The priest did so. But when they came to the waterfall they saw that the sides of the gorge hung over[[308]]: it was a sheer cliff so great that one could in nowise come up, and it was nearly ten fathoms[[309]] from the top to the water below. They had a rope with them. Then the priest said, "It seems to me quite impossible for thee to get down."
Grettir said, "Assuredly it is possible, but best for those who are men of valour. I will examine what is in the waterfall, and thou shalt watch the rope."
The priest said it should be as he wished, drove a peg into the cliff, piled stones against it, and sat by it[[310]].
Now it must be told concerning Grettir that he knotted a stone into the rope, and so let it down to the water.
"What way," said the priest, "do you mean to go?"
"I will not be bound," said Grettir, "when I go into the water, so much my mind forebodes me."
After that he got ready for his exploit, and had little on; he girded himself with his short sword, and had no other weapon.
Then he plunged from the cliff down into the waterfall. The priest saw the soles of his feet, and knew no more what had become of him. Grettir dived under the waterfall, and that was difficult because there was a great eddy, and he had to dive right to the bottom before he could come up behind the waterfall. There was a jutting rock and he climbed upon it. There was a great cave behind the waterfall, and the river fell in front of it from the precipice. He went into the cave, and there was a big fire burning. Grettir saw that there sat a giant of frightful size. He was terrible to look upon: but when Grettir came to him, the giant leapt up and seized a pike, and hewed at the new-comer: for with the pike he could both cut and stab. It had a handle of wood: men at that time called a weapon made in such a way a heptisax. Grettir smote against it with his short sword, and struck the handle so that he cut it asunder. Then the giant tried to reach back for a sword which hung behind him in the cave. Thereupon Grettir smote him in the breast, and struck off almost all the lower part of his chest and his belly, so that the entrails gushed out of him down into the river, and were swept along the current.
And as the priest sat by the rope he saw some lumps, clotted p. [161] with blood, carried down stream. Then he became unsteady, and thought that now he knew that Grettir must be dead: and he ran from keeping the rope and went home. It was then evening, and the priest said for certain that Grettir was dead, and added that it was a great loss of such a man.