As soon as King Harald was ready with his fleet, he orders the war-blast
to sound, and the men to row forward to the attack. So says Stein
Herdison:--
"Harald and Svein first met as foes,
Where the Nis in the ocean flows;
For Svein would not for peace entreat,
But, strong in ships, would Harald meet.
The Norsemen prove, with sword in hand,
That numbers cannot skill withstand.
Off Halland's coast the blood of Danes
The blue sea's calm smooth surface stains."
Soon the battle began, and became very sharp; both kings urging on their
men. So says Stein Herdison:--
"Our king, his broad shield disregarding,
More keen for striking than for warding,
Now tells his lads their spears to throw,--
Now shows them where to strike a blow.
From fleet to fleet so short the way,
That stones and arrows have full play;
And from the keen sword dropped the blood
Of short-lived seamen in the flood."
It was late in the day when the battle began, and it continued the
whole night. King Harald shot for a long time with his bow. So says
Thiodolf:--
"The Upland king was all the night
Speeding the arrows' deadly flight.
All in the dark his bow-string's twang
Was answered; for some white shield rang,
Or yelling shriek gave certain note
The shaft had pierced some ring-mail coat,
The foemen's shields and bulwarks bore
A Lapland arrow-scat(1) or more."
Earl Hakon, and the people who followed him, did not make fast their
ships in the fleet, but rowed against the Danish ships that were loose,
and slew the men of all the ships they came up with. When the Danes
observed this each drew his ship out of the way of the earl; but he set
upon those who were trying to escape, and they were nearly driven to
flight. Then a boat came rowing to the earl's ship and hailed him and
said that the other wing of King Harald's fleet was giving way and many
of their people had fallen. Then the earl rowed thither and gave so
severe an assault that the Danes had to retreat before him. The earl
went on in this way all the night, coming forward where he was most
wanted, and wheresoever he came none could stand against him. Hakon
rowed outside around the battle. Towards the end of the night the
greatest part of the Danish fleet broke into flight, for then King
Harald with his men boarded the vessel of King Svein; and it was so
completely cleared that all the crew fell in the ship, except those who
sprang overboard. So says Arnor, the earls' skald:--
"Brave Svein did not his vessel leave
Without good cause, as I believe:
Oft on his casque the sword-blade rang,
Before into the sea he sprang.
Upon the wave his vessel drives;
All his brave crew had lost their lives.
O'er dead courtmen into the sea
The Jutland king had now to flee."
And when King Svein's banner was cut down, and his ship cleared of its
crew, all his forces took to flight, and some were killed. The ships
which were bound together could not be cast loose, so the people who
were in them sprang overboard, and some got to the other ships that
were loose; and all King Svein's men who could get off rowed away, but
a great many of them were slain. Where the king himself fought the ships
were mostly bound together, and there were more than seventy left behind
of King Svein's vessels. So says Thiodolf:--
"Svein's ships rode proudly o'er the deep,
When, by a single sudden sweep,
Full seventy sail, as we are told,
Were seized by Norway's monarch bold."
King Harald rowed after the Danes and pursued them; but that was not
easy, for the ships lay so thick together that they scarcely could move.
Earl Fin Arnason would not flee; and being also shortsighted, was taken
prisoner. So says Thiodolf:--
"To the six Danish earls who came
To aid his force, and raise his name,
No mighty thanks King Svein is owing
For mighty actions of their doing.
Fin Arnason, in battle known,
With a stout Norse heart of his own,
Would not take flight his life to gain,
And in the foremost ranks was ta'en."
ENDNOTES: (1) The Laplanders paid their seat, or yearly tax, in bows and
arrows; and the meaning of the skald appears to be, that as
many as were paid in a year were shot at the foe.--L.