Grim Aegir Blizzard / Stench / Ice Storm

After a few days, Hrolf tapped Vilhjalm on the legs one night and said, “It’s time to win the maiden’s hand and go to the mound.”

Vilhjalm stood up quickly. Hrolf was dressed, wearing Vefreyja’s Gift and holding the spear Atli’s Gift, but Vilhjalm wore full armor. He rode, but Hrolf walked in front of his horse. They traveled on in this way until they came to a forest, and they found an ancient footpath. But when they had gone a short way, such a howling gale blew up against them, with snowstorms and frost, that Vilhjalm couldn’t stay on horseback. Then Hrolf led the horse, and Vilhjalm walked behind it for a while, until the blizzard grew so strong that the horse couldn’t walk. Hrolf dragged it flat behind him, steadying himself with the spear. He looked back and saw that Vilhjalm had disappeared, and the horse had been dead for a long time. He left the horse there and went forward on the path. The blizzard was so strong that oak-trees were snapping from their stumps and falling from a great height. They often struck Hrolf with severe blows which would have brought death to most men, and there was such lightning and thunder that he thought he would have been killed if the cloak had not protected him. This went on all night until dawn. Towards daybreak, such a terrible stench came at him that he would have choked if the face-mask hadn’t saved him. Hrolf realized that the blizzard must have killed the king’s men, and that it must be a storm sent by magic. He thought that he had never faced such a trial.

But when the day was brightest, the blizzard abated and the weather calmed, and the stench disappeared. Hrolf saw a mound as high as a mountain, and a tall stockade ringing it. He gripped one of the posts with his hand and vaulted over the stockade. Then he walked up onto the mound, feeling that it would be very difficult to break into. When he looked around, he saw a very tall man in royal vestments on the north side of the mound. Hrolf went up to him and greeted him as befitted a king and asked him his name.

He said, “I am Hreggvid, and I live inside this mound with my champions. You’re welcome here. You must know, Hrolf, that I don’t control these blizzards and stenches or other strange happenings, and I haven’t killed anyone. Sorkvir and Grim Aegir are the cause of all of these, and they have caused the deaths of the king’s men. Still, their wisdom sometimes falls short when they need it most. If they knew that you were here, they would want you dead. I went to Jarl Thorgnyr in the likeness of a swallow, with a hair from my daughter Ingigerd, because I knew that you of all the jarl’s men would search for her and you alone were the man to free her, if luck is with you. I give you permission to enjoy her in the best way if you will joust against Sorkvir, for you lack neither boldness nor bravery. But Grim Aegir has promised Sorkvir that no one shall overcome him except for the man who bears my armor. That’s why this mound is made to be unbreakable, and why there are barriers to entry—because he thought that no one should be able to get the armor. Now I shall get you everything that you want from the mound. I will give you two sets of armor, identical to each other except for the quality. You shall give the king the worse set. You must not let anyone see the other set until you need it, and you must take great care of the sword, because you’ll seldom see another one like it.[38] My daughter Ingigerd is guarding all my jousting weapons and the horse Dulcifal, who’s unlike most other horses in many respects. You must ride him when you fight Sorkvir, and you’re certain to win victory if he lets you catch him. The lance and the shield will also keep their nature. You must not trust Vilhjalm even when you are out of his service, because he will betray you if he can. You’ll want to keep your oath, but it’s better if he’s put to death sooner rather than later, because he will put you in danger.”

After that, Hreggvid gave Hrolf the treasures and weapons, and finally the necklace from around his neck.[39] Then Hreggvid said, “It is fated that I may leave my mound three times, and there’s no need to close it up until the last time. Now you shouldn’t encounter any obstacles when you return home. Go well, and may everything go for you as you might wish. But if you come back to Russia, visit me if you need a little something.”

Hreggvid turned back into the mound, and Hrolf took the treasures and kept them carefully. He returned from the mound by the same path, and wasn’t aware of any strange happenings. When he came out of the forest, Vilhjalm came to meet him. He had slipped under some tree roots and lain there all through the snowstorm. He could hardly speak for the cold. He fawned on Hrolf and said, “I don’t believe that too much could ever be said of your bravery and the good fortune that’s with us, now that the mound is broken open and the gold and treasures have been found. Now I see that nothing can stand in our way, although that was such a great storm that I barely managed to survive. Now I think I’m entitled to marry the king’s sister. You must give me the treasures and weapons, because I want to hand them over to the king myself.”

Hrolf said, “You won’t win much fame, and you’ll pay me back poorly, even though I risked my life for you. Take the treasures and bring them to the king. I will keep my word to you and affirm your story,  even though you’re not worth it.”
Hrolf had hidden the other set of arms in the forest, and Vilhjalm didn’t see them. They went on their way until they met the king, sitting at his evening meal at the feasting table. Vilhjalm greeted the king and pretended to be quite exhausted. Everyone in the hall fell silent at their return.

Vilhjalm said, “I can hardly believe that there could be a harder struggle, all told, because Hreggvid is the worst of trolls, thanks to his sorcery, and the mound is difficult to break into. I’ve been fighting with King Hreggvid all night. I was terribly hard-pressed before I got the arms.”

[...]

They had entered Russia before Winternights. Mondul the dwarf said, “You must carry our stores from the ships into the tent, and finish the job in three days. Then you must go into the tent and not look outside before I tell you to.” Everything was done according to his instructions. Finally, Mondul went inside, but before he did that, he walked all around the tent.

A little later they heard the wind beginning to rise, roaring outside the tent. They felt it was a wonder. One man was so curious that he loosened the tent and looked outside, but when he came back in, he had lost his mind and his speech, and in a short time he was dead. The wind kept up for three nights.

Mondul said, “We won’t all come back to Denmark if Grim Aegir has anything to say about it, because he was the walrus that destroyed our ships. He would have treated all our ships the same way if I had not gone last, because he couldn’t come any closer than that stick which I was dragging behind me. He’s sent an ice storm at you, so that all of you would have met your deaths if the tents hadn’t saved you. Now twelve men have come down into the forest a short way from here, whom Grim has sent to King Eirek. They have come down from Ermland and are now working sorcery. They must be intending to use sorcery against you, Hrolf and Stefnir, to make you kill each other yourselves. Seven of us must go out to face them together and see what happens.”


- The Saga of Hrolf the Walker (Göngu-Hrólfs saga), Chapters 16 and 28