grettir the outlaw 38
But Thorir was crafty, and just as the Biarg folk sought a charge
against Thorbiorn for his deed, so did Thorir, that he might escape
having to pay the silver. He answered, "I do not deny that I offered
the money on Grettir’s head, promising it to whomsoever should slay
Grettir, but I will pay nothing to him who compassed his death by
witchcraft; and if what the men who went with you say be true, you did
not slay him with a sword, but hacked off his head after he was dead."
This made Thorbiorn Hook very angry, and when summer came he brought his
suit against Thorir for the money. But simultaneously Grettir’s kin
brought a charge against Thorbiorn for having practised witchcraft.
Also they had a summons against him for the slaying of Illugi. Now, the
case was tried, and hotly discussed, and it ended this way:—It was
judged that Thorbiorn had struck off the head of a man who was already
dead, and that he had brought about the death of that man by witchcraft;
thereupon it was judged that he should receive nothing of the money, and
that he should be outlawed from Iceland.
So he went away and never returned.
Now, Grettir and Illugi were brought to land, and their bones lie at
Reykir, where was the friendly farmer who had helped them when they were
at Drangey. But Grettir’s head was buried at Biarg. There is now no
church or churchyard there, but there is a mound in the _tún_ where his
head is said to lie. I obtained leave to dig there, and I examined the
spot, but found only a great stone under the turf, and this we had not
the appliances to move. And perhaps it was as well; for if Grettir’s
head be there, it were better that there it should rest undisturbed.
*CHAPTER XLIII.*
*HOW DROMUND KEPT HIS WORD.*
_Thorbiorn Hook in Norway—Dromund on Thorbiorn’s Track—The
Varangians—Grettir’s Sword—Grettir is Avenged_
Now, after that Thorbiorn Hook had been outlawed, he found that he had
gotten to himself no advantage, but great harm by what he had done upon
Drangey. He was forced to leave Iceland; and he saw, withal, that never
again might he set foot therein again with safety, for all the relatives
of the Biarg family would seek his life. Accordingly he made over his
farm at Woodwick to his brother Hialti, and also all his rights over the
island of Drangey, such as they were. Then he collected together what
moveable goods he had, and went on board ship and sailed for Norway.
On reaching Norway he bragged much of what he had done in having slain
Grettir, of whom tales were told in Norway; and, as may well be
understood, he told the tale of the slaying of Grettir in his own way,
magnifying his heroism, and saying nothing about such matters as
lessened the greatness of his deed.
During the early winter tidings reached Thorstein Dromund at Tunsberg
that his brother Grettir was dead, and also that the man who slew him
was in the north of the country. When Dromund heard the tidings he was
very sorrowful, and he called to mind the words he had said to Grettir
when they showed each other what sort of arms they had. Dromund
considered that he was bound to avenge his brother’s death on his
murderer.
Thorbiorn Hook also was aware that there was a half-brother of Grettir
in Norway, and when he knew that he was wary, for he suspected that
Dromund would seek his life. And, indeed, Thorstein Dromund sent spies
to watch Thorbiorn Hook; but the latter was so careful of himself that
Dromund was not able to attempt anything against him all that winter.
No sooner did the soft, warm, spring breezes begin to blow, than The
Hook got away out of Norway by the earliest opportunity. He had heard
much talk how that the Emperors of the East, at Constantinople, kept a
guard of Norsemen about them, and paid them well, and how that this
guard was held in high esteem. So Thorbiorn Hook considered he could
not do better than go to Constantinople, and try his fortune there. But
before he left Norway he talked of his intention, and this was reported
to Dromund at Tunsberg. So Dromund put his lands and affairs into the
hands of his kinsmen, and got ready for journeying in search of Hook,
whom he had never seen.
He sailed away after him, and wherever he came he made inquiries after
the ship in which Thorbiorn Hook had been, and he was always just too
late. He never could catch the ship up. And then finally Thorbiorn left
the vessel and journeyed overland, and Thorstein lost his traces.
