Saga network
Njáls saga (Brennu-Njáls saga)
The Story of Burnt Njal, trans. Sir George Webbe Dasent (1861). 158 chapters, 193 characters resolved, 382 distinct social edges (514 typed edge records across seven relation types — see Methods for why those two counts differ).
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160 characters · 382 edges (514 typed edge records)
Network summary
0.030Density
0.235Avg. clustering
3.309Avg. path length
8Diameter
10Communities (Louvain)modularity 0.553
-0.152Degree assortativity
71.4%Structural balance35/49 triangles balanced
31Articulation pointsbridge characters
Metrics are computed on the semantic layer only (kinship, marriage, friendship, conversation, conflict, killing, support) — the much denser sentence co-occurrence layer (193 nodes, 1387 edges) is a baseline, not a claim about social structure. See Methods for what each number does and does not mean.
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Chapter 128: Njal'S Burning
Now they took fire, and made a great pile before the doors. Then Skarphedinn said. "What, lads! are ye lighting a fire, or are ye taking to cooking?" "So it shall be," answered Grani Gunnar's son; "and thou shalt not need to be better done." "Thou repayest me," said Skarphedinn, "as one may look for from the man that thou art. I avenged thy father, and thou settest most store by that duty which is farthest from thee." Then the women threw whey on the fire, and quenched it as fast as they lit it. Some, too, brought water, or slops. Then Kol Thorstein's son said to Flosi-- "A plan comes into my mind; I have seen a loft over the hall among the crosstrees, and we will put the fire in there, and light it with the vetch-stack that stands just above the house." Then they took the vetch-stack and set fire to it, and they who were inside were not aware of it till the whole hall was ablaze over their heads. Then Flosi and his men made a great pile before each of the doors, and then the women folk who were inside began to weep and to wail. Njal spoke to them and said, "Keep up your hearts, nor utter shrieks, for this is but a passing storm, and it will be long before ye have another such; and put your faith in God, and believe that He is so merciful that He will not let us burn both in this world and the next." Such words of comfort had he for them all, and others still more strong. Now the whole house began to blaze. Then Njal went to the door and said-- "Is Flosi so near that he can hear my voice?" Flosi said that he could hear it. "Wilt thou," said Njal, "take an atonement from my sons, or allow any men to go out?" "I will not," answers Flosi, "take any atonement from thy sons, and now our dealings shall come to an end once for all, and I will not stir from this spot till they are all dead; but I will allow the women and children and house-carles to go out." Then Njal went into the house, and said to the folk-- "Now all those must go out to whom leave is given, and so go thou out Thorhalla Asgrim's daughter, and all the people also with thee who may." Then Thorhalla said-- "This is another parting between me and Helgi than I thought of a while ago; but still I will egg on my father and brothers to avenge this manscathe which is wrought here." "Go, and good go with thee," said Njal, "for thou art a brave woman." After that she went out and much folk with her. Then Astrid of Deepback said to Helgi Njal's son-- "Come thou out with me, and I will throw a woman's cloak over thee, and tire thy head with a kerchief." He spoke against it at first, but at last he did so at the prayer of others. So Astrid wrapped the kerchief round Helgi's head, but Thorhilda, Skarphedinn's wife, threw the cloak over him, and he went out between them, and then Thorgerda Njal's daughter, and Helga her sister, and many other folk went out too. But when Helgi came out Flosi said-- "That is a tall woman and broad across the shoulders that went yonder, take her and hold her." But when Helgi heard that, he cast away the cloak. He had got his sword under his arm, and hewed at a man, and the blow fell on his shield and cut off the point of it, and the man's leg as well. Then Flosi came up and hewed at Helgi's neck, and took off his head at a stroke. Then Flosi went to the door and called out to Njal, and said he would speak with him and Bergthora. Now Njal does so, and Flosi said-- "I will offer thee, master Njal, leave to go out, for it is unworthy that thou shouldst burn indoors." "I will not go out," said Njal, "for I am an old man, and little fitted to avenge my sons, but I will not live in shame." Then