Saga of Olaf Haroldson

187. OF THE INSURRECTION OF AGDER DISTRICT.

Of Erling's sons some at that time were north in Throndhjem, some
in Hordaland, and some in the Fjord district, for the purpose of
collecting men. When Erling's death was reported, the news came
also that there was a levy raising in Agder, Hordaland, and
Rogaland. Forces were raised and a great army assembled, under
Erling's sons, to pursue King Olaf.

When King Olaf retired from the battle with Erling he went
northward through the sounds, and it was late in the day. It is
related that the king then made the following verses: --

"This night, with battle sounds wild ringing,
Small joy to the fair youth is bringing
Who sits in Jadar, little dreaming
O'er what this night the raven's screaming.
The far-descended Erling's life
Too soon has fallen; but, in the strife
He met the luck they well deserve
Who from their faith and fealty swerve."

Afterwards the king sailed with his fleet along the land
northwards, and got certain tidings of the bondes assembling an
army. There were many chiefs and lendermen at this time with
King Olaf, and all the sons of Arne. Of this Bjarne
Gullbrarskald speaks in the poem he composed about Kalf Arnason:
--

"Kalf! thou hast fought at Bokn well;
Of thy brave doings all men tell:
When Harald's son his men urged on
To the hard strife, thy courage shone.
Thou soon hadst made a good Yule feast
For greedy wolf there in the East:
Where stone and spear were flying round,
There thou wast still the foremost found.
The people suffered in the strife
When noble Erling lost his life,
And north of Utstein many a speck
Of blood lay black upon the deck.
The king, 'tis clear, has been deceived,
By treason of his land bereaved;
And Agder now, whose force is great.
Will rule o'er all parts of the state."

King Olaf continued his voyage until he came north of Stad, and
brought up at the Herey Isles. Here he heard the news that Earl
Hakon had a great war-force in Throndhjem, and thereupon the king
held a council with his people. Kalf Arnason urged much to
advance to Throndhjem, and fight Earl Hakon, notwithstanding the
difference of numbers. Many others supported this advice, but
others dissuaded from it, and the matter was left to the king's
judgment.

188. DEATH OF ASLAK FITIASKALLE.

Afterwards the king went into Steinavag, and remained there all
night; but Aslak Fitiaskalle ran into Borgund, where he remained
the night, and where Vigleik Arnason was before him. In the
morning, when Aslak was about returning on board, Vigleik
assaulted him, and sought to avenge Erling's murder. Aslak fell
there. Some of the king's court-men, who had been home all
summer, joined the king here. They came from Frekeysund, and
brought the king tidings that Earl Hakon, and many lendermen with
him, had come in the morning to Frekeysund with a large force;
"and they will end thy days, sire, if they have strength enough."
Now the king sent his men up to a hill that was near; and when
they came to the top, and looked northwards to Bjarney Island,
they perceived that a great armament of many ships was coming
from the north, and they hastened back to the king with this
intelligence. The king, who was lying there with only twelve
ships, ordered the war-horn to sound, the tents to be taken down
on his ships, and they took to their oars. When they were quite
ready, and were leaving the harbour, the bonde army sailed north
around Thiotande with twenty-five ships. The king then steered
inside of Nyrfe Island, and inside of Hundsver. Now when King
Olaf came right abreast of Borgund, the ship which Aslak had
steered came out to meet him, and when they found the king they
told him the tidings, -- that Vigleik Arnason had killed Aslak
Fitiaskalle, because he had killed Erling Skjalgson. The king
took this news very angrily, but could not delay his voyage on
account of the enemy and he sailed in by Vegsund and Skor. There
some of his people left him; among others, Kalf Arnason, with
many other lendermen and ship commanders, who all went to meet
Earl Hakon. King Olaf, however, proceeded on his way without
stopping until he came to Todar fjord, where he brought up at
Valdal, and landed from his ship. He had then five ships with
him, which he drew up upon the shore, and took care of their
sails and materials. Then he set up his land-tent upon a point
of land called Sult, where there are pretty flat fields, and set
up a cross near to the point of land. A bonde, by name Bruse,
who dwelt there in More, and was chief over the valley, came down
to King Olaf, together with many other bondes, and received him
well, and according to his dignity; and he was friendly, and
pleased with their reception of him. Then the king asked if
there was a passable road up in the country from the valley to
Lesjar; and Bruse replied, that there was an urd in the valley
called Skerfsurd not passable for man or beast. King Olaf
answers, "That we must try, bonde, and it will go as God pleases.
Come here in the morning with your yoke, and come yourself with
it, and let us then see. When we come to the sloping precipice,
what chance there may be, and if we cannot devise some means of
coming over it with horses and people."

