Then the tumbling-girl spoke so as to flatter him, and said that she had never heard a plan that promised to work out better.
Skapti swelled out his chest and said: “Jofried, this is how it is, that when I look at the clods around me it seems as if it were given me to know their every weak spot; and I declare with truth that I can take their life-threads and weave them as the Norns weave, and my judgments are no more to be spoken against than theirs!”
After that, Skapti rode home. But Jofried did as he had bidden her and went down to the shore where Hallvard’s ship lay, and prayed Hallvard to give her and her father leave to fare abroad with him that they might show their accomplishments to other audiences and increase their goods.
Hallvard gave them leave; and now the story follows the ship for a while.
Shortly after, they got a fair wind and sailed away to sea. Hallvard stood by the steering-oar, but Jofried sat on the deck at his feet. When they could no longer see the land, Jofried began to weep much and bemoan herself, so that Hallvard asked what was on her mind.
Jofried said: “I would give all I own that I had never come hither; and it will stand me in little stead though I get all the goods in Norway, if by going away I lose my chance of Skapti’s love.”
Hallvard laughed and said: “I did not know before that Skapti got on so well with women. But tell me who it is that you think is likely to rob you of his heart.”
“It is Rodny, Thorolf’s daughter,” said Jofried. “He has always looked upon her with eyes of love, but now I can see by his manner that his love is at the harvest; and the likelihood is that they will be wedded before we get back.” And as she said this, she wept.
But Hallvard looked as if he did not know whether to laugh or get wroth, and at last he said: “I think there is no need for this to look so big in your eyes, messmate. Skapti sets too much store by himself to love anyone who does not love him, and there is little danger that Rodny will ever do that.”
“But she will do it,” Jofried answered, “for he is the most handsome man that men ever saw; and his hair is as fine as silk; and there is so much of it that it hides his lame back like a cloak of gold.”