Saga of Olaf Haroldson

25. OLAF AND ETHELRED'S SONS.

King Ethelred's sons came to Rouen in Valland from England, to
their mother's brother, the same summer that King Olaf Haraldson
came from the west from his viking cruise, and they were all
during the winter in Normandy together. They made an agreement
with each other that King Olaf should have Northumberland, if
they could succeed in taking England from the Danes. Therefore
about harvest, Olaf sent his foster-father Hrane to England to
collect men-at-arms; and Ethelred's sons sent tokens to their
friends and relations with him. King Olaf, besides, gave him
much money with him to attract people to them. Hrane was all
winter in England, and got promises from many powerful men of
fidelity, as the people of the country would rather have native
kings over them; but the Danish power had become so great in
England, that all the people were brought under their dominion.

26. BATTLE OF KING OLAF.

In spring (A.D. 1014) King Olaf and King Ethelred's sons set out
together to the west, and came to a place in England called
Jungufurda, where they landed with their army and moved forward
against the castle. Many men were there who had promised them
their aid. They took the castle; and killed many people. Now
when King Canute's men heard of this they assembled an army, and
were soon in such force that Ethelred's sons could not stand
against it; and they saw no other way left but to return to
Rouen. Then King Olaf separated from them, and would not go back
to Valland, but sailed northwards along England, all the way to
Northumberland, where he put into a haven at a place called
Valde; and in a battle there with the townspeople and merchants
he gained the victory, and a great booty.

27. OLAF'S EXPEDITION TO NORWAY.

King Olaf left his long-ships there behind, but made ready two
ships of burden; and had with him 220 men in them, well-armed,
and chosen people. He sailed out to sea northwards in harvest,
but encountered a tremendous storm and they were in danger of
being lost; but as they had a chosen crew, and the king s luck
with them, all went on well. So says Ottar: --

"Olaf, great stem of kings, is brave --
Bold in the fight, bold on the wave.
No thought of fear
Thy heart comes near.
Undaunted, 'midst the roaring flood,
Firm at his post each shipman stood;
And thy two ships stout
The gale stood out."

And further he says: --

"Thou able chief! with thy fearless crew
Thou meetest, with skill and courage true,
The wild sea's wrath
On thy ocean path.
Though waves mast-high were breaking round.
Thou findest the middle of Norway's ground,
With helm in hand
On Saela's strand."

It is related here that King Olaf came from the sea to the very
middle of Norway; and the isle is called Saela where they landed,
and is outside of Stad. King Olaf said he thought it must be a
lucky day for them, since they had landed at Saela in Norway; and
observed it was a good omen that it so happened. As they were
going up in the isle, the king slipped with one foot in a place
where there was clay, but supported himself with the other foot.
Then said he "The king falls." "Nay," replies Hrane, "thou didst
not fall, king, but set fast foot in the soil." The king laughed
thereat, and said, "It may be so if God will." They went down
again thereafter to their ships, and sailed to Ulfasund, where
they heard that Earl Hakon was south in Sogn, and was expected
north as soon as wind allowed with a single ship.

28. HAKON TAKEN PRISONER BY OLAF.

King Olaf steered his ships within the ordinary ships' course
when he came abreast of Fjaler district, and ran into
Saudungssund. There he laid his two vessels one on each side of
the sound. with a thick cable between them. At the same moment
Hakon, Earl Eirik's son, came rowing into the sound with a manned
ship; and as they thought these were but two merchant-vessels
that were lying in the sound, they rowed between them. Then Olaf
and his men draw the cable up right under Hakon's ship's keel and
wind it up with the capstan. As soon as the vessel's course was
stopped her stern was lifted up, and her bow plunged down; so
that the water came in at her fore-end and over both sides, and
she upset. King Olaf's people took Earl Hakon and all his men
whom they could get hold of out of the water, and made them
prisoners; but some they killed with stones and other weapons,
and some were drowned. So says Ottar: --

"The black ravens wade
In the blood from thy blade.
Young Hakon so gay,
With his ship, is thy prey:
His ship, with its gear,
Thou hast ta'en; and art here,
Thy forefather's land
From the earl to demand."

