The Saga of the Volsungs

by Jackson Crawford

  Ragnar prepared for battle, and instead of his armor he was wearing the shirt that Randalín had given him when they parted, and in his hand he had the spear that he had used to kill the dragon—the one that once had lived encircling Thóra’s hall, and that no one but Ragnar had dared to fight, when he had nothing to protect himself except a helmet.

  The battle began when the two armies met, and Ragnar had a much smaller force. The battle had not gone on long before a large number of Ragnar’s troops had fallen. But wherever Ragnar himself went, he cleared his path of all the enemies who stood before him, and he went straight through the enemy ranks that day, and wherever he cut or stabbed at {120} someone’s shield, armor, or helmet, his blows were so strong that no living thing could withstand him. But he himself was never shot or cut, and no weapon injured him and he was not harmed in any way, even while he killed a great number of the troops of King Ella. But the battle ended with the death of all of Ragnar’s men, and Ragnar himself was hemmed in with shields and captured.

  Now they asked Ragnar who he was, but he was silent and answered nothing.

  Then King Ella said, "This man must have been through some tougher tests than this, if he won’t tell us his name. Throw him into a pit full of snakes and let him sit there a while, and if he says anything that indicates he may be Ragnar, we will take him out immediately."

  So Ragnar was let down into a serpent-pit, and he sat there a long time while none of the snakes would bite him. And some people said, "This is a great man; no weapons would bite him today, and now the serpents will not bite him."

  Then King Ella ordered them to remove the outermost layer of clothes he was wearing, and this was done. And now the snakes stuck their fangs into every part of him.

  Ragnar said, "How the piglets would squeal, if they knew what the old boar was going through." And even though he said this, they did not understand for certain yet that this was Ragnar and not some other king. But then Ragnar spoke this poem:

  "I have fought battles

  that men called glorious—

  I count fifty-one—

  and I’ve killed many men.

  I never expected

  that worms would kill me,

  but often what happens

  is what we’re least prepared for."

  And he continued with this poem:

  "How the piglets would squeal

  if they saw the old boar now!

  {121} The serpents bite deep,

  and my injuries are grim.

  The vipers have struck hard

  and sucked my blood.

  It’s not long till I’m a corpse,

  lying dead among these beasts."

  Then Ragnar died, and he was carried away from that place. King Ella now considered it likely that it was Ragnar who had died here, and he contemplated how he could find out for certain, and how he could hold on to his kingdom, and how Ragnar’s sons would react when they learned of this.

  Ella accepted a suggestion to prepare a ship, and to assign to it a captain who was known to be both wise and tough, and to assign further men to the ship so that it would have a solid crew. He said he would send this crew to meet with Ívar and his brothers and to tell them of the death of Ragnar, their father. But this journey sounded unpleasant to most men, and there were few who wished to undertake it.

  The king told the men who were to go on this journey: "Pay attention to how each of the Ragnarssons reacts when the news is told. Then come back, when the weather is with you." Then he ordered them to prepare for their journey, so that nothing would be lacking. Then they left, and their voyage went well.

  At this time the sons of Ragnar had been raiding in the Southern Empire. They returned to Scandinavia and intended to visit the kingdom where Ragnar ruled. But they knew nothing of his latest expedition, or what had happened on it, and they were very curious to know how it had gone.

  The Ragnarssons sailed north, and wherever people heard that they were coming, they destroyed their own cities and took their movable property and fled away, so that the Ragnarssons could hardly feed their own army.

  One morning, Bjorn Ironside woke up and spoke this poem:

  "Every morning a raven

  flies over these cities,

  loudly calling, acting

  {122} like he’ll die of hunger;

  but let him fly south,

  over the sands where we left

  wounded men, there he’ll drink

  the blood of blade-killed men."

  And then he spoke this:

  "When we first left home,

  when we began making battles,

  and fought hard with our enemies,

  we went into Roman lands.

  I drew my sword, let the eagle

  scream over the corpses

  of the murdered, while

  my mustache turned gray."

  Chapter 16. Concerning the Ragnarssons and King Ella

  Now it is told that the Ragnarssons returned to Denmark before King Ella’s messengers came, and they rested there with their troops. But the messengers soon arrived with their own followers, at a time when the Ragnarssons were holding a feast. The messengers went into the hall where they were drinking, and stood before the throne where Ívar was sitting. Sigurð Snake-Eye and Hvítserk the Bold were sitting and playing hnefatafl [a board game], while Bjorn Ironside sat on the floor, where he was shaving a spearshaft smooth.

  When Ella’s messengers came before Ívar, they greeted him formally. He received their greeting and asked them where they had come from and what sort of news they might have to tell. The foremost among the messengers said that they were Englishmen and that King Ella had sent them to tell the news of the death of Ragnar, their father.

  Hvítserk and Sigurð stopped in the middle of their game and listened carefully to hear the news. Bjorn stood up from the floor and leaned on his spear.

