Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
Norway of those who had no high title. Sigvat made these verses upon the
occasion:--
"Thus Erling fell--and such a gain
To buy with such a loss was vain;
For better man than he ne'er died,
And the king's gain was small beside.
In truth no man I ever knew
Was, in all ways, so firm and true;
Free from servility and pride,
Honoured by all, yet thus he died."
Sigvat also says that Aslak had very unthinkingly committed this murder
of his own kinsman:--
"Norway's brave defender's dead!
Aslak has heaped on his own head
The guilt of murdering his own kin:
May few be guilty of such sin!
His kinsman's murder on him lies--
Our forefathers, in sayings wise,
Have said, what is unknown to few,
'Kinsmen to kinsmen should be true.'"
187. OF THE INSURRECTION OF AGDER DISTRICT.
Of Erling's sons some at that time were north in Throndhjem, some in
Hordaland, and some in the Fjord district, for the purpose of collecting
men. When Erling's death was reported, the news came also that there was
a levy raising in Agder, Hordaland, and Rogaland. Forces were raised and
a great army assembled, under Erling's sons, to pursue King Olaf.
When King Olaf retired from the battle with Erling he went northward
through the sounds, and it was late in the day. It is related that the
king then made the following verses:--
"This night, with battle sounds wild ringing,
Small joy to the fair youth is bringing
Who sits in Jadar, little dreaming
O'er what this night the raven's screaming.
The far-descended Erling's life
Too soon has fallen; but, in the strife
He met the luck they well deserve
Who from their faith and fealty swerve."
Afterwards the king sailed with his fleet along the land northwards, and
got certain tidings of the bondes assembling an army. There were many
chiefs and lendermen at this time with King Olaf, and all the sons of
Arne. Of this Bjarne Gullbrarskald speaks in the poem he composed about
Kalf Arnason:--
"Kalf! thou hast fought at Bokn well;
Of thy brave doings all men tell:
When Harald's son his men urged on
To the hard strife, thy courage shone.
Thou soon hadst made a good Yule feast
For greedy wolf there in the East:
Where stone and spear were flying round,
There thou wast still the foremost found.
The people suffered in the strife
When noble Erling lost his life,
And north of Utstein many a speck
Of blood lay black upon the deck.
The king, 'tis clear, has been deceived,
By treason of his land bereaved;
And Agder now, whose force is great.
Will rule o'er all parts of the state."
King Olaf continued his voyage until he came north of Stad, and brought
up at the Herey Isles. Here he heard the news that Earl Hakon had a
great war-force in Throndhjem, and thereupon the king held a council
with his people. Kalf Arnason urged much to advance to Throndhjem, and
fight Earl Hakon, notwithstanding the difference of numbers. Many others
supported this advice, but others dissuaded from it, and the matter was
left to the king's judgment.
188. DEATH OF ASLAK FITIASKALLE.
Afterwards the king went into Steinavag, and remained there all night;
but Aslak Fitiaskalle ran into Borgund, where he remained the night,
and where Vigleik Arnason was before him. In the morning, when Aslak was
about returning on board, Vigleik assaulted him, and sought to avenge
Erling's murder. Aslak fell there. Some of the king's court-men, who had
been home all summer, joined the king here. They came from Frekeysund,
and brought the king tidings that Earl Hakon, and many lendermen with
him, had come in the morning to Frekeysund with a large force; "and they
will end thy days, sire, if they have strength enough." Now the king
sent his men up to a hill that was near; and when they came to the top,
and looked northwards to Bjarney Island, they perceived that a great
armament of many ships was coming from the north, and they hastened back
to the king with this intelligence. The king, who was lying there with
only twelve ships, ordered the war-horn to sound, the tents to be taken
down on his ships, and they took to their oars. When they were quite
ready, and were leaving the harbour, the bonde army sailed north around
Thiotande with twenty-five ships. The king then steered inside of Nyrfe
Island, and inside of Hundsver. Now when King Olaf came right abreast of
Borgund, the ship which Aslak had steered came out to meet him, and when
they found the king they told him the tidings,--that Vigleik Arnason had
killed Aslak Fitiaskalle, because he had killed Erling Skjalgson. The
king took this news very angrily, but could not delay his voyage on
account of the enemy and he sailed in by Vegsund and Skor. There some
of his people left him; among others, Kalf Arnason, with many other
lendermen and ship commanders, who all went to meet Earl Hakon. King
Olaf, however, proceeded on his way without stopping until he came to
Todar fjord, where he brought up at Valdal, and landed from his ship. He
had then five ships with him, which he drew up upon the shore, and took
care of their sails and materials. Then he set up his land-tent upon a
point of land called Sult, where there are pretty flat fields, and set
up a cross near to the point of land. A bonde, by name Bruse, who dwelt
there in More, and was chief over the valley, came down to King Olaf,
together with many other bondes, and received him well, and according
to his dignity; and he was friendly, and pleased with their reception of
him. Then the king asked if there was a passable road up in the country
from the valley to Lesjar; and Bruse replied, that there was an urd in
the valley called Skerfsurd not passable for man or beast. King Olaf
answers, "That we must try, bonde, and it will go as God pleases. Come
here in the morning with your yoke, and come yourself with it, and let
us then see. When we come to the sloping precipice, what chance there
may be, and if we cannot devise some means of coming over it with horses
and people."
