King Hrolf thanked King Eirek for his noble speech, and said that he could not have asked for more from his hands.
CHAPTER XIII
Not long after, they prepared to leave, and they didn’t stop their journey until they reached Ullarakr. Certain knowledge of their coming had gone ahead of them for their entire journey, and the Swedish king had had strong fortresses built, so that there was no way to get in. When King Hrolf arrived with his men, there was no lack of uproar and clashing of weapons coming from the fortresses. They saw the strong defenses there. King Hrolf ordered his men to pitch their tents and camp, saying that they wouldn’t stay there for long. King Hrolf then spoke with his brother Ketil and asked him to take the fortress with sudden attacks and taunting speech. Ketil said that he intended to attack without holding anything back, and so did each of his men.
They slept that night, and in the morning King Hrolf made a request, saying that he wanted to speak with the King of the Swedes. He asked her to come out onto the ramparts, so that each of them might hear the other’s words clearly. This was told to the king, and she went out onto the wall with all her retinue. When King Hrolf saw the king, he said, “Sire, I ask you to hear and heed the words which we will speak to you. You may remember the last time we came to meet you, what our purpose was, and what shame and disgrace you did to us. Now, if we receive no better answer than before, I shall burn this place and kill every mother’s son in it, or else I shall die here.”
When the king had heard his words, she said, “You’ll be a Gautlandish goat-herd before you’ll get any authority over this place or anyone who protects us. Go home with all your men and be glad that you got away unhurt.” Then the king beat on her shield and said that she didn’t want to hear another word out of King Hrolf, and all her men did the same. When King Hrolf saw that his negotiations with the king had come to nothing, he ordered his men to arm themselves and attack boldly. They did as the king ordered, but soon retreated without accomplishing anything. They couldn’t do anything without facing a counterattack. They carried fire to the walls, but water poured down from hollow logs set into the ramparts. They thought they could take the fort with their weapons by digging, but their enemies poured blazing pitch and boiling water on them. Large stones were dropped on them as well, bruising them all, because there was no shortage of defenders. Some men were killed there and many were hurt, and they went away both exhausted and wounded. There was grumbling among the Gauts, and they didn’t like this fight. The Swedes came out of the fortress, jeering and laughing at them, and questioning their courage. They brought out velvet and silk and many precious treasures and showed them off, inviting the Gauts to try and get them.
King Hrolf asked his brother Ketil how he thought things were going. Ketil said that it seemed rather hard work—“I believe this king of the Swedes is pissing very hot.” The king said that perhaps more than just bragging was needed.
They stayed there no less than half a month. Then Asmund said to Hrolf, “We’ve been attacking this stead for a long time, and every day we’ve had severe troubles. We’ve lost many men, and some are wounded. Now, my lord, we want you to come up with some plans which will help. If not, our men want to go home, because we’ve gotten mockery and laughter for our pains.”
King Hrolf answered, “We don’t see any way to make it certain that this fortress will be won. But let’s try going to the forest and tying up big bundles of sticks. We’ll make a huge wickerwork out of them, and put big logs under it. Then we should carry this wickerwork so high that men can easily stand underneath it and prop it up from below with posts. We must pick all our strongest men for this. Then some will have digging tools and dig holes in the walls, and we’ll find out if we can get through the walls that way.”
They all felt this was a good plan. When they had brought this device, they carried it under the ramparts. It was so strong that nothing hurt the men behind it, neither stones nor pitch, so that in a short time they had breached the fortress walls. When King Thorberg had figured out their trick, she ran into an underground passage with all her men, and that’s how they escaped into the forest. King Hrolf broke into the fortress with all his forces, but when they came inside, everyone had fled. They found it very strange not to find any men when they came into the quarters—but food and drink stood prepared in every room, and clothes and treasures were all there, ready to hand.
Ketil said, “This king’s a coward at heart, if she’s abandoned such a huge store of treasures, along with food and drink prepared for our enemies. We’ve had a great stroke of luck for our trouble. First we should drink and eat, and then divide up our loot.”
When King Hrolf heard his words, he said, “Now you’ve snapped at the bait that was meant for you, paying more attention to filling your belly than capturing the king. No one is to delay here so that the king can get away. Instead, we must search this place, in case we find any underground passage that might lead away from here.”
They did as the king ordered, and they found an underground passage in the fortress. King Hrolf went in first, and then one man after another followed. They walked until they came to an upwards passage, and by then they had reached the forest. There before them was the Swedish king with all her household. A battle broke out. King Hrolf advanced boldly and bravely, and so did all the sworn brothers. The Swedish king and all her men fought bravely, because her followers were hand-picked for their valor, and she had a much larger force. But as soon as the sworn brothers entered the fray, they charged fiercely and killed many men. The Swedish king urged her men on and said that they were no help if they couldn’t drive away a petty king. King Thorberg fought with a keen heart, and she and her champions killed many men, yet the battle was turning very much against the Swedes.
