Mile End
Medieval Icelandic Sagas
The Saga of Arrow-Odd
13th century, Old Norse.
The earth closes over Ogmund as he vanishes into the ground. But Ogmund turns up again, later in the tale, as King Quillanus of Novgorod.
Ogmund Eythjof’s-Killer has been born and bred in order to avenge a Viking raid that Arrow-Odd once carried out in Permia. The son of a giantess, he fights Arrow-Odd to the death on four separate occasions.
In the second battle between Ogmund and Odd, they fight on the rocky ledge of a cliff-face until Ogmund dives into the sea and disappears beneath the waves. Odd does not see him surface again.
In the third battle, Arrow-Odd gains the upper hand on his old adversary and 'tears Ogmund’s face away from the bone' as he disappears into the ground in an attempt to escape the blows of a sword that has already cut off the flesh from his backside. The earth closes over Ogmund as he vanishes into the ground, unsurprisingly. So they went their separate ways as the ground opened up, and Odd kept what he was holding. The ground closed over Ogmund's head, and that was how they parted!
But Ogmund turns up again, later in the tale, this time as King Quillanus of Novgorod.