A LEGEND ABOUT K I\(i YlKMi. 



121 



To those men of old, death was but one of the phases of their 

 lives; it had no terrors for them, and they faced it smilingly, 

 bravely, and contentedly. It was in their eyes preferable 

 to dishonour, or the humiliation of defeat ; vanquisher and 

 vanquished when dying parted friends, and praised the deeds 

 of each other, one bidding- the other speed to Valhalla as the 

 tire was lighted on the pyre, or as the burning ship that was 

 to consume the body sailed from the shore. The victor 

 often mourned that he had not been among the slain and 

 chosen, and consoled himself by thinking that he must obtain 

 more renown and do braver deeds before he could aspire to 

 meet Odin. There is something grand and noble in this 

 despising of life, and in aspiring, during its continuance, to 

 do great and noble deeds. 



Before the fight the combatants told each other that they 

 would go to Valhalla, and the hosts of the enemy were figura- 

 tively given to Odin by throwing a spear over them ; l King 

 Vikar, of Hordaland, was thus given to the god by his mother. 2 

 Odin himself steered Harald Hilditonn's war-waggon in the 

 battle, and killed his favourites with Harald's weapons for he 

 was old, and could not bear the brunt of any more fighting. 

 Eirik the victorious threw over Styrbjorn's host the spear 

 which Odin gave him, accompanying the action with the words 

 " Odin owns you all." 



" King Vikar sailed from Agdir north to Hordaland with 

 many men. He stayed a long time in some islands and had 

 strong headwinds. They threw chips (sacrifice-chips) to get 

 fair wind, and it fell thus that Odin was to receive a man out 

 of the host to be hanged by drawing of lots. The host was 

 divided for lot-drawing, and the lot of King Vikar was drawn. 

 At this all grew silent, and it was resolved that the counsellors 

 should nest day have a meeting about the difficulty. About 

 midnight Hrossharsgrani (Odin) roused his foster-son Starkad. 

 and asked him to go with him. They took a little boat and row< < 1 

 to an islet inside the island. They walked up to a wood, and 

 found a clearing crowded with men. A Thing was held there, 

 and eleven men sat on chairs, but the twelfth was not occupied. 

 They went forward to the Tiling, and Hrossharsgrani (Odin) 



1 Voluspa, 24 ; Hervarar Saga, 5; Kyr- 

 byggja, 44 ; Fornraanna Sogur, v. 250. 

 Harald Hilditonn was given to Odin at 



his birth (cf. Saxo). He was victorious 

 all his life till his last battle. 

 2 Cf. also Gautrek's Saga, c. 7 



