When they came west to England, Giparde said the Northmen had slandered him.A meeting was appointed, and a count came to it, and the case was brought before him for trial.He said he was not much acquainted with law cases, as he was but young, and had only been a short time in office; and also, of all things, he said what he least understood to judge about was poetry."But let us hear what it was." Then Eldjarn sang: --"I heard that in the bloody fight Giparde drove all our foes to flight:
Brave Giparde would the foe abide, While all our men ran off to hide.
At Foxerne the fight was won By Giparde's valour all alone;Where Giparde fought, alone was he;Not one survived to fight or flee."
Then said the count, "Although I know but little about skald-craft, I can hear that this is no slander, but rather the highest praise and honour." Giparde could say nothing against it, yet he felt it was a mockery.
16.BATTLE OF FOXERNE.
The spring after, as soon as the ice broke up, King Magnus, with a great army, sailed eastwards to the Gaut river, and went up the eastern arm of it, laying waste all that belonged to the Swedish dominions.When they came to Foxerne they landed from their vessels; but as they came over a river on their way an army of Gautland people came against them, and there was immediately a great battle, in which the Northmen were overwhelmed by numbers, driven to flight, and many of them killed near to a waterfall.
King Magnus fled, and the Gautlanders pursued, and killed those they could get near.King Magnus was easily known.He was a very stout man, and had a red short cloak over him, and bright yellow hair like silk that fell over his shoulders.Ogmund Skoptason, who was a tall and handsome man, rode on one side of the king.He said, "Sire, give me that cloak."The king said, "What would you do with it?""I would like to have it," said Ogmund; "and you have given me greater gifts, sire."The road was such that there were great and wide plains, so that the Gautlanders and Northmen were always in sight of each other, unless where clumps of wood and bushes concealed them from each other now and then.The king gave Ogmund the cloak and he put it on.When they came out again upon the plain ground, Ogmund and his people rode off right across the road.The Gautlanders, supposing this must be the king, rode all after him, and the king proceeded to the ships.Ogmund escaped with great difficulty;however, he reached the ships at last in safety.King Magnus then sailed down the river, and proceeded north to Viken.
17.MEETING OF THE KINGS AT THE GAUT RIVER.
The following summer a meeting of the kings was agreed upon at Konghelle on the Gaut river; and King Magnus, the Swedish king, Inge, and the Danish king, Eirik Sveinson, all met there, after giving each other safe conduct to the meeting.Now when the Thing had sat down the kings went forward upon the plain, apart from the rest of the people, and they talked with each other a little while.Then they returned to their people, and a treaty was brought about, by which each should possess the dominions his forefathers had held before him; but each should make good to his own men the waste and manslaughter suffered by them, and then they should agree between themselves about settling this with each other.King Magnus should marry King Inge's daughter Margaret, who afterwards was called Peace-offering.This was proclaimed to the people; and thus, within a little hour, the greatest enemies were made the best of friends.
It was observed by the people that none had ever seen men with more of the air of chiefs than these had.King Inge was the largest and stoutest, and, from his age, of the most dignified appearance.King Magnus appeared the most gallant and brisk, and King Eirik the most handsome.But they were all handsome men;stout, gallant, and ready in speech.After this was settled they parted.
18.KING MAGNUS'S MARRIAGE.
King Magnus got Margaret, King Inge's daughter, as above related;and she was sent from Svithjod to Norway with an honourable retinue.King Magnus had some children before, whose names shall here be given.The one of his sons who was of a mean mother was called Eystein; the other, who was a year younger, was called Sigurd, and his mother's name was Thora.Olaf was the name of a third son, who was much younger than the two first mentioned, and whose mother was Sigrid, a daughter of Saxe of Vik, who was a respectable man in the Throndhjem country; she was the king's concubine.People say that when King Magnus came home from his viking cruise to the Western countries, he and many of his people brought with them a great deal of the habits and fashion of clothing of those western parts.They went about on the streets with bare legs, and had short kirtles and over-cloaks; and therefore his men called him Magnus Barefoot or Bareleg.Some called him Magnus the Tall, others Magnus the Strife-lover.He was distinguished among other men by his tall stature.The mark of his height is put down in Mary church, in the merchant town of Nidaros, which King Harald built.In the northern door there were cut into the wall three crosses, one for Harald's stature, one for Olaf's, and one for Magnus's; and which crosses each of them could with the greatest ease kiss.The upper was Harald's cross; the lowest was Magnus's; and Olaf's was in the middle, about equally distant from both.
It is said that Magnus composed the following verses about the emperor's daughter: --"The ring of arms where blue swords gleam, The battle-shout, the eagle's scream, The Joy of war, no more can please:
Matilda is far o'er the seas.
My sword may break, my shield be cleft, Of land or life I may be reft;Yet I could sleep, but for one care, --One, o'er the seas, with light-brown hair."He also composed the following: --
"The time that breeds delay feels long, The skald feels weary of his song;What sweetens, brightens, eases life?
'Tis a sweet-smiling lovely wife.
My time feels long in Thing affairs, In Things my loved one ne'er appears.