Flosi said to Bergthora-- "Come thou out, housewife, for I will for no sake burn thee indoors." "I was given away to Njal young," said Bergthora, "and I have promised him this, that we would both share the same fate." After that they both went back into the house. "What counsel shall we now take?" said Bergthora. "We will go to our bed," says Njal, "and lay us down; I have long been eager for rest." Then she said to the boy Thord, Kari's son-- "Thee will I take out, and thou shalt not burn in here." "Thou hast promised me this, grandmother," says the boy, "that we should never part so long as I wished to be with thee; but methinks it is much better to die with thee and Njal than to live after you." Then she bore the boy to her bed, and Njal spoke to his steward and said-- "Now shalt thou see where we lay us down, and how I lay us out, for I mean not to stir an inch hence, whether reek or burning smart me, and so thou wilt be able to guess where to look for our bones." He said he would do so. There had been an ox slaughtered and the hide lay there. Njal told the steward to spread the hide over them, and he did so. So there they lay down both of them in their bed, and put the boy between them. Then they signed themselves and the boy with the cross, and gave over their souls into God's hand, and that was the last word that men heard them utter. Then the steward took the hide and spread it over them, and went out afterwards. Kettle of the Mark caught hold of him, and dragged him out, he asked carefully after his father-in-law Njal, but the steward told him the whole truth. Then Kettle said-- "Great grief hath been sent on us, when we have had to share such ill-luck together." Skarphedinn saw how his father laid him down, and how he laid himself out, and then he said-- "Our father goes early to bed, and that is what was to be looked for, for he is an old man." Then Skarphedinn, and Kari, and Grim, caught the brands as fast as they dropped down, and hurled them out at them, and so it went on a while. Then they hurled spears in at them, but they caught them all as they flew, and sent them back again. Then Flosi bade them cease shooting, "for all feats of arms will go hard with us when we deal with them; ye may well wait till the fire overcomes them". So they do that, and shoot no more. Then the great beams out of the roof began to fall, and Skarphedinn said-- "Now must my father be dead, and I have neither heard groan nor cough from him." Then they went to the end of the hall, and there had fallen down a cross-beam inside which was much burnt in the middle. Kari spoke to Skarphedinn, and said--"Leap thou out here, and I will help thee to do so, and I will leap out after thee, and then we shall both get away if we set about it so, for hitherward blows all the smoke." "Thou shalt leap first," said Skarphedinn; "but I will leap straightway on thy heels." "That is not wise," says Kari, "for I can get out well enough elsewhere, though it does not come about here." "I will not do that," says Skarphedinn; "leap thou out first, but I will leap after thee at once." "It is bidden to every man," says Kari, "to seek to save his life while he has a choice, and I will do so now; but still this parting of ours will be in such wise that we shall never see one another more; for if I leap out of the fire, I shall have no mind to leap back into the fire to thee, and then each of us will have to fare his own way." "It joys me, brother-in-law," says Skarphedinn, "to think that if thou gettest away thou wilt avenge me." Then Kari took up a blazing bench in his hand, and runs up along the cross-beam, then he hurls the bench out at the roof, and it fell among those who were outside. Then they ran away, and by that time all Kari's upper-clothing and his hair were ablaze, then he threw himself down from the roof, and so crept along with the smoke. Then one man said who was nearest-- "Was that a man that leapt out at the roof?" "Far from it," says another; "more likely it was Skarphedinn who hurled a firebrand at us." After that they had no more mistrust. Kari ran till he came to a stream, and then, he threw himself down into it, and so quenched the fire on him. After that he ran along under shelter of the smoke into a hollow, and rested him there, and that has since been called Kari's Hollow.
Table of contents
