Chapters 41-45

41. After that kindly men came between them, and seek to settle things; so there was a peace-meeting fixed for them in Hrossey. At that meeting a settlement was made in this way, that then the isles were shared into halves as they had been between Thorfinn and Brusi. So things stood awhile. Hacon was then almost always away war-roving since he had grown up. He became then a very overbearing man, and they (Hacon and his men) were hard on those men who served under those kinmen, Erlend and his sons. So it came about again that the settlement was broken, and they fared against each other a great force. Havard Gunni's son and all the other noblemen of the earls came one day between them and again brought them together and tried to bring about a settlement. Then Erlend and his sons would not make matters up, so that Hacon was to be there in the isles. But because it seemed to their friends that there was great risk in their quarrels, then they prayed Hacon not to let this stand in the way of peace; but that he would rather fare away out of the isles. They said it would be good counsel if he fared east across the sea to visit his kinsmen, both in Norway and Sweden. And at the beseeching of his men, and also that Hacon was envious of his kinsmen there in the isles, and thought it good to learn the ways of other chiefs, then he granted them their prayer that he would fare away at once out of the isles. Then the settlement was again made by the counsel of good men. After that Hacon fared away out of the isles, first east to Norway, and he found there king Olaf the quiet. This was about the end of his days. There Hacon stayed some time. After that he fared east to Sweden to see king Ingi, Steinkel's son, and he made him welcome. He found there his friends and kinsmen. He reaped there the greatest honour from the friendships of Hacon, his mother's father. He had held rule there from Steinkel, the Swede king, after he had to fly the land before king Harold Sigurd's son. He had grown there to be the greatest friend, both of the king and the men of the land. Another daughter's son of earl Hacon Ivar's son, was Hacon, who called the Northman; he was father of Eric the wise, who was king in Denmark after king Eric the ever-memorable. Hacon stayed in Sweden a while, and king Ingi was good to him. But when things had gone on so a while then home-sickness came over him to seek west to the isles. Christianity was then young in Sweden; there were then many men who went about with witchcraft, and thought by that to become wise and knowing of many things which had not yet come to pass. King Ingi was a thorough Christian man, and all wizards were loathsome to him. He took great pains to root out those evil ways which had long gone hand in hand with heathendom, but the rulers of the land and the great freeholders took it ill that their bad customs were found fault with. So it came about that the freemen chose them another king, Sweyn, the queen's brother, who still held to his sacrifices to idols, and was called Sacrifice-Sweyn. Before him king Ingi was forced to fly the land into West-Gothland; but the end of their dealings was, that king Ingi took the house over Sweyn's head and burnt him inside it. After that he took all the land under him. Then he still went on rooting out many bad ways.

42. When Hacon Paul's son was in Sweden, he had heard say that there in the land was a man who went about with wisdom and spaedom, whether he got it by witchcraft or other things. He had a great longing to find out this man, and to know whether he could be made wise as to his future fate. And after that he fared to that man, and found him at last dwelling in the woods. There he used to go about to feasts, and told the freemen about their crops and other things. But when he found that man, then he asked him he might come to power or other good luck. The wizard asked him what manner of man he was. He told him his name and kin, that he was the daughter's son of Hacon Ivar's son. Then said the wizard: "Why wilt thou take of me wisdom or sayings; thou knowest that those kinsmen of thine of old have had little mind for such like men as I am, and it may serve thy need that thou shouldest seek to know thy fate from Olaf the stout, they kinsman, the king of Norway, whom ye set all faith in. But I rather doubt that he would not have humble-mindness enough to tell thee what thou art eager to know, or perhaps be not so mighty either as ye say he is." Then Hacon answers: "I will not speak ill of him. I think it more likely that I may not have worthiness enough to take wisdom from him, than that he may not be so powerful, that for that reason I should not take wisdom from him. But this is why I have come to see thee, because it hath come into my mind that here neither of us will need to envy the other for the sake of matters of virtue or belief." That man answers: "It likes me well that I find that thou thinkest that thou hast all trust where I am, and before that faith which ye have followed, you and your other kinsmen. So it is, too, that with you those who lay themselves out for such things go wondrously to work. They go about with fasts and wakes, and deem that therefore those things must be granted to them which they are eager to know. But though they take such pains, yet are they all the less wise of what they desire to know, the more they mix themselves up with them; but we lay ourselves under no penance, and yet we are always wise as to those things of which our friends think it worth while that they should not go on in ignorance. Now things will so go with us two that thou shalt get this gain from me, as I see clearly that thou thinkest thyself better able to get the truth from me than from king Ingi's priestly teachers, whom he thinks he may put all trust in. Thou shalt come in three nights' space, and then we two will try if I can tell thee anything which thou art eager to know."
