IVAR’S DUEL WITH KETIL
TWO days after the termination of the games, a great feast was given by
Yngvi to all his kinsmen, and all the high-born men and women who had
come to Upsalir to witness the contests. The three large festive halls
were filled with guests, and many lots were drawn among warriors for
seats, there were so many men of equal rank and dignity. At this feast
the announcement of the betrothal of Ivar and Randalin, and of Hjalmar
and Astrid, was made by Yngvi, their father; and that of Solveig to
Sigmund, by Björn, her father.
All the Hersirs and many of the high-born men and women were invited to
the wedding of Ivar and Randalin, which was to take place first.
* * * * *
When Bui heard that Astrid had been betrothed to Hjalmar, he remembered
the vow he had made the preceding Yule. Accordingly, when the feast was
at its height, and while Astrid was seated by the side of her father,
Bui entered the hall and advanced to Yngvi’s side, told the vow he had
made the preceding Yule in regard to Astrid, and explained that his
errand to Upsalir was to ask her in marriage. In a loud voice, and
looking defiantly towards Hjalmar, he said that he requested an answer
on the instant. A profound silence had succeeded the chatter of voices,
and all waited to hear the reply of the Hersir of Svithjod; but, before
he could answer, Hjalmar stepped forward, and said: “My mind has always
been bent upon marrying Astrid. Remember, my lord, how I have defended
your realm and increased your possessions in far-off lands. You have
betrothed your daughter Astrid to me, and I know not why this man should
come to ask her hand, when he knows that she is betrothed to me. I also
have made a vow upon the altar ring that I will marry Astrid, and allow
no one else to possess her. Besides,” he added, hotly, “I think the land
will be better off if it gets rid of these twelve brothers.”
The Hersir of Svithjod, after hearing these two men, turned towards
Astrid, and said to her: “What sayest thou?”
Astrid replied: “I am betrothed to Hjalmar, and I love him. I love
Hjalmar, and I will never marry any one else but him, for he is good and
brave. I have heard but evil reports of Bui and all his brothers.
Besides, our Fylkja has appeared to me in a dream, and told me to beware
of the twelve sons of Hervard.”
When Bui had heard her words, he challenged Hjalmar to a duel, and said,
in presence of all the guests, that he would be called a “nithing” by
every man, if he married Astrid without accepting the challenge. As it
was considered cowardly not to accept a challenge, Hjalmar said
scornfully, that he was quite ready to accept his defiance; and the time
of the duel was appointed, and the island of Samsey was fixed on as the
spot where it was to take place.
This challenge had hardly been given, when a great Hersir and mighty
champion named Ketil rose up before Yngvi, and said: “I have just
arrived at Upsalir, and the games are ended; contrary winds have
followed me all the way, so I have not been able to take part in the
contests. I am much disappointed, for I wanted to win several
championships, and have trials of strength and agility with Ivar, before
the eyes of Randalin, thy daughter. I have made a vow that I will marry
Randalin, and that no one else shall marry her before stepping over my
dead body. Whoever is wooing her must fight a duel with me. I challenge
Ivar to a duel, to take place at Arhaug on the first day of Yule,” and
he shouted so loud that everybody in the hall heard him: “Thou, Ivar,
shalt be every man’s nithing, if thou comest not to the duel!” Ivar at
once accepted the challenge as Hjalmar had done.
At Arhaug, Ketil and his men sacrificed. He practised witchcraft much,
and the people believed that no weapons could pierce his chain-armor or
hurt him. He only made sacrifices to the sun and to his guardian
spirits, for he did not believe in Odin nor in the other gods.
After the feast was over, Ivar and his foster-brothers left Svithjod,
together with all who had come to the games, all having received
valuable gifts.
The sons of Hervard had gone, immediately after the challenge of Bui to
Hjalmar, not in the best of moods, on account of the failure of their
mission in regard to Astrid. They went home and told their father of the
result of their errand and of the challenge of Bui to Hjalmar.
Hervard answered: “Never have I been so anxious about you before now.
Nowhere do I know of men equally brave and so skilled in the handling of
weapons as Ivar and his foster-brothers Hjalmar, Sigurd, and Sigmund.”
They talked no more of the matter that evening, but the anxious brow of
Hervard told of his anxiety in regard to the duel, and how much he
feared for the lives of his sons.
After the departure of Hjalmar, Astrid became very sad. Her sumptuous
home seemed to have no charm for her, and she could think of nothing but
the duel which was to take place between Hjalmar and Bui. One evening as
her father was all alone, he saw her come into the hall with a face so
pale that he called her to his side. She responded with a smile, trying
to hide her feelings, for she did not wish him to notice how sad she
was.
