The Story of Grettir the Strong | Page 7

of Blaeng, was with him herein, and Orm the Wealthy withal, and
Hallvard was the name of the third of them. They had five ships, all
well manned, and therewith they harried in the South-isles;[5] and
when they came to Barra, they found there a king, called Kiarval, and
he, too, had five ships. They gave him battle, and a hard fray there was.
The men of Onund were of the eagerest, and on either side many fell;
but the end of it was that the king fled with only one ship. So there the
men of Onund took both ships and much wealth, and abode there
through the winter. For three summers they harried throughout Ireland
and Scotland, and thereafter went to Norway.
[Footnote 4: "West over the Sea," means in the Sagas the British isles,
and the islands about them--the Hebrides, Orkneys, &c.]
[Footnote 5: South-isles are the Hebrides, and the other islands down to
Man.]

CHAP. II.
In those days were there great troubles in Norway. Harald the
Unshorn,[6] son of Halfdan the Black, was pushing forth for the
kingdom. Before that he was King of the Uplands; then he went north
through the land, and had many battles there, and ever won the day.
Thereafter he harried south in the land, and wheresoever he came, laid
all under him; but when he came to Hordaland, swarms of folk came
thronging against him; and their captains were Kiotvi the Wealthy, and
Thorir Longchin, and those of South Rogaland, and King Sulki.
Geirmund Helskin was then in the west over the Sea; nor was he in that

battle, though he had a kingdom in Hordaland.
[Footnote 6: "Harald the Unshorn:" he was so called at first because he
made a vow not to cut his hair till he was sole king of Norway. When
he had attained to this, and Earl Rognvald had taken him to the bath
and trimmed his hair, he was called "Fair-hair," from its length and
beauty.]
Now that autumn Onund and his fellows came from the west over the
Sea; and when Thorir Longchin and King Kiotvi heard thereof, they
sent men to meet them, and prayed them for help, and promised them
honours. Then they entered into fellowship with Thorir and his men;
for they were exceeding fain to try their strength, and said that there
would they be whereas the fight was hottest.
Now was the meeting with Harald the King in Rogaland, in that firth
which is called Hafrsfirth; and both sides had many men. This was the
greatest battle that has ever been fought in Norway, and hereof most
Sagas tell; for of those is ever most told, of whom the Sagas are made;
and thereto came folk from all the land, and many from other lands and
swarms of vikings.
Now Onund laid his ship alongside one board of the ship of Thorir
Longchin, about the midst of the fleet, but King Harald laid his on the
other board, because Thorir was the greatest bearserk, and the stoutest
of men; so the fight was of the fiercest on either side. Then the king
cried on his bearserks for an onslaught, and they were called the
Wolf-coats, for on them would no steel bite, and when they set on
nought might withstand them. Thorir defended him very stoutly, and
fell in all hardihood on board his ship; then was it cleared from stem to
stern, and cut from the grapplings, and let drift astern betwixt the other
ships. Thereafter the king's men laid their ship alongside Onund's, and
he was in the forepart thereof and fought manly; then the king's folk
said, "Lo, a forward man in the forecastle there, let him have somewhat
to mind him how that he was in this battle." Now Onund put one foot
out over the bulwark and dealt a blow at a man, and even therewith a
spear was aimed at him, and as he put the blow from him he bent
backward withal, and one of the king's forecastle men smote at him,
and the stroke took his leg below the knee and sheared it off, and
forthwith made him unmeet for fight. Then fell the more part of the
folk on board his ship; but Onund was brought to the ship of him who

is called Thrand; he was the son of Biorn, and brother of Eyvind the
Eastman; he was in the fight against King Harald and lay on the other
board of Onund's ship.
But now, after these things, the more part of the fleet scattered in flight;
Thrand and his men, with the other vikings, got them away each as he
might, and sailed west over the Sea; Onund went with him, and Balk
and Hallvard Sweeping; Onund