Þórðar saga hreðu

[1] The saga tells of Þórðr the Menace (hreða), a Norwegian who is obliged to flee to Iceland with his family after being implicated in the murder of the king's brother.

The party settles in the Miðfjörður district of Iceland, but Þórðr refuses to defer to the local chieftain, Skeggi Skinna-Bjarnarson (who is also the owner of the famous sword Skofnung), and a simmering tension develops between the two men.

Skeggi’s nephew Ásbjǫrn Þorsteinsson then falls in love with Sigríðr, but his chances of winning her hand are apparently dashed when he and Þórðr get into a brawl during a ball-game.

At Eiðr’s urging Þórðr decides to leave the district for a while, and he lies low at the home of the cowardly old miser Þórhallr and his young wife Ólof Hrólleifsdóttir.

The cowardly Þórhallr refuses to protect Þórðr, who agrees to surrender to Skeggi provided he is killed at Ǫzurr’s barrow.

Ásbjǫrn returns to Iceland, and he and Skeggi attack Þórðr on two separate occasions, but both engagements end with the two sides being parted by Eiðr.