grettir the outlaw 25

grettir the outlaw 25

This was a puzzling answer. The meaning was that he lived near a

waterfall that poured out of the Ice mountain, and that his name was

Hall-mund, _hall_ is a stone and _mund_ is the hand.

 

Grettir and he parted good friends; and as he rode away Hall-mund called

out to Grettir that he would remember this meeting, and as it ended in

friendliness he hoped to do him a good turn yet,—that when every other

place of refuge failed he was to seek him "by the Caldron’s side, where

the waters rush and fall, adown the crystal glacier wall" under

Ball-jokull, and there he would give him shelter.

 

After this Grettir went to the house of his friend the law-man Skapti,

and asked his advice, and whether he would house him for the ensuing

winter.

 

"No, friend," answered Skapti, "you have been acting somewhat lawlessly,

laying hands on other men’s goods, and this ill becomes a well-born man

such as you. Now, it would be better for you not to rob and reive, but

get your living in other fashion, even though it were poorer fare you

got, and sometimes you had to go without food. I cannot house you, for

I am a law-man, and it would not be proper for me who lay down the law

to shelter such a notorious law-breaker as yourself. But I will give

you my advice what to do. To the north of the Erick’s-jokull is a

tangle of lakes and streams. The lakes have never been counted they are

in such quantities, and no one knows how to find his way among them.

These lakes are full of fish, and swarm with birds in summer. There is

also a little creeping willow growing in the sand, and some scanty

grass. It is only one hard day’s ride over the waste to Biarg, so that

your mother can supply you thence with those things of which you stand

in absolute need, as clothing, and you can fish and kill birds for your

subsistence, and will have no need to rob folk and exact food from the

bonders, thereby making yourself a common object of terror and dislike.

One more piece of advice I give you—Beware how you trust anyone to be

with you."

 

Grettir thought this advice was good—only in one point was it hard for

him to follow. He was haunted with these fearful dreams at night which

followed the wrestle with Glam, and in the long darkness of winter the

dreadful eyes stared at him from every quarter whither he turned his, so

that it was unendurable for him to be alone in the dark.

 

Still—he went. He followed up the White River to the desert strewn with

lakes from which that river flowed, and there found himself in utter

solitude and desolation.

 

A good map of Iceland was made in 1844, and on that fifty-three lakes

are marked, but the smaller tarns were not all set down. In such a

tangle of water and moor Grettir might be in comparative security. He

settled himself on a spot of land that runs out into the waters of the

largest of the sheets of water, which goes by the name of the Great

Eagle Lake, and thereon he built himself a hovel of stones and turf, the

ruins of which remain to this day, and I have examined them.

 

 

 

 

*CHAPTER XXVII.*

 

*ON THE GREAT EAGLE LAKE.*

 

 

_The Ruins of the Hut—Erick’s-jokull—A Craving for

Companionship—A Traitor—Grim Tries to Kill Grettir—Redbeard

Undertakes the Task—Redbeard’s Stratagem—A Base Fellow—Grettir

sinks to the Bottom—Caught in his own Trap—Grettir attacked by

Thorir—The Attack Baffled—The Guardian of Grettir’s Back—A

Summer with Hallmund_

 

 

Grettir was settled now on the Great Eagle Lake. This lake is shaped

like the figure 8, only that the spot of land between the upper and

lower portion of the lake does not run quite across. On one side of this

spot the rock falls away precipitously into the water, whereas it slopes

on the other. If I had had a spade and pick, and if there had been more

grass on the moor so as to allow of a longer stay, I would have dug

about the foundations of Grettir’s hut, and, who can tell! I might

perhaps have found some relic of him. There is no record of anyone else

having inhabited it since he was there, and in the middle of the 13th

century, when the Saga of Grettir was committed to writing, there

remained the ruins of his hut, but no one lived at the place. Now there

is no human habitation for many miles; the lake was a day’s journey on

horseback from the nearest farm, where I had spent the night. You must

get some idea of the place where now for some years Grettir was to live.

 

The moor is made up of rock split to fragments by the frost, and with

wide tracts between the ridges of rock strewn with black volcanic ash

and sand. It lies high; when I camped out there at the end of June,

there was no grass visible, only angelica shoots, and a little trailing

willow, so that my horses had to feed on these. The willow does not

rise above the surface of the ground, but its roots trail long distances

under the surface, groping for nutriment; and for fuel one has to dig

out these roots with one’s fingers, and employ those which are dryest.