After that they part, and Hacon stays there in those parts, and when three nights were gone by he fared to meet the wizard. He was then in a certain house all alone, and drew his breath heavily when he (Hacon) went in, stroked his brow with his hand, and said it cost him much ere he became wise of those things which he was to know beforehand. Hacon says he was willing to hear his future fate. The spaeman began to say: "If thou wilt know thy fate, then is it long to tell about, for that it is great and because from thy life and labour very great tidings will come to pass; and it is my belief that thou wilt come to be sole chief over the Orkneys at last, but it may be that thou wilt think it long to wait. I trow, also, that thy offspring will rule there. But from thy western voyage, which thou farest next of all to the Orkneys, very great tidings will come about when those things are fulfilled which will spring from it. Thou wilt also in thy days let that wickedness be done which thou must either make atonement for or not to that God in whom thou believest. But thy footsteps lie further out into the world than I can get to see, but still I think that thou wilt bring back thy bones here to the northern half of the world. Now have I told thee those things that I can at this time, and now say how thou wilt like thy day's work." Hacon answers: "A great story is this thou tellest, if it be sooth, but I think it will go better with my lot than thou sayest. May be, too, that thou has not seen all this of a truth." The spaeman bade him believe it or not as he chose, but said that it would come to pass.

43. After that Hacon went away to see king Ingi, and stayed with him a short time ere he set his heart on faring to the western lands. Then he took leave of the king to go away. Hacon fared first to Norway to see his kinsman king Magnus, and he made him welcome. Then he learnt those tidings from the Orkneys, that earl Erlend and his sons had it almost all their own way there, and had won very many friends, but Paul his father had little or nothing to do with ruling the land. He thought, too, he made out from those men who came from the west, and in whose words he could put most faith, that the Orkneyingers would long very little for his coming thither west; for they had already good peace and quietness, but feared if Hacon came west that strife and uproar would arise from him. But when Hacon thought of this to himself, then he thought it not unlikely that those kinsmen would hold the realm from him, but let it not be without risk to him if he came thither west without a great force. So he took that counsel to seek to king Magnus that he would bring him to power in the Orkneys.
This was after that king Magnus had made them put to death Steigar-Thorir and Egil, and freed the land from all strife. Hacon was a wise man, and he thought he could see by king Magnus' talk when they spoke together, that the king would be high-minded and eager to attack the realms of other chiefs. Hacon fell to saying this before the king, that it would be a brave deed for a prince to have out the levy and harry west across the sea, and lay the isles under him, as Harold fair-hair did. Says, too, if he could get rule in the Southern isles, it would be handy to harry thence in Ireland and Scotland; and if he put the western lands under him, that thence it would be good to strive with the strength of the Northmen against the Englishmen, "and so avenge Harold Sigurd's son, thy father's father." But when they spoke of this, it was found that this jumped well with the king's temper; he said it was well and bravely spoken, and near his mind. "But that thou shalt keep in mind Hacon," says the king, "if I were to do this after thy words and egging on, to fare with a host west over the sea, that it must not come on thee unawares, though I bore on with a bold claim to those realms which lie away there west, and make in that no distinction of men." But when Hacon heard this utterance, he grew cold and said very little more about it, and doubted for what these words could be spoken. He left off after that egging on the king to any voyage; but then little was needed, for after this speech the king sent messengers over all his realm that the levy should be out. He laid it bare before all the people that he meant to hold on with that host west over the sea, whatever tidings might happen afterwards in his voyages. So men made ready for this voyage all over the land. King Magnus had with him his son on this voyage, eight winters old, whose name was Sigurd; he was much of a man for his years.

