King Svein ruled over all the Danish dominions after King Magnus's
death. He sat quiet all the winter; but in summer he lay out in his
ships with all his people and it was said he would go north to Norway
with the Danish army and make not less havoc there than King Harald
had made in Denmark. King Svein proposed to King Harald in winter (A.D.
1049) to meet him the following summer at the Gaut river and fight until
in the battle-field their differences were ended, or they were settled
peacefully. They made ready on both sides all winter with their ships,
and called out in summer one-half of all the fighting men. The same
summer came Thorleik the Fair out of Iceland, and composed a poem about
King Svein Ulfson. He heard, when he arrived in Norway, that King Harald
had sailed south to the Gaut river against King Svein. Then Thorleik
sang this:--
"The wily Svein, I think, will meet
These inland Norsemen fleet to fleet;
The arrow-storm, and heaving sea,
His vantage-fight and field will be.
God only knows the end of strife,
Or which shall have his land and life;
This strife must come to such an end,
For terms will never bind King Svein."