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1. HALFDAN FIGHTS WITH GANDALF AND SIGTRYG.
Halfdan was a year old when his father was killed, and his mother Asa
set off immediately with him westwards to Agder, and set herself there
in the kingdom which her father Harald had possessed. Halfdan grew up
there, and soon became stout and strong; and, by reason of his black
hair, was called Halfdan the Black. When he was eighteen years old he
took his kingdom in Agder, and went immediately to Vestfold, where he
divided that kingdom, as before related, with his brother Olaf. The
same autumn he went with an army to Vingulmark against King Gandalf.
They had many battles, and sometimes one, sometimes the other gained
the victory; but at last they agreed that Halfdan should have half of
Vingulmark, as his father Gudrod had had it before. Then King Halfdan
proceeded to Raumarike, and subdued it. King Sigtryg, son of King
Eystein, who then had his residence in Hedemark, and who had subdued
Raumarike before, having heard of this, came out with his army against
King Halfdan, and there was great battle, in which King Halfdan was
victorious; and just as King Sigtryg and his troops were turning about
to fly, an arrow struck him under the left arm, and he fell dead.
Halfdan then laid the whole of Raumarike under his power. King
Eystein's second son, King Sigtryg's brother, was also called Eystein,
and was then king in Hedemark. As soon as Halfdan had returned to
Vestfold, King Eystein went out with his army to Raumarike, and laid
the whole country in subjection to him.
2. BATTLE BETWEEN HALFDAN AND EYSTEIN.
When King Halfdan heard of these disturbances in Raumarike, he again
gathered his army together; and went out against King Eystein. A battle
took place between them, and Halfdan gained the victory, and Eystein
fled up to Hedemark, pursued by Halfdan. Another battle took place, in
which Halfdan was again victorious; and Eystein fled northwards, up
into the Dales to the herse Gudbrand. There he was strengthened with
new people, and in winter he went towards Hedemark, and met Halfdan the
Black upon a large island which lies in the Mjosen lake. There a great
battle was fought, and many people on both sides were slain, but
Halfdan won the victory. There fell Guthorm, the son of the herse
Gudbrand, who was one of the finest men in the Uplands. Then Eystein
fled north up the valley, and sent his relation Halvard Skalk to King
Halfdan to beg for peace. On consideration of their relationship, King
Halfdan gave King Eystein half of Hedemark, which he and his relations
had held before; but kept to himself Thoten, and the district called
Land. He likewise appropriated to himself Hadeland, and thus became a
mighty king.
3. HALFDAN'S MARRIAGE
Halfdan the Black got a wife called Ragnhild, a daughter of Harald
Gulskeg (Goldbeard), who was a king in Sogn. They had a son, to whom
Harald gave his own name; and the boy was brought up in Sogn, by his
mother's father, King Harald. Now when this Harald had lived out his
days nearly, and was become weak, having no son, he gave his dominions
to his daughter's son Harald, and gave him his title of king; and he
died soon after. The same winter his daughter Ragnhild died; and the
following spring the young Harald fell sick and died at ten years of
age. As soon as Halfdan the Black heard of his son's death, he took the
road northwards to Sogn with a great force, and was well received. He
claimed the heritage and dominion after his son; and no opposition
being made, he took the whole kingdom. Earl Atle Mjove (the Slender),
who was a friend of King Halfdan, came to him from Gaular; and the king
set him over the Sogn district, to judge in the country according to
the country's laws, and collect scat upon the king's account.
Thereafter King Halfdan proceeded to his kingdom in the Uplands.
