BATTLE OF SVOLD. 191 



stood on the lypting while he heard these tidings, and said 

 to his men : ' Let down the sail as quickly as possible, and some 

 of you put out the oars to take the speed off the ship. I will 

 rather fight than flee, for never yet have I fled from battle ; 

 my life is in God's power, but never will I take to llight, for 

 he is not a true king who in fear flies from his foes.' It \\.-i- 

 done as the king said, and the Serpent ran in front of the 

 ships, and the men of the other ships brought them ahead by 

 pulling with their oars. Then the entire host of the kings 

 rowed out from under the island ; and the chiefs were very 

 glad when they found that King Olaf had fallen into their 

 ambush. 



" When King Olaf Tryggvason and his men saw that the sea 

 was covered far and wide with the war-ships of their foes, a 

 wise and valiant man, Thorkel Dydril, his uncle, said : ' Lord, 

 here is an overwhelming force to fight against ; let us hoist our 

 sails and follow our men out to sea. We can still do so while 

 our foes prepare themselves for battle, for it is not looked upon 

 as cowardice by any one for a man to use forethought for 

 himself or his men.' King Olaf replied loudly : ' Tie together 

 the ships, and let the men prepare for battle and draw their 

 swords, for my men shall not think of flight.' The chiefs 

 arranged the host for attack, and it is said that they threw 

 lots, who should first attack Olaf s ship, the Long Serpent. 

 Svein drew the lot to attack first, then Olaf and Eirik jarl last 

 if it was needed. 



" King Olaf signalled by horn to lay the eleven ships 

 together which he had there. The Long Serpent was in tin- 

 middle, with the Short Serpent on one side and the Crane on 

 the other, and four other ships on each side of them. But 

 this ship-host, though he had large ships, was only a small 

 detachment compared to the overwhelming host which his 

 enemies had. He now missed his host, as it was likely. 



" King Olaf's men now tied together the ships as bid ; but 

 when he saw that they began to tie together the stems of the 

 Long Serpent and the Short Serpent, he called out loudly : 

 ' Bring forward the large ship ; I will not be the hindmost of all 

 uiy men in this host when the battle begins.' 



" Then Ulf the red, the king's standard bearer and his stem 

 defender, said: ' If the Serpent shall be put as much forward 

 as it is larger and longer than the other ships, the men in the 

 bows will have a hard time of it.' The king answered : ' I 

 had the Serpent made longer than other ships, so that it should 

 be put forward more boldly in battle, and be well known in 

 fighting and sailing, but I did not know that I had a stem 

 defender who was both red and faint-headed.' Ulf replied : 



