THE STORY OF EARL ROGNVALD
61. Cecilia (1) was the name of a sister of earl Magnus, born in wedlock. She was given away east in Norway, and that man whose name was Isaac had her to wife. Their son’s name was Kol. Kol (Kali’s son) sate on his farms in Agdir, as was written before, and was the wisest of all men. He did not fare into the Orkneys. Kol was a very shrewd man. Kali his son grew up there, and was the most hopeful (2) man, a middleman in growth, well set up, one of the best limbed of men, with light brown hair. He had more friends than most men, and was a more proper man, both in body and mind, than most of the other men of his time. He made this song:
“Draughts I play with open hand,
Games and feats so skilful nine;
Writing runes to me comes ready;
Books I read and smith’s work furnish;
I can glide on snow-shoon swift;
Doughtily I shoot and row;
Either stands at my behest,
Sweep of harp or burst of song.”
Kali was almost always with Solmund his kinsman, the son of Sigurd supple. He was (the king’s) steward at Tunsberg, and had a house of his own at East Agdir. He was a chief, and had a great following. They were much of an age, those kinsmen.
62. Kali was fifteen winters old when he fared with chapmen west to England, and had good wares for traffic. They held on their course to that town which is called Grimsby. Thither came a very great crowd of men both from Norway, the Orkneys, and from Scotland, and so also from the Southern isles. There Kali met that man who went by the name of Gillikrist. (3) He asked then much about Norway, and talked most with Kali; there was a great fellowship sprung up (between them). He told Kali as a secret that his name was Harold, and that king Magnus barelegs was his father, but that his mother’s stock was in the Southern isles, and some of them in Ireland. He asked Kali how he thought he would be welcomed if he came to Norway. Kali says he thought king Sigurd likely to give him a good welcome if other men did not spoil matters between them. They, Gillikrist and Kali, exchanged gifts at their parting; each promised the other his thorough friendship wherever their next meeting might be. But Gillikrist does not tell his secret to more men in that place.
63. After that Kali fared from the west on board the same ship, and they came from abroad at Agdir, and held on thence north to Bergen. Then Kali sang this song:
Weeks of grimmest walking five
We have waded through the mud;
In mid Grimsby where we were,
Was no want of mud and mire.
Now it is with merry minds,
O’er the sea-moors (4) that we let,
Beaked elk (5) across the billow,
Blithely bound to Bergen home.”
But when they came to the town, they found there a great crowd of men out the land, both from the north and from the south, and many, too, from other lands, who had flitted thither much goods. Then those shipmates went into the taverns to make merry. Kali was then a great man for dress, and had many braveries with him as he was newly come from England. Then he thought much of himself, and many others thought so too, for he came of a good stock, and was a well-bred man in himself. But in that tavern where he drank he found a young man of rank whose name was John; he was the son of Peter Sark’s son of Sogn. He was then one of the king’s liegemen. His mother’s name was Helga, a daughter of Harek of Sæter. John was a very showy man in his dress. Unna was the name of a worthy housewife who owned the house in which they drank. Then there arose a great fellowship between those two, John and Kali, and they parted with love; John fared then south (6) to Sogn, to his abode, but Kali east to Agdir, to his father. Kali was also often with Solmund his kinsman. So it went on for some half years, that Kali was in the summers on trading voyages, but at home in the winters or with his kinsman Solmund.
64. So it fell out one summer, when Kali had fared north to Drontheim, that he lay weather-bound under that island which is called Doll. (7) In the isle was a great cave, which is called Doll’s cave. In the cave was great hope of treasure. The chapmen made ready, and went into the cave, and had the hardest work to make their way there. They came where water stood across the cave, and none dared to fare across the water save Kali and another man, whose name was Havard, Solmund’s house-carle. They swam across the water, and had a rope between them. Kali swam first, and had in his hand a blazing torch and a tinder-box between his shoulders. (8) So they swam over the water and came to land. That place was rough and rugged, and there was a great stench, and they could scarce get the light struck. Then Kali gave out that they would go no farther, and said they should make a beacon there as a memorial. Then Kali sang a song:
“Here have I built in darksome cave
Of Doll a beacon high
To goblin grim of sternest mood,
So golden store I sought,
None knows what man of those who work
The water-skates (9) will wend his way,
His long and weary path, once more
Across this water wide.”
After that they turned back and came safe and sound to their men, then they fared out of the cave; it is not told about their journey that any tidings happened that summer. They came back to Bergen, and Kali turned into the same tavern to Unna the housewife. There too he found again John Peter’s son and his serving-man, whose name was Brynjulf. There were there besides many others of his men, though they are not named. It happened one evening that they John Peter’s son and Kali, were gone to sleep, but many sat behind and drank. Then there was much talk, when men were well drunk; and it came about that they spoke of matching one man with another, and of who were thought to be noblest of the king’s liegemen in Norway. Brynjulf stood up that John Peter’s son was the best bred and best born of the younger men south of Stad; (10) but Havard Kali’s companion spoke up for Solmund, and said he was no worse bred than John, and declared that the dwellers in the Bay would set much greater store by him than by John Peter’s son. Out of this a great strife arose, and when the ale spoke in them, then no better heed was taken than this, that up jumped Havard and got him a cudgel and gave Brynjulf there and then such a blow on the head that he fell down at once senseless, and men ran to help him up; but Havard was packed off to see Kali, and Kali sent him south into Alvidra to a priest whose name was Richard, “and bring him,” he says, “my message that I beg him to take thee in till I go home east.” Kali got him a man to bear him company, and a boat, and they row away south till they come to Græning Sound. Then Havard said to his fellow-traveller: “Now we two are come beyond the bark of hounds, and we will rest ourselves here,” and with that they lie down to sleep. Now we must take up our story and say that Brynjulf came to his wits, and he was carried to see John, and he tells him all that had happened, and how the man had been packed off there and then. John guessed the truth as to his doings, and made them take a rowing-cutter, and ten men got into her; Brynjulf was there to lead the men. After that they row south, and come south into Græning Sound, (11) when it was getting daylight. Then they saw that a boat lay before them on the beach, “and may be,” says Brynjulf, “that these men will be able to tell us something of Havard.” So they went up on land and found them; Havard and his mate were then just awake. Brynjulf fell on Havard at once with the sword, and both those companions were slain at that meeting. And now Brynjulf and his men fared back to Bergen after these tidings, and tell them to John; and after that all the townsfolk knew them. Kali took the tidings of these slayings very ill; and when men came between him and John, John says that his wish is that Kali shall alone make his award as to the wrong which he thinks he has suffered, but that should be saving the king’s right and that of the next of kin to take the feud up. And Kali agreed to those terms, but still there was no love between him and John. Then Kali fared home east very soon after that; and when he and his father met, and Kali had told about those tidings and the close of his quarrel, then Kol says: “Methought thou wert showing thyself in a strange light when thou tookest any atonement before thy kinsman Solmund were by; now methinks thou has come into a strait, and canst take little part in the matter, except to ask for atonement; and so would not Solmund do if thy house-carle were slain and his shipmate.” Kali says: “Thou speakest the truth, no doubt, father, when thou sayest that I have been too hasty in looking at the matter; but thou wert too far off to teach me what to do. It will often be shown too that I am not so deep-witted as thou, but still I thought this, that Solmund would be never the nearer his due though I forsook that which was offered to me; and I do not call it a disgrace either to Solmund or to thee to accept the right to fix your own terms from John for your share in the suit, if he offers it you, though I very much doubt whether there is any need for you to take up the matter. But as for myself, I call myself quite free as to Brynjulf, so long as I have come to no final utterance in the matter, and taken no money in atonement.” So that father and son talked much together, and each of them drew his own way about it; (12) then they sent men to tell Solmund those tidings. After that Kol and Kali and Solmund met; Kol wished that men should be sent to John to seek for an atonement; but Solmund and Hallvard, Havard’s brother, would hear of nothing but revenge, man for man; and said it was unseemly to ask a Sogn man for atonement. But for all that the plan was taken which Kol wished, with this understanding, that Kol gave his word not to withdraw from this suit before Solmund got what was due to his honour. Kol too was to have the whole management of the matter in his hands. But when the messengers came back, they say that their business was taken up slowly and unwillingly; and John refused right out to atone for that man with money who had before made himself an outlaw by his deeds. Solmund said that had gone just after his guess, that it would bring them little honour to ask John for an atonement; and now he begged Kol to give them some advice that was worth having. Kol says: “Will Hallvard run any risk to get revenge for “his brother, and may be that after all there may be little brought about.” Hallvard said he would not spare himself to get revenge for his brother, even though there were risk of life in it. Kol says: “Then shalt thou fare north stealthily to Sogn to that man whose name is Uni; he dwells hard by John: he is a wise man and rather short of money, for John has long elbowed him out of his means. He is a great friend (of mine), and now rather stricken in years. To him thou shalt bring six marks weighed, which I send him that he may lay some plan how thou mayest wreak thy revenge on Brynjulf, or some other man of John’s household, whom he will think not less loss (than Brynjulf.) But if this deed be fulfilled, then Uni shall send thee on to Studla (13) to Kyrping-Worm my kinsman, and his sons Ogmund and Erling, and then methinks thou art as good as come home. Bid Uni after that to sell his land, and change his abode hither to me.” Now Hallvard busked him to this journey, and nothing is told of how he fared, or where his night-quarters were, before he came one day at evening to Uni’s house, and did not call himself by his own name. Uni and his household asked him about the news of the day, and at night when men sat by the fires, then the guest asked much about high-born men there in Sogn and Hördaland. Uni said that none of the king’s liegemen there was thought more powerful than John, both for his birth’s sake, but still more for his unfairness, and asked whether they had not some keepsakes of that down south in the land. The guest he said little when he (Uni) spoke thus; and after that men dropped off from the fires one by one, so that at last they two were left behind. Then Uni began to speak, and said thus: “Is thy name Hallvard, pray?” says he. “Nay,” says the guest, and again gave the name he had given in the evening. Then Uni said: “Off then is my difficulty,” says he, “and yet I would have thought that if my name were Brynjulf, thine would be Hallvard; but still we two will now go to sleep.” Then the guest took hold of him, and said: “No, we two will not go yet,” and with that he handed him over the bag of money, and says that Kol sent him that silver, with his greeting, “and why he sends it is that thou mayest lay a plan with me that I may fulfil my revenge for my brother,” and then he tells him all Kol’s counsel. Uni said: “Kol were worthy of good from me, but I cannot tell how it is fated as to revenge on Brynjulf; but he is looked for hither tomorrow to fetch clothes from his sweetheart.” And now Uni led him out to the horse-stable which stood before the door outside, and stowed him away there in the manger. That was before men rose, but he had lain indoors during the night. Now, when Hallvard had been a little while in the horse stable, he saw how a huge man had come up to the homestead, and calls out that the woman must be quick; she took her clothes, and carries them out. Then Hallvard thinks he knows who it must be. So he goes out. Brynjulf had laid aside his arms while he tied up the clothes which the woman brought, and as soon as ever they meet, Hallvard smites Brynjulf his death-blow, and then went back again into the horse stable, and hid himself there. While the slaying was going on the woman had gone into the house to kiss and take leave of her friends in the household; and when she came out she saw the tokens of the deed, and ran in with a great shriek, and was in such a fright that she was just about to faint away, but still she told them what had happened. Goodman Uni ran out, and said that the guest must have been a hired murderer, and sent a man at once to John to tell these tidings, and egged on men as much as he could to search for the man, and for that no man suspected him of having anything to do with the deed. Hallvard was in the horse stable till the hottest of the chase had passed off, but after that he fared by Uni’s help and counsel till he came to Studla to Worm and his sons, and they got him company home east. Kol and Solmund made him welcome, and were well pleased with their share in the matter; and now these tidings are noised abroad, and men became aware of the truth. Now John is heavily displeased at this, and so that winter and the summer after pass away; and thenext winter when Yule was drawing on, John busked him from home with thirty men, and gave it out that he meant to go on a journey to see his kinsfolk up at Sæter to the house of Harek, his mother’s father, and so he did, and gets there a hearty welcome. And when those kinsmen were talking together, John says that he means to go thence to East Agdir to look up Solmund. Harek tried to turn him from this, and said he had not got the worst of it, though they (John and Solmund) parted as they were. John said he would not be content that Brynjulf should be unavenged. Harek said he thought his lot would not be bettered, though they (John and Solmund) had any further dealings in the matter; but still he had with him away thence thirty men, and so they fared east with half a hundred men (14) by the upper road, and thought to come unawares upon Solmund and Kol. But when John was newly gone from home, Uni bestirred himself and fared south to Studla to see Worm, and that father and son got him company south to Kol, and he came there at Yule, and told them he thought that John was on his way to attack them. Kol sends out spies at once on all the ways about him, by which he looked that John might come, and he fared to find Solmund; and those kinsmen sat with a great company. News came to them about John’s journey, and they fared against him; their meeting was in a wood; they fell at once to battle; Kol and his men were far more in number, and had the victory. But John lost many men and fled himself into the woods. He got a wound in his leg, and that healed so ill that he was halt ever after, and was called limp-leg John. He came home north in Lent, and his journey was thought most shameful. So now this winter wore away. But the summer after John made them slay two of Kol’s kinsmen, Gunnar and Aslak. A little after king Sigurd came to the town, (15) and this difficulty was brought before him. After that the king sent word to both sides, and summoned them to him. Then they came to the king, with their kinsfolk and friends; then an atonement was sought, and the end of it was that the king’s doom should pass upon all their quarrels, and either side plighted their troth to the other. King Sigurd made a settlement between them with the advice of the best men. It was so fixed in that settlement that John Peter’s son should take Ingirid Kol’s daughter to wife, and then friendship would spring up with those ties, while the manslaughters (of Havard and Brynjulf) were to be set off one against the other. The attack on Kol and John’s wound were set off against the loss of men away there east, but the wounds on either side were matched together and set off, and those that were odd were atoned for in money. Each side too was to yield help to the other both at home and abroad. It followed also on this settlement that king Sigurd gave Kali Kol’s son half the Orkneys with earl Paul Hacon’s son, and the title of earl too. He also gave him the name of earl Rognvald Brusi’s son, because his mother Gunnhilda said that he had been the most proper man of all the Orkney earls, and thought the name would bring good luck. This share of the Orkneys Saint Magnus had owned, Rognvald-Kali’s mother’s brother. After this atonement they parted with great love-tokens; they who had erewhile been foes.
65. That winter after king Sigurd sat in Oslo, (16) but about the spring in Lent he took a sickness, and breathed his last one night after Lady-day. His son Magnus was then in the town there, and held a Thing at once, and was taken to be king over all the land according to the oath which men had sworn to king Sigurd. Then he took the king’s treasures into his power. Harold Gilli was then at Tunsberg, (17) when he heard of king Sigurd’s death, then he held meetings with his friends. Then he sent for Rognvald and his kindred, for he had always been his friend (18) since they met in England. That father and son too had most hand in Harold’s clearing himself by ordeal before king Sigurd, with the help of other liegemen, Ingimar Sweyn’s son and Thiostolf Ali’s son. The counsel of Harold and his friends was to hold the Hauga-Thing there in Tunsberg. There Harold was taken to be king over half the land. Then those were called force-oaths (19) by which he had sworn away his fathers inheritance out of his hands before they would let him take the ordeal. Then men flocked to him and became hand-bound to him, and he gathered a very great company. Then words passed between those kinsmen. And it was so that seven nights passed ere a settlement was brought about on these terms, that each of them should have half the land against the other; but king Magnus had (beside) king Sigurd’s longship and his table furniture and all his treasures, and yet he still was not content with his share. He fastened feuds on all Harold’s friends. King Magnus too would not let that gift hold good by which king Sigurd gave the Orkneys and the earldom to Rognvald, because he clung very fast to Harold’s cause in all their quarrels, and would never leave his cause till all their quarrels were brought to an end. They, Magnus and Harold, were three winters kings over Norway, so that their settlement might be said to hold good, but the fourth summer they fought at Fyrileif; (20) then king Magnus had near sixty hundred men, but Harold had fifteen hundred. These chiefs were with Harold: Kristred his brother, earl Rognvald, Ingimar of Ask, Thiostolf Ali’s son, and Solmund. King Magnus got the victory, but king Harold fled. There fell Kristred and Ingimar. He (Ingimar) chanted this song: ---
“Friends befooled me
To Fyrileif field,
Aye was I unwilling
For onslaught of war;
Me bit bolts bitter
From crossbow sped,
Ne’er again shall I
To Ask (21) go back.”
King Harold fled east to the Bay to his ships, and fared south to Denmark to find king Eric the ever-memorable. He gave him Halland as a lordship and eight longships without tackle. Thiostolf Ali’s son sold his lands for ships and arms, and went to seek king Harold south in Denmark that autumn. King Harold came towards Yule to Bergen, and lay over Yule-tide in Floru-voe. (22) But after Yule they run up to the town, and there was but a little struggle; king Magnus was taken captive on board his ship and maimed, but king Harold took all the land under his sway. But the next spring after king Harold renewed the gift to Rognvald about the isles, and the title of earl as well.
66. Kol gave this advice to send men to the Orkneys at once after this, and (Rognvald) begged earl Paul that he would give up half the isles as king Harold had given them to him; then friendship and thorough kinship should spring up between them. But if earl Paul refused these things, then these very same men should fare to find Frakok and Oliver the unruly, and offer them half the lands with earl Rognvald, if they would seek to get it from earl Paul with a host. But when these men came to the Orkneys and saw earl Paul, and brought forward their errand there, then earl Paul answers: “I understand this claim, how it is made with mickle cunning and forethought; they have betaken themselves to the kings of Norway to get the realm away from under me. Now I will not reward that faithlessness by giving up my realm to those who come no nearer to me than Rognvald, and by refusing it to my brother’s son and my sister’s son. There is no need here of long words, for I will guard the Orkneys by the strength of my friends and kinsfolk while God grants me life to do so.” Then the messengers saw how their errand was likely to turn out there. So they fared away, and went south over the Pentland firth to Caithness, and so into Sutherland to find Frakok, and tell their errand there, how earl Rognvald and Kol offer Oliver and Frakok half the Orkneys if they will win them back from earl Paul. Frakok speaks thus: “True it is that Kol is a very wise man, and wisely has it been seen to in this plan to look hither for strength, because we kinsfolk have great strength, and many men bound to us by ties. I have now given away Margaret Hacon’s daughter to earl Moddan of Athole, who is noblest of all the Scottish-chiefs by birth. Melmari his father was brother of Malcolm the Scot-king, father of David, who is now the Scot-king. We have also,” she said, “many true claims to the Orkneys, but we are ourselves something of schemers, and we are said to be rather deep-witted, so that this strife does not come upon us unawares; but still it seems good to me to join fellowship with that father and son for many things’ sake. Ye shall say these words to Kol and Rognvald that we two, Oliver and I, will come to the Orkneys next summer at midsummer with a host to fall on earl Paul; let Rognvald and his men come thither then to meet us, and let us then fight it out with earl Paul; but this winter I will draw strength to me out of Scotland and the Southern isles from my kinsfolk and friends and connexions.” Now the messengers fare back east to Norway, and tell that father and son how they had sped.
67. That winter after this earl Rognvald busked him to fare west, and these chiefs with him, Solmund and John; they fared in the course of the summer after, and had picked men, though not many; (and) five or six ships. They come off Shetland at midsummer and heard nothing of Frakok. Then high and foul winds arose, and they laid their ships up in Alasound, (23) but fared about to feasts and free-quarters over the land and the freemen made them good cheer. But of Frakok it must be told that she fares in the spring out to the Southern isles, and she and Oliver gather force thence to themselves in men and ships; they got twelve ships, and all of them small and rather thinly manned. And near midsummer they held on for the Orkneys, and mean to meet earl Rognvald, as was said; they were slow in getting a wind. There Oliver the unruly was leader of that host, and the earldom in the Orkneys was meant for him if they could get it. Frakok was there in the fleet too, and many of her kith and kin.
68. Earl Paul was then at Westness in Rowsay at a feast with Sigurd, when he heard that earl Rognvald was come to Shetland; then too was heard how a host was gathering together in the Southern isles to attack them. Then the earl sent word to Kugi in Westray, and to Thorkell flayer, they were wise men; and many other chieftains he summoned to him. At this meeting the earl asked counsel of his friends, but they did not all look on the matter in one way; some wished to share the realm with one or other (of the foe), and not to have both against them, but some advised that the earl should fare over to the Ness to his friends, and see what force he could get there. Earl Paul answers: “I will not now offer my realm to those to whom I refused it then right out when they sought it by fair means; methinks too it is unchieftainlike to fly my land without one trial of strength; I will take that counsel to send men tonight round all the isles to gather force, and let us fare against Rognvald and his men as soon as we can, and let our quarrel come to the sword'’ point ere the South-islanders come."” This plan was taken which the earl spoke of. That man was then with earl Paul, whose name was Sweyn breastrope; he was one of the earl’s bodyguard, and well honoured of him; he was ever on viking voyages in the summer, but the winters he spent with earl Paul. Sweyn was a tall, strong man, swarthy and rather unlucky-looking; he was very fond of the old faith, and had all his life lain out at night (to follow his black arts). He was one of the earl’s forecastle men. These chiefs came at once that night to earl Paul; Eyvind Melbrigdi’s son; he had a longship fully manned. Olaf Hrolf’s son of Gairsay had another, Thorkell flayer a third, Sigurd the master of the house there a fourth, the fifth the earl had himself. With these five ships they hold on to Hrossey, and come there on the evening of the fifth day of the week (Thursday evening) at sundown; then force flocked to them during the night, but they got no more ships. They meant the day after to sail to Shetland against Rognvald and his men. But next morning, when it had got light, and the sun was just up, those men came to the earl, who said they had seen longships fairing from the south on the Pentland firth; they said they could not tell whether there were ten or twelve of them. The earl and his men made up their minds that there must be coming Frakok’s host. Then the earl bade them to get ready to row against them as hard and as fast as they could. Then they, Olaf and Sigurd begged him to take time about it, and said men would come into them every hour. And lo! as they rowed east from Tankarness, longships come sailing against them from the east round the Mull, and they were twelve in all. Then the earl and his men lashed their ships together. Then came to him Erling, the master of Tankarness, and his sons, and offered him his help. By that time they were so thronged on board their ships that they thought they could find room for no more men. Then the earl bade Erling to bring down stones for them while they were in no risk of attack. And when they had made all clear for fight, Oliver and his side came up, and gave them an onslaught by rowing at once, and they had far more men, but smaller ships. Oliver had a great ship, and he laid that against the earl’s ship. There was then the hardest fight. Olaf Hrolf’s son, laid his ship against the smaller ships of Oliver, and there was a great difference in the height of the sides, and in a short while he cleared the decks of three ships. Oliver made such a hard onslaught on the earl’s ship, that all the forecastle men gave way and fled aft of the mast. Then Oliver egged on his men to board, and goes himself the first man up. Sweyn breastrope was the foremost of all the earl’s men, and fought most stoutly. Earl Paul sees now that Oliver was come up on board his ship, and eggs on his men fast; he leaps down himself from the poop, and springs forward in the ship, and when Oliver saw that, he snatched up a boat-hook, and hurled it at the earl, and it fell upon his shield, and down he fell at once on the planks. Then there was a great shout. And at that moment Sweyn breastrope snatched up a great stone and hurled it at Oliver, and hit him full in the breast; the blow was so great that he tumbled at once overboard, and sank in the sea. His men got hold of him, and then he was drawn up into his ship, and he lay there senseless, and men knew not whether he were dead or alive. Then some ran and hewed the lashings asunder, and were for flying, and then all Oliver’s men were driven down from the earl’s ship. Then they took to flying. Just then Oliver came to himself, and bade them not to fly; but then no one made as though he knew what he said: The earl chased the flying ships east of Hrossey, and so farther east of Hrossey and Rognvaldsey, and so into the Pentland firth; then they drew away from one another. Then the earl turns back, and where they had fought five ships of Oliver’s fleet lay empty and unmanned. The earl took them for his own, and manned them with his followers. The fight took place on the Fastday (Friday), but that night the earl made them put their ships into trim. Then many men gathered to him, and two longships. Next morning he had twelve ships, and all in good trim and well manned. Saturday he sailed to Shetland, and came by night into Alasound unawares to those who watched earl Rognvald’s ships; then earl Paul made them slay the men, but took the ships and the goods to himself. But next morning news came to Rognvald and his men; they rushed together and had a great gathering of the freemen; after that they fared down to the strand, and then egg on Paul and his men to come on shore and fight with them. But earl Paul put no trust in the Shetlanders, and therefore would not go on land, but offered that they should get them ships and fight it out on shipboard. But Rognvald and his men saw that they could get no ships in which they could fight on fair terms. And so they parted as things stood. Earl Paul and his men fared back to the Orkneys, but earl Rognvald and his men were in Shetland all that summer, but at autumn they got carried in ships to Norway by divers chapmen, and their voyage was thought rather shameful. But when earl Rognvald came home, and he and his father met, Kol asks whether Rognvald was ill content with his lot. He says he thinks very little had come of his errand, and that little rather unworthily. Kol says: “I do not think so though; methinks the errand has been good, and that much has been done if the Shetlanders are your friends, and that it is better to have gone than not to have gone.” Rognvald says: “If thou praisest this voyage, then it must either be that thou must care less about our lot than I thought, or thou must see something in our voyage which we have not yet thought of seeing. I should be very glad now that thou shouldest lay down a plan for us and be thyself on the voyage with us.” Kol says: “Both of these things now shall not be done; say all your work is easy, but come one self’s never near the spot. I shall be very glad to use my counsel so as not to swerve from your honour.” Rognvald answers: “We will willingly follow the advice thou givest.” Kol says: “My first advice is that thou sendest word to king Harold and other of thy friends that they get thee force and ships for a western voyage early in the spring, but we will draw to us all the strength we can get this winter, and let us so lay our plans this second time that one of two things may be, either that we get the Orkneys, or else lay our bones there.” Rognvald answers: “The thought dwells in my mind not to fare on many more such voyages as this which we have now fared; and such, I ween, is the thought of most of those who lately fared with us.”
69. Earl Paul fared to the Orkneys after that he had taken the ships of earl Rognvald and his men; he had then to boast over a great victory. Then he had a great feast and bade to him his chieftains. There then was taken that counsel to pile up (24) a beacon in the Fair Isle; fire was to be put to it if a host were seen sailing from Shetland. Then there was another on Rinansey (North Ronaldsay), and so on in more of the isles, so that it might be seen all over the isles if war were coming on them. Then too men were set to call out men round all the islands; Thorstein Havard’s son, Gunni’s son, was to have Rinansey, but his brother Magnus was to have Sanday, Kugi (was to be on the watch) round Westray, Sigurd of Westness on Rowsay, Olaf Hrolf’s son fared to Duncansby in Caithness, and had the wardship there. His son Waltheof dwelt then in Stronsay. Then earl Paul granted gifts to his friends, and all promised him their thorough friendship. He kept many men about him that autumn, until he learned that Rognvald and his men were away from Shetland. Then no tidings happened in the islands, and so it went on up to Yule. Earl Paul had a great Yule-feast, and made ready for it at that homestead of his which is called Orfir; he bade thither many noble men. Thither was bidden Waltheof Olaf’s son out of Stronsay. (25) They set off ten of them in a ten-oared boat, and they were all lost in the West-firth the day before Yule, and that was thought great tidings, for Waltheof one of the best-bred of men. His father Olaf had a great train of followers in Caithness; there were his sons Sweyn and Gunni, and the sons of Grim of Swanay, Asbjorn and Margad, but Asleif the mistress of the house and her son Gunni had gone to a feast at a friend’s house no long way off. These tidings happened at Duncansby three nights before Yule that Sweyn Olaf’s son had rowed out to fish, and those brothers Asbjorn and Margad with him. They always went about with him, and were the briskest and bravest of men. But in the night after they had gone away came Oliver the unruly to Duncansby with that train which had followed him on his viking voyage that summer, and seized the house over Olaf’s head and set fire to it at once, and burned him inside it and six men with him, but allowed the others in the house to go out. They took there all the chattels and goods, and went away after they had done that deed. Sweyn, who was afterwards called Asleif’s son, came home before the first day of Yule, and fared at once north on the Pentland firth; he came about midnight to Swanay to the house of Grim, the father of Asbjorn and his brother. Grim got into a ship with them, and they put Sweyn across to Knarstead on Scapa-neck. Arnkell was the name of the man who kept house there, and his sons’ names were Hanef and Sigurd. Grim and his sons turned back thence, and Sweyn gave Grim a gold finger-ring. Hanef and his brother Sigurd brought Sweyn to Orfir; there he had a hearty welcome; men guided him to Eyvind Melbrigdi’s son, Sweyn’s kinsman. Eyvind led Sweyn before earl Paul, and the earl greeted Sweyn well and asked him what news, but Sweyn tells the death of his father, with all that had happened. The earl was ill pleased at that, and said that he had suffered a great loss; he asked Sweyn to be with him, and said that he would do him great honour. Sweyn thanks the earl kindly for his bidding, and said he would willingly accept it.
70. After that men went to even-song. There was a great homestead there, and it stood on the side of a slope, and there was a steep hill at the back of the house, and when one came on to the brow of the hill, Orrida-firth lay down below. In it lies Damsay. There was a castle in the island, and that man guarded it whose name was Blann, a son of Thorstein of Flidruness. There in Orfir was a great drinking hall, and there was a door at the east gable from the south in the side wall, and a noble church stood before the hall door, and one went down steps from the hall into the church. But as one went into the hall, there was on the left hand a great flat stone, and further on inside ale-casks, both many and great, but when one passed through the doorway there was a small room facing one. (26) When men were come from even-song, they were ranged in seats. The earl made Sweyn Asleif’s son sit next to him on the inside, but on the outside of the earl Sweyn breastrope sat next him, and then John the kinsman of Sweyn breastrope. When the board was cleared those men came who told of the drowning of Waltheof Olaf’s son; and the earl thought that great news. Then the earl bade that no one should tease Sweyn Asleif’s son while Yule lasted, and said that even then he would have enough to think on. And at even, when men had drunk, the earl and most men with him went to sleep. But Sweyn breastrope went out, and sat out all night, in heathen rites, as was his wont. And during the night men rose and went to church and heard prayers, and after high mass men sat down at the board. Eyvind Melbrigdi’s son had most of the management of the feast with the earl, and did not sit down himself. The waiting-men and torch-bearers stood before the earl’s table, but Eyvind poured out the drink into the cup of each of those namesakes. Then Sweyn breastrope thought that Eyvind filled his cup higher, and would not touch it before Sweyn Asleif’s son had drunk off his cup, and said Sweyn (Asleif’s son) drank unfairly. There had long been no love lost between Sweyn breastrope and Olaf Hrolf’s son, and so too between those namesakes since Swein Asleif’s son grew up to be a man. And when drinking had gone on a while, then they went to Nones. But when men came in again, then healths and memories were solemnly spoken of, and horns were drained. Then Sweyn breastrope would change horns with his namesake, and said he thought it was a little one. Then Eyvind thrust a great horn into Sweyn Asleif’s son’s hand, and he offered that to his namesake. Then Sweyn breastrope got wrath, and said to himself between his lips, so that some men, and the earl among the rest, heard him: “Sweyn will be Sweyn’s death, and Sweyn shall be Sweyn’s death.” This was hushed up at once, and now the drinking went on up to even-song. And when the earl went out, then Sweyn Asleif’s son went before him, but Sweyn breastrope sat behind and drank. But when they came out into the ale-room, Eyvind came after them, and led Sweyn aside to talk. “Heardest thou,” he asked, “what thy namesake said when thou hadst offered him the horn?” “No,” he said. Then Eyvind repeated the words, and said that the fiend must have put those words into his mouth during the night. “He must mean thee death, but thou shalt be beforehand with him in the deed, and slay him."” Eyvind put an axe into his hand, and bade him stand by the flat stone in the shade, and told him to give Sweyn the blow in front if John went before him, but if John went behind, then he bade Sweyn to deal his namesake the blow behind. The earl went to church, and no one gave heed to Eyvind and Sweyn. But Sweyn breastrope and John went out a little later than the earl. Sweyn breastrope had a sword in his hand, for he always bore his sword, though others were weaponless, and John went first. It was light up to the doorway, but the weather was thick. And when Sweyn breastrope came to the doorway, Sweyn Asleif’s son smote him in front on the forehead, and he stumbled forward at the blow, but did not fall. And when he stood straight again, then he saw a man standing at the door, and thought it must be he that had wounded him. Then he drew his sword, and dealt him a blow with it on the head, and clave him down to the shoulders; but it was his kinsman John on whom the blow fell, and there they both fell down. Then Eyvind came up and led Sweyn Asleif’s son into that room which was over against the doorway, and he was there drawn out at a window-slit. (27) There Magnus Eyvind’s son has a horse ready saddled, and guided him away at the back of the homestead, and so to Orrida-firth. Then they took ship, and Magnus carried Sweyn to Damsay, and brought him to the castle; but Blann carried him next morning north to Egil’s isle to meet bishop William. The bishop was then at prayers when they came thither. And after mass Sweyn was brought by stealth to the bishop, and Sweyn tells him the tidings, the death of his father Olaf and of Waltheof, and the slaying of Sweyn and John, and called on the bishop to shelter him. The bishop thanked him for the slaying of Sweyn breastrope, and said that had been a cleansing of the land. The bishop let Sweyn stay there till Yule was over; but after that he sent him into the Southern isles to Tyree, to that man whose name was Holdbodi, and who was Hundi’s son; he was a great chief there, and gave Sweyn a very hearty welcome. He stayed there that winter, and was thought of much worth by all the people.
1. This passage from “Cecilia” to “Kol” is an addition of the Danish Translation, M.O. reads, “Kali was the name of a man, Kol’s son, Kali’s son, Seabear’s son. Kali was a son of Gunnhilda, daughter of earl Erlend, the son of Thorfinn, the Orkney earl, who (Kali) after a time was called Rognvald.”
