Egil Skallagrim's son now grew old, and in his old age became heavy in movement, and dull both in hearing and sight; he became also stiff in the legs. Egil was at Moss-fell with Grim and Thordis.

It happened one day that as Egil went out along the house-wall he stumbled and fell. Some women saw this, and laughed, saying:

'You are now quite gone, Egil, if you fall when alone.'

Then said the master Grim, 'Women jeered at us less when we were younger.' Egil then sang:

'Old haltered horse I waver,
Bald-head I weakly fall:
Hollow my failing leg-bones,
The fount of hearing dry.'

Egil became quite blind.

And it was so that one day, when the weather was cold, Egil went to the fire to warm himself. Whereupon the cook said that it was a great wonder, so mighty a man as Egil had been, that he should lie in their way so that they could not do their work.

'Be you civil,' said Egil, 'though I bask by the fire, and let us bear and forbear about place.'

'Stand you up,' said she, 'and go to your seat, and let us do our work.'

Egil stood up, and went to his place and sang:

'Blind near the blaze I wander,
Beg of the fire-maid pardon,
Crave for a seat. Such sorrow
From sightless eyes I bear.
Yet England's mighty monarch
Me whilom greatly honoured:
And princes once with pleasure
The poet's accents heard.'

Again, once when Egil went to the fire to warm himself, a man asked him whether his feet were cold, and warned him not to put them too near the fire.

'That shall be so,' said Egil; 'but 'tis not easy steering my feet now that I cannot see; a very dismal thing is blindness.'

Then Egil sang:

'Lonely I lie,
And think it long,
Carle worn with eld
From kings' courts exiled.
Feet twain have I,
Frosty and cold,
Bedfellows needing
Blaze of fire.'

In the later days of Hacon the Great Egil Skallagrim's son was in his ninth decade of years, and save for his blindness was a hale and hearty man.

One summer, when men made ready to go to the Thing, Egil asked Grim that he might ride with him to the Thing. Grim was slow to grant this.

And when Grim and Thordis talked together, Grim told her what Egil had asked. 'I would like you,' said he, 'to find out what lies under this request.'

Thordis then went to talk with Egil her uncle: it was Egil's chief pleasure to talk to her.

And when she met him she asked: 'Is it true, uncle, that you wish to ride to the Thing? I want you to tell me what plan you have in this?'

'I will tell you,' said he, 'what I have thought of. I mean to take with me to the Thing two chests that king Athelstan gave me, each of which is full of English silver. I mean to have these chests carried to the Hill of Laws just when it is most crowded. Then I mean to sow broadcast the silver, and I shall be surprized if all share it fairly between them. Kicks, I fancy, there will be and blows; nay, it may end in a general fight of all the assembled Thing.'

Thordis said: 'A famous plan, methinks, is this, and it will be remembered so long as Iceland is inhabited.'

After this Thordis went to speak with Grim and told him Egil's plan.

'That shall never be,' said he, 'that he carry this out, such monstrous folly.'

And when Egil came to speak with Grim of their going to the Thing, Grim talked him out of it all; and Egil sat at home during the Thing. But he did not like it, and he wore a frowning look.

At Moss-fell were the summer-sheds of the milch kine, and during the Thing-time Thordis was at the sheds.

It chanced one evening, when the household at Moss-fell were preparing to go to bed, that Egil called to him two thralls of Grim's. He bade them bring him a horse. 'I will go to the warm bath, and you shall go with me,' said he. And when Egil was ready, he went out, and he had with him his chests of silver. He mounted the horse. They then went down through the home paddock and under the slope there, as men saw afterwards. But in the morning, when men rose, they saw Egil wandering about in the holt east of the farm, and leading the horse after him. They went to him, and brought him home. But neither thralls nor chests ever came back again, and many are the guesses as to where Egil hid his money. East of the farm at Moss-fell is a gill coming down from the fell: and it is noteworthy that in rapid thaws there was a great rush of water there, but after the water has fallen there have been found in the gill English pennies. Some guess that Egil must have hidden his money there. Below the farm enclosure at Moss-fell are bogs wide and very deep. Many feel sure that 'tis there Egil hid his money. And south of the river are hot springs, and hard by there large earthholes, and some men guess that Egil must have hidden his money there, because out that way cairn-fires were often seen to hover. Egil said that he had slain Grim's thralls, also that he had hidden the chests, but where he had hidden them he told no man.

In the autumn following Egil fell sick of the sickness whereof he died. When he was dead, then Grim had Egil dressed in goodly raiment, and carried down to Tjalda-ness; there a sepulchral mound was made, and in it was Egil laid with his weapons and his raiment.

Egill Skalla-Grímsson varð maðr gamall, en í elli hans gerðist hann þungfærr, ok glapnaði honum bæði heyrn ok sýn. Hann gerðist ok fótstirðr. Egill var þá at Mosfelli með Grími ok Þórdísi.

Þat var einn dag, er Egill gekk úti með vegg ok drap fæti ok fell.

Konur nökkurar sá þat ok hlógu at ok mæltu: "Farinn ertu nú, Egill, með öllu, er þú fellr einn saman."

Þá segir Grímr bóndi: "Miðr hæddu konur at okkr, þá er vit várum yngri."

Þá kvað Egill:

Vals hefk váfur helsis.
Váfallr em ek skalla.
Blautr erum bergis fótar
borr, en hlust es þorrin.

Egill varð með öllu sjónlauss.

Þat var einnhvern dag, er veðr var kalt um vetrinn, at Egill fór til elds at verma sik. Matseljan ræddi um, at þat var undr mikit, slíkr maðr sem Egill hafði verit, at hann skyldi liggja fyrir fótum þeim, svá at þær mætti eigi vinna verk sín.

"Ver þú vil við," segir Egill, "þótt ek bökumst við eldinn, ok mýkjumst vér við um rúmin."

"Statt þú upp," segir hon, "ok gakk til rúms þíns ok lát oss vinna verk vár."

Egill stóð upp ok gekk til rúms síns ok kvað:

Hvarfak blindr of branda,
biðk eirar Syn geira,
þann berk harm á hvarma
hnitvöllum mér, sitja,
es jarðgöfugr orðum,
orð mín konungr forðum
hafði gramr at gamni,
Geirhamðis mik framði.

Þat var enn eitt sinn, er Egill gekk til elds at verma sik, þá spurði maðr hann, hvárt honum væri kalt á fótum, ok bað hann eigi rétta of nær eldinum.

"Svá skal vera," segir Egill, "en eigi verðr mér nú hógstýrt fótunum, er ek sé eigi, ok er of daufligt sjónleysit,"

Þá kvað Egill:

Langt þykki mér.
Ligg einn saman
karl afgamall,
án konungs vörnum.
Eigum ekkjur
allkaldar tvær,
en þær konur
þurfu blossa.

Þat var á dögum Hákonar ins ríka öndverðum, þá var Egill Skalla-Grímsson á níunda tigi, ok var hann þá hress maðr fyrir annars sakar en sjónleysis.

Þat var um sumarit, er menn bjuggust til þings, þá beiddi Egill Grím at ríða til þings með honum. Grímr tók því seinliga.

Ok er þau Grímr ok Þórdís töluðust við, þá sagði Grímr henni, hvers Egill hafði beitt. "Vil ek, at þú forvitnist, hvat undir mun búa bæn þessi."

Þórdís gekk til máls við Egil, frænda sinn. Var þá mest gaman Egils at ræða við hana.

Ok er hon hitti hann, þá spurði hon: "Er þat satt, frændi, er þú vill til þings ríða? Vilda ek, at þú segðir mér, hvat væri í ráðagerð þinni."

"Ek skal segja þér," kvað hann, "hvat ek hefi hugsat. Ek ætla at hafa til þings með mér kistur þær tvær, er Aðalsteinn konungr gaf mér, er hvártveggja er full af ensku silfri. Ætla ek at láta bera kisturnar til Lögbergs, þá er þar er fjölmennast. Síðan ætla ek at sá silfrinu, ok þykkir mér undarligt, ef allir skipta vel sín í milli. Ætla ek, at þar myndi vera þá hrundningar eða pústrar, eða bærist at um síðir, at allr þingheimrinn berðist."

Þórdís segir: "Þetta þykkir mér þjóðráð, ok mun uppi, meðan landit er byggt."

Síðan gekk Þórdís til tals við Grím ok sagði honum ráðagerð Egils.

"Þat skal aldri verða, at hann komi þessu fram, svá miklum firnum."

Ok er Egill kom á ræður við Grím um þingferðina, þá talði Grímr þat allt af, ok sat Egill heima um þingit. Eigi líkaði honum þat vel. Var hann heldr ófrýnn.

At Mosfelli var höfð selför, ok var Þórdís í seli um þingit.

Þat var eitt kveld, þá er menn bjuggust til rekkna at Mosfelli, at Egill kallaði til sín þræla tvá, er Grímr átti. Hann bað þá taka sér hest. "Vil ek fara til laugar." Ok er Egill var búinn, gekk hann út ok hafði með sér silfrkistur sínar. Hann steig á hest, fór síðan ofan eftir túninu fyrir brekku þá, er þar verðr, er menn sá síðast.

En um morgininn, er menn risu upp, þá sá þeir, at Egill hvarflaði á holtinu fyrir austan garð ok leiddi eftir sér hestinn. Fara þeir þá til hans ok fluttu hann heim.

En hvárki kom aftr síðan þrælarnir né kisturnar, ok eru þar margar gátur á, hvar Egill hafi fólgit fé sitt. Fyrir austan garð at Mosfelli gengr gil ofan ór fjalli. En þat hefir orðit þar til merkja, at í bráðaþeyjum er þar vatnfall mikit, en eftir þat er vötnin hafa fram fallit, hafa fundizt í gilinu enskir penningar. Geta sumir menn þess, at Egill muni þar fét hafa fólgit. Fyrir neðan tún at Mosfelli eru fen stór ok furðuliga djúp. Hafa þat margir fyrir satt, at Egill muni þar hafa kastat í fé sínu. Fyrir sunnan ána eru laugar ok þar skammt frá jarðholur stórar, ok geta þess sumir, at Egill mundi þar hafa fólgit fé sitt, því at þangat er oftliga sénn haugaeldr. Egill sagði, at hann hefði drepit þræla Gríms, ok svá þat, at hann hafði fé sitt fólgit, en þat sagði hann engum manni, hvar hann hefði fólgit.

Egill tók sótt eftir um haustit, þá er hann leiddi til bana. En er hann var andaðr, þá lét Grímr færa Egil í klæði góð. Síðan lét hann flytja hann ofan í Tjaldanes ok gera þar haug, ok var Egill þar í lagðr ok vápn hans ok klæði.