Magnus fled eastward to Gautland, and then to Denmark. At that time
there was in Gautland an earl, Karl Sonason, who was a great and
ambitious man. Magnus the Blind and his men said, wherever they happened
to meet with chiefs, that Norway lay quite open to any great chieftain
who would attack it; for it might well be said there was no king in the
country, and the kingdom was only ruled by lendermen, and, among those
who had most sway, there was, from mutual jealousy, most discord. Now
Karl, being ambitious of power, listens willingly to such speeches;
collects men, and rides west to Viken, where many people, out of fear,
submit to him. When Thjostolf Alason and Amunde heard of this, they went
with the men they could get together, and took King Inge with them. They
met Earl Karl and the Gautland army eastward in Krokaskog, where there
was a great battle and a great defeat, King Inge gaining the victory.
Munan Ogmundson, Earl Karl's mother's brother, fell there. Ogmund, the
father of Munan, was a son of Earl Orm Eilifson, and Sigrid, a daughter
of Earl Fin Arnason. Astrid, Ogrnund's daughter, was the mother of Earl
Karl. Many others of the Gautland people fell at Krokaskog; and the earl
fled eastward through the forest. King Inge pursued them all the way out
of the kingdom; and this expedition turned out a great disgrace to them.
So says Kolle:--
"I must proclaim how our great lord
Coloured deep red his ice-cold sword;
And ravens played with Gautland bones,
And wolves heard Gautlanders' last groans.
Their silly jests were well repaid,--
In Krokaskog their laugh was laid:
Thy battle power was then well tried,
And they who won may now deride."