"The Norseman's king is on the sea,
Tho' bitter wintry cold it be,—
On the wild waves his Yule keeps he.
When our brisk king can get his way,
Hell no more by the fireside stay
Than the young sun: he makes us play
The game of the bright sun-god[1] Freyr.
But the soft Swede loves well the fire,
The well-stuffed couch, the downy glove,
And from the hearth-seat will not move."
The Gotlanders gathered people together all over the country.
Chapter XVII.
The battle in Gotland.
In spring, when the ice was breaking up, they drove stakes into the Gotha river to hinder King Harald with his ships from coming to the land. But King Harald laid his ships alongside the stakes, and plundered the country, and burnt all around; so says Hornklofe:—
"The king, who finds a dainty feast
For battle-bird and prowling beast,
Has won in war the southern land
That lies along the ocean's strand.
The leader of the helmets, he
Who leads his ships o'er the dark sea,
Harald, whose high-rigged masts appear
Like antlered fronts of the wild deer,
Has laid his ships close alongside
Of the foe's piles with daring pride."
Afterwards the Gotlanders came down to the strand with a great army, and gave battle to King Harald, and great was the fall of men. But it was King Harald who gained the day. Thus says Hornklofe:—
"Whistles the battle-axe in its swing,
O'er head the whizzing javelins sing,
Helmet and shield and hauberk ring;
The air-song of the lance is loud,
The arrows pipe in darkening cloud;
- ↑ In northern mythology Freyr, the god of the sun, is supposed to have been born at the winter solstice; and the return of the lengthening day was celebrated by a feast called Yule, which coinciding with Christmas, was transferred to the Christian festival.
