Towards midnight he heard a loud noise outside, and very soon there walked a huge troll-wife into the room. She carried a trough in one hand and a rather large cutlass in the other. She looked around the room as she entered, and on seeing Grettir lying there she rushed at him; he started up and attacked her furiously.
They fought long together; she was the stronger but he evaded her skilfully. Everything near them and the panelling of the back wall were broken to pieces. She dragged him through the hall door out to the porch, where he resisted vigorously. The troll-wife wanted to drag him out of the house, but before that was done they had broken up all the fittings of the outer door and borne them away on their shoulders.
Then she strove to get to the river and among the rocks. Grettir was terribly fatigued, but there was no choice but either to brace himself or be dragged down to the rocks.
All night long they struggled together, and he thought he had never met with such a monster for strength. She gripped him so tightly to herself that he could do nothing with either hand but cling to her waist.
When at last they reached a rock by the river he swung the monster around and got his right hand loose. Then he quickly seized the short sword he was wearing, drew it, and struck at the troll's right shoulder, cutting off her right arm and releasing himself. She sprang among the rocks and disappeared in the waterfall. Grettir, very stiff and tired, lay long by the rock.
At daylight he went back to the hall and lay down on his bed, blue and swollen all over.
When Steinvor came home she found the place all in disorder. She went to the stranger and asked him what had happened, and why everything was broken to pieces. He told her the whole adventure, just as it had happened. She thought it a matter of great moment and asked him who he was. He told her the truth, said that he wished to see a priest, and asked her to send for one. She did so; Steinn the priest came to Sandhaugar and soon learnt that it was Grettir, the son of Asmund, who had come there under the name of Gest.
The priest asked him what he thought had become
of Steinvor's husband and servant who had disappeared; Grettir said they must have been taken among the rocks. The priest said he could not believe that unless he gave some evidence of it. Grettir declared that later it would become known, and the priest went home. Grettir lay many days in his bed, and the lady did all she could for him.
He himself always declared that the troll woman sprang among the rocks in the waterfall when she was wounded, but the men of Bardadal have a tale that day dawned upon her while they were wrestling, so that when he cut off her arm she lost her powers and is still standing there on the mountain in the likeness of a hideous woman. However that may be, the dwellers in the valley kept Grettir's secret so that he was safe from his enemies and the blood-feud while he lay helpless.