he had about him, and there was a great battle, although he wanted men so much. King Harald and his son Gyrder fell, and King Gudrod took a great booty. He carried away with him Aasa, King Ifarald's daughter, and had a wedding with her. They had a son by their marriage called Halfdan; and the autumn that Halfdan was a year old Gudrod went upon a round of feasts. He lay with his ship in Stifle-sound, where they had been drinking hard, so that the king was very tipsy. In the evening, about dark, the king left the ship; and when he had got to the end of the gangway from the ship to the shore[1], a man ran against him, thrust a spear through him, and killed him. The man was instantly put to death, and in the morning when it was light the man was discovered to be Aasa's footboy: nor did she conceal that it was done by her orders. Thus tells Thiodolf of it:—
"Gudrod is gone to his long rest,
Despite of all his haughty pride,—
A traitor's spear has pierced his side:
For Aasa cherished in her breast
Revenge; and as, by wine opprest,
The hero staggered from his ship,
The cruel queen her thrall let slip
To do the deed of which I sing:
And now the far-descended king,
At Stifflesund, in the old bed
Of the old Gudrod race, lies dead."
Chapter LIV.
Of King Olaf's death.
Olaf came to the kingdom after his father. He was a great warrior, and an able man; and was besides remarkably handsome, very strong, and large of growth. He had Westfold; for King Alfgeir took all Vingulmark to himself, and placed his son Gandalf over it. Both father and son made war on Raumarige, and subdued the greater part of that land and dis-
- ↑ The ships appear generally to have been laid all night close to or at the shore, with a gangway to land by; and the crew appear to have had tents on shore to pass the night in.
