Trafika Europe 14 - Italian Piazza

The Saga of Redhead

great-grandfather, old Thorgeir Hairybreeks. So he gave him the name Thorgeir. And the boy already had such a mass of red hair curl ing over its head, a gift from long ago Irish slaves, that he gave it the nickname Raudhofdi , Redhead. “My father ’s mother ’s great-uncle Egi l , son of Hjalmar, was a redhead,” Gudrun said, “and he was buried by an eruption of Hekla.” “Hold your tongue, woman,” Svein told her, raising his fist. As the boy grew to speech and understanding, his father took it upon himself to tutor his son in the ways of the world. He told Thorgeir about the four powerful dwarves — Nordri , Sudri , Ostri , and Westri — who held up the sky, lest it fal l down and crush the earth. And he told him of the goddess Freya, the giver of love, who travels around in a golden wagon. Any man who sees her is so smitten that he cannot step aside, but al lows Freya to run over him, and thus he bears her mark forever. As Thorgeir took on years, he ran when other boys would only walk, and soon he was running as fast as the fastest horse. He also learned to harden his body by swimming in glacial tarns or the River Olfusa, wherever the cold water might bring a thri l l to his skin. So adept did he become as a swimmer that no one, not even Grettir the Strong, could have bettered his powerful strokes, and he yet a lad of

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