© Gunnar Tómasson

8. október 2016

Fall Gunnars á Hlíðarenda – Slaying of Gunnarr¹

(Njála, 77. k. – M)

1725221

  15174 = Gunnarr vaknaði í skálanum ok mælti:

15145 =  „Sárt ertú leikinn, Sámr fóstri,

21232 = ok mun svá til ætlat, at skammt skyli okkar í meðal.”

24723 = Skáli Gunnars var görr af viði einum ok súðþakiðr utan

23385 = ok gluggar hjá brúnásunum ok snúin þar fyrir speld.

27283 = Gunnarr svaf í lopti einu í skálanum ok Hallgerðr ok móðir hans.

29123 = Þá er þeir kómu at, vissu þeir eigi, hvárt Gunnarr myndi heima vera,

21066 = ok báðu, at einn hverr mundi fara ok forvitnask um,

14751 = en þeir settusk niðr á völlinn.

16812 = Þorgrímr Austmaðr gekk upp á skálann;

21823 = Gunnarr sér, at rauðan kyrtil berr við glugginum,

15378 = ok leggr út með atgeirinum á hann miðjan.

32502 = Austmanninum varð lauss skjöldrinn, ok spruttu honum fætrnir,

12094 = ok hrataði hann ofan af þekjunni,

24456 = gengr síðan at þeim Gizuri, þar er þeir sátu á vellinum;

15014 = Gizurr leit við honum ok mælti:

9962 = „Hvárt er Gunnarr heima?”

8971 = Þorgrímr svarar:

24211 = „Vitið þér þat, en hitt vissa ek, at atgeirr hans var heima.”

9629 = Síðan fell hann niðr dauðr.

13970 = Þeir sóttu þá at húsunum.

22003 = Gunnarr skaut út örum at þeim ok varðisk vel,

11052 = ok gátu þeir ekki at gört.

23040 = Þá hljópu sumir á húsin inn ok ætluðu þaðan at sækja.

27320 = Gunnarr kom þangat at þeim örunum, ok gátu þeir ekki at gört,

9852 = ok fór svá fram um hríð.

19404 = Þeir tóku hvíld ok sóttu at í annat sinn;

15145 = Gunnarr skaut enn út örunum,

23790 = ok gátu þeir enn ekki at gört ok hrukku frá í annat sinn.

11224 = Þá mælti Gizurr hvíti:

14051 = „Sækjum at betr, ekki verðr af oss.”

20174 = Gerðu þeir þá hríð ina þriðju ok váru við lengi;

12568 = eptir þat hrukku þeir frá.

6822 = Gunnarr mælti:

12380 = „Ör liggr þar úti á vegginum,

24081 = ok er sú af þeira örum, ok skal ek þeiri skjóta til þeira;

20250 = er þeim þat skömm, ef þeir fá geig af vápnum sínum.”

7282 = Móðir hans mælti:

16421 = „Ger þú eigi þat, at þú vekir nú við þá,

10041 = er þeir hafa áðr frá horfit.”

18078 = Gunnarr þreif örina ok skaut til þeira,

19710 = ok kom á Eilíf Önundarson, ok fekk hann af sár mikit;

26894 = hann hafði staðit einn saman, ok vissu þeir eigi, at hann var særðr.

7170 = „Hönd kom þar út,”

7130 = segir Gizurr,

19502 = „ok var á gullhringr, ok tók ör, er lá á þekjunni;

20893 = ok mundi eigi út leitat viðfanga, ef gnógt væri inni,

11512 = ok skulu vér nú sækja at.”

5764 = Mörðr mælti:

8825 = „Brennu vér hann inni.”

8185 = „Þat skal verða aldri,”

7130 = segir Gizurr,

14252 = „þó at ek vita, at líf mitt liggi við.

18709 = Er þér sjálfrátt at leggja til ráð þau, er dugi,

14585 = svá slægr maðr sem þú ert kallaðr.”

28171 = Strengir lágu á vellinum ok váru hafðir til at festa með hús jafnan.

5764 = Mörðr mælti:

17770 = „Töku vér strengina ok berum um ásendana,

20803 = en festum aðra endana um steina ok snúum í vindása

13115 = ok vindum af ræfrit af skálanum.”

22664 = Þeir tóku strengina ok veittu þessa umbúð alla,

29260 = ok fann Gunnarr eigi fyrr en þeir höfðu undit allt ræfrit af skálanum.

26749 = Gunnarr skýtr þá af boganum, svá at þeir komask aldri at honum.

25100 = Þá mælti Mörðr í annat sinn, at þeir myndi brenna Gunnar inni.