  {123} Ívar asked the messengers carefully about every detail of how Ragnar had lost his life. They told him everything that had happened from the time when Ragnar came to England to the moment when he died. And when they were finished telling the story, with the last words Ragnar had spoken—"How the piglets would squeal"—Bjorn slid his hand down the spearshaft, and he had been gripping it so hard that the marks from his finger-grips remained. And at the moment the messengers finished their story, Bjorn shook his spear so hard that it broke in two. Meanwhile Hvítserk was holding a game piece he had captured, and he squeezed it so hard that blood gushed out from under every fingernail. Sigurð Snake-Eye had been using a knife to trim his fingernails while the story was told. He listened so intently that he did not notice he was cutting himself with it until it sliced all the way to the bone, but he did not show any sign that he felt it.

  And Ívar asked for every detail, and his face turned sometimes red, sometimes blue, sometimes pale, and he was so swollen that all his flesh seemed inflated from the grimness in his heart.

  Hvítserk spoke up now, and said their vengeance should begin immediately with the killing of King Ella’s messengers.

  Ívar said, "That won’t happen. They will leave here in peace, and go wherever they please, and if they lack anything they need, they can tell me and I will get it for them."

  When the messengers had completed their errand, they left the hall and returned to their ship. And when the wind was in their favor, they sailed away and had a good voyage until they came back to King Ella and told him how each of Ragnar’s sons had reacted to hearing this news told.

  When King Ella heard this, he said: "I expect we need to fear either Ívar or none of them, based on what you have told me about him. The others have brave hearts, but we could hold our kingdom against them." He ordered watchmen to be posted all over his kingdom, so that no invading army could surprise him.

  Meanwhile, when King Ella’s messengers were gone, the Ragnarssons met for a conference to discuss how they might avenge their father Ragnar.

  Ívar said, "I will have no part
in this, and I will contribute no soldiers, because what happened to Ragnar was what I expected. From the beginning, he was badly unprepared for what he undertook to do. He {124} had no quarrel with King Ella, and it has often happened that a man who is too proud and deals unrighteously with others is brought down shamefully. I will accept money in compensation for our father from King Ella, if he will offer it to me."

  His brothers were furious when they heard this, and said they would never let themselves be disgraced in this way, even if Ívar did. "And many men would say that we didn’t know how to act rightly, if we left our father’s death unavenged, considering that we have gone raiding all around the world and killed many a man without cause. No, that shall not be. We will prepare every seaworthy ship in Denmark, and gather such a great army that every man who can take up a shield against King Ella will go with us."

  But Ívar said that he would stay out of it together with all the ships that he had command over, "except for the one I call my own."

  When it became known that Ívar would give no aid to this expedition, they were able to gather a much smaller army than otherwise, but in spite of this they did not hesitate to set out. And when they reached England, King Ella heard of their arrival and ordered the trumpet blown to summon everyone who would follow him. He gathered such a large army that no one could count their number, and he marched against the Ragnarssons. The two armies met, and Ívar was not present for that battle. The confrontation ended with the Ragnarssons driven away, and King Ella took the victory.

  And while the king was driving their army away, Ívar said that he had no intent of going back to his own land, "And I will see whether King Ella will do me some honor, or not, and I think it will be better to accept payment from him than continue with such failed expeditions like the one we’ve just been on."

  Hvítserk said that he would have nothing to do with him, and that Ívar could do whatever he wanted for his part, "But we will never accept payment from him for our father."

  Ívar told him they would say farewell with that said, and he asked the others to rule their shared kingdom, "And you must send me the amount of money that I determine." And when he had told them this, he said farewell, and he turned back to meet King Ella.

  When Ívar came before King Ella, he greeted the king respectfully and began his speech in this way: "I have come to meet with you, and {125} I want to make a settlement with you and accept whatever honors you will give me. I see now that I have no reason to fight against you, and I think it’s better to accept whatever honors you want to give me than risk the death of more of my men, or of my own self."

  King Ella answered, "Some people say that it’s impossible to trust you, and that you often speak well when you intend to break your word. It is difficult for me to believe you, or your brothers."

  "I will ask you for only very little, if you will grant my request. And I will swear to you in turn that I will never stand against you."

  King Ella asked him what he wanted in payment.

  "I want," said Ívar, "for you to give me only as much of your own land as a steer-hide will cover, though outside of that I will be permitted to lay a building’s foundation as well. I will not ask for more from you, and if you will not grant this request, I will think you want to give me no honor whatsoever."

  The king said, "I don’t know whether this will harm me in some way, if you take this piece from my land, but I will certainly give it to you if you will swear not to fight against me. I do not fear your brothers, as long as you are true to me."

  Chapter 17. King Ella Is Killed

  Now King Ella and Ívar agreed to this, and Ívar swore oaths to Ella to the effect that he would never fire an arrow against Ella and never give counsel that would lead to harm for him, and that in return he would receive land in England that was as large as the biggest steer-hide Ívar could find might cover.