2. hopeful; that is, “of the greatest promise,” as in the English expression “young hopeful.”
3. Gillikristi; i.e., “the servant of Christ,” one of a series of Celtic names which came in with the conversion of the heathen, and which still remains in the surname Gilchrist, Gillespie, “the bishop’s servant,” is another; Gillicallum, “St. Columba’s servant,” another; Gilpatrick, “St. Patrick’s servant,” another. Of the same character are Melbride (Melbrigði), Malise, Malcolm, and Melmari, which mean respectively St. Bride’s, Jesus’, St. Columba’s and the Virgin Mary’s servant; Mail or Maoile, like Gilli or Giolla, being Celtic for servant. Comp. an excellent essay by Munch, on the Runic Inscriptions in the Isle of Man, in the Mémoires de la Soc. Roy. des Antiquaires du Nord. Copenh. 1845-49.
4. sea-moors; the waste surface of the sea.
5. beaked elk; the ship.
6. So the MS., it should be “north.”
7. This island was also called Sandey, Fornm. S. xii. 344. It belongs to the province of South Mæren, near Drontheim. The cave is still to be seen on its western shore. Comp. Munch. N.H. iii. 688.
8. shoulders; That is, the materials for striking a light were fastened at the nape of his neck and remained dry.
9. water-skates; ships, i.e., what sailor will ever again, &c.
10. Stad; Stað or Staðir, the westernmost headland in Norway, away from which the coast trends north and south. The expression answers to our “south of the Tweed,” or “in the south country.”
11. The sound near the island of Græning, now Gröningen, north of Mostr, in South Hördaland.
12. Fl. “each thought his own way about it.”
13. Now Stöle in South Hördaland.
14. That is with sixty, half the long hundred of 120. Thirty of his own people and thirty of Harek’s.
15. That is to the town of Bergen.
16. Oslo; Now Christiania, a town of much importance in ancient times.
17. Tunsberg; Now Tönsberg, a great mart in ancient times on the western shore of “the Bay.” By “the Bay” was meant the great Gulf in the south of Norway, the entrance to which is the Skaw, and at the bottom of which lies the Christiania firth. The district round the Gulf was also called “the Bay,” and the inhabitants were called “Bay-dwellers.”
18. The Danish Translation reads he sent messengers after Kali, who at that time was called Rognvald, and his father Kol, for Rognvald had always been his friend.
19. As we should say oaths taken under duress, and therefore not binding.
20. Fyrileif; A place on the east side of “the Bay,” in the Norwegian province, called of old Ránríki, but to which the Swedish Båhuslen now answers.
21. Now Asköe, an island off the town of Bergen.
22. A creek, or “voe,” near Bergen.
23. Alasound; Yell Sound.
24. The Danish Translation paraphrases the passage: “Then that counsel was taken that they should bring together heath, wood, and tar on the highest hills in the Fair Isle, and make out of them a pile or heap of wood; that they called a beacon.”
25. So the Danish Translation. Fl. reads “Stroma” (badly).
26. The Danish Translation reads, “A great slab or flat stone; between it and the hall (stoffven) were many and great ale-casks; but just opposite the door as one went in was another little room.”
27. Literally “bladder-window,” a narrow window covered with bladder to supply the place of glass. Comp. Sturl. S. i. 168. The Run. Lex s.v. ljóri reads, “he was drawn up through the louvre.”
71. A little while after those manslayings had taken place in Orfir men ran up from the church, and Sweyn was borne inside the house, for he had not yet drawn his last breath, though he had lost his senses. He died in the course of the night. Then the earl made every man take his seat, and wanted to be sure who it was that had caused the slayings; and then Sweyn Asleif’s son was missing. Then men thought it clear that Sweyn had slain them. Then Eyvind came up and said: “Any man can see that Sweyn breastrope must have given John his death.” The earl said that no man should blow a hair off Sweyn’s (1) head, and says he would not have done this without a cause. “But if he takes himself off from meeting me,” says he, “then he will be doing himself an ill turn by that.” (2) Men thought it most likely that Sweyn would have gone to Paplay to Hacon churl, brother of earl Magnus the saint; he was a great chief, mild and gentle. The earl heard no news of Sweyn that winter, and made them make him an outlaw. When the spring began the earl fared far and near about the north isles to get in his rents. He made great friends with the great men, and gave away almost with both hands. The earl came into Stronsay, and gave Thorkell flayer that farm which Waltheof Olaf’s son had owned, for the sake of knowing where Sweyn had settled down. Thorkell spoke and said: “It does not turn out now as the saying goes, ‘Many are a king’s ears.’ But though thou beest earl, still it seems to me wonderful that though hast heard no tidings of Sweyn, for I knew at once that bishop William sent him to the Southern isles to Holdbodi Hundi’s son, and there he has been this winter.” The earl said: “What shall I do to the bishop who has dared to do this?” Thorkell answers: “No blame must be given to the bishop for this in the face of what now lies at the door; thou wilt need all thy friends if Rognvald and his men come from the east.” The earl says, “that what he says is true.” Earl Paul fared thence to Rinansey (North Ronaldsay), and accepted feast at mistress Ragna’s house and Thorstein’s her son. Ragna was a wise woman. They had another farm in Papay. (3) The earl sat there three nights, for he could not get a wind to Kugi’s house in Westray. They, Ragna and the earl, talked much, and she says to the earl that he had little loss in Sweyn breastrope, even though he was a great warrior. “Thou gottest from him many feuds; it were my counsel, in the face of that trouble which stares you in the face, that ye make you as many friends as you can, and not be fault-finding. I would too that ye laid no blame on bishop William or the other kinsmen of Sweyn Asleif’s son; but I would rather that thou wouldest forgive the bishop thy wrath, and this besides, that thou wouldest let word be sent to the Southern isles for Sweyn, and forgive him thy wrath too, and give him back his estates on condition that he will be to thee such a man as his father was. It has always been the custom of the noblest men to do much for the sake of their friends, and so to gather to themselves force and friendship." The earl answers: “Thou art a wise wife, Ragna, but still thou has not yet gotten the title of earl in the Orkneys; thou shalt not rule the land here. A pretty thing indeed that I should give Sweyn goods for an atonement, and think that I should win victory for my side in that way!” He gets wrath about this, and said: “God settle matters between my kinsman earl Rognvald and me, and let things so go as each has deserved by his deeds. If I have misdone towards him, then it is time that I should atone for it; but if so be his aim is to get my realm, then methinks that man my best friend who aids me, that I may be able to hold my realm. Rognvald I have never yet seen; and this is why, so far as my knowledge goes, I have all the less done him any wrong, because whatever our kinsfolk may have caused to be done, men know well enough that I had no share in those things.” Many answered that it was quite unpardonabl for any one to try and strive with him for the realm, but no one spoke against him. When the spring began to wear away, earl Paul made them pile up the beacons in the Fair Isle and Rinansey, and in almost all the isles, so that each might be seen from the other. There was a man named Dagfinn Hlodver’s son, who kept house on the Fair Isle, a brisk stirring man; he was to watch that beacon and set fire to it if a host were seen faring from Shetland.
Earl Rognvald sat that winter at home in Agdir on the farms of that father and son, and sent word to his friends and kinsfolk; but some he went to see, and begged that they would aid him in his voyage west both in men and ships, and most of them turned a willing ear to his wants. But about February Kol sent two ships of burden out of the land, one west to England to buy stores and weapons, but in the other Solmund sailed south to Denmark to buy there what Kol bade him, for he has now all the business of fitting them out in his hands. It was so meant that these ships of burden should come back to Norway at Easter, but they mean to set sail on the voyage after Easter week. So it was done, and they held on from the east after Easter week. Each of that pair, father and son, had his own long-ship, but Solmund had the third. Kol and his son had besides a ship of burden laden with stores. But when they came to Bergen, they found king Harold there; he gave Rognvald a long-ship fully trimmed and manned. John limp-leg had also a long-ship. The sixth Aslak, son of Erlend of Hern had; he was a daughter’s son of Steigar-Thorir. He too had a ship of burden laden with stores. They had six large ships, five cutters, and three ships of burden. When they lay waiting for a wind at Hern, a ship ran in from the west, and they heard news from the Orkneys and Shetland, and what preparations earl Paul was taking, if earl Rognvald came thither west with a host that summer.
72. Earl Rognvald let them blow the trumpets to call together a house-Thing (4) while they lay in Hern, (5) and spoke then of earl Paul’s preparations, and how great feud the Orkneyingers showed towards him when they meant to keep him from the inheritance of his kinsfolk, after the kings of Norway had given it to him as the rightful heir. And so he makes them a long and clever speech, --- I meant, he said, “so to go to the Orkneys as either to get them or else die.” Men gave him great praise for his speech, and promised him trustier following. Then Kol stood up and said: “We have heard from the Orkneys how all men there will rise up against you, and keep you from your realm, siding with earl Paul; and be sure, kinsman, that they will be slow to lay down that feud which they have taken up against you. Now, it is my counsel to look for trust thither where there is enough of it and to spare, that he may give you your realm who owns it by right; but that is the saint earl Magnus, your mother’s brother. My wish is that though vowest to him, if he will grant thee the inheritance of thy kindred and make thee his heir, that thou wilt let a stone minster be built in the Orkneys at Kirkwall if thou canst get that realm, so that there shall not be another as splendid in that land, and let it be hallowed in the name of Saint Magnus the earl thy kinsman, and that thou wilt lay out money, so that the church may grow and thrive, and that thither may come his halidom, together with the bishop’s seat.” This all thought good advice. And that vow was fast made. After that they put to sea, and they got a fair wind, and made Shetland, and each were glad at meeting the others. The Shetlanders were able to tell them many tidings from the Orkneys, and so they stayed there some time.
73. It chanced once that Kol asks Uni, for he was then there, and had changed his abode to that of Kol and his son, after he had taken part in the plot against Brynjulf. Then Kol asks: “Whether of the twain wilt thou, Uni, give counsel how the beacon in the Fair Isle may be set on fire for naught, or undertake that work that another beacon may not be lighted. I speak to thee about this because I know that thou art wiser than most of the others who are now here, though we have here many men of worth.” Uni answers: “I am no man for advice, but still less would I make a rush to war by my plans. I will therefore rather choose what shall be done last, because I mean to take the doing of it all on myself.” (6) And a little after, one day when the weather was fair, Kol made them fit out many small ships, and turned his course towards the Orkneys. There were no chiefs on board the ships but Kol. And when they come so far that they think their fleet might be seen from the Fair Isle, then Kol made them hoist the sails on all the ships, and set men to back water with the oars, so that the ships might move as slowly as possible, though the wind was right aft; and he made them set the sails no higher than half-mast, and so hoist them higher and higher up as they had gone further on. Kol says that then their fleet would be seen from the Fair Isle, “[and it would seem] as though the ships were coming near to the isle. (7) May be then that they will set fire to the beacon, and there will be a rush to arms all over the islands.” Then Dagfinn of the Fair Isle saw the ships sailing and he set fire to the beacon at once, but fared himself to the earl and told him the news. And as soon as ever the beacon was seen on the Fair Isle, then Thorstein Ragna’s son made them kindle the beacon on Rinansey. And after that all the others were lit one after the other over all the isles. But all the freemen fared to meet the earl, and that was the greatest war-gathering. But when Kol saw that the beacon was a-blaze, he bade his men fare back; and said it might so happen that this would be a cause of quarrel to some of them; Kol fares back to Shetland after he had done thus much, and says that now Uni shall betake himself to his plans. Uni calls three Shetlanders to go along with him; they take a six-oared boat and a few stores beside and fishing-tackle. They fared to the Fair Isle, and Uni said he was a Norseman, but gives out that he had wedded in Shetland and had sons there; he says too he had been robbed by earl Rognvald’s men, and speaks the hardest things of them. He takes up his abode in a house there, and his sons row out to fish; but he stays at home to watch their stores and catch. He gets to speaking with and to knowing those men who take the lead there, and they are well pleased with him.
