Saga of Harald Hardrade

61. KING HARALD HAD A SHIP BUILT.

King Harald remained all winter at Nidaros (A.D. 1062) and had a
vessel built out upon the strand, and it was a buss. The ship
was built of the same size as the Long Serpent, and every part of
her was finished with the greatest care. On the stem was a
dragon-head, and on the stern a dragon-tail, and the sides of the
bows of the ship were gilt. The vessel was of thirty-five rowers
benches, and was large for that size, and was remarkably
handsome; for the king had everything belonging to the ship's
equipment of the best, both sails and rigging, anchors and
cables. King Harald sent a message in winter south to Denmark to
King Svein, that he should come northwards in spring; that they
should meet at the Gaut river and fight, and so settle the
division of the countries that the one who gained the victory
should have both kingdoms.

62. KING HARALD'S CHALLENGE.

King Harald during this winter called out a general levy of all
the people of Norway, and assembled a great force towards spring.
Then Harald had his great ship drawn down and put into the river
Nid, and set up the dragon's head on her. Thiodolf, the skald,
sang about it thus: --

"My lovely girl! the sight was grand
When the great war-ships down the strand
Into the river gently slid,
And all below her sides was hid.
Come, lovely girl, and see the show! --
Her sides that on the water glow,
Her serpent-head with golden mane,
All shining back from the Nid again."

Then King Harald rigged out his ship, got ready for sea, and when
he had all in order went out of the river. His men rowed very
skilfully and beautifully. So says Thiodolf: --

"It was upon a Saturday,
Ship-tilts were struck and stowed away,
And past the town our dragon glides,
That girls might see our glancing sides.
Out from the Nid brave Harald steers;
Westward at first the dragon veers;
Our lads together down with oars,
The splash is echoed round the shores.

"Their oars our king's men handle well,
One stroke is all the eye can tell:
All level o'er the water rise;
The girls look on in sweet surprise.
Such things, they think, can ne'er give way;
The little know the battle day.
The Danish girls, who dread our shout,
Might wish our ship-gear not so stout.

"'Tis in the fight, not on the wave,
That oars may break and fail the brave.
At sea, beneath the ice-cold sky,
Safely our oars o'er ocean ply;
And when at Throndhjem's holy stream
Our seventy cars in distance gleam,
We seem, while rowing from the sea,
An erne with iron wings to be."

King Harald sailed south along the land, and called out the levy
everywhere of men and ships. When they came east to Viken they
got a strong wind against them and the forces lay dispersed about
in the harbour; some in the isles outside, and some in the
fjords. So says Thiodolf: --

"The cutters' sea-bleached bows scarce find
A shelter from the furious wind
Under the inland forests' side,
Where the fjord runs its farthest tide.
In all the isles and creeks around
The bondes' ships lie on the ground,
And ships with gunwales hung with shields
Seek the lee-side of the green fields."

In the heavy storm that raged for some time the great ship had
need of good ground tackle. So says Thiodolf: --

"With lofty bow above the seas,
Which curl and fly before the breeze,
The gallant vessel rides and reels,
And every plunge her cable feels.
The storm that tries the spar and mast
Tries the main-anchor at the last:
The storm above, below the rock,
Chafe the thick cable with each shock."

When the weather became favourable King Harald sailed eastwards
to the Gaut river with his fleet and arrived there in the
evening. So says Thiodolf: --

"The gallant Harald now has come
To Gaut, full half way from his home,
And on the river frontier stands,
To fight with Svein for life and lands.
The night passed o'er, the gallant king
Next day at Thumia calls a Thing,
Where Svein is challenged to appear --
A day which ravens wish were near."

63. OF KING HARALD'S FLEET.

When the Danes heard that the Northmen's army was come to the
Gaut river they all fled who had opportunity to get away. The
Northmen heard that the Danish king had also called out his
forces and lay in the south, partly at Fyen and partly about
Seeland. When King Harald found that King Svein would not hold a
meeting with him, or a fight, according to what had been agreed
upon between them, he took the same course as before -- letting
the bonde troops return home, but manning 150 ships, with which
he sailed southwards along Halland, where he herried all round,
and then brought up with his fleet in Lofufjord, and laid waste
the country. A little afterwards King Svein came upon them with
all the Danish fleet, consisting of 300 ships. When the Northmen
saw them King Harald ordered a general meeting of the fleet to be
called by sound of trumpet; and many there said it was better to
fly, as it was not now advisable to fight. The king replied,
"Sooner shall all lie dead one upon another than fly." So says
Stein Herdison: --

"With falcon eye, and courage bright,
Our king saw glory in the fight;
To fly, he saw, would ruin bring
On them and him -- the folk and king.
`Hands up the arms to one and all!'
Cries out the king; `we'll win or fall!
Sooner than fly, heaped on each other
Each man shall fall across his brother!'"

Then King Harald drew up his ships to attack, and brought forward
his great dragon in the middle of his fleet. So says Thiodolf:
--

"The brave king through his vessels' throng
His dragon war-ship moves along;
He runs her gaily to the front,
To meet the coming battle's brunt."

The ship was remarkably well equipt, and fully manned. So says
Thiodolf: --

"The king had got a chosen crew --
He told his brave lads to stand true.
The ring of shields seemed to enclose
The ship's deck from the boarding foes.
The dragon, on the Nis-river flood,
Beset with men, who thickly stood,
Shield touching shield, was something rare,
That seemed all force of man to dare."

Ulf, the marshal, laid his ship by the side of the king's and
ordered his men to bring her well forward. Stein Herdison, who
was himself in Ulf's ship, sings of it thus: --

"Our oars were stowed, our lances high,
As the ship moved swung in the sky.
The marshal Ulf went through our ranks,
Drawn up beside the rowers' banks:
The brave friend of our gallant king
Told us our ship well on to bring,
And fight like Norsemen in the cause --
Our Norsemen answered with huzzas."

Hakon Ivarson lay outside on the other wing, and had many ships
with him, all well equipt. At the extremity of the other side
lay the Throndhjem chiefs, who had also a great and strong force.