Complete Works of William Morris, page 554
Something of a blot, from some points of view, the story of Spes and Thorstein Dromund (of which more anon) must be considered; yet whoever added it to the tale did so with some skill considering its incongruous and superfluous nature, for he takes care that Grettir shall not be forgotten amidst all the plots and success of the lovers; and, whether it be accidental or not, there is to our minds something touching in the contrast between the rude life and tragic end of the hero, and the long, drawn out, worldly good hap and quiet hopes for another life which fall to the lot of his happier brother.
As to the authorship of our story, it has no doubt gone through the stages which mark the growth of the Sagas in general, that is, it was for long handed about from mouth to mouth until it took a definite shape in men’s minds; and after it had held that position for a certain time, and had received all the necessary polish for an enjoyable saga, was committed to writing as it flowed ready made from the tongue of the people. Its style, in common with that of all the sagas, shows evidences enough of this: for the rest, the only name connected with it is that of Sturla Thordson the Lawman, a man of good position and family, and a prolific author, who was born in 1214 and died 1284; there is, however, no proof that he wrote the present work, though we think the passages in it that mention his name show clearly enough that he had something to do with the story of Grettir: on the whole, we are inclined to think that a story of Grettir was either written by him or under his auspices, but that the present tale is the work of a later hand, nor do we think so complete a saga-teller, as his other undoubted works show him to have been, would ever have finished his story with the epilogue of Spes and Thorstein Dromund, steeped as that latter part is with the spirit of the mediaeval romances, even to the distinct appropriation of a marked and well-known episode of the Tristram; though it must be admitted that he had probably plenty of opportunity for being versed in that romance, as Tristram was first translated into the tongue of Norway in the year 1226, by Brother Robert, at the instance of King Hakon Hakonson, whose great favourite Sturla Thordson was, and whose history was written by him.
For our translation of this work we have no more to say than to apologise for its shortcomings, and to hope, that in spite of them, it will give some portion of the pleasure to our readers which we felt in accomplishing it ourselves.
EIRÍKR MAGNÚSSON, WILLIAM MORRIS.
LONDON, April 1869.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE STORY.
872. The battle of Hafrsfirth.
874. Begins the settlement of Iceland.
cca.897. Thrand and Ufeigh Grettir settle Gnup-Wardsrape.
cca.900. Onund Treefoot comes to Iceland.
cca.920. Death of Onund Treefoot.
929. The Althing established.
997 (?). Grettir born.
1000. Christianity sanctioned by law.
1004. Skapti Thorodson made lawman.
1011. Grettir slays Skeggi; goes abroad, banished for three years.
1012. Slaying of Thorir Paunch and his fellows in Haramsey.
Earl Eric goes to Denmark.
1013. Slaying of Biorn at the Island of Gartar.
Slaying of Thorgils Makson. Illugi Asmundson
born. Death of Thorkel Krafla.
1014. Slaying of Gunnar in Tunsberg. Grettir goes
back to Iceland; fights with the men of Meal
on Ramfirth-neck. Heath-slayings. Thorgeir
Havarson outlawed. Fight with Glam
the ghost.
1015. Fight of Nesjar in Norway. Slaying of Thorbiorn
Tardy. Grettir fares abroad. Burning
of the sons of Thorir of Garth. Death of
Asmund the Greyhaired.
1016. Grettir meets King Olaf; fails to bear iron; goes
east to Tunsberg to Thorstein Dromund.
Slaying of Atli of Biarg. Grettir outlawed
at the Thing for the burning of the sons of
Thorir; his return to Iceland. Slaying of
Thorbiorn Oxmain and his son Arnor.
1017. Grettir at Reek-knolls. Lawsuit for the slaying
of Thorbiorn Oxmain. Grettir taken by
the Icefirth churls.
1018. Grettir at Liarskogar with Thorstein Kuggson;
his travels to the East to Skapti the lawman
and Thorhall of Tongue, and thence to the
Keel-mountain, where he met Hallmund
(Air) for the first time.
1019-1021. Grettir on Ernewaterheath.
1021. Grettir goes to the Marshes.
1022-1024. Grettir in Fairwoodfell.
