Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 3.djvu/172

 160 CHRONICLE OF THE SAGA XII. played at the Padreimr.* King Sigurd preferred the games, and the messengers said the spectacle would not cost the emperor less than the money offered. Then the emperor prepared for the games, which were held in the usual way : but this day every thing went on better for the king than for the queen; for the queen has always the half part in the games, and their men, therefore, always strive against each other in all games. The Greeks accordingly think that when the king's men win more games at the Padreimr than the queen's, the king will gain the victory when he goes into battle. People who have been in Constanti- nople tell that the Padreimr is thus constructed: — A high wall surrounds a flat plain, Avhich may be com- pared to a round bare Thing-place, with earthen banks all around at the stone- wall, on which banks the spec- tators sit ; but the games themselves are in the flat plain. There are many sorts of old events represented concerning the Asers, Yolsungers, and Giukungers, in these games f ; and all the figures are cast in copper, or metal, with so great art that they appear to be living things ; and to the people it appears as if they were really present in the games. The games themselves are so artfully and cleverly managed, that people appear to be riding in the air ; and at them also are used shot-firej, and all kinds of harp-playing, singing, and music instruments. ^^Yr It is related that King Sigurd one day was to give King Si- the emperor a feast, and he ordered his men to pro- a grcrr^""' vide sumptuously all that was necessary for the en- were given. t It is not likely that the feats of the Asers, Volsungers, and Giukun- gers were represented in the games of the Hippodrome at Constantinople; but very likely that the Vieringers, and other Northmen there, would apply the names of their own mythology to the representations taken from the Greek mythology. j Fire- works, or the Greek fire, probably were used.
 * Padreimr, or Padrennir, — the Hippodrome where the great spectacles