Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/279

 KINGS OF NORWAY. 271 bring the next day a drapa, or long poem, by the saga vil time he went to table ; and if he failed to do so, said the king, " he shall be hanged for his impudence in composing such a small poem about King Canute." Thorarin then composed a stave as a refrain, which he inserted in the poem, and also augmented it with several other strophes or verses. This was the re- frain : — " Canute protects his realm, as Jove*, Guardian of Greece, his realm above." King Canute rewarded him for the poem with fifty marks of silver. The poem was called the " Head- ransom." Thorarin composed another poem about King Canute, which was called the " Campaign Poem ; " and therein he tells of King Canute's expedition when he sailed from Denmark to Norway; and the following are strophes from one of the parts of his poem : — " Canute with all his men is out, Under the heavens in war-ships stout, — Out on the sea, from Lymfiord's green, My good, my brave friend's fleet is seen. The men of Agder on the coast Tremble to see this mighty host: The guilty tremble as they spy The victor's fleet beneath the sky. " The sight surpasses far the tale, As glancing in the sun they sail ; The king's ship glittering all with gold, And splendour there not to be told. Round Lyster many a coal-black mast Of Canute's fleet is gliding past. And now through Eyka sound they ride, Upon the gently heaving tide. Grikialands himenriki." The guardian of Greece is more probably an allusion to the Greek mythology than the Christian. But as Christianity came from the East, which was all included under the name Grikialand, it is perhaps an allu- sion to the Christian Divinity.
 * Ci Knutr verr grund sem gaetir,