Ulf said, "Shoot another way, king, where it is more needful my work is thy gain.".

CHAPTER CXIV.-Of King Olaf.

King Olaf stood on the Serpent's quarterdeck, high over the others. He had a gilt shield, and a helmet inlaid with gold; over his armour he had a short red coat, and was easy to be distinguished from other men. When King Olaf saw that the scattered forces of the enemy gathered themselves together under the banners of their ships, he asked, "Who is the chief of the force right opposite to us?"

He was answered, that it was King Svein with the Danish army.

The king replies, "We are not afraid of these soft Danes, for there is no bravery in them; but who are the troops on the right of the Danes?"

He was answered, that it was King Olaf with the Swedish forces.

"Better it were," says King Olaf, "for these Swedes to be sitting at home killing their sacrifices, than to be venturing under our weapons from the Long Serpent. But who owns the large ships on the larboard side of the Danes?"

"That is Earl Eirik Hakonson," say they.

The king replies, "He, methinks, has good reason for meeting us; and we may expect the sharpest conflict with these men, for they are Norsemen like ourselves."

CHAPTER CXV.-The Battle Begins.

The kings now laid out their oars, and prepared to attack [1000]. King Svein laid his ship against the Long Serpent. Outside of him Olaf the Swede laid himself, and set his ship's stem against the outermost ship of King Olaf's line; and on the other side lay Earl Eirik. Then a hard combat began. Earl Sigvalde held back with the oars on his ships, and did not join the fray. So says Skule Thorsteinson, who at that time was with Earl Eirik :

66

I followed Sigvalde in my youth,
And gallant Eirik; and in truth,
Tho' now I am grown stiff and old,
In the spear-song I once was bold.
Where arrows whistled on the shore
Of Svold fiord my shield I bore,
And stood amidst the loudest clash

When swords on shields made fearful crash."

And Halfred also sings thus:

"In truth I think the gallant king,
'Midst such a foemen's gathering,
Would be the better of some score
Of his tight Throndhjem lads, or more ;
For many a chief has run away,
And left our brave king in the fray,
Two great kings' power to withstand,

And one great earl's, with his small band.
The king who dares such mighty deed
A hero for his skald would need."

* The battle is said to have been fought September 9; other authorities say the 10th or 11th. Adam of Bremen lays the scene of the battle in Denmark.

CHAPTER CXVI.-Flight of King Svein and King Olaf the Swede.

This battle was one of the severest told of, and many were the people slain. The forecastle men of the Long Serpent, the Little Serpent, and the Crane, threw graplings and stem chains into King Svein's ship, and used their weapons well against the people standing below them, for they cleared the decks of all the ships they could lay fast hold of; and King Svein, and all the men who escaped, fled to other vessels, and laid themselves out of bow-shot. It went with this force just as King Olaf Trygveson had foreseen. Then King Olaf the Swede laid himself in their place; but when he came near the great ships it went with him as with them, for he lost many men and some ships, and was obliged to get away. But Earl Eirik laid his ship side by side with the outermost of King Olaf's ships, thinned it of men, cut the cables, and let it drive. Then he laid alongside of the next, and fought until he had cleared it of men also. Now all the people who were in the smaller ships began to run into the larger, and the earl cut them loose as fast as he cleared them of men. The Danes and Swedes laid themselves now out of shooting distance all around Olaf's ship; but Earl Eirik lay always close alongside of the ships, and used his swords and battle-axes, and as fast as people fell in his vessel others, Danes and Swedes, came in their place. So says Haldor the Unchristian :

"Sharp was the clang of shield and sword,
And shrill the song of spears on board,
And whistling arrows thickly flew
Against the Serpent's gallant crew.
And still fresh foemen, it is said,
Earl Eirik to her long side led;
Whole armies of his Danes and Swedes,

Wielding on high their blue sword-blades."

Then the fight became most severe, and many people fell. But at last it came to this, that all King Olaf Trygveson's ships were cleared of men except the Long Serpent, on board of which all who could still carry their arms were gathered. Then Earl Eirik lay with his ship by the side of the Serpent, and the fight went on with battle-axe and sword. So says Haldor :

"Hard pressed on every side by foes,
The Serpent reels beneath the blows;
Crash go the shields around the bow!

Breast-plates and breasts pierced thro' and thro'!

In the sword-storm the Holm beside,

The earl's ship lay alongside

The king's Long Serpent of the sea-
Fate gave the earl the victory."

CHAPTER CXVII.—Of Earl Eirik.

*

Earl Eirik was in the forehold of his ship, where a cover of shields had been set up. In the fight, both hewing weapons, sword, and axe, and the thrust of spears had been used; and all that could be used

* Both in land and sea fights the commanders appear to have been protected from missile weapons,-stones, arrows, spears,-by a shieldburg; that is, by a party of men bearing shields surrounding them in such a way that the shields were a parapet, covering those within the circle. The Romans had a similar military arrangement of shields in sieges-the testudo.-L.

Some used bows,

So many weapons

as weapon for casting was cast.
some threw spears with the hand.
were cast into the Serpent, and so thick flew spears
and arrows, that the shields could scarcely receive
them; for on all sides the Serpent was surrounded
by war ships. Then King Olaf's men became so
mad with rage, that they ran on board of the enemies'
ships, to get at the people with stroke of sword and
kill them; but many did not lay themselves so near
the Serpent, in order to escape the close encounter
with battle-axe or sword; and thus the most of
Olaf's men went overboard and sank under their
weapons, thinking they were fighting on plain ground.
So says
Halfred:-

"The daring lads shrink not from death,-
O'erboard they leap, and sink beneath
The Serpent's keel: all armed they leap,
And down they sink five fathoms deep.
The foe was daunted at their cheers:
The king, who still the Serpent steers,
In such a strait-beset with foes---
Wanted but some more lads like those."

CHAPTER CXVIII.—Of Einar Tambaskelfer.

Einar Tambaskelfer, one of the sharpest of bowshooters, stood by the mast, and shot with his bow. Einar shot an arrow at Earl Eirik, which hit the tiller-end just above the earl's head so hard that it entered the wood up to the arrow-shaft. The earl looked that way, and asked if they knew who had shot; and at the same moment another arrow flew between his hand and his side, and into the stuffing of the chief's stool, so that the barb stood far out on