Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/57

 KINGS OF NORWAY. 49 made, for it was soon seen that the earl's fleet was saga vn. dispersing. Then King Olaf ransacked the slain, and remained there some days to divide the booty. At that time Sigvat made these verses : — " The tale I tell is true: To their homes returned but few Of Svvend's men, who came to meet King Olaf 's gallant fleet. From the North these warmen eame To try the bloody game, — On the waves their corpses borne Show the game that Sunday morn. The Drontheim girls so fair Their jeers, I think, will spare, For the king's force was but small That emptied Drontheim 's hall. But if they will have their jeer, They may ask their sweethearts dear, Why they have returned shorn Who went to shear that Sunday morn." And also these : — " Now will the king's power rise, For the Upland men still prize The king who o'er the sea Steers to bloody victory. Earl Swend! thou now wilt know That our lads can make blood flow — That the Hedemarkers hale Can do more than tap good ale." King Olaf gave his stepfather King Sigurd Syr, and the other chiefs who had assisted him, handsome presents at parting. He gave Ketil of Ringaness a yacht of fifteen benches of rowers, which Ketil brought up the Glommen river and into the Myosen lake. King Olaf sent spies out to trace the earl's doings ; Chapter and when he found that the earl had left the country 0f Ki ^ he sailed out west, and to Viken, where many people olaf - came to him. At the Thing there he was taken as king, and so he proceeded all the way to the Naze ; and when he heard that Erling Skialgsson had ga- thered a large force, he did not tarry in North Agder, but sailed with a steady fair wind to Drontheim VOL. II. E