74. After that Dagfinn had set fire to the beacon, he set off to find earl Paul, as was before said, and thither came all the earl’s chieftains. Then they took to asking every one about the doings of earl Rognvald and his men; and men thought it wonderful when they showed themselves nowhere. But still they kept the force together three days. Then the freemen began to take it ill, and say that it was great folly to burn the beacons, though fishermen were seen sailing in their boats. Then blame was laid on Thorstein Ragna’s son that he had done a bad thing when he kindled the beacon on Rinansey. Thorstein answers, and says he could do nothing else than fire the beacon, when he saw the blaze on the Fair Isle, and said this had been all Dagfinn’s doing. Dagfinn answers: “Men far more often get ill from thee than though art able to say the same of me.” Thorstein bade him hold his tongue, and sprang up to him with an axe, and smote him there and then his death-blow. Then men sprang to arms and a battle arose. This was in Hrossey, a little way from Kirkwall. Sigurd of Westness and his sons Hacon pike and Brynjulf aided Hlodver Dagfinn'’ father, but his own kin helped Thorstein. Then this was told the earl, and he came up, but it was long ere he could get them parted. Then Kugi of Westray speaks a long speech, and says thus: "Do not do the earl this shame, that ye fall to blows among yourselves, for ye will need all your men within a little time. Let us take heed then that we be not unhandy or quarrelsome. But as for this, it must have come about by the will and plan of our foes, and it must have been a trick of theirs to waste the beacons thus. But now they may be looked for to come every day, and so let us take counsel and make our plans. No ill-will could have driven Dagfinn to do as he did, but he was a little more hasty than he ought to have been.” This guess of Kugi was the very truth, and so he went on with many wise words. So it came about that each side was willing that the earl should settle the matter; but still it was thought best to break up the gathering, and men went home. But that man was set to watch the beacon in the Fair Isle whose name was Eric. And when Uni had been a little while in the Fair Isle, he came to Eric and said: “Wilt thou that I watch the beacon? since I do naught else, and I may well sit and spend all my time on it.” Eric accepted that. But as soon as ever no men were near to the spot, Uni threw water on the beacon, and made it so wet that fire had no hold of it anywhere.
75. Earl Rognvald and his men agreed that they would wait until the spring tides and east wind set in together, for then it is scarcely possible to pass between Westray and Hrossey, but with an east wind one may sail from Shetland to Westray. And so earl Rognvald and his men profited by this, and came on Friday evening to Westray into Hofn, to the house of Helgi, who lived there. No signs were then given by the beacons, for when the sails were seen from the Fair Isle, Eric busked him to go to earl, and sent men to Uni to bid him fire the beacon, but when that man came thither, Uni was off and away. And when that man wanted to fire the beacon, then it was so wet that the fire would not catch it. And when Eric hears this, he thinks he sees how things have gone. After that he fares to find earl Paul, and tells him. But when earl Rognvald was come into Westray, all the island blades gathered together, and they, Kugi and Helgi, take counsel for them. The first thing was to seek for peace from the earl. And the end of this business was that the Westrayingers come under earl Rognvald’s power, and swear oaths to him.
76. On the Sunday after earl Rognvald heard mass there in the thorpe, and they were standing outside by the church. Then they saw how sixteen men walked without weapons and bald. Them they thought wonderously boun. The earl’s men talked together, and asked who these men might be. Then the earl sang a song:
“Sixteen have I seen at once---
Topknots fell about their brows,
Shield or weapon bore they none, ---
Women all together walk;
We bore witness now to this,
That here west are far the most
Shaveling maidens in this isle,
In the main it lies in tempests.”
When the Sunday was over earl Rognvald’s men fared there about the country round, and all men came under the earl’s power. It fell out one night in Westray that the earl’s men had news that the islanders were to have a secret meeting to plot against earl Rognvald. But when the earl got news of that, then he arose and went to the meeting. But it happened that the earl’s men had beaten many of the island blades, and taken master Kugi and put him in fetters, and said he was at the bottom of this plot. But when earl Rognvald came to the meeting Kugi fell at his feet and laid all his cause in God’s hand and the earl’s; he said he had been brought to the meeting against his will, for all the freemen wished him to be foreman in the plot. Kugi pleaded his own cause well and glibly, and many others pleaded with him, and tried to prove what he said to be true. Then the earl chanted this:
“Crooked fetters I see lying
On the legs of greybeard Kugi,
Kugi, worst of midnight plotters,
Fetters now forbid thy straying!
Kugi! never hold again
Midnight tryst nor bargain break,
Thou shalt be shut out from guile,
Take an oath and keep it too.”
The earl gave all the men there peace. Then they bound their fellowship anew [with oaths].
77. When earl Rognvald had come into the Orkneys and many men had come under his power, Paul was in Hrossey, and he and his friends held a Thing and took counsel with their men. The earl asked for advice as to how he should behave in this strait. But men handled it in various ways, and it was counsel of some that the lands should be shared with earl Rognvald; but most of the mighty men, and the freemen too, wished to buy earl Rognvald off with money, and offered there and then help to do it. Some were eager to have a fight for it, and said that had turned out well before. Earl Rognvald had had spies at the meeting, and when they come to him, the earl asked the news. A skald who had been at the Thing answered the earl: (8)
“Mighty chief! I hear that our
Foemen hide a hostile mind,
From the freemen at the meeting
This report I also heard,
That the feeders of the wolf,
Many masters too of ships,
Wished thy ships to keep the sea,
But for Paul to hold the land.”
After that earl Rognvald sent men to find the bishop and begged him to become a daysman (9) between them, and (he) sent for Thorstein Ragna’s son, and Thorstein Havard’s son out of Sanday, and bade them to go with him and try to make a settlement and to stand by neither side in making any strife; and when they came to the bishop they fared altogether to find earl Paul, and he (the bishop) tried to make a settlement between those kinsmen. The bishop brought this about, that peace was fixed for half a month, that they might try to make a more lasting settlement. Then the isles were shared into lots, where either earl should have his living during that time. Then earl Rognvald fared to Hrossey, but earl Paul fared to Rowsay. And in that time these tidings happened in the isles, that those kinsmen of Swein Asleif’s son, John wing of the Upland in Hoy, and Richard of the Brink in Stronsay, fared against Thorkell flayer to that farm which Waltheof had owned, and burned him inside it, and nine men with him. They fared after that to find earl Rognvald, and gave him that choice, that they would join earl Paul with all their kin if earl Rognvald would not take to them. The earl did not turn them away from him. And when Haflidi Thorkell’s son heard that, he fared at once to find earl Paul, as soon as he heard of his father’s burning, and earl Paul took to him. After that John and his kinsfolk bound themselves as earl Rognvald’s liegemen. He soon had a great following there in the isles, and was much beloved. Earl Rognvald gave John and Solmund and Aslak and many other of his helpers leave to go home; but they wished to stay and see how things would turn out. Then earl Rognvald said: “My thought is, if God wills that I should get rule in the Orkneys, that he will give me strength, and so will the saint earl Magnus, my kinsman, to hold it, even though ye fare home to your estates.” After that they fared home to Norway, each of them to his own abode.
78. That spring early Sweyn Asleif’s son had fared away from the Southern isles up into Scotland to see his friends. He stayed a long time in Athole with earl Moddad and Margaret Hacon’s daughter, and they talked about many things in secret. There Sweyn heard of strife from the Orkneys, and he grew eager to fare thither and find his kinsfolk. He fared first to Caithness to Thurso, and a noble man with him whose name was Ljotolf; with him Sweyn had been long that spring. They came to earl Ottar’s house in Thurso, Frakok’s brother, and Ljotolf tried to bring about a settlement between Ottar and Sweyn for what Frakok had caused to be done, and earl Ottar paid down the fines for the atonement on his own behalf. The earl also gave his word that he would be friends with Sweyn, but Sweyn promised earl Ottar to strengthen Erlend the son of Harold smooth-tongue, so that he might get back his father’s inheritance in the Orkneys when he laid claim to it. Sweyn there changed ships, and had a ship of burden thence, and thirty men on board her. Thence he took a northwest wind across the Pentland firth, and so west of Hrossey, and so to Evie sound, and so up the sound to Rowsay. At the isle’s end was a high headland, and a great heap of stones under it beneath; and there otters often lay among the rocks. And as Sweyn and his men were rowing along the sound, he began to speak, and said: “There are men yonder on the headland, and we will run in thither and learn the news of them. My will now is that men should change their trim a little; we will take to our hammocks; and there twenty men shall lie down, but ten shall row; (10) we will go softly and slowly.” But when they neared the isle, men call out from the head that they must row to Westness, and bring to earl Paul what they had on board ship. They thought they were speaking to chapmen. But earl Paul had been that night at Westness to a feast in Sigurd’s house. The earl had risen up betimes, and he and nineteen men had gone south on the isle to hunt otters which lay among the rocks under the head. They meant to be back home in time for their morning draught. The men on board the ship of burden rowed to land, and they asked one another of this thing and that, and what the men were called whom they had met. The men in the ship of burden told whence they had come; they ask also where the earl might be. They tell them that he was there on the rocks. Sweyn and his men heard that as they lay in their hammocks; and Sweyn then told them to run the ship in so that she might not be seen from the head. Then Sweyn said that they must arm themselves, and fall at once on the earl’s men when they met. And so they do. There they slew nineteen men, but six of Sweyn’s men fell. They took earl Paul by force, and led him on board their ship, and turned their stem to the sea, and fared back the same way west of Hrossey, and ran in between Hoy and Grimsey, and so east of Swelg, (11) thence south to Broad firth, and up it to Ekkjalsbakka. (12) There he left his ship and twenty men, but he and the rest fared till he came to Athole and met earl Maddad and Margaret earl Paul’s sister. There they had a hearty welcome, and earl Maddad set earl Paul in his own high-seat. And when they had sat down, in came Margaret walking with a great train of women, and threw her arms round her brother. After that men were brought in to amuse them. Earl Paul was rather short of words, as was not wonderful that he should have great misgivings. Nothing has been handed down of earl Paul’s words, or of Sweyn’s as they were faring both together. Earl Maddad and Margaret and Sweyn Asleif’s son went into a room and talked together. But at even after drink Sweyn and his captive were shown the way to a sleeping-house all alone, and they were locked in there, and so it went on every evening while they were there.