44. When those brothers Paul and Erlend ruled over the Orkneys, king Magnus, the son of Olaf the quiet, came from the east out of Norway. He had a mighty host, and many liegemen followed him. Vidkun Johnson, Sigurd Hranis' son, Sark out of Sogn, Dag Eilif's son, Skopti of Gizki, Œgmund, Finn, and Thord; Eyvind elbow the king's marshal. There was also Kali of Agdir Seabear's son, the son of Thorleif the wise, whom Hallfred maimed, and Kol his son. Kali was a very wise man, and dear to the king, and a good rhymer. Now when king Magnus came to the Orkneys, then he seized the earls Paul and Erlend, and sent them east to Norway, but set up his son Sigurd over the isles, and gave him councillors. King Magnus fared to the Southern isles and the earls' sons, Magnus and Erling, sons of earl Erlend, and Hacon, Paul's son, went along with him. But when king Magnus came into the isles, he fell to harrying first in the Lewes, and won them; and in that voyage he won all the Southern isles, and took captive Lögman, the son of Gudred, the king of the Southern isles. Thence he fared south under Bretland (Wales), and had a great battle in Anglesey-sound with two British earls, Hugh the stout and Hugh the proud. They were brothers of Costnami, who was then king in Ireland in Ulster. And when men were getting out their weapons and busking themselves for the fight, Magnus, Erlend's son, sate him down aft in the forecastle, and did not arm himself. The king asked why he sate. He said he had no quarrel with any man there; "that's why I will not fight." The king said: "Get thee away down under the thwarts, and don't lie here before men's feet, if thou darest not to fight, for I do not think that faith drives thee to this." Magnus took a psalter, and sung while the battle lasted, but did not shield himself. This battle was both hard and long, and both spears were thrown and blows struck; it was long so that it could not be seen between them which way the fight would turn. King Magnus shot with a crossbow, and another man from Helgeland by his side. Hugh the proud fought most sturdily; he was so clad and byrnied that there was no bare spot on him save the eyes. King Magnus bade the man from Helgeland that they should both shoot at him at once, and so they did, and one arrow struck him on his nose-guard, but the other went in at the eye, and flew afterwards through the head. That shot was reckoned to the king.

45. There fell Hugh the proud. After that the British fled and had lost many men; but king Magnus had won a great victory, but had yet lost many good men, and very many were wounded. So this was made about it:
                        "Bolts on byrnies then came rattling,
                        and main the monarch fought,
                        Agdir's ruler bent his crossbow,
                        on helmets there was sprinkled:
                        Bowstrings' hail on mail came flying,
                        fell fast, and Hordas' king,
                        Seeking land with onslaught hard,
                        his deathblow to the earl."
Then king Magnus made Anglesea his own as far south as ever the kings of Norway of old had ever owned it. Anglesea is a trithing of Bretland (Wales). Kali Seabear's son had got many wounds in Anglesea sound, though none of them at once mortal. Afterwards king Magnus turned back by the south course along Scotland.
