Grettir Curse Continues

‘We will be on our guard now,’ said Grettir, ‘because Thorbjorn Hook won’t be planning this as the only move against us. Glaum, I want you to guard the ladder every day from now on and pull it up at night, and do this faithfully, for much is at stake. And if you betray us, you will soon suffer for it.’

Glaum promised to do it properly. Then the weather became rougher, a north-easterly wind got up and it grew colder. Every evening Grettir asked whether the ladder had been pulled up.

Glaum said, ‘What a time to expect anyone to come. Would anyone be so set on taking your life that he would kill himself to do so? It’s more than impossible to travel in this weather. I think your great courage has failed you if you expect everything to be the death of you two.’
‘You will acquit yourself much worse than either of us,’ said Grettir, ‘whatever it is that has to be done. But you must guard the ladder, even if you have to be forced to do it.’

They made him go out every morning, and he disliked it.

The pain in Grettir’s leg intensified; the whole of it swelled up and his upper and lower thigh began to fester. The infection spread all around the wound, so that Grettir was on the brink of death. Illugi sat nursing him day and night and paid no attention to anything else. This was during the second week after Grettir had cut himself.

81| Thorbjorn Hook was staying at home in Vidvik, disgruntled about failing to get the better of Grettir.

A good week after the crone had cast the spell on the tree, she went up to Thorbjorn and asked him whether he was planning to visit Grettir.

He said there was nothing he was more determined to do.

‘Do you want to see him, foster-mother?’ he asked.

‘I will not meet him,’ said the crone. ‘But I have sent him my greeting, which I expect will have reached him. I think the best course for you would be to act quickly and go to see him soon, otherwise you won’t have the chance to overcome him.’

Thorbjorn replied, ‘I have made so many disastrous voyages there that I will not go there now. It’s ample reason that the storm is too fierce for travelling anywhere, however urgent the need.’

‘You must be completely empty-headed if you can’t see a way around that,’ she replied. ‘I’ll give you some advice yet again. Go and gather some men first and ride over to your brother-in-law Halidor at Hof to ask his counsel. If I have any control over Grettir’s health, would it be surprising if I didn’t control the breeze that’s playing there at the moment, too?’

Realizing that the crone could see further than he thought, Thorbjorn sent word around the district to muster a band of men. He was answered immediately that none of the men who had handed over their shares in Drangey was prepared to lend any help; they said that Thorbjorn should have both his share in the island and the job of attacking Grettir. But Tungu-Stein sent him two followers, Thorbjorn’s brother Hjalti sent three and Eirik from Goddalir sent one. Thorbjorn took six men from his own farm and the party of twelve set off from Vidvik for Hof. Halidor invited them to stay and asked the purpose of their visit. Thorbjorn told him the whole story. Halidor asked whose idea it was and Thorbjorn told him that his foster-mother had urged him to do it.

‘No good will come of this,’ said Halidor, ‘because she is a sorceress and that is forbidden now.’

‘I can’t provide for everything,’ said Thorbjorn. ‘But I will put an end to this somehow if I have my say. How will I go about getting on to the island?’

‘I can tell that you are trusting in something,’ said Halldor, ‘although I don’t know how good that is. If you want to go ahead with it, go over and see my friend Bjorn at Haganes in Fljot. He owns a good boat. Tell him that I have asked him to lend it to you. From there you can sail along the fjord to Drangey, but this voyage of yours looks rash unless Grettir is ill or injured. And you can be certain that if you don’t overcome him honourably, he has plenty of people to seek redress. Don’t kill Illugi if you can avoid it. And I can tell that some of this plan is not completely Christian.’

Halldor lent him six men for the trip. One was named Kar, another Thorleif and the third Brand, but the others are not named. The eighteen of them set off for Fljot, reached Haganes and gave Bjorn Halldor’s message. He said it was his duty to do what they asked for Halldor’s sake, but added that he did not owe Thorbjorn any favours and thought it was a fool’s errand. He tried hard to discourage them. They could riot be talked into turning back, but went to the shore and launched the boat, which was already rigged by the boat-shed. Then they made ready to set sail and everyone on land thought the weather was impossible for travelling.

When they hoisted the sail, the boat soon picked up great speed into the fjord, and after they reached the main part of the fjord where the water was deeper the gale died down so sharply that they never felt it was too windy. They arrived at Drangey after nightfall.

82| To return to Grettir. He was so ill by now that he could not stand. Illugi sat beside him, while Glaum was supposed to keep guard. Once again he made a lot of complaints, saying that they seemed to think their lives would just drain away for no apparent reason. He went out of the hut very reluctantly.

When he reached the ladders he said to himself that he wasn’t going to pull up the top one this time. He grew very sleepy, lay down and slept the whole day, right up until the time Thorbjorn reached the island. He and his men noticed that the ladder had not been pulled up.

Then Thorbjorn said, ‘Something unusual is going on here, since no one is up and about, but their ladder is still down. Our trip may well prove more eventful than we thought at first. Let’s hurry to the hut and not let our courage fail us. We can be certain that if they are in good health, we will all have to do the very best we can.’

Then they climbed up on to the top of the island, looked around and saw someone lying a short way from the ladder, snoring loudly.
Thorbjorn recognized Glaum, went up to him, hit him on the ear with the hilt of his sword and told the wretch to wake up: ‘Any man whose life depends on your loyalty is certainly in a poor position.’

