The kinsmen of Grettir and Illugi were deeply grieved when they heard of
their death. They held that Angle had done a dastardly deed in slaying
a man at the point of death, and they also accused him of practising
sorcery. They applied to the most learned men, and Angle's case was
ill-spoken of.
Four weeks after the beginning of summer he rode Westwards to Midfjord.
When Asdis heard of his being in the neighbourhood she gathered her
men around her. She had many friends, Gamli and Glum, Skeggi, called
Short-hand, and Ospak, who was mentioned before. So much beloved was
she that the whole of Midfjord rose to help her, even those who had once
been Grettir's enemies. Chief among these was Thorodd Drapustuf, who was
joined by most of the Hrutafjord men.
Angle reached Bjarg with a following of twenty men, bringing Grettir's
head with him. All those who had promised their support had not yet
come in. Angle's party entered the room with the head and set it on
the floor. The mistress of the house was there and several others; no
greeting passed between them. Angle spoke a verse:
"Grettir's head I bring thee here.
Weep for the red-haired hero, lady.
On the floor it lies; 'twere rotten by this,
but I laid it in salt. Great glory is mine."
She sat silent while he spoke his verse; then she said:
"The swine would have fled like sheep from the fox
if Grettir had stood there hearty and strong.
Shame on the deeds that were done in the North!
Little the glory you gain from my lay."
Many said it was small wonder that she had brave sons, so brave was she
herself before the insults which she had received. Ospak was outside
and was talking with those of Angle's men who had not gone in. He asked
about the fray, and they all praised Illugi for the defence that he had
made. They also told of Grettir's firm grip on his sword after he was
dead, and the men thought it marvellous. Then a number of men were seen
riding from the West; they were the friends of Asdis with Gamli and
Skeggi, who had come from Melar.
Angle had intended to have an execution against Illugi and to claim all
his property, but when all these men came up he saw that it would not
do. Ospak and Gamli were very forward in wanting to fight with Angle,
but the wiser heads told them to get the advice of their kinsmen
Thorvald and other chiefs, and said that the more men of knowledge
occupied themselves with the affair the worse it would be for Angle.
Through their intervention Angle got away and took with him Grettir's
head, which he intended to produce at the All-Thing. He rode home
thinking that matters were going badly for him, for nearly all the
chiefs in the land were either relations or connections of Grettir and
Illugi.
That summer Skeggi Short-hand married the daughter of Thorodd Drapustuf,
who then took part in the case on the side of Grettir's kinsmen.