Anonymous

“ The Bishop replied: “I think you will find it difficult to attack the Drómund in your long-ships, for you will hardly be able to reach their bulwarks with a boarding-pike, and they have probably brimstone and boiling pitch to pour under your feet and over your heads. You may see, Earl Rögnvald, wise as you are, that it would be the greatest rashness to place yourself and your men in such jeopardy.” ”

“ It is better to die with honour than live with shame. Take thou here this banner which I have made with all my skill, and I ween that it will bring victory to him before whom it is borne, but death to its bearer.” The banner was wrought with cunningly executed handiwork and elaborate art. It was made in the shape of a raven, and when floating in the wind it resembled the raven flying. Earl Sigurd was very wroth at his mother’s words. ”

“ After asserting the legitimate claims of King Robert the Bruce, and narrating his struggles in the cause of Scottish independence, it goes on to say that “If he were to desist from what he has begun, wishing to subject us or our kingdom to the King of England or the English, we would immediately endeavour to expel him as our enemy, and the subverter of his own rights and ours, and make another king who should be able to defend us. For so long as a hundred remain alive, we never will in any degree be subject to the dominion of the English. ”

“ The Earl said: “That is bravely spoken, and very much to my own mind. I will now make it known to the ships’ commanders and all the men, that every one may arm and prepare himself, each in his own place, as well as he can. Then let us attack them, and if they are Christian merchants, we can make peace with them; but if they are heathens, which I think they are, by the favour of Almighty God we shall be able to overcome them, but of the booty we obtain we shall give every fiftieth penny to the poor.” ”

“ Swein asked whether he was to receive quarter. The Earl said he would not promise. Then Swein said: “I have not the heart to deliver Margad into the power of Swein, Hróald’s son, or of my other enemies who are with you, but I should wish very much to be at peace with you, my lord.”
Then Thorbiörn Klerk said: “Hear what the traitor says, that he would willingly be at peace with his lord after he has plundered his land, and betaken himself to the highways like a thief. You make a bad return to the Earl for all the honour he has done you, and so you will do to all you can.” ”

“ Our earliest Scottish chroniclers did not disdain to make use of the lay-smith’s craft, as a help to history, long after the Iceland skald had been succeeded by the Saga-writer, and the flowery recitative of an unclerkly age superseded by the terser narrative of the parchment scribe. The art is as old as Odin and the gods, if indeed it be not older, and these its creations. ”

“ Thorbiörn then said to his men: “Our journey is a strange one; we are all this time wandering after Swein, but I have heard that Earl Valthióf, who slew my father, [367] is not far off, with but a few men; and if you will attack him with me, I will promise you that I shall not act as Swein did—namely, to deprive you of your share if we get any booty, for you shall have all we get, except what you wish to give me, because I think glory is better than booty.” ”

“ He had taken a large quantity of wine and English mead from the vessels. When he had been at home a short time he invited Earl Harald, and prepared a splendid feast for him. When Earl Harald was at the feast a great deal was said of Swein’s magnificence. The Earl said: “I wish, Swein, you would now leave off your marauding expeditions; it is good now to drive home a whole waggon. You know that your plundering has fed you and your men a long time, but to most men of violence it happens that they perish in their raiding, if they do not leave it off in time.” ”

“ As no man could win or hold possession without the strong arm to defend it, every landowner was a warrior, every warrior a husbandman. King Sigurd Syr tended his own hay harvest, and Sweyn of Gairsay and Thorkel Fóstri swept the coasts of Britain or Ireland while the crops which they and their rovers had sown grew ready for their reaping. ”

“ When Earl Melbrigd saw this, he said to his men:—“Now we have been treacherously dealt with by Earl Sigurd, for I see two men’s legs on one side of each horse, and the men, I believe, are thus twice as many as the beasts. But let us be brave, and kill each his man before we die.” Then they made themselves ready. When Sigurd saw it, he also decided on his plan, and said to his men:—“Now, let one-half of our number dismount and attack them from behind, when the troops meet, while we shall ride at them with all our speed to break their battle array.” ”

