Bishop Sigurd took all his mass robes and went forward to the bow of
the king's ship; ordered tapers to be lighted, and incense to be brought
out. Then he set the crucifix upon the stem of the vessel, read the
Evangelist and many prayers, besprinkled the whole ship with holy water,
and then ordered the ship-tent to be stowed away, and to row into the
fjord. The king ordered all the other ships to follow him. Now when all
was ready on board the Crane to row, she went into the fjord without the
rowers finding any wind; and the sea was curled about their keel track
like as in a calm, so quiet and still was the water; yet on each side
of them the waves were lashing up so high that they hid the sight of
the mountains. And so the one ship followed the other in the smooth sea
track; and they proceeded this way the whole day and night, until they
reached Godey. Now when they came to Raud's house his great ship, the
dragon, was afloat close to the land. King Olaf went up to the house
immediately with his people; made an attack on the loft in which Raud
was sleeping, and broke it open. The men rushed in: Raud was taken
and bound, and of the people with him some were killed and some made
prisoners. Then the king's men went to a lodging in which Raud's house
servants slept, and killed some, bound others, and beat others. Then
the king ordered Raud to be brought before him, and offered him baptism.
"And," says the king, "I will not take thy property from thee, but
rather be thy friend, if thou wilt make thyself worthy to be so." Raud
exclaimed with all his might against the proposal, saying he would never
believe in Christ, and making his scoff of God. Then the king was wroth,
and said Raud should die the worst of deaths. And the king ordered him
to be bound to a beam of wood, with his face uppermost, and a round pin
of wood set between his teeth to force his mouth open. Then the king
ordered an adder to be stuck into the mouth of him; but the serpent
would not go into his mouth, but shrunk back when Raud breathed against
it. Now the king ordered a hollow branch of an angelica root to be stuck
into Raud's mouth; others say the king put his horn into his mouth,
and forced the serpent to go in by holding a red-hot iron before the
opening. So the serpent crept into the mouth of Raud and down his
throat, and gnawed its way out of his side; and thus Raud perished. King
Olaf took here much gold and silver, and other property of weapons, and
many sorts of precious effects; and all the men who were with Raud he
either had baptized, or if they refused had them killed or tortured.
Then the king took the dragonship which Raud had owned, and steered it
himself; for it was a much larger and handsomer vessel than the Crane.
In front it had a dragon's head, and aft a crook, which turned up, and
ended with the figure of the dragon's tail. The carved work on each side
of the stem and stern was gilded. This ship the king called the Serpent.
When the sails were hoisted they represented, as it were, the dragon's
wings; and the ship was the handsomest in all Norway. The islands on
which Raud dwelt were called Gylling and Haering; but the whole islands
together were called Godey Isles, and the current between the isles and
the mainland the Godey Stream. King Olaf baptized the whole people of
the fjord, and then sailed southwards along the land; and on this
voyage happened much and various things, which are set down in tales
and sagas,--namely, how witches and evil spirits tormented his men, and
sometimes himself; but we will rather write about what occurred when
King Olaf made Norway Christian, or in the other countries in which he
advanced Christianity. The same autumn Olaf with his fleet returned to
Throndhjem, and landed at Nidaros, where he took up his winter abode.
What I am now going to write about concerns the Icelanders.