Six Sagas of Adventure (8 page)

They were pleased with this. After King Gauti had breathed his last, Gautrek was raised to kingship over Gautland, and he is mentioned in a great many of the old sagas.

Now this saga turns to Norway for a while, and tells of the shire-kings who lived there at that time, and about their descendants. Later, this saga will return to Gautland, to King Gautrek and his son. The story is told in the same way throughout Sweden and more far-flung places.

CHAPTER III

Hunthjof was the name of a king who ruled over Hordaland. He was the son of Fridthjof the Bold and Ingibjorg the Fair.
[16]
He had three sons. Herthjof was the name of one of his sons, who later became king of Hordaland. Another was named Geirthjof, king of Uppland; and the third was Fridthjof, king of Telemark. These men were all mighty kings and great warriors, but King Herthjof stood above them in wisdom and shrewdness. He was away on raids for a long time, and from this he became very famous.

At that time, there was a king in Agder named Harald, a mighty king. He was called Harald the Agder-King. His son was named Vikar; he was young and promising at the time.
[17]

There was a man named Storvirk, son of Starkad Ala-Warrior. Starkad was a cunning giant. He kidnapped Alfhild, the daughter of King Alf, from Alfheim.
[18]
King Alf called on Thor, so that Alfhild might return. Thor killed Starkad and brought Alfhild home to her father, but she was with child.
[19]
She gave birth to her son, who was named Storvirk, as mentioned earlier. He was a handsome man despite his dark hair, bigger and stronger than other men. He was a great raider. He came to the household of King Harald of Agder, and took charge of his lands’ defenses. King Harald gave him the island in Agder called Thruma,
[20]
and there Storvirk lived. He was away on raids for a long time, but at other times he stayed with king Harald.

Storvirk kidnapped Unni, the daughter of Jarl Freki of Halogaland, and then went home to his estate in Thruma. They had a son named Starkad. Fjori and Fyri, the sons of Jarl Freki, pursued Storvirk and secretly came to his house at night with a host. They burned the house with Storvirk inside it, along with their sister Unni and all the men there, because they didn’t dare open the door, fearing that Storvirk would escape. They sailed away by night and headed northwards along the coast. On the second day after their departure, a storm blew up. They sailed right into submerged rocks off Stad,
[21]
and all hands were lost.

Starkad, the son of Storvirk, was young when his father perished, and King Harald fostered him in his own household. So said Starkad about that:

I was a boy, when

there burned indoors

full many seafarers,

my father among them;

beside the shore

he sleeps on Thruma,

the hardy hero

of Harald Agder-King.

The ring-breaker was burned   [
ring-breaker
: generous man]

by his brothers-in-law,

Fjori and Fyri,

Freki’s heirs,

the brothers of Unni,

my own mother.

CHAPTER IV

Herthjof the king of Hordaland and his forces moved against King Harald at night and in secret. Herthjof killed him treacherously, but took his son Vikar as a hostage. King Herthjof subjugated all the realm that King Harald had held, and he forcibly took the sons of many powerful men as hostages, and claimed tribute from all the kingdom.

Grani was the name of a mighty man in King Herthjof’s forces. He was called Horsehair-Grani. He lived on the island in Hordaland called Fenhring, at the estate called Ask.
[22]
He claimed Starkad Storvirksson and brought him to Fenhring. Starkad was three years old then, and he stayed on Fenhring with Horsehair-Grani for nine years. So says Starkad:

When Herthjof

had dealt with Harald,

betrayed his trust

through treachery,

Agder’s prince

he deprived of breath;

he bound his sons

in bonds and fetters.

Three winters old,

I was taken

to Hordaland

by Horsehair-Grani;

at Ask I began

to grow in stature;

for nine winters

I knew no kinsman.

.

King Herthjof was a mighty warrior and traveled away on raids for a long time, and there was a great risk that his kingdom would then be invaded. He had beacons built on mountains, and he set men to tend them and to set them aflame if hostilities were to break out. Vikar and two other men tended the beacon on Fenhring. They had to light the first beacon if an invading host was sighted, and then each would be lit from the next one.

When Vikar had been tending the beacon for a short while, he went to Ask one morning and met his foster-brother Starkad Storvirkson. Starkad was incredibly large. He was a laggard and a coal-biter
[23]
and lay on the floor beside the fire. At the time he was twelve years old. Vikar picked him up off the floor and gave him weapons and clothes and measured his size, because he thought that Starkad had grown amazingly tall since coming to Ask. Starkad and Vikar then got a ship for themselves and sailed away at once. So said Starkad:

I gained strength

in my growing arms,

got lanky legs

and a loathsome head,

as I sat daydreaming

down on the floor,

an idle one,

unaware of much.

Until Vikar came

from tending the beacon,

Herthjof’s hostage,

the hall he entered;

at our meeting

he commanded me

to stand up straight

and speak to him.

He measured my size

with the span of his hands,

reckoned my arms’ reach

to the wrist-joints.

My hair had grown,

hanging from my chin.

Here Starkad mentions that he had a beard when he was twelve.

Then Starkad got up, and Vikar gave him weapons and clothes, and they went to the ship. After that, Vikar summoned warriors, twelve men all together. They were all champion fighters, skilled at single combat. So said Starkad:

Then Harald’s heir

called Hildigrim

and sent summons

to Sorkvir and Grettir,

Erp and Ulf,

An and Skuma,

Hroi and Hrotti

Herbrand’s sons,

Styr and Steinthor

from Stad in the north;

old Gunnolf Blaze

was also there.

