Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/252

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CHRONICLE OF THE

ships. King Hake had been so grievously wounded that he saw his days could not be long; so he ordered a war-ship which he had to be loaded with his dead men and their weapons, and to be taken out to the sea; the tiller to be shipped, and the sails hoisted. Then he set fire to some tar-wood, and ordered a pile to be made over it in the ship. Hake was almost if not quite dead, when he was laid upon this pile of his. The wind was blowing off the land,—the ship flew, burning in clear flame, out between the islets, and into the ocean. Great was the fame of this deed in after times.

Chapter XXVIII.
Jorund's death.

Jorund, King Yngve's son, remained king at Upsal. He ruled the country; but was often, in summer, out on war expeditions. One summer he went with his forces to Denmark; and having plundered all around in Jutland, he went into Lymfiord in autumn, and marauded there also. While he was thus lying in Oddosund with his people, King Gylög of Halogaland, a son of King Gudlög, of whom mention is made before, came up with a great force, and gave battle to Jorund. When the country people saw this they swarmed from all parts towards the battle, in great ships and small; and Jorund was overpowered by the multitude, and his ships cleared of their men. He sprang overboard, but was made prisoner and carried to the land. Gylög ordered a gallows to be erected, led Jorund to it, and had him hanged there. So ended his life. Thiodolf talks of this event thus:—

"Jorund has travelled far and wide.
But the same horse he must bestride
On which he made brave Gudlög ride.
He too must for a necklace wear
Hagbert's[1] fell noose in middle air.
The army leader thus must ride
On Horva's[2] horse, at Limfiord's side."


  1. Hagbert's noose—the gallows rope by which Hagbert was hanged.
  2. Horva, a sea-king, whose name is given also to Odin by the scalds. Odin was the god of the hanged; and Odin's horse was a name for the gallows.