“Come sit by me, daughter,” said he, in a tender and sympathetic voice.
After seating herself by her father’s side, Astrid laid her head on his
breast and remained silent, hiding her face in the folds of her cloak.
Yngvi took her hands in his; they were hot and feverish, and, as he
petted her, he asked her, not knowing what was the trouble, if the
marriage that had been arranged between her and Hjalmar was not to her
liking, and if she regretted her betrothal. Sobs were the only answer he
got; but when she had relieved her overburdened breast in copious tears,
and had recovered sufficiently, she replied: “Father, I am pleased, and
I would marry no one but Hjalmar; but, I do not know why, I think I
shall never see him again alive.”
“Why so?” said Yngvi.
“I had a dream before the games,” replied Astrid, “in which our Fylkja
appeared and forewarned me of Hjalmar’s danger, and told me that the
twelve eagles I saw in a preceding dream were the twelve sons of
Hervard, and that these would cause me great sorrow; and afterwards she
called me towards her, and said: ‘Follow me.’ I think this forebode the
death of Hjalmar and, perhaps, mine. The decrees of the Nornir must be
fulfilled, and none of us know what they are.”
Yngvi did his best to cheer his daughter, and tried to persuade her that
her dream was not deserving of so sinister an interpretation, but it was
difficult to comfort her. Randalin, too, was anxious about the result of
the duel between Ivar and Ketil.
Nevertheless there was no way of preventing these duels, and the time
for that between Ivar and Ketil soon arrived. Ivar made ready two ships,
and asked many doughty champions to follow him. He had sent word to
Svithjod, to men of high renown to meet him at Arhaug to witness the
duel, so they might tell on their return to Upsalir of his victory, or
that he died with honor and valor. He sailed for Arhaug, the appointed
place, and arrived there three days before the time with his
foster-brothers. On his arrival, Bodmod, the son of Ketil, invited him
to his hall, and there he and his men were entertained with great
splendor. In the course of conversation, Ivar mentioned the name of
Odin. At the mention of Odin, Bodmod became angry and sang: “Odin I have
never worshipped, though I have lived long. I know that the head of Ivar
will fall sooner than mine or that of my father.”
But Ivar sang in answer: “I love Odin and all the gods, and sacrifice to
them, and I know that Odin loves me.”
On the day appointed for the duel, Ivar and his foster-brothers took a
boat, and rowed to a small island where the conflict was to take place.
Ketil was there already, waiting for Ivar.
A great crowd had assembled on the shore of the mainland to witness the
contest, or ordeal, between these two famous champions, for the people
believed that the judgments of the gods were decided in this way.
“What kind of duel dost thou wish us to have,” asked Ketil of Ivar, “the
Holmganga or the Einvigi? Thou art the challenged man, and thou hast the
right to choose which of the two thou wilt have.”
Ivar answered: “I choose the Holmganga, for there is more honor and fame
in this than in the other; and when I left Gotland for Upsalir, to
participate in the games, it was to win more fame than I had before.
There are two alternatives before me: the one, to get bravely the
victory in fighting against thee; the other, to fall with valor; and
that is better than to live with shame and dishonor.”
“But,” said Ketil, “why dost thou choose the Holmganga instead of the
Einvigi? Thou art young and inexperienced, and in the Holmganga there
are difficult rules, but none in the Einvigi.”
Ivar answered: “I shall not fight better in the Einvigi, and I will risk
the Holmganga, and in all be on equal footing with thee. Though much
younger than thyself, and of less experience, I am not afraid of the
Holmganga rules. I have handled the sword many a time, though I have
never done so in a duel. My foster-father taught me well its use, and
the rules of dueling also.”
Then the laws of the Holmganga were recited by Sigurd, this being
obligatory before a duel took place.
“This is,” said he, “the Holmganga law: The cloak must be ten feet from
one end to the other, with loops in the corners, and in these pegs must
be put down. The one who makes the preparations must go towards the
pegs, hold his ear-lobes, and, bending over, stand with his feet apart,
seeing the sky between them. Three squares, each one foot wide, must be
marked around the cloak. Outside the squares must be placed four poles,
called hazel poles. The place is called a hazelled field when it is
prepared thus. Each man must have three shields, and when these are made
useless he must stand upon the cloak, and thereafter defend himself with
his weapons. He who has been challenged is to strike first. If one is
wounded so that the blood falls upon the cloak, he is not obliged to
fight any longer. If either steps with one of his feet outside the
boundary, it is held that he has retreated; and if he steps outside with
both feet, he is held to have fled, and is accounted vanquished.
