Onund Tree-Foot
(Legendary Norwegian Viking and Icelandic settler said to have lived in the 9th century)
“The day we faced the music
of sword blades clanging on shields
destroyed my life’s joy:
hardships grip us too soon.”
- Spoken by the character, Onund Tree-Foot, in chapter 3 of the anonymously written Grettir’s Saga (c. 14th century), translated by Jesse Byock (Oxford World’s Classics, 2009).
