Hethin was glad at that and said:
"You must take care not to encounter Högni face to face, and also not to slay me before you slay him; because no mortal man can encounter Högni face to face and slay him if I die before him, for the glance of his eye strikes terror and spares none. Therefore this is the only way: I will attack him in front and engage him in battle, while you go behind and give him his death stroke. You will find it an easy matter to slay me, when I am left alive last of all."
Then they went into the battle, and Ivar saw that all that Hethin had told him was quite true. He went behind Högni and struck him on the head, and clove his skull down to the shoulders, whereupon Högni fell down dead and never rose up again. After that he slew all the men who were fighting, and last of all he slew Hethin, which was no great task.
When he returned to the ships the day was dawning. He went to the King and told him what he had done. The King was very well pleased with his work and told him that he had had great good luck. Next day they landed and made their way to the spot where the battle had taken place; but they saw no sign of what had happened there. Yet the bloodstains on Ivar's sword were visible proofs; and never again did watchmen disappear on that coast.
After that the King went home to his realm.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SAGA OF HROMUND GREIPSSON
In the Saga of Thorgils and Haflithi, ch. 10 (published in Sturlunga Saga, ed. by G. Vigfusson, Vol. i, p. 19), we are told that at a wedding held at Reykjaholar in Iceland in 1119, "There was fun and merriment and great festivity and all kinds of amusements, such as dancing and wrestling and story-telling.... Although it is a matter of no great importance, some record has been preserved of the entertainment which was provided, and who were the people who provided it. Stories were told which many people now reject, and of which they disclaim any knowledge; for it seems that many people do not know what is true, but think some things to be true which are really pure invention and other things to be fictitious which are really true. Hralf of Skalmarnes told a story about Hröngvith the Viking and Olaf 'the Sailors' King,' and about the rifling of the barrow of Thrain the berserk, and about Hromund Gripsson, and included many verses in his story. King Sverrir used to be entertained with this story and declared that fictitious stories like this were the most entertaining of any. Yet there are men who can trace their ancestry to Hromund Gripsson. Hrolf himself had composed this story."
Among those whose ancestry was traced to Hromund Greipsson were Ingolf and Leif, the first Norwegian colonists of Iceland. According to Landnámabók, 1, ch. 3, they were second cousins, and their grandfathers, who had come from Thelamörk in the south-west of Norway, were sons of Hromund. Olaf 'The Sailors' King' is mentioned also in the Saga of Grím Lothinkinni, ch. 3; and members of his family figure prominently in several other sagas.