> Síðan lætur konungur fá þeim hesta til reiðar en hann
> setur menn til að búa um skip þeirra og annast varnað þann
> er þeir áttu.

> Then (the) king lets them take horses to ride and he
> appoints men to make ready their ship and provides for
> that keeping that they had.

> Afterwards (the) king has horses given them to ride and he
> sets men to see to their ship and care for those wares
> which they had.

> After-that (the) king causes to get for them horses for
> riding but (and) he appoints (see setja, Z6) men to lay up
> their ship and to take care of those wares which they had.

I'd go with Grace's 'see to their ship'; 'lay up' would be
<setja upp>.

> En þó brá fóstru Melkorku mest við þessi tíðindi, er þá lá
> í kör og sótti bæði að stríð og elli.

> But nevertheless Melkorka's foster-female-relation
> wondered most at this news, who then lay bedridden and
> both suffering and old-age attacked (her).

> And indeed Melkorka's nurse, who lay bedridden and sick
> both from affliction and age, was astonished most at these
> tidings.

> But (it) nevertheless most startled (affected, see e-m
> bregð við e-t, bregða, Z9) the nurse (see Brian’s earlier
> comment) of Melkorka by this news who then lay in (her)
> sick-bed and affliction and old-age both attacked (her).

In this case <stríð> might well be 'grief' (that she still
feels owing to Melkorka's abduction).

> Rak konungur af sér þann vetur víkinga og úthlaupsmenn.

> (The) king drove away (does this form of the verb also
> include the idea of "was driving away"?) from him that
> winter vikings and raiders.

You're asking whether the ON simple past tense includes the
sense that we express in English by the progressive past
tense? It seems to me that I've seen instances that I'd
translate with the past progressive, but I don't think that
you need to do so here: it's not so much that he was driving
them away as that he drove them away repeatedly.

> (The) king himself? drove off harriers and raiders that
> winter.

'(The) king himself' would be <konungr sjálfr>.

> (The) king drove from himself (repelled) that winter
> vikings and raiders.


> Konungur hafði þá tal við Ólaf og hans félaga og alla
> ráðagerð því að honum reyndist Ólafur bæði vitur og
> framgjarn í öllum mannraunum.

> (The) king had then talked with (literally, had a talk
> with) Olaf and his comrades and all plans because Olaf
> proved to be both wise and eager in all perils.

> (The) king had then a discussion with Olaf and his
> comrades and (about) all plans because to him Olaf proved
> himself both wise and eager in all adversity.

> (The) king then had talks with Ólafr and his companions
> and (on?) all decisions because Ólafr proved to be both
> wise and eager in all trials-of-human-character (of
> courage).

CV is useful here: it seems that <ráðagerð> can also be 'a
taking counsel', so it's probably to be read as <Konungr
hafði þá tal ... ok (hafði) alla ráðagerð> '... and had all
taking-of-counsel'. In this case I think that one just
about has to translate the idea rather than the ON
construction.

> En að áliðnum vetri stefndi konungur þing og varð
> allfjölmennt.

> And at consideration winter (the) king summoned a Thing
> and (it) was attended-in-great-numbers.

Old <t> can become modern <ð>, so guessing that <áliðnum> is
from Zoëga's <álit> isn't unreasonable. However, that would
produce dative singular <álitinum> or dative plural
<álitunum>, not <álitnum>. If you're lucky, you stumble
upon <at áliðnum vetri> 'towards the end of the winter' in
Zoëga s.v. <líða> (6). If not, you might notice the
participial adjective <áliðinn> 'far-spent' (of time) in CV.
This would be the past participle of a strong verb <álíða>,
which has no entry. However, the existence of <á> as a
preposition suggests that this may be a compound verb,
perhaps meaning something like <líða á>; and sure enough,
Zoëga glosses <líðr á e-t> as 'the time draws to a close'
and follows this almost immediately with the <at áliðnum
vetri> entry. (What's going on is that the participial
adjective is being treated as a noun, 'the far-spent-ness',
'the drawing-to-a-close'.)

> And with the passing of winter (the) king summoned a Thing
> and (it) became well attended.

> But in late winter (the) king assembled a Thing and (it)
> was attended-by-many-people.


> Hann hóf svo mál sitt: "Það er yður kunnigt að hér kom sá
> maður í fyrra haust er dótturson minn er en þó stórættaður
> í föðurkyn.

> He began his speech thus: "That is known to-you that (to)
> here came such a man before this autumn who is my grandson
> who and yet high-born in-regard-to (his) father's-kin. (Z.
> hefja 3 - h. mál sitt, to begin one's speech)

> He began his speech so, "It is known to you that that man
> came here in (the) previous fall who is my daughter's son,
> and indeed of noble ancestry on the father's side.

> He begain his speech so: ‘That is known to you that here
> came that man in the autumn before last who is my
> daughter’s-son but evenso highly-born through (his)
> father’s-kin.

I think that it has to be 'last autumn': Ólaf has been there
only the one winter.

Brian