GREAT CHAMl'ln\s. 425 



the Berserks. In war they fought without coats of mail in a 

 bare shirt or kirtle ; hence their name. 



" King Half went up to King Asmund's farm, where there 

 were many men, with one-half of his men. The entertainment 

 was good, and the drink was so strong, that Half's champions 

 fell fast asleep. King Asmund and his hird set fire to the 

 hall. The one of Half's champions who awoke first saw the 

 hall nearly full of smoke. He called out : ' Now it will smoke 

 round our hawks,' and then again lay down to sleep. Then 

 another woke and saw the hall burning, and said : ' Wax will 

 now drip from our saxes,' and then lay down. 



" But then King Half awoke, rose and roused the warriors, 

 and told them to arm themselves. They then rushed at the 

 walls with such strength that the joints of the timbers broke " 

 (Half's Saga). 



They were also believed to change shape, and in their 

 greatest fury to take the outward shape of an animal 1 of 

 great strength and ferocity. 



It was the aim of every great chief to gather round him the 

 greatest champions of the land, and if he was renowned for 

 bravery, liberality, and convivial qualities, they would come to 

 him from even the remotest parts of the North. When a new- 

 champion came who wished to be the foremost, he asked his 

 future companions if they objected to his becoming so among 

 them, and if any one objected, he would at once challenge him 

 to a holrnganga to assert or prove his claim. In some cases the 

 fame of a new-comer Avas so great that he was at once recog- 

 nised to be foremost. 



Among the great champions whose fame and name wnv 

 sung for generations were the champions of Hrolf Kraki and 

 King Half. 



Hrolf's champions flocked to him from every part of the 

 North ; among the most celebrated were Bodvar Bjarki, from 

 Norway, and Svipdag, from Sweden. Other kings seem to 

 have had twelve Berserks in their train. 



" King Hrolf made himself ready for his journey with one 

 hundred men, besides whom he had his twelve champions and 



1 Landnama, Part V., ch. r> ; Hrolf Kraki's last fight, 50, 51. 



