The Saga of the Jomsvikings
Page 7
Notes
59 Áslák and Hávard are “berserkers,” wild and enormously strong warriors invulnerable to ordinary weapons.
60 The author erred here; the Germanic heathen did not fall on his knees before his gods.
61 We must suppose that the goddess’s wrath was owing to Hákon’s earlier temporary acceptance of Christianity.
62 Also known as Kark; the same man who afterwards betrayed and killed the earl when he fled from Ólaf Tryggvason.
63 Such storms with a sudden drop of temperature, hail, and lightning are very rare on the west coast of Norway.
64 Shields fastened in solid rows to the gunwale formed an additional breastwork for the warriors.
65 In the Old North rowing was in no wise regarded as below the dignity of noble personages.
66 A small weight for an ogress-induced hailstone, but understandably impressive considering the rarity of hail (see note 63).
22. THE AFTERMATH
Vagn and Bjorn the Welshman discussed what measures they should take. “We have the choice,” said Vagn, “of either waiting here till daybreak to be made prisoners, or of trying to reach land to do them some damage and perhaps escape after that.”
Thereupon they took the mast and the sailyard, and on them the eighty men tried to escape. They got to a skerry, but by that time most of them were altogether done for, what with their wounds and the cold, and they could proceed no further. Ten men died there during the night.
When dawn broke, the earl’s men began to bind up their wounds. Then they heard the twang of a bowstring, and an arrow struck Gudbrand, a kinsman of the earl’s, and the shot was mortal. Thereupon they rowed out to the ships to search them, and on Búi’s ship they found Hávard the Hewing still living, though both his feet were severed. He said: “Who of the men fell a while ago from my shot?” They told him.
Hávard said: “Then I was less lucky than I would like to have been. I had meant it for the earl.”
Then they slew Hávard.
Earl Eric went up to Thorleif Skúma and asked: “How is it—you look as though you were at death’s door?”
Thorleif said: “I don’t know—except that the point of Vagn’s sword touched me a bit, yesterday, when I struck him that blow with my club.”
The earl said: “Ill bestead would your father be if you died.” Einar Tinkle-Scales overheard this and spoke this verse:
“Said the earl to the sea-steed’s67
sailor there in south-lands—
grievous gashes marked the
gold-dispender’s68 body—:
woeful sorrow, ween I,
will your father suffer
if, urger-of-the-storm-of-
arrows,69 you should die now.”
Then Thorleif died.
Afterwards they discovered that there were men on the skerry. So the earl bade his men go after them and capture them. They rowed out to them, and the men put up no defence. Seventy were then brought to the mainland. The earl had them all fastened in one rope. All the ships of the Jómsvíkings were towed to the land and their goods divided among the earl’s men. Then the earl’s men opened their provisions and ate, and there was much jubilation. And when they had eaten their fill they went to where the prisoners were.
Notes
67 Kenning for “ship.”
68 Kenning for “chieftain.”
69 Kenning for “warrior.”
23. THE TESTING OF THE JÓMSVÍKINGS
Thorkel Leira had been picked to deal the Jómsvíkings the deathblow. Then three men were released from the rope, all badly wounded, and slaves were assigned to guard them and twist wands into their hair. Then Thorkel Leira went up to them and lopped off their heads.
Afterwards he said: “Did you observe whether I changed color at all in this business?70 For many say that happens if one kills three men.”
Earl Eric said: “We did not see you change color, yet a great change seems to have come over you.”
Thereupon a fourth man was released from the rope, and a wand was twisted in his hair. He too had been sorely wounded.
Thorkel asked him: “What do you think about dying?”
“I am resigned to it,” he replied; “the same will happen to me as happened to my father.”
“What was that?” asked Thorkel.
He said: “Slash away! He died.”
Then Thorkel dealt him the deathblow.
Then a fifth man was brought up, and Thorkel asked him what he thought about dying.
He said: “Poorly would I remember the laws of the Jómsvíkings if I shrank from death or spoke words of fear. Death comes to every man.”
Thorkel dealt him the deathblow.
