Old Norse Saga Insight - Egils Saga Part 3

Skalla-Grímr and the Legendary Forge-Stone: Strength, Skill, and the Spirit of the Smith

Among the richest material-culture details in Egils saga is the account of Skalla-Grímr as a master smith, and his retrieval of the great forge-stone — an episode that reveals both his immense physical power and the deep significance of smithcraft in early Norse society.

The saga tells us that Skalla-Grímr set up his smithy at Raufar-nes, close to the sea and not far from the woods that supplied his charcoal. But there was one problem: the coastline there was all fine sand, with no hard, smooth stones suitable for hammering iron. For a smith — especially one working with red iron ore — the anvil-stone was central, both practically and symbolically. A lesser man might have made do. Skalla-Grímr chose a different path.

One night, after the household had gone to sleep, he pushed an eight-oared boat into the water and rowed alone out to the Midfirth islands. There, he dropped an anchor from the bow, climbed overboard, and dived down to the sea floor in total darkness. From the depths he wrestled up a massive surf-worn boulder — unlike any stone found on the nearby coast — and lifted it into the boat by sheer force. He then rowed home, carried the stone from shore to the smithy, and laid it before the door. From that time onward, he forged iron upon it.

The saga emphasizes that the stone still lay there in the author’s own day — bearing the hammer-marks of Skalla-Grímr’s work, surrounded by heaps of slag. It was said that four men could not lift as much as Skalla-Grímr brought up from the sea alone. This is not merely a boast about strength; it is a statement about lineage, will, and the near-mythic physicality associated with Egil’s family.

Like many smiths in Germanic tradition, Skalla-Grímr is portrayed as a figure whose power straddles the boundary between craft and magic — a man whose physical might, skill with iron, and deep connection to the landscape hint at the spiritual weight of smithing in the Viking Age. Archaeology increasingly supports the view that smiths held special ritual roles, and that forge sites often functioned as spaces of transformation both material and symbolic.

And, true to his nature, Skalla-Grímr expresses his identity not only in action but in poetry. When his men complain about the long hours of smithing and early rising, he composes this verse:

Who wins wealth by iron

Right early must rise:

Of the sea’s breezy brother

Wind-holders need blast.

On furnace-gold glowing

My stout hammer rings,

While heat-feeding bellows

A whistling storm stir.”**

The stanza captures the entire soul of the scene: the sea-wind, the glowing forge, the relentless hammer, and the willpower that shapes raw earth into tools and weapons. It is a perfect union of physical endurance, craftsmanship, poetry, and ancestral spirit — themes that run through the saga as powerfully as any battle.

This moment reminds us that Egil’s lineage was not only fierce in war, but also deeply rooted in the transformative arts: forging iron, composing verse, shaping fate, and exerting will upon both nature and destiny.