EARL ERLEND’S DEATH.
FIVE nights before Christmas, Swein, Asleif’s son, went east to
Sandvik,[423] to his kinswoman Sigríd, because he had to make peace
between her and her neighbour by name Björn. Before he went away he told
Earl Erlend to sleep on board by night, and not to be less on his guard
that he himself was absent. Swein spent one night with his kinswoman
Sigríd. A tenant and dear friend of Sigríd’s, by name Gisl, asked Swein
to stay with him, as he had been brewing ale, and wished to entertain
him. When they came to Gisl they were told that Earl Erlend had not gone
on board that night; and as soon as Swein heard it, he sent Margad,
Grim’s son, and two other men to the Earl, and asked him to pay heed to
his advice, although he had not done so the preceding night, and then he
added: “I suspect that I shall not have long to provide for this Earl.”
Margad and his companions found Earl Erlend, and told him Swein’s words.
The Earl’s men said: “He is a strange man; sometimes he is afraid of
nothing, at other times he is so frightened that he does not know where
to look for shelter to himself or others.” They said they would sleep
quietly on shore, and not go on board. The Earl said they should do as
Swein advised them, and he went on board with four-and-twenty men; the
others slept at a house. Margad went to another creek, not far away.
This very night the Earls Rögnvald and Harald surprised Earl Erlend, and
neither the watchmen who kept guard on the island nor those on board the
ship perceived them until they were climbing on board. A man named Orm
and another Ufi were in the forepart of the Earl’s ship. Ufi jumped up
and tried to rouse the Earl, but could not, for he was dead-drunk. Then
he took him in his arms, and jumped overboard with him into a boat
alongside the ship, and Orm jumped overboard on the other side, and
escaped on shore. There Earl Erlend was slain, and most of those on
board. Margad and his men were awakened during the night by the
battle-cry, and took to their oars, and rowed round the headland. It was
clear moonlight, and they saw when the Earls went away; and they felt
sure that fate had decided between them. They rowed away first to
Rennadal (Rendale), and sent men to Swein, Asleif’s son, to tell him
what they had seen. Earl Harald wished to give Earl Erlend’s men peace,
but Earl Rögnvald wished to wait, in order to know whether the Earl’s
body would be found or not. The body was found two nights before Yule. A
spear was seen standing in a heap of seaweed; and that spear was fast in
Earl Erlend’s body.[424] Then it was brought to church, and peace was
given to the Earl’s men, as well as to four of Swein’s men who had been
taken.
A man named Jón Vœng was a sister’s son of that Jón Vœng who was
mentioned before.[425] He had been with Hákon Karl, and had a child by
his sister; then he ran away, and was with Anakol on piratical
expeditions; but now he was with Erlend, yet he was not in the battle.
All Erlend’s men went to Kirkiuvag, and took refuge in St. Magnus’s
church. The Earls went there, and a meeting for peace-making was held in
the church. The Earls would not pardon Jón until he promised to marry
the woman. All the men swore oaths of fealty to the Earls, and Jón Vœng
became Earl Harald’s steward.