THE SCENE: Thorolf Lame-foot was known as an evil man who may have even dabbled in black magic. So when he died, his son Arnkel took extraordinary measures to prevent Thorolf from cursing anyone from beyond the grave – including breaking down the wall of his house – but all to no avail. (Passage 1/3)
THE TEXT: Thorolf Lame-foot arrived home in the evening and did not speak to anyone. He sat down in his high seat and did not eat anything all evening. He sat there after everyone else had gone to bed. In the morning when they got up, Thorolf was still sitting there and he was dead.
The mistress of the house sent a messenger to Arnkel to advise him of Thorolf’s death. Arnkel rode over to Hvamm with some of his men. When they arrived at Hvamm, Arnkel made sure that his father was dead, sitting there in the high seat, but everyone else was terrified because his death seemed to them so unpleasant. Then Arnkel went into the fire room, and walked up along the benches behind Thorolf. He told everyone to beware of walking in front of him until his eyes had been closed. Then Arnkel took hold of Thorolf’s head and prepared his body according to the customs of the time. After that he had the wall behind him broken down to drag the body outside. Oxen were harnessed to a sled on which Thorolf’s corpse was laid, which was then driven into Thorsardal, but not without a lot of effort, until he was brought to the place where he was to be buried. They buried Thorolf in a strongly built cairn. After that Arnkel rode home to Hvamm and claimed as his own all the property and possessions his father had owned.
After the death of Thorolf Lame-foot, it seemed to many people worse to be out of doors once the sun went down. As the summer passed, they became aware that Thorolf was not resting in peace. People could never go outside in peace once the sun had set. As well as that, the oxen that had hauled Thorolf to his grave had been ridden by trolls, and all livestock which came anywhere near Thorolf’s cairn ran wild and bellowed themselves to death. The shepherd at Hvamm often came running home because Thorolf had chased him.
– The Saga of the People of Eyri, 13th Century AD
