s he lived, and the choicest of choice things it was. Withal
Thorfinn bade Grettir come to him whenever he might need aid.

But Grettir went north to Vogar, and a many folk were there; many men
welcomed him there right heartily who had not seen him before, for the
sake of that great deed of prowess which he had done when he saw the
vikings; many high-born men prayed him to come and abide with them,
but he would fain go back to his friend Thorfinn. Now he took ship in
a bark that was owned of a man hight Thorkel, who dwelt in Salft in
Halogaland, and was a high-born man. But when Grettir came to Thorkel
he welcomed him right heartily, and bade Grettir abide with him that
winter, and laid many words thereto.

This offer Grettir took, and was with Thorkel that winter in great
joyance and fame.

CHAP. XXI.

<i>Of Grettir and Biorn and the Bear</i>.

There was a man, hight Biorn, who was dwelling with Thorkel; he was
a man of rash temper, of good birth, and somewhat akin to Thorkel; he
was not well loved of men, for he would slander much those who were
with Thorkel, and in this wise he sent many away. Grettir and he
had little to do together; Biorn thought him of little worth weighed
against himself, but Grettir was unyielding, so that things fell
athwart between them. Biorn was a mightily boisterous man, and made
himself very big; many young men gat into fellowship with him in these
things, and would stray abroad by night. Now it befell, that early in
winter a savage bear ran abroad from his winter lair, and got so grim
that he spared neither man nor beast. Men thought he had been roused
by the noise that Biorn and his fellows had made. The brute got so
hard to deal with that he tore down the herds of men, and Thorkel
had the greatest hurt thereof, for he was the richest man in the
neighbourhood.

Now one day Thorkel bade his men to follow him, and search for the
lair of the bear. They found it in sheer sea-rocks; there was a high
rock and a cave before it down below, but only one track to go up to
it: under the cave were scarped rocks, and a heap of stones down by
the sea, and sure death it was to all who might fall down there. The
bear lay in his lair by day, but went abroad as soon as night fell; no
fold could keep sheep safe from him, nor could any dogs be set on
him: and all this men thought the heaviest trouble. Biorn, Thorkel's
kinsman, said that the greatest part had been done, as the lair had
been f