THE SCENE: The following scene, in which Olaf the Peacock comes into conflict with the recently deceased marauder Killer-Hrapp, is a fairly typical example of Viking-on-zombie combat.
THE TEXT: Olaf took his gold-inlaid spear which the king had given him, and set out with the farmhand. There was light snow on the ground. They came to the byre, which was open, and Olaf told the man to go in first – “and I’ll drive the cattle in behind you, and tie them up.”
The farmhand went to the door, and before Olaf knew it the man came leaping back into his arms. Olaf asked him why he was so terrified. He replied, “Killer-Hrapp is standing in the door of the byre and he tried to catch hold of me, but I’ve had enough of wrestling with him.”
Olaf now went to the door and thrust at Hrapp with his spear. Hrapp grabbed the socket of the spear with both hands and wrenched it so sharply that the shaft snapped. Then Olaf tried to rush Hrapp, but Hrapp sank into the ground where he had been standing, and that the end of their encounter: and the farmhand now tied up the cattle, and after that they went back home. Olaf told the man that he would not blame him for having complained.
Next morning Olaf went to the place where Hrapp had been buried, and had him dug up. Hrapp’s corpse was still undecayed, and Olaf found his spear-head there. After that he had a pyre built, and Hrapp was burned on it and his ashes were carried out to sea. From that time on no one ever suffered any harm from Hrapp’s hauntings.
– Laxdaela Saga, 13th Century AD
[Image Credit: Satanoy on DeviantArt]
