Thorgrim Nef's Curse

There was a man named Thorgrim, who was known as Thorgrim Nef (Nose). He lived at Nefsstadir on the east side of the Haukadalsa river and was versed in all manner of spells and magic – the worst kind of sorcerer imaginable. Thorgrim and Thorkel invited him home because they were also holding a feast. Thorgrim Nef was a very skilled blacksmith, and it is told that both Thorgrim and Thorkel went to the smithy and locked themselves in. Then they took the fragments of Grasida, of which Thorkel had taken possession when he split up with his brother Gisli, and Thorgrim Nef made a spearhead out of them. By evening the spearhead was completely finished. The blade was damascened, and the shaft measured about a hand in length.

This matter must rest here for a while.

The story goes on to say that Onund from Medaldal came to Gisli’s feast and took him aside to tell him that Vestein had returned to Iceland and ‘is to be expected here’.

[...]

He (Gisli) walked farther into the house and up to the bed closet where his sister, Thordis, and Thorgrim slept. The door was pulled to, and they were both in bed. He went to the bed, felt about inside it and touched his sister’s breast. She was sleeping on the near side.

Then Thordis said, ‘Why is your hand so cold, Thorgrim?’ – and thereby woke him up.

Thorgrim replied, ‘Do you want me to turn towards you?’

She thought it had been his hand that touched her. Gisli waited a little longer, warming his hand inside his tunic, while the couple fell asleep again. Then he touched Thorgrim lightly, waking him. Thorgrim thought that Thordis had roused him and he turned towards her. Gisli then pulled the bedclothes off them with one hand, and with the other he plunged Grasida through Thorgrim so that it stuck fast in the bed.

Then Thordis cried out, ‘Everyone wake up. Thorgrim, my husband, has been killed!’

Gisli turned quickly towards the byre, leaving the way he had planned, and then locked up securely after himself. He headed home the same way he had come, leaving no sign of his tracks. Aud unbolted the door as he arrived, and Gisli went to his bed as if nothing were amiss and as though he had done nothing.

All the men at Saebol were exceedingly drunk and no one knew what to do. They had been caught off guard, and therefore did nothing that was either useful or appropriate in the situation.

[...]

They accepted his offer and all returned to Saebol together to build a mound. They laid Thorgrim out in a boat and raised the mound in accordance with the old ways.

When the mound had been sealed, Gisli walked to the mouth of the river and lifted a stone so heavy it was more like a boulder. He dropped it into the boat with such a resounding crash that almost every plank of wood gave way.

‘If the weather shifts this,’ he said, ‘then I don’t know how to fasten a boat.’

Some people remarked that this was not unlike what Thorgrim had done with Vestein when he spoke of the Hel-shoes.

Everyone then prepared to go home from the funeral.

Gisli said to his brother, Thorkel, ‘I believe you owe it to me that we be as friendly as we have ever been in the past – and now let’s begin the games.’

Thorkel agreed to this readily, and they both returned home. Gisli had a good many men at his house, and when the feast was over, he bestowed good gifts on all his guests.

[...]

They drank at Thorgrim’s wake and Bork gave good gifts of friendship to many of the company.

The next matter of account was that Bork paid Thorgrim Nef to perform a magic rite, and to this effect – that however willing people might be to help the man who slew Thorgrim, their assistance should be of no avail. A nine-year-old gelding ox was given to Thorgrim for the magic rite, which he then performed. He prepared what he needed to carry it out, building a scaffold on which he practised his obscene and black art in devilish perversity.

Another thing happened that was accounted strange – the snow never settled on the south-west of Thorgrim’s burial mound, nor showed any sign of frost. People suggested that Frey had found the sacrifices Thorgrim made to him so endearing that the god had not wanted the ground between them to freeze.

Such was the situation throughout the winter while the brothers jointly held their games. Bork moved in with Thordis and married her. She was with child at the time, and soon gave birth to a boy. He was sprinkled with water and at first named Thorgrim after his father. However, when he grew up he was thought to be so bad-tempered and restless that his name was changed to Snorri the Godi. Bork lived there for a while and took part in the games.

[...]

Then Gisli asked the two Thorkels what he might expect of them, and they both replied that they would give him shelter provided it meant no material loss on their parts. Then Thorkel the Wealthy rode home. It is said that Gisli spent three winters at Geirthjofsfjord, staying some of the time with Thorkel Eiriksson. Then he spent another three winters journeying around Iceland, meeting with various chieftains and trying to elicit their support. As a result of Thorgrim Nef’s evil arts, and the magic rite and spells he had performed, Gisli had no success in persuading these chieftains to ally themselves with him; although their support sometimes seemed almost forthcoming, something always obstructed its course. Nevertheless, he spent lengthy periods with Thorkel Eiriksson. By this time he had been outlawed for six years.

[...]

Bork soon recognized the men and said to Ingjald, ‘The best thing you can do is hand over Gisli – or else tell me where he is. You’re an unspeakable wretch, hiding my brother’s murderer like this when you’re my tenant. Don’t expect any mercy from me. You deserve to die for this.’

Ingjald replied, ‘My clothes are so poor that it would be no great grief if I stopped wearing them out. I’d rather die than not do all I can to keep Gisli from harm.’

It is said that Ingjald served Gisli best, and that his help was the most useful to him. When Thorgrim Nef performed his magic rite, he ordained that no assistance Gisli might receive from men on the mainland would come to anything. However, it never occurred to him to say anything about the islands, and thus Ingjald helped him for longer than most. But this could not last indefinitely.


- The Saga of Gisli the Outlaw (Gisla saga Súrssonar), Chapters 11, 16, 17, 18, 21, and 26


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Note: Though other terms are used here, the original text is referrring specifically to the use of seiðr. This is because of a translation choice, explained below. The following quotes are taken from the Glossary included with The Sagas of Icelanders: A Selection, the compilation which includes the translation of this source that I've used.

"magic rite: seiður: The exact nature of magic ritual, or seiður, is somewhat obscure. It appears that it was originally only practised by women. Although there are several accounts of males who performed this rite (including the god Odin), they are almost always looked down on as having engaged in an ‘effeminate’ activity. The magic rite seems to have had two main purposes: a spell to influence people or the elements (as in The Saga of the People of Laxardal, chs. 35–7, and Gisli Sursson’s Saga, ch. 18), and a means of finding out about the future (as in Eirik the Red’s Saga, ch. 4). There are evidently parallels between seiður and shamanistic rituals such as those carried out by the Lapps and Native Americans. See also seeress.

"magician: seiðmaður: Literally means ‘a man who practises seiður’. See also magic rite."