Hóll

Holl is Thorbjörn's poor stead across the valley from Hrafnkell's great seat at Aðalból — the humble farm of the man whose murdered son sets Hrafnkels saga in motion. From this modest holding the grieving Thorbjörn, too poor to challenge a chieftain by any ordinary means, refuses Hrafnkell's offered compensation for his boy and stubbornly takes the case to law, against all the odds of a weak man facing a strong one. Holl is the saga's image of the poor man's ground opposite the great man's — the humble stead across the valley from the chieftain's hall, the modest farm whose obstinate, grieving master will not be bought off, and whose refusal, improbable and admirable at once, sets in motion the toppling of the proud priest of Frey who lords it over the valley from the seat across the way.