Savage berserkers roaring mad,
And champions fierce in wolf-skins clad,[1]
Howling like wolves; and clanking jar
Of many a mail-clad man of war.
Thus the foe came; but our brave king
Taught them to fly as fast again.
For when he saw their force come o'er,
He launched his war-ships from the shore;
On the deep sea he launched his fleet,
And boldly rowed the foe to meet.
Fierce was the shock, and loud the clang
Of shields, until the fierce Haklang,
The foeman's famous berserk, fell.
Then from our men burst forth the yell
Of victory; and the King of Gold
Could not withstand our Harald bold,
But fled before his flaky locks
For shelter to the island rocks.
All in the bottom of the ships
The wounded lay, in ghastly heaps;
Backs up and faces down they lay,
Under the row-seats stowed away;
And many a warrior's shield, I ween,
Might on the warrior's back be seen,
To shield him as he fled amain
From the fierce stone-storm's pelting rain.
The mountain-folk, as I've beard say,
Ne'er stopped as they ran from the fray,
Till they had crossed the Jeddern sea,
And reached their homes—so keen each soul
To drown his fright in the mead bowl."
Chapter XX.
King Harald the supreme sovereign in Norway. Of the settlement of distant lands.
After this battle King Harald met no opposition in Norway, for all his opponents and greatest enemies were cut off. But some, and they were a great multitude, fled out of the country, and thereby great districts were peopled. Jemteland and Helsingland were peopled then, although some Norwegians had already set up their habitation there. In the discontent that King Harald seized on the lands of Norway[2], the out-countries of Iceland and the Faroe Isles were discovered and peopled. The Northmen had also a
