Ragnar Lodbrok Saga: Chapter 15
Chris Van Dyke Translation
Chapter 15
How the story tells us Ragnar was sitting at home in his kingdom and he did not know where his sons were, or Randalin, his wife. But he heard tales from all his men that said that none might be equal to his sons, and it seemed to him that none were as famous as they.
Then he wondered how he might gain fame that would not be any less long lived. Then he thought about this to himself, and then he sent for his craftsmen and had them fell wood for two large ships, and men heard that these two merchant vessels were so large that such ships had never been made in the North-lands. Then he gathered from all his kingdom a large ma** of arms. And from these actions, men discerned that he had decided on some war-expedition away from his land. This became known across all of the lands that were near by. And then all the men and the kings who ruled those lands feared that they might not be able to remain in their lands. And they all had watches set up across their lands, in case he might attack them.
One day Randalin asked Ragnar where he was intending on journeying. He told her that he intended to go to England with no more ships than two merchant vessels, and as many troops as they might ferry.
Then Randalin said: “This journey which you are planning seems very imprudent to me. I have a mind to advise you to have more boats, and smaller ones.” “There is no glory,” he said, “if men conquer a land with many ships. But there is no tale of any that have conquered such a land as England with two ships. And if I suffer defeat, it is better that I have taken few ships from this land.”
Then Randalin answered: “It seems to me no less expensive to build these two ships than to have more long-ships for this journey. And you know that it is difcult for ships to hold course to England, and if it happens that your ships are lost, then even if your men make it to land they will then be lost if the lord of the land comes. It is better to hold course to harbors in long-ships than in merchant vessels!”
Then Ragnar spoke this verse:
No bold man may spare the
amber of the Rhine if he desire warriors;
but many rings help a wise chieftain
worse than warrior-men.
It is bad to defend
the town-gates with brand-red rings;
I know very many dead boars
whose treasure lives on.
Then he had his ships readied and his men gathered, so that the merchant vessels were fully loaded. There was much discussion about his plans. But he spoke this one verse:
What is it that I, the breaker of rings,
hear roaring from the rocks:
that the distributor of the re of the hand
should abandon the difcult serpents of the sea?
I, the scatterer of the
fore-arm layings, shall, Lady Bil,
follow my plan, unwavering,
if the gods are willing.
And when his ships and those troops that would accompany him were ready, and when it seemed as if good weather would come, Ragnar said that he would go to the ships. And when he was ready, Randalin accompanied him to the ships. But before they parted, she said that she would reward him for that shirt which he had given her. He asked what manner of reward it would be, and she spoke a verse:
I sewed for you
a shirt with no seams;
with hale heart I wove it
out of grayed woolen-hair;
wounds will not bleed,
nor will edges bite
through this invincible shroud
which is blessed by the gods
He said that he would accept this aid. And then when they parted, it was evident that their parting seemed very difcult for her.
Then Ragnar held course in his ships to England, as he had planned. He received a bitter wind, so that he broke both his merchant-vessels against England, but all his troops came to land and they kept their clothes and weapons. And there, whenever he came to farms and towns and castles, he conquered them. And there was a king called Ella, who then ruled England. He had heard reports when Ragnar had left his own land. Ella had sent forth men, so that he might know as soon as Ragnar came to land. Then these men journeyed to meet with King Ella, and told him war-tidings. Then he had a summons sent throughout all his land and commanded every man come to him who could wield a shield and ride a horse and who dared to ght. He gathered so many together there that it was a wondrous thing.
Then King Ella and his men prepared for battle. Then King Ella spoke with his troops: “If we gain victory in this battle, and it happens that you know that it is Ragnar who has come against us, then you shall not bear weapons against him, because he has sons who would never again leave us be if he fell.”
At the same time, Ragnar prepared for battle, and he had that piece of clothing which Randalin had given him at their parting on over his mail, and in his hand was that spear with which he had vanquished the snake which lay about Pora's bower and which no one else had dared to face, and he had no protection save his helm.
And when they met, the battle began. Ragnar had many fewer troops. The battle had not been going long before most of Ragnar's troops fell. But wherever he went that day, the army cleared away before him. He struck at their shields or mail or helms, and so great were his hewings that none could stand before them. It happened with all who shot or hewed at him that not one weapon did him any harm, and he never received a wound—but he k**ed a great multitude of King Ella's troops. However, the battle ended so that all of Ragnar's troops fell, and he was overborne with shields and seized.
Then he was asked who he was, but he was silent and did not answer. Then King Ella spoke: “This man may thus come to a greater trial if he will not tell us who he is. Now he shall be cast into a snake pit, and let him sit there a very long while. But if he says anything by which we might know he is Ragnar, then he shall be taken out as quickly as possible.”
Then he was led from there and he sat in the pit a very long while, but no snakes fastened onto him. Then the men said: “This man is very strong: he was not bitten by a weapon all day, and now no snakes harm him.” Then King Ella said that he was to be stripped of the outermost clothing that he had on; thus it was done, and all the snakes hung on him on all sides. Then Ragnar said: “The young pigs would now squeal if they knew what the older one suffered.” And though he spoke thus, they did not know for certain that it was Ragnar who was held rather than another king. Then he spoke a verse:
I have had fty
and one battles
which were thought glorious:
I made much harm.
I did not look to
a snake to be my bane;
things happen very often to one
that one thinks of the least.
And he spoke another:
The young pigs would squeal
if they knew the state of the boar;
of the injury done to me.
Snakes dig in my esh,
stab at me harshly,
and have s**ed on me;
soon now will my body
die among the beasts.
Then he gave up his life, and he was taken out of there. And King Ella thought he knew that it was Ragnar who had given up his life. Then he thought to himself how he could come to know this, and how he could hold his kingdom and how he could know in what way the Ragnar's sons would react when they learned of it. He decided on a plan: he then readied a ship and chose a man to carry out that plan, who was both wise and hardy. Then he chose men, so that the ship was well manned, and said that he wanted to send a message to Ivar and the others to tell them of the fall of their father. But the journey seemed most hopeless, so that few wanted to go.
Then the king spoke: “And you must attend closely to how each of the brothers reacts to these tidings. Then travel away afterwards, when you are given fair winds.” So he had the journey prepared so that they wanted nothing. And then they journeyed, and they traveled well.
And the sons of Ragnar had been harrying in the Southern Kingdom. Then they turned their course to the Northern-Lands and planned to visit their kingdom, where Ragnar ruled. But they did not know of his battle-journey or how it had had turned out, but they were very curious to know how it had turned out. Then they journeyed across the south of the land. And everywhere, when men heard of the journey of the brothers, men deserted their towns and ferried their belongings off and ed away before them, so that the brothers could scarcely nd food for their troops. One morning Bjorn Jarnsioa woke and spoke a verse:
The heath-falcon ies here
each morning over these hearty towns;
with lack of luck
he might die of hunger.
He should fare south o'er the sand
where we let the dew from great blows
ow from wounds,
there where is the owing of men's d**hs.
And he spoke another:
It was rst that we journeyed
to begin to hold Frey's play
in Romaveldi,
where we had scant few troops.
There I let my sword be drawn
for the murder and manslaughter
of those grey-beards;
the eagle shrieks o'er the fallen slain.