THE SCENE: The outlaw Grettir Asmundarson – sick and wounded – puts up a valiant but doomed resistance against the killers who have come to claim the bounty on his head. Grettir’s only support is his younger brother Illugi, who fights like a demon despite being little more than a boy.
THE TEXT: They went over to the hut and hammered on the door.
Illugi said, “Grey-belly’s knocking at the door, brother.”
“And knocks hard, too, said Grettir, “and ruthlessly,” and at that moment the door burst open.
Illugi leapt for his weapons and defended the door, blocking their entry. They attacked for a long time, but could only get the points of their spears inside and Illugi chopped them all off from the shafts. Seeing that they were making no headway, they leapt up to the roof of the hut and tore it up. Then Grettir got to his feet, grabbed the spear and thrust it out between the rafters. It struck Kar, Halldor from Hof’s farmhand, and went right through him.
Hook told them to proceed with caution and keep themselves covered – “because we can defeat them if we act sensibly.”
Then they ripped the roof from the ends of the beam and forced against it until it broke. Grettir was unable to get up from his knees, but grabbed his short-sword Kar’s gift. At that moment the attackers jumped down into the hut and the two sides swapped blows fiercely. Grettir swung his short-sword at Hjalti Thordarson’s follower Vikar, striking him on the left shoulder as he jumped down into the hut and cutting righjt through his shoulders and down his right side. The man was chopped clean in half and his body fell on top of Grettir in two pieces. Grettir could not raise his short-sword as quickly and he wanted, and at that moment Thorbjorn Hook lunged his spear between his shoulders, causing a great wound.
Then Grettir said, “Bare is the back of a brotherless man.”
Illugi threw a shield over Grettir and protected him so valiantly that everyone praised his defense. They attacked fiercely, but Illugi defended them both vigorously. By now Grettir was completely put out of action by illness and wounds. Then Hook told his men to close in on Illugi with their shields – “since I have never seen his like in a man of his age.”
They did so and hemmed him in so tightly with pieces of wood and weapons that he could not put up any defense, so that they managed to seize him and hold him. He had delt wounds to most of the attackers and killed three of Hook’s followers.
After that they went for Grettir. He had slumped forward and could not put up any defense, because he was already at the point of death from his leg injury. His thigh had festered all the way up to his groin. They dealt him so many wounds that there was little or no blood left to come out of each one.
When they thought he must be dead, Hook grabbed for Grettir’s short-sword, saying he had carried it long enough. But Grettir had clenched his fingers so tightly around the hilt that it would not come free. Many others joined in, but they could do nothing either. In the end eight of them tried and none of them could loosen his grip.
Then Hook said, “Why should we show the outlaw any mercy? Put his hand over that beam.”
When they had done so, they chopped off Grettir’s hand at the wrist and the fingers straightened out and released their grip on the hilt. Then Hook took the short-sword with both hands and chopped at Grettir’s head. It was such a mighty blow that the sword could not withstand it and a piece broke off half-way down the edge.
– The Saga of Grettir the Strong, 14th Century AD