4. HALFDAN'S STRIFE WITH GANDALF'S SONS.
In autumn, King Halfdan proceeded to Vingulmark. One night when he was
there in guest quarters, it happened that about midnight a man came to
him who had been on the watch on horseback, and told him a war force
was come near to the house. The king instantly got up, ordered his men
to arm themselves, and went out of the house and drew them up in battle
order. At the same moment, Gandalf's sons, Hysing and Helsing, made
their appearance with a large army. There was a great battle; but
Halfdan being overpowered by the numbers of people fled to the forest,
leaving many of his men on this spot. His foster-father, Olver Spake
(the Wise), fell here. The people now came in swarms to King Halfdan,
and he advanced to seek Gandalf's sons. They met at Eid, near Lake
Oieren, and fought there. Hysing and Helsing fell, and their brother
Hake saved himself by flight. King Halfdan then took possession of the
whole of Vingulmark, and Hake fled to Alfheimar.
5. HALFDAN'S MARRIAGE WITH HJORT'S DAUGHTER.
Sigurd Hjort was the name of a king in Ringerike, who was stouter and
stronger than any other man, and his equal could not be seen for a
handsome appearance. His father was Helge Hvasse (the Sharp); and his
mother was Aslaug, a daughter of Sigurd the worm- eyed, who again was a
son of Ragnar Lodbrok. It is told of Sigurd that when he was only
twelve years old he killed in single combat the berserk Hildebrand, and
eleven others of his comrades; and many are the deeds of manhood told
of him in a long saga about his feats. Sigurd had two children, one of
whom was a daughter, called Ragnhild, then twenty years of age, and an
excellent brisk girl. Her brother Guthorm was a youth. It is related in
regard to Sigurd's death that he had a custom of riding out quite alone
in the uninhabited forest to hunt the wild beasts that are hurtful to
man, and he was always very eager at this sport. One day he rode out
into the forest as usual, and when he had ridden a long way he came out
at a piece of cleared land near to Hadeland. There the berserk Hake
came against him with thirty men, and they fought. Sigurd Hjort fell
there, after killing twelve of Hake's men; and Hake himself lost one
hand, and had three other wounds. Then Hake and his men rode to
Sigurd's house, where they took his daughter Ragnhild and her brother
Guthorm, and carried them, with much property and valuable articles,
home to Hadeland, where Hake had many great farms. He ordered a feast
to be prepared, intending to hold his wedding with Ragnhild; but the
time passed on account of his wounds, which healed slowly; and the
berserk Hake of Hadeland had to keep his bed, on account of his wounds,
all the autumn and beginning of winter. Now King Halfdan was in
Hedemark at the Yule entertainments when he heard this news; and one
morning early, when the king was dressed, he called to him Harek Gand,
and told him to go over to Hadeland, and bring him Ragnhild, Sigurd
Hjort's daughter. Harek got ready with a hundred men, and made his
journey so that they came over the lake to Hake's house in the grey of
the morning, and beset all the doors and stairs of the places where the
house-servants slept. Then they broke into the sleeping-room where Hake
slept, took Ragnhild, with her brother Guthorm, and all the goods that
were there, and set fire to the house-servants' place, and burnt all
the people in it. Then they covered over a magnificent waggon, placed
Ragnhild and Guthorm in it, and drove down upon the ice. Hake got up
and went after them a while; but when he came to the ice on the lake,
he turned his sword-hilt to the ground and let himself fall upon the
point, so that the sword went through him. He was buried under a mound
on the banks of the lake. When King Halfdan, who was very quick of
sight, saw the party returning over the frozen lake, and with a covered
waggon, he knew that their errand was accomplished according to his
desire. Thereupon he ordered the tables to be set out, and sent people
all round in the neighbourhood to invite plenty of guests; and the same
day there was a good feast which was also Halfdan's marriage-feast with
Ragnhild, who became a great queen. Ragnhild's mother was Thorny, a
daughter of Klakharald king in Jutland, and a sister of Thrye Dannebod
who was married to the Danish king, Gorm the Old, who then ruled over
the Danish dominions.