1024. Grettir visits Hallmund again.
1025. Grettir discovers Thorirs-dale.
1025-1026. Grettir travels round by the East; haunts
Madderdale-heath and Reek-heath.
1026. Thorstein Kuggson slain.
1027. Grettir at Sand-heaps in Bard-dale.
1028. Grettir haunts the west by Broadfirth-dales,
meets Thorod Snorrison.
1028-1031. Grettir in Drangey.
1029. Grettir visits Heron-ness-thing.
1030. Grettir fetches fire from Reeks. Skapti the law
man dies.
1031. Death of Snorri Godi and Grettir Asmundson.
1033. Thorbiorn Angle slain.
* * *
THE STORY OF GRETTIR THE STRONG.
This First Part tells of the forefathers of Grettir in Norway, and how they fled away before Harald Fairhair, and settled in Iceland; and of their deeds in Iceland before Grettir was born.
* * *
CHAP. I.
There was a man named Onund, who was the son of Ufeigh Clubfoot, the son of Ivar the Smiter; Onund was brother of Gudbiorg, the mother of Gudbrand Ball, the father of Asta, the mother of King Olaf the Saint. Onund was an Uplander by the kin of his mother; but the kin of his father dwelt chiefly about Rogaland and Hordaland. He was a great viking, and went harrying west over the Sea.[] Balk of Sotanes, the son of Blaeng, was with him herein, and Orm the Wealthy withal, and Hallvard was the name of the third of them. They had five ships, all well manned, and therewith they harried in the South-isles;[] and when they came to Barra, they found there a king, called Kiarval, and he, too, had five ships. They gave him battle, and a hard fray there was. The men of Onund were of the eagerest, and on either side many fell; but the end of it was that the king fled with only one ship. So there the men of Onund took both ships and much wealth, and abode there through the winter. For three summers they harried throughout Ireland and Scotland, and thereafter went to Norway.
* * *
CHAP. II.
In those days were there great troubles in Norway. Harald the Unshorn,[] son of Halfdan the Black, was pushing forth for the kingdom. Before that he was King of the Uplands; then he went north through the land, and had many battles there, and ever won the day. Thereafter he harried south in the land, and wheresoever he came, laid all under him; but when he came to Hordaland, swarms of folk came thronging against him; and their captains were Kiotvi the Wealthy, and Thorir Longchin, and those of South Rogaland, and King Sulki. Geirmund Helskin was then in the west over the Sea; nor was he in that battle, though he had a kingdom in Hordaland.
Now that autumn Onund and his fellows came from the west over the Sea; and when Thorir Longchin and King Kiotvi heard thereof, they sent men to meet them, and prayed them for help, and promised them honours. Then they entered into fellowship with Thorir and his men; for they were exceeding fain to try their strength, and said that there would they be whereas the fight was hottest.
Now was the meeting with Harald the King in Rogaland, in that firth which is called Hafrsfirth; and both sides had many men. This was the greatest battle that has ever been fought in Norway, and hereof most Sagas tell; for of those is ever most told, of whom the Sagas are made; and thereto came folk from all the land, and many from other lands and swarms of vikings.
Now Onund laid his ship alongside one board of the ship of Thorir Longchin, about the midst of the fleet, but King Harald laid his on the other board, because Thorir was the greatest bearserk, and the stoutest of men; so the fight was of the fiercest on either side. Then the king cried on his bearserks for an onslaught, and they were called the Wolf-coats, for on them would no steel bite, and when they set on nought might withstand them. Thorir defended him very stoutly, and fell in all hardihood on board his ship; then was it cleared from stem to stern, and cut from the grapplings, and let drift astern betwixt the other ships. Thereafter the king’s men laid their ship alongside Onund’s, and he was in the forepart thereof and fought manly; then the king’s folk said, “Lo, a forward man in the forecastle there, let him have somewhat to mind him how that he was in this battle.” Now Onund put one foot out over the bulwark and dealt a blow at a man, and even therewith a spear was aimed at him, and as he put the blow from him he bent backward withal, and one of the king’s forecastle men smote at him, and the stroke took his leg below the knee and sheared it off, and forthwith made him unmeet for fight. Then fell the more part of the folk on board his ship; but Onund was brought to the ship of him who is called Thrand; he was the son of Biorn, and brother of Eyvind the Eastman; he was in the fight against King Harald and lay on the other board of Onund’s ship.
