"What must I do?" asked Grettir.
"You will have to go through the ordeal of fire," said the king.
"What is that?" asked the young man.
"You must lift bars of red-hot iron, and walk with bare feet on ploughshares heated red in a furnace."
"And what if I am burnt?"
"Then will you be adjudged guilty."
Grettir shrugged his shoulders: "If it must be so, let it be at once; but whether I be burnt or not, I declare that I am clear of all intent to hurt those men."
"You cannot undergo the ordeal now," said the king. "You would be burned to a certainty. You must go through preparation first."
"What preparation?"
"A week of fasting and prayer," was the reply.