189. CLEARING OF THE URD.

Now when day broke the bondes drove down with their yokes, as the
king had told them. The clothes and weapons were packed upon
horses, but the king and all the people went on foot. He went
thus until he came to a place called Krosbrekka, and when he came
up upon the hill he rested himself, sat down there a while,
looked down over the fjord, and said, "A difficult expedition ye
have thrown upon my hands, ye lendermen, who have now changed
your fealty, although but a little while ago ye were my friends
and faithful to me." There are now two crosses erected upon the
bank on which the king sat. Then the king mounted a horse, and
rode without stopping up the valley, until he came to the
precipice. Then the king asked Bruse if there was no summer hut
of cattle-herds in the neighbourhood, where they could remain.
He said there was. The king ordered his land-tent to be set up,
and remained there all night. In the morning the king ordered
them to drive to the urd, and try if they could get across it
with the waggons. They drove there, and the king remained in the
meantime in his tent. Towards evening the king's court-men and
the bondes came back, and told how they had had a very fatiguing
labour, without making any progress, and that there never could
be a road made that they could get across: so they continued
there the second night, during which, for the whole night, the
king was occupied in prayer. As soon as he observed day dawning
he ordered his men to drive again to the urd, and try once more
if they could get across it with the waggons; but they went very
unwillingly, saying nothing could be gained by it. When they
were gone the man who had charge of the king's kitchen came, and
said there were only two carcasses of young cattle remaining of
provision: "Although you, sire, have 400 men, and there are 100
bondes besides." Then the king ordered that he should set all
the kettles on the fire, and put a little bit of meat in each
kettle, which was done. Then the king went there, and made the
sign of the cross over each kettle, and told them to make ready
the meat. The king then went to the urd called Skerfsurd, where
a road should be cleared. When the king came all his people were
sitting down, quite worn out with the hard labour. Bruse said,
"I told you, sire, but you would not believe me, that we could
make nothing of this urd." The king laid aside his cloak, and
told them to go to work once more at the urd. They did so, and
now twenty men could handle stones which before 100 men could not
move from the place; and thus before midday the road was cleared
so well that it was as passable for men, and for horses with
packs, as a road in the plain fields. The king, after this, went
down again to where the meat was, which place is called Olaf's
Rock. Near the rock is a spring, at which Olaf washed himself;
and therefore at the present day, when the cattle in the valley
are sick, their illness is made better by their drinking at this
well. Thereafter the king sat down to table with all the others;
and when he was satisfied he asked if there was any other
sheeling on the other side of the urd, and near the mountains,
where they could pass the night. Bruse said there was such a
sheeling, called Groningar; but that nobody could pass the night
there on account of witchcraft, and evil beings who were in the
sheeling. Then the king said they must get ready for their
journey, as he wanted to be at the sheeling for the night. Then
came the kitchen-master to the king, and tells that there was
come an extraordinary supply of provisions, and he did not know
where it had come from, or how. The king thanked God for this
blessing, and gave the bondes who drove down again to their
valley some rations of food, but remained himself all night in
the sheeling. In the middle of the night, while the people were
asleep, there was heard in the cattle-fold a dreadful cry, and
these words: "Now Olaf's prayers are burning me," says the
spirit, "so that I can no longer be in my habitation; now must I
fly, and never more come to this fold." When the king's people
awoke in the morning the king proceeded to the mountains, and
said to Bruse, "Here shall now a farm be settled, and the bonde
who dwells here shall never want what is needful for the support
of life; and never shall his crop be destroyed by frost, although
the crops be frozen on the farms both above it and below it."
Then the king proceeded over the mountains, and came to a farm
called Einby, where he remained for the night. King Olaf had
then been fifteen years king of Norway (A.D. 1015-1029),
including the year both he and Svein were in the country, and
this year we have now been telling about. It was, namely, a
little past Yule when the king left his ships and took to the
land, as before related. Of this portion of his reign the priest
Are Thorgilson the Wise was the first who wrote; and he was both
faithful in his story, of a good memory, and so old a man that he
could remember the men, and had heard their accounts, who were so
old that through their age they could remember these
circumstances as he himself wrote them in his books, and he named
the men from whom he received his information. Otherwise it is
generally said that King Olaf had been fifteen years king of
Norway when he fell; but they who say so reckon to Earl Svein's
government, the last year he was in the country, for King Olaf
lived fifteen years afterwards as king.