The Saga of Colm the Slave (34 page)

Word arrived that the Christians were
coming. Gizur was at their head but Hjalti Skeggason was coming
too. A party of armed Christians had formed around him and meant to
protect him, outlaw that he was. Pagan men took up their own
weapons and went to meet Gizur’s party. They outnumbered the
Christians but there were many men on both sides. The two forces
faced each other and shouted curses and threats at one another.
Some men, like Snorri the godi, rode back and forth between the
groups, appealing for calm. Eventually, it was agreed that the two
sides would meet at the Lawrock the next day and make their
case.

That night, leaders of the pagan faction
decided to hold a sacrifice to ask for the gods’ help in preserving
the old religion. It was agreed that each quarter would supply two
slaves to be sacrificed. It was thought the gods would not ignore
the gift of eight lives.

Thorolf said that he would take part in
the sacrifice. He asked Colm if he had a slave to spare. “I have no
male slaves,” said Colm, “And I don’t want to ask Gwyneth for any
of her women.”

Thorolf grumbled at this. “I can’t get
any help from Hallvard, either! What is it with people feeling so
tender toward slaves right now?” He spat and the grass turned red
with his blood.

The next day, everyone gathered at the
Lawrock. The Christians marched up led by some Icelanders who had
been consecrated as priests. One of them was Ljot Thorgilsson.

Thorgeir, the godi at Ljosavater, was
Lawspeaker that year. He stood above the crowd but no one was
listening to him. People milled about and shouted at one another so
that it was difficult to hear what anyone was saying. In the middle
of all this, a man came running to say that a volcano had erupted
and that a farm had been wiped out by lava.

“You see,” said someone in the crowd,
“The gods are angry and send molten rock down to punish us!”

“Nonsense!” said Snorri. He stamped on
the rock beneath his feet. “Who was it that angered the gods when
this place was melted rock?”

Things began to quiet a little and then
Gizur and Hjalti addressed the crowd. People were amazed that an
outlaw was permitted to speak from the Lawrock. Truly, the world
had changed! Hjalti preached to the crowd and he and Gizur repeated
the words King Olaf had given them to say: Iceland must become
Christian. There could be no more blood sacrifice. The eating of
horse-flesh must be forbidden. Unwanted infants could no longer be
exposed. The pagans shook their heads; they could not agree to
these terms, no matter that there was an implied threat in Olaf’s
words. Then both the pagan and Christian parties named witnesses
and brought suit against one another. The Christians withdrew from
the Lawrock and named Hall of Sida as their Lawspeaker. So now the
country was truly split in two.

Hall went to see Thorgeir and the two of
them spoke together for a time. They took the Lawrock together and
Hall announced that there would be a judgment on the legal case
brought before the Althing about religion. Then he said that
Thorgeir of Ljosavater would be the sole judge in the matter.

The pagans erupted in cheers. One of
their own was to decide this case! The Christians took the
announcement calmly for they trusted Hall of Sida. Thorgeir
withdrew to his booth to consider the matter. He pulled a cloak
over his head so that no one would disturb him. This was something
men did when they wanted to see into places that were usually
hidden. That is, when they wanted knowledge of things beyond the
sight of a human eye.

Thorgeir was still under the cloak when
night fell. Colm sat outside Thorolf’s booth watching the stars
come out. In the distance, he heard the shouts and chanting where
Thorolf and the other pagans were preparing to sacrifice the
slaves. They meant to throw them over the cliffs.

Hallvard came up to Colm. “Not attending
the sacrifice?”

Colm shook his head. “No.” Then he
looked at Hallvard. “And you?” he asked.

“No. I don’t think I will be doing much
more sacrificing.”

“So you are a Christian now?”

“I am not yet baptized, but I think we
all soon will be.”

Colm was surprised. “Thorgeir is a
pagan.”

“But he is a wise man. He has received
gifts from Hall and Snorri as well. That will not buy his decision,
but it will help make him decide fairly.”

“So a fair decision is for
Christianity?”

