SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON’S FALL.
NEXT morning Swein and his men arose and armed themselves, and went to
the town; and when they came near the gates the Dýflin men ranged
themselves on both sides from the gates along by the pits. Swein and his
men, not being on their guard, fell into them. Some of the townsmen ran
immediately to the gates, and others to the pits, and attacked Swein’s
men with weapons. It was difficult for them to defend themselves, and
Swein perished there in the pit, with all those who had entered the
town. It was said that Swein was the last man who died there, and that
he spake these words before his fall: “Know all men, whether I die
to-day or not, that I am the holy Earl Rögnvald’s henchman, and my
confidence is where he is with God.” Swein’s surviving followers went
then to their ships, and put out to sea; and nothing is said of their
voyage until they came to the Orkneys. Here is the end of Swein’s
history; and it has been said that he was the greatest man in the
Western lands, either in old times or at the present day, of those who
had not a higher title than he had. After his death his sons Olaf and
Andrés divided their patrimony. The next summer after his death they
raised the end walls of the large drinking-hall which he had in
Gáreksey. Andrés, the son of Swein, married Frída, the daughter of
Kolbein Hruga, and sister to Bishop Bjarni.