Glaum sat up and said, ‘There they go again. Do you think it’s too much freedom for me to lie out here in the cold?’

Hook said, ‘Are you so stupid that you don’t even realize your enemies are here and will kill you all?’

Instead of saying anything, Glaum screamed with all his might when he recognized the men.

‘Either you shut up this instant,’ said Hook, ‘and tell us about the layout of your hut or I’ll kill you.’

Glaum said no more than if his head were being held under water.

‘Are the brothers in their hut?’ asked Thorbjorn. ‘Why aren’t they up and about?’

‘It’s impossible,’ said Glaum, ‘because Grettir is ill and at the point of death and Illugi is watching over him.’

Hook asked about Grettir’s health and what had happened, and Glaum told him how his wound had come about.

Then Hook said with a laugh, ‘This proves the old saying, that old friendships are the last to break, and also, in your case, that a slave makes a poor friend, Glaum. Bad as he may be, you have betrayed your master shamefully.’

Many of the men abused him for his disloyalty, then beat him so hard he was almost crippled by it, and left him lying there. Then they went over to the hut and hammered on the door.

Illugi said, ‘Grey-belly’s knocking at the door, brother.’

‘And knocks hard, too,’ said Grettir, ‘and ruthlessly,’ and at that moment the door burst open.

Illugi leapt for his weapons and defended the door, blocking their entry. They attacked for a long time, but could only get the points of their spears inside and Illugi chopped them all off from the shafts. Seeing that they were making no headway, they leapt up on to the roof of the hut and tore it up. Then Grettir got to his feet, grabbed his spear and thrust it out between the rafters. It struck Kar, Halldor from Hof’s farmhand, and went right through him.

Hook told them to proceed with caution and keep themselves covered – ‘because we can defeat them if we act sensibly.’

Then they ripped the roof from the ends of the beam and forced against it until it broke. Grettir was unable to get up from his knees, but grabbed his short-sword Kar’s Gift. At that moment the attackers jumped down into the hut and the two sides swapped blows fiercely. Grettir swung his short-sword at Hjalti Thordarson’s follower Vikar, striking him on the left shoulder as he jumped down into the hut and cutting right through his shoulders and down his right side. The man was chopped clean in half and his body fell on top of Grettir in two pieces. Grettir could not raise his short-sword as quickly as he wanted, and at that moment Thorbjorn Hook lunged his spear between his shoulders, causing a great wound.

Then Grettir said, ‘Bare is the back of a brotherless man.’

Illugi threw a shield over Grettir and protected him so valiantly that everyone praised his defence.

Then Grettir asked Hook, ‘Who showed you the way to the island?’

‘Christ showed us the way,’ Hook said.

‘I would guess,’ said Grettir, ‘that wretched old crone, your foster-mother, showed you the way, because you have surely trusted in her advice.’

‘Your fate will be the same, regardless of whom we have trusted,’ said Hook.

They attacked fiercely, but Illugi defended them both vigor-ously. By now Grettir was completely put out of action by illness and wounds. Then Hook told his men to close in on Illugi with their shields – ‘since I have never seen his like in a man of his age.’

They did so and hemmed him in so tightly with pieces of wood and weapons that he could not put up any defence, so that they managed to seize him and hold him. He had dealt wounds to most of the attackers and killed three of Hook’s followers.

After that they went for Grettir. He had slumped forward and could not put up any defence, because he was already at the point of death from his leg injury. His thigh had festered all the way up to his groin. They dealt him so many wounds that there was little or no blood left to come out of each one. When they thought he must be dead, Hook grabbed for Grettir’s short-sword, saying he had carried it long enough. But Grettir had clenched his fingers so tightly around the hilt that it would not come free. Many others joined in, but they could do nothing either. In the end eight of them tried and none of them could loosen his grip.

Then Hook said, ‘Why should we show the outlaw any mercy? Put his hand over that beam.’

When they had done so, they chopped off Grettir’s hand at the wrist and the fingers straightened out and released their grip on the hilt. Then Hook took the short-sword with both hands and chopped at Grettir’s head. It was such a mighty blow that the sword could not withstand it and a piece broke off half-way down the edge. Thorbjorn’s men watched and asked him why he had ruined such a fine weapon.

Hook replied, ‘Then it will be easier to identify if anyone asks.’

They said there was no need, since the man was already dead.

‘There’s more to be done yet,’ said Hook.

And he dealt two or three blows to Grettir’s neck before the head came off.

‘Now I know for certain that Grettir is dead,’ Hook said.

It was in this way that Grettir lost his life, the most valiant man who has ever lived in Iceland, one year short of forty-five80 when he was killed. He was fourteen when he killed Skeggi, which was his first killing, and everything went in his favour and to his advantage until he tackled the wretch Glam at the age of twenty. When he was sentenced to outlawry he was twenty-five. He spent more than nineteen years as an outlaw and often faced great ordeals – and kept his faith well, as far as he was able. He could foresee most events, but could do nothing about them.

‘Here we have felled a great warrior,’ said Thorbjorn. ‘Let us take the head to land with us since I do not want to lose the price that has been put on it. Then there will be no mistaking that I killed him.’


- The Saga of Grettir the Strong (Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar)