Njals saga

Njals saga is an Icelandic prose narrative composed by an anonymous author, most likely between 1270 and 1290, and set in the decades from about 960 to 1020; among the candidates scholars have proposed for its authorship are Saemundr fródi and Snorri Sturluson, though none is confirmed. Written in Old Icelandic and drawing on oral tradition and earlier written sagas, it is the longest and most fully developed of the sagas of Icelanders, tracing a blood feud that grows out of the friendship between the wise lawyer Njall Thorgeirsson and the warrior Gunnar Hamundarson, a feud set in motion by Gunnar's wife Hallgerd and ending in Njall's death by burning. It is often called the high point of the saga tradition for its exploration of how honor-bound societies generate cycles of violence, and for its recurring use of omens and prophetic dreams.