Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
Thormod Kolbrunarskald was under King Olaf's banner in the battle; but
when the king had fallen, the battle was raging so that of the king's
men the one fell by the side of the other, and the most of those who
stood on their legs were wounded. Thormod was also severely wounded, and
retired, as all the others did, back from where there was most danger of
life, and some even fled. Now when the onset began which is called Dag's
storm, all of the king's men who were able to combat went there; but
Thormod did not come into that combat, being unable to fight, both from
his wound and from weariness, but he stood by the side of his comrade in
the ranks, although he could do nothing. There he was struck by an arrow
in the left side; but he broke off the shaft of the arrow, went out of
the battle, and up towards the houses, where he came to a barn which
was a large building. Thormod had his drawn sword in his hand; and as he
went in a man met him, coming out, and said, "It is very bad there with
howling and screaming; and a great shame it is that brisk young fellows
cannot bear their wounds: it may be that the king's men have done
bravely to-day, but they certainly bear their wounds very ill."
Thormod asks. "What is thy name?"
He called himself Kimbe.
Thormod: "Wast thou in the battle, too?"
"I was with the bondes, which was the best side," says he.
"And art thou wounded any way?" says Thormod.
"A little," said Kimbe. "And hast thou been in the battle too?"
Thormod replied, "I was with them who had the best."
"Art thou wounded?" says Kimbe.
"Not much to signify," replies Thormod.
As Kimbe saw that Thormod had a gold ring on his arm, he said, "Thou art
certainly a king's man. Give me thy gold ring, and I will hide thee. The
bondes will kill thee if thou fallest in their way."
Thormod says, "Take the ring if thou canst get it: I have lost that
which is more worth."
Kimbe stretched out his hand, and wanted to take the ring; but Thormod,
swinging his sword, cut off his hand; and it is related that Kimbe
behaved himself no better under his wound than those he had been blaming
just before. Kimbe went off, and Thormod sat down in the barn, and
listened to what people were saying. The conversation was mostly
about what each had seen in the battle, and about the valour of the
combatants. Some praised most King Olaf's courage, and some named
others who stood nowise behind him in bravery. Then Thormod sang these
verses:--
"Olaf was brave beyond all doubt,--
At Stiklestad was none so stout;
Spattered with blood, the king, unsparing,
Cheered on his men with deed and daring.
But I have heard that some were there
Who in the fight themselves would spare;
Though, in the arrow-storm, the most
Had perils quite enough to boast."
247. THORMOD'S DEATH.
Thormod went out, and entered into a chamber apart, in which there were
many wounded men, and with them a woman binding their wounds. There was
fire upon the floor, at which she warmed water to wash and clean their
wounds. Thormod sat himself down beside the door, and one came in, and
another went out, of those who were busy about the wounded men. One
of them turned to Thormod, looked at him, and said, "Why art thou so
dead-pale? Art thou wounded? Why dost thou not call for the help of the
wound-healers?" Thormod then sang these verses:--
"I am not blooming, and the fair
And slender girl loves to care
For blooming youths--few care for me;
With Fenja's meal I cannot fee.
This is the reason why I feel
The slash and thrust of Danish steel;
And pale and faint, and bent with pain,
Return from yonder battle-plain."
Then Thormod stood up and went in towards the fire, and stood there
awhile. The young woman said to him, "Go out, man, and bring in some of
the split firewood which lies close beside the door." He went out and
brought in an armful of wood, which he threw down upon the floor. Then
the nurse-girl looked him in the face, and said, "Dreadfully pale is
this man--why art thou so?" Then Thormod sang:--
"Thou wonderest, sweet sprig, at me,
A man so hideous to see:
Deep wounds but rarely mend the face,
The crippling blow gives little grace.
The arrow-drift o'ertook me, girl,--
A fine-ground arrow in the whirl
Went through me, and I feel the dart
Sits, lovely girl, too near my heart."
The girl said, "Let me see thy wound, and I will bind it." Thereupon
Thormod sat down, cast off his clothes, and the girl saw his wounds, and
examined that which was in his side, and felt that a piece of iron was
in it, but could not find where the iron had gone in. In a stone pot she
had stirred together leeks and other herbs, and boiled them, and gave
the wounded men of it to eat, by which she discovered if the wounds had
penetrated into the belly; for if the wound had gone so deep, it would
smell of leek. She brought some of this now to Thormod, and told him to
eat of it. He replied, "Take it away, I have no appetite for my broth."
Then she took a large pair of tongs, and tried to pull out the iron; but
it sat too fast, and would in no way come, and as the wound was swelled,
little of it stood out to lay hold of. Now said Thormod, "Cut so deep
in that thou canst get at the iron with the tongs, and give me the tongs
and let me pull." She did as he said. Then Thormod took a gold ring from
his hand, gave it to the nurse-woman, and told her to do with it what
she liked. "It is a good man's gift," said he: "King Olaf gave me the
ring this morning." Then Thormod took the tongs, and pulled the iron
out; but on the iron there was a hook, at which there hung some morsels
of flesh from the heart,--some white, some red. When he saw that, he
said, "The king has fed us well. I am fat, even at the heart-roots;" and
so saying he leant back, and was dead. And with this ends what we have
to say about Thormod.