King Magnus had made Magnus Erlend's son his page, and he served always at the king's board. But after the battle in Anglesey-sound king Magnus took a great dislike to him. He said he had behaved like a coward. It fell on a night when king Magnus lay off Scotland that Magnus Erlend's son ran away from king Magnus' ship when he thought he had the best chance of flying from the king. He jumped overboard and swam to land, and made up his berth so that it seemed as if a man lay there. But when he came to land he ran into the woods, and was in his under-clothing. He struck his foot, and hurt himself much, as he was bare-foot, and so he could walk no longer at that time. He came to a great tree, and climbed up there into the branches, and there bound up his foot, and hid himself there in the branches for some time. But in the morning when men went to meat on board the king's ship, the king asked where Magnus Erlend's son was. He was told that he was asleep in his berth. The king bade them wake him, and said something else than sleep must have come over him when he lay longer than other men. But when they came to his place, then he was missing. Then the king bade them search for him and let loose the slot hounds. But when the hounds were loose, they came at once on his track, and ran off to the wood, and came to that tree in which Magnus was up. Then one hound ran round and round the oak and bayed. Magnus had a stick in his hand, and threw it at the hound, and hit him on the side. The hound laid his tail between his legs and ran down to the ships, and the others after it. The king's men could not find Magnus. He lay hid for a while in the wood, and was next heard of in the court of Malcolm the king of Scots, and stayed there a while, but sometimes he was in Bretland with a certain bishop. He was sometimes in England, or in other places with his friends, but he did not come back to the Orkneys while king Magnus lived.
King Magnus held on his course from the south along Scotland, and then came to meet him messengers from Malcolm the king of Scots, and offered him peace. They said thus that the king of Scots would give up to him all those isles that lie to the west of Scotland, between which and the mainland he could sail in a ship with a fixed rudder. But when king Magnus ran in from the south to Cantire, he let them drag a cutter over the neck of Cantire, he held the tiller, and so took as his own all Cantire. That is better than the best isle in the Southern isles save Man. It goes from the west of Scotland, and has a narrow neck of land at the top of it, so that there ships are very often drawn over. King Magnus held on thence into the Southern isles, but sent his men into Scotland's firths; they were to row in hugging the land on one side, and out hugging it on the other, and so King Magnus claimed as his own all the isles to the west of Scotland. Then the king gave it out that he would sit that winter in the Southern isles, but gave leave to those men who he thought had most need of it to fare home. But when the levies knew that, they became home-sick, and grumbled badly about their being so long away. The king then had a talk with his men and councillors. he went and looked at the wounds of his men. Then the king went to see Kali Seabear's son and asked after his wounds. Kali said they healed very little, and let him know that he could not tell how they would turn out. The king asked counsel of him. Kali asked: "Is it not so king that now your friends steal away from you." The king made as though he thought that were not so. Kali bade him call them under arms, and so muster his men. The king did so, and then missed many men. And when the king told this to Kali, then Kali chaunted this:
                        "How thy wary chiefs reward thee
                        For those precious gifts of thine?
                        West the vessel's sides are shaking,
                        Try our trustiness, O king!"
                        Then the king answers:
                        "Ill have I my boons bestowed,
                        Boons that brighten face of man,
                        Buoyant keel to climb the billow,
                        Now must I command in vain."
After this the king kept watch and ward if men ran from him, and let none .......... (1) When king Magnus was in the Southern isles, then he got as a bride for his son Sigurd, Bjadmunja, daughter of Moorkiartan, Thialbi's son, the Irish king of Connaught. Sigurd was then nine winters old and the maiden five. This winter Kali Seabear's son breathed his last of his wounds. In Anglesey-sound had fallen Sigurd skewer, Kali's kinsman. He was liegeman in Agdir.
Next spring early king Magnus fared away from the Southern isles. He fared first to the Orkneys. There he heard from the east across the sea of the death of the earls, and how Erlend had died in Nidaros, and was buried there, and Paul in Bergen. In the spring in the Orkneys king Magnus gave away Gunnhilda, the daughter of earl Erlend, to Kol Kali's son, as an atonement for the loss of his father, and some estates in the Orkneys went with her as her dowry, and a homestead in Paplay. Of Erling, the son of earl Erlend, some men say that he had fallen in Anglesey sound, but Snorri Sturla's son says he has fallen in Ulster with king Magnus. Kol Kali's son became king Magnus' liegeman, and fared east into Norway with the king, and home to Agdir with his wife, and settled down on his farms. They, Kol and Gunnhilda, had two children; their son's name was Kali, but their daughter's name was Ingirid. they were both of the greatest promise, and reared up with much love.


Notes:
1. The end of this sentence is illegible in the MS. [Back]