79. It happened one day that Margaret gave out that Sweyn Asleif’s son was going to the Orkneys to see earl Rognvald, and give him his choice whether he would rather have earl Paul to rule with him in the Orkneys, or Harold, son of Maddad and herself, who was three winters old. And when earl Paul heard of that, he answers: “As to my mind, it is to be said that I fared away so from my realm that men will never have heard of such doings before: nor will I ever go back to the Orkneys. I see that this vengeance must be given of God for the robbery of me and my kinsmen; but if it seems to God that the realm is mine, then will I give it to Harold, if he may live to enjoy it; but as for me, I wish that money may be given me to settle me in some cloister, and then keep ye watch and ward, so that I do not get away thence. But my wish is, Sweyn, that thou farest to the Orkneys, and sayest that I am blinded, or even more maimed, for my friends will seek me out if I am sound and hale in all my limbs. It may then be that I may not be able to forego faring back to my realm with them, for I guess they will think there is more harm in our parting than will really befall them.” No more words of the earl are handed down than these. After that Sweyn Asleif’s son fared to the Orkneys, but earl Paul stayed behind in Scotland. And this is the story that Sweyn told of what had happened. But some men tell a story which is less seemly, that Margaret had led Sweyn Asleif’s son by her counsel to blind earl Paul her brother, and put him into a dark dungeon; but after that she got another man to take his life there. But we do not know which of the two stories is more true; but all men know that he never afterwards came back to the Orkneys, nor held he any rule in Scotland.
80. These tidings happened at Westness, when the earl’s home-coming grew late, then Sigurd, the master of the house, made them send men to look for them; but when they got to where the pile of rocks was, they saw the bodies of the slain. Then they thought the earl must have fallen there; fared home and told these tidings. Sigurd fared at once to the spot to see and reckon the dead, and they found there nineteen of the earl’s men, but there were six men besides there whom they knew not. After that Sigurd sent men to Egil’s isle to find the bishop and to tell him these tidings. And the bishop fared at once to see Sigurd, and they fell to talk of these tidings, and Sigurd guessed that this must have been by the plotting of earl Rognvald. But the bishop answers that some other proof must be brought forward before he would believe that earl Rognvald had betrayed earl Paul his kinsman. “I guess,” says the bishop, “that some others must have wrought this ill deed.” Borgar the son of Jatvor Erlend’s daughter, who dwelt at Goathill, (13) he had seen the ship of burden when it fared from the south, and fared back south. But when that was heard, then men thought that this must have been by the plotting of Frakok and Oliver the unruly. But when these tidings were noised about the isles, that earl Paul was away and gone, and no man knew what was become of him, then they sought counsel among themselves, and there were very many who then fared to find earl Rognvald, and swore fealty to him. But Sigurd of Westness, and his sons Brynjulf and Hakon pike, said they would swear oaths to no man, while they were without news of earl Paul, whether he were to be looked for back or not. There were more men too who refused to take oaths to earl Rognvald, but there were some who laid down a time or a day when they would come over into his hand if nothing was then heard of earl Paul. But when earl Rognvald saw that he had to do with many mighty men, then he took crossly nothing that the freemen asked. And so time went on, that every now and then he held Things with the freemen, and from time to time some of them came over to his hand at each Thing.
Now it happened one day at Kirkwall, that earl Rognvald had a Thing with the freemen, and when men were at the Thing, it was seen how nine armed men came from Scapa-neck to the Thing. And when they came to the Thing, there they knew Sweyn Asleif’s son, and men were eager to know what tidings he had to tell. Sweyn had sailed in his ship from the south to Scapa-neck, and there left his ship, but he and his men walked to Kirkwall afterwards. And so when they came on the place of meeting, then his friends and kinsfolk flocked round him, and asked him what news, but he answered little, and bade them call the bishop to him. But the bishop greeted Sweyn well, for they had long been friends. They two went aside to talk, and Sweyn tells the bishop all the truth about his doings, and bade him now take counsel with him about these knotty points. The bishop said: “These are mickle tidings that thou tellest Sweyn, and it is more than likely that we two shall not be able to settle this matter by ourselves; and now my will is that thou bidest for me here, but I will go and back thy suit before all the people and earl Rognvald.” Then the bishop goes to the meeting, and craves for a hearing, and when he got it, then the bishop pleads Sweyn’s cause, and said for what cause he had fared away from the Orkneys, and what penalties earl Paul had laid on him for the slaying of Sweyn breastrope, that worst of men. Then the bishop begged of earl Rognvald for peace on Sweyn'’ part, and he begs it too of all the people. Then earl Rognvald answers: “I give my word that Sweyn shall have peace from me for three nights, but methinks, bishop, thou bearest that look beneath thy brow, as though ye two, Sweyn and thou, will be able to tell us of some great tidings which have not yet come out. My will is that thou takest Sweyn into thy keeping and be answerable for him, but I will have a talk with him on the morrow."” "Yes, yes,” said the bishop, “willingly will he talk with you, and that as soon as may be, and he will become thy man if ye will take to him.” The earl answers: “Methinks there are not over many friends of mine in this land, but still we must talk more together ere I agree to that.” After that those four went aside to talk, earl Rognvald, Kol his father, the bishop, and Sweyn Asleif’s son; then Sweyn tells them the lieve and the loath (14) of all that had passed between him and earl Paul; but they took that counsel to let most of the crowd of men fare away from the Thing. The earl stands up the morning after, and gave the men then leave to go home. But when the crowd of men broke up from the Thing, then he fetched this man and that man by himself to come and talk with them, and made all men first promise Sweyn peace who were by before he told the tidings. But the morning after Hacon churl, brother of earl Magnus the saint, was got to go and tell Sigurd of Westness and his sons of what had befallen the earl, and this too that he was not to be looked for to take up his rule, and that he was maimed. Sigurd says: “This methinks is great tidings about the earl’s going away, but that methinks is heaviest of all that he is maimed, for there is no place whither he could have gone that I would not fare to find him out if he were hale.” And so he had said to his friends afterwards, that Hacon should not have gone away unmaimed if he had had force enough when he [Hacon] told him this story, he took it so much to heart.
But after these tidings, all men in the Orkneys went over into earl Rognvald’s hands, and now he became sole chief over that realm which earl Paul had owned. And not long after the ground plan was marked out for Magnus’ church, and builders were gathered for it; and the work went on so fast in three years, that less was done in four or five thenceforth. Kol was the man who looked most after the workmanship of the building, and had most of the guidance as to the plan. But as the building went on, it grew costly to the earl, and his money was far spent. Then the earl sought for counsel to his father. But Kol gave him that advice that the earl should bring in a law to the effect that the earls had taken all freehold lands in inheritance after men, but that the heirs had to redeem them for their own, and that was thought rather hard. Then earl Rognvald made them call together a Thing, and offered the freemen the choice of buying their freeholds out and out, so that there was no need to redeem them. And that they agreed on among themselves, so that all were well pleased. But a mark was to be paid to the earl for every plough-land over all the isles. But thenceforth money was not lacking for the church building, and that building is wrought with much toil and pains.
1. Sweyn’s; i.e. Sweyn Asleif’s son’s.
2. The Danish Translation reads: “Then he must have something on his conscience, and knows that he is guilty; else I will not believe that he has done this without cause.”
3. Papay; Probably in Papay Westray.
4. The original of our “husting” or “hustings.”
5. A group of islands near Bergen off the coast of Hördeland.
6. The Translation runs thus: “still less would I go thither with warriors, and therefore I will come afterwards with my plan, if I can think anything out by myself.”
7. In the Translation the stratagem of Kol is thus described. “As if the ships were coming ever nearer and nearer as they hoisted the sails, though they scarcely moved on at all.”
8. Fl. reads, “the earl asked the news of a skald who had been there.”
9. daysman] “Neither is there any daysman betwixt us.” --- Job ix. 33.
10. The Danish Translation adds, “and we will take in our sail.”
11. Swelg] The “Swelchie,” a wellknown eddy or whirlpool off the Caithness coast.
12. Ekkjalsbakka ] No doubt Strath Oikel.
13. In chapter 59 they are said to have lived at Knarstead.
14. the lieve and the loath] that is he made a clean breast of it; he told them everything, whether it were pleasing or displeasing to them.
81. When earl Rognvald had ruled two winters over the Orkneys, then he kept the Yule feast at one of his farms which is called Knarstead. It was the sixth Yule day, that a ship was seen faring from the south from the Pentland firth. The weather was good, and the earl stood out of doors, and many men by him, and looked and thought what that ship might be. That man was there whose name was Hrolf, and he was the earl’s body-priest. And when these men came to land, then they went up from their ship, and the earl’s men kept count of them and reckoned that they might be fifteen or sixteen men. But at the head of the band walked a man in a blue cape, and he had tucked his hair under the hood; he had shaven the beard from his chin in front, but his jaws and cheeks were unshaven, and there (the hair) hung down full and long. This man seemed rather strange to them (the earl’s men), but Hrolf the Priest knew that man, and says that that was bishop John who had come down from Scotland out of Athole. Then the earl went to meet them, and gives the bishop a hearty welcome. The earl seated the bishop on his own high-seat, but waits himself at the board before him like a page. Next morning the bishop held mass early, and then he fared north to Egil’s isle to see bishop William, and was there till the tenth Yule day. Then both the bishops fared to see earl Rognvald with a worthy following, and brought out their errand. They tell him of that agreement between Sweyn’s Asleif’s son and earl Maddad, that their son Harold should fare out into the Orkneys to be fostered by earl Rognvald, with this understanding that Harold should bear the title of earl, and have half the Orkneys with earl Rognvald, but they should both have one court, and that earl Rognvald should rule for both of them, and do so though Harold grew to be a man; and if each had a will of his own, then earl Rognvald was to have his way. Sweyn was there too, and brought this matter forward along with the bishop. So earl Rognvald and his friends took this counsel, that a meeting was fixed for the spring at Lent in Caithness, and then an agreement was made on those terms, and was bound by the oaths of the best men of the Orkneys and of Scotland. Then Harold Maddad’s son fared out into the Orkneys with earl Rognvald, and there and then the title of earl was given him. Then Thorbjorn clerk fared unto the isles with earl Harold; he was a son of Thorstein the freeman and Gudrun Frakok’s daughter; he was a wise man and of great weight; he then fostered earl Harold, and had great power over him. Thorbjorn took to himself a wife in the Orkneys, and got Ingirid (1) Olaf’s daughter, Sweyn Asleif son’s sister. Thorbjorn was then by turns either out there in the Orkneys or up in Scotland, and he was the boldest of men, and the most unfair overbearing man in most things. Sweyn Asleif's son took under him all those estates which his father Olaf and his brother Waltheof had owned; he then became a mighty chief, and always had a great company of men with him. He was a wise man and foresighted (2) about many things; an unfair overbearing man, and reckless towards others. There were not at that time those two men west across the sea, who were not of greater birth, who were thought of more power and weight than those brothers-in-law Sweyn and Thorbjorn. There was then between them great love.
