Grettir asked for a weapon, and Asmund, his father, answered:
“‘Thou hast not been obedient to me, and as I do not know what thou wilt do with weapons, so I will not give thee any.’ Grettir replied: ‘Then there is nothing to repay, where nothing has been given.’ Father and son parted with little affection. Many wished Grettir farewell, but few safe return. His mother followed him on the way, and before they parted she said: ‘Thou art not fitted out from home, my kinsman, as I would like, able as thou art; it seems to me the greatest want, that thou hast no weapon fit for use, and my mind tells me that thou wilt need one.’ She took an ornamented sword from under her cloak; it was very costly, and said: ‘This sword my grandfather Jökul owned, and the old Vatnsdælir, it used to give them victory. I will give thee the sword; use it well.’ Grettir thanked her much for the gift, saying he liked it better than greater valuables” (Gretti’s Saga, ch. 17).
The jarl Viking said to his son Thorstein:
“The only thing that gladdens me is that no man will stand over thy scalp (have thy head at his feet), although thou wilt have a narrow escape. Here is a sword, kinsman Thorstein, which I want to give thee; its name is Angrvadil, and victory has always followed it; my father took it from the slain Björn Blue-tooth; I have no other remarkable weapons, excepting an old spear which I took from Harek Jarnhaus, and I know it is not manageable by any man” (Thorstein Vikingsson’s Saga, ch. 10).
“When Viking drew it (‘Angrvadil’) it was as if lightning flashed from it. Harek seeing this, said: ‘I should never have fought against thee, if I had known thou hadst Angrvadil; it is most likely it will be as my father said, that we brothers and sisters would be short-lived, except that one only who was named after him; it was the greatest misfortune, when Angrvadil went out of our family;’ and at that moment Viking struck down on the head of Harek, and cleft him in two from head to feet, so that the sword entered the ground up to the hilt” (Thorstein Vikingsson, ch. 14).[[93]]
“King Athelstan gave him a sword, with hilt and guards of gold, but the blade was still better; with it Hakon cut a millstone through to the centre hole,[[94]] and therefore the sword was afterwards called kvernbit (mill-biter). It was the best sword that ever came to Norway” (Olaf Tryggvason’s Saga; Fornmanna Sögur).
Many were considered valuable heirlooms in families, and their possession was so much coveted that even burial mounds were broken open in order to get them.
Grettir had broken into the mound of the Norwegian chief Kár, with whose son, Thorfinn, he was residing, and had taken therefrom a great deal of property.
“Late at night he returned to his house, and placed on the table before Thorfinn the property he had taken from the mound. Among the treasures was a sax, such a good weapon that Grettir said he had never seen a better. He wanted to have this very much, but produced it last of all (the treasures). Thorfinn’s face brightened when he saw the sax, for it was a great treasure, and had never gone out of his family; he asked how he (Grettir) got it, and Grettir told him.... Thorfinn said: ‘Thou must accomplish something that I think famous, before I will let thee have the sax, for my father never allowed me to use it’” (Gretti’s Saga, ch. 18).
“Arinbjörn gave to Egil a sword called Dragvandil, which Thórólf Skallagrimsson had given to him; Skallagrim had got it from his brother Thórólf, and Grim Lodinkinni (shaggy-cheek) had given it to Thórólf. Ketil Hœng, Grim’s father, had owned it, and carried it in single-fights; it was sharper than any other sword” (Egil’s Saga, c. 64).