Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/398

 With shining keels seven kings sailed on

To meet this raven-feeding one.

When the clash came, the stunning sound

Was heard in Norway's farthest hound;

And sea-horne corpses, floating far,

Brought round the Naze news from the war."

Earl Hakon sailed then with his fleet southwards around Stad; and when he heard that King Ragnfrid with his army had gone towards Sogn, he turned there also with his men to meet him: and there Ragnfrid and Hakon met. Hakon came to the land with his ships, marked out a battle-field with hazel branches for King Ragnfrid, and took ground for his own men in it. So it is told in the Vellekla:—

There was a great battle; but Earl Hakon, haying by far the most people, gained the victory. It took place on the Thing-ness where Sogn and Hordaland meet. King Ragnfrid fled to his ships, after 300 of his men had fallen. So it is said in the Vellekla: —

Sharp was the battle-strife, I ween,—

Deadly and close it must have been,

Before, upon the bloody plain,

Three hundred corpses of the slain