nes, but Grettir
was outlawed, banished from the country, and had to stay abroad three
years.

Asmund entrusted his son to the keeping of a man called Haflidi, the
captain of a ship that was sailing for Norway; father and son parted
with but little sorrow between them, but Asdis accompanied the boy
part of the way, and gave him a sword which had been owned by Jokul,
her grandfather; for which Grettir thanked her well, saying he deemed
it better than things of more worth, so he came to the ship. With the
sailors he was no more popular than he had been elsewhere, for he
would work only by fits and starts, as he pleased; besides, he had a
gift of making very biting rhymes, which he indulged in at the expense
of all on board. But when he did condescend to work he was a match for
any four, or, as some say, for any eight men by reason of his
strength. After they had sailed some way east over the sea, and had
much thick weather, one night they ran aground on a rock near an
island which turned out to be Haramsey, off Norway. The lord of that
island was called Thorfinn, son of Karr the Old. When day dawned he
sent down a boat to rescue the shipwrecked sailors, who were saved,
with their merchandise, but their vessel broke up. Grettir remained
with Thorfinn some time; and was fond of rambling about the island,
going from house to house; and he made friends with one Audun, not, of
course, the one who has already been mentioned.

One night the two noticed a great blaze on a ness or headland, and
Grettir asked the reason of it, adding, that in his country such a
fire would only burn above hidden treasure. Audun told him he had
better not inquire too closely into the matter, which, however, as one
might expect, only whetted his curiosity the more. He was told
accordingly that on that headland Karr the Old was buried; that at
first father and son had but one farm on the island, but since Karr
died he had so haunted the place that all the farmers who owned land
were driven away. Thorfinn, therefore, now held the whole island, and
to such good purpose, that whosoever enjoyed his protection was not
worried by the ghost. Grettir determined to investigate, and providing
himself with spades and tools, set off with Audun to dig into the
'barrow,' as these mounds of earth are called, which northern races
and others used to raise over their dead. Leaving Audun to guard the
rope by which he descended, Grettir found the interior of the cavern