Hallvard shrugged. “It is the way the
world is going. Every place is Christian now, except us.”

“There is fighting in Norway.”

“Even so. If the king of Norway is
defeated, another Christian will come along to replace him. We are
at the edge of the world; the center is all Christian.”

“So you do not believe that the White
Christ is stronger than the gods...”

“I do not believe it worth fighting
over.” Hallvard shrugged. “Whatever gods there are, they are
stronger than me. Anyway, it is no use being on the losing
side.”

Colm nodded. This was logic that he
understood. There was a great cry in the distance and Colm’s head
jerked up. A slave had gone to his doom.

Hallvard looked toward the sound. “I
hope this sacrifice helps Grandfather’s pain. I hope the death of
these men accomplishes that much.”

Colm did not reply. A minute later they
heard another slave’s scream. That’s two, thought Colm. He could
not keep himself from listening for the sound of the next
sacrifice. This went on for a while until all eight had died.

The next day men gathered around the
Lawrock and waited for Thorgeir to come tell them of his decision.
It was late afternoon when he came out from under the cloak. He had
been there a full twenty-four hours. Everyone was quiet as Thorgeir
began to speak. He said, “We cannot have two laws and two peoples;
we are one and must have one law and one religion for us all.” Men
thought about this and agreed that it was true. If there were two
religions, there would always be quarreling, and how could disputes
be resolved if there were two laws? Then Thorgeir said, “There are
two factions here and we cannot accept the extreme arguments of
either one. We must find a compromise that will include both. We
must find a compromise that will allow a little to each side but
still leave us with one faith and one law. For if we rend asunder
the Law, we tear apart the peace.” Again men agreed. “Therefore,”
said Thorgeir, “Iceland will adopt the Christian faith, but
sacrifice and the eating of horse-flesh may continue, so long as
this is done privately. And unwanted infants may still be
exposed.”

So it was. The Christians were pleased
that their faith was adopted. The pagans were mollified that they
would still be able to practice their rites. Those who prized peace
more than religion were the most pleased, for they could see that
there would be no fighting now. There were more of these last than
of the other two factions, as Thorgeir had seen. That was why he
appealed to them instead of to either group of believers.

Thorolf sat with head bowed. “There will
be peace now,” said Hallvard.

Thorolf nodded. “Yes, we have peace, but
everything will be different now.”

“You will still be able to hold
sacrifices.”

“But only in private. As though it were
a secret, shameful thing to do. There will be no more celebrations,
no more feasting.” He looked at Hallvard. “And this will change
your task as well. You will be replaced by a priest and only have
responsibility to make laws. Your power will wane.”

“Grandfather, you are still godi
here.”

Thorolf shook his head. “No. I am done.
You are godi now. Anyway, I have not much longer to live. This pain
in my guts grows stronger every day and I am spitting my life out
on the ground.”

“Don’t speak so, Grandfather!”

“There is no use denying a fact. I have
taught you that.” A thought struck him. “Listen, Hallvard, one last
bit of advice: name your brother Ahmund a priest. Always have a
priest nearby that you can trust! And build a place on your farm
where you Christians can perform your rites. Then people will still
come to you as if you had feasting and sacrifices.”

“Grandfather...” Hallvard was
weeping.

Thorolf waved a hand at him. “Hush. It
is my time.” He turned to Colm. “See that I am buried in the old
way.”

Hallvard said, “I will follow your
wishes, Grandfather!”

“No, you must be a Christian. Do not let
others accuse you of performing unlawful acts! You will lead
Christians; you must be a Christian!”

So Colm was charged with burying
Thorolf. On the way home to the Trollfarm, he was baptized like
everyone else. Some men complained that they did not want to be
baptized in cold water, but the priests just smiled and agreed to
baptize them at the hot springs.