Thereupon they were minded to ask the same of every man of them before he was slain and thus find out whether the band was as gallant as it was reputed to be. And the repute, they thought, would be borne out if no one spoke words of fear.
The sixth man was brought up with a wand twisted in his hair. Thorkel spoke to him in the same fashion. The man said it was well to die in high esteem with men; “but you, Thorkel, will live with shame.”
Thorkel cut him down.
Then a seventh man was led there, and Thorkel asked him the question.
“I think well of dying. Just cut me down quickly. Here I hold a knife in my hand. We have often talked, we Jómsvíkings, about whether a man knows anything when he is quickly beheaded. So let this be the proof of the matter: I shall hold up this knife if I know of anything; else it will drop.”
Thorkel hewed, the head flew off, and the knife dropped.
With that the eighth man was brought out, and Thorkel asked him the same question.
He said he thought well of dying. And when he thought the blow would fall he said: “Hrút [Ram]!”
Thorkel checked himself and asked why he uttered that word.
He replied: “Even so, one would not be too many for the [two] ewes you called on, you earl’s men, the time you got a drubbing from us.”71
“Wretch that you are,” said Thorkel, and chopped off his head.
Upon that a ninth man was brought out, and Thorkel asked him the same question.
He said: “I think well of death, as do all of us. But I am not minded to let myself be slaughtered like a sheep, and would rather face the blow. You hew into my face and watch closely if I flinch. Because we Jómsvíkings have often talked about that.”
They did what he asked for and let him face the blow. Thorkel stepped in front of him and hewed into his face; and he did not flinch a whit except that his eyes closed when death came upon him.
Then the tenth man was brought up, and Thorkel put the question to him. But he replied: “I wish you would wait till I let down my trousers.”
“That I shall grant you,” said Thorkel.
And when the man had done his business he said: “Many a thing turns out differently from what one expected. I intended to get into bed with Thóra, the daughter of Skagi, who is the earl’s wife.” And he shook his member and pulled up his trousers.
Then Earl Hákon said: “Strike down that man at once, he has long had ill in his mind.”
Thorkel gave him the deathblow.
Then there was brought up a young man whose hair was long and golden yellow like silk. Thorkel asked him the same question.
He said: “I have lived the best part of my life. I do not care to live after those who have died here. But I want to be led to slaughter not by slaves but rather by a man not lower than you; nor will such a one be hard to find—and let him hold my hair away from my head so that my hair will not become bloodstained.”
A man from the earl’s bodyguard stepped forward and wound the long hair around his hands. Thorkel slammed down with his sword, and at that moment the young man jerked away his head, and the blow fell on the arms of the one holding his hair and cut them off at the elbow.
The young man leapt up and said: “Whose hands are in my hair?”
Earl Hákon said: “A gr
eat mischief has been done. Kill that man at once and also all the others who are left, because these men are too unmanageable to guard against.”
Earl Eric said: “Let us first find out who they are. What is your name, young man?”
He replied: “They call me Svein.”
The earl asked: “Whose son are you?”
He said: “I am said to be the son of Búi.”
The earl asked: “How old a man are you?”
He replied: “If I live through this one I shall be eighteen years.”
Earl Eric said: “You shall.” Then he took him into his company.
Earl Hákon said: “I do not know what will happen if he who has done us such despite is to escape death. Yet I shall let you have your will. Now keep on beheading these men.”
Then another one was released from the rope, but it caught around his foot so that he was held fast. He was a tall man, young, and of very brisk manner. Thorkel asked him what he thought of death.
“I would think well of it if I could fulfill my vow before dying.”
Earl Eric said: “What is your name?”
“My name is Vagn,” he replied.
The earl asked whose son he was, and he said that he was the son of Áki.
The earl said: “What is the vow that would satisfy you to fulfill before dying?”
“This,” he said: “that once I got to Norway I would get into bed with Ingeborg, the daughter of Thorkel Leira, without the consent of her kinsfolk, and that I would kill Thorkel myself.”
