Grettir - Jumps off waterfall

The face of the cliff rose ten fathoms above the water, and it was so sheer that there was no way to climb up.

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65. The She-Troll from the Falls

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A fathom was three ells long, measured as the length between the fingertips of a person's outstretched arms. The cliff is approximately 15 meters high.

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Explanatory Notes

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'I do not want to have a rope binding me,' said Grettir, 'when I surface behind the waterfall. That idea worries me.'

After that he got himself ready. He wore only a few clothes and belted on the sax; otherwise he had no other weapons. Then he plunged off the cliff and down into the falls. The priest watched as the soles of Grettir's feet disappeared. After that, the priest had no idea what became of him. Grettir meanwhile dived down under the falling water; the going was difficult. The current was so strung that he had to dive all the way down to the bottom before he was able to begin rising to the surface behind the falls.

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66. Behind the Falls