The Ynglinga Saga, or the Story of the Yngling Family From O

[admin]

31. OF KING OTTAR.

Ottar was the name of King Egil's son who succeeded to the domains and kingdom after him.  He did not continue friendly with King Frode, and therefore King Frode sent messengers to King Ottar to demand the scatt which Egil had promised him.  Ottar replied, that the Swedes had never paid scatt to the Danes, neither would he; and the messengers had to depart with this answer.  Frode was a great warrior, and he came one summer with his army to Sweden, and landed and ravaged the country.  He killed many people, took some prisoners, burned all around in the inhabited parts, made a great booty, and made great devastation. The next summer King Frode made an expedition to the eastward; and when King Ottar heard that Frode was not at home in his own country, he went on board his own ships, sailed over to Denmark, and ravaged there without opposition.  As he heard that a great many people were collected at Sealand, he proceeds westward to the Sound, and sails north about to Jutland; lands at Lymfjord; plunders the Vend district; burns, and lays waste, and makes desolate the country he goes over with his army.  Vatt and Faste were the names of the earls whom Frode had appointed to defend the country in Denmark while he was abroad.  When the earls heard that the Swedish king was laying Denmark waste, they collected an army, hastened on board their ships, and sailed by the south side to Lymfjord.  They came unexpectedly upon Ottar, and the battle began immediately.  The Swedes gave them a good reception, and many people fell on both sides; but as soon as men fell in the Danish army other men hastened from the country to fill their places, and also all the vessels in the neighbourhood joined them.  The battle ended with the fall of Ottar and the greater part of his people.  The Danes took his body, carried it to the land, laid it upon a mound of earth, and let the wild beasts and ravens tear it to pieces.  Thereafter they made a figure of a crow out of wood, sent it to Sweden, and sent word with it that their king, Ottar, was no better than it; and from this he was called Ottar Vendelcrow.  Thjodolf tells so of it: --

     "By Danish arms the hero bold,
     Ottar the Brave, lies stiff and cold.
     To Vendel's plain the corpse was borne;
     By eagles' claws the corpse is torn,
     Spattered by ravens' bloody feet,
     The wild bird's prey, the wild wolf's meat.
     The Swedes have vowed revenge to take
     On Frode's earls, for Ottar's sake;
     Like dogs to kill them in their land,
     In their own homes, by Swedish hand."

[admin]

32. OF KING ADILS' MARRIAGE.

Adils was the name of King Ottar's son and successor.  He was a long time king, became very rich, and went also for several summers on viking expeditions.  On one of these he came to Saxland with his troops.  There a king was reigning called Geirthjof, and his wife was called Alof the Great; but nothing is told of their children.  The king was not at home, and Adils and his men ran up to the king's house and plundered it, while others drove a herd of cattle down to the strand.  The herd was attended by slave-people, churls, and girls, and they took all of them together.  Among them was a remarkably beautiful girl called Yrsa.  Adils returned home with this plunder. Yrsa was not one of the slave girls, and it was soon observed that she was intelligent, spoke well, and in all respects was well behaved.  All people thought well of her, and particularly the king; and at last it came to this that the king celebrated his wedding with her, and Yrsa became queen of Sweden, and was considered an excellent woman.

[admin]

33. OF KING ADILS' DEATH.

King Halfdan's son Helge ruled at that time over Leidre.  He came to Sweden with so great an army, that King Adils saw no other way than to fly at once.  King Helge landed with his army, plundered, and made a great booty.  He took Queen Yrsa prisoner, carried her with him to Leidre, took her to wife, and had a son by her called Rolf Krake.  When Rolf was three years old, Queen Alof came to Denmark, and told Queen Yrsa that her husband, King Helge, was her own father, and that she, Alof, was her mother.  Thereupon Yrsa went back to Sweden to King Adils, and was queen there as long as she lived.  King Helge fell in a war expedition; and Rolf Krake, who was then eight years old, was taken to be king in Leidre.  King Adils had many disputes with a king called Ole of the Uplands; and these kings had a battle on the ice of the Venner lake, in which King Ole fell, and King Adils won the battle.  There is a long account of this battle in the "Skjoldunga Saga", and also about Rolf Krake's coming to Adils, and sowing gold upon the Fyrisvold.  King Adils was a great lover of good horses, and had the best horses of these times.  One of his horses was called Slongve, and another Raven.  This horse he had taken from Ole on his death, and bred from him a horse, also called Raven, which the king sent in a present to King Godgest in Halogaland.  When Godgest mounted the horse he was not able to manage him, and fell off and was killed.  This accident happened at Omd in Halogaland.  King Adils was at a Disa sacrifice; and as he rode around the Disa hall his horse' Raven stumbled and fell, and the king was thrown forward upon his head, and his skull was split, and his brains dashed out against a stone.  Adils died at Upsal, and was buried there in a mound.  The Swedes called him a great king.  Thjodolf speaks thus of him: --

