The Greenlanders - Jane Smiley [314]
Now there was a long pause, when Bjorn Bollason and the judges spoke among themselves, and then they called Kollgrim Gunnarsson into the circle, and they waited a long time for him to make his appearance.
Gunnar climbed the hillside to his booth, and inside he found Kollgrim, and Kollgrim was sleeping and difficult to awaken, although Gunnar called to him, and shook him, and at last pulled his hair. Now Kollgrim sat up, and Gunnar said, “My son, have you had a dream? For such a sleep as I have now aroused you from is a portentous one.” But Kollgrim declared that he had had no dreams, and stood up and looked about him. There was no one else in the booth. Gunnar said, “Boy, they have made their case against you on the grounds of witchcraft, and have not elected to resort to fighting, as we expected. Instead they say that you have turned the woman’s eyes to your face through evil artifice. You must make your case against this charge, and you have much hope in this, for it is a foolish charge, and the judges do not care to give it credit.” Still Kollgrim looked about himself, as if little certain where he was. Now Gunnar went on, “My Kollgrim, you must gather your wits, for your life hangs upon your defense, and in such a case, no one can make it for you.” Now Kollgrim turned his face to his father, and it seemed to Gunnar that his boy did not see him, although his eyes were as voracious as they had ever been. Kollgrim said, “What did they say of her?”
“I will not hide from you that she is ill and stupefied, and her state hasn’t changed since last you saw her.”
“Will she die?”
“They say so. Men cannot predict such things.”
Now Kollgrim began to arrange his clothing and his hair, and as he did this, he moved restively about inside the booth, then stopped still, and stood staring at the ground. The flap of the booth twitched and opened. It was Jon Andres. He said, “The accused must defend himself or be lost. That is the law.” And the two men began to lead Kollgrim down the hillside, one at each arm, and to Gunnar, Kollgrim’s arm seemed hard and thick as a piece of driftwood, not a man’s arm at all. The faces of the men below turned and peered up at them.
Now Kollgrim went into the circle, and the judges gazed upon him, and finally, one of them said, “How was it that you came to seduce the woman Steinunn Hrafnsdottir?”
The folk who were standing about stepped closer to the center of the circle, and listened eagerly to hear what Kollgrim would say. He looked up, toward the fjord, then down again. At length he said, “I don’t know.”
“Did you draw her affections to you by using such black arts as the Devil teaches folk?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you learn such arts as these in the wastelands, from skraelings or other unaccountable folk as would be seen away from the dwellings of the Lord?”
“I know not.”
“How was it that you first came to meet the woman?”
“I do not know these things. It may be as you say, if she is dying. It may be that the power of the Devil works through me. I know not.”
And now the judges fell silent, looking at the man before them. At last, Bjorn Bollason spoke up and said, “Kollgrim Gunnarsson, the Icelanders ask for a cruel punishment for this crime, for the crime is not seduction, but witchcraft. You must make a defense against this charge, or by the law of the northern places, you must be burned at the stake.”
“I know not of these matters. Is it not for the judges to decide?”
Now the judges spoke among themselves, and men stood about waiting for them to make up their minds. After a while, they called upon Sira Eindridi to come among them, and he did so. The twenty-four Icelanders stood together in a group, and their clothing was bright. All eyes were drawn to them, including those of Bjorn Bollason, who looked from