ABSTRACT
The encounter between Heldicunnr and Flosi in chapter ii6 of Njáls saga is surely one of the most vividly emotional scenes in all of saga literature. Flosi, it will be recalled, has recently learned of the brutal slaying of Hǫskuldr Hvítanessgoði, Hildigunnr's husband and his own half-brother's son-in-law. As he makes the rounds of the district, he stops in for dinner at the farm of the newly-widowed Hildigunnr. Two elements in Hildigunnr's preparations—she knew he was coming—anger Flosi greatly and set the tone for the coming confrontation. One is his assignment to the high seat, to which he objects by knocking the seat to the floor. The second is her provision of a torn and ragged towel for Flosi's use in washing up; when he sees its condition, he flings it down and rips a piece from the tablecloth to wipe his hands on instead. Then, the saga tells us, he sits down with his men at the tabic to eat. 1
Þá kom Hildigunnr í stofuna ok gekk fyrir Flosa ok greiddi hárit frá augum sér ok grét. Flosi mælti:"Skapþungt er þér nú, frændkona, er þú grætr, en þó er þat vel, at þú grætr góðan mann.""Hvert eptirmæli skal ek nú hafa eða liðveizlu?" segir hon. Flosi mælti:"Sœkja mun ek mál þitt til fullra laga eða veita til þeira sætta, er góðir menn sjá, at vét sém vel sæmðir af í alla staði." Hon mælti:"Hefna mundi Hǫskuldr þín, ef hann ætti eptir þik at mæla." Flosi svaraði:"Eigi skortir þik grimmleik, ok sét er, hvat þú vill." Hildigunnr mælti:"Minna hafði misgǫrt Arnórr Qrnólfsson ór Forsárskógum við þórð Freysgoða, fǫður þinn, ok vágu brœðr þínir hann á Skaptafellsþingi, Kolbeinn ok Egill." Hildigunnr gekk þá fram í skála ok lauk upp kistu sinni; tók hon þá upp skikkjuna, er Flosi hafði gefit Hǫskuldi, ok í þeiri hafði Hǫskuldr veginn verit, ok hafði hon þar varðveitt i blóðit allt. Hon gekk þá innar í stofuna með skikkjuna. Hon gekk þegjandi at Flosa. þá var Flosi mettr ok fram borit af boroinu. Hildigunnr lagði þá yfir Flosa skikkjuna; dunði þá blóðit um hann allan, Hon mælti þá:"Þessa skikkju gaft þú, Flosi, Hǫskuldi, ok gef ek þér nú aptr. Var hann ok í þessi veginn. Skýt ek því til guðs ok góðra manna, at ek sœri þik fyrir alla krapta Krists þíns ok fyrir manndóm ok karlmennsku þína, at þú hefnir allra sára þeira, er hann hafði á sér dauðum, eða heit hvers manns níðingr ella." Flosi kastaði af sér skikkjunni ok rak í fang henni ok mælti:"Þú ert it mesta forað ok vildir, at vér tœkim þat upp, er ǫllum oss gegnir verst, ok eru kǫld kvenna ráð." Flosa brá svá við, at hann var í andliti stundum rauðr sem blóð, en stundum fǫlr sem gras, en stundum blár sem hel. Þeir Flosi fóru til hesta sinna ok riðu í braut.
Then Hildigunnr came into the room and walked right up to Flosi and swept her hair back from her eyes and wept. Flosi said:"You are suffering, kinswoman, to be crying so—yet it is a proper thing for you to cry for a good husband.""What action can I expect from you, what help?" she says. Flosi said:"I will pursue your case to the full extent of the law or else arrive at a settlement that all good men will regard as fully honorable for us." She said,"Hǫskuldr would have avenged you with blood if he were in your place now." Flosi answered:"You're nothing if not ferocious; and it's clear what you want." Hildigunnr said:"The injury that Arnórr Qrnólfsson from Forsárskógar did your father, Þórðr Freysgoði, was less than this, and yet your brothers Kolbeinn and Egill killed him at the Skaptafelisþing for it." She went to the far end of the room, unlocked her chest, and took out the cloak that Flosi had given Hǫskuldr, the one in which he had been killed and that she had saved, blood and all. She came back with it and silently walked up to Flosi. He had finished eating and the tables had been cleared. Hildigunnr threw the cloak over his shoulders, and the bits of blood showered all over him. Then she said:"This cloak, Flosi, you gave to Hǫskuldr, and now I give it back to you: it is the cloak he was wearing when he was killed. In the name of God and all good men, I charge you by all the powers of your Christ, and by your manhood and your valor, to avenge all the wounds on Hǫskuldr's body in death—or else be held in contempt by ail men." Flosi thrust the cloak back into her arms, saying:"You fiend! What you want us to do will be the ruin of us! Cold are the counsels of women!" So stirred was he that his face changed colors—red as blood, pale as Straw, and black as death. Then he and his men went out to their horses and rode away.