8068 = Gizurr svarar:

13948 = „Eigi veit ek, hví þú vill þat mæla,

17271 = er engi vill annarra, ok skal þat aldri verða.”

8026 = „Líf mitt liggr við,”

4282 = segir hann,

16565 = „því at þeir munu mik aldri fá sóttan,

8366 = meðan ek kem boganum við.”

5113 = „Þá skal ek nú,”

4300 = segir hon,

16209 =„muna þér kinnhestinn, ok hirði ek aldri,

15539 = hvárt þú verr þik lengr eða skemr.”

16910 = „Hefir hverr til síns ágætis nökkut,”

6822 = segir Gunnarr,

12562 = „ok skal þik þessa eigi lengi biðja.”

6654 = Rannveig mælti:

18599 = „Illa ferr þér, ok mun þín skömm lengi uppi.”

26888 = Í þessu bili hleypr upp á þekjuna Þorbrandr Þorleiksson

18202 = ok höggr í sundr bogastrenginn Gunnars.

29698 = Gunnarr þrífr báðum höndum atgeirinn ok snýsk at honum skjótt

22585 = ok rekr í gegnum hann ok kastar honum út af þekjunni.

14535 = Þá hljóp upp Ásbrandr, bróðir hans;

27194 = Gunnarr leggr til hans atgeirinum, ok kom hann skildi fyrir sik;

23541 = atgeirrinn renndi í gegnum skjöldinn ok í meðal handleggjanna;

24210 = snaraði Gunnarr þá atgeirinn, svá at skjöldrinn klofnaði,

22679 = en brotnuðu handleggirnir, ok fell hann út af þekjunni.

18438 = Áðr hafði Gunnarr særða átta menn, en vegit tvá;

20428 = þá fekk Gunnarr sár tvau, ok segja þat allir menn,

16574 = at hann brygði sér hvárki við sár né við bana.

10084 = Hann mælti til Hallgerðar:

12107 = „Fá mér leppa tvá ór hári þínu,

21383 = ok snúið þið móðir mín saman til bogastrengs mér.”

9970 = „Liggr þér nökkut við?”

4300 = segir hon.

8026 = „Líf mitt liggur við,”

4282 = segir hann,

16565 = „því at þeir munu mik aldri fá sóttan,

8366 = meðan ek kem boganum við.”

5113 = „Þá skal ek nú,”

4300 = segir hon,

16209 =„muna þér kinnhestinn, ok hirði ek aldri,

15539 = hvárt þú verr þik lengr eða skemr.”

16910 = „Hefir hverr til síns ágætis nökkut,”

6822 = segir Gunnarr,

12562 = „ok skal þik þessa eigi lengi biðja.”

6654 = Rannveig mælti:

18599 = „Illa ferr þér, ok mun þín skömm lengi uppi.”

25915 = Gunnarr varði sik vel ok fræknliga ok særir nú aðra átta menn

17832 = svá stórum sárum, at mörgum lá við bana.

18393 = Gunnarr verr sik, þar til er hann fell af mæði.

20083 = Þeir særðu hann þá mörgum stórum sárum,

16245 = en þó komsk hann þá enn ór höndum þeim

    23364 = ok varði sik þá enn lengi, en þó kom þar, at þeir drápu hann.

1725221

II + III = 1529523 + 195698 = 11725221

II. Sweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were

To see thee in our waters yet appeare.

(Ben Jonson, First folio, 1623)

1529523

    11150 = To the memory of my beloved,

5329 = The AVTHOR

10685 = MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

867 = AND

9407 = what he hath left us.

17316 = To draw no envy (Shakespeare) on thy name,

13629 = Am I thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame:

20670 = While I confesse thy writings to be such,

19164 = As neither Man, nor Muse, can praise too much.

21369 = ‘Tis true, and all mens suffrage. But these wayes

20516 = Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise;

17686 = For seeliest Ignorance on these may light,

23213 = Which, when it sounds at best, but eccho’s right;

17565 = Or blinde Affection, which doth ne’re advance

19375 = The truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance;

18692 = Or crafty Malice, might pretend this praise,

19456 = And thinke to ruine, where it seem’d to raise.

18294 = These are, as some infamous Baud, or Whore,

23199 = Should praise a Matron: – What could hurt her more?

18170 = But thou art proofe against them, and indeed

16465 = Above th’ill fortune of them, or the need.

16324 = I, therefore, will begin. Soule of the Age!

20370 = The applause! delight! the wonder of our Stage!

18434 = My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee by

16611 = Chaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lye

15597 = A little further, to make thee a roome:

17952 = Thou art a Moniment, without a tombe,

19673 = And art alive still, while thy Booke doth live,

19194 = And we have wits to read, and praise to give.

