01-' LC 



i:,:, 



said : ' I ask for little ; if tbou grantest it I swear never t 

 go against tbee.' The king asked what he wanted. Ivar 

 answered : ' I want thee to give me as much of thy land as an 

 oxhide stretches over, and this ground shall be marked out ; 1 

 want no more, and thou wilt do me no honour if thou wilt not 

 do this.' Ella said : ' I cannot see that it will do us harm if 

 thou ownest so much of my land, and 1 will give it thee if thou 

 wilt swear not to fight against me ; I fear not thy brothers if 

 thou art faithful to me.' It was accordingly agreed that Ivar 

 should swear not to fight against him, nor give any advice to 

 harm him, and in return he obtained as much English land as 

 the largest oxhide he could procure stretched over. Ivar got 

 the hide of a bull, and had it soaked and stretched three 

 times ; then he had it cut into very thin strips, and the fleshy 

 side separated from the hairy side ; and when the strips were 

 joined the length of the thong was astonishing. He stretched 

 this out on a broad field, and the ground surrounded by it was 

 so large that a great burgh could stand on it, and on the outskirts 

 he had ground marked out for large burgh- walls ; he engaged many 

 workmen, and had many houses built on that field, and raised 

 a great burgh called 1 Lundunaborg, 2 which is the greatest and 

 most famous of all burghs in all the Northern lands. He used 

 all the loose property for making this burgh ; he was so liberal 

 that he gave gifts with both hands, and his wisdom was so 

 renowned that all came to him for advice in difficulties ; he 

 settled all disputes to the satisfaction of the parties, and was so 

 beloved that he had a friend in every man ; he helped Ella much 

 in ruling the land, and settled many matters for him without 

 the king requiring to look at it afterwards. And when he was 

 thought to be the owner of all wisdom he sent men to his 

 brothers to ask them for gold and silver, as much as he wanted 

 to have. Messengers came to the brothers, told their errand, and 

 how it had fared with Ivar, for no one knew what devices he had 

 in his mind ; the brothers saw that his mind was not as it used 

 to be. They sent as much as he wanted ; and when the mes- 

 sengers returned to Ivar, he gave all that he had received to 

 the leading men in the country, and thus drew them away 

 from King Ella, so that they all promised to be quiet in case 

 of war. When he had done this he sent men to tell his 

 brothers that he wanted them to levy a host in all the lands 

 which belonged to their realm, and bring every man they 

 could get. When the brothers got this message they knew 

 that he now thought it likely they would be victorious. They 



1 In another the name is given as 

 Jorvik or York. 



- It may have been a 

 present London. 



suburb of the 