“That I shall prevent,” said Thorkel as he rushed at him and leveled a blow with both hands. Bjorn the Welshman gave Vagn a kick so that he fell forward. Thorkel’s blow went over Vagn’s head, and he stumbled as he missed Vagn; but his sword flew out of his hands and cut the rope so that Vagn was free. Vagn leapt up and seized the sword and dealt Thorkel the deathblow.
Then Vagn said: “Now I have fulfilled half of my vow, and I feel a good deal better satisfied.”
Then Earl Hákon said: “Don’t let that man escape! Kill him at once.”
Earl Eric said: “He shall no more be killed than I will.”
Earl Hákon said: “I can do nothing about this business, since you insist on having your own way.”
Earl Eric said: “Vagn will be an acquisition for us, and I hold him a great trade for Thorkel Leira.”
Afterwards Earl Eric asked Vagn to come into his company.
Then Vagn said: “Only on this condition do I think it better to live than to die: that quarter is given to all our men. Else let us all go one way.”
Earl Eric said: “I shall now speak to them, for I am not averse to doing what you ask.”
Then he went up to Bjorn the Welshman and asked his name. Bjorn told him.
The earl said: “Are you that Bjorn who showed such prowess in rescuing the man in the hall of King Svein? And what cause had you, an old man and white-haired, to attack us? Sure it is that every man’s hand is against us. Will you accept your life from us?”
Bjorn said: “I will, if quarter is given to Vagn, my foster son, as well as to all those who still live.”
“That I shall grant you if I have the power.”
Earl Eric then asked his father that quarter be given to all Jómvíkings who were still alive. Earl Hákon told him to do as he pleased. Thereupon all were released and assured of their lives.
Notes
70 The belief obtained that a change of color (or any other sign of a change visible on the face) betokened a man’s being “fey”—doomed.
71 In the original a pun is involved, since á (dative and accusative of ær, “ewe”) is in Icelandic the equivalent of “ouch.”
24. OF VAGN, SIGVALDI, AND THE OTHER JÓMSVÍKINGS
After that Vagn on the advice of Earl Eric journeyed east to Víken and announced that he would celebrate his marriage with Ingeborg, as had been his intention. Vagn remained there during the winter, but in spring he journeyed south to Denmark to his possessions in Funen and managed them for a long time. And many men of renown are descended from him and Ingeborg, who was considered a most outstanding woman. Bjorn journeyed home to Wales and ruled there as long as he lived, and he was considered a very admirable man.
When Sigvaldi returned home to Denmark he went to his possessions in Zealand. His wife, Ástrid, was waiting for him there. She had a bath made ready for him and rubbed him down herself. She said: “I am thinking that some who were in the Jómsvíking battle carried away from it a hide more riddled with holes than yours—yours seems to be best cared for with powder [like a woman’s].”72
He replied: “Things might still happen to me that you might be even less pleased with; so be satisfied with things as they are.”
Sigvaldi ruled over Zealand and was considered a man of exceeding shrewdness. He plays a part in several sagas. Thorkel the Tall also was held to be a very wise man, as was proved often afterwards.73
Sigurd Cape took over his paternal inheritance on the island of Bornholm and was considered a most worthy man. A long line of descendants stem from him and Tova.
Some men say that Búi became a dragon and brooded on his gold. Their reason for the tale was that a serpent had been seen in Hjórunga Bay; and it may be that some evil spirit did settle on that treasure and was seen there.
Earl Hákon did not rule over Norway for very long after the battle, but he was greatly renowned for the victory. Then there came to Norway the famous King Ólaf, the son of Tryggvi, and it then happened that Earl Hákon was murdered, according to what we are told in the sagas of the kings.74 King Ólaf then converted all of Norway. Here we cease telling about the Jómsvíkings.
Notes
72 Whole wheat is still used in the bath for softening the skin.
73 Thorkel headed an expedition against England, but later, together with King Ólaf Haraldsson (better known as Saint Ólaf), entered the services of King Æthelræd against King Svein Forkbeard of Denmark.
74 See note 19.