Thirteen warriors

we were in all;

seldom was seen

a more splendid band.

Then King Vikar went with his men to face King Herthjof. When King Herthjof heard about this threat, he had his own men prepare themselves. King Herthjof had a great farmhouse, so well fortified that it was almost a castle or fort. There were more than seventy fighting men, not counting all the workers and servants. But as soon as the raiders came, they made such a fierce attack that they rattled the gates and doors, and they hacked at the door-posts so that the latches and bolts on the inside of the gates gave way. The king’s men fell back, and the raiders forced their way inside. Then a great battle broke out. So says Starkad:

So we came

to the king’s fort.

We shook the gates,

we smashed door-posts,

we broke the bars,

we brandished swords.

On the king’s side

there stood against us

seventy heroes

of high degree.

All the thralls

were there as well,

working men

and water-carriers.

King Herthjof and his men defended themselves for a long time, because he had many brave men, but since Vikar had picked excellent champions for his own forces, King Herthjof’s men grew fewer as they faced them. Vikar was always in the forefront of his men. So said Starkad:

To stand beside Vikar

was in vain to try,

for first and foremost

of fighters he stood;

we hewed helmets

and heads’ crowns,

we slashed mailcoats

and splintered shields.

Starkad and Vikar together attacked King Herthjof furiously, and they dealt death to him. All of Vikar’s champions attacked fiercely. Many men fell there, and some were wounded. So said Starkad:

For King Vikar,

victory was fated,

but deadly strife

ordained for Herthjof.

We struck soldiers,

and some we killed;

I wasn’t far from

the fall of the king.

Vikar won a victory there, but King Herthjof fell, as was said before, along with thirty men. Many were fatally wounded. But none of Vikar’s men fell.

Afterwards, Vikar took all the ships that King Herthjof had owned, and all the forces which he had assembled. Then he moved eastward along the coast with every man who would follow him. And when he reached Agder, those who had been friends of his father came over to him. Soon he had gathered a great following. Then he was raised to the kingship over all Agder and Jaeren, and he laid Hordaland and Hardanger under his rule, along with all the kingdom that King Herthjof had held. King Vikar soon grew powerful, and he was the greatest warrior. He went raiding every summer.

King Vikar traveled eastward into the Oslofjord with his host, and landed on the east side of the fjord. He raided all the way to Gautland and accomplished many brave deeds there. But when he came up to Lake Vänern, a king named Sisar came against him. He came from Kiev in the east. He was a mighty champion and had large forces. King Vikar and Sisar fought a furious battle there, and Sisar advanced fiercely and killed many men in King Vikar’s ranks.

Starkad was there with King Vikar. He went up against Sisar, and they traded blows for a long time. Neither one had any cause to doubt the strength of the other’s blows. Sisar knocked Starkad’s shield away, gave him two great wounds in his head with his sword, and broke his collarbone. Starkad was also wounded in his side above the hip. So says Starkad:

You weren’t with Vikar

on Vaenir lake

off in the east,

early that day,
when we sought Sisar

on the slaughter-field,

a more strenuous deed

than it seems to you.

He let his blade,

bitterly sharp,

smash through my shield

and sorely wound me,

slicing helm from head

and hitting my skull,

my cheek and jaw

he chopped to the molars,

leaving broken

my left collarbone.

Starkad also took a deep wound in his other side from the bladed spear that Sisar fought with. So said Starkad:

And in my side,

the stalwart man

bit with his blade

above my hip.

My other side

he stabbed with his lance,

the icy point

plunged deeply.

Men still may see

my scars, now healed.

Starkad struck Sisar with his sword and sliced through his side, and he gave him a terrible wound in his leg below the knee. Finally, he cut off his other foot at the ankle, and King Sisar fell. So says Starkad:

On his other side

I sliced him up,

broke his body

with bitter edge;

I swung my sword

in the struggle’s heat,

all my power

I put forth there.

Both sides suffered grievous losses in the battle, but King Vikar won victory, and the Kievans turned and fled—those who survived. After this victory, Vikar went home to his kingdom.

CHAPTER V

King Vikar heard that King Geirthjof had summoned great forces in Uppland, intending to attack King Vikar with that host and avenge King Herthjof, his brother. King Vikar called out the levy from his own kingdom, and he went to Uppland with those men to face King Geirthjof. They had such a huge battle that they fought for seventeen days without stopping. King Geirthjof fell, and King Vikar had victory. Then King Vikar claimed Uppland and Telemark for his own, because King Fridthjof of Telemark was away from his own kingdom. Starkad states that this battle which he won in Uppland was the third of King Vikar’s battles:

For the third time

the thewful one

held a contest

of Hild’s game,   [
Hild
: a valkyrie or battle-goddess;
Hild’s game
: battle]

before Uppland

was finally won

and Geirthjof

was given to Hel.

At once Vikar appointed men to rule the kingdom which he had won in Uppland. He went home to Agder and became a powerful king with a large following. He took a wife and had two sons with her. The older was named Harald, and the younger was named Neri. Neri was the wisest of men, and everything he set his mind to turned out well, but he was so stingy that he could not give anything away without regretting it at once. So said Starkad: