The next time that Bjorn met Grettir he told him that this was a very
serious affair, and that he would not be able to stay there in peace
much longer. "You have killed kinsmen and friends of mine, but I will
not depart from my promise to you so long as you are here."
Grettir said he was sorry to have given him offence, but that he had to
defend his hands and his life. Bjorn said it would have to remain
so. Soon there came to him some of the men who had lost their kinsmen
through Grettir and petitioned him not to allow such a ruffian as he was
to stay there any longer and molest them. Bjorn said he would do as they
desired directly the winter was over.
Thrand the son of Thorarin of Akrar had now recovered from his wound. He
was a man of much worth, and had married Steinunn the daughter of Hrut
of Kambsnes. Steinolf's father Thorleif of Hraundal was a great man;
from him are sprung the Hraundal men.
No more meetings are told of between Grettir and the Myramen while he
was in the mountains. Bjorn continued in friendship with him, but some
of Bjorn's other friends fell away from him because of his allowing
Grettir to remain there, for they were annoyed at getting no
compensation for the slaying of their kinsmen. When the Thing assembled
Grettir left the Myrar district and went to Borgarfjord, where he
visited Grim the son of Thorhall and sought counsel of him where he
should move to next. Grim said he was not powerful enough to keep him
there, so Grettir went off to his friend Hallmund and stayed there till
the end of the summer.
In the autumn Grettir went to Geitland, where he stayed till bright
weather set in. Then he ascended the Geitlandsjokull and turned his
steps South-east along the glacier, taking with him a kettle and fuel.
It is supposed that he went there by the counsel of Hallmund, who knew
the country far and wide. He went on till he came to a long and rather
narrow valley in the glacier, shut in on every side by the ice
which overhung the valley. He went about everywhere, and found fair
grass-grown banks and brushwood. There were hot springs, and it seemed
as if volcanic fires had kept the ice from closing in above the valley.
A little stream flowed down the dale with smooth banks on either side.
Little did the light of the sun enter there, and the number of sheep
in the valley seemed to him countless. They were much better and fatter
than any which he had ever seen.
Grettir stayed there and built himself a hut out of logs which he found
about. He caught a sheep to eat, and it was better for slaughter than
two in other places. There was a ewe there with her lamb; she had a
brown head and excelled all the others in size. He was anxious to have
the lamb, so he caught it and slaughtered it and got half a measure of
suet out of it, and it was better in every way. When Brownhead missed
her lamb she came up every night to Grettir's hut and bleated so that he
never could get any sleep. He regretted much having killed the lamb on
account of the disturbance which she caused him. Every evening when the
twilight set in he heard a voice calling in the valley, and then the
sheep used to run together into a place of shelter. Grettir has told us
that a blending ruled over the valley, a giant named Thorir, under whose
protection he remained. Grettir called the valley after him Thorisdal.
He said that Thorir had daughters with whom he had some play, and that
they were very pleased, because not many people came there. And when the
days of fasting came Grettir remembered to tell them that fat and liver
should be eaten in Lent. Nothing particular occurred that winter, and
Grettir found it so dull that he could not stay there any longer. He
left the valley and went to the South through the glacier, reaching the
middle of Skjaldbreid from the North. There he took up a stone, cut a
hole in it and said that if a man put his eye to the hole he could see
into the gully which flows out of Thorisdal. Then he went across the
country South and reached the eastern fjords. He spent the summer and
the winter on this journey and visited all the great men, but found them
all against him so that nowhere could he get lodging or shelter. So he
returned to the North and stayed in various places.