King Hrolf spoke with Ketil, his brother. “I want you to attack the king of the Swedes, and capture her if you can. But don’t use a weapon against her, because it’s the worst disgrace to wound a woman with a weapon.”
Ketil said that he would do it if he could. Just then, the Swedish ranks broke and ran. By then, Ketil had come so close to the king that he slapped the king’s crotch with the flat of his sword blade. He grabbed her and said, “My lady, this is how we’ll scratch that itch in your crotch. Now that’s what I call a foul blow.”[11]
The king said, “That blow won’t bring you honor.” She struck Ketil under the ear with the blunt side of her axehead,[12] so hard that she knocked him head over heels, and said, “That’s how we always beat our dogs, if they’re too eager to bark.”
Ketil leaped to his feet, ready to avenge himself. At that moment, King Hrolf came up and seized the king and said, “Lord, lay down your weapon; you are now in our power. I will grant a truce to you and all your men, if you will agree to be governed by your father.”
The Swedish king said, “You probably think you have power over us and all our men, King Hrolf, but it will do you little credit that we will never willingly consent, even if you force us into this.”
King Hrolf said, “My lord, we’ve come together because I want to ask for your hand honorably. I ask that our engagement be decided by your father’s judgment. If he resolves matters between us, it will be said that you have honorably upheld all of our glory.”
The Swedish king said, “You must be a wise and experienced man, because many a man in your position would think to force us to his will—but you want to go ahead with this arrangement between us. Now that we and our men are in your power, we will agree to this, and so release ourselves from this bondage for now. Now, King Hrolf, we wish to follow the custom of courteous men if they are beaten and overcome: we want to invite you and all your men to rest and enjoy a grand feast, and so reward you for granting a truce to our men. But just now, we want to ride to Uppsala with all our surviving picked troops, and meet our father King Eirek for a complete consultation, because it is our honor to keep his advice.”
&
nbsp; The kings bound themselves to this agreement with strong oaths. After that, King Hrolf turned back to the fortress, and as soon as he had come there, he accepted a feast there for three nights. But the King of Sweden rode to Uppsala with all her retinue. As soon as she arrived, she went before King Eirek her father, lay her shield down before her feet, took the helmet off her head, bowed to the king and greeted him. She said, “My dear father, I have been driven from the kingdom which you gave into my keeping. Because I have been overcome by strong warriors, I ask you to make whatever arrangements you please for my marriage.”
The king said, “We strongly desire that you stop this fighting, and we want you to take up womanly activities and go to your mother in the bower. Then we will betroth you to King Hrolf Gautreksson, because we know no one who is his equal throughout all the Northlands.”
The princess said, “We wouldn’t want to come to meet you for your guidance, but then be unwilling to trust your wisdom.”
After that she went to the bower, giving the weapons she’d borne over to King Eirek for safekeeping. She sat down with her mother to embroider. She was fairer and lovelier and more courteous than any maiden, so much that there was no one as lovely to be found in the northern half of the world. She was wise and beloved, eloquent and shrewd and haughty.
CHAPTER XIV
After that, King Eirek sent men to meet King Hrolf and invite him and his warriors to a feast. King Hrolf lost no time and went to Uppsala. When King Eirek heard of King Hrolf’s arrival, he went with all his retinue to meet him. He led him to the high seat beside him in his own hall, and arranged the seats for his sworn brothers. They drank, happy and cheerful. Then they discussed what had become of their arrangement, and they came to complete agreement. After that, King Eirek had his daughter summoned into the hall. When her father’s message reached her, she dressed herself in the best finery and entered the hall with her mother and many other refined ladies. When Eirek saw his daughter come in, he stood up to meet her, and he led her to a seat on his other side, along with the queen and all the women in her train.
When the kings had been drinking for a while, King Hrolf brought up his proposal of marriage, so that the young maiden could hear. There’s no need to make a long story of how King Hrolf was betrothed to the young maiden. The feast was made even grander, and a multitude of men was invited from all over the Swedish realm. This feast was magnificent and lasted half a month. And at the end of the feast, King Eirek gave noble gifts to all mighty men with glad good will, and then each man went to his home by the cheerful consent of King Eirek.
King Hrolf stayed behind in Sweden with his wife, and good love began to grow between them. King Hrolf sent his brother Ketil to rule over Gautland. Ingjald went to his father in Denmark. King Hrolf began ruling the realm which the princess had formerly ruled. Now they all stayed in peace, each in the place to which he had come.
CHAPTER XV
The next spring, messengers came to King Hrolf from Denmark. They said that King Hring was dead, and that Ingjald had asked King Hrolf to come visit him and share the inheritance-feast in memory of King Hring, who was his foster father. As soon as Hrolf heard the news, he prepared for this journey, and his sworn brother Asmund went with him. When they were ready, they set their course for Denmark. They had two ships, well crewed with men and stocked with weapons. Ketil came to join them, and he had one well-equipped ship. They came alongside Zealand late in the day and tied up along an island, spreading awnings over their ships.
