Chapters 31-35

31. Earl Rognvald sailed from Norway west towards the Orkneys, and made Shetland from the sea, and drew force to himself, and thence fared south into the Orkneys. There he summoned his friends to meet him, and gathered force thence. Earl Thorfinn was over in Caithness, and news came to him at once of Rognvald's doings, and he drew force to himself from Scotland and the Southern isles. Earl Rognvald sent at once the message of king Magnus to Kalf Arni's son, and Kalf took in a kind way all that the king had spoken. Earl Rognvald drew his host together in the Orkneys, and meant to cross over into the Ness. But when he came into the Pentland firth, then he had thirty war-ships, all big and in good trim. There came against him earl Thorfinn, and had sixty ships, and most of them small. Their meeting was off the Red Head, and they ran into battle at once. There, too, was come Kalf Arni's son, and had six ships, and all great, and did not run into the fight. And now arises the hardest battle; either earl egged on his people. But when things had gone on so for a while, the loss of men turns on earl Thorfinn's side, and that was most because the difference in the height of the ship's sides was great. Thorfinn had a great ship, and in good trim, and in that he ran forward most bravely. But when the decks of the smaller ships were cleared, then the earl's ship was run aboard of on both sides; and then they stood in very great need. Then numbers of men fell on board the earl's ship, but some were very badly wounded. Earl Rognvald then egged on his men to board; but when earl Thorfinn saw into what a bad plight they were come, he made them cut his ship away from her lashings and rowed to land. He made them bear out of his ship seventy corpses. There, too, went out all those who were unfightworthy for their wounds' sake. Then earl Thorfinn begged Arnor earlskald to go out of the ship; he was in the earl's train, and held in great love. He went on shore and chaunted a song:
                        "This man is loath to go against
                        Brusi's son, one's lord to follow
                        Is good, that lesson to the people
                        Ne'er shall I be found gainsaying;
                        Hard the choice we have before us
                        If these earls so full of fury
                        Fall to blows, a time of trial
                        For friendship we shall surely see."
Earl Thorfinn mans his ship with the best men he had left. After that he fares to find Kalf, and asked him for help. He said thus, that Kalf could not get bought back the friendship of king Magnus when he had already been forced to flee out of the land. "When thou foundest it no good that thou hadst already been taken into very great love. So mayest thou make up thy mind if Rognvald is victorious over us, and if the power of king Magnus and of him spreads here over the western sea, that then thou wilt not be welcome here. But if we win the day, then nothing shall fall short to you that I have power to give. We two shall be at no man's mercy here across the western sea, if we two are both of one mind. And thou wilt not surely like to have that on your mind that thou liest here like a cat in a cave, while I fight for the freedom of us both. Besides, there are those ties between us two, that it beseems each of us better to lend the other help, since men who are bound to you by no ties are against us." But when Kalf heard the egging on of Thorfinn, he called on his men, and bade them put out to battle together with earl Thorfinn. As Bjarni Gullbrar-Skald says:
                        "We have heard, O Kalf, to hurly
                        How Finn's son-in-law thou followedst,
                        And thy war-snakes o'er the waters
                        Swiftly swept against the earl;
                        Gold-begetter, vengeance-mindful,
                        All unwilling to attack
                        Brusi's son so bold in battle;
                        Thorfinn had thy help at last."
Now they made an onslaught by rowing, both of them together, earl thorfinn and Kalf. And when they came to the fight, Thorfinn's host was ready to flee, but very many of them were fallen. The earl ran his ship against the ship of earl Rognvald, and there arose the hardest fight. So says Arnor:
                        "I saw both my goldbestowers,
                        Each the other's henchmen hewing,
                        On the fitful firth of Pentland;
                        Thence my grief grew more and more;
                        Sea was blood-stained, black kept dripping
                        Gore between the gaping seams,
                        Sweat was shed on rim of shield,
                        All the sides with blood were dabbled."
Kalf ran up against the smaller ships of Rognvald and cleared their decks quickly, for there was a great difference in the height of their sides. But when the levies who had come from Norway saw ships cleared hard by them, they then loosed their ships from their lashings and laid themselves out to fly, so that scarce a ship was left behind with the earl's ship. Then the fight began to turn. So says Arnor earlskald:
                        "The lord, so brave in burst of battle,
                        Then had surely laid beneath him
                        All that ancient land of Orkney,
                        --- He had far less loss of men, ---
                        If the sea-king son of Endil
                        Could have brought that host to help him,
                        Island-born, but Shetland's lord,
                        By his army was betrayed."
And now that the main host had fled, then they, Kalf and Thorfinn, both ran aboard of earl Rognvald's ship, and then many men of earl Rognvald's fell. And when earl Rognvald saw in what a straight he was come, and that he could not conquer Thorfinn and Kalf both, then he made them hew the lashings asunder, and laid himself out to fly. Then the day was far spent, and it began to grow dark. Earl Rognvald sailed at once that night into the main, and so east to Norway; he did not slacken his course till he came into king Magnus' presence; he made him welcome now as before, and bade him be with him; and there earl Rognvald stayed a while.