189. CLEARING OF THE URD.
Now when day broke the bondes drove down with their yokes, as the king
had told them. The clothes and weapons were packed upon horses, but the
king and all the people went on foot. He went thus until he came to a
place called Krosbrekka, and when he came up upon the hill he rested
himself, sat down there a while, looked down over the fjord, and said,
"A difficult expedition ye have thrown upon my hands, ye lendermen, who
have now changed your fealty, although but a little while ago ye were my
friends and faithful to me." There are now two crosses erected upon
the bank on which the king sat. Then the king mounted a horse, and rode
without stopping up the valley, until he came to the precipice. Then
the king asked Bruse if there was no summer hut of cattle-herds in the
neighbourhood, where they could remain. He said there was. The king
ordered his land-tent to be set up, and remained there all night. In the
morning the king ordered them to drive to the urd, and try if they could
get across it with the waggons. They drove there, and the king remained
in the meantime in his tent. Towards evening the king's court-men and
the bondes came back, and told how they had had a very fatiguing labour,
without making any progress, and that there never could be a road made
that they could get across: so they continued there the second night,
during which, for the whole night, the king was occupied in prayer. As
soon as he observed day dawning he ordered his men to drive again to the
urd, and try once more if they could get across it with the waggons; but
they went very unwillingly, saying nothing could be gained by it. When
they were gone the man who had charge of the king's kitchen came,
and said there were only two carcasses of young cattle remaining of
provision: "Although you, sire, have 400 men, and there are 100 bondes
besides." Then the king ordered that he should set all the kettles on
the fire, and put a little bit of meat in each kettle, which was done.
Then the king went there, and made the sign of the cross over each
kettle, and told them to make ready the meat. The king then went to the
urd called Skerfsurd, where a road should be cleared. When the king came
all his people were sitting down, quite worn out with the hard labour.
Bruse said, "I told you, sire, but you would not believe me, that we
could make nothing of this urd." The king laid aside his cloak, and told
them to go to work once more at the urd. They did so, and now twenty men
could handle stones which before 100 men could not move from the place;
and thus before midday the road was cleared so well that it was as
passable for men, and for horses with packs, as a road in the plain
fields. The king, after this, went down again to where the meat was,
which place is called Olaf's Rock. Near the rock is a spring, at which
Olaf washed himself; and therefore at the present day, when the cattle
in the valley are sick, their illness is made better by their drinking
at this well. Thereafter the king sat down to table with all the others;
and when he was satisfied he asked if there was any other sheeling on
the other side of the urd, and near the mountains, where they could pass
the night. Bruse said there was such a sheeling, called Groningar; but
that nobody could pass the night there on account of witchcraft, and
evil beings who were in the sheeling. Then the king said they must get
ready for their journey, as he wanted to be at the sheeling for the
night. Then came the kitchen-master to the king, and tells that there
was come an extraordinary supply of provisions, and he did not know
where it had come from, or how. The king thanked God for this blessing,
and gave the bondes who drove down again to their valley some rations of
food, but remained himself all night in the sheeling. In the middle
of the night, while the people were asleep, there was heard in the
cattle-fold a dreadful cry, and these words: "Now Olaf's prayers
are burning me," says the spirit, "so that I can no longer be in my
habitation; now must I fly, and never more come to this fold." When the
king's people awoke in the morning the king proceeded to the mountains,
and said to Bruse, "Here shall now a farm be settled, and the bonde who
dwells here shall never want what is needful for the support of life;
and never shall his crop be destroyed by frost, although the crops be
frozen on the farms both above it and below it." Then the king proceeded
over the mountains, and came to a farm called Einby, where he remained
for the night. King Olaf had then been fifteen years king of Norway
(A.D. 1015-1029), including the year both he and Svein were in the
country, and this year we have now been telling about. It was, namely,
a little past Yule when the king left his ships and took to the land, as
before related. Of this portion of his reign the priest Are Thorgilson
the Wise was the first who wrote; and he was both faithful in his story,
of a good memory, and so old a man that he could remember the men, and
had heard their accounts, who were so old that through their age they
could remember these circumstances as he himself wrote them in his
books, and he named the men from whom he received his information.
Otherwise it is generally said that King Olaf had been fifteen years
king of Norway when he fell; but they who say so reckon to Earl Svein's
government, the last year he was in the country, for King Olaf lived
fifteen years afterwards as king.
190. OLAF'S PROPHECIES.
When the king had been one night at Lesjar he proceeded on his journey