Preserved in the 14th-century manuscript known as Möðruvallabók and other post-Reformation copies,[1][2] the tale is a satire on the judicial system of the medieval Icelandic Commonwealth.
It tells the story of an ale-brewer, named Þórhallr but known as Ölkofri or "Ale-Hood" for the hood that he habitually wears.
Ölkofri accidentally sets fire to some valuable woodland belonging to six powerful Icelandic chieftains.
On a side note, the main character's occupation—brewer and seller of ale at the Icelandic Alþing—provides some confirmation that barley was once grown in Iceland during the tail end of a warm phase known as the Medieval Warm Period.
[1] Emily Lethbridge suggests that in treating the Ölkofra text as a þáttr critics "may well be implicitly perpetuating certain hierarchical value judgements founded on assumptions about the relative lengths and narrative value or complexity of sagas (longer, more sophisticated) and þættir (shorter, less sophisticated).