Now they assembled their army, and when they came near the city, the inhabitants noticed them and let loose these steers that they believed in. And when the steers were set loose, they ran forward hard {100} and made terrible noises. Ívar saw this from where he was being carried on a shield, and he asked for his bow, and it was given to him. He then shot these evil steers, killing both of them, and in this way they were done with the obstacle that men found most frightening.
Rognvald spoke to the men on the ships and said that men were lucky if they had as much fun as his brothers were having. "And they had no other plan than to make me stay here so they would get all the honor. But now we will go out there and join them."
They did so, and when they came to where the troops were fighting, Rognvald pushed hard into the battle, and it came about that he was killed. And at this time his brothers entered the city walls and the battle began anew, and it ended with the people of Hvítabǿ fleeing and the sons of Ragnar chasing after them.
And when they returned to the city, Bjorn spoke this poem:
"We raised a great war-cry,
and I tell you the truth:
our swords bit harder
than theirs in Gnípafjorð.
Each man who wished to,
became a killer outside Hvítabǿ;
the boys weren’t stingy
with sword-blows."
And when they returned to the city, they took all the money and movable property, and they burned every house and broke down all the walls. And then they sailed away.
Chapter 9. Áslaug’s Ancestry Comes to Light
Eystein was the name of the king who ruled Sweden at this time. He was married, and his daughter was named Ingibjorg. She was the most beautiful of all women, the best of all to look upon. King Eystein was powerful and popular, cruel and yet wise. His throne was at Uppsala. He was a great maker of sacrifices, and in his time at Uppsala there {101} were such huge sacrifices that there were never greater ones anywhere in Scandinavia.
The Swedes had a superstition about a cow they called Síbilja. So many sacrifices had been made to this cow that no one could withstand hearing the terrible sounds it made. And it was the king’s custom, when he expected war, to let this cow lead his troops, and so much demonic power was in this cow that Eystein’s enemies, when they heard it, were driven so crazy that they fought among themselves and did not heed their own friends. And for this reason the Swedes were left in peace, because no man dared to fight against such overwhelming power.
King Eystein was a good friend to many men and chieftains, and it is said there was great friendship between King Eystein and Ragnar at this time. They had the custom of visiting each other for a feast in alternating summers.
It came time for Ragnar to visit Eystein for a feast. When he arrived in Uppsala, he and his men were welcomed well. After they had drunk the first evening, King Eystein ordered his daughter to serve Ragnar and himself. Ragnar’s men spoke among themselves, saying that there was nothing for Ragnar to do except to ask for the hand of the king’s daughter and no longer be married to a farmer’s daughter. Each of his men encouraged him to do this, and it ended with Eystein’s daughter engaged to Ragnar, though she was not to be married to him for some time.
When the feast ended, Ragnar went home, and his journey was without incident. Nothing is said of his travels until he was a short way from his home and his path led him through a certain forest. He and his men came to a clearing in the woods, and then Ragnar ordered his men to halt. Then he told them to listen, and he told all his men who had been with him on his visit to the Swedes that they were forbidden to talk about his plan to marry the daughter of King Eystein. He added, by way of emphasis, that if anyone did speak of it, he would lose nothing less than his life.
When he had said what he wanted, he went home. His men were happy when he returned home, and they drank beer in celebration of his return.
When he sat down once again on his throne and had not been there very long, Kráka came into the hall and sat on Ragnar’s lap. She placed her arms around his neck and asked, "What is the news?"
{102} Ragnar said there was nothing to tell. As the evening passed, the men drank and went to sleep.
When Ragnar and Kráka went to bed, she asked him again what the news was, and he said he didn’t know any. She wanted to keep talking, but Ragnar said he was very sleepy and worn out from traveling.
"Then I will tell you some news," she said. "If you won’t tell me any."
He asked what this news might be.
"I call it news," she said, "if a king is engaged to a woman, when some would say that he already has a wife."
"Who told you this?" asked Ragnar.
"Let your men keep their lives and limbs, because none of them told me," she said. "You must have seen that three birds sat in the tree nearby you, and it was they who told me this news. I ask you not to do this thing you have planned, and I tell you that I am a king’s daughter, not a farmer’s, and my father was such a great man that there has never been his equal, and my mother was the wisest and most beautiful of all women, and her name will be famous as long as the world lasts."
Ragnar asked who her father was, if she was not the daughter of the poor farmer at Spangarheið. She said that she was the daughter of Sigurð, killer of Fáfnir, and that her mother was Brynhild, daughter of Buðli.
Ragnar said, "It seems extremely unlikely to me that their daughter would be named ‘Crow’ or that their child would grow up in such poverty as I saw at Spangarheið."
Then she said, "There is a story behind this." And she told him, beginning her story with Sigurð’s meeting with Brynhild on the mountain, where she was conceived. "And when Brynhild gave birth, I was given the name Áslaug." And now she told him everything that had happened since she and Heimir first met Aki and Gríma.
