Skapti- ‘It’s quite obvious, Broddi, that you are trying hard to provoke us. You’ve gone out of your way to get involved in this dispute, and you’re far from reluctant to make enemies of us. Other law-suits will prove easier for us I shouldn’t wonder.’
Broddi—‘You’ll have to win a great deal of money from other law-suits, Skapti, before you make up for the damages your kinsman Orm got out of you after you’d composed a love-song about his wife. That wasn’t a very virtuous thing to do, and you were made to pay for it dearly.’
Thorkel F.—‘That’s a stupid mistake for a man like Broddi. Just to have Ale-Hood’s friendship, or his bribes, he’s prepared to turn opponents into enemies.’
Broddi—‘It’s no mistake to want to keep one’s integrity, and it makes no difference whether you’re the better man, or Ale-Hood. But you yourself made a big mistake last spring when you rode to the local assembly. You didn’t notice the fat stallion that Steingrim had till it was up your backside. That skinny mare you were on faltered under you, didn’t she, and I’ve never been able to make up my mind whether it was you or the mare that got it. Everybody could see how long you were stuck there, the stallions legs had such a grip on your cloak.’
Eyjolf—‘It’s true enough, this man has cheated us of our catch, and on top of that he’s piling his filthy abuse on us.’
Broddi—‘I’ve never cheated you, you were cheated when you went north to Skagafjord to steal the oxen from Thorkel Eiriksson, and Starri of Goddale chased after you. When you reached Vatnsdale and saw who was after you, you were so scared you turned yourself into a mare, a pretty outrageous thing to do. Starri and his men drove back the cattle so it can’t be denied, he cheated you.’
Snorri—‘Anything would be better for us than to exchange abuse with Broddi, but let’s make sure we remember what kind of friendship Broddi has shown us, and never forget it.’
Broddi—‘You can’t have much sense of priorities if you will insist on taking revenge on me rather than avenging your father.’
Thorkel G.—‘ It strikes me that all you’ve inherited from the man whose name you were given is to make all the trouble you can for everyone. Nobody’s going to put up with this sort of thing for long, and maybe you’ll have to pay for it with your life.’
Broddi—‘We can’t gain anything, kinsman, by shouting in public about our people’s bad luck. There’s no point in denying what everyone knows, that Brodd-Helgi was killed, but I’ve been told your own father paid the same high price. I think if you had any sense of touch in your fingers you’d find the scars my father marked you with at Bodvarsdale.’
Gudmund—‘Keep your promise then and ride through
Broddi—‘I’ll keep my promise all right. Could it be you mean to stop me getting through the pass? You’ve made a bad miscalculation if you try to stop me and my companions from riding through