82. It fell out once that Sweyn Asleif’s son came to talk with earl Rognvald, and asked that he would give him strength of men and ships to avenge on Oliver and Frakok the burning of his father Olaf. The earl spoke and said: “Do not think, Sweyn, that either of us need now look for harm at the hands of either Oliver or Frakok, a carline, who is fit for nothing.” Sweyn answers: “There will always be harm at their hands so long as they live; and I must say I then looked for other things when I did my utmost for thy sake, than that thou shouldest not grant me such things [as I now ask].” The earl answers: “What help then shall I give thee which will please thee?” Sweyn answers: “Two ships well fitted and manned.” The earl said it should be as he asked. And after that Sweyn busked him for that voyage, and when he was “boun” he sailed south to Broadfirth, and took the north-west wind to Dufeyra. (3) That is a market town in Scotland. But thence he sailed into the land along the shore of Murray and to Ekkjalsbakka. Thence he fared next of all to Athole to earl Maddad and lay at the place called Elgin. Then he [the earl] gave Sweyn guides, who knew the paths over fells and wastes, whither he wished to go. Thence he fared the upper way over fells and wood, above all places where men dwelt, and came out in Helmsdale, near the middle of Sutherland. But Oliver and his men had spies out everywhere where they thought that strife was to be looked for from the Orkneys, but on this way they did not at all look for warriors. So they were not ware of the host before Sweyn and his men had come to a slope at the back of Frakok’s homestead. There came against them Oliver the unruly with sixty men; then they fell to battle at once, and there was a short struggle. Oliver and his men gave way towards the homestead, for they could not get to the wood. Then there was a great slaughter of men, but Oliver he fled away up to Helmsdale water, and swam across the river and so up on to the fell, and thence he fared to Scotland’s firth, and so out to the Southern isles. And he is out of the story. But when Oliver drew off, Sweyn and his men fared straight up to the house and plundered it of everything, but after that they burnt the homestead, and all those men and women who were inside it. And there Frakok lost her life. Sweyn and his men did there the greatest harm in Sutherland ere they fared to their ships. After that they lay out that summer, and harried round Scotland. Sweyn came home at autumn to the Orkneys to see earl Rognvald; and he gave Sweyn a hearty welcome; then Sweyn fared across to the Ness to Duncansby, and sat there that winter. At that time came a message by word of mouth to Sweyn from Holdbodi out of the Southern isles, that Sweyn should come to help him, for thither to Tyree had come a Freeman from Wales, and had chased Holdbodi out of house and home, and had robbed him of much goods. That man was called Robert who was sent, English by kin. Sweyn bestirred himself at once when the message was sent to him, and came out into the Orkneys to meet earl Rognvald, and begged earl Rognvald that he would give him force and ships. The earl asked what Sweyn wanted to take in hand. He said that man had sent him word, to whom of all others he ought to be the last to say “nay,” and who had stood him then in best stead, when he had most need when almost every one turned against him. The earl answers: “It were well then if ye two parted friends, but most South-islanders are untrue; but thou wilt be able to show thy manliness, and I will give thee two ships thoroughly manned.” This pleases Sweyn well, and they fared then to the Southern isles, and he did not find Holdbodi before he got as far west as Man, for he [Holdbodi] had fled away thither. But when Sweyn came to Man, then Holdbodi was fain to see him. And there in Man that Freeman from Wales had done great harm in plunderings and manslayings, and so wide about in the Southern-isles. Before him had fallen a man of birth and worth, whose name was Andrew; he left behind him a wife whose name was Ingirid, and a son whose name was Sigmund angle. Ingirid the housewife had much goods and a great homestead. Holdbodi gave Sweyn that advice to ask for her hand, but when that question was put to her, then she said that Sweyn must do that deed for his match, to avenge her husband Andrew. Sweyn answers that he might do the Welshmen some harm, “but I cannot tell how it will be fated as to loss of life.” And after that those two, Sweyn and Holdbodi, went on warfare and had five ships. They harried round Wales, and went up on land at the place called Earlsness, and did there great mischief. It was one morning that they went up into a certain thorpe, and there was but a little struggle. The householders fled out of the thorpe, but Sweyn and his men plundered it of everything, and burnt six homesteads before their breakfast. There was then with Sweyn a man from Iceland, whose name was Eric, and he sang this stave: “Farms are in flames, But farmers are robbed; So hath Sweyn willed it, Six in one morning: Wild work enough too He wrought there to one man, Letting the leaseholder Livecoal on lease." After that they fared to their ship, and lay out that summer and got much war-spoil, but the Freeman ran away to that isle which is called Lund. (4) There was a good stronghold; Sweyn and Holdbodi sat before it for some time, and could do nothing. And they fared home in the autumn to Man.
83. That winter Sweyn made his wedding-feast with Ingirid, and then sat there in great honour. Next spring he gathered men to him, and fared to see Holdbodi, and asked him for force of men, but he begged off, and said the men were many of them at work, but some were on trading voyages, and Sweyn got nothing of what he asked. But there was proof plain that the Freeman and Holdbodi had come to terms by stealth, and bound their bargain by gifts. But Sweyn fared away nevertheless, and had then three ships, and they got little spoil in goods at the beginning of the summer. But as time went on they fared south under Ireland, and took there a bark which the monks of the Scilly Isles owned and plundered it. He harried also far and wide on Ireland, and took there much goods, and they fared home at autumn to Man, and had a great force. Sweyn Asleif’s son had sat there at home but a scant time, when he heard this rumour that Holdbodi would not be true to him but Sweyn would not hear of such a thing. And one night about winter those tidings happened, that Sweyn’s watchmen came and said that strife was coming upon them. Sweyn and his men ran to their weapons and out of doors. They saw where men were coming with fire to the homestead, and they had a great band. Then Sweyn and his men sprung up on a hillock and defended themselves thence; they had horns and blew them. But that place is thickly peopled, and men flocked to help Sweyn and his band, so that the end of it was, that those who had come against them fell off. Sweyn and his men followed them up and chased them. There many men fell in the flight, but a crowd were wounded on either side ere they parted. But Holdbodi was the leader of this band, and he had taken himself off in the flight. He fared away till he came to Lundy; the Freeman gave him a hearty welcome, and they held together. Sweyn fared home, and had many men with him and kept good watch and ward, for he put little faith in the South-islanders. When the stores of Sweyn and his men began to fail, the folk quarrelled with him; and he sold his lands when the winter went on for money and goods, and fared early in the spring from the South to the Lewes, and stayed there a long time. He had done much mischief in this voyage.
84. When Sweyn was in the Southern isles, earl Rognvald had fared to Caithness, and went to a feast at Wick with that man whose name was Hroald, his wife’s name was Arnljot. Sweyn was the name of their son, and he was the briskest of men. But when the earl was at the feast, Thorbjorn clerk and his men came down from Scotland, and told these tidings that Thorstein the freeman his father was slain, and that a Scottish earl had slain him, but that earl’s name was Waltheof. But men made that a matter of talk what a deal earl Rognvald and Thorbjorn had to say to one another, for the earl could scarce finish the business he had in hand for their talk. Thorbjorn fared thence out into the isles with the earl, but Sweyn Hroald’s son then became the earl’s waiting-man. Thorbjorn had then been for a while in Scotland; he had let two men be slain who had been at the burning of Frakok with Sweyn Asleif’s son. But when Sweyn came out of the Southern isles, then he fared home to Gairsay to his house, but he did not go to see earl Rognvald as he was wont when he came off warfare. But when the earl heard that he was come home, he asked Thorbjorn if he thought he knew why it was that Sweyn would not come to see him. Thorbjorn answers: “This I guess, that Sweyn mislikes me, for that I let those men be slain who were with him at the burning of Frakok.” The earl said: “I will not that ye two be at strife.” And after that earl Rognvald fared to Gairsay, and tried to bring about an atonement between them, and that was easy, for they both were willing that the earl should settle the matter. After that he made them good friends for that time, and that settlement was kept a long time after.
85. In that time a vessel from Iceland came to the Orkneys, and that man was on board whose name was Hall, son of Thorarin broad-paunch; he fared to live and lodge in Rinansey with Ragna and her son Thorstein. He was ill at ease there, and begged Thorstein that he would take him to earl Rognvald. They fared to find him, but the earl would not take him into his service; but when they came home, then Ragna asks how they had fared. Then Hall sang a song: “I sent thy son on an errand, Ragna, Man to man speaks words of truth; This his weighty calling was Place at court for me to ask; But the prince, of rings the waster, He who rules with glory highest, Says he has warriors enough; Said ‘No’ to neighbour of the brawn.” A little after Ragna fared to see earl Rognvald on some errand of her own. She was so “boun” that she had a red cap on her head made of horsehair. And when the earl saw that, he sang: “Never have I heard that ladies, All of them if highly born, Wimples wore upon their heads; Soft-tongued grows not rings’ assassin; (5) But now Ragna, gold-lands’ fury, (6) Binds a mare’s tail round her brow; She a bride in gay attire Goes to meet the wound-goose feeder.” (7) Ragna said: “Now it comes to that which is often said that no man is so wise as to see everything as it is, for this is of a horse and not of a mare.” She took then a silken cloth, and threw it over her head as a wimple, and still went on talking of her affairs. The earl was rather slow in listening to her at first, but afterwards softened down his speech as she went on, and she got her business settled as she wished, and leave for Hall to live at the earl’s court. And he was there long afterwards with earl Rognvald. They made both of them together the old Key to Verse-making, and let there be five strophes in each metre, but then the song seemed too long, and now two strophes are sung in each metre.
86. It is said that Sweyn Asleif’s son heard how Holdbodi was come into the Southern isles, then he begged Earl Rognvald to give him strength to avenge himself. The earl gave him five ships, and Thorbjorn clerk steered one of them, but Haflidi son of Thorkell flayer the second, Duffnjal son of Havard Gunni’s son the third, Richard Thorleif’s son the fourth, Sweyn Asleif’s son the fifth. But as soon as ever Holdbodi heard of Sweyn, then he fled back south to Lundy; and his fellows took him to them. Sweyn and his companions slew many men in the Southern isles, but plundered and burnt far and wide. They got much goods, but they could not get at Holdbodi, and he never came back to the Southern isles afterwards. Sweyn wanted to be in the Southern isles that winter, but Thorbjorn and the rest wished to go home, and so late in the autumn they fared from the south to Caithness, and came to Duncansby. And when they were to share their war-spoil, then Sweyn said that all should have an even share, save himself, who was to have a chief’s share, for he said he alone had led them, and said the earl had given them to him as help. He said too he was the only one who had any quarrel with the South-islanders, but they had none. But Thorbjorn thought he had not done a bit less work, and been not a whit less a leader than Sweyn. They wished also that all the ship-captains should have an even share. But the end of it was that Sweyn had his way, for he had many more men to back him there on the Ness. But Thorbjorn fared out to the Orkneys to find earl Rognvald, and told him how things had gone between them and Sweyn, and how ill pleased they were that he had robbed them of their shares. The earl said it would not be the only time that Sweyn would be found to be no fair man in his dealings, “but still the day will come when he will take his pay for his wrong-doings. But ye shall not strive with him about this. I will give you as much out of my goods as ye lose by him; my will also is that ye make no claim against him for this, and it will be well if greater difficulties do not flow from him; though I fear that we shall not have long to wait for this.” Thorbjorn answers: “God thank you, lord, for this honour which ye do to us, and we will not strive with Sweyn about this, but never hereafter will I be his friend, and I will do him some dishonour instead of this.” And after that Thorbjorn declares himself parted from Ingirid Sweyn’s sister, and sent her over to the Ness to Sweyn. He gave her a hearty welcome, but thought great shame had been done to him. Then there was feud between them, and it came to what the saw says, “Set a thief to catch a thief.” But still neither now plotted openly against the other.
When Sweyn was in the Souther-isles, he had set Margad Grim’s son in Duncansby to govern it, and given into his hand that charge (8) which he held of earl Rognvald. But Margad was quibbling and quarrelsome, and he became hated for his unfairness. But those who were most sufferers by his unfairness ran off to find master Hroald and kept themselves there with him. From that a feud arose between Hroald and Margad. A little after Sweyn had come home Margad fared south to Wick with nineteen men on some business of his own. And ere he came from the south he made an onslaught on master Hroald’s house and slew him and some men more. After that they fared to Duncansby to find Sweyn. Then Sweyn gathers men and fares to Lambburg, and got the place ready. There was a good stronghold, and there he sat with sixty men, and flitted thither for himself food and other stores, which they needed to have. The burg stood on some sea-crags, but at the top on the land side there was a stone wall well built. The rocks went far along the sea the other way. They did there much mischief in Caithness in robberies, and flitted thither their spoil into the burg, and they became much hated.
