Stories and Ballads of the Far Past Part 20

Then Gizur the Old cried:

I will crave no single farthing, Nor ringing coin of gold; I will take my shield And ride to the field To the Huns with their myriads untold.

And the message of war that you send to the host Will I carry, and there unfold.

It was a rule with King Heithrek that if his army was invading a land, and the King of that land had set up hazel stakes to mark the spot on which the battle was to take place, then the vikings should not go raiding till the battle had been fought.

Gizur armed himself with good weapons and leapt on his horse as if he had been a young man. Then he cried to the King:

"Where shall I challenge the host of the Huns to battle?"

King Angantyr replied: "Challenge them to battle at Dylgia and on Dunheith, and upon all the heights of Josur, where the Goths have often won renown by glorious victories!"

Then Gizur rode away until he came to the host of the Huns. He rode just within earshot, and then called loudly, crying:

Your host is panic stricken, And your prince is doomed to fall; Though your banners are waving high in the air, Yet Othin is wroth with you all.

Come forth to the Josur Mountains, On Dylgia and Dunheith come fight; For I make a sure boast, In the heart of your host The javelin of Othin will light!

When Hloth heard Gizur's words, he cried:

"Lay hold upon Gizur of the Grytingar, Angantyr's man, who has come from Arheimar!"

King Humli said: "We must not injure heralds who travel about unattended."

Gizur cried: "You Hunnish dogs are not going to overcome us with guile."

Then Gizur struck spurs into his horse and rode back to King Angantyr, and went up to him and saluted him. The King asked him if he had parleyed with the Huns.

Gizur replied: "I spoke with them and I challenged them to meet us on the battle-field of Dunheith and in the valleys of Dylgia."

Angantyr asked how big the army of the Huns was.

"Their host is very numerous," replied Gizur. "There are six legions in all, and five 'thousands' in every legion, and each 'thousand'

contains thirteen 'hundreds,' and in every 'hundred' there are a hundred and sixty men."

Angantyr asked further questions about the host of the Huns.

He then sent men in all directions to summon every man who was willing to support him and could bear weapons. He then marched to Dunheith with his army, and it was a very great host. There the host of the Huns came against him with an army half as big again as his own.

XV. Next day they began their battle, and they fought together the whole day, and at evening they went to their quarters. They continued fighting for eight days, but the princes were then still all unwounded, though none could count the number of the slain. But both day and night troops came thronging round Angantyr's banner from all quarters; and so it came about that his army never grew less.

The battle now became fiercer than ever. The Huns were desperate, for they now saw that their only chance of escaping annihilation lay in victory, and that sorry would be their lot if they had to ask for quarter from the Goths. The Goths on the other hand were defending their freedom and their native land against the Huns; so they stood fast and encouraged one another to fight on. Then towards the close of the day the Goths made so fierce an attack that the line of the Huns recoiled before it. And when Angantyr saw that, he pressed forward from behind the rampart of shields into the forefront of the battle and grasping Tyrfing in his hand, mowed down both men and horses.

Then the ranks fell apart in front of the Kings of the Huns, and Hloth exchanged blows with his brother. There fell Hloth and King Humli, and then the Huns took to flight. The Goths cut them down and made such a great slaughter that the rivers were dammed with the bodies and diverted from their courses, and the valleys were full of dead men and horses. Angantyr then went to search among the slain, and found his brother Hloth. Then he cried:

I offered thee wealth unstinted, brother, And treasures manifold,-- Riches of cattle and land, brother, Riches of glittering gold; But now thou hast wagered and lost in the battle Thy desires and glories untold.

A curse has fallen upon us, brother, I have dealt destruction to thee; And ne'er shall the deed be forgotten, brother; Full ill is the norns' decree!

XVI. Angantyr ruled Reithgotaland as King for a long time. He was powerful and generous and a great warrior, and lines of kings are sprung from him.

He had a son called Heithrek Wolfskin who ruled after him for a long time in Reithgotaland. Heithrek had a daughter called Hild, who was the mother of Halfdan the Valiant, the father of Ivar Vithfathmi. Ivar Vithfathmi went with his army into the Swedish kingdom, as is told in the Sagas of the Kings. And King Ingjald the Wicked was panic-stricken at the approach of his army, and burned the roof over himself and all his retinue at a place called Raening. Ivar Vithfathmi then conquered all Sweden. He also subdued Denmark and Courland and the land of the Saxons and Esthonia, and all the eastern realms as far as Russia. He also ruled the land of the Saxons in the West and conquered the part of England which was called Northumbria.

Then he conquered all Denmark and set over it King Valdar, to whom he married his daughter Alfhild. Their sons were Harold Hilditonn and Randver who afterwards fell in England. And when Valdar died in Denmark, Randver got possession of the Danish kingdom and made himself King over it. And King Harold Hilditonn got himself proclaimed King of Gautland, and he afterwards conquered all the kingdoms already mentioned, which King Ivar Vithfathmi had held.

King Randver married Asa, the daughter of King Harold of the Red Moustache from Norway. Their son was Sigurth Hring. King Randver died suddenly, and Sigurth Hring succeeded to the Kingdom of Denmark. He fought against King Harold Hilditonn at the Battle of Bravoll in East Gautland, and there King Harold fell, and a great mult.i.tude of his army with him. This battle and the one which Angantyr and his brother Hloth fought at Dunheith are the battles which have been most famous in stories of old. Never were any greater slaughters made.

King Sigurth Hring ruled the Kingdom of the Danes till the day of his death; and his son Ragnar Lothbrok succeeded him.