32. Now it is to be said of earl Thorfinn, that on the morning after the fight he made them row about all the isles to search for the men who had fled. Many were slain, but some came to terms of peace; then earl Thorfinn laid under him all the isles, and made every man come into his hand, (1) and those as well who had been before bound by an oath to Rognvald. He sat himself up then in the Orkneys with a very great band of men, and drew his supplies from Caithness on the other side. But Kalf Arni's son, he sends into the Southland isles, and let him sit there as a means of strength for himself. But when earl Rognvald had stayed in Norway awhile with king Magnus, he said to the king that he would try back to the Orkneys. But when the king heard that, he called it unwise to fare before the winter abated and ice loosened and the sea began to thaw; said he then would give him ships and crews as many as he needed. Rognvald speaks thus, and said now he was not willing to lose king Magnus' men; said, too, that it could not be carried out unless with great loss of men, if he gathered a host to come to blows with Thorfinn and Karl, such a large realm as they have there west: "I mean now," he said, "to hold on west with one ship, and to man it as well as I can; then I ween that no news of us will be borne before us. Then it will either be, that we shall come upon them unawares, and then we may speedily win that victory which we should win hardly or not at all with a great force. But if they become aware of our voyage, then we will let the sea still take care of us." King Magnus bade him fare as he liked, but to come back to him again as soon as he chose. And after that earl Rognvald makes ready his voyage and takes pains in choosing men to go with him; and some of the king's bodyguard made up their minds to go with him; then he had a picked force. And when they were boun they sailed away to sea. That was about the beginning of winter. (2)

33. Earl Rognvald made Shetland from the sea; then he learnt that earl Thorfinn was in the Orkneys and had no very great force with him; he had then no fear of war in high-winter. Now Rognvald held on straightway south to the Orkneys. Earl Thorfinn was then in Hrossey, and had no fear for himself. But as soon as Rognvald came into the Orkneys he held on thither where he heard Thorfinn was, and came upon him so unawares, that nothing was heard of them before they had seized all the doors of the house which Thorfinn and his men were in. It was night then, and most men were asleep, but the earl sat then still a-drinking. Rognvald and his men bore fire to the homestead; but when earl Thorfinn was ware of the strife, he sent men to the doors and let them ask, who had sway over the strife. Then it was said that Earl Rognvald was come thither. Then men sprung to their arms. Then nothing could be done in the way of defence, because outlet was shut to all. The house began soon to blaze. Thorfinn gave counsel that men should beg for leave to go of the earl, and he allowed it to all women and unfree men, but said most of earl Thorfinn's bodyguard would be no better to him alive than dead. So those men were drawn out to whom peace was given and then the whole house was soon burning. Earl Thorfinn broke away a wainscot panel at the back of the house, and sprung out there; he had Ingibjorg his wife in his arms. The night was pitch dark and moonless, and he got away under the smoke, so that the earl's men were not ware of him. He rowed at once that night alone in a boat over to the Ness. Earl Rognvald burned down the whole homestead, and all those men who were inside it, to whom leave was not given to go out. Now no man thought anything else than that earl Thorfinn had lost his life there. After this earl Rognvald fared about over all the isles and laid them under him. He sent also those words over to Caithness and to the Southern isles, that he meant to claim all that realm that earl Thorfinn had owned. No man gainsaid him in this. Earl Thorfinn was in divers places in hiding in Caithness with his friends, and no news went abroad that he had got away from the burning.

