HATTLE BETWEEN KNUT AXD HAIULD. !'_' 1 



Like other women, Over Sigurd ; 



When I sat over I should have liked 



The dead Sigurd. The wolves far better 



Had they taken my life, 



Pitch dark Or I 



The night seemed Had been burnt 



When I sat sorrow-stricken Like birch-wood. 



In the following remarkable account of a battle between 

 Kiiut and Harald, the two sons of King Gorm, in which Knut 

 was killed, we find that when a family was in mourning the 

 halls were draped with black and grey. 



" After this Harald and his men proceeded until they 

 reached King Gorm's farm late at night, and went ashore fully 

 armed. It is said, by some who know, that Harald did not 

 know how he should tell his father, for he had made a vow 

 that he would die if he heard of the fall of his son Knut, and 

 would kill the man who told him of his death. 



" Harald sent his foster-brother, Hauk, to his mother, Queen 

 Thyri, and requested her to find some way to give him the 

 news. She bade him go himself and tell the king that two 

 hawks had been fighting, one of which was entirely white, the 

 other grey, and both brave. At last the white hawk was 

 killed, which was thought a great pity. Hauk thereupon 

 returned to Harald, and reported what his mother had said. 

 Harald thereupon went to the hall, where King Gorm and his 

 men w ; ere drinking, went up to his father, and told him about 

 the hawks, as his mother had advised, ending by saying that 

 the white hawk was dead. He said no more. It is not stated 

 where Harald and his men took up their quarters that night. 

 King Gorm did not appear to comprehend this. The men sat 

 drinking as long as they liked that night, and then went to 

 bed ; but after they had left the hall Queen Thyri took down 

 the hangings, and instead put up black and grey cloth until all 

 was covered. She had done this because it was the custom in 

 those days when tidings of grief came to do as she did. 



" King Gorm, the old, rose in the morning, and went into 

 his high-seat, intending to begin drinking. He looked at the 

 walls of the hall ; the queen sat in the high-seat with him. 

 He said : ' Thou, Queen Thyri, must have ordered the hall to 

 be thus prepared.' ' For what purpose should I ? ' she asked. 

 ' Because,' the king added, ' thou wishest now to tell me of 

 the fall of my son Knut.' 1 ' Thou now tellest it thyself,' said 



1 Knut Dana-ast was the brother of Harald Bluetooth. 