However, Dromund knew that Thorbiorn Hook was going to Constantinople,
so he travelled thither also, and reached the imperial city. Now there
were a great many Norsemen and Icelanders there in the company called
the Varangians, who acted as a bodyguard to the Emperor, and among these
men were some twenty or more called Thorbiorn, and which among them was
the murderer of Grettir, Thorstein Dromund did not know. The Hook, as
may well be imagined, did not tell anyone what his nickname was; not
that he imagined he was pursued, but because it was not a pretty and
flattering name. Thorstein also offered himself as a soldier in the
guard, and was enrolled. He also merely gave his name as Thorstein, and
told no one of his nickname of Dromund, lest the man he pursued should
take alarm and leave.
So time passed, and Thorstein Dromund could not find out his man; and he
lay awake in bed many nights musing on what he had undertaken, on the
sad lot of Grettir, and on his ill-success in finding the murderer of
his half-brother. Now, it fell out that on a certain day the order came
to the Varangian guard that they were to be ready, as they were about to
be sent on an expedition of importance.
It was usual, before any such an expedition, that all the men of the
guard should burnish up their weapons and armour, and show them, that
they were in condition.
So was it on this occasion also. They were assembled in the guard-room,
and each produced his weapon. Then Thorbiorn held forth his
short-sword—the very weapon that Grettir had taken from the tomb of Karr
the Old, the sword with which he The Hook had hewed off Grettir’s head.
Now, when Thorbiorn held forth the sword all the other guardsmen praised
it, and said it was an excellent weapon; but it had one grievous
blemish, for that there was a notch in the edge.
"Oh!" laughed Thorbiorn, "that notch is no blemish at all. It is a
memorial of one of my greatest achievements."
"What was that?" asked one of the Varangians.
"With this sword," answered Thorbiorn, "I slew the man who was esteemed
the greatest and most powerful champion of his time; a man who was in
outlawry for twenty years, who had in his time fought and beaten off as
many as thirty or forty who attacked him. But I was too much for him.
When I went against him, then he had to give way. We fought for an hour
without flagging, and finally I smote him down. Then I took from him
his own sword, and with it I smote off his neck; and thus got the sword
its notch."
"And his name?" asked Thorstein Dromund.
"His name was Grettir the Strong."
There was a pause; and in that pause the sword was handed to Dromund for
him to look at.
"Thus is Grettir avenged!" suddenly exclaimed Dromund. He struck across
the table at Thorbiorn with Grettir’s own sword; and so great was the
stroke that it smote through his skull to the jaw-teeth, and The Hook
fell without a word, dead.
It was said, in after times, that Grettir was wonderful in his life, and
wonderful in his death—for in life no man had been his equal in
strength, and had had a sadder span of life; and in death he was
wonderful—for of all Icelanders he was the only one who was avenged far
away from home by the shores of the Bosphorus, in the City of the
Emperors.
*EPILOGUE.*
_Date of Grettir’s Death—Mention of Grettir in other
Sagas—Historical Basis of the Grettir Story_
In the Icelandic annals the death of Grettir is set down as having
occurred in 1033, but the dates are not quite correct, and the real date
should be 1031.
Grettir is mentioned in other Icelandic sagas. He is spoken of and his
pedigree given in the Landnama Book, the Icelandic Domesday, the most
reliable book for history they have. The persons spoken of in the saga
of Grettir are heard of in several other quite independent sagas, and in
no case is there any serious anachronism.
Grettir, it will be recalled, was taken by the farmers in the Ice-firth.
This incident is also related in the saga of the Foster-brothers; so is
another incident about a contest concerning a dead whale I have not
related, as likely to break the continuity of the history. In the saga
of Thord, the hero is said to have blessed the Middle-firth in these
words: "Let the man who grows up in this vale never be hung." And this
blessing was thought to have had something to do with the saving of
Grettir’s neck in the Ice-firth. The story of Gisli has been told whom
Grettir whipped. Now, in the Viga-styr saga, the most ancient of all
Icelandic sagas, we hear of this same Gisli, and his character is
painted in the same colours as in the saga of Grettir, but no mention is
made of the whipping administered by Grettir. The murder of Atli, the
brother of our outlaw, and the consequent slaying of Thorbiorn Oxmain is
spoken of in the saga of Bard. The circumstance of Grettir having lived
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