MM! I'.OOTY. 107 



than seven to one. She replied : I would have raised thee in 

 my wool chest if I hud been certain that thou wouhlst live for 

 ever. Better is it to die with honour, than to live in shame. 

 Take this merld (standard), which I have made with my best 

 skill, and which 1 believe will be victorious for those before 

 \\hom it is carried, but deadly to him who carries it.' The 

 standard was mad* 1 with great hard-work and renowned skill. 

 It was in the shape of a raven, and when the wind blew on it 

 it seemed as if the raven spread his wings. Sigurd Jarl 

 became very angry at his mother's words, and gave the Orkney 

 islanders their odals to help him ; he went against Finnleik 

 .Jarl at Skidamyri, and both arrayed their men. When the 

 tight began, the Scots slew the standard-bearer of Sigurd Jarl ; 

 he appointed another to carry it, but after a while he fell ; 

 three standard-bearers were slain, but the Jarl was victorious " 

 (Flateyjarbok, vol. i.). 



War booty. The regulations about the spoils, which were 

 very strict, were divided into shares by lot or choice. It was 

 the custom after the battle, before the division took place, 

 to carry the plunder to a pole fixed in the ground, where it 

 was counted and valued. 



''Then the king (Sverrir) lay atHofudey ; he had the booty 

 carried up on a plain in the south of the island, and divided 

 into four parts. Then a Husthing (house thing) was summoned 

 by blowing horns, and he spoke to his men. Thereupon he 

 made them go under a pole (stong); it was scored (i.e., an 

 incision was made for every twenty men) to show how many 

 men he had ; they were more than 40 hundred (4,000) " (King 

 Sverri's Saga, c. 136). 



' In the spring the foster-brothers made ready to leave home 

 with fifteen ships ; Beli steered the dragon which Slisa-Ufi 

 had owned; it was costly; its beaks were carved and much 

 gilded. King Beli got the dragon, for it was the best thing 

 of the booty they got from Hi. and it was their cnstdln that 

 Beli always got the best of what they took as booty " (Thor- 

 stein Yikingsson's Saga, c. '21'). 



While reading 'the Sagas which speak of the most ancient 

 events, we find a great and chivalrous spirit animating the 

 warriors, champion fought against champion when others \\en- 

 looking on, man was against man. It was not manly to attack 

 a champion that was fighting with another. We have several 



