“When Olaf was in Ireland he went on a coast-raid.[[247]] As they needed provisions they went ashore and drove down many cattle. A bondi came there and asked Olaf to give him back his cows. Olaf replied that he might take them if he could recognise them and not delay their journey. The bondi had with him a large sheep-dog. He pointed out to it the herd of cattle, which numbered many hundreds. The dog ran through all the herds, and took away as many cows as the bondi had said belonged to him, and they were all marked with the same mark. Then they acknowledged that the dog had found out the right cattle. They thought it a wonderfully wise dog. Olaf asked if the bondi would give him the dog. ‘Willingly,’ answered the bondi. Olaf at once gave him a gold ring, and promised to be his friend. The dog’s name was Vigi, and it was the best of all dogs. Olaf owned it long after this” (Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga, c. 35).
“If a man kills a lapdog of another he must pay 12 aurar if the dog is a lapdog whose neck one can embrace with one hand, the fingers touching each other; 6 aurar are to be paid for a greyhound (mjóhund), and for a hunting-dog half a mark, and also for a sheep-dog, if it is tied by the innermost ox,[[248]] or untied by the outermost ox, and also at the gate. One aurar is to be paid for a dog guarding the house, if it is killed” (Frostath., xi. 24).
Chess, among house pastimes, was included in the Idrotter, as was gambling with dice, music, &c.
From an early period the game of chess, or at least a game resembling it, was known in the North; skill in playing it was held to be an accomplishment worthy of powerful chiefs. Judging from the numerous finds, the game must have been very common. It must have been of very great antiquity, for it is mentioned in Voluspa.
The game, of which there were several varieties, though in what they differed we do not know, was called tafl,[[249]] and the pieces toflur. In Hnot-tafl, the pieces were called “hunar” (sing. hunn, or huni).
Hnefa-tafl was played with black and white pieces; one of them, probably the most important, was called Hnefi, from which the name of this peculiar game is probably derived. Skak, or Skak-tafl, was played on a board divided into squares, and seems to have been most like the present chess.[[250]] The board was like the chessboard of our day. To learn the game was part of the education of the high-born, and was considered idróttir. It must have been a great pastime on board ship, for in many of the pieces found are little holes in the centre for pegs, which made them fast and prevented them from being upset or changing place when the vessel rolled. The placing of the pieces was decided by the throwing of dice.
“After the battle at the river Helga, Ulf jarl made a feast for Knut at Roiskelda. They played skaktafl, but the king was very gloomy.... When they had played for a while, the jarl took one of the king’s knights; the king put the piece back, and told him to make another move. The jarl got angry, upset the chessboard (taflbord), and went away” (St. Olaf’s Saga, ch. 163).
The board itself was often very costly, being sometimes made of gold, and was counted among valuable inheritances, and as worthy of adorning the temple of the gods; it was such a treasure that Hrolf Nefia, at the risk of his life, sought to capture one in the temple of Bjarmaland.
Sturlaug went to Bjarmaland, and with his men walked up to a temple.
“He looked into the temple and saw a very large (image of) Thor sitting in a high-seat; in front of him was a splendid table covered with silver.... He saw a chessboard and chess-pieces of bright gold”[[251]] (Sturlaug’s Saga Starfsama, ch. 18).