Gamle Eirikson fled from the ridge down upon the plain to the south of
the hill. There he turned himself again, and waited until more people
gathered to him. All his brothers, and many troops of their men,
assembled there. Egil Ulserk was in front, and in advance of Hakon's
men, and made a stout attack. He and King Gamle exchanged blows with
each other, and King Gamle got a grievous wound; but Egil fell, and
many people with him. Then came Hakon the king with the troops which had
followed him, and a new battle began. King Hakon pushed on, cutting down
men on both sides of him, and killing the one upon the top of the other.
So sings Guthorm Sindre:--
"Scared by the sharp sword's singing sound,
Brandished in air, the foe gave ground.
The boldest warrior cannot stand
Before King Hakon's conquering hand;
And the king's banner ever dies
Where the spear-forests thickest rise.
Altho' the king had gained of old
Enough of Freyja's tears of gold (1),
He spared himself no more than tho'
He'd had no well-filled purse to show."
When Eirik's sons saw their men falling all round, they turned and fled
to their ships; but those who had sought the ships before had pushed off
some of them from the land, while some of them were still hauled up and
on the strand. Now the sons of Eirik and their men plunged into the sea,
and betook themselves to swimming. Gamle Eirikson was drowned; but the
other sons of Eirik reached their ships, and set sail with what men
remained. They steered southwards to Denmark, where they stopped a
while, very ill satisfied with their expedition.
ENDNOTES: (1) Freyja's husband was Od; and her tears, when she wept at
the long absence of her husband, were tears of gold. Od's
wife's tears is the skald's expression here for gold--
understood, no doubt, as readily as any allusion to Plutus
would convey the equivalent meaning in modern poetry.--L.