THE SCENE: Gunnar, Kolskegg, and Hjort hold their own against a far larger group in this bloody description of a medieval ambush.
THE TEXT: Thereupon Starkad urged his men on and they advanced upon the three on the headland. Sigurd Swinehead was foremost, in one hand he had a small round shield and in the other a hunting spear, Gunnar saw him and shot an arrow at him. Sigurd quickly raised his shield when he saw the arrow coming toward him, but the arrow pierced the shield, entered his eye, and came out at the back of his neck. He was thus the first man slain. Gunnar shot his second arrow at Ulthedin, one of Starkad’s overseers. The arrow pierced the middle of his body, so that he fell at the feet of a householder, and the householder on top of him. Kolskegg hurled a stone and struck the householder on the head, so that he, too, was killed.
Then Starkad said: ‘We’ll accomplish nothing as long as Gunnar can use his bow. Let us advance bravely and briskly against him!” Then each one urged on the other. Gunnar defended himself with his bow and arrows as long as he could. Then he threw them down and took his halberd and sword and fought with both hands. It was a very bitter struggle, and Gunnar and Kolskegg slew a large number of men. Then Thorgeir Starkadarson said: ‘I promised to come home to Hildigunn with your head, Gunnar!’
‘She will not place such a great value on that,’ answered Gunnar; ‘still you will have to come closer if you want to get it!’ Thorgeir said to his brothers: ‘Let us all rush up and attack him at once! He has no shield and his fate will thus rest in our hands!’ Bork and Thorkel leaped forward and they were even quicker than Thorgeir. Bork struck at Gunnar with his sword, but Gunnar parried with his halberd with such force that the sword flew out of Bork’s hand. At that moment he saw Thorkel standing ready to cut at him from the other side. Gunnar stood with one leg bent. He brandished his sword and crashed it down on Thorkel’s neck so that his head flew off.
Then Kol Egilsson said: ‘Let me get at Kolskegg! I have always said that we two would be equally matched in battle!’
‘That we can find out right now!’ said Kolskegg.
Kol hurled his spear at him. Kolskegg had just slain a man and was so occupied that he did not have time to raise his shield in defence, and thus the spear struck the outside of his thigh and pierced the limb. Kolskegg turned around quickly, rushed at Kol, struck him on the thigh with his short-sword, and cut off his leg. ‘Well, did I hit you or not?’ asked Kolskegg.
‘That comes from not being covered with my shield,’ said Kol, and stood for a while looking at the stump.
Kolskegg said: ‘No need to look! It’s just as you thought; the leg is off!’ Then Kol fell dead to the ground.
When Egil saw that he rushed at Gunnar and levelled a blow at slain. Gunnar thrust at him with his halberd and drove it through his middle, then lifted him up on the halberd and threw him into the river.
Then Starkad said: ‘You are a miserable wretch, Norwegian Thórir, to stand by, doing nothing! Egil, your host and father-in-law, has been slain!’
Then the Norwegian in a rage jumped into the fray. Hjort had already killed two men. Now the Norwegian rushed at him and struck him on the breast, so that Hjort fell dead at once.
Gunnar saw this and quickly struck at the Norwegian and cut him in two at the waist. Shortly after that he thrust at Bork with his halberd. It struck him in the middle, came out through him, and lodged in the ground. Then Kolskegg cut off Hauk Egilsson’s head and Gunnar lopped off Ottar’s arm at the elbow.
Then Starkad said: ‘Let us flee now; we are fighting trolls, not men!’
Gunnar said: ‘It will be hard for you to prove that you have been in a battle if you don’t bear some marks of it.’ And with that he ran at them, inflicting wounds on both father and son.
That was the end of it. Gunnar and his brothers had also wounded many who managed to escape. Fourteen lost their lives in this fight, and Hjort was the fifteenth. Gunnar carried Hjort home on his shield, and he was buried in a cairn. Many men mourned his death, for he had been loved by all.
Starkad came home, and Hildigunn dressed his wounds as well as Thorgeir’s and said: ‘It would have been well for you two if you had not run afoul of Gunnar.
‘Indeed it would have been,’ he answered.
– Njal’s Saga, 13th Century AD
