Ynglinga Saga

31. OF KING OTTAR.

Ottar was the name of King Egil's son who succeeded to the
domains and kingdom after him. He did not continue friendly with
King Frode, and therefore King Frode sent messengers to King
Ottar to demand the scatt which Egil had promised him. Ottar
replied, that the Swedes had never paid scatt to the Danes,
neither would he; and the messengers had to depart with this
answer. Frode was a great warrior, and he came one summer with
his army to Sweden, and landed and ravaged the country. He
killed many people, took some prisoners, burned all around in the
inhabited parts, made a great booty, and made great devastation.
The next summer King Frode made an expedition to the eastward;
and when King Ottar heard that Frode was not at home in his own
country, he went on board his own ships, sailed over to Denmark,
and ravaged there without opposition. As he heard that a great
many people were collected at Sealand, he proceeds westward to
the Sound, and sails north about to Jutland; lands at Lymfjord;
plunders the Vend district; burns, and lays waste, and makes
desolate the country he goes over with his army. Vatt and Faste
were the names of the earls whom Frode had appointed to defend
the country in Denmark while he was abroad. When the earls heard
that the Swedish king was laying Denmark waste, they collected an
army, hastened on board their ships, and sailed by the south side
to Lymfjord. They came unexpectedly upon Ottar, and the battle
began immediately. The Swedes gave them a good reception, and
many people fell on both sides; but as soon as men fell in the
Danish army other men hastened from the country to fill their
places, and also all the vessels in the neighbourhood joined
them. The battle ended with the fall of Ottar and the greater
part of his people. The Danes took his body, carried it to the
land, laid it upon a mound of earth, and let the wild beasts and
ravens tear it to pieces. Thereafter they made a figure of a
crow out of wood, sent it to Sweden, and sent word with it that
their king, Ottar, was no better than it; and from this he was
called Ottar Vendelcrow. Thjodolf tells so of it: --

"By Danish arms the hero bold,
Ottar the Brave, lies stiff and cold.
To Vendel's plain the corpse was borne;
By eagles' claws the corpse is torn,
Spattered by ravens' bloody feet,
The wild bird's prey, the wild wolf's meat.
The Swedes have vowed revenge to take
On Frode's earls, for Ottar's sake;
Like dogs to kill them in their land,
In their own homes, by Swedish hand."

32. OF KING ADILS' MARRIAGE.

Adils was the name of King Ottar's son and successor. He was a
long time king, became very rich, and went also for several
summers on viking expeditions. On one of these he came to
Saxland with his troops. There a king was reigning called
Geirthjof, and his wife was called Alof the Great; but nothing is
told of their children. The king was not at home, and Adils and
his men ran up to the king's house and plundered it, while others
drove a herd of cattle down to the strand. The herd was attended
by slave-people, churls, and girls, and they took all of them
together. Among them was a remarkably beautiful girl called
Yrsa. Adils returned home with this plunder. Yrsa was not one of
the slave girls, and it was soon observed that she was
intelligent, spoke well, and in all respects was well behaved.
All people thought well of her, and particularly the king; and at
last it came to this that the king celebrated his wedding with
her, and Yrsa became queen of Sweden, and was considered an
excellent woman.

33. OF KING ADILS' DEATH.

King Halfdan's son Helge ruled at that time over Leidre. He came
to Sweden with so great an army, that King Adils saw no other way
than to fly at once. King Helge landed with his army, plundered,
and made a great booty. He took Queen Yrsa prisoner, carried her
with him to Leidre, took her to wife, and had a son by her called
Rolf Krake. When Rolf was three years old, Queen Alof came to
Denmark, and told Queen Yrsa that her husband, King Helge, was
her own father, and that she, Alof, was her mother. Thereupon
Yrsa went back to Sweden to King Adils, and was queen there as
long as she lived. King Helge fell in a war expedition; and Rolf
Krake, who was then eight years old, was taken to be king in
Leidre. King Adils had many disputes with a king called Ole of
the Uplands; and these kings had a battle on the ice of the
Venner lake, in which King Ole fell, and King Adils won the
battle. There is a long account of this battle in the
"Skjoldunga Saga", and also about Rolf Krake's coming to Adils,
and sowing gold upon the Fyrisvold. King Adils was a great lover
of good horses, and had the best horses of these times. One of
his horses was called Slongve, and another Raven. This horse he
had taken from Ole on his death, and bred from him a horse, also
called Raven, which the king sent in a present to King Godgest in
Halogaland. When Godgest mounted the horse he was not able to
manage him, and fell off and was killed. This accident happened
at Omd in Halogaland. King Adils was at a Disa sacrifice; and as
he rode around the Disa hall his horse' Raven stumbled and fell,
and the king was thrown forward upon his head, and his skull was
split, and his brains dashed out against a stone. Adils died at
Upsal, and was buried there in a mound. The Swedes called him a
great king. Thjodolf speaks thus of him: --

"Witch-demons, I have heard men say,
Have taken Adils' life away.
The son of kings of Frey's great race,
First in the fray, the fight, the chase,
Fell from his steed -- his clotted brains
Lie mixed with mire on Upsal's plains.
Such death (grim Fate has willed it so)
Has struck down Ole's deadly foe."

34. ROLF KRAKE'S DEATH.

Eystein, King Adils' son, ruled next over Sweden, and in his
lifetime Rolf Krake of Leidre fell. In those days many kings,
both Danes and Northmen, ravaged the Swedish dominions; for there
were many sea-kings who ruled over many people, but had no lands,
and he might well be called a sea-king who never slept beneath
sooty roof-timbers.

35. OF EYSTEIN AND THE JUTLAND KING SOLVE.

There was a sea-king called Solve, a son of Hogne of Njardo, who
at that time plundered in the Baltic, but had his dominion in
Jutland. He came with his forces to Sweden, just as King Eystein
was at a feast in a district called Lofond. Solve came
unexpectedly in the night on Eystein, surrounded the house in
which the king was, and burned him and all his court. Then Solve
went to Sigtun, and desired that the Swedes should receive him,
and give him the title of king; but they collected an army, and
tried to defend the country against him, on which there was a
great battle, that lasted, according to report, eleven days.
There King Solve was victorious, and was afterwards king of the
Swedish dominions for a long time, until at last the Swedes
betrayed him, and he was killed. Thjodolf tells of it thus: --

"For a long time none could tell
How Eystein died -- but now I know
That at Lofond the hero fell;
The branch of Odin was laid low,
Was burnt by Solve's Jutland men.
The raging tree-devourer fire
Rushed on the monarch in its ire;
First fell the castle timbers, then
The roof-beams -- Eystein's funeral pyre."

36. OF YNGVAR'S FALL.

Yngvar, who was King Eystein's son, then became king of Sweden.
He was a great warrior, and often lay out with his warships; for
the Swedish dominions were much ravaged then by Danes and
East-country men. King Yngvar made a peace with the Danes; but
betook himself to ravaging the East country in return. One
summer he went with his forces to Estland, and plundered at a
place called Stein. The men of Estland came down from the
interior with a great army, and there was a battle; but the army
of the country was so brave that the Swedes could not withstand
them, and King Yngvar fell, and his people fled. He was buried
close to the seashore under a mound in Estland; and after this
defeat the Swedes returned home. Thjodolf sings of it thus: --

"Certain it is the Estland foe
The fair-haired Swedish king laid low.
On Estland's strand, o'er Swedish graves,
The East Sea sings her song of waves;
King Yngvar's dirge is ocean's roar
Resounding on the rock-ribbed shore."