Second Peasant. God knows how many sheep the hills have taken this year! Do you remember those cold days in the spring? It may be a good many lambs froze to death.
First Peasant. And then those cursed foxes!
Jon. The foxes are nothing to the men—both those down here and those in the hills.
Second Peasant. I don't believe there is anybody living in the hills, at least not in these parts.
Jon. You don't believe it? I tell you, my good man, there are more outlaws than you think. To my mind, the laws are to blame for it. If I had my say, all thieves would be strung up.
Second Peasant. Well, I look at it in another way. I believe the laws are too strict. It seems to me it is making too much of the sheep, when a man is locked up for life because he has stolen two or three of them.
Jon. You always have to be of a different mind from anybody else.
(Halla comes back and listens.)
Second Peasant. I don't know about that, but those who flee to the hills do it from need. If the laws were milder, I believe there would be no outlaws. What do you say, Arngrim?
Arngrim. If we were all to be judged by our thoughts, the hills would be swarming with outlaws.