Six Sagas of Adventure (9 page)

The great king had

begotten himself

two sons and heirs,

outstanding men.

Harald was the name

of his elder son;

he was taken

as Telemark’s lord.

Jarl Neri, it’s said,

was the stingiest man

with gold, though giving

goodly counsel.

Vikar’s son,

seasoned in battle,

was the Upplanders’

only ruler.

Jarl Neri was a great warrior, but so stingy that all the stingiest men have been compared to him, and since then his name has been given to others.

When Fridthjof heard of the fall of his brothers, he went to Uppland and conquered the kingdom which Vikar had previously won. Then he sent word to Vikar that he should pay tribute from his kingdom, or else be invaded. So said Starkad:

Fridthjof chose

first to send

a war-message

to the wise leader:

would Vikar suffer

invading foes,

or pay the prince

the price of tribute?

When this message came to Vikar, he summoned an assembly and discussed with his counsellors how to reply to this difficult question. They all set forth their counsel and deliberated for a long time. So said Starkad:

We took counsel,

discussed it long,

soon we became

stirred to anger.

The men chose this:

the mighty king

should press on

with the promised battle.

Word was sent to King Frithjof that King Vikar would defend his land. Then King Fridthjof set out with his host and intended to harry King Vikar.

Olaf the Keen-Eyed was the name of a king in Sweden, at the place called Nærriki.
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He was a powerful king and a mighty warrior. He summoned the levy from his own kingdom and went to King Vikar’s aid. They had huge forces and moved against King Fridthjof, deploying their battle-lines in the boar’s-head formation.
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So said Starkad:

Olaf the Keen-Eyed,

king most favored,

was sovereign lord

of Sweden in the east.

He called out

the kingdom’s levy;

his share of soldiers

was said to be large.

There a fierce battle began, and King Vikar’s men advanced boldly, for there were many champions in their ranks. The foremost champion was Starkad Storvirksson. Ulf was another, along with Erp and many other good warriors and great champions. King Vikar advanced fiercely. Starkad wore no armor, and he broke through the ranks and struck with both hands, as is said here:

We went forth

in the weapon-clash,

the king’s men

were keen for battle;

Ulf was seen there,

Erp as well;

stripped of armor,

I struck with both hands.

And when King Vikar and his champions furiously attacked King Fridthjof, King Fridthjof’s ranks were on the verge of breaking when he begged King Vikar for peace. So said Starkad:

Fridthjof decided

to sue for peace,

since Vikar refused

to fall back,

and Storvirk’s son,

Starkad himself,

fought fiercely

before everyone.

That was the most furious and terrible fighting, and a great many of King Fridthjof’s men fell. But when he begged for peace, King Vikar stood down his forces.

King Fridthjof came to a settlement with King Vikar, and King Olaf was to arrange a treaty between them. The agreement was that King Fridthjof gave up all his rule over Uppland and Telemark, and left the land. Vikar set his own sons over this kingdom. He gave Harald the title of king over Telemark, but to Neri he gave the title of jarl and the rulership of Uppland. He became friends with King Gautrek in Gautland, and it is said in some books that Neri held some of his realm in fief from King Gautrek—the region of Gautland which was closest to him—and that Neri was also a jarl of King Gautrek and advised him whenever it was necessary.

Afterwards, King Vikar went home to his kingdom and became very famous from his victories. He and King Olaf parted in friendship and held to it ever after. Olaf went east to his home in Sweden.

CHAPTER VI

There was a man named Rennir, a wealthy farmer. He had his residence on the island that has been called Rennisey ever since.
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This island lies off the coast of Norway, north of Jæren. He had been a great raider before he settled on his farm. He had a wife and one boy-child, who was named Ref.

