“Father…Don’t say anything now that you’ll live to regret later.”
Thorstein makes this remark when his father equates him to a coward. His father assumes that Thord beat him fairly in the past horse-fight yet Thord’s act of striking Thorstein was not part of the contest. Thorstein is not a coward for he chooses to overlook Thord’s act and does not intend to involve his father. The insulating term coward prompts Thorstein to revenge by striking Thord which is a direct affirmation that he is not a coward.
“Hrafnkel had one treasured possession which he held dearer than anything else he owned. It was a pale-dun stallion, with a black mane and black stripe down the back. He called the horse Freyfaxi and gave his patron Frey a half-share in it. Hrafnkel loved this horse so passionately that he swore a solemn oath to kill anyone who rode the stallion without his permission.”
Hrafnkel’s oath affirms that he treasures the horse to the extent that he feels that riding it without his approval merits the death of the violator. His affection for the horse is religious because it includes an oath. Accordingly, Hrafnkel elevates the stallion to the status of a god.
