Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/394

 386 CHRONICLE OF THE saga vni. a Vendland king ; and that he had eight sons, who sought to avenge their father, and laid waste a great part of Denmark, as far north as Ribe; but they all fell on Lyrskog's Heath before King Magnus, and 15,000 men with them. After the battle, the king ordered the wounds of his men to be bound ; but there were not so many doctors in the army as were necessary, so the king himself went round, and felt the hands of those he thought best suited for the busi- ness ; and when he had thus stroked their palms he named twelve men, who, he thought, had the softest hands, and told them to bind the wounds of the people ; and although none of them had ever tried it before, they all became afterwards the best of doctors. There were two Iceland men among them : the one was Thor- kil, a son of Geisel, from Lyngar; the other was Atle, father of Bard Swart of Selardal, from whom many good doctors are descended. After this battle, the report of the miracle which King Olaf the Saint had worked was spread widely through the country ; and it was the common saying of the people, that no man could venture to light against King Magnus Olafsson, for his father Saint Olaf stood so near to him that his enemies, on that account, never could do him harm. chapter King Magnus immediately turned round with hi? BaS X ' army against Swend, whom he called his earl, al at Re. though the Danes called him their king ; and he col- lected ships, and a great force, and on both sides r great strength was assembled. In Swend' s army were many chiefs from Scania, Halland, Sealand, and Fyen : while King Magnus, on the other hand, had mostly Norway and Jutland men, and with that war-force he hastened to meet Swend. They met at Re, on the west side of the isle of Rugen; and there was a great battle, which ended in King Magnus gaining the vic- tory, and Swend taking flight. After losing many