Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/347

 KINGS OF NORWAY. 339 wounded men of it to eat, by which she discovered if saga vii. the wounds had penetrated into the belly ; for if the wound had gone so deep, it would smell of leek. She brought some of this now to Thormod, and told him to eat of it. He replied, " Take it away, I have no appetite for my broth." Then she took a large pair of tongs, and tried to pull out the iron ; but it sat too fast, and would in no way come, and as the wound was swelled, little of it stood out to lay hold of. Now said Thorer, " Cut so deep in that thou canst get at the iron with the tongs, and give me the tongs and let me pull." She did as he said. Then Thormod took a gold ring from his hand, gave it to the nurse- woman, and told her to do with it what she liked. "It is a good man's gift," said he : " King Olaf gave me the ring this morning." Then Thormod took the tongs, and pulled the iron out ; but on the iron there was a hook, at which there hung some morsels of flesh from the heart, — some white, some red. When he saw that, he said, " The king has fed us well. I am fat even at the heart-roots : " and so saying he leant back, and was dead. And with this ends what we have to say about Thormod. King Olaf fell on Wednesday, the 29th of July.* Chapter It was near mid-day when the two armies met, and 0f some the battle began before half-past one, and before three cir ™ m - ° x stances of the battle. manader ; and the year which antiquaries have reckoned, in conformity with the other events in Snorro's saga, and with all historical researches, as that of this battle and King Olaf's death, is 1033. But there was no eclipse of the sun on the IV. Calends of August, viz. the 29th July of that year, visible at Stiklestad. Professor Hansten, of Chris- tiania, has calculated that the nearest total eclipse of the sun visible at Stiklestad was on the 31st August, 1030; and the eclipse during the battle being a fixed point for chronology, some error of Snorro or his transcribers has crept in, and damages a great deal of antiquarian lore by this difference of three years in the time of so important an event, from which many others were dated. The Saxon Chronicle gives the right date, 1030, to this battle. z 2
 * The date given in the text is Midvikodag IV. Calendas Augusti