A month after the Althing, King Olaf was
killed and the Jarl of Lade, a pagan, took over in Norway. He paid
tribute to the King of Denmark and became a Christian to please
him, though he never practiced that religion nor tried to spread it
as Olaf Tryggveson had done. These events had no effect on Iceland.
Fifteen years later, Olaf the Large became king and drove out the
Danes. He converted every pagan that he found. After that, Norway
remained Christian. Erik the Red tried to keep Greenland a pagan
place and some heathens sought refuge there, but Erik’s own wife
was converted. She built a small church at Brattahlid and refused
to sleep with Erik because he was a pagan. Erik, it is said, was
not pleased. There were a few places in back-country Sweden that
kept the old religion but everywhere else people became
Christian.

No one was surprised when Thorolf died
the winter after the Althing. Colm had a grave dug for him. Once
there was a time when a man of his stature would be buried in a
ship, but ships were hard to come by in Iceland. Colm could have
used a boat but he did not want to fold Thorolf’s body into a small
mockery of the old idea. Instead he found wood, good boards, that
he used to build a small structure in the grave. They laid Thorolf
inside with some weapons and personal belongings. Once a slave
would have been killed to accompany the body and now some wanted to
kill a horse or even a dog and lay it in with Thorolf, but Colm
decided not. He had become uninterested in sacrifices. So they
roofed over the body and filled the grave with earth. Then Colm had
stones laid about the grave in the shape of a ship. Hallvard
attended the funeral. “I will not abandon my grandfather now,” he
said. He did not join in the chanting, though.

Now Hallvard took up the duties of a
godi. He sat in the middle at the Logrettta and Colm kept his
position above him. Hallvard’s brother-in-law Orm sat below. Orm
was proud to be part of the Logretta. He did not complain about the
new religion and only held one secret sacrifice, the winter before
he began sitting below Hallvard. Marta kept her peace. She did not
practice the old rites any more. She still spoke to the land-spirit
in the stone, though, and sometimes put out food for it but she
kept quiet about it. Many who had received baptism as Christians
did similar things.

Hallvard put up a small turf chapel near
the old temple which he pulled down. The idols were broken and
thrown into the sea. Ahmund was sent away to Frankia to learn to be
a priest. Meanwhile, Hallvard invited Ljot to preach at his church.
Ljot said that he would, at least for a while, but that he had
promised Snorri godi that he would be a priest in the church that
Snorri was building at Thorsness. Ljot was known to be intelligent
and an adept scholar. Though he had only a little time in Frankia,
he had learned to read and write Latin. Snorri wanted him to train
other men to read Latin and set them on the way to being priests.
There weren’t enough priests to fill all the churches that people
were building. It was said that places in Heaven would match the
places available for worshippers in church. So everyone wanted to
build churches and make Heaven larger.

There was mostly peace in the land now,
at least in religious matters. Some pagans muttered and complained
but most took to the new religion, though they sometimes practiced
magic or called on the old gods in time of trouble. After a few
years, when sacrifice and the eating of horse-flesh were forbidden
altogether, no one complained about it. Nor did they raise
objections when the exposure of infants was banned.

Women took to the new religion very
quickly and created their own set of rules as to how worship should
be conducted, what clothes people should wear to services, and so
on. People began wearing various religious objects. Colm bought a
little holy book from a trader and gave it to Gwyneth. She carried
it everywhere with her, especially when she attended church. She
could not read it but understood that it was an object of great
power and significance. The book was only a few pages of what had
once been a longer volume. Some calamity, a raid perhaps, had
caused the book to be broken into pieces. The pages that Gwyneth
owned were rebound with hard leather covers tied with a ribbon.
There was one small picture of a man sowing seed. The priests said
that it illustrated the Parable of the Sower and Gwyneth had them
tell that story to her many times. They would open their missals
and run their finger along the words, translating the Latin into
Norse as they read. Gwyneth nodded as she heard the story. It
seemed to her a great and obvious truth that some souls were never
nurtured and that many people fell by the wayside. She tried to
speak of this to the priests but they became impatient and said
that she did not understand, that the parable was about people’s
willingness to hear God’s word and accept his grace. Gwyneth always
nodded then and smiled to show that, now, she understood.