第223章

King Harald was in Viken in the summer (A.D.1064), and he sent his men to the Uplands after the scat and duty which belonged to him; but the bondes paid no attention to the demand, but said they would hold all for Earl Hakon until he came for it.Earl Hakon was then up in Gautland with a large armed force.When summer was past King Harald went south to Konungahella.Then he took all the light-sailing vessels he could get hold of and steered up the river.He had the vessels drawn past all the waterfalls and brought them thus into the Wener lake.Then he rowed eastward across the lake to where he heard Earl Hakon was;but when the earl got news of the king's expedition he retreated down the country, and would not let the king plunder the land.

Earl Hakon had a large armed force which the Gautland people had raised for him.King Harald lay with his ships up in a river, and made a foray on land, but left some of his men behind to protect the ships.The king himself rode up with a part of the men, but the greater part were on foot.They had to cross a forest, where they found a mire or lake, and close to it a wood;and when they reached the wood they saw the earl's men, but the mire was between them.They drew up their people now on both sides.Then King Harald ordered his men to sit down on the hillside."We will first see if they will attack us.Earl Hakon does not usually wait to talk." It was frosty weather, with some snow-drift, and Harald's men sat down under their shields; but it was cold for the Gautlanders, who had but little clothing with them.The earl told them to wait until King Harald came nearer, so that all would stand equally high on the ground.Earl Hakon had the same banner which had belonged to King Magnus Olafson.

The lagman of the Gautland people, Thorvid, sat upon a horse, and the bridle was fastened to a stake that stood in the mire.He broke out with these words: "God knows we have many brave and handsome fellows here, and we shall let King Steinkel hear that we stood by the good earl bravely.I am sure of one thing: we shall behave gallantly against these Northmen, if they attack us;but if our young people give way, and should not stand to it, let us not run farther than to that stream; but if they should give way farther, which I am sure they will not do, let it not be farther than to that hill." At that instant the Northmen sprang up, raised the war-cry, and struck on their shields; and the Gautland army began also to shout.The lagman's horse got shy with the war-cry, and backed so hard that the stake flew up and struck the lagman on the head.He said, "Ill luck to thee, Northman, for that arrow!" and away fled the lagman.King Harald had told his people, "If we do make a clash with the weapons, we shall not however, go down from the hill until they come nearer to us;" and they did so.When the war-cry was raised the earl let his banner advance; but when they came under the hill the king's army rushed down upon them, and killed some of the earl's people, and the rest fled.The Northmen did not pursue the fugitives long, for it was the fall of day; but they took Earl Hakon's banner and all the arms and clothes they could get hold of.King Harald had both the banners carried before him as they marched away.They spoke among themselves that the earl had probably fallen.As they were riding through the forest they could only ride singly, one following the other.Suddenly a man came full gallop across the path, struck his spear through him who was carrying the earl's banner, seized the banner-staff, and rode into the forest on the other side with the banner.When this was told the king he said, "Bring me my armour, for the earl is alive." Then the king rode to his ships in the night; and many said that the earl had now taken his revenge.But Thiodolf sang thus: --"Steinkel's troops, who were so bold, Who the Earl Hakon would uphold, Were driven by our horsemen's power To Hel, death goddess, in an hour;And the great earl, so men say Who won't admit he ran away, Because his men fled from the ground, Retired, and cannot now be found."75.DEATH OF HAL, THE MURDERER OF KODRAN.

The rest of the night Harald passed in his ships; but in the morning, when it was daylight, it was found that so thick ice had gathered about the vessels that one could walk around them.The king ordered his men to cut the ice from the ships all the way out to the clear water; on which they all went to break the ice.

King Harald's son, Magnus, steered the vessel that lay lowest down the river and nearest the water.When the people had cleared the ice away almost entirely, a man ran out to the ice, and began hewing away at it like a madman.Then said one of the men, "It is going now as usual, that none can do so much as Hal who killed Kodran, when once he lays himself to the work.See how he is hewing away at the ice." There was a man in the crew of Magnus, the king's son, who was called Thormod Eindridason;and when he heard the name of Kodran's murderer he ran up to Hal, and gave him a death-wound.Kodran was a son of Gudmund Eyjolfson; and Valgerd, who was a sister of Gudmund, was the mother of Jorun, and the grandmother by the mother's side of this Thormod.Thormod was a year old when Kodran was killed, and had never seen Hal Utrygson until now.When the ice was broken all the way out to the water, Magnus drew his ship out, set sail directly, and sailed westward across the lake; but the king's ship, which lay farthest up the river, came out the last.Hal had been in the king's retinue, and was very dear to him; so that the king was enraged at his death.The king came the last into the harbour, and Magnus had let the murderer escape into the forest, and offered to pay the mulct for him; and the king had very nearly attacked Magnus and his crew, but their friends came up and reconciled them.

76.OF KING HARALD.