Греттирдің күшті сағасы

One of the sagas of Icelanders

Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar (modern , reconstructed ), also known as Grettla, Grettir's Saga or The Saga of Grettir the Strong, is one of the Icelanders' sagas. It details the life of Grettir Ásmundarson, a bellicose Icelandic outlaw.

Grettis saga is considered one of the Sagas of Icelanders (Íslendingasögur), which were written down in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and record stories of events that supposedly took place between the ninth and the eleventh centuries in Iceland. The author is unknown but it is believed that the saga may have been based on a previous account of Grettir's life written by Sturla Þórðarson. Whoever the author was, the author shows an awareness of the Sagas of Icelanders tradition by making references to other sagas and borrowing themes from the larger cultural milieu of the Germanic peoples that appear independently in other texts like the Old English Beowulf. The saga can be split into three major sections: Chapters 1 13, Chapters 14 85, and Chapters 86 93. The first and last sections of the saga focus on Grettir's family rather than on Grettir. Chapters 1 13 primarily focus on how Grettir's viking great grandfather Onundur Tree foot escaped Norway to settle in Iceland after fighting in the Battle of Hafrsfjord against the first king of Norway Harald Fairhair. Chapters 14 85 primarily focus on the life, condemnation, and death of Grettir. Chapters 86 93 focus on Grettir's half brother Thorstein Dromund's journey to the court of Constantinople to take revenge and, incidentally, find courtly love before spending the latter portion of his life in a monastic cell in Rome. Both Grettir's viking/raider great grandfather and his chivalry practicing half brother succeed whereas Grettir's quest to become a monster slaying hero of old results in him becoming an outlaw. Christianity became the religion in Iceland around 1000 CE, and some scholars believe this changing morality explains why Grettir's fate is different than his pagan great grandfather's before conversion and his pious, Christian half brother's fate after conversion. Originally, the ill tempered Grettir experienced some success, but his life takes a turn for the worse after he encounters the undead shepherd Glámr in chapter 35. As a result of Glámr's curse, Grettir becomes disastrously unlucky, only grows weaker/never stronger, becomes afraid of the dark, and is doomed to loneliness, becoming an outlaw, and an early death. While in Norway in chapter 38, Grettir accidentally sets fire to a hut, killing its occupants. In chapter 46, the Althing back in the Icelandic Commonwealth votes that Grettir is an outlaw because of the deaths this fire caused. This outlaw status forces Grettir to live on the edge of society and opens him up to being hunted by others. He is repeatedly betrayed by other outlaws and, after living 19 years as an outlaw, he will die a hunted man on the lonely island of Drangey in chapter 82. In chapter 77, it is stated that Grettir would have ceased being an outlaw after 20 years.

Chapters 1–13 take place before Grettir's birth and focus on his father, Ásmundar, his grandfather, Thorgrim Grey head, and his great grandfather Önundur. Grettir's great grandfather Önundur had been a viking/raider. In chapter two, Önundur lost his leg below the knee and became Önundur Tree foot, while fighting from a ship against the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair at the Battle of Hafrsfjord. King Harald won the battle and united Norway into one kingdom. In chapter 3, those who fought King Harald fled Norway for Britain and Ireland. At one point, Önundur Tree leg fought a battle against Kjarval, who was king around Dublin. In chapter 7, Önundur tree foot visits southern Norway to assist kin. In chapter 8, he leaves Norway and arrives in Iceland to settle for good in chapter 9. Önundur dies and is buried in tumulus in chapter 11, after which the saga's focus shifts to his son Thorgrim Grey head and his son Ásmundar Grey hair. Asmundar fathers Thorstein Dromund while visiting Norway in Chapter 13 and then returns to Iceland.

Grettir's life is told from beginning to end. Chapter 14 describes Grettir's immediate family. Ásmundar Grey hair and his wife Asdis have two boys: (1) the eldest brother, Atli, is quiet and gentle, and (2) Grettir, is rebellious, bad tempered, and mischievous. He is described as red haired, somewhat freckled, and broad around the eyes. They also have two daughters: (3) Thordis and (4) Rannveig. In this chapter, it is stated the Grettir's father did not care for him much but that his mother loved him a lot. It is also revealed that Grettir grew strong and that he has a fondness for poetry. In chapter 16, Grettir receives his first sentence for outlawry. While still very young, Grettir kills a person because he thinks they have taken his food bag. Despite attempts to pay compensation to the family similar to weregild, he is temporarily banished from Iceland and sentenced to lesser outlawry for three years. He asks his father for a sword before he leaves, which his father refuses, but his mother Asdis gives him a family heirloom sword from her family line in chapter 17. He then leaves for Norway for the first time. In chapter 18, Grettir fights his first creature, a reanimated undead or draugr of the man named Kárr inn gamli (Kar the Old). Kárr was there guarding treasure in his own funeral mound/tumulus from looters. Grettir triumphs using the sword Jökulsnautr (‘Jokul's Gift’, presumably passed down from his maternal great grandfather Jökull Ingimundarson, son of Ingimundr Þorsteinsson who figure in the Vatnsdæla saga (or Kap. 82 in Boer's edition). However, the sword is present in the tale from Ch. 18 (p. 49) onward according to the index. He has other successful adventures in Norway as well, killing bears and berserkers. He then has to flee Norway to go back to Iceland after he kills people for an insult in chapters 23 and 24. Grettir comes back to Iceland. In Chapters 32 33 a farmer named Thorhall is losing shepherds, as his pasture is haunted by a wight. On the advice of a local elder named Skapti, Thorhall hires a Swedish shepherd named Glámr, hoping that the shepherd's extraordinary strength and size will allow him to defy the wight. At first, Glámr is successful, but after refusing to fast on Yule tide, he is found dead in the snow, having driven the evil creature away at the cost of his own life. The villagers attempt to move Glámr to the church for burial but are unable to, and he is buried where he lies. Not long after, Glámr himself rises as a revenant and begins haunting the area. In Chapter 35, Grettir fights and destroys Glámr, but the revenant uses his last breath to lay a curse on him.

His half brother, Thorsteinn Dromund, later avenges him in a semi comic scene in Byzantium/Constantinople, where the Norse served as Varangians. While in Constantinople, he falls in love with a married woman named Spes, who helps him. After Thorsteinn Dromund completes his mission the two of them decide to spend the rest of their lives in monastic cells in Rome.

Grettir Ásmundarson was reported to have been from Bjarg in Miðfjörður. At Bjarg, Grettir Ásmundarson always had refuge with his mother Ásdís. Many place names in the neighbourhood of Bjarg and indeed throughout the county bear the name of the outlaw e. g. Grettishaf, Grettistak and Grettishöfði at Arnarvatn.