THE SCENE: Gunnar has a feud with a man named Grettir. But Grettir is out of the country. So Gunnar does the next best thing: attack Grettir’s relatively peaceful kinsman Atli. Unfortunately for Gunnar, Atli turns out to be a sleeping lion.
THE TEXT: Gunnar said that was not the point – “Let’s attack them now and take advantage of the fact that Grettir isn’t around.”
Then they went for Atli. There were eight of them in all, while Atli and his men numbered only six. Atli moved in front of his men and drew the sword Jokul’s Gift, which Grettir had given him.
Then Thorgeir said, “They are both too proud for their own good. Grettir held his short-sword high at the ridge in Hrutafjord last summer, too.”
Atli replied, “He is more used to mighty deeds than I am.”
Then they fought. Gunnar attacked Atli furiously, as if in a frenzy.
After they had fought for a while, Atli said, “We will earn no prestige from killing each other’s farmhands. There would be more point if we were to fight together by ourselves, for I have never killed a man before.”
Gunnar refused his offer.
Atli told his farmhands to guard the pack-horses, “And I will find out how they respond.”
Then he advanced so vigorously that Gunnar and his men were driven back. Atli killed two of the brothers’ companions. After that he turned to face Gunnar and struck a blow that sliced through his shield below the handle and struck him in the leg below the knee. He dealt another blow at once that proved fatal.
Meanwhile Grim Thorhallsson attacked Thorgeir and they fought for a long time, because they were both stalwart men. When Thorgeir saw his brother Gunnar killed, he tried to flee, but Grim ran after him and chased him until he tripped and fell on to his face. Grim swung his axe and buried it between his shoulder blades. They spared the lives of the four remaining men, tended to their wounds, loaded the packs back on the horses and went home to announce the killings.
– The Saga of Grettir the Strong, 14th Century AD