“ I have now married Margaret, Hákon’s daughter, to Moddan, Earl of Atjöklar (Athole) , who is of the noblest family of all the Scottish chiefs. His father, Malcolm, is the brother (uncle?) of King Malcolm, the father of David, who is now King of Scots. We have many and just claims on the Orkneys. We ourselves have also some power. We are said also to be rather far-seeing, and during hostilities all things do not come on us unawares; yet we will be glad to enter into alliance with Kol and his son for many reasons. ”

“ This same night Earl Erlend and Swein attacked Earl Harald and his men, and took them by surprise, and they knew of nothing till they heard the battle-cry. They flew to arms, and defended themselves bravely. Many were killed, and the attack ended in this way—that Earl Harald leaped on shore when there were only five men left in his ship. Bjarni, brother of Erlend Ungi, a noble man, fell there, and a hundred men with him; and a great number were wounded. All the Earl’s men jumped from the ships to reach the shore, and fled. ”

“ They were all men of large stature, and strong, and accomplished in everything. Hákon, Paul’s son, wished to take the lead among his brothers; he considered himself of higher birth than the sons of Erlend, as he was the daughter’s son of Earl Hákon Ivar’s son, and Ragnhild, the daughter of King Magnus the Good. Hákon wished his friends to have the lion’s share of everything before those who leant to the sons of Erlend, but Erlend did not like his sons to be inferior to any in the Islands. Matters went so far that the kinsmen could not be together without danger. ”

“ When the King saw that the Earl persisted obstinately in his error, he caught hold of his young son, who was with him, and who had been brought up in the Islands. The King carried this son of the Earl to the forepart of the ship. There he drew his sword, and made ready to hew the boy down, saying at the same time: “Now I will show you, Earl Sigurd, that I shall spare no man who will not serve Almighty God, or listen to my preaching of the blessed message. Therefore I shall kill your son before your eyes this instant, with the sword now in my hand, unless you and your men will serve my God. ”

“ Large fires were made, at which they warmed themselves. Jón was excited, and spoke of the dealings of Swein and the Earls. He blamed Swein very much, said he was a truce-breaker, and faithful to no one. He had lately made peace with Earl Harald, and yet he went to attack him and burn him in the house, adding that there would never be peace in the land till Swein was banished from it. Bárd and Jón’s companions put in some words in Swein’s defence. Then Jón began to blame Earl Erlend, saying there was no loss in his death, as he was a violent man, and nobody could live in safety for him. ”

“ We gather from these remains that the earliest population of the Islands, of which we have any reliable evidence, lived in the same manner as the natives of the northern mainland, fought with the same varieties of weapons of stone and bronze, erected the same forms of defensive structures, practised the same funereal rites, and constructed similar forms of sepulchral chambers, over which they piled the great mounds which are among the most striking features of an Orkney landscape. ”

“ Then said Sigurd Murt: “Ill has the Earl’s brother-in-law fared across the Pentland Firth if he has left his heart behind him;” adding, further, that their prospects were not bright if all should lose heart when they saw Earl Harald’s army.
Lífólf replied: “It is difficult to see, Sigurd, where each one carries his heart when courage is required; and I believe you men of mark will think it a serious matter to remain behind when I run from Harald Ungi.” ”

“ It gives a curious feeling of reality to the ancient legends when we can thus handle the blades and bucklers of which we read such stirring stories, and remember that it was because the Norse sword was then the longest, and the Norse arm the strongest, that we now read the earliest chapters of the history of northern Scotland in the guise of an Iceland Saga. ”

“ Ragnhild would have nothing to do with him, saying it was a mere lie that she had given him any promises. Then she sent for Einar Hardkiöpt (hard mouth) , who was the son of another sister of Hávard. And when they met, she said it was a great shame to Hávard’s kinsmen that they did not avenge him, adding that she would do anything that the Earl might be avenged. “It is evident,” she said, “that he who avenges the Earl will be most esteemed by good people, and will most deserve his dominions.” Einar replied: “It is said that you sometimes speak differently from what you think. ”

