THE SCENE: The grumpy outlaw Grettir fights an undead spirit named Glam in a knock-down, drag-out fight, that is one of the most memorable scenes in all the Icelandic sagas. The conflict begins when Glam finds Grettir pretending to sleep, and proceeds to try to pull off his cloak.
THE TEXT: When Glam noticed something lying in a heap on the seat, he moved along inside the hall and gave the cloak a sharp tug. Grettir braced his feet against the bed-frame and did not yield. Glam yanked at it again, much harder, yet the cloak still would not budge. The third time he tugged so hard with both hands that he say Grettir up on the bench and they ripped the cloak in two between them. Glam looked at the strip he was left holding, astonished that someone could tug so hard against him. At that moment Grettir ducked under Glam’s arms and clutched him around the waist, squeezing against his backbone with all his might in the hope of toppling him. But the wretch gripped Grettir’s arms so tightly that he was forced to yield his grip. Grettir backed away into one seat after another. All the benches were torn loose and everything in their way was smashed. Glam tried to make it to the door, while Grettir struggled for a foothold. Eventually Glam managed to drag him out of the hall. A mighty fight ensued, because the wretched intended to take him outside the farmhouse. But difficult as Glam was to deal with indoors, Grettir saw he would be even harder to handle outdoors, so he struggled with all his might to stay inside. Glam’s strength redoubled and he clutched Grettir towards him when they reached the entrance hall.
When Grettir realized he could not hold him back, in a single move he suddenly thrust himself as hard as he could into the wretch’s arms and pressed both feet against a rock that was buried in the doorway. The wretch was caught unawares and, as he had been straining to pull Grettir towards him, Glam tumbled over backwards and crashed through the door. His shoulders took the door-frame with him and the rafters were torn apart, the wooden roofing and the frozen turn on it, and Glam fell out of the house on to his back, face upwards, with Grettir on top of him. The moon was shining strongly, but thick patched of clouds covered and uncovered it in turns.
Just as Glam fell, the clouds drifted away from the moon and Glam glared up at it. Grettir himself has said that this was the only sight that ever unnerved him. Suddenly Grettir’s strength deserted him, from exhaustion and also because of the fierce way Glam was rolling his eyes, and unable to draw his sword, he lay there on the brink of death.
Glam was endowed with more evil force than most other ghosts as he spoke these words: “You have gone to great lengths to confront me, Grettir,” he said, “and it won’t seem surprising if you do not earn much good fortune from me. I can tell you that you have attained half the strength and manhood allotted to had you not encountered me. I cannot take away from you the strength you have already achieved, but I can ordain that you will never become any stronger than you are now, strong enough as you may be, as many people will find out to their cost. You have become renowned until now for your deeds, but henceforth outlawry and killings will fall to your lot and most of your deed will bring you misfortune and improvidence. You will be made an outlaw and be forced t live alone and outdoors. And this curse I lay on you: my eyes will always be before your sight and this will make you find it difficult to be alone. And this will lead to your death.”
As the wretched finished saying this, the helplessness that had come upon Grettir wore off. He drew his short-sword, chopped off Glam’s head and placed it against the buttocks.
– The Saga of Grettir the Strong, 14th Century AD