"These are terrible things that you say happened to Áslaug," said Ragnar.
She said, "You know that I am pregnant. The child I give birth to will be a boy, and that boy will have an odd trait: it will seem that a snake is in the boy’s eye. And if this comes true, I ask that you not return to the Swedes at the time you agreed to marry King Eystein’s daughter. But if this does not come true, then do as you want. But I want the boy to {103} be named after my father if this mark of distinction is in his eye, as I predict it will be."
The time came when Áslaug felt the birth-pangs coming, and then she gave birth and the child was a boy. The midwives took the boy and showed her. Then she said that he should be taken to Ragnar for him to see. This was done, and the young boy was brought into the hall and laid on Ragnar’s lap. When Ragnar saw the boy, they asked him what he should be named. He spoke this poem:
"His name will be Sigurð,
this boy will make battles;
they will say the son is much like
both his father and mother.
He will be listed prominently
in the heroes of Óðin’s family;
the boy with the snake-eye
will be the killer of many."
Ragnar took a golden ring from his hand and gave it to the boy as a naming-gift. And when Ragnar reached forward with the ring in his hand, the boy turned his back to him, and Ragnar took this as a sign that he would hate gold. And now he spoke this poem:
"Brynhild’s good grandson
shows men that he has
fierce shining eyes
and the boldest of hearts.
Buðli’s great-grandson
refuses a ring of pure gold;
this early-blooming swordsman
will be stronger than all men."
And then he spoke this:
"I never saw
brown serpents
in the eyes of any boy,
{104} except in Sigurð’s alone.
He is easy to recognize,
this ungreedy boy,
he’s sharp in the eye—
he’s got a snake there."
Ragnar ordere
d his son to be taken back to Áslaug’s room. This was the end of his plans to go to Sweden, and Áslaug’s ancestry was revealed to everyone, so that they knew she was the daughter of Sigurð, the killer of Fáfnir, and of Brynhild, the daughter of Buðli.
Chapter 10. The Fall of Eirek and Agnar, and Áslaug’s Demands
When the time came that Ragnar was supposed to come to the feast in Uppsala, and he did not come, King Eystein thought that this had been done to humiliate him and his daughter, and his friendship with King Ragnar ended. When Eirek and Agnar, Ragnar’s sons, heard this, they discussed it and said that they ought to get together the biggest army they could and raid the Swedes. They assembled a great army and prepared their ships.
They thought it was important for their journey to have a good beginning. But it so happened that while Agnar’s ship was launched from its rollers, a man was in its way, and he was killed. They called this "launch-blood," and it seemed to them that their journey was not beginning well, though they did not let it stand in their way.
When their troops were ready, they went to Sweden, and when they came into Eystein’s kingdom they began to raid. When the Swedes saw this, they went to Uppsala and told King Eystein that an army had come into their land. The king had the war-arrow sent around his kingdom, and he assembled such a huge army that it was a wonder to look upon. He marched this army until he came into a certain forest, where he set up his tents. He had with him the cow Síbilja; many sacrifices had been made to the cow before it would come.
{105} When they were in the forest, King Eystein said, "I have heard that Ragnar’s sons are in the valleys beyond the forest, and it has been truthfully reported to me that they have less than a third of the troops that we have. Let’s get all our troops ready for the fight, but send only a third out to meet them. Their troops are so tough that Ragnar’s sons will think they are going to defeat us, and then suddenly we will come at them from all sides with the cow out in front of our army, and I don’t think they’ll be able to withstand the cow’s moos."
This was done. And when the brothers saw this third part of Eystein’s army, they didn’t think they were going to be overpowered or outnumbered. And then suddenly the whole army came out of the forest, and the cow was let loose, and it ran in front of the troops and made terrible sounds. The noise was so bad that the soldiers who heard it fought among themselves, and only the two brothers were able to hold their ground.
The evil cow killed many men with its horns that day. And though Ragnar’s sons were great men, they could not withstand both the superior numbers of their enemies and this sacrificial magic, but they put up a hard resistance and they defended themselves well and daringly, and with lasting fame. Eirek and Agnar were in the forefront of their army that day, and they often went through the ranks of King Eystein’s soldiers.
Now Agnar was killed, and Eirek saw this and fought extremely boldly and did not care whether he escaped with his life or not. Then he was overcome and captured, and Eystein ordered the battle to be stopped, and he offered Eirek a truce. "And I will add this," said Eystein, "that I will marry my daughter to you."
Eirek spoke this poem:
"I will accept no payment
for my brother, nor a wife,
nor hear Eystein named as
the killer of Agnar.
No mother mourns me,
I am ready to die high above
the other corpses here—
let the spears pierce me."
{106} Eirek said that he wanted his men to be spared and allowed to go wherever they wished. "But I want several spears to be taken and stood upright on the ground, and I want to be thrown on top of them and give up my life in that way."
