The Case Of Von Kalb Arneson

1. How the devil was rescued

It is said that Kalb Arneson committed himself to the devil when he in the Black School. When he returned to Iceland he had no greater desire than to be able to take advantage of this promise to be released; but how he should go about doing this He did not know how to reach the goal. Finally, he took the solution of Saemund paid a visit to the wise man to ask him for good advice in this tricky matter. Saemund advised him to to get a bull calf and name it Arne, then he should be a raise another calf that would be fathered by this bull, it calf and "that is Kalb Arneson".

Kalb followed the advice Saemund had given him, and after some time Time came for the devil to come and, as he said, take Calf Arneson. Calf said that nothing stood in the way, whereupon he fetched the calf, which he had raised, and handed it over to the devil with the words: »Here you have Calf Arneson.« The devil could not object to this, and although in his opinion it was a poor fulfilment of the promise, he had to put on a brave face and Kalb Arneson, who died after reaching an honorable age had reached.


2. Calf visits Saemund the Wise

Another time Kalb Arneson wanted to visit Saemund the Wise in Odde and told his people that he would try to catch him unexpectedly Nothing is said about Kalb's journey until he arrives at arrived in Odde at night and knocked softly on the door. Saemund heard that and ordered one of his servants to go to the door to to see who the newcomer was. The servant went out, but could not could not find anyone; he therefore went back inside and said that no one was outside. There was a second knock, and Saemund ordered another servant to go to the door. The servant obeyed, and since he could not see anyone outside, he walked around the entire courtyard around, but still saw no one; he therefore left empty-handed thing back inside and said that he hadn't seen anyone outside. There was a third knock on the door. Now Saemund himself jumped by saying that he was probably the one with whom the newcomer He went out and saw his comrade Kalb Arneson outside and they greeted each other in a friendly manner. Kalb asked for Shelter, and that was not denied to him, as one might imagine He asked Saemund to tie up his horse and Saemund began to Kalb said that it was actually a shame to demand that he tie up his horse, he believed However, he said that he had to ask him for it. Saemund said that he would do it, and he immediately set about it, it was but for a while only badly by hands. Kalb acted as if he was surprised at how long it took him to tie up his horse, and asked him if he didn’t understand. Saemund replied that he didn’t think so. to understand, but he could not find any feet under the horse. Kalb said that they protruded from the belly like any other horse. Saemund replied that whatever it was, this horse had no feet, at least he could not find them. A good time, in which Saemund continued to search for the horse’s feet, and Finally, he left this piece of work alone, so that one does not know whether he ever tied the horse or not. Then Saemund Kalb invited to come in, and he accepted with thanks. Saemund went with a candle in his hand and waited at the very end of the corridor for Calf. But Calf still hesitated outside. After a while Saemund's wife came out and asked who the newcomer was. Saemund told her. She asked him if he had asked the guest to to come in. Saemund replied that he had already done so Then she wanted to go out and invite him again to the house to come; but Saemund did not want that, he would soon come, he said. It was quite some time before Kalb finally came in, out of breath, and asked Saemund's wife to give him a generous Drink. »Do you need a lot to drink?« asked Saemund. Kalb replied: »It could easily happen that others than me drink before the evening is over.«

They then led Kalb into a room and served him food and gave him a knife to eat with. But when he cut with the knife wanted to, it was completely blunt. Saemund asked him if the knife was not was spicy. Kalb replied no. Saemund's wife said that it was not her The intention was to choose one of her worst knives for him, and that this knife must be sharp in her opinion. Saemund asked about the knife; he wanted to try to sharpen it. Kalb gave him the knife, and when Saemund had sharpened it, he handed it back to Kalb and said that he should be careful now, because he now believes that it was sharp enough. Kalb replied that he was not afraid of it; as But when he cut off the first piece, the knife cut through the board and table and penetrated deep into his thigh. Saemund said that he had asked him to be careful because the knife was sharp. Kalb replied that the wound was not fatal and then bandaged it.

In those times it was customary to drink before and after meals While Kalb, after finishing his meal, Saemund fell from his chair as if dead, and Kalb ordered that should immediately sprinkle him with water. Saemund recovered, and when Kalb asked him to drink some water, he did so immediately. Then Kalb said: »Did I not say that others than me this evening still had to drink when I asked for a generous drink after I had searched for the door exhaustedly?« Then they heard these They started teasing and chatted with each other about who of them the smartest.

Later, however, Kalb said that Saemund was more interested in the Black School learned more than he did and that he could therefore do more than he could.


3. Kalb sends the devil to fetch a priest

Kalb once fell into a dangerous and serious illness. the devil came to his bed and said that he intended to be present Kalb replied that he would not die this time. but he still asked the devil to bring a priest who was not greedy for money; there was no further hurry, he said, because his The devil became very quiet and said that it is not so easy to find such a man. Kalb replied that the devil would not get him, Kalb, if he did not could bring such a priest, the contract between them would be then invalid.

So the devil went away and stayed away for a long time; he carefully searched But I found no one who was not greedy for money. After much effort and long However, he brought a priest to Kalb, about whom he told that he had found him far away in distant lands; although he was not completely free of greed; but there was only one priest down there in Germany, which has the reputation of not being greedy, but it could not have approached him, because of a bright fire that that had been burning around him the whole time.

Kalb said that he had met the priest, whom the devil had brought, nothing to do with it, as he was not entirely free from greed, and the devil therefore has no right to payment.

And so the devil with the long nose had to leave.


4. Value death

When Kalb reached a very old age, he became seriously ill, and he knew in advance that the illness would be his death. He therefore ordered all the people of the house to leave the courtyard and to lock the chamber in which he lay, but to keep the key He asked people to leave the hole in a certain place. Time to come back, but they should not worry about they may dislodge various objects in the yard broken or broken into pieces; but if everything is in its If the bedroom had remained as it had been, then they would bury him with all the ceremonies; if there was anything in it destroyed or inadvigated, then you should like a carcass bury somewhere. Kalb had a foster son who Arne was called and was very dear to him; he did not want to go with the other People of the court and therefore hid behind the fence around the yard as the others left. After a For a short time, Arne saw the devil coming. Devil around the entire fence and then into the yard, where he He walked around and raged for a while. Finally he went into the house and spent a long time in it and made a lot of noise. After some time Arne sneaked into the house and opened the door to the room where his foster father Kalb was lying. Kalb was dead, but all the things in his Chamber stood exactly as they had stood before, and Arne Looked nothing from the devil.

Then Kalb Arneson was buried with all the ceremonies in the churchyard, as he himself had requested.