46. KING OLAF'S SPEECH.

As soon as day dawned on Sunday morning, King Olaf got up, put on his clothes, went to the land, and ordered to sound the signal for the whole army to come on shore. Then he made a speech to the troops, and told the whole assembly that he had heard there was but a short distance between them and Earl Svein. "Now," said he, "we shall make ready; for it can be but a short time until we meet. Let the people arm, and every man be at the post that has been appointed him, so that all may be ready when I order the signal to sound for casting off from the land. Then let us row off at once; and so that none go on before the rest of the ships, and none lag behind when I row out of the harbour: for we cannot tell if we shall find the earl where he was lying, or if he has come out to meet us. When we do meet, and the battle begins, let people be alert to bring all our ships in close order, and ready to bind them together. Let us spare ourselves in the beginning, and take care of our weapons, that we do not cast them into the sea, or shoot them away in the air to no purpose. But when the fight becomes hot and the ships are bound together, then let each man show what is in him of manly spirit."

47. OF THE BATTLE AT NESJAR.

King Olaf had in his ship 100 men armed in coats of ring-mail, and in foreign helmets. The most of his men had white shields, on which the holy cross was gilt; but some had painted it in blue or red. He had also had the cross painted in front on all the helmets, in a pale colour. He had a white banner on which was a serpent figured. He ordered a mass to be read before him, went on board ship, and ordered his people to refresh themselves with meat and drink. He then ordered the war-horns to sound to battle, to leave the harbour, and row off to seek the earl. Now when they came to the harbour where the earl had lain, the earl's men were armed, and beginning to row out of the harbour; but when they saw the king's fleet coming they began to bind the ships together, to set up their banners, and to make ready for the fight. When King Olaf saw this he hastened the rowing, laid his ship alongside the earl's, and the battle began. So says Sigvat the skald: --

     "Boldly the king did then pursue
     Earl Svein, nor let him out of view.
     The blood ran down the reindeer's flank
     Of each sea-king -- his vessel's plank.
     Nor did the earl's stout warriors spare
     In battle-brunt the sword and spear.
     Earl Svein his ships of war pushed on,
     And lashed their stout stems one to one."

It is said that King Olaf brought his ships into battle while Svein was still lying in the harbour. Sigvat the skald was himself in the fight; and in summer, just after the battle, he composed a lay, which is called the "Nesjar Song", in which he tells particularly the circumstances: --

     "In the fierce fight 'tis known how near
     The scorner of the ice-cold spear
     Laid the Charles' head the earl on board,
     All eastward of the Agder fjord."

Then was the conflict exceedingly sharp, and it was long before it could be seen how it was to go in the end. Many fell on both sides, and many were the wounded. So says Sigvat: --

     "No urging did the earl require,
     Midst spear and sword -- the battle's fire;
     No urging did the brave king need
     The ravens in this shield-storm to feed.
     Of limb-lopping enough was there,
     And ghastly wounds of sword and spear.
     Never, I think, was rougher play
     Than both the armies had that day."

The earl had most men, but the king had a chosen crew in his< ship, who had followed him in all his wars; and, besides, they were so excellently equipped, as before related, that each man had a coat of ring-mail, so that he could not be wounded. So says Sigvat: --

     "Our lads, broad-shouldered, tall, and hale,
     Drew on their cold shirts of ring-mail.
     Soon sword on sword was shrilly ringing,
     And in the air the spears were singing.
     Under our helms we hid our hair,
     For thick flew arrows through the air.
     Right glad was I our gallant crew,
     Steel-clad from head to foot, to view."

48. EARL SVEIN'S FLIGHT.

When the men began to fall on board the earl's ships, and many appeared wounded, so that the sides of the vessels were but thinly beset with men, the crew of King Olaf prepared to board. Their banner was brought up to the ship that was nearest the earl's, and the king himself followed the banner. So says Sigvat: --

     "`On with the king!' his banners waving:
     `On with the king!' the spears he's braving!
     `On, steel-clad men! and storm the deck,
     Slippery with blood and strewed with wreck.
     A different work ye have to share,
     His banner in war-storm to bear,
     From your fair girl's, who round the hall
     Brings the full mead-bowl to us all.'"

Now was the severest fighting. Many of Svein's men fell, and
some sprang overboard. So says Sigvat: --

     "Into the ship our brave lads spring, --
     On shield and helm their red blades ring;
     The air resounds with stroke on stroke, --
     The shields are cleft, the helms are broke.
     The wounded bonde o'er the side
     Falls shrieking in the blood-stained tide --
     The deck is cleared with wild uproar --
     The dead crew float about the shore."