1. Of Fiddle Mord2. Hrut Woos Unna3. Hrut And Gunnhillda, Kings Mother4. Of Hrut'S Cruise5. Atli Arnvid Son'S Slaying6. Hrut Sails Out To Iceland7. Unna Separates From Hrut8. Mord Claims His Goods From Hrut9. Thorwald Gets Hallgerda To Wife10. Hallgerda'S Wedding11. Thorwald'S Slaying12. Thiostolf'S Flight13. Glum'S Wooing14. Glum'S Wedding15. Thiostolf Goes To Glum'S House16. Glum'S Sheep Hunt17. Glum'S Slaying18. Fiddle Mord'S Death19. Gunnar Comes Into The Story20. Of Njal And His Children21. Unna Goes To See Gunnar22. Njal'S Advice23. Huckster Hedinn24. Gunnar And Hrut Strive At The Thing25. Unna'S Second Wedding26. Of Asgrim And His Children27. Helgi Njal'S Son'S Wooing28. Hallvard Comes Out To Iceland29. Gunnar Goes Abroad30. Gunnar Goes A-Sea-Roving31. Gunnar Goes To King Harold Gorm'S Son And Earl Hacon32. Gunnar Comes Out To Iceland33. Gunnar'S Wooing34. Of Thrain Sigfus' Son35. The Visit To Bergthorsknoll36. Kol Slew Swart37. The Slaying Of Kol, Whom Atli Slew38. The Killing Of Atli The Thrall39. The Slaying Of Brynjolf The Unruly40. Gunnar And Njal Make Peace About Brynjolf'S Slaying41. Sigmund Comes Out To Iceland42. The Slaying Of Thord Freedsmanson43. Njal And Gunnar Make Peace For The Slaying Of Thord44. Sigmund Mocks Njal And His Sons45. The Slaying Of Sigmund And Skiolld46. Of Gizur The White And Geir The Priest47. Of Otkell In Kirkby48. How Hallgerda Makes Malcolm Steal From Kirkby49. Of Skamkell'S Evil Counsel50. Of Skamkell'S Lying51. Of Gunnar52. Of Runolf, The Son Of Wolf Aurpriest53. How Otkell Rode Over Gunnar54. The Fight At Rangriver55. Njal'S Advice To Gunnar56. Gunnar And Geir The Priest Strive At The Thing57. Of Starkad And His Sons58. How Gunnar'S Horse Fought59. Of Asgrim And Wolf Uggis' Son60. An Attack Against Gunnar Agreed On61. Gunnar'S Dream62. The Slaying Of Hjort And Fourteen Men63. Njal'S Counsel To Gunnar64. Of Valgard And Mord65. Of Fines And Atonements66. Of Thorgeir Otkell'S Son67. Of Thorgeir Starkad'S Son68. Of Njal And Those Namesakes69. Olaf The Peacock'S Gifts To Gunnar70. Mord'S Counsel71. The Slaying Of Thorgeir Otkell'S Son72. Of The Suits For Manslaughter At The Thing73. Of The Atonement74. Kolskegg Goes Abroad75. The Riding To Lithend76. Gunnar'S Slaying77. Gunnar Sings A Song Dead78. Gunnar Of Lithend Avenged79. Hogni Takes An Atonement For Gunnar'S Death80. Of Kolskegg: How He Was Baptised81. Of Thrain: How He Slew Kol82. Njal'S Sons Sail Abroad83. Of Kari Solmund'S Son84. Of Earl Sigurd85. The Battle With The Earls86. Hrapp'S Voyage From Iceland87. Thrain Took To Hrapp88. Earl Hacon Fights With Njal'S Sons89. Njal'S Sons And Kari Come Out To Iceland90. The Quarrel Of Njal'S Sons With Thrain Sigfus' Son91. Thrain Sigfus' Son'S Slaying92. Kettle Takes Hauskuld As His Foster-Son93. Njal Takes Hauskuld To Foster94. Of Flosi Thord'S Son95. Of Hall Of The Side96. Of The Change Of Faith97. Of Thangbrand'S Journeys98. Of Thangbrand And Gudleif99. Of Gest Oddleif'S Son100. Of Gizur The White And Hjallti101. Of Thorgeir Of Lightwater102. The Wedding Of Hauskuld, The Priest Of Whiteness103. The Slaying Of Hauskuld Njal'S Son104. The Slaying Of Lyting'S Brothers105. Of Amund The Blind106. Of Valgard The Guileful107. Of Mord And Njal'S Sons108. Of The Slander Of Mord Valgard'S Son109. Of Mord And Njal'S Sons110. The Slaying Of Hauskuld, The Priest Of Whiteness111. Of Hildigunna And Mord Valgard'S Son112. The Pedigree Of Gudmund The Powerful113. Of Snorri The Priest, And His Stock114. Of Flosi Thord'S Son115. Of Flosi And Hildigunna116. Of Flosi And Mord And The Sons Of Sigfus117. Njal And Skarphedinn Talk Together118. Asgrim And Njal'S Sons Pray Men For Help119. Of Skarphedinn And Thorkel Foulmouth120. Of The Pleading Of The Suit121. Of The Award Of Atonement Between Flosi And Njal122. Of The Judges123. An Attack Planned On Njal And His Sons124. Of Portents125. Flosi'S Journey From Home126. Of Portents At Bergthorsknoll127. The Onslaught On Bergthorsknoll128. Njal'S Burning129. Skarphedinn'S Death130. Of Kari Solmund'S Son131. Njal'S And Bergthora'S Bones Found132. Flosi'S Dream133. Of Flosi'S Journey And His Asking For Help134. Of Thorhall And Kari135. Of Flosi And The Burners136. Of Thorgeir Craggeir137. Of Eyjolf Bolverk'S Son138. Of Asgrim, And Gizur, And Kari139. Of Asgrim And Gudmund140. Of The Declarations Of The Suits141. Now Men Go To The Courts142. Of Eyjolf Bolverk'S Son143. The Counsel Of Thorhall Asgrim'S Son144. Battle At The Althing145. Of Kari And Thorgeir146. The Award Of Atonement With Thorgeir Craggeir147. Kari Comes To Bjorn'S House In The Mark148. Of Flosi And The Burners149. Of Kari And Bjorn150. More Of Kari And Bjorn151. Of Kari And Bjorn And Thorgeir152. Flosi Goes Abroad153. Kari Goes Abroad154. Gunnar Lambi'S Son'S Slaying155. Of Signs And Wonders156. Brian'S Battle157. The Slaying Of Kol Thorstein'S Son158. Of Flosi And Kari