“He is a little crooked stick with a gilded head,” says Hallvard.
“You can call him that if you want to,” said Jofried, “but it only proves what I knew before, that you know nothing at all about women; for with a woman, a gilded head counts for more than a great clumsy body like a dancing-bear’s.”
Now it had happened to Hallvard, each time he came before Rodny, to feel himself very big and clumsy and out of place; so he got red in his face at that, and went away to another part of the ship, and he and Jofried saw little of each other for a time.
But when they had been out three weeks they came to Norway, and sailed into the Bay there and made land at the King’s Crag. And Hallvard went up to the town, where some trading-booths were, and bought a good gold finger-ring and sent it out to Rodny on a ship that stood ready to sail. Jofried praised the ring much, and Hallvard was so pleased at that that he answered her eagerly and said:
“It is no lie what you say of me, Jofried, that I know little about women; yet this has occurred to me which should also be borne in mind, that Rodny is different from other maidens. I know it for true that she sets great store by weapon-skill and deeds of might, and I tell you for your comfort that she will never give herself away to a man who spends his days kissing the maidservants by the fire.”
But Jofried shook her head and answered: “That may well be, master; and yet Rodny is a woman for all that, and all women think alike. And the proof of that is this, that although I am no more than a gangrel woman, I have the same feelings as a maiden reared in a bower; and to me as to them, all other men look like shambling giants when Skapti, Lambi’s son, is by.”
In this manner she kept on speaking about Skapti’s fairness until it seemed to Hallvard as if it could be no otherwise than so; and he got wroth and said that if it went as she foretold, Skapti would not be so handsome of feature after he got through with him. And after that he was very short with her for a while.
Then they sailed from the Bay out into the open sea again; and there they fell in with sea-rovers and a great fight sprung up; and they got the victory, and much goods. Among the spoil there was a necklace of fine gold and the best workmanship; and Hallvard took that for his share, and sent it out to Rodny by a trading-ship that was shaping her course toward Iceland. But before he sent it, he showed it to Jofried and said:
“Do you not think that will get me some favor in her eyes?”
Jofried answered: “Good is the gift, but methinks it would be still better if it were not dumb.”