THE SCENE: There’s regular tough and then there’s “I didn’t realize there was a spear in my leg” or “I didn’t realize I had an arrow in my throat” tough.
THE TEXT: Then the Thorbrandssons were carried back to Helgafell and their wounds bandaged. Thorodd Thorbrandsson had such a serious wound at the back of his neck that he could not hold up his head. He was wearing trousers with feet in them and they were completely soaked in blood. Snorri the Godi’s servant had to pulled them off him, but when he tried to remove the trousers, he could not get them off.
They’re not lying about you Thorbrandssons when they call you stylish dressers,” he said, “since you have such tight-fitting clothes that they can’t be taken off you.”
“You can’t be pulling hard enough,” said Thorodd.
He then pressed one of his feet against the bench and tugged with all his might, but the trousers would not come off. Then Snorri the Godi went up and felt around the leg and discovered that a spear was lodged in it between the Achilles tendon and the shin, and it had pinned the trouser to the leg. Snorri then said that he was no average fool not to have considered such a possibility.
Snorri Thorbransson [note: a different person from Snorri the Godi] was the fittest of the brothers and in the evening he sat at the table next to his namesake, and they had curds and cheese. Snorri the Godi noticed that his namesake was not making much headway with the cheese, and asked him why he was eating so slowly. Snorri Thordbrandsson answered, saying that lambs that had been recently gagged were the most reluctant to eat. Then Snorri the Godi felt around his throat, and discovered an arrow sticking through the throat and into the base of the tongue. Snorri the Godi then took a pair of pincers and pulled out the arrow, and after that he could eat.
– The Saga of the People of Eyri, 13th Century AD