When Ref was young, he lay in the cookhouse and bit twigs and bark from logs. He was incredibly tall. He never cleaned the filth from himself, and he never lifted a finger to be of use to anyone. His father was a very wealthy man, and his son’s slothfulness displeased him. Ref was very well-known, not for any cleverness or achievement, but rather for making himself a laughingstock to his other, more capable kinfolk. His father thought that he was unlikely to distinguish himself in anything, as was the custom for other young men at the time.

Farmer Rennir had one possession that he prized more highly than his other valuables. It was an ox, both large and showy on account of its horns. Its horns were carved, with gold and silver inlaid into the carvings and on the tips. A chain between the ox’s horns was fashioned of silver, and there were three gold rings on the chain. This ox was far superior to other oxen that were in the land, on account of its size and all the expense of its trappings. Farmer Rennir was so fastidious about it that it could never be left unguarded.

Rennir was always by King Vikar’s side in battles, and they were good friends.

CHAPTER VII

King Vikar became a great warrior and had many famous champions with him, but Starkad was the most valued of all of then and dearest to the king, where he was his highest-ranking liegeman and counsellor and defender of his lands. He received many gifts from the king. King Vikar gave him a goodly ring that weighed three marks, and Starkad gave him the island of Thruma, which King Harald had granted to his father Storvirk. He was with King Vikar for fifteen summers, as he said:

Vikar gifted me

with gold from far lands,

this red-gold ring

which rides on my hand,

three marks in weight—

and Thruma I gave him.

I followed the folk-king

for fifteen summers.

King Vikar sailed from Ogd northwards to Hordaland with a large host. He anchored among certain islands for a long time, but encountered strong headwinds. They cast wood-chips
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for a favorable wind, and the omens showed that Odin wanted to claim a man from the host to be hanged, to be chosen by drawing lots. The men were assembled for the drawing of lots, and King Vikar’s lot came up. Everyone fell silent at this, and it was planned that the counsellors should have a meeting about this difficult question on the next day.

That night, around midnight, Horsehair-Grani awakened Starkad, his foster-son, and told him to go with him. They took a small boat and rowed to a nearby island. They went up into the forest and found a clearing there. In the clearing were a great many people, and an assembly was seated there; eleven men were sitting on chairs, and the twelfth was empty. They walked forward to the assembly, and Horsehair-Grani sat down on the twelfth chair. They all greeted him as Odin. He said that the judges should set the fate of Starkad.

Thor spoke up, and he said, “Alfhild, the mother of Starkad’s father, chose a cunning giant as the father of her son, rather than Asa-Thor. I shape Starkad’s fate so that he shall never have a son nor a daughter, and so his lineage shall end.”

Odin answered, “I shape his fate so that he shall live three human lifetimes.”

Thor said, “He shall commit a vile deed in each lifetime.”

Odin answered, “I shape his fate so that he shall own the best weapons and clothes.”

Thor said, “I shape his fate so that he shall never own land nor estates.”

Odin said, “I grant him this, that he shall have abundance of money.”

Thor said, “I lay this on him: he shall never think that he has enough.”

Odin answered, “I give him victory and prowess in every battle.”

Thor answered, “I lay this on him: he shall receive a disfiguring wound in every battle.”

Odin said, “I give him the art of poetry, so that he shall compose poetry as fast as he can recite it.”
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Thor said, “He shall not remember what he has composed.”

Odin said, “I shape this fate for him: he shall be most highly esteemed by the noblest and best men.”

Thor said, “He shall be hated by all the common folk.”

Then the judges passed sentence that everything that Odin and Thor had spoken should befall Starkad, and thus the assembly broke up. Starkad and Horsehair-Grani went to their boat. Then Horsehair-Grani said to Starkad, “Now you can repay me well, foster-son, for the help that I have given you.”

“It is well,” said Starkad.

Horsehair-Grani said, “Now you are to send King Vikar to me, and I will give you the plan.”

Starkad agreed to this. Horsehair-Grani put a spear in his hand, and said that it would seem to be a reed sprout. They went out to their men as day was breaking.

