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Synopsis: The Story of Glam from the Grettis Saga Grettir the Strong is an Icelandic saga containing many adventures of the violent hero. One of his adventures concerns an extremely dangerous ghost/monster named Glam. Written in the early 14th Century, this chapter represents a common element in Scandinavian ghost stories - the revenant, or wight. Below is my retelling of the much longer tale. There was a man named Thorhall who owned a farm in Shady-vale and whose house was called Thorhall-Stead. Thorhall's sheep grazing land was badly haunted by evil forces that injured and killed both sheep and shepherds. Finally no shepherd dared serve Thorhall, so he asked advice from a foreteller named Skapti Thorodson the Lawman. Skapti suggested hiring a Swedish shepherd named Glam. Glam was "great of growth, uncouth to look on; his eyes were grey and glaring, and his hair was wolf-grey." Thorhall warned him that the grazing land was haunted but Glam cared nothing for that. "'Such bugs will not scare me,' said Glam. 'Life seems to me less irksome thereby.'" Thorhall hired him on the spot. But when Glam came to Thorhall-stead, only Thorhall could stand his company. Glam refused to go to church and "was a loather of church-song, and godless, foul-tempered and surly, and no man might abide him." True to his nature, one Yule-eve Glam came into Thorhall-stead and called for his meat. The good wife protested that they would not serve meat this day and no Christian man would eat it. Glam claimed that men were better heathens than Christians, and he would have his meat -- and she had better serve it or she'd be sorry. After eating his fill, he left in a temper. The weather was foggy and snowy and loud with thunder, but Glam never returned that night. The next morning Thorhall's men went searching, but found only the sheep scattered and strayed, and many had died in the storm. They kept searching and came to a "great beaten place high up in the valley," as if strong wrestlers had contended there. Here they found Glam: "he was dead, and as blue as hell, and as great as a neat [cow]." They also saw tracks as large as a big barrel in the uprooted valley and great bloody stains from the evil wight that they saw had killed Glam. They tried to pick the dead shepherd up and bring him to the church, but they could only drag him a little ways. Thus they knew that Glam had killed the wight before he died, but the wight's curse had entered Glam's dead body. The second day the men tried again to bring Glam to church. This time they used horses to drag him, but the horses could only drag the body downhill and could not budge it on even ground. The third day the priest went with them but the body had disappeared. Once the priest left the search party the men did find him again, though never was it seen when the priest was present. So the men buried the body where they had been forced to leave it. As they feared, Glam was restless and even worse than the wight had been. Glam injured people badly and drove others mad at the sight of him. He even came down in the daylight from the hills to Thorhall-stead to dance on and ride the house-roofs. Travelers avoided the entire region of Shady-vale and many others left. Thorhall still needed a shepherd so he hired a brave kinsman named Thorgaut who had the strength of two men. Thorgaut was not afraid to "see some wraithlings," and stayed on through the summer and fall. In the afternoon of Yule-eve, Thorgaut went out to his sheep and never came home. The next day on Yule-day, the men began to search. They went to Glam's cairn where he had died last year and there they found Thorgaut: "his neck was broken, and every bone in him smashed." His body they were able to bring into the church and so no harm came to them afterwards from Thorgaut. But Glam began to grow strong again, so everyone fled Thorhall-stead. Glam killed all the livestock left behind and even destroyed neighboring farms. Meanwhile, the hero Grettir Asmundson heard about Glam and rode to Thorhall-stead. Thorhall had ventured back to oversee his property, and gave Grettir good welcome. But when Grettir asked to stay the night, Thorhall warned him about Glam, saying that even if Grettir were to survive the attacks his horse would not. Grettir locked up his horse in a strong house and the night passed without a visit from Glam. That next night seemed calm also, but the next morning Thorhall found Grettir's horse dead with every bone broken to pieces. Grettir was now determined to best Glam, so that night he did not undress but put on his cloak and hid in the hall, keeping watch as the evil wight broke through the outer door, tore off the paneling throughout and tore all the beds out of their places. In the early morning Grettir heard a huge noise outside as Glam leaped to the roof-top and rode the hall, cracking the rafters. Now Grettir watched as the wight came down from the roof and returned to the door and peered in. And Grettir saw that the wight's head seemed hugely stretched and large. Glam came inside and glared about, and then spotted Grettir's cloak. Not knowing there was a man there, Glam reached out and pulled it hard but Grettir had good hold of it, and Glam pulled three times and then the cloak split between them. As Glam gazed down in puzzlement at the rag in his hand Grettir attacked Glam, trying to break his back. They nearly broke down the hall in their hard wrestling, but at last Glam dragged Grettir out the door under the bright moonlight, holding him so closely Grettir could not draw his short sword. And Grettir came close to despair. But Glam saw his second death arriving in the light of the moon, and his eyes flashed as he cursed Grettir, saying, "'Until now you have earned fame by your deeds, but now only wrongs and manslayings will fall on you, and most of your doings will turn to your woe and ill-hap; an outlaw you will be, forever dwelling alone in exile: this weird I lay on you. You will always see my eyes before you, and you will not want to be alone - and that will drag you down to death.'" As Glam said these words, Grettir rediscovered his strength and drew his short sword and hewed the head from Glam's shoulders. Thorhall praised God and thanked Grettir well for defeating the unclean spirit. Together they burned the corpse to cold coals, gathered his ashes inside an animal's skin, and buried it deep in a place where sheep and men rarely came. And Grettir Asmundson increased his fame for great heart and prowess. But ever after he became so fearful a man in the dark that he did not dare go about alone after nightfall lest he see all kinds of horrors. The Tale of Glam: Documentation
for an Original Poem
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