     "Witch-demons, I have heard men say,
     Have taken Adils' life away.
     The son of kings of Frey's great race,
     First in the fray, the fight, the chase,
     Fell from his steed -- his clotted brains
     Lie mixed with mire on Upsal's plains.
     Such death (grim Fate has willed it so)
     Has struck down Ole's deadly foe."

[admin]

34. ROLF KRAKE'S DEATH.

Eystein, King Adils' son, ruled next over Sweden, and in his lifetime Rolf Krake of Leidre fell.  In those days many kings, both Danes and Northmen, ravaged the Swedish dominions; for there were many sea-kings who ruled over many people, but had no lands, and he might well be called a sea-king who never slept beneath sooty roof-timbers.

[admin]

35. OF EYSTEIN AND THE JUTLAND KING SOLVE.

There was a sea-king called Solve, a son of Hogne of Njardo, who at that time plundered in the Baltic, but had his dominion in Jutland.  He came with his forces to Sweden, just as King Eystein was at a feast in a district called Lofond.  Solve came unexpectedly in the night on Eystein, surrounded the house in which the king was, and burned him and all his court.  Then Solve went to Sigtun, and desired that the Swedes should receive him, and give him the title of king; but they collected an army, and tried to defend the country against him, on which there was a great battle, that lasted, according to report, eleven days. There King Solve was victorious, and was afterwards king of the Swedish dominions for a long time, until at last the Swedes betrayed him, and he was killed.  Thjodolf tells of it thus: --

     "For a long time none could tell
     How Eystein died -- but now I know
     That at Lofond the hero fell;
     The branch of Odin was laid low,
     Was burnt by Solve's Jutland men.
     The raging tree-devourer fire
     Rushed on the monarch in its ire;
     First fell the castle timbers, then
     The roof-beams -- Eystein's funeral pyre."

[admin]

36. OF YNGVAR'S FALL.

Yngvar, who was King Eystein's son, then became king of Sweden. He was a great warrior, and often lay out with his warships; for the Swedish dominions were much ravaged then by Danes and East-country men.  King Yngvar made a peace with the Danes; but betook himself to ravaging the East country in return.  One summer he went with his forces to Estland, and plundered at a place called Stein.  The men of Estland came down from the interior with a great army, and there was a battle; but the army of the country was so brave that the Swedes could not withstand them, and King Yngvar fell, and his people fled.  He was buried close to the seashore under a mound in Estland; and after this defeat the Swedes returned home.  Thjodolf sings of it thus: --

     "Certain it is the Estland foe
     The fair-haired Swedish king laid low.
     On Estland's strand, o'er Swedish graves,
     The East Sea sings her song of waves;
     King Yngvar's dirge is ocean's roar
     Resounding on the rock-ribbed shore."

[admin]

37. OF ONUND THE LAND-CLEARER.

Onund was the name of Yngvar's son who succeeded him.  In his days there was peace in Sweden, and he became rich in valuable goods.  King Onund went with his army to Estland to avenge his father, and landed and ravaged the country round far and wide, and returned with a great booty in autumn to Sweden.  In his time there were fruitful seasons in Sweden, so that he was one of the most popular of kings.  Sweden is a great forest land, and there are such great uninhabited forests in it that it is a journey of many days to cross them.  Onund bestowed great diligence and expense on opening the woods and cultivating the cleared land.  He made roads through the desert forests; and thus cleared land is found all through the forest country, and great districts are settled.  In this way extensive tracts of land were brought into cultivation, for there were country people enough to cultivate the land.  Onund had roads made through all Sweden, both through forests and morasses, and also over mountains; and he was therefore called Onund Roadmaker.  He had a house built for himself in every district of Sweden, and went over the whole country in guest-quarters.

