Unfortunately _The Saga of Hromund Greipsson_ is preserved only in late paper MSS., of which none apparently are earlier than the seventeenth century. None of the verses of which the notice in the _Saga of Thorgils and Haflithi_ speaks (cf. p. 58 above) have been preserved. There is, however, a rhymed version of the saga known as _GrÌplur_, dating apparently from about the year 1400 and evidently taken from a better text than any of those which have come down to us. A short extract from these rhymed verses will be found on pp. 173-75. For a full discussion of the relationship of the _GrÌplur_ to the extant texts of the saga and to the later ballads, the reader is referred to Kˆlbing, _Beitr‰ge zur Vergleichenden Geschichte der Romantischen Poesie und Prosa des Mittelalters_ (Breslau, 1876), pp. 181-83, and to Andrews, _Studies in the Fornaldarsˆgur Northrlanda_[2] in _Modern Philology_, 1911, 1912. A full bibliography of texts, translations and literature relating to this saga will be found in _Islandica_, Vol. v, p. 30. [Footnote 1: Cf. Joseph Anderson, _Scotland in Pagan Times: The Bronze and Stone Ages_, pp. 278-279 (publ. by Douglas, Edinburgh, 1886).] [Footnote 2: It is pointed out by Andrews, p. 2, that the form Lara (which appears in Rafn's and ¡smundarson's editions, ch. 7) is due to a misreading. The MSS. have Cara.] THE SAGA OF HROMUND GREIPSSON I. There was a King called Olaf, the son of Gnothar-Asmund, and he ruled over Garthar in Denmark, and was very famous. Two brothers, Kari and ÷rnulf, both mighty warriors, were entrusted with the defence of his territories. In that district there was a wealthy landowner called Greip, who had a wife called Gunnlˆth, the daughter of Hrok the Black. They had nine sons whose names were as follows: Hrolf, Haki, Gaut, Thrˆst, Angantyr, Logi, Hromund, Helgi, Hrok. They were all promising fellows, though Hromund was the finest of them. He did not know what fear was. He was blue-eyed and fair-haired; he was broad-shouldered, tall and strong, and resembled his mother's father. The King had two men called Bild and Voli. They were wicked and deceitful, but the King valued them highly. On one occasion King Olaf was sailing eastwards with his fleet along the coast of Norway. They put in at Ulfasker, and lying to off one of the islands they began to plunder. The King bade Kari and ÷rnulf go up on the island and look if they could see any warships. They went up on land and saw six warships under some cliffs, one of them being a most gorgeous 'Dragon.' Kari called to the men and asked whose ships they were. One of the scoundrels on the 'Dragon' stood up and declared his name to be Hrˆngvith, adding: "But what may your name be?" Kari told him his own name and the name of his brother and added: "You are the worst man I know and I am going to chop you into fragments."