But now, after these things, the more part of the fleet scattered in flight; Thrand and his men, with the other vikings, got them away each as he might, and sailed west over the Sea; Onund went with him, and Balk and Hallvard Sweeping; Onund was healed, but went with a wooden leg all his life after; therefore as long as he lived was he called Onund Treefoot.
* * *
CHAP. III.
At that time were many great men west over the Sea, such as had fled from their lands in Norway before King Harald, because he had made all those outlaws, who had met him in battle, and taken to him their possessions. So, when Onund was healed of his wounds, he and Thrand went to meet Geirmund Helskin, because he was the most famed of vikings west there over the Sea, and they asked him whether he had any mind to seek after that kingdom which he had in Hordaland, and offered him their fellowship herein; for they deemed they had a sore loss of their lands there, since Onund was both mighty and of great kin.
Geirmund said that so great had grown the strength of King Harald, that he deemed there was little hope that they would win honour in their war with him when men had been worsted, even when all the folk of the land had been drawn together; and yet withal that he was loth to become a king’s thrall and pray for that which was his own; that he would find somewhat better to do than that; and now, too, he was no longer young. So Onund and his fellows went back to the South-isles, and there met many of their friends.
There was a man, Ufeigh by name, who was bynamed Grettir; he was the son of Einar, the son of Olvir Bairn-Carle; he was brother to Oleif the Broad, the father of Thormod Shaft; Steinulf was the name of Olvir Bairn-Carle’s son, he was the father of Una whom Thorbiorn Salmon-Carle had to wife. Another son of Olvir Bairn-Carle was Steinmod, the father of Konal, who was the father of Aldis of Barra. The son of Konal was Steinmod, the father of Haldora, the wife of Eilif, the son of Ketil the Onehanded. Ufeigh Grettir had to wife Asny, the daughter of Vestar Haengson; and Asmund the Beardless and Asbiorn were the sons of Ufeigh Grettir, but his daughters were these, Aldis, and Asa, and Asvor. Ufeigh had fled away west over the Sea before Harald the king, and so had Thormod Shaft his kinsman, and had with them their kith and kin; and they harried in Scotland, and far and wide west beyond the sea.
Now Thrand and Onund Treefoot made west for Ireland to find Eyvind the Eastman, Thrand’s brother, who was Land-ward along the coasts of Ireland; the mother of Eyvind was Hlif, the daughter of Rolf, son of Ingiald, the son of King Frodi; but Thrand’s mother was Helga, the daughter of Ondott the Crow; Biorn was the name of the father of Eyvind and Thrand, he was the son of Rolf from Am; he had had to flee from Gothland, for that he had burned in his house Sigfast, the son-in-law of King Solver; and thereafter had he gone to Norway, and was the next winter with Grim the hersir, the son of Kolbiorn the Abasher. Now Grim had a mind to murder Biorn for his money, so he fled thence to Ondott the Crow, who dwelt in Hvinisfirth in Agdir; he received Biorn well, and Biorn was with him in the winter, but was in warfare in summer-tide, until Hlif his wife died; and after that Ondott gave Biorn Helga his daughter, and then Biorn left off warring.
Now thereon Eyvind took to him the war-ships of his father, and was become a great chief west over the Sea; he wedded Rafarta, the daughter of Kiarval, King of Ireland; their sons were Helgi the Lean and Snaebiorn.
So when Thrand and Onund came to the South-isles, there they met Ufeigh Grettir and Thormod Shaft, and great friendship grew up betwixt them, for each thought he had gained from hell the last who had been left behind in Norway while the troubles there were at the highest. But Onund was exceeding moody, and when Thrand marked it, he asked what he was brooding over in his mind. Onund answered, and sang this stave —
“What joy since that day can I get
When shield-fire’s thunder last I met;
Ah, too soon clutch the claws of ill;
For that axe-edge shall grieve me still.