Earl Hakon was led up to the king's ship. He was the handsomest
man that could be seen. He had long hair, as fine as silk, bound
about his bead with a gold ornament.

When he sat down in the fore-hold, the king said to him, "It is
not false what is said of your family, that ye are handsome
people to look at; but now your luck has deserted you."

Hakon the earl replied, "It has always been the case that success
is changeable; and there is no luck in the matter. It has gone
with your family as with mine, to have by turns the better lot.
I am little beyond childhood in years; and at any rate we could
not have defended ourselves, as we did not expect any attack on
the way. It may turn out better with us another time."

Then said King Olaf, "Dost thou not apprehend that thou art in
that condition that, hereafter, there can be neither victory nor
defeat for thee?"

The earl replies, "That is what thou only canst determine, king,
according to thy pleasure."

Olaf says, "What wilt thou give me, earl, if for this time I let
thee go, whole and unhurt?"

The earl asks what he would take.

"Nothing," says the king, "except that thou shalt leave the
country, give up thy kingdom, and take an oath that thou shalt
never go into battle against me."

The earl answered, that he would do so. And now Earl Hakon took
the oath that he would never fight against Olaf, or seek to
defend Norway against him, or attack him; and King Olaf thereupon
gave him and all his men life and peace. The earl got back the
ship which had brought him there, and he and his men rowed their
way. Thus says Sigvat of him: --

"In old Saudungs sound
The king Earl Hakon found,
Who little thought that there
A foeman was so near.
The best and fairest youth
Earl Hakon was in truth,
That speaks the Danish tongue,
And of the race of great Hakon."

29. HAKON'S DEPARTURE FROM NORWAY.

After this (A.D. 1014) the earl made ready as fast as possible to
leave the country and sail over to England. He met King Canute,
his mother's brother, there, and told him all that had taken
place between him and King Olaf. King Canute received him
remarkably well, placed him in his court in his own house, and
gave him great power in his kingdom. Earl Hakon dwelt a long
time with King Canute. During the time Svein and Hakon ruled
over Norway, a reconciliation with Erling Skialgson was effected,
and secured by Aslak, Erling's son, marrying Gunhild, Earl
Svein's daughter; and the father and son, Erling and Aslak,
retained all the fiefs which King Olaf Trygvason had given to
Erling. Thus Erling became a firm friend of the earl's, and
their mutual friendship was confirmed by oath.

30. ASTA RECEIVES HER SON OLAF.

King Olaf went now eastward along the land, holding Things with
the bondes all over the country. Many went willingly with him;
but some, who were Earl Svein's friends or relations, spoke
against him. Therefore King Olaf sailed in all haste eastward to
Viken; went in there with his ships; set them on the land; and
proceeded up the country, in order to meet his stepfather, Sigurd
Syr. When he came to Vestfold he was received in a friendly way
by many who had been his father's friends or acquaintances; and
also there and in Folden were many of his family. In autumn
(A.D. 1014) he proceeded up the country to his stepfather King
Sigurd's, and came there one day very early. As Olaf was coming
near to the house, some of the servants ran beforehand to the
house, and into the room. Olaf's mother, Asta, was sitting in
the room, and around her some of her girls. When the servants
told her of King Olaf's approach, and that he might soon be
expected, Asta stood up directly, and ordered the men and girls
to put everything in the best order. She ordered four girls to
bring out all that belonged to the decoration of the room and put
it in order with hangings and benches. Two fellows brought straw
for the floor, two brought forward four-cornered tables and the
drinking-jugs, two bore out victuals and placed the meat on the
table, two she sent away from the house to procure in the
greatest haste all that was needed, and two carried in the ale;
and all the other serving men and girls went outside of the
house. Messengers went to seek King Sigurd wherever he might be,
and brought to him his dress-clothes, and his horse with gilt
saddle, and his bridle, which was gilt and set with precious
stones. Four men she sent off to the four quarters of the
country to invite all the great people to a feast, which she
prepared as a rejoicing for her son's return. All who were
before in the house she made to dress themselves with the best
they had, and lent clothes to those who had none suitable.