KINGS OF NORWAY. 23 It is related here that King Olaf came from sea to saga vii. the very middle of Norway; and the isle is called Sgelo where they landed, and is outside of Stad. King Olaf said he thought it must be a lucky day for them, since they had landed at Saelo* in Norway; and observed it was a good omen that it so happened. As they were going up in the isle, the king slipped with one foot in a place where there was clay, but supported himself with the other foot. Then said he, " The king falls." " Nay," replies Kane, " thou didst not fall, king, but set fast foot in the soil." The king laughed thereat, and said, " It may be so if God will." They went down again thereafter to their ships, and sailed to Ulfasund, where they heard that Earl Hakon was south in Sogn, and was ex- pected north as soon as wind allowed with a single ship. King Olaf steered his ships within the ordinary Chapter ships' course when he came abreast of Fialar dis- Earl Ha- ' trict, and ran into Sandunga sound. There he laid ko . n take ? ' o # prisoner in his two vessels one on each side of the sound, with a Sandun- thick cable between them. At the same moment oialT V Hakon, Earl Eric's son, came rowing into the sound with a manned ship ; and as they thought these were but two merchant vessels that were lying in the sound, they rowed between them. Then Olaf and his men draw the cable up right under Hakon' s ship's keel, and wind it up with the capstan. f As soon as the vessel's course was stopped her stern was lifted up, and her bow plunged down; so that the water came in at her fore-end and over both sides,
- Ssel means lucky. Sselo is the lucky isle : hence the King's pun.
•j" Vindasom — windlass, capstan, winch — was a machine consequently in common use in their vessels. From the size of the ships, and the lowering and raising their masts, the practical use of the pulley and of the lever, as applied to sea business, has been understood probably by the Northmen. c 4