King Hrolf landed on the island with some men. They saw ships anchored along the other side of the island, five ships all together. Four were longships, and the fifth was a dragon-ship, both large and beautiful. The king thought that he had never seen a more beautiful ship. These ships were tented over with black awnings.
The king said, “Who can be the captain of that costly ship? I have never seen a ship that I would rather own than that one.”
Asmund answered, “That’s certainly a prize ship in every respect, and as such it would be a king’s treasure. But I think there’s only one man who can be the captain of this ship, and you’ll have to exert all your strength before you get it. The one who owns it must think well of himself.”
The king said, “Do you know who owns the dragon-ship?”
Asmund answered, “His name is Grimar the son of Grimolf, and he is the worst Viking. He sails on warships both in winter and summer. He looks huge and wicked, but in truth he’s even worse. No iron bites him or any of the twelve men that follow him. They eat all their meat raw and drink blood.[13] It’s truly said that they’re more trolls than men. One summer, we encountered each other off the Hebrides. I had ten ships, all well crewed, and they had five ships. We fought one day, and the battle quickly turned against us. All my men fell there, but I jumped into the sea and escaped. I’ve never gone on a worse expedition than that one.”
The king said, “Do you think there’s any point in fighting them with the forces we have?”
Asmund asked the king to decide. “We must trust in your luck, if it will help.” Ketil strongly urged them to attack, and he said that it would be good to test themselves and win wealth and fame.
King Hrolf said, “Since they are wicked and greedy, but they have the treasure that I truly want to own, we will prepare for battle and load stones onto our ships.”
It was done as the king ordered, and they prepared as best they could. The king had them go up onto the island and cut great clubs.[14] After that they put on their armor, and then they rowed at them silently.
It is said that Grimar’s ships were all anchored side by side, and the longships lay closer to the island, with the dragon-ship on the outside. There was a wide gap between the ships and the island. They headed first for the longships, knowing that if those were taken before they moved against the dragon-ship—“I think we’d win, if our men had no longships on the other side when they attack the dragon-ship.” The king ordered them to fight hardest while the other side was least expecting it, and to know how to deal with them as quickly as possible. He ordered them not to shout, but to move as silently as they could. They did as the king ordered.
There was fog and thick darkness. The men on the longships noticed nothing until the awnings were pulled away and they themselves were beaten with stones and weapons. They all sprang to their feet and counterattacked with great bravery, because they all kept their weapons with them while they were lying down, yet they suffered many casualties before they managed to arrange their forces for defense. When they had fought for a little while, King Hrolf and his men boarded the ships. There was such a terrible slaughter that in a short time they cleared the ship that they’d boarded. They killed some men, and others jumped into the sea and drowned. They cleared three ships in this way, killing every mother’s son. At that, Grimar awoke and ordered his men on the dragon-ship to attack. There were loud shouts and battle-cries, as each man encouraged the others.
King Hrolf said to his brother Ketil: “Now you shall attack the remaining longship, and Asmund and I shall attack the dragon-ship.” Ketil said that they would do so.
King Hrolf and Asmund attacked the dragon-ship on both sides. They had taken few losses, so they had many men. Grimar stood up on the dragon-ship and said, “Who’s attacking so boldly?”
The king answered, “If you’re curious, I’m called Hrolf son of Gautrek. The other is called Asmund, the son of the king of Scotland.”
Grimar said, “We’ve seen that man. The last time, we parted in a way that must have left him with little nostalgia for our meeting, when we drove him overboard wounded, and killed every last one of his men. Doesn’t he remember now?”
Asmund said, “Before evening comes, you’ll find out that it hasn’t slipped my mind.”
Grimar spoke: “We’re not afraid of your threats, but we know that King Hrolf is famed for his bravery, and so we’re w
illing to offer him a choice that we haven’t given anyone else, because it’s a shame for such a man to be killed. King Hrolf, I invite you and all your men to land on the island, and you may keep your weapons and fine clothes. But the money you have, I’ll take in exchange for the men you’ve killed before my eyes—and that’s still far too little. But I’ve never made such a good offer to any man since I began raiding.”
When King Hrolf heard his words, he said, “That must certainly be a kind offer. But since it’s not clear to us that we’re at your mercy, with you offering terms to us instead of us offering them to you, we don’t want to lose our money by any means.”
Grimar said, “I see that you must not be as wise a man as we thought, since you don’t want to save your life, because I tell you truly that this is the last day of your life if you intend to fight me. I’d thought that you should be allowed to enjoy your life longer, because I’d been told that you were brave and popular. I had meant to show you more warriors’ honor than the others. I thought I could increase my own fame for showing you more mercy than you deserve.”
King Hrolf said, “You’ll get no thanks from us for that. Prepare yourself quickly, because we’re willing to risk finding out which of us will be offering terms to the other before evening comes. We’ve also overcome some of your men, and you have to avenge that.”
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