THE SCENE: When the killers came for Bolli, everyone knew that there was only one way that things were going to go, including his ice-cold wife Gudrun.
THE TEXT: Bolli recognized Halldor by his voice, and several of his companions. He told Gudrun to go away from the shieling, saying that this was not an encounter she would be likely to enjoy. Gudrun said she thought that nothing would happen there which she should not be allowed to watch, and added that it could do Bolli no harm to have her by his side. Bolli insisted on having his own way, however, and so Gudrun left the shieling; she went down the slope to the stream that flowed there, and began washing her linen.
[…Bolli is killed…]
Gudrun now came walking up from the stream and went over to talk to Halldor and the others. She asked them how their encounter with Bolli had gone. They told her what had happened. Gudrun was wearing a tunic with a tight-fitting woven bodice, and a tall head-dress, and round her waist she had tied a fringed sash with dark blue stripes.
Helgi Harbeinsson went up to her and took one end of the sash and wiped the blood off the spear with which he had run Bolli through.
Gudrun looked at him, and smiled.
“That was an evil and cruel thing to do,” said Halldor.
Helgi told him not to grieve over it – “For I have the feeling,” he said, “that under this very sash lies the one who will take my life.”
With that they took to their horses and rode away. Gudrun accompanied them on foot for a while, talking to them, and then she turned back.
– Laxdaela Saga, 13th Century AD
