"When Glam had said this the faintness passed off Grettir, and he then
drew his dagger, cut off Glam's head, and laid it beside his thigh.
Thorhall then came out, having put on his clothes while Glam was
talking, but never venturing to come near until he had fallen. He
praised God, and thanked Grettir for overcoming the unclean spirit.
Then they set to work, and burned Glam to ashes, which they placed in
a sack, and buried where cattle were least likely to pasture or men to
tread. When this was done they went home again, and it was now near
daybreak.
"Thorhall sent to the next farm for the men there, and told them what
had taken place. All thought highly of the exploit that heard of it,
and it was the common talk that in all Iceland there was no man like
Grettir Asnundarson for strength and courage and all kinds of bodily
feats. Thorhall gave him a good horse when he went away, as well as a
fine suit of clothes, for the ones he had been wearing were all torn
to pieces. The two then parted with the utmost friendship.
"Thence Grettir rode to the Ridge in Water-dale, where his kinsman
Thorvald received him heartily, and asked closely concerning his
encounter with Glam. Grettir told him how he had fared, and said that
his strength was never put to harder proof, so long did the struggle
between them last. Thorvald bade him be quiet and gentle in his
conduct, and things would go well with him, otherwise his troubles
would be many. Grettir answered that his temper was not improved; he
was more easily roused than ever, and less able to bear opposition.
In this, too, he felt a great change, that he had become so much
afraid of the dark that he dared not go anywhere alone after night
began to fall, for then he saw phantoms and monsters of every kind.
So it has become a saying ever since then, when folk see things very
different from what they are, that Glam lends them his eyes, or gives
them glam-sight.
"This fear of solitude brought Grettir, at last, to his end."
Ghosts being seldom dangerous to human life, we follow up the
homicidal Glam with a Scottish traditional story of malevolent and
murderous sprites.
'THE FOUL FORDS' OR THE LONGFORMACUS FARRIER
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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