第137章

When Ring heard that Harald was dead, he gave the signal to his men to break up their line and cease fighting.Then under cover of truce he made treaty with the enemy, telling them that it was vain to prolong the fray without their captain.Next he told the Swedes to look everywhere among the confused piles of carcases for the body of Harald, that the corpse of the king might not wrongfully lack its due rights.So the populace set eagerly to the task of turning over the bodies of the slain, and over this work half the day was spent.At last the body was found with the club, and he thought that propitiation should be made to the shade of Harald.So he harnessed the horse on which he rode to the chariot of the king, decked it honourably with a golden saddle, and hallowed it in his honour.Then he proclaimed his vows, and added his prayer that Harald would ride on this and outstrip those who shared his death in their journey to Tartarus;and that he would pray Pluto, the lord of Orcus, to grant a calm abode there for friend and foe.Then he raised a pyre, and bade the Danes fling on the gilded chariot of their king as fuel to the fire.And while the flames were burning the body cast upon them, he went round the mourning nobles and earnestly charged them that they should freely give arms, gold, and every precious thing to feed the pyre in honour of so great a king, who had deserved so nobly of them all.He also ordered that the ashes of his body, when it was quite burnt, should be transferred to an urn, taken to Leire, and there, together with the horse and armour, receive a royal funeral.By paying these due rites of honour to his uncle's shade, he won the favour of the Danes, and turned the hate of his enemies into goodwill.Then the Danes besought him to appoint Hetha over the remainder of the realm;but, that the fallen strength of the enemy might not suddenly rally, he severed Skaane from the mass of Denmark, and put it separately under the governorship of Ole, ordering that only Zealand and the other lands of the realm should be subject to Hetha.Thus the changes of fortune brought the empire of Denmark under the Swedish rule.So ended the Bravic war.

But the Zealanders, who had had Harald for their captain, and still had the picture of their former fortune hovering before their minds, thought it shameful to obey the rule of a woman, and appealed to OLE not to suffer men that had been used to serve under a famous king to be kept under a woman's yoke.They also promised to revolt to him if he would take up arms to remove their ignominious lot.Ole, tempted as much by the memory of his ancestral glory as by the homage of the soldiers, was not slow to answer their entreaties.So he summoned Hetha, and forced her by threats rather than by arms to quit every region under her control except Jutland; and even Jutland he made a tributary state, so as not to allow a woman the free control of a kingdom.

He also begot a son whom he named Omund.But he was given to cruelty, and showed himself such an unrighteous king, that all who had found it a shameful thing to be ruled by a queen now repented of their former scorn.

Twelve generals, whether moved by the disasters of their country, or hating Ole for some other reason, began to plot against his life.Among these were Hlenni, Atyl, Thott, and Withne, the last of whom was a Dane by birth, though he held a government among the Sclavs.Moreover, not trusting in their strength and their cunning to accomplish their deed, they bribed Starkad to join them.He was prevailed to do the deed with the sword; he undertook the bloody work, and resolved to attack the king while at the bath.In he went while the king was washing, but was straightway stricken by the keenness of his gaze and by the restless and quivering glare of his eyes.His limbs were palsied with sudden dread; he paused, stepped back, and stayed his hand and his purpose.Thus he who had shattered the arms of so many captains and champions could not bear the gaze of a single unarmed man.But Ole, who well knew about his own countenance, covered his face, and asked him to come closer and tell him what his message was; for old fellowship and long-tried friendship made him the last to suspect treachery.But Starkad drew his sword, leapt forward, thrust the king through, and struck him in the throat as he tried to rise.One hundred and twenty marks of gold were kept for his reward.Soon afterwards he was smitten with remorse and shame, and lamented his crime so bitterly, that he could not refrain from tears if it happened to be named.Thus his soul, when he came to his senses, blushed for his abominable sin.Moreover, to atone for the crime he had committed, he slew some of those who had inspired him to it, thus avenging the act to which he had lent his hand.

Now the Danes made OMUND, the son of Ole, king, thinking that more heed should be paid to his father's birth than to his deserts.Omund, when he had grown up, fell in nowise behind the exploits of his father; for he made it his aim to equal or surpass the deeds of Ole.

At this time a considerable tribe of the Northmen (Norwegians)was governed by Ring, and his daughter Esa's great fame commended her to Omund, who was looking out for a wife.

But his hopes of wooing her were lessened by the peculiar inclination of Ring, who desired no son-in-law but one of tried valour; for he found as much honour in arms as others think lies in wealth.Omund therefore, wishing to become famous in that fashion, and to win the praise of valour, endeavoured to gain his desire by force, and sailed to Norway with a fleet, to make an attempt on the throne of Ring under plea of hereditary right.