248. OF SOME CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BATTLE.
King Olaf fell on Wednesday, the 29th of July (A.D. 1030). It was near
mid-day when the two armies met, and the battle began before half-past
one, and before three the king fell. The darkness continued from about
half-past one to three also. Sigvat the skald speaks thus of the result
of the battle:--
"The loss was great to England's foes,
When their chief fell beneath the blows
By his own thoughtless people given,--
When the king's shield in two was riven.
The people's sovereign took the field,
The people clove the sovereign's shield.
Of all the chiefs that bloody day,
Dag only came out of the fray."
And he composed these:--
"Such mighty bonde-power, I ween,
With chiefs or rulers ne'er was seen.
It was the people's mighty power
That struck the king that fatal hour.
When such a king, in such a strife,
By his own people lost his life,
Full many a gallant man must feel
The death-wound from the people's steel."
The bondes did not spoil the slain upon the field of battle, for
immediately after the battle there came upon many of them who had been
against the king a kind of dread as it were; yet they held by their evil
inclination, for they resolved among themselves that all who had fallen
with the king should not receive the interment which belongs to good
men, but reckoned them all robbers and outlaws. But the men who had
power, and had relations on the field, cared little for this, but
removed their remains to the churches, and took care of their burial.
249. A MIRACLE ON A BLIND MAN.
Thorgils Halmason and his son Grim went to the field of battle towards
evening when it was dusk, took King Olaf's corpse up, and bore it to a
little empty houseman's hut which stood on the other side of their farm.
They had light and water with them. Then they took the clothes off
the body, swathed it in a linen cloth, laid it down in the house, and
concealed it under some firewood so that nobody could see it, even
if people came into the hut. Thereafter they went home again to the
farmhouse. A great many beggars and poor people had followed both
armies, who begged for meat; and the evening after the battle many
remained there, and sought lodging round about in all the houses, great
or small. It is told of a blind man who was poor, that a boy attended
him and led him. They went out around the farm to seek a lodging, and
came to the same empty house, of which the door was so low that they had
almost to creep in. Now when the blind man had come in, he fumbled about
the floor seeking a place where he could lay himself down. He had a hat
on his head, which fell down over his face when he stooped down. He felt
with his hands that there was moisture on the floor, and he put up his
wet hand to raise his hat, and in doing so put his fingers on his eyes.
There came immediately such an itching in his eyelids, that he wiped the
water with his fingers from his eyes, and went out of the hut, saying
nobody could lie there, it was so wet. When he came out of the hut he
could distinguish his hands, and all that was near him, as far as things
can be distinguished by sight in the darkness of light; and he went
immediately to the farm-house into the room, and told all the people he
had got his sight again, and could see everything, although many knew
he had been blind for a long time, for he had been there, before, going
about among the houses of the neighbourhood. He said he first got his
sight when he was coming out of a little ruinous hut which was all wet
inside. "I groped in the water," said he, "and rubbed my eyes with
my wet hands." He told where the hut stood. The people who heard him
wondered much at this event, and spoke among themselves of what it could
be that produced it: but Thorgils the peasant and his son Grim thought
they knew how this came to pass; and as they were much afraid the king's
enemies might go there and search the hut, they went and took the body
out of it, and removed it to a garden, where they concealed it, and then
returned to the farm, and slept there all night.
250. OF THORER HUND.
The fifth day (Thursday), Thorer Hund came down the valley of Veradal
to Stiklestad; and many people, both chiefs and bondes, accompanied him.
The field of battle was still being cleared, and people were carrying
away the bodies of their friends and relations, and were giving the
necessary help to such of the wounded as they wished to save; but
many had died since the battle. Thorer Hund went to where the king had
fallen, and searched for his body; but not finding it, he inquired if
any one could tell him what had become of the corpse, but nobody could
tell him where it was. Then he asked the bonde Thorgils, who said, "I
was not in the battle, and knew little of what took place there; but
many reports are abroad, and among others that King Olaf has been seen
in the night up at Staf, and a troop of people with him: but if he fell
in the battle, your men must have concealed him in some hole, or under
some stone-heap." Now although Thorer Hund knew for certain that the
king had fallen, many allowed themselves to believe, and to spread
abroad the report, that the king had escaped from the battle, and would
in a short time come again upon them with an army. Then Thorer went
to his ships, and sailed down the fjord, and the bonde-army dispersed,
carrying with them all the wounded men who could bear to be removed.
251. OF KING OLAF'S BODY.
Thorgils Halmason and his son Grim had King Olaf's body, and were
anxious about preserving it from falling into the hands of the king's
enemies, and being ill-treated; for they heard the bondes speaking about