Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/398

With shining keels seven kings sailed on
To meet this raven-feeding one.
When the clash came, the stunning sound
Was heard in Norway's farthest hound;
And sea-horne corpses, floating far,
Brought round the Naze news from the war."

Earl Hakon sailed then with his fleet southwards around Stad; and when he heard that King Ragnfrid with his army had gone towards Sogn, he turned there also with his men to meet him: and there Ragnfrid and Hakon met. Hakon came to the land with his ships, marked out a battle-field with hazel branches for King Ragnfrid^[1], and took ground for his own men in it. So it is told in the Vellekla:—

"In the fierce battle Ragnfrid then
Met the grim foe of Vendland men;^[2]
And many a hero of great name
Fell in the sharp sword's bloody game.
The wielder of fell Narve's weapon,^[3]
The conquering hero, valiant Hakon,
Had laid his war-ships on the strand,
And ranged his warriors on the land."

There was a great battle; but Earl Hakon, haying by far the most people, gained the victory. It took place on the Thing-ness where Sogn and Hordaland meet.^[4] King Ragnfrid fled to his ships, after 300 of his men had fallen. So it is said in the Vellekla: —

"Sharp was the battle-strife, I ween,—
Deadly and close it must have been,
Before, upon the bloody plain,

Three hundred corpses of the slain

---

1. This marking out a champ clos for battle appears to have been common among the Northmen.
2. Earl Hakon, from his victories over them, is called the foe of the Vendland men.
3. Narve was the son of Loke; and the sword was called Narve's weapon.
4. Things were generally held on nesses or tongues accessible by water, as roads were not formed.