Eystein said this would be done as he requested, though Eirek was choosing what was worse for them both. The spears were set up, and Eirek said:
"No king’s son
I ever heard of
died on a better bed
for the raven’s breakfast.
The eager, thankless,
shining-feathered bird
will soon caw over
both brothers’ bodies."
Now Eirek went to where the spears were set, and he took a ring off his hand and threw it to his men who had been granted a truce, and he said it was for Áslaug. He added this poem:
"Take these final words,
my journey east is ended;
tell the lovely lady Áslaug
that she owns my rings now.
She will be angry,
my stepmother, when she hears
I am dead; she will tell
her gentle sons."
Then Eirek was heaved up onto the spears. He saw where a raven was flying, and he said:
"The raven is hungry
for my bloody head;
that eager bird thirsts
for my unseeing eyes.
{107} You know, if the raven
pulls the eyes from my head,
that carrion-bird repays me badly
for the feasts I fed him."
Eirek then died with great courage. His messengers traveled home and did not let up until they came to where Ragnar had his throne. At the time, Ragnar was away at a meeting of kings, and his other sons had not yet come home from raiding.
The messengers stayed there three nights before they went to a meeting with Áslaug. When they went before Áslaug’s throne, they greeted her nobly, and she accepted their greetings. She had her linen headdress resting on her knees, and she had loosened her hair and was about to comb it. She asked who these men were, because she had not seen them before. The foremost among them said that they had been in the army of Eirek and Agnar, the sons of Ragnar. Then she spoke this poem:
"What do you have to say?
Are the Swedes here,
or still in their land?
What’s the news, king’s man?
I have heard it told
that the Danes sailed north
after the ‘launch-blood’ omen,
but I heard nothing further."
The messenger said this in reply:
"I must tell you, woman,
Thóra’s sons are dead—
fate has done evil
to your husband.
I know no bad news
newer than this.
Now the news is told,
an eagle flies over the fallen."
{108} Áslaug asked how this had happened. The messenger told Áslaug the poem that Eirek had spoken when he sent the ring for her. The messengers saw that Áslaug shed a tear, and it was the color of blood and hard as a hailstone. No man before or since ever saw her weep.
Áslaug said that they could not undertake their revenge before Ragnar or his sons came home. "But you will stay here until then, and I will not hesitate to encourage vengeance for them as if they were my own sons."
The messengers remained there, and it happened that Ívar and his brothers came home before Ragnar, and they were not there long before Áslaug went to meet with her sons. Sigurð Snake-Eye was three years old at the time, and went with his mother. When the two of them came into the hall where the Ragnarssons held court, they greeted Áslaug well and they exchanged news. The brothers told of the death of Rognvald, her son, and about the other events that had happened. But she gave little attention to all this and she said:
"My sons, you left me
staring out to sea a long time.
Now you’ve come home again;
you come and go as you please.
Battle-bold Rognvald,
youngest of my sons,
has gone to Óðin,
reddened his shield with blood."
"I cannot see," she continued, "how he could have died better if he had lived longer."
The Ragnarssons asked Áslaug what news she had. She answered, "The deaths of your brothers Eirek and Agnar, my stepsons, two men I believe were the best kind of champions. It is not unusual that you find this intolerable and will avenge it te
rribly. And I want to help you in every way in getting revenge, so that we make it likely that they will be avenged too much rather than too little."
Ívar said, "I will certainly never go to Sweden and fight with King Eystein and the dark sacrifices there."
{109} Áslaug adamantly opposed him, but Ívar was the leader of his brothers and he continued to refuse to go on this journey. Áslaug spoke this poem:
"Your brothers
would not have left you
unavenged, not for
even half a year,
if you had died
and Eirek and Agnar lived.
They were not my sons—
but I won’t lie about this."
"I’m not sure," said Ívar, "that it helps at all, even if you say one poem after another. How do you know what kind of fortifications they have there?"
"I don’t know," said Áslaug, "but what can you tell me about what kind of obstacles await us there?"
Ívar said that there were terrible sacrifices there, and that he had never heard of similar sacrifices anywhere. "And their king is both powerful and cruel."
"What is it that he makes most of his sacrifices to?"
Ívar said, "There is a huge cow they call Síbilja. This cow has the power to cause King Eystein’s enemies to become powerless if they hear it mooing. Therefore we have not only men to fight against, but we must also anticipate that we will have to fight some dark magic before we can fight the king, and I wish to risk neither myself nor my troops there."
Áslaug said, "You must understand that you cannot both be called a great man, and also not take this risk." And when she decided that there was no point speaking to them any longer, she started to leave, thinking that they did not value her words at all.
Then Sigurð Snake-Eye said, "I will tell you, mother, something that occurs to me, but I cannot speak for my brothers."
"I want to hear what you have to say," she said. And then Sigurð Snake-Eye said this:
{110} "If you are worried, mother,
it will take three nights
to make the navy ready;
The Saga of the Volsungs Page 15