Sixteen have I seen together,
With a small tuft on their foreheads;
Surely these are women coming,
All without their golden trinkets.
Now may we of this bear witness.
In the west here all the maidens
Wear their hair short—that isle Elon[[340]]
Lies out in the stormy ocean.
After Sunday, Earl Rögnvald’s men visited the neighbouring districts, and all the people gave in their submission to the Earl. One night in Westrey the Earl’s men became aware that the islanders were holding a secret meeting to devise some treachery against Earl Rögnvald. When the Earl heard of it, he rose and went to the place of meeting. When he came there, his men had beaten many of the islanders, and had taken Farmer Kugi and put him in fetters, saying that he was the author of all these proceedings. Kugi pled his cause eloquently, and many put in a word for him, and protested his innocence with him. Then the Earl sang:
I can see the crooked irons