18259 = That I not mixe thee so, my braine excuses, –

22232 = I meane with great, but disproportion’d Muses;

19760 = For if I thought my judgement were of yeeres,

21584 = I should commit thee surely with thy peeres,

23104 = And tell, how farre thou didst our Lily out-shine,

19727 = Or sporting Kid, or Marlowes mighty line.

21016 = And though thou hadst small Latine, and lesse Greeke,

21296 = From thence to honour thee, I would not seeke

20635 = For names; but call forth thund’ring Æschilus,

14527 = Euripides, and Sophocles to us,

15939 = Paccuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead,

15425 = To life againe, to heare thy Buskin tread

19665 = And shake a Stage: Or, when thy Sockes were on,

14842 = Leave thee alone for the comparison

18781 = Of all that insolent Greece or haughtie Rome

20033 = Sent forth, or since did from their ashes come.

21540 = Triumph, my Britaine, thou hast one to showe

18910 = To whom all Scenes of Europe homage owe.

14789 = He was not of an age, but for all time!

19879 = And all the Muses still were in their prime,

17867 = When, like Apollo, he came forth to warme

16143 = Our eares, or like a Mercury to charme!

19768 = Nature her selfe was proud of his designes,

18609 = And joy’d to weare the dressing of his lines!

22712 = Which were so richly spun, and woven so fit,

20715 = As, since, she will vouchsafe no other Wit.

16006 = The merry Greeke, tart Aristophanes,

22701 = Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please;

12944 = But antiquated, and deserted lye,

15906 = As they were not of Natures family.

17575 = Yet must I not give Nature all; Thy Art,

16885 = My gentle Shakespeare, must enjoy a part:

17709 = For though the Poets matter, Nature be,

16202 = His Art doth give the fashion. And, that he,

24373 = Who casts to write a living line, must sweat

18045 = (such as thine are) and strike the second heat

17403 = Upon the Muses anvile: turne the same,

19618 = (And himselfe with it) that he thinkes to frame;

16266 = Or, for the lawrell, he may gaine a scorne,

15633 = For a good Poet’s made, as well as borne.

21914 = And such wert thou. Looke how the fathers face

15715 = Lives in his issue, even so, the race

20651 = Of Shakespeares minde and manners brightly shines

17328 = In his well torned and true-filed lines:

15712 = In each of which, he seemes to shake a Lance,

14757 = As brandish’t at the eyes of Ignorance.

21616 = Sweet Swan of Avon! what a sight it were

17318 = To see thee in our waters yet appeare,

19678 = And make those flights upon the bankes of Thames,

14184 = That so did take Eliza and our James!

15161 = But stay, I see thee in the Hemisphere

14530 = Advanc’d, and made a Constellation there!

22500 = Shine forth, thou Starre of Poets, and with rage

19541 = Or influence, chide or cheere the drooping Stage;

24007 = Which, since thy flight frō hence, hath mourn’d like night,

18824 = And despaires day, but for thy Volumes light.

      4692 = BEN: IONSON

1529523

III. Hagia Sophia – Sweet Swan of Avon – Ovid

  (Augustan-Saga-Shakespeare Myth. Metamorphoses)

195698

Divine Wisdom in Darkness

    4385 = Hagia Sophia

-1000 = Darkness

Shines Forth

  10805 = Sweet Swan of Avon

100 = THE END

And now the measure of my song is done

The work has reached its end; the book is mine

(Metamorphoses, Omega)

  20809 = Iamque opus exegi, quod nec Iovis ira nec ignis

20812 = nec poterit ferrum nec edax abolere vetustas.

23327 = Cum volet, illa dies, quae nil nisi corporis huius

18460 = ius habet, incerti spatium mihi finiat aevi:

19235 = parte tamen meliore mei super alta perennis

20738 = astra ferar, nomenque erit indelebile nostrum,

22001 = quaque patet domitis Romana potentia terris,

17657 = ore legar populi, perque omnia saecula fama,

  18369 = siquid habent veri vatum praesagia, vivam.*

195698

* And now the measure of my song is done:

The work has reached its end; the book is mine,

None shall unwrite these words: nor angry Jove,

Nor war, nor fire, nor flood,

Nor venomous time that eats our lives away.

Then let that morning come, as come it will,

When this disguise I carry shall be no more,

And all the treacherous years of life undone,

And yet my name shall rise to heavenly music,

The deathless music of the circling stars.

As long as Rome is the Eternal City

These lines shall echo from the lips of men,

As long as poetry speaks truth on earth,

That immortality is mine to wear.