“ Coming to Norway he tried hard to induce King Magnus Barelegs to undertake an expedition to the Orkneys and the Western Isles, hoping that the king would conquer the Islands for the glory of the conquest, and hand them over to him, as Harald Harfagri had given them to Rögnvald, Earl of Mœri. He was more successful than he anticipated. King Magnus, fired with the love of conquest, did make the expedition, but he deposed Paul and Erlend, and carried them to Norway, placing his own son Sigurd, a mere child, over the Orkneys. ”

“ Thorfinn, however, was aware of the trap laid for him, and retired to the Islands. There Kali came up with him off Deerness, in Orkney, and a fierce battle took place, in which Kali was defeated. He fled southwards, and Thorfinn, following him, obliged him again to give battle at Baefiord, where he was again defeated, while Thorkel Fóstri fell upon Moddan at Thurso and slew him. Then, say the Sagas, Earl Thorfinn overran Scotland as far south as Fife, burning and slaying, and subduing the land wherever he went. By these conquests he became the most powerful of all the Earls of Orkney. ”

“ I could wish that you would not attach blame to Bishop William and other kinsmen of Swein, Asleif’s son, but rather take the Bishop into favour, and send word to the Sudreyar after Swein to pardon him and restore him his possessions, in order that he may be to you such as his father was. It has long been the custom of the noblest men to do a great deal for their friends, and thus to secure support and popularity. ”

“ This meeting was during Lent. But, as many well-disposed men joined themselves together to avert hostilities between them, and to assist neither of them against the other, they confirmed their reconciliation with oaths and shaking of hands.
Some time after this, Earl Hákon, with hypocrisy and fair words, appointed a day of meeting with the blessed Earl Magnus, so that their friendship and the newly-made peace should neither be disturbed nor destroyed. This meeting, which was to confirm their peace and reconciliation, should take place in the spring, in the Pasch week, in Egilsey. ”

“ It is more binding on me than any one else to seek redress for my brother and myself, and therefore I now demand it. The King may remit offences committed against himself, even if he thinks it of no importance that his henchmen are led out and slaughtered like sheep.”
The Earl answered: “I understand it to be to my advantage here that I am not in your power. ”

“ Being asked by the king where were the king’s enemies whom he had promised to deliver up, and where was Thorfinn his son, whom he had also promised to give as a hostage, he replied, ‘I allowed them to escape, knowing that if I delivered them up to you they would not escape out of your hands. My son I could not bring, for there is no other heir to my lands.’ So, because he had not kept the agreement which he had made with the king, he was adjudged to remain in the king’s custody until his son should arrive and become a hostage for him. ”

“ Swein looked to the Earl and said, smiling: “This is well said, my Lord; you have spoken like a friend, and it is good to take sound advice from you; but some complain that you are not an over just man yourself.” ”

“ Thus Thorfinn was again sole ruler of the Orkney earldom, as well as that of Caithness. He went to Norway to make his peace with King Magnus, who was foster-brother to Earl Rögnvald, and therefore would seek vengeance for his death. At that time Magnus was at war with Swein Ulfson, King of Denmark. While he lay with his fleet at Seley two war-ships rowed up to the king’s vessel, and a man in a white cloak went straight aboard, and up to the quarter-deck, where the king sat at meat. ”

“ You take the man whom you most have loved and honoured, and put him down into the earth, where vermin and worms devour him. We, on the contrary, burn him up in a twinkling, and he goes straight to paradise.” After the pile was consumed to ashes they raised a great-mound over the spot, and set up on it a pillar made of a tree-trunk, on which they carved the names of the dead man and of their king. ”

“ Conceive the exultation with which, on raising the lid, she discovers that it contains six whole and separate volumes, and then say, you grown-up folk, whose pockets are bursting with florins, whether you do not think that a few of your pieces of white money would be well laid out in purchasing such pleasure for the tiny damsels of your acquaintance, who like to be sent to bed with the fancies of a pleasant story-teller clothing their sleepy heads with nightcaps of dreamy contentment. ”