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The Saga of Grettir the Strong
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The Saga of Grettir the Strong
, the Pennsylvania State University, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA
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Copyright © 1998 The Pennsylvania State University
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The Saga of Grettir the Strong
The Saga of Grettir the Strong
Author Unknown
Another comrade of theirs was named Hallvard. They had
five ships, all well equipped. They plundered the Hebrides,
reaching the Barra Isles, where there ruled a king named
Kjarval, who also had five ships. These they attacked; there
was a fierce battle between them, in which Onund’s men
fought with the utmost bravery. After many had fallen on
both sides, the battle ended with the king taking to flight
with a single ship; the rest were captured by Onund’s force,
along with much booty. They stayed there for the winter,
and spent the succeeding three summers harrying the coasts
of Ireland and Scotland, after which they returned to
Norway.
Originally written in Icelandic, sometime in the early 14
th
Century. Author unknown.
CHAPTER I
THE FAMILY AND EARLY WARS OF
ONUND THE SON OF OFEIG
T
HERE
WAS
A
MAN
NAMED
O
NUND
, the son of Ofeig
Clumsyfoot, who was the son of Ivar Horsetail. Onund was
the brother of Gudbjorg, the mother of Gudbrand Knob,
the father of Asta, the mother of King Olaf the Saint. His
mother came from the Upplands, while his father’s
relations were mostly in Rogaland and Hordland. He was
a great viking and used to harry away in the West over the
sea. He was accompanied on these expeditions by one Balki,
the son of Blaeing from Sotanes, and by Orm the Wealthy.
CHAPTER II
THE BATTLE OF HAFRSFJORD
A
T
THAT
TIME
N
ORWAY
WAS
VERY
DISTURBED
. Harald
Shockhead, the son of Halfdan the Black, till then king of
the Upplands, was aiming at the supreme kingship. He
went into the North and fought many battles there, in
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The Saga of Grettir the Strong
which he was always victorious. Then he marched harrying
through the territories to the South, bringing them into
subjection wherever he came. On reaching Hordland he
was opposed by a motley multitude led by Kjotvi the
Wealthy, Thorir Long-chin, and Soti and King Sulki from
South Rogaland. Geirmund Swarthyskin was then away in
the West, beyond the sea, so he was not present at the
battle, although Hordland belonged to his dominion.
Onund and his party had arrived that autumn from the
westernseas, and when Thorir and Kjotvi heard of their
landing they sent envoys to ask for their aid, promising to
treat them with honour.
They were very anxious for an opportunity of
distinguishing themselves, so they joined Thorir’s forces,
and declared that they would be in the thickest part of the
battle. They met King Harald in a fjord in Rogaland called
Hafrsfjord. The forces on each side were very large, and the
battle was one of the greatest ever fought in Norway. There
are many accounts of it, for one always hears much about
those people of whom the saga is told. Troops had come in
from all the country around and from other countries as
well, besides a multitude of vikings. Onund brought his
ship alongside of that of Thorir Long-chin in the very
middle of the battle. King Harald made for Thorir’s ship,
knowing him to be a terrible berserk, and very brave. The
fighting was desperate on either side. Then the king
ordered his berserks, the men called Wolfskins, forward.
No iron could hurt them, and when they charged nothing
could withstand them. Thorir defended himself bravely
and fell on his ship fighting valiantly. The whole ship from
stem to stern was cleared and her fastenings were cut, so
that she fell out of the line of battle. Then they attacked
Onund’s ship, in the forepart of which he was standing and
fighting manfully. The king’s men said: “He bears himself
well in the forecastle. Let us give him something to remind
him of having been in the battle.” Onund was stepping out
with one foot on to the bulwark, and as he was striking they
made a thrust at him with a spear; in parrying it he bent
backwards, and at that moment a man on the forecastle of
the king’s ship struck him and took off his leg below the
knee, disabling him at a blow. With him fell the greater
number of his men. They carried him to a ship belonging
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The Saga of Grettir the Strong
to a man named Thrand, a son of Bjorn and brother of
Eyvind the Easterner. He was fighting against King Harald,
and his ship was lying on the other side of Onund’s. Then
there was a general flight. Thrand and the rest of the vikings
escaped any way they could, and sailed away westwards.
They took with them Onund and Balki and Hallvard
Sugandi. Onund recovered and went about for the rest of
his life with a wooden leg, wherefore he was called Onund
Treefoot as long as he lived.
the West. They asked him whether he was not going to try
and regain his kingdom in Hordland, and offered to join
him, hoping by this means to do something for their own
properties, for Onund was very wealthy and his kindred
very powerful. Geirmund answered that Harald had such a
force that there was little hope of gaining any honour by
fighting when the whole country had joined against him
and been beaten. He had no mind, he said, to become the
king’s thrall, and to beg for that which he had once
possessed in his own right. Seeing that he was no longer in
the vigour of his youth he preferred to find some other
occupation. So Onund and his party returned to the
Southern Islands, where they met many of their friends.
There was a man named Ofeig, nicknamed Grettir. He
was the son of Einar, the son of Olvir the Babyman. He was
a brother of Oleif the Broad, the father of Thormod Shaft.
Another son of Olvir was named Steinolf, the father of
Una, whom Thorbjorn the Salmon-man married. A third
son of Olvir was Steinmod, who was the father of Konal,
the father of Alfdis of the Barra Isles. Konal’s son was
named Steimnod; he was the father of Halldora, whom
CHAPTER III
MEETING OF DEFEATED CHIEFS IN THE
WEST AND MARRIAGE OF ONUND
There were then in the western parts many distinguished
men who had fled from their homes in Norway before King
Harald, for he declared all who fought against him outlaws,
and seized their property. As soon as Onund had recovered
from his wound, Thrand went with his party to Geirmund
Swarthyskin, who was the most eminent of the vikings in
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