GAMES OF BALL. 377 



the JaiTs men now thought themselves ill-treated, and this 

 lasted for several days." 



Then Stefnir, the Jarl's son, got Hrolf to go with him 

 against them. 



" The next day Hrolf and Stefnir went to the games ; the 

 brothers had also come. Hrafn took the ball, and Krak the 

 bat, and they played as they were wont. The Jarl sat on a 

 chair and looked at the game, and when they had played it for 

 a while Hrolf got hold of the ball. He snatched the bat from 

 Krak and handed it to Stefnir. They then played for a long 

 time, and the brothers did not get hold of the ball. Once 

 when Hrafn ran after the ball a young kinsman of the Jarl's, 

 who liked to banter with others, put out his foot so that Hrafn 

 fell. He got very angry, jumped up at once, caught the man, 

 lifted him up, and flung him down on his head so that his 

 neck was broken " (Gongu Hrolf, ix.). 



" Once Viglund struck the ball out of Jokul's (of Foss) 

 reach ; Jokul got angry, took the ball, and flung it at A^iglund's 

 forehead so hard that both his eyebrows hung down. Trausti 

 cut a piece from his shirt and tied up the brows of his brother. 

 When he had done that the men of Foss had gone " (Viglund's 

 Saga, ch. 11). 



The most popular of these games was the Knuttl il;. Special 

 places were chosen, generally the ice of a frozen lake. The 

 Breidvikings used to have games of ball during the long 

 winter nights ; and where these took place shelters were built 

 for the people, for the games often lasted for a fortnight. 



The balls, which were very hard and seem to have been 

 made of wood, were struck by a bat of wood called knatt-tre. 

 In this game, which often became serious from the wounds 

 inflicted by ball or bat, two men of equal strength usually 

 played together. Knatthik was played as follows : The ball, 

 usually of wood, was thrown with the hand into the air, and 

 then struck with the bat ; another person caught it with his 

 hands, or knocked it back with a kind of bat. This the other 

 players sought to prevent by shoving him aside or throwing 

 him down, or by striking the ball away from him. If he let 

 the ball fly beyond the bounds, or fall to the ground, he had 

 to go in search of it. 



" It was the custom of the men of Breidavik in the autumn 