The next morning, the king’s counsellors assembled for deliberation. It was agreed that they had to do some sort of representation of the sacrifice, and Starkad told them his plan. There stood a fir-tree next to them, and a single high stump next to the fir. Low on the fir tree was a narrow branch, and it reached upwards to the crown of the tree. The servants were preparing food for the men, and a calf had been butchered and gutted. Starkad had them take the calf’s intestines, and he stepped up on the stump and bent the slender branch down and tied the calf’s intestines around it.

Then Starkad said to the king, “Now a gallows is readied for you, king, and it must not look very dangerous. Come here, and I’ll place a noose around your neck.”

     The king said, “Should this device be no more dangerous to me than it appears, I suppose that it won’t harm me. But if it’s otherwise, then fate must decide what happens.”

      He stepped up on the stump, and Starkad laid the noose around his neck and stepped down from the stump. Then Starkad stabbed at the king with the reed and said, “Now I give you to Odin.”

     Then Starkad let the fir-branch loose. The reed-sprout became a spear and pierced the king through. The stump fell from under his feet, and the calf’s intestines became strong withies. The branch sprang up and hoisted the king into the crown of the tree, and there he died. That place has been called Vikarsholm ever since.

     Because of this deed, all the people found Starkad abhorrent, and he was first exiled from Hordaland for it. Afterrwards he fled Norway and traveled east to Sweden. He stayed for a long time with the kings at Uppsala, Eirek and Alrek, the sons of Agni Skjalf’s Husband
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, and he went raiding with them. When Alrek asked Starkad what tidings he could tell them about his kinsmen or himself, Starkad made the poem that is called “Vikar’s Piece.” Thus he told of the killing of King Vikar:

I fared with the troops,

the finest I knew—

in all my life

I loved this the most—

before we fared

one final time

to Hordaland,

haunted by trolls.

It was on this foray

that Thor fated for me

a mean reputation

and many hardships;

I, the base one,

was bound to wreak ill.

In a high tree

I had to offer

Vikar to the gods,

Geirthjof’s Bane.

I stabbed the warrior

with a spear in the heart,

the most dismal deed

done by my hands.

From there I wandered

winding roads,

hated by Hordalanders,

my heart sorrowing,

lacking in rings

and lays of brave deeds,

deprived of my prince,

despairing in mind.

Now I have sought

the Swedish realm,

and Uppsala,

the Ynglings’ seat;

the lord’s own sons,

as I’ll long remember,

say that I sit

as a silent thul
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.

Concerning Starkad, it may be seen that he thought that his worst and most monstrous deed was that he killed King Vikar. We have not heard any stories that he settled down in Norway afterwards.

When Starkad was at Uppsala, there were twelve berserk mercenaries there. They treated him scornfully and mocked him, and the two brothers Ulf and Otrygg were the most vicious at it. Starkad kept silent, but the berserks called him a reborn giant and a worthless man, as is said here:

Among the lads

they let me sit,

savagely scorned,

snowy-browed;

the high ones mock me,

the haughty men

make the lord’s creature

a laughing-stock.

On me myself

they imagine they see

the marks of eight

arms of a giant,

which Hlorridi tore   [
Hlorridi
: Thor]

from Hergrim’s Bane,

ripped with his hands

on rocks in the north.

The warriors laugh

to look at me,

my loathsome mug

and longish snout,

wolf-hoary hair,

hands all gnarled,

scabby neck

and scaly hide.

When King Eirek and King Alrek set out for home, Starkad set out raiding with the ship that King Eirek had given him, crewed with Norwegians and Danes. He traveled far and wide to many lands and fought battles and single combats, and always won victories, and he is no longer in this saga.

     King Alrek didn’t live long, and that happened in this way: King Eirek his brother beat him down to Hel with a bridle, when they had ridden out to tame their horses.
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After that, King Eirek ruled Sweden alone for a long time, as will be told later, in the saga of Hrolf Gautreksson and his shipmates.