"Full was my cup in Isafjord
when the old swine held me at ransom."
"What were they going to do with you when they took you?" Vermund asked.
"To Sigar's lot my neck was destined
when noble Thorbjorg came upon them."
"Would they have hanged you then if they had been left to themselves?"
"My neck would soon have been in the noose,
had she not wisely saved the bard."
"Did she invite you to her home?"
"She bade me home with her to fare.
A steed she gave me, life and peace."
"Great will your life be and troublous," said Vermund; "but now you have learnt to beware of your foes. I cannot keep you here, for it would rouse the enmity of many powerful men against me. Your best way is to seek your kinsmen; there are not many who will be willing to take you in if they can do anything else; nor are you one who will easily follow the will of another man."
Grettir remained for a time in Vatnsfjord and went thence to the Western fjords and tried several of the leading men there, but something always happened to prevent their taking him in.