spoke and said, “Are you asleep?” He said he was awake.  The woman said, “You are asleep, though it comes to the same thing as if you were awake.  You have had my son slain, and let him come to my hand in a shapeless plight, and for this deed you shall see your son, blood-stained all over through my doing, and him I shall choose thereto whom I know you would like to lose least of all.”  After that she disappeared, and Olaf woke up and still thought he saw the features of the woman.  Olaf took the dream very much to heart, and told it to his friends, but no one could read it to his liking.  He thought those spoke best about this matter who said that what had appeared to him was only a dream or fancy.

CHAP.  XXXII

Of Osvif Helgeson

[Sidenote:  Osvif and his family] Osvif was the name of a man.  He was the son of Helgi, who was the son of Ottar, the son of Bjorn the Eastman, who was the son of Ketill Flatnose, the son of Bjorn Buna.  The mother of Osvif was named Nidbiorg.  Her mother was Kadlin, the daughter of Ganging-Hrolf, the son of Ox-Thorir, who was a most renowned “Hersir” (war-lord) east in Wick.  Why he was so called, was that he owned three islands with eighty oxen on each.  He gave one island and its oxen to Hakon the King, and his gift was much talked about.  Osvif was a great sage.  He lived at Laugar in Salingsdale.  The homestead of Laugar stands on the northern side of Salingsdale-river, over against Tongue.  The name of his wife was Thordis, daughter of Thjodolf the Low.  Ospak was the name of one of their sons. [Sidenote:  Osvif’s household] Another was named Helgi, and a third Vandrad, and a fourth Jorrad, and a fifth Thorolf.  They were all doughty men for fighting.  Gudrun was the name of their daughter.  She was the goodliest of women who grew up in Iceland, both as to looks and wits.  Gudrun was such a woman of state that at that time whatever other women wore in the way of finery of dress was looked upon as children’s gewgaws beside hers.  She was the most cunning and the fairest spoken of all women, and an open-handed woman withal.  There was a woman living with Osvif who was named Thorhalla, and was called the Chatterer.  She was some sort of relation to Osvif.  She had two sons, one named Odd and the other Stein.  They were muscular men, and in a great measure the hardest toilers for Osvif’s household.  They were talkative like their mother, but ill liked by people; yet were upheld greatly by the sons of Osvif.  At Tongue there lived a man named Thorarin, son of Thorir Saeling (the Voluptuous).  He was a well-off yeoman, a big man and strong.  He had very good land, but less of live stock.  Osvif wished to buy some of his land from him, for he had lack of land but a multitude of live stock.  So this then came about that Osvif bought of the land of Thorarin all the tract from Gnupaskard along both sides of the valley to Stack-gill, and very good and fattening land