(Transl. by Horace Gregory, Ovid – The Metamorphoses,

Mentor Books, 1960, p. 441)

***

Calculator for converting letters to cipher values is at:

http://www.light-of-truth.com/ciphersaga.htm

¹ English translation from Internet : http://www.sagadb.org/brennu-njals_saga.en

There the Chapter number is shown as 76 not 77, and inserted towards the end is a song which is not included in the principal M (for Möðruvallabók):

Gunnar woke up in his hall and said – „Thou hast been sorely treated, Sam, my fosterling, and this warning is so meant that our two deaths will not be far apart.“

Gunnar’s hall was made all of wood, and roofed with beams above, and there were window-slits under the beams that carried the roof, and they were fitted with shutters. Gunnar slept in a loft above the hall, and so did Hallgerdr and his mother. Now when they were come near to the house they knew not whether Gunnar were at home, and bade that some one would go straight up to the house and see if he could find out. But the rest sat them down on the ground. Thorgrim the Easterling went and began to climb up on the hall; Gunnar sees that a red kirtle passed before the windowslit, and thrusts out the bill, and smote him on the middle. Thorgrim’s feet slipped from under him, and he dropped his shield, and down he toppled from the roof. Then he goes to Gizur and his band as they sat on the ground. Gizur looked at him and said – „Well, is Gunnar at home?“ „Find that out for yourselves,“ said Thorgrim; „but this I am sure of, that his bill is at home,“ and with that he fell down dead. Then they made for the buildings. Gunnar shot out arrows at them, and made a stout defence, and they could get nothing done. Then some of them got into the out-houses and tried to attack him thence, but Gunnar found them out with his arrows there also, and still they could get nothing done. So it went on for while, then they took a rest, and made a second onslaught. Gunnar still shot out at them, and they could do nothing, and fell off the second time. Then Gizur the white said- „Let us press on harder; nothing comes of our onslaught.“ Then they made a third bout of it, and were long at it, and then they fell off again.

Gunnar said, „There lies on arrow outside on the wall, and it is one of their shafts; I will shoot at them with it, and it will be a shame to them if they get a hurt from their own weapons“. His mother said, „Do not so, my son; nor rouse them again when they have already fallen off from the attack“. But Gunnar caught up the arrow and shot it after them, and struck Eylif Aunund’s son, and he got a great wound; he was standing all by himself, and they knew not that he was wounded. „Out came an arm yonder,“ says Gizur, „and there was a gold ring on it, and took an arrow from the roof and they would not look outside for shafts if there were enough in doors; and now ye shall make a fresh onslaught.“ „Let us burn him house and all,“ said Mord. „That shall never be,“ says Gizur, „though I knew that my life lay on it; but it is easy for thee to find out some plan, such a cunning man as thou art said to be.“

Some ropes lay there on the ground, and they were often used to strengthen the roof. Then Mord said – „Let us take the ropes and throw one end over the end of the carrying beams, but let us fasten the other end to these rocks and twist them tight with levers, and so pull the roof off the hall.“ So they took the ropes and all lent a hand to carry this out, and before Gunnar was aware of it, they had pulled the whole roof off the hall. Then Gunnar still shoots with his bow so that they could never come nigh him. Then Mord said again that they must burn the house over Gunnar’s head. But Gizur said – „I know not why thou wilt speak of that which no one else wishes, and that shall never be.“

Just then Thorbrand Thorleik’s son sprang up on the roof, and cuts asunder Gunnar’s bowstring. Gunnar clutches the bill with both hands, and turns on him quickly and drives it through him, and hurls him down on the ground. Then up sprung Asbrand his brother. Gunnar thrusts at him with the bill, and he threw his shield before the blow, but the bill passed clean through the shield and broke both his arms, and down he fell from the wall. Gunnar had already wounded eight men and slain those twain.  By that time Gunnar had got two wounds, and all men said that he never once winced either at wounds or death.

Then Gunnar said to Hallgerdr, „Give me two locks of thy hair, and ye two, my mother and thou, twist them together into a bowstring for me.“ „Does aught lie on it?“ she says. „My life lies on it,“ he said; „for they will never come to close quarters with me if I can keep them off with my bow.“ „Well!“ she says, „now I will call to thy mind that slap on the face which thou gavest me; and I care never a whit whether thou holdest out a long while or a short.“ „Every one has something to boast of,“ says Gunnar, „and I will ask thee no more for this.“ „Thou behavest ill,“ said Rannveig, „and this shame shall long be had in mind.“

Gunnar made a stout and bold defence, and now wounds other eight men with such sore wounds that many lay at death’s door. Gunnar keeps them all off until he fell worn out with toil. Then they wounded him with many and great wounds, but still he got away out of their hands, and held his own against them a while longer, but at last it came about that they slew him.