Grettir the Strong, an Icelandic Saga | Page 5

is quite a
child."
Thrand said that Onund was more vigorous than many a man whose
legs were sounder.
So with the aid of Thrand the terms were settled. Ofeig was to give his
daughter a portion in cash, for neither would reckon anything for his
lands in Norway. Soon afterwards Thrand was betrothed to the
daughter of Thormod Shaft. Both the maids were to remain plighted for
three years.
Then they went on fighting expeditions in the summer, remaining in the
Barra Isles during the winter.
CHAPTER IV
FIGHT WITH VIKINGS VIGBJOD AND VESTMAR
There were two Vikings from the Southern Isles, named Vigbjod and
Vestmar; they were abroad both summer and winter. They had eight
ships, and harried mostly round the coast of Ireland, where they did
many an evil deed until Eyvind undertook the defence of the coast,
when they retired to the Hebrides to harry there, and right in to the
Scotch firths. Thrand and Onund went out against them and learned
that they had sailed to an island called Bot. Onund and Thrand
followed them thither with five ships, and when the vikings sighted
them and saw how many there were, they
thought their own force

was sufficient, so they took to their arms and advanced to the attack.
Onund ordered his ships to take up a position between two rocks where
there was a deep but narrow channel, open to attack from one side only,
and by not more than five ships at once. Onund was a very wily man.
He sent his five ships forward into the channel so that, as there was
plenty of sea room behind them, they could easily retire by merely
backing their oars. One ship he brought under an island lying on their
beam, and carried a great stone to a place on the front of the rock where
it could not be seen from the enemy's ships. The Vikings came boldly
on, thinking they had caught them in a trap. Vigbjod asked who they
were that he had hemmed in. Thrand
answered that he was a brother
of Eyvind the Easterner, and the man with him was his comrade,
Onund Treefoot. The vikings
laughed and said:
"Trolls take the rascal Treefoot
and lay him even with the ground.
Never yet did I see men go to battle who could not carry
themselves."
Onund said that could not be known until it was tried. Then the ships
came together. There was a great battle in which both sides fought
bravely. When the battle was thick Onund ordered his ships to back
their oars. The vikings seeing it thought they were taking to flight, and
pushed on with all their might, coming under the rock just at the
moment when the party which had been dispatched for that purpose
arrived. They launched upon the vikings stones so huge that nothing
could hold against them. A number of the vikings were killed, and
others were so injured that they could fight no more. Then the vikings
tried to escape, but could not, as their ships were in the narrowest part
of the channel and were impeded both by the current and by the
enemy's ships. Onund's men vigorously attacked the wing commanded
by Vigbjod while Thrand engaged Vestmar, but effected little. When
the men on Vigbjod's ship had been somewhat reduced, Onund's men,
he himself with them, prepared to board her. On seeing that, Vigbjod
spurred on his men resolutely. He turned against Onund, most of whose
men gave way. Onund was a man of immense strength and he bade his
followers observe how it fared with them. They shoved a log under the
stump of his leg, so that he stood pretty firm. The viking dashed

forward, reached Onund and hewed at him with his sword, which cut
right through his shield and into the log beneath his leg, where it
remained fixed. As Vigbjod bent down to pull his sword clear again,
Onund dealt him a blow on his shoulder, severing his arm and disabling
him. When Vestmar saw his comrade fall, he sprang on to the
outermost ship and escaped along with all who could get on to her.
Then they examined the dead. Vigbjod had already expired. Onund
went up to him and said:
"Bloody thy wounds. Didst thou see me flee?
'One-leg' no hurt
received from thee.
Braver are many in word than in deed.
Thou,
slave, didst fail when it came to the trial."
They took a large quantity of booty and returned to the Barra Isles in
the autumn.
CHAPTER V
VISIT OF ONUND AND THRAND TO EYVIND IN IRELAND
The following summer they made ready for a voyage to the West, to
Ireland. At the same time Balki and Hallvard sailed westwards, to
Iceland, where they had heard that good land was