Every dip in the moor is filled with a lake, and every lake has in it a

pair of swans; in addition there are abundance of other wild fowl, and

on the moor are ptarmigan that live on the flowers of the whortle or

blae-berry.

 

Above the rolling horizon of moor, to the south rises the great snowy

dome of Erick’s-jokull. This is in reality a huge volcano, with

precipitous sides of black lava towering up like an immense giant’s

castle. The great crater has been choked up with the snow of centuries,

and the snow in falling had piled up a vast cupola of snow and ice

standing high above the black walls, and sliding and falling over the

edges in a succession of avalanches. When, at eleven o’clock at night,

I looked out of my tent at Erick’s-jokull, the scene was sublime. The

sun had just gone under the northern horizon of snow and hill, but shone

on the great dome of Erick’s-jokull, turning it to the purest and most

delicate rose colour, and the walls of upright basalt that sustained the

dome were of the purple of a plum. Grettir obtained nets and a boat

from home, and such things as he wanted for his hut. One great

advantage of his present situation was that three different roads or

rather tracks led to it from Biarg, so that those who wanted to come to

him from home could select their way and avoid observation, till they

got among the lakes, when they were in a labyrinth in which anyone might

easily be lost, and any one could escape a pursuer. It is true that it

was a long and arduous day’s ride from Biarg to the Eagle Lake, but the

whole of the course along each of the ways lay through uninhabited land.

 

Now, when other outlaws heard that Grettir was on the Eagle Lake Heath,

they had a mind to join themselves to him, and Grettir was not unwilling

to have a companion, so lonely did he feel on this waste, and also so

fearful was he of being by himself in the dark.

 

There was a man called Grim, who was an outlaw; and Grettir’s enemies

made a bargain with him, that he should go to the Eagle Lake Heath,

pretend to be friends with Grettir, seek opportunity, and kill him. They

on their side undertook, if he would do this, to get his sentence of

outlawry reversed, and to furnish him liberally with money.

 

Accordingly he went to the moor, and after some trouble, found Grettir,

and asked if he might live with him.

 

Grettir replied, "I do not much relish such company as yours, for you

have got into outlawry through very infamous deeds. I mistrust you;

nevertheless I will suffer you to remain if you work hard and be

obedient. I do not want idle hands here."

 

Grim said he was willing, and prayed hard that he might dwell there, and

carried his point. He remained with Grettir the whole of the winter;

there was not much friendship between them. Grettir mistrusted him all

along, and was never parted from his weapons, night or day, and Grim did

not venture to attack him whilst he was awake.

 

But one morning, when Grim came in from fishing, he went into the hut

and stamped his foot and made a noise, seeing that Grettir lay in his

bed asleep; and he was desirous to know how soundly he slept. Grettir

did not start and open his eyes, but lay quite still. Then Grim made

more noise, thinking that if Grettir were awake he would chide him; but

Grettir made no motion. Then Grim made sure that he was fast asleep,

and he stepped to his side. Now, the short sword that had been taken

out of the barrow of Karr the Old hung above the bed-head. Grim leaned

over Grettir and laid hold of the sword, and put both hands to it to

draw it out of the sheath. At that instant Grettir started up, caught

Grim round the waist and flung him backwards so that he was stunned, and

the sword fell from his hand. So Grettir made him confess that he had

been bribed to set on him and murder him. And then Grettir would have

no more of him, and resolved to live entirely alone. Yet—directly he

was alone, his dreams, and his horror of the dark, returned on him. Now,

Thorir of Garth heard of an outlaw named Thorir Redbeard, a very big

man, who for murder had been outlawed, and was therefore in hiding

somewhere. Thorir of Garth sent out messengers in search of him, and at

last brought about a meeting, and then he offered him a great deal of

money if he would kill Grettir. Redbeard said it was no easy task, for

that Grettir was wise and wary.

 

"It is because it is no easy task that I set you to do it," said Thorir

of Garth. "You are no milksop to do easy jobs."

 

This flattered Redbeard, and he undertook to do what was required. He

came out on the Eagle Lake Heath in the autumn after that winter when

Grim had been with Grettir and made the attempt on his life. Grettir

was feeling uneasy and troubled, as the days grew shorter, with the eyes

that he thought stared at him from every quarter, and although his