Harold Hilditonn had a son called Eystein the Wicked, who succeeded to the Swedish Realm after his father, and ruled it until he was slain by the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, as is related in the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok. The sons of Ragnar Lothbrok conquered all the Swedish Kingdom; and after the death of King Ragnar, his son, Bjorn Ironside, inherited Sweden, and Sigurth Denmark, Hvitserk the Eastern Realm, and Ivar the Boneless England.

The sons of Bjorn Ironside were Eric and Refil. The latter was a warrior-prince and sea-king. King Eric ruled the Swedish Realm after his father, and lived but a short time. Then Eric the son of Refil succeeded to the Kingdom. He was a great warrior and a very powerful King. The sons of Eric Bjornsson were onund of Upsala and King Bjorn.

Then the Swedish Realm again came to be divided between brothers. They succeeded to the Kingdom on the death of Eric Refilsson. King Bjorn built a house called 'Barrow,' and he himself was called Bjorn of the Barrow. Bragi the poet was with him. King onund had a son called Eric, and he succeeded to the throne at Upsala after his father. He was a mighty King. In his days Harold the Fair-haired made himself King of Norway. He was the first to unite the whole of that country under his sway.

Eric at Upsala had a son called Bjorn, who came to the throne after his father and ruled for a long time. The sons of Bjorn, Eric the Victorious, and Olaf succeeded to the kingdom after their father. Olaf was the father of Styrbjorn the Strong. In their days King Harold the Fair-haired died. Styrbjorn fought against King Eric his father's brother at Fyrisvellir, and there Styrbjorn fell. Then Eric ruled Sweden till the day of his death. He married Sigrith the Ambitious.

They had a son called Olaf who was accepted as King in Sweden after King Eric. He was only a child at the time and the Swedes carried him about with them, and for this reason they called him 'Skirt-King,'

and then, later, Olaf the Swede. He ruled for a long time and was a powerful King. He was the first king of Sweden to be converted, and in his days, Sweden was nominally Christian.

King Olaf the Swede had a son called onund who succeeded him. He died in his bed. In his day fell King Olaf the Saint at Stiklestad. Olaf the Swede had another son called Eymund, who came to the throne after his brother. In his day the Swedes neglected the Christian religion, but he was King for only a short time.

There was a great man of n.o.ble family in Sweden called Steinkel. His mother's name was Astrith, the daughter of Njal the son of Fin the Squinter, from Halogaland; and his father was Rognvald the Old.

Steinkel was an Earl in Sweden at first, and then after the death of Eymund, the Swedes elected him their King. Then the throne pa.s.sed out of the line of the ancient kings of Sweden. Steinkel was a mighty prince. He married the daughter of King Eymund. He died in his bed in Sweden about the time that King Harold fell in England.

Steinkel had a son called Ingi, who became King of Sweden after Haakon. Ingi was King of Sweden for a long time, and was popular and a good Christian. He tried to put an end to heathen sacrifices in Sweden and commanded all the people to accept Christianity; yet the Swedes held to their ancient faith. King Ingi married a woman called Maer who had a brother called Svein. King Ingi liked Svein better than any other man, and Svein became thereby the greatest man in Sweden. The Swedes considered that King Ingi was violating the ancient law of the land when he took exception to many things which Steinkel his father had permitted, and at an a.s.sembly held between the Swedes and King Ingi, they offered him two alternatives, either to follow the old order, or else to abdicate. Then King Ingi spoke up and said that he would not abandon the true faith; whereupon the Swedes raised a shout and pelted him with stones, and drove him from the a.s.sembly.

Svein, the King's brother-in-law, remained behind in the a.s.sembly, and offered the Swedes to do sacrifices on their behalf if they would give him the Kingdom. They all agreed to accept Svein's offer, and he was then recognised as King over all Sweden. A horse was then brought to the a.s.sembly and hewn in pieces and cut up for eating, and the sacred tree was smeared with blood. Then all the Swedes abandoned Christianity, and sacrifices were started again. They drove King Ingi away; and he went into Vestergotland. Svein the Sacrificer was King of Sweden for three years.

King Ingi set off with his retinue and some of his followers, though it was but a small force. He then rode eastwards by Smland and into ostergotland and then into Sweden. He rode both day and night, and came upon Svein suddenly in the early morning. They caught him in his house and set it on fire and burned the band of men who were within.

There was a baron called Thjof who was burnt inside. He had been previously in the retinue of Svein the Sacrificer. Svein himself left the house, but was slain immediately.

Thus Ingi once more received the Kingdom of Sweden; and he reestablished Christianity and ruled the Kingdom till the end of his life, when he died in his bed.

King Steinkel had, besides Ingi, another son Hallstein who reigned along with his brother. Hallstein's sons were Philip and Ingi, and they succeeded to the Kingdom of Sweden after King Ingi the elder.

Philip married Ingigerth, the daughter of King Harold the son of Sigurth. He reigned for only a short time.

APPENDIX TO PART I

THE COMBAT AT SAMS AND HJALMAR'S DEATH SONG

The following pa.s.sage is taken from an early text of the _Saga of Hervor and Heithrek_ (MS. 2845 in the Royal Library at Copenhagen) where it occurs immediately after the earl's speech ("The death of mighty men" etc.) on p. 92[1].

When the brothers came home they made ready to go to the combat, and their father accompanied them to the ship and gave the sword Tyrfing to Angantyr, saying:

"I think that you will have need of good weapons now."