34. Earl Rognvald sat in Kirkwall, and drew thither the stores which he needed to have for his winter quarters. He had a great band of men, and much good cheer. But a little before Yule earl Rognvald fared with a great following into the Little Papey to fetch malt, to be brewed for Yule. And at even, as they were on the isle, they sate long over a roasting fire, and he who made up the fire spoke and said that the firewood began to fall short. Then the earl made a slip of the tongue, and these were the words he spoke: "Then are we full old when these fires are burnt out." But he meant so to have spoken, that they would then be full warmed. And as soon as ever he found it out, he said "I have not made a slip of the tongue before this so that I call it to mind; it comes into my mind what king Olaf my foster-father said at Sticklestead when I took him up for a slip of the tongue: If it ever happens that I made a slip of the tongue I might make up my mind that I should then have but a short time unlived. May be that my kinsman Thorfinn is yet alive." And just then they heard how that the homestead was girt round by men. There was come earl Thorfinn. They bore fire at once to the house, and laid up a pile of fuel before the doors. They allowed all to go out save the earl's men. And when most of the men were drawn out, a man went out into the doorway in linen underclothes, and begged earl Thorfinn to stretch out his hand toward the deacon. But that man rested his hands on the balk of wood across the doorway, and vaulted out over the balk and the ring of men, so that he came down ever so far off all of them, and was lost in the darkness of night. Thorfinn bade them hold on after him, and says there went earl Rognvald, "this is his nimbleness, and no one's else." Then they fared to hunt for him, and parted themselves into companies, and Thorkell fosterer went along the sea-shore to search. They heard how a dog barked among the rocks on the seashore. Earl Rognvald had his lapdog with him, and he betrayed the earl. (3) They put him to death at once among the rocks, and it is the story of some men that Thorkell fosterer slew him, because there were no other men who would do it. But he had sworn to do all those deeds which seemed to Thorfinn more for his realm's safety than otherwise. Thorfinn and his men stayed that night on the isle, and there all the train that had followed Rognvald thither were slain. But the morning after they took a ship of burden and laded her with malt. After that they went on board, and left the shields at stem and prow which Rognvald and his men had owned. They let, too, no more men be seen in the ship than had followed the earl. Then they rowed to Kirkwall. And when the followers of Rognvald who were in the town saw that, they thought that there earl Rognvald must be coming and his men; then they went to meet him, and most of them unarmed. Earl Thorfinn let them there take about thirty men and slay them. They were most of them of king Magnus' bodyguard and his friends. The earl gave peace to one of king Magnus' bodyguard, and bade that man fare east to Norway and tell these tidings to king Magnus.

35. The body of earl Rognvald was carried to the Greater Papey, and there buried; and it was the saying of men that he has been by far the best bred man and with most friends of all the Orkney earls, and his death was a great grief to many a man. After that earl Thorfinn laid all the isles under him, and now no man gainsaid him in that. Early in the spring came these tidings east to Norway, and king Magnus thought the loss of Rognvald, his foster-brother, the greatest scathe, and said he would avenge him as soon as ever he had time. But he had at that time great strife with king Sweyn Ulfson, who had then let himself be chosen to be king over Denmark.


Notes:
1. come into his hand, become his liegeman. [Back]
2. Fl. adds, "and got a fair wind." [Back]
3. Fl. adds, "Thorkell made him captive, and bade men put an end to the earl, and offered them money to do it; but no one would do it any more for money. Then Thorkell did the deed himself, for that he knew that one or other of them must bow before the other. Then earl Thorfinn came up, and did not blame the deed." [Back]