And also these lines: --

     "The shields we brought from home were white,
     Now they are red-stained in the fight:
     This work was fit for those who wore
     Ringed coats-of-mail their breasts before.
     Where for the foe blunted the best sword
     I saw our young king climb on board.
     He stormed the first; we followed him --
     The war-birds now in blood may swim."

Now defeat began to come down upon the earl's men. The king's men pressed upon the earl's ship and entered it; but when the earl saw how it was going, he called out to his forecastle-men to cut the cables and cast the ship loose, which they did. Then the king's men threw grapplings over the timber heads of the ship, and so held her fast to their own; but the earl ordered the timber heads to be cut away, which was done. So says Sigvat: --

     "The earl, his noble ship to save,
     To cut the posts loud order gave.
     The ship escaped: our greedy eyes
     Had looked on her as a clear prize.
     The earl escaped; but ere he fled
     We feasted Odin's fowls with dead: --
     With many a goodly corpse that floated
     Round our ship's stern his birds were bloated."

Einar Tambaskelfer had laid his ship right alongside the earl's. They threw an anchor over the bows of the earl's ship, and thus towed her away, and they slipped out of the fjord together. Thereafter the whole of the earl's fleet took to flight, and rowed out of the fjord. The skald Berse Torfason was on the forecastle of the earl's ship; and as it was gliding past the king's fleet, King Olaf called out to him -- for he knew Berse, who was distinguished as a remarkably handsome man, always well equipped in clothes and arms -- "Farewell, Berse!" He replied, "Farewell, king!" So says Berse himself, in a poem he composed when he fell into King Olaf's power, and was laid in prison and in fetters on board a ship: --

     "Olaf the Brave
     A `farewell' gave,
     (No time was there to parley long,)
     To me who knows the art of song.
          The skald was fain
          `Farewell' again
     In the same terms back to send --
     The rule in arms to foe or friend.
          Earl Svein's distress
          I well can guess,
     When flight he was compelled to take:
     His fortunes I will ne'er forsake,
          Though I lie here
     In chains a year,
     In thy great vessel all forlorn,
     To crouch to thee I still will scorn:
          I still will say,
          No milder sway
     Than from thy foe this land e'er knew:
     To him, my early friend, I'm true."

49. EARL SVEIN LEAVES THE COUNTRY.

Now some of the earl's men fled up the country, some surrendered at discretion; but Svein and his followers rowed out of the fjord, and the chiefs laid their vessels together to talk with each other, for the earl wanted counsel from his lendermen. Erling Skialgson advised that they should sail north, collect people, and fight King Olaf again; but as they had lost many people, the most were of opinion that the earl should leave the country, and repair to his brother-in-law the Swedish King, and strengthen himself there with men. Einar Tambaskelfer approved also of that advice, as they had no power to hold battle against Olaf. So they discharged their fleet. The earl sailed across Folden, and with him Einar Tambaskelfer. Erling Skialgson again, and likewise many other lendermen who would not abandon their udal possessions, went north to their homes; and Erling had many people that summer about him.

50. OLAF'S AND SIGURD'S CONSULTATION.

When King Olaf and his men saw that the earl had gathered his ships together, Sigurd Syr was in haste for pursuing the earl, and letting steel decide their cause. But King Olaf replies, that he would first see what the earl intended doing -- whether he would keep his force together or discharge his fleet. Sigurd Syr said, "It is for thee, king, to command; but," he adds, "I fear, from thy disposition and wilfulness, that thou wilt some day be betrayed by trusting to those great people, for they are accustomed of old to bid defiance to their sovereigns." There was no attack made, for it was soon seen that the earl's fleet was dispersing. Then King Olaf ransacked the slain, and remained there some days to divide the booty. At that time Sigvat made these verses: --

     "The tale I tell is true
     To their homes returned but few
     Of Svein's men who came to meet
     King Olaf's gallant fleet.
     From the North these warmen came
     To try the bloody game, --
     On the waves their corpses borne
     Show the game that Sunday morn.
     The Throndhjem girls so fair
     Their jeers, I think, will spare,
     For the king's force was but small
     That emptied Throndhjem's hall.
     But if they will have their jeer,
     They may ask their sweethearts dear,
     Why they have returned shorn
     Who went to shear that Sunday morn."

And also these: --

     "Now will the king's power rise,
     For the Upland men still prize
     The king who o'er the sea
     Steers to bloody victory.
     Earl Svein! thou now wilt know
     That our lads can make blood flow --
     That the Hedemarkers hale
     Can do more than tap good ale."