In eyes of fighting man and thane,
My strength and manhood are but vain,
This is the thing that makes me grow
A joyless man; is it enow?”
Thrand answered that whereso he was, he would still be deemed a brave man, “And now it is meet for thee to settle down and get married, and I would put forth my word and help, if I but knew whereto thou lookest.”
Onund said he did in manly wise, but that his good hope for matches of any gain was gone by now.
Thrand answered, “Ufeigh has a daughter who is called Asa, thitherward will we turn if it seem good to thee.” Onund showed that he was willing enough hereto; so afterwards they talked the matter over with Ufeigh; he answered well, and said that he knew how that Onund was a man of great kin and rich of chattels; “but his lands,” said he, “I put at low worth, nor do I deem him to be a hale man, and withal my daughter is but a child.”
Thrand said, that Onund was a brisker man yet than many who were hale of both legs, and so by Thrand’s help was this bargain struck; Ufeigh was to give his daughter but chattels for dowry, because those lands that were in Norway neither would lay down any money for.
A little after Thrand wooed the daughter of Thormod Shaft, and both were to sit in troth for three winters.
So thereafter they went a harrying in the summer, but were in Barra in the winter-tide.
* * *
CHAP. IV.
There were two vikings called Vigbiod and Vestmar; they were South-islanders, and lay out both winter and summer; they had thirteen ships, and harried mostly in Ireland, and did many an ill deed there till Eyvind the Eastman took the land-wardship; thereafter they got them gone to the South-isles, and harried there and all about the firths of Scotland: against these went Thrand and Onund, and heard that they had sailed to that island, which is called Bute. Now Onund and his folk came there with five ships; and when the vikings see their ships and know how many they are, they deem they have enough strength gathered there, and take their weapons and lay their ships in the midst betwixt two cliffs, where was a great and deep sound; only on one side could they be set on, and that with but five ships at once. Now Onund was the wisest of men, and bade lay five ships up into the sound, so that he and his might have back way when they would, for there was plenty of sea-room astern. On one board of them too was a certain island, and under the lee thereof he let one ship lie, and his men brought many great stones forth on to the sheer cliffs above, yet might not be seen withal from the ships.
Now the vikings laid their ships boldly enough for the attack, and thought that the others quailed; and Vigbiod asked who they were that were in such jeopardy. Thrand said that he was the brother of Eyvind the Eastman, “and here beside me is Onund Treefoot my fellow.”
Then laughed the vikings, and shouted —
“Treefoot, Treefoot, foot of tree,
Trolls take thee and thy company.”
“Yea, a sight it is seldom seen of us, that such men should go into battle as have no might over themselves.”
Onund said that they could know nought thereof ere it were tried; and withal they laid their ships alongside one of the other, and there began a great fight, and either side did boldly. But when they came to handy blows, Onund gave back toward the cliff, and when the vikings saw this, they deemed he was minded to flee, and made towards his ship, and came as nigh to the cliff as they might. But in that very point of time those came forth on to the edge of the cliff who were appointed so to do, and sent at the vikings so great a flight of stones that they might not withstand it.
Then fell many of the viking-folk, and others were hurt so that they might not bear weapon; and withal they were fain to draw back, and might not, because their ships were even then come into the narrowest of the sound, and they were huddled together both by the ships and the stream; but Onund and his men set on fiercely, whereas Vigbiod was, but Thrand set on Vestmar, and won little thereby; so, when the folk were thinned on Vigbiod’s ship, Onund’s men and Onund himself got ready to board her: that Vigbiod saw, and cheered on his men without stint: then he turned to meet Onund, and the more part fled before him; but Onund bade his men mark how it went between them; for he was of huge strength. Now they set a log of wood under Onund’s knee, so that he stood firmly enow; the viking fought his way forward along the ship till he reached Onund, and he smote at him with his sword, and the stroke took the shield, and sheared off all it met; and then the sword drove into the log that Onund had under his knee, and stuck fast therein; and Vigbiod stooped in drawing it out, and even therewith Onund smote at his shoulder in such wise, that he cut the arm from off him, and then was the viking unmeet for battle.