[admin]

38. OF INGJALD THE BAD.

Onund had a son called Ingjald, and at that time Yngvar was king of the district of Fjadryndaland.  Yngvar had two sons by his wife -- the one called Alf, the other Agnar -- who were about the same age as Ingjald.  Onund's district-kings were at that time spread widely over Sweden, and Svipdag the Blind ruled over Tiundaland, in which Upsal is situated, and where all the Swedish Things are held.  There also were held the mid-winter sacrifices, at which many kings attended.  One year at midwinter there was a great assembly of people at Upsal, and King Yngvar had also come there with his sons.  Alf, King Yngvar's son, and Ingjald, King Onund's son, were there -- both about six years old.  They amused themselves with child's play, in which each should be leading on his army.  In their play Ingjald found himself not so strong as Alf, and was so vexed that he almost cried.  His foster-brother Gautvid came up, led him to his foster-father Svipdag the Blind, and told him how ill it appeared that he was weaker and less manly than Alf, King Yngvar's son.  Svipdag replied that it was a great shame.  The day after Svipdag took the heart of a wolf, roasted it on the tongs, and gave it to the king's son Ingjald to  eat, and from that time he became a most ferocious person, and of the worst disposition.  When Ingjald was grown up, Onund applied for him to King Algaut for his daughter Gauthild.  Algaut was a son of Gautrek the Mild, and grandson of Gaut; and from them Gotland (Gautland) took its name.  King Algaut thought his daughter would be well married if she got King Onund's son, and if he had his father's disposition; so the girl was sent to Sweden, and King Ingjald celebrated his wedding with her in due time.

[admin]

39. OF KING ONUND'S DEATH.

King Onund one autumn, travelling between his mansion-houses, came over a road called Himmenheath, where there are some narrow mountain valleys, with high mountains on both sides.  There was heavy rain at the time, and before there had been snow on the mountains.  A landslip of clay and stones came down upon King Onund and his people, and there he met his death, and many with him.  So says Thjodolf, namely: --

     "We all have heard how Jonkur's sons,
     Whom weapons could not touch, with stones
     Were stoned to death in open day,
     King Onund died in the same way.
     Or else perhaps the wood-grown land,
     Which long had felt his conquering hand,
     Uprose at length in deadly strife,
     And pressed out Onund's hated life."

[admin]

40. THE BURNING IN UPSAL.

Then Ingjald, King Onund's son, came to the kingdom.  The Upsal kings were the highest in Sweden among the many district-kings who had been since the time that Odin was chief.  The kings who resided at Upsal had been the supreme chiefs over the whole Swedish dominions until the death of Agne, when, as before related, the kingdom came to be divided between brothers.  After that time the dominions and kingly powers were spread among the branches of the family as these increased; but some kings cleared great tracts of forest-land, and settled them, and thereby increased their domains.  Now when Ingjald took the dominions and the kingdom of his father, there were, as before said, many district- kings.  King Ingjald ordered a great feast to be prepared in Upsal, and intended at that feast to enter on his heritage after King Onund his father.  He had a large hall made ready for the occasion -- one not less, nor less sumptuous, than that of Upsal; and this hall was called the Seven Kings Hall, and in it were seven high seats for kings.  Then King Ingjald sent men all through Sweden, and invited to his feast kings, earls, and other men of consequence.  To this heirship-feast came King Algaut, his father-in-law; Yngvar king of Fjadryndaland, with his two sons, Alf and Agnar; King Sporsnjall of Nerike; King Sighvat of Aattundaland: but Granmar king of Sodermanland did not come. Six kings were placed in the seats in the new hall; but one of the high seats which Ingjald had prepared was empty.  All the persons who had come got places in the new hall; but to his own court, and the rest of his people, he had appointed places at Upsal.  It was the custom at that time that he who gave an heirship-feast after kings or earls, and entered upon the heritage, should sit upon the footstool in front of the high seat, until the full bowl, which was called the Brage-beaker, was brought in.  Then he should stand up, take the Brage-beaker, make solemn vows to be afterwards fulfilled, and thereupon empty the beaker.  Then he should ascend the high seat which his father had occupied; and thus he came to the full heritage after his father. Now it was done so on this occasion.  When the full Brage-beaker came in, King Ingjald stood up, grasped a large bull's horn, and made a solemn vow to enlarge his dominions by one half, towards all the four corners of the world, or die; and thereupon pointed with the horn to the four quarters.  Now when the guests had become drunk towards evening King Ingjald told Svipdag's sons, Gautvid and Hylvid, to arm themselves and their men, as had before been settled; and accordingly they went out, and came up to the new hall, and set fire to it.  The hall was soon in a blaze, and the six kings, with all their people, were burned in it.  Those who tried to come out were killed.  Then King Ingjald laid all the dominions these kings had possessed under himself, and took scatt from them.