Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra

Illuga saga Gríðarfóstra is a Fornaldarsaga about a young Dane named Illugi who delivers a female troll and her daughter from a curse. The earliest manuscript (of thirty-six which are known to exist) dates from the first half of the 16th century (AM 123 8vo).

The story begins in Denmark where there was a king called Hringr, the son of Skjöld Dagsson. It tells that this Skjöld had a saga of his own telling of his battles with a Herman. It lauds Hringr's qualities as well as those of his son Sigurd. The mother was Sigrid, the daughter of Vilhjalm (William) of Gaul.

Not far from where they lived there was a farmer called Svidi the Valiant whose wife was Hildr and son Illugi. This Illugi was tall, strong and good at any game, and he often played with Prince Sigurd. The two boys became close friends and swore to avenge one another.

However, the king had an incompetent advisor named Björn who was treacherous and cunning, but skilled in seid (witchcraft) and a great warrior who ably defended Denmark for the king. Björn was jealous that Sigurd loved Illugi so much, so he slandered Illugi in front of the king and the prince, but Sigurd refused to believe him.

One summer, Sigurd, Björn and Illugi went a Viking expedition to Scotland and Orkney. The pillaging was good, and in the autumn they steered home to Denmark. However, a great storm arose and they were driven away to large bay called Gandvik (usually identified as the White Sea). It was cold and Björn asked Illugi to cross a fjord to fetch firewood. If he succeeded it would prove him a better advisor and he would get Björn's ring. Illugi, however, declined and said that he would go for wood anyway.

When he had crossed the fjord, he found a cave and soon encountered its inhabitant. It was a troll woman named Grid. She could not be called beautiful, in fact she was hideous. When Illugi said that he came searching for fire, she replied that he would get none unless he said three truthful words fast, and slept with her daughter. The daughter was stunning and Illugi immediately fell in love with her. The truthful words he chose to say were that Grid was hideous, the hall was beautiful and so was the daughter. Grid said that since he preferred the daughter to her, he could go to bed with the girl. Illugi was surprised that she was not enjoying the act, and soon he found out why because Grid grabbed him by the hair, put a knife to his throat and said that she would kill him for seducing the girl. However, when Illugi showed no signs of fear, she asked him to go back to bed remarking that she had never met anyone less afraid of dying. She had killed sixteen men with the knife and they had all been afraid. Grid said that he would have the girl whose name was Hildr, and then she told him her story.

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