  Ívar went and got a hide from an old bull, and he gave orders for the hide to be softened and stretched three times. Then he had it cut into the thinnest possible strips, and he had the hair-side split from the flesh-side. When this was done, it formed a string so long that it was amazing to look at; no one had imagined that it would come out so long. Then he gave orders for it to be spread across a certain plain, and there were such vast lands there that it could have held a large city, and outside of this territory he had marked out, he also laid out a foundation that {126} would suit a large fortress with walls. Then he gathered together several skilled builders and ordered many houses to be built on this plain, as well as a large city that is called London. That is the largest and most excellent of all cities in Scandinavia.

  When Ívar had finished building this city, he had spent all his money. He was so generous that he gave money away with both hands, and his wisdom was considered so great that everyone went to him with problems to seek his advice. And he settled every dispute that was brought to him in a way that seemed to be to everyone’s advantage, and he became so popular that he was regarded as a friend by all. Ívar was a great help to King Ella in every issue that concerned the ruling of his kingdom, and Ella let him decide about many matters and disputes as his representative when the king himself could not be present.

  And when Ívar had established himself with his famed wisdom, he sent messengers to his brothers, asking them to send him as much gold and silver as he demanded. When the messengers came to his brothers, they explained their mission and everything Ívar had accomplished, because they did not know what Ívar’s plan was. His brothers understood that Ívar’s mood had not changed too much from normal, and they sent him all the money that he demanded.

  When the messengers came back to Ívar, he gave all the money to the greatest men in the land, and in this way he siphoned support away from King Ella. All of them swore that they would keep the peace even if Ívar marched an army in their direction.

  When Ívar had gathered this much support, he sent messengers to his brothers to tell them that he wanted them to conscript an army from all the lands where they had power, and to call up every soldier they could. When this message came to his brothers, they understood right away that Ívar thought it was likely that they would be victorious. They gathered an army from every part of Denmark and Götaland and all the realms where they held power, and they assembled an invincible army and then led their conscripts out of the country. They sailed their ships toward England night and day, wishing to make it difficult for their enemies to see them coming.

  This was told to King Ella. He assembled an army, but he was able to find few fighters, because Ívar had siphoned away so much of his support.

  {127} Now Ívar went to the king and said that he would keep the promise that he had sworn, "But I have no control over what my brothers do. Still, I will go to them and find out whether they will halt their army and agree to do no more harm than they have already done."

  Ívar went to his brothers and gave them a great deal of provocation, telling them to get started as best they could and let the battle come as soon as possible, because King Ella had a much smaller army. His brothers answered that Ívar had no need to egg them on like this, because they had the same intentions as before.

  Ívar went back to King Ella and told him that his brothers were too wild and crazed to want to listen to him, "And when I tried to propose a peace between them and you, they yelled at me and rejected it. Still, I will keep my promise not to fight against you, and I will stay peaceably out of the battle with my own men. But the battle between them and you will go as it will."

  Now King Ella saw the army of the Ragnarssons, and the troops came forward so ferociously that they were a marvel to look upon. Ívar said, "King Ella, it is time to call up your army, but I think that my brothers will give you a hard battle for a little while."

  As soon as the two armies met, there was a great battle. The Ragnarssons attacked hard, and pushed through the ranks of King Ella’s troops; they were so furious that they thought only about dealing out as much injur
y as they could, and the fight was long and hard. And it ended with King Ella and his army driven into retreat, and King Ella was captured.

  Then Ívar came, and he said they needed to find an appropriate death for King Ella. "It would be wise," he said, "to remember the kind of death he gave our father. Let’s have a man who’s good with a knife cut an eagle deep in his back, and color the eagle red with his blood."

  The man who was chosen for this work did as Ívar commanded, and King Ella was horrifically wounded before this task was done. Then Ella died, and the Ragnarssons felt that they had avenged their father Ragnar.

  Ívar said that he would give his brothers the whole kingdom they had owned together, but that he would keep England for himself.

  {128} Chapter 18. The End of the Ragnarssons

  After this, Hvítserk, Bjorn, and Sigurð Snake-Eye went home to their own kingdom, but Ívar stayed behind and ruled over England. From that point on, they kept a smaller army, but they continued to raid in various lands. Their mother Randalín became an old woman.

  Hvítserk raided one time in the east, and there he was faced with such a larger force that he could barely raise a shield against his enemies, and he was captured. He chose to die by being burned on a pile of men’s severed heads, and he was killed in this way. When Randalín heard about this, she spoke this poem:

  "One of the sons I had,

  the one named Hvítserk,

  has endured death in the east;

  he was never inclined to flee.

  He was burned on a pile of heads

  cut from men killed in battle;

  that bold lord of men chose

  that death, before he fell dead."

  And then she said:

  "They piled up a heap

  of hundreds of men’s heads

  under a great man, my doomed son,

  and let the flames roar up;

  what better bed could a warrior

  have chosen to sleep on?

  That powerful man dies

  with honor; it’s a lord who falls."