Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/364

 356 CHRONICLE OF THE Chapter CCLXIII King Tryggve Olafsson's fall. saga vii. from that quarter, and he had himself great strength by family connection there. When Tryggve came from the west he landed first on the coast of Hordaland, and when he heard King Swend had gone south he went the same way to Rogaland. As soon as Swend got the intelligence that Tryggve had come from the west he returned, and steered north with his fleet ; and both fleets met within Bokn in Soknasund, not far from the place where Einar Skialgsson fell. The battle, which took place on a Sunday, was great and severe. People tell that Tryggve threw spears with both hands at once. " So my father," said he, " taught me to celebrate mass." His enemies had said that he was the son of a priest ; but the praise must be allowed him that he showed himself more like a son of King Olaf Tryg- gvesson, for this Tryggve was a slaughtering man. In this battle King Tryggve fell, and many of his men with him ; but some fled, and some received quarter and their lives. It is thus related in the ballad of Tryggve: — l( Tryggve comes from the northern coast, King Swend turns round with all his host ; To meet and fight they both prepare, And where they met grim death was there. From the sharp strife I was not far, — 1 heard the din and the clang of war; And the Hordaland men at last gave way, And their leader fell, and they lost the day." This battle is also told of in the ballad about King Swend, thus: — " My girl ! it was a Sunday morn, And many a man ne'er saw its eve, Though ale and leeks by old wives borne The bruised and wounded did relieve. 'Twas Sunday morn, when Swend calls out, ' Stem to stem your vessels bind : ' The raven a mid-day feast smells out, And he comes croaking up the wind." After this battle King Swend ruled the country for