_Kolbein_.--You must be a clever and trusty lad, though you are young.
_The Boy_.--You give me high praise, my lord, and it is good to hear.
_Kolbein_.--You are careful to ask men about their names, or get to know them from others. That is doing well for a young lad.
_The Boy_.--I asked yeoman Jon myself what his name was, my lord!
_Kolbein_.--There you lied again, little boy. The yeoman at Bolstadarhlid is called Thorvard Arnason. (_The boy runs out_.)
_Helgi_.--You lied in that yourself, Kolbein, to say that the yeoman's name was Jon. The boy would never have dared to ask the yeoman about his name.
_Kolbein_ (_to_ HAF).--Seize hold of this man and bring him into the prison at Flugumyr. Bishop Gudmund will open its doors for him if time hangs heavy on his hands there. (ILLUGI _the blind man runs out, forgetting his crutches; the people follow him. One hears the multitude outside shouting, 'A miracle'_.)
_Asbjorn_ (_to_ HELGI).--Was it Bishop Gudmund or Kolbein the Young who made that man forget his crutches?
_Helgi_.--If Kolbein has done it, then has he done it by the help of Beelzebub. (_He gathers up the crutches_. HAF _and_ ASBJORN _follow him as he leaves the church_.)
_Kolbein_.--Did you have a part in this farce, my lord?
_Botolf_.--No, my lord! (_Mutters_.) Pia fraus, pia fraus!
_Kolbein_.--Then all is well. Bishop Gudmund was a witless man, but no saint.
_Botolf_.--That is without example in Christendom how you laymen of Iceland treated Bishop Gudmund; you killed his men and his clerks, went to battle against him, beat and bound him, and in no wise let him enjoy peace.
_Kolbein_.--Bishop Gudmund was a scourge upon the land. On his journeys he devoured the property of one farmer in the morning, and of another in the evening.
_Botolf_.--Finally you deprived him even of his freedom.
_Kolbein_.--That was the very best thing for him!
_Botolf_.--Such conduct on your part violated God's laws.
_Kolbein_.--But not the laws of this land, sir bishop. They say, 'But if a man have a savage dog, then shall this dog be kept bound.' And I took the dog and bound him, sir bishop!
_Botolf_.--The property of the church it was that tempted you, and not the laws of the land; and how have you atoned for your robbery?