Grettir stayed there the rest of the winter in high favour with Thorfinn.  The fame of his deed spread through all Norway, especially in those parts where the berserks had ravaged most mercilessly.  In the spring Thorfinn asked him what he would like to do.  He said he would go North to Vagar while the fair was on there.  Thorfinn said that any money which he required should be at his service; Grettir said he did not want more just then than enough to pay for his living.  Thorfinn said that was his due, and brought him to a ship, where he gave him the excellent short sword.  Grettir kept it as long as he lived; it was a most precious possession.  Thorfinn bade him come to him if ever he wanted any help.

Grettir then travelled to Vagar, which was crowded with people.  Many whom he had never set eyes on before greeted him warmly because of his exploit in killing the vikings, and several of the leading men invited him to stay with them, but he preferred to return to his friend Thorfinn.  So he took his passage in a trading ship belonging to one Thorkell, a man of some consideration in Salfti in Halogaland.  Grettir went to visit Thorkell in his home, where he received a hearty welcome and a very pressing invitation to stay there for the winter.  Grettir accepted the invitation and stayed the winter with Thorkell, who treated him with great honour.

CHAPTER XXI

ADVENTURE WITH A BEAR

There was a man named Bjorn who was then on a visit to Thorkell.  He was of a somewhat violent character of good family and related in some way to Thorkell.  He was not generally liked, because he was too much given to talking against the men who were about Thorkell and drove many away from him.  He and Grettir did not get on at all.  Bjorn thought him of small account compared to himself; Grettir paid him little deference, and it became an open feud.  Bjorn was a boisterous swaggering man, and many of the younger men imitated him, loitering about outside in the evenings.

It happened at the beginning of the winter that a savage brown bear broke out of its den and raged about destroying men and cattle.  Every one declared that it had been provoked by the noise which Bjorn and his company made.  The beast became most mischievous, attacking the flocks in the very face of the men themselves.  Thorkell, being the wealthiest man of that part, suffered most.  One day he called up his men to come with him and search out the bear’s den.  They found it in a cliff by the sea where there was a cave under an overhanging rock, with a narrow path leading to the entrance.  Below was a sheer precipice down to the beach, threatening certain death to any one who stumbled.  In this den the bear lay in the daytime, going abroad at night.  Fences were of no avail against him, nor could the dogs do anything, so that all were in the utmost distress.  Thorkell’s kinsman Bjorn declared that the main thing was gained now that they had found the den.  “Now we shall see,” he said, “how the game will go with me and my namesake.”  Grettir pretended not to hear what he said.