87. These tidings came to the ears of earl Rognvald and Sweyn Hroald’s son; Sweyn begged the earl for help that he might set this matter straight; many men backed this prayer with Sweyn. So it came about that earl Rognvald bestirred himself and fared over to the Ness, and these chiefs with him; Thorbjorn, Haflidi Thorkel’s son, Duffnjal Havard’s son, and Richard, and they were the worst in their counsel against Sweyn. They fared to Duncansby, and Sweyn was then away. It was said that he had fared south to Wick, and they fared thither. But when they came there they heard that Sweyn was in Lambburg. Then the earl and his men fared thither. And when they came to the burg, then Sweyn asks who ruled over the band. He was told that Earl Rognvald ruled over it. Sweyn greeted him well and asked the earl after his errand. The earl answers that he wills that he should hand over Margad into their power. Sweyn asks whether he shall have peace. The earl said he would not promise that. Then Sweyn said: “I cannot find it in my heart to give Margad up to the power of Sweyn Hroald’s son and his band, or any other of my foes, those I mean who are with you, but willingly would I be atoned with you, lord.” Then Thorbjorn clerk answers: “Hear now what the lord’s traitor says, that he will willingly be atoned; but he has already robbed his land, and lain out like a thief. Ill repayest thou the earl the many honours which he has done to thee, as thou wilt [repay] all those over whom thou mayest be able to come.” Sweyn answers: “Thou hast no need Thorbjorn, to throw in so much talk here, for it will not be done after thy words. But that is my foreboding that thou wilt repay him in the worst way the honour that he has done thee ere ye two part, for that none will ever reap luck from thee who have aught to do with thee.” Then earl Rognvald bade that men should not rail at one another. After that they sat themselves down round the burg, and forbade all ingoings of food, and so it went on for a long time that they could do nothing in the way of attack. And when their food was wellnigh spent, then Sweyn called his men together and sought counsel of them, but all men spoke with one mouth that they would have his guidance and foresight while they had the choice of it. Then Sweyn took to words, and said: “It seems to me most unworthy to starve here, but after all to fall into the power of one’s foes. And this too has gone, as was likely, [and proves] that we lack both wit and luck when matched with earl Rognvald. And here now it was tried to bring about peace and atonement, but neither could be got for Margad my companion; but though I know that all other men here will have a choice of peace, yet I cannot find it in my heart to hand him over [to fall] under the axe. Now it is not right that so many should pay for his perplexity, though I dare not part from him even yet.” And after this Sweyn took that counsel to knit together those ropes that they had. But at night then they let Sweyn and Margad slip down out of the burg into the sea. And after that they took to swimming, and struck out along the rocks till the cliffs broke off. After that they stepped on land, and fared up into Sutherland, and so to Murray, and thence to Dufeyri. There they found some Orkneymen in a ship of burden; the man’s name was Hallvard who was their chief, but the second’s name was Thorkell; they were ten in all. Sweyn and Margad went on board ship with them, and they twelve together fared in the ship of burden south off Scotland till they came to the isle of May. There was then a monastery. Baldwin was the abbot’s name who ruled over it. There Sweyn and his men were seven nights weather-bound, and said that they were sent to find the Scot-king from earl Rognvald. The monks doubted their story, and thought they were robbers, and sent to the land for men. But when Sweyn and his men were ware of that, then they sprang on shipboard and plundered the place of much goods. They fared away and in up Murkfirth. (9) They found in Edinburgh David the Scot-king; he gave Sweyn a hearty welcome, and bade them stay with him. Sweyn told the king the whole story of his coming thither, and how things had gone between him and earl Rognvald ere they parted, and so also that they had robbed in the isle of May. Sweyn and his men were there for a while with the Scot-king in good cheer. King David sent men to those men who had lost goods at Sweyn’s hands in his voyage, and let them put their own worth on their scathe, but made good with his own money to each his loss. King David offered Sweyn to send and fetch his wife from the Orkneys, but to give him such honour in Scotland as he might well be pleased with. Sweyn laid bare his will before the king, and spoke thus that his wish was that Margad should be there behind with the king, but that he should send word to earl Rognvald that he should take an atonement at his hand, but Sweyn says that he was ready to lay all his suit in earl Rognvald’s power; he said he would ever be well-pleased if they were good friends, but ill-pleased if they were foes. King David answers: “It is now clear both that this earl must be worthy, and besides that ye think that only worth having which looks towards him; for now thou riskest all on his good faith, but givest up that which we offer thee.” Sweyn says he will never give up his friendship, but still says that he must beg the king to grant him this. The king said so it should be. King David sent men north into the Orkneys with gifts, and this message, that the earl should take atonement from Sweyn. Then Sweyn too fared north into the isles, but Margad stayed behind with the king. King David’s messengers fared to find earl Rognvald. He gave them a hearty welcome, took the gifts too which the king sent him, and gave his word as to the atonement. He took Sweyn after that into his peace and full friendship, and then he [Sweyn] fared back to his house.
88. When Sweyn and Margad were away out of Lambburg, those who were in the burg took that counsel to give up the place into earl Rognvald’s power. He asked what was the last they knew of Sweyn and Margad; but they told him all about it. And when the earl heard that, he said: “Sooth it is to say that no man is Sweyn’s match of all those men of whom we have a choice here with us; such deeds are both manly and hardy. But I will not be a dastard towards you, though ye have been woven up in this difficulty with Sweyn; each of you shall fare away in peace from before me.” The earl fared home thence to the Orkneys, but sent Thorbjorn clerk with forty men on board a ship south to Broadfirth to look after Sweyn and Margad, and naught could be heard of him. Then Thorbjorn speaks out and tells them that they are going on wondrously: “Here we are driving along ever so far at Sweyn’s heels, but we have heard that earl Waltheof my father’s bane-man is but a short way hence with a small following of men. And now if ye will fare with me against him, then will I give you my word that I shall not behave as Sweyn, that I should make you robbed of your share if war-spoil falls into our hands; for those goods which we shall get ye shall have, but allot me that only which ye please, for methinks fame is better than fee.” After that they fared to where earl Waltheof was at a feast, and took the house over their heads, and set fire to it at once. Waltheof and his men ran to the doors, and asked who was master of that fire. Thorbjorn said who he was. Waltheof offered atonement for the slaying of Thorstein, but Thorbjorn said there was no need to seek for a settlement. Waltheof and his men defended themselves well for a while. But when the fire pressed them hard, they sprang out, and then their defence lasted but a short while, for they were much worn out by the fire. There fell earl Waltheof and thirty men with him. There Thorbjorn and his men got much goods, and he kept all his promise manfully by his men; they fared after that out to the Orkneys to find earl Rognvald, and he showed that he was well pleased at their errand. Then it was quiet in the isles, and there was good peace.
In that time dwelt at Wyre, in the Orkneys, Kolbein the burly, a man from Norway, and he was a very mighty man; he built him a good stone-castle there; that was a safe stronghold. Kolbein had to wife Herbjorg, a sister of Hacon bairn, but their mother was Sigrid a daughter of Herborg, Paul’s daughter. These were their children: Kolbein carle, Bjarni skald, Summerled, Aslak, Frida. They were all of might and mark.
89. In that time the sons of Harold Gilli ruled over Norway. Ingi and Sigurd were children in years. Then liegemen were chosen as councillors to those brothers. Eystein was the eldest of them. But Ingi was lawfully begotten, and the liegemen paid most honour to him; he let them have their own way in everything as they chose. In that time these liegemen had most to do with his counsel, Ogmund and Erling, the sons of Kyrping-Worm. They took that counsel with king Ingi, that he should send word to earl Rognvald, and give him a seemly bidding to come and see him. They said, as was true, that the earl had been a great friend of his father, and they bade him to behave as lovingly as he could to the earl, so that he might be more his friend than his brothers’, whatever might arise between them. The earl was a kinsman of those brothers, (10) and one of their greatest friends. But when these words came to earl Rognvald, he listened to them quickly, and busks him for his voyage, for he was eager to fare to Norway to see his kinsfolk and friends. On this voyage earl Harold begged to go for the sake of curiosity and pastime; he was then fourteen or fifteen years old. And when the earls were “boun,” they fared from the west with chapmen, and had a proper following, and came in the spring early to Norway. They found king Ingi in Bergen, and king Ingi gave them a very hearty welcome; there earl Rognvald found many of his kinsfolk and friends; he stayed there very long that summer. That summer came from abroad, from Micklegarth, (11) Eindrid the young; he had been there long in [the Emperor’s] service; he was able to tell them many tidings thence, and men thought it a pastime to ask him about things that had happened abroad out in the world. The earl often talked with him. And once on a time when they were talking, then Eindrid said: “Methinks it is wonderful, earl, that thou wilt not fare out to Jewry, and not have stories alone as to the tidings which are to be told thence. That is the fittest place for such men as thou for the sake of your skill; thou wilt be best honoured there when thou fallest in with men of rank.” And when Eindrid had said that, many others backed it with him, and egged the earl on that he should become the leader of this voyage. Erling threw in many words in favour of it, and said that he would make up his mind to join the voyage, if the earl would become their leader. And so, when so many men of rank and birth were eager, then the earl gave his word to go on the voyage. And when the earl and Erling made up their minds to this, then many great men chose to go on this voyage. These liegemen: Eindrid the young shall tell them the way, John Peter’s son, Aslak Erlend’s son, and Gudorm Mjola-pate of Helgeland. It was agreed that none of them should have a larger ship than one but the earl should have a carved or painted or gilded ship. That should be done so that no man might envy another for that one had fitted out his ship or his crew better than another; John limp-leg shall get a ship made for the earl to sail abroad in, and take the greatest pains with it.
Earl Rognvald fared home west in the autumn, and meant to sit two winters in his realm. King Ingi gave the earl two long-ships, rather small but very handsome, and made most for rowing, and they were the fastest of all ships. Earl Rognvald gave one ship to earl Harold; that was named “Arrow,” but the other was named “Help.” In these ships the earls held on west across the sea. Earl Rognvald had also taken great gifts from his friends. It was on Tuesday evening that the earl’s put to sea, and they sailed with a very good wind that night; and the wind began to get high. Midweek-day (Wednesday) there was a mighty storm, but on Thursday night they were ware of land. It was then very dark. They saw the surf of breakers on every side about them. They had sailed in company up to this. Then there was no other choice than to sail on and dash both ships to pieces, and so they did. There were rocks a-head, and a little strip of foreshore, but all the rest above cliffs. There all the men were saved, but they lost much goods; some of it was thrown ashore in the night. Earl Rognvald behaved himself then still best of all men, as he ever did. He was so merry, that he played with his fingers and made verses nearly at every word. He drew his finger-ring off his finger with his lips and sang a song:
“Here I hang with hammer bent
The hanger of the falcon’s seat, (12)
On the gallows of the hawk’s bridge (13)
Golden ring to Odin’s draught; (14)
Cave-dwellers of giant voice
Me so glad your pine hath made,
That I play now with my fingers,
Perch of hawk that harries geese.”
And when they had got together their baggage, they fared up into the country to look for dwellings, for they thought they knew that they must have come to Shetland. They found homesteads speedily, and then the men were shared out amo