GAMES OF BALL. 375 



saddle-girth, and the horse pulled thee along.' Magnus had a 

 very fast horse from Gautland. Then they raced again, and 

 Harald ran in front of the horse the whole way. When they 

 came to the end, Harald asked : ' Did I this time take hold of 

 the saddle-girth ? ' Magnus answered : ' Thou didst begin the 

 race first.' Magnus let the horse breathe awhile ; when he had 

 done that he pricked his horse with his spurs, and it soon 

 started off ; Harald stood quiet. Then Magnus looked back, 

 and shouted : ' Run now.' Then Harald soon outran the horse 

 far in front of it, and so all the way to the end of the course ; 

 he reached the end so long before Magnus that he lay down, 

 jumped up and greeted him when he came. Then they went 

 home to the town. King Sigurd had been at mass during that 

 time, and did not hear of the matter until after his meal that 

 day. Then he said angrily to Magnus : ' You call Harald silly, 

 but I think you are a fool ; you do not know the customs of men 

 in other lands ; did you not know before that men in other 

 lands train themselves in other idrottir than in filling their 

 belly with drink, or making themselves mad and disabled, and 

 unconscious ; give Harald his ring, and never hereafter, while 

 my head is above ground, make fun of him " (Sigurd Jorsala- 

 far's Saga, ch. 35). 



There were three kinds of games of ball : Knattleik, Soppleik, 

 and Skofuleik. The latter was played with skofur (scrapers). 



" Once the king (Hring) had a game called soppleik ; it was 

 played with eagerness, and they tried Bosi in it ; but he 

 played roughly, and one of the king's men had his hand put 

 out of joint. The next day he broke the thigh-bone of a man, 

 and the third day two men attacked him, while many were 

 harassing him ; he knocked out the eye of one with the ball, 

 and he knocked down another man and broke his neck " 

 (Herraud and Bosi's Saga, c. 3). 



These games of ball and other athletic games became serious 

 when two districts met, or when two men were jealous of each 

 other, and sometimes ended in bloody fights. 



Kolgrim the old, son of Alf hersir in Throndheim, lived at 

 Ferstikla in Iceland ; he was one of the first settlers. 



" Kolgrim sent word to the men of Botn to have Sko/uleikar 

 and Knattleikar at Sand, to which they agreed. The games 

 began and continued until after Yule ; the men of Botn were 

 usually defeated, for Kolgrim arranged it so that the men 

 from Strandir were the stronger in the game. Many shoes 



