Thorkell made an agreement with two men that they should
> place themselves at division around some lot and be there
> near placed then when the ordeal would be (frömd?) and
> strike the turf so much that all would say that they made
> it fall.

> Thorkell made a plan with two men that they should let
> themselves be convinced of ?? concerning a certain point
> and be positioned there near then where (the) ordeal was
> to be performed and bring (down) the turf so powerfully
> that all see that they knocked it down.

> Þorkell devised a plan with two men that they should cause
> themselves disagree (?) about some thing and (but) be
> situated (placed) near there when the ordeal (test) was
> performed (fremja) and to come against (ie knock) the turf
> (sod) (ie accidentally on purpose) so much (ie just
> enough) that everyone would-see that they made it fall
> (fella).

I think that <láta sik> here is pretty much equivalent to
<látask> in the sense 'to pretend': 'that they should
pretend to disagree about something and be situated near
there when the ordeal ...'. (I don't see any reason to
interpret this 'and' as 'but'.)

Rob & Grace: Note that <sæju> is subjunctive, hence Alan's
'would-see'.

> Eftir þetta ræður sá til er skírsluna skyldi af höndum
> inna og jafnskjótt sem hann var kominn undir jarðarmenið
> hlaupast þessir menn að mót með vopnum sem til þess voru
> settir, mætast þeir hjá torfubugnum og liggja þar fallnir
> og fellur ofan jarðarmenið sem von var.

> After this plans that to which the ordeal should of him
> perform and as soon as he was/had come under the turf
> these men attack each other with weapons as if that were
> (settir?), they meet-one-another near (torfubugnum =
> curved turf?) and lie there fallen and (cause to) fall
> down the turf as destroyed was.

> After that plan was seen to when the ordeal should be
> performed on (his) behalf and just as quickly as he had
> come beneath the turfs these men attacked each other with
> weapons as was arranged for this, they placed themselves
> near the turf pile and lie there fallen and down fell the
> turf as was custom.

> After this, that-one (ie he) sets about (it) (see ráða
> til, Z16), who should perform the-ordeal (test) on behalf
> (of everyone?) and as soon as he was (had) come under
> the-sod, these men attackagainst each other with weapons
> as (they) were appointed for that, they met-each-other by
> the-turf-bow (turf-arch?) and lie there fallen and the-sod
> falls down as was (the) expectation.

CV s.v. <hönd> (B.I) has <inna af höndum> 'to discharge, pay
off'; the singular variant, <af hendi>, can be seen in
Zoëga's first citation s.v. <inna>. 'After this, he who
should discharge the ritual sets about [it], ... .' It is
indeed an arch of turf; see above. <Sem ván var> is
probably best translated here (and in most cases, in my
experience) as 'as was to be expected'.

> Mæltu nú allir hans menn að vel mundi hlýtt hafa ef engir
> hefðu spillt.

> All his men spoke now that well would have gotten if
> no-one had spoiled (it).

'Gotten' suggests that you were looking at <hljóta>, but
that has <hlýt>, not <hlýtt>, and not as the past participle
that's needed here with <hafa>. This is the neuter pp. of
<hlýða>.

> Now all his men said that well would it have turned out if
> no one had spoiled (it).

> All his men now spoke that (he) would have done (hlýða,
> Z3?) well if none had spoiled (it).

<Hlýða> (Z3), yes, but I think that Grace is right in seeing
the unexpressed subject as 'it', and I agree with her
interpretation. An example in CV shows that <hlýða> by
itself can mean 'to go off well'; presumably the <vel> here
simply emphasizes this.

> Síðan tók Þorkell lausafé allt en löndin leggjast upp á
> Hrappsstöðum.

> Then Thorkell took all (his) movable-property but the land
> (that) lay up at Hrappsstad.

> Afterwards Thorkell took all the portable wealth but the
> land at Hrapp's stead lies neglected.

> After-that Þorkell took (received) all (the) loose (ie
> moveable)-property (but) the lands passed-out-of-use (,
> became derelict? see leggjast, Z15) upp at Hrappstaðir.

Grace has the tense right: <leggjast> is present tense. (I
believe that the corresponding past would be <lagðust>.)

Rob & Grace: 'the land' would be <landit> (or in this modern
version <landið>); both the vowel mutation and the <-in>
show that we have the plural here.

Brian
Fred and Grace Hatton
Hawley Pa