The Saga of the Ledge at Maríufoss

[With apologies to https://www.sagadb.org/egils_saga.en ]

1.

There was a man named James, called Cloud-Warder, son of William Spark-Wright, who was skilled in the taming of lightning, who was the son of William Augustusson. James was a tall man and quiet in manner. It was said of him that he stood watch over halls no eye could see, and that many raiders had tried his defenses and none had passed unmarked. He was a careful man, slow to anger, and well-loved by his household.

2.

James took to wife Erin, called Jamesdóttir, daughter of James, called Number-Reckoner, a man skilled in the counting of wealth, who was the son of James, who was the son of Nelson, called Boynton, for that was the name he went by. It was thought a strange thing that Erin, born the daughter of one James and the granddaughter of another, should become the wife of a third, and little more was said of it. Erin's kin traced their blood to the fjords of the northlands, and she was well-made and strong-limbed, as were the daughters who came after her.

James and Erin had three daughters, Sierra, Miriam, and Hannah, all called Jamesdóttir. Sierra was the eldest, near-grown, and already trusted by her father with responsibility beyond her years, though not yet seasoned in feud or combat.

3.

Now it is to be told of the land called Jöklagarðr, a country of high stone and old ice, where the mountains stand close together and the lakes lie long and cold between them. The family left their transport at a place called Sólgjá, where the road men call Sólbraut runs along the mountain's shoulder, and walked the better part of a morning along the shore of Maríuvatn, through a wood once burned and now growing green again. Litli-Höfðingi stood to the south of their path, and Rykstjarna to the west.

At the end of their walking they came to Maríufoss, a water that drops in three steps down a narrow stone gorge, throwing up a mist that cools the air even in high summer. A bridge of wood crosses the water below the falls, and travelers were used to crossing it and taking their rest on the far bank, where the stone opens into a wide ledge.

4.

Now the tale turns to those who held that ledge before ever James came to it. There was a raiding people of small stature but great boldness, called the Rákbök-ætt, the Striped-Back kin, who had held those stones for longer than any traveler could say, though only the last three generations are now remembered by name. Their first named forefather was Nestisþjófr, called the Bold, who once stole bread from a ranger's hand and was never caught for it. His son was Grimr, called Pack-Reiver, who raided not only what was offered but what was carried, tearing into the packs of hikers as though they were his by right. Grimr's son was Úlfsbróðir, called Wolf's-brother, for it was said his kin had some claim of blood to the wolves of the high country. Úlfsbróðir was known to every traveler who had eaten a meal at Maríufoss, and feared neither man nor dog, nor water bottle nor bread crust.

5.

The family crossed the bridge and came to the ledge, and there they sat to eat. It was not long before Úlfsbróðir came down from the high stones, as was his custom, and went to the children where they sat, moving low and quick along the rock, his eyes on what they held.

Then Miriam cried out that the beast was upon her, and called for her father's aid. James heard this and rose at once. Erin, quick to see what the moment called for, caught up the water bottle and put it into his hand as he rose, and said no more than that. Few who saw his face in that moment would have called him a patient man.

6.

James went to Úlfsbróðir where he crouched at the ledge's edge, the vessel Erin had set in his hand now put to sterner use. The beast did not yield easily, for it was not his nature, but James drove the bottle against him with force enough that Úlfsbróðir lost his footing and fell, a drop no higher than a man's waist, down onto the lower stone.

Those who watched from the bridge said afterward that the man had struck with great force, but that the Striped-Back one had shown no fear even in his falling, and this was accounted a fair fight.

Then James himself is said to have spoken this verse:

 James the warder,
 water-vessel wielding,
 struck at the striped one,
 stone-ledge his standing.
 Down went the wolf's-kin,
 dropped to the lower stone — 
 boldness beyond measure —
 but small was his body.

7.

Úlfsbróðir did not stay long below the ledge. He returned before the meal was finished, climbing back along the stone with the same boldness as before, though watching James more closely than he had at first.

This time Sierra rose to meet him, without hesitation and without calling for her father, which was no small thing in one so near-grown and new to such contests. In her hand she held a crust of bread — the nearest thing to hand, and not, as was later remarked, a considered choice of arms.

Those who saw it shook their heads at the sight, for bread is not a weapon but the very treasure such a raider seeks — much like a man attempting to drive off wolves with meat in each hand. Yet Sierra held her ground, and Úlfsbróðir, meeting for the first time not a small child but a young woman grown, seemed uncertain how the exchange ought to go, and after some circling withdrew again, neither side having gained much by it.

Of this a second verse was made, spoken by one who watched from the bridge:

Sierra stood steadfast, 
striped-back before her, 
bread in her hand-grip, 
bold was her standing. 
Treasure she offered
thinking it a weapon — 
Courage she carried, 
carelessly she chose.

8.

A third time Úlfsbróðir came to the ledge. This time he went to neither James nor Sierra, but to Miriam, who sat nearest the water with her bottle beside her. He came close, touched his nose to the metal of it, and withdrew, unhurried, back toward the high stones that were his by inheritance.

None among the family could say with certainty what this gesture meant — tribute, contempt, or some truce offered in the way of his kin, which no man could be expected to read rightly. The meal went on undisturbed, and the matter was held to be settled.

9.

The family returned that day by the path they had come, past the burned wood grown green again, past Rykstjarna and Litli-Höfðingi, to Sólgjá where they had left their transport. James was thought well of for defending his household's meal, and Sierra was spoken of kindly, though not without some laughter at the matter of the bread.

It is said the descendants of Úlfsbróðir hold the stones above Maríufoss still, and remain, to this day, unusually bold with travelers who rest at that ledge, so that guides are known to warn newcomers before they cross the bridge.

Of the whole matter, this final verse has long been remembered:

Warder and daughters
defended their supper,
Striped-kin of stone-ledge 
stood their ground still.
Small was the raider
remembered still by rangers —
the halls that eyes could not see
gave him less trouble than this one.