6. OF RAGNHILD'S DREAM.
Ragnhild, who was wise and intelligent, dreamt great dreams. She
dreamt, for one, that she was standing out in her herb-garden, and she
took a thorn out of her shift; but while she was holding the thorn in
her hand it grew so that it became a great tree, one end of which
struck itself down into the earth, and it became firmly rooted; and the
other end of the tree raised itself so high in the air that she could
scarcely see over it, and it became also wonderfully thick. The under
part of the tree was red with blood, but the stem upwards was
beautifully green and the branches white as snow. There were many and
great limbs to the tree, some high up, others low down; and so vast
were the tree's branches that they seemed to her to cover all Norway,
and even much more.
7. OF HALFDAN'S DREAM.
King Halfdan never had dreams, which appeared to him an extraordinary
circumstance; and he told it to a man called Thorleif Spake (the Wise),
and asked him what his advice was about it. Thorleif said that what he
himself did, when he wanted to have any revelation by dream, was to
take his sleep in a swine-sty, and then it never failed that he had
dreams. The king did so, and the following dream was revealed to him.
He thought he had the most beautiful hair, which was all in ringlets;
some so long as to fall upon the ground, some reaching to the middle of
his legs, some to his knees, some to his loins or the middle of his
sides, some to his neck, and some were only as knots springing from his
head. These ringlets were of various colours; but one ringlet surpassed
all the others in beauty, lustre, and size. This dream he told to
Thorleif, who interpreted it thus: -- There should be a great posterity
from him, and his descendants should rule over countries with great,
but not all with equally great, honour; but one of his race should be
more celebrated than all the others. It was the opinion of people that
this ringlet betokened King Olaf the Saint. King Halfdan was a wise
man, a man of truth and uprightness -- who made laws, observed them
himself, and obliged others to observe them. And that violence should
not come in place of the laws, he himself fixed the number of criminal
acts in law, and the compensations, mulcts, or penalties, for each
case, according to every one's birth and dignity (1).
Queen Ragnhild gave birth to a son, and water was poured over him, and
the name of Harald given him, and he soon grew stout and remarkably
handsome. As he grew up he became very expert at all feats, and showed
also a good understanding. He was much beloved by his mother, but less
so by his father.
8. HALFDAN'S MEAT VANISHES AT A FEAST
King Halfdan was at a Yule-feast in Hadeland, where a wonderful thing
happened one Yule evening. When the great number of guests assembled
were going to sit down to table, all the meat and all the ale
disappeared from the table. The king sat alone very confused in mind;
all the others set off, each to his home, in consternation. That the
king might come to some certainty about what had occasioned this event,
he ordered a Fin to be seized who was particularly knowing, and tried
to force him to disclose the truth; but however much he tortured the
man, he got nothing out of him. The Fin sought help particularly from
Harald, the king's son, and Harald begged for mercy for him, but in
vain. Then Harald let him escape against the king's will, and
accompanied the man himself. On their journey they came to a place
where the man's chief had a great feast, and it appears they were well
received there. When they had been there until spring, the chief said,
"Thy father took it much amiss that in winter I took some provisions
from him, -- now I will repay it to thee by a joyful piece of news: thy
father is dead; and now thou shalt return home, and take possession of
the whole kingdom which he had, and with it thou shalt lay the whole
kingdom of Norway under thee."
9. HALFDAN S DEATH.
Halfdan the Black was driving from a feast in Hadeland, and it so
happened that his road lay over the lake called Rand. It was in spring,
and there was a great thaw. They drove across the bight called
Rykinsvik, where in winter there had been a pond broken in the ice for
cattle to drink at, and where the dung had fallen upon the ice the thaw
had eaten it into holes. Now as the king drove over it the ice broke,
and King Halfdan and many with him perished. He was then forty years
old. He had been one of the most fortunate kings in respect of good
seasons. The people thought so much of him, that when his death was
known and his body was floated to Ringerike to bury it there, the
people of most consequence from Raumarike, Vestfold, and Hedemark came
to meet it. All desired to take the body with them to bury it in their
own district, and they thought that those who got it would have good
crops to expect. At last it was agreed to divide the body into four
parts. The head was laid in a mound at Stein in Ringerike, and each of
the others took his part home and laid it in a mound; and these have
since been called Halfdan's Mounds.
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