'Grettir the Strong, Grettir the Outlaw, one of the heroes of his race, was born, men say, in the year 997, at Biarg in Iceland.

A man of great heart and high spirit was he, yet unlucky, doomed to a sad end. His foes were many and his misfortunes great but he lived like a man and like a man he died.'

So begins Allen French's retelling of the famous saga of Grettir the Strong, a remarkable book for the way in which it captures the drama, excitement and feeling of Icelandic legend. For all children who read of his adventures, Grettir will surely rank with such legendary heroes as Beowulf, Roland and Robin Hood.

From the dust jacket of the 1961 Bodley Head edition