“Have you, Ketil and Ivar, taken heed of the Holmganga law which I have
just recited to you?” asked Sigurd in conclusion.
“Thou hast recited well and correctly the laws of the Holmganga,
Sigurd,” replied Ivar.
As customary in the Holmganga, one man held the shield before each of
the combatants. The one who received most wounds was to pay an indemnity
for being released from the fight, for it was the law of the Holmganga
that if he who challenged another man, in order to get something, gained
the victory, he should have the prize for which he had challenged; if he
was defeated, he should release himself with as much property as had
been agreed upon; if he fell, he should forfeit all his property, and he
who killed him was to take all the inheritance.
It was the custom of duelists not to draw their swords on the place of
the Holmganga, but let the sword hang on the arm, so that it should be
ready at once, when wanted. At the outset Ketil said to Ivar: “It seems
to me that the sword that thou carriest is longer than the laws of the
Holmganga allow.”
“Thou canst measure my sword,” replied Ivar, “and thou wilt find that it
is of the proper length, and according to the regulation.”
Then Ivar said to Hjalmar: “Foster-brother, thou must hold the shield
before me.”
Hjalmar replied: “I have done that for no one before, my beloved
foster-brother. Rather ask me to go into Holmganga against Ketil, for I
am afraid thou riskest too much. I do not want to part from thee, and
hope the Nornir have fated us to die the same day.”
Ivar thanked his foster-brother, but said that what he asked could not
be granted.
Hjalmar answered: “In case of thy death, none of us would go back unless
thou art avenged, for we foster-brothers have sworn to avenge each
other’s death.”
Then he advanced towards Ivar, and took the three shields that he was to
hold before him, and handed two of them to Sigurd and Sigmund; then he
said to Ivar: “Foster-brother, let us hope that victory will be thine;
but thou hast to fight against one of the greatest champions of our
land, a man very skilled in the handling of the sword and of the sax.”
“Now it is better to stand by one’s word, and not to be the first to ask
for peace,” Ketil said.
“Thou art right,” replied Ivar. Then he sang: “Lovely maid of Svithjod,
to-day I fight for thee; I will come to thee victorious, Randalin;
to-day Ketil will die.”
Ketil began to shout fiercely, and the berserk frenzy came upon him. He
bit the rim of his shield, and looked like a wild beast; foam came from
his mouth, but after a while he became himself again.
Ivar and Ketil, after shaking hands, went inside the boundaries of the
dueling place, and placed themselves on the squares that were marked on
the cloak.
First Ivar sang: “Thou, Ketil, wilt to-day lodge with Odin.”
And Ketil sang back: “I do not put my trust in Odin, but before night
thou, Ivar, wilt be among the dead.”
Hjalmar held the shield of Ivar, and Bodmod that of Ketil, his father.
Ivar had the sword Hrotti, and when it struck Ketil’s shield, it was as
if lightning came from it. Ketil, seeing the sparks, said: “I should not
have fought against thee if I had known that thou hadst Hrotti with
thee. It is most likely, as my father said, that we brothers are to be
short-lived, except the one of us who is named after him.”
Heedless of this complaint, Ivar struck at Ketil’s shield, and dealt
blow after blow so quickly, that Ketil could not strike him, having to
shelter himself behind his shield-bearer; then Ivar drew back to get
room to wield his sword and aim a blow at Ketil, but Ketil was too quick
for him, and Ivar’s shield was cut asunder. New shields were provided,
and these were equally cut to pieces. Each side had now spoiled two
shields, both combatants had only one shield left, and the fight was to
be decisive.
Then followed the fiercest of combats. Ketil sang: “There is courage in
Ketil. My sword Hviting is sharp; it will belie the word of Odin. I tell
thee, Ivar, it is unsafe to trust him; use thy arms and hands well
before we part, for soon thou art to fall.”
Ivar replied: “Soon, Ketil, wilt thou fall to the ground.”
Here Ketil drew back with a swift motion, to wield his sword more
easily, and deal a death blow at Ivar. But Ivar sprang towards him just
at this instant, and struck him a blow which almost cleft his shoulder
in two, and he staggered outside the mark, and fell mortally wounded.
Thereupon Ketil died, having fought and fallen valiantly. According to
ancient custom, a large bull was led forward, and sacrificed by Ivar as
the victor.
Ivar then went back to Dampstadir, and the Sviar to Upsalir to tell
Randalin of the great victory of Ivar, who on account of this deed
obtained still greater renown than before.
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