Grettis saga

... a stake in these things.

I think the fight in Grettir Saga is a great example of this.

And-

Yeah

The crafty Ulysses put out the eye of Polyphemus.

Grettir, according to Icelandic saga, overcame Glam, the malevolent death-dealing vampire who went riding the roofs.

Beowulf fearlessly descended into the turbid mere to grapple with Grendel's mother.

Folk tales and ballads, in which incidents similar to those in myths and heroic legends occur, are often overshadowed by terror.