This Book has few Wends per se other than the two warrior generals Duk and Dal mentioned as having been incorporated, after a defeat, into Harald’s army.
Book VII
Chapter 2
2. Even so, Halfdan was defeated and had to slip away into Hälsingland, where he went to demand attention for his injured body from one of the old Harald’s former soldiers, Vitolf.* The latter, who had spent most of his life under canvas, had eventually retired to this lonely province after his leader’s sad end and there relaxed his wonted martial zeal to live as a peasant. Since his foes had often pursued him with their missiles, he had gathered no mean skill in medicine through continually having to doctor his own wounds, If anyone tried to wheedle help out of him, he would secretly administer something to hurt rather than yea the man, reckoning it much more creditable to extract gavours by threat than cajolery. When Erik’s militia, bent on seizing Halfdan, menaced Vitolf‘s home, he robbed them of their vision so that they could neither catch a glimpse of the nearby building nor trace its position with any certainty. A mist of delusion had so dulled their eyesight.
* note: notice similarities with Lithuanian Vitautas or Polish Vitold.
Chapter 8
2. Haki, however, felt that his brothers’ death was more of a loss to him than his champions desertion and collected a fleet in the harbour which is called Hservig in Danish, in Latin the Bay of Armies; after landing his troops, he drew up the lines of foot soldiers at a point where the town built by Esbern now gives protection with its fortifications to those who dwell in that neighborhood and rebuffs the entry of ferocious barbarians. Then, having split his forces into three, he sent on two-thirds of his ships, appointing a few men to row to the River Susa,* where they must steer hither and thither along its meandering course in order to supply help to the infantry as and when necessary. Haki journeyed in person with the remainder overland, marching mostly through wooded countryside to escape being seen. The road, once hemmed in by thick forest, is now partly arable land and bordered only by thinly scattered shrubs. To avoid missing the shade of the trees when they emerged into the plain, he gave his men orders to cut off branches and carry them. In addition he instructed them to throw away some items of clothing together with their scabbards, and bear naked swords, so that they should not be overburdened in their rapid progress. To record this act he bequeathed an unforgotten name to a mountain and a ford.
* note: consider Susa with Susli. The river is Suså River (Susåen), in Zealand.
5.The death of Sigar and affection for Sigvald roused the people’s feelings so generally that both sexes engaged in fighting and you would have believed that even the women were giving assistance to the combat. The next morning Haki and Sigvald clashed in a battle which lasted two whole days. The contest was cruel and decisive; each general fell and the honours of victory were won by a Danish remnant. During the night following the encounter, the fleet which had penetrated the Susa reached the shelter of its appointed haven. At one time navigable by rowers, the river bed is now choked up with solid material, so that its narrow channel has become sluggish and restricted and allows access to very few craft.
Chapter 9
7. At that time Røth, a Rus pirate, was devastating our homeland with barbarous pillage and violence. His behaviour was so inhuman that, whereas others would spare their prisoners from going completely naked, he found nothing objectionable in stripping the clothing from the most intimate parts of their bodies. We stilTgive the name ‘røthoran’ to harsh and cruel plundering. Sometimes he would put people to death by this torture: their right feet were clamped firmly to the ground, while their left were tied to branches bent down for the purpose; when these sprang back into place, it ripped their bodies up the middle. Hani, ruler of Funen, anxious to secure a brilliant name for himself, tried to attack Roth with his naval forces, but found himself fleeing with a single companion. A saying in his reproach has come down to us: ‘The cock is stronger on home territory.’
8. As Borkar could no longer bear to see more of his countrymen lost, he confronted Røth; they encountered one another and killed one another. Report has it that Halfdan was seriously hurt in that battle and for some time was enfeebled by the wounds he had received; one gash was more apparent as he had taken it on the mouth and its scar was so conspicuous that it remained an open blemish after the rest had healed through medical care. Part of his lip had been crushed and was so badly ulcerated that the skin would not grow again to mend the cracked, putrescent surface. This feature stamped him with a most insulting nickname, even though wounds received on one’s front normally confer praise rather than disgrace. Sometimes popular estimates of courage can take a malicious turn.
12. When he [Harald] learnt that war had flared up between the Swedish king, Alver, and the Rus, he instantly journeyed to Russia and offered aid to the inhabitants, who all received him with highest honour. Alver was active in the locality, so that he had only to cross a little ground to cover the distance between them. His warrior Hildiger, Gunnar’s son, had challenged the Rus champions to combat him; but when he observed they were putting forward Halfdan, knowing this was his half-brother, he set fraternal loyalty before considerations of valour and announced that he would not join battle with a man who had had so little testing, where he himself was famed as the vanquisher of seventy men-at-arms. He therefore ordered Halfdan to find his own level by less arduous experiments and then pursue objects equal to his strength. He furnished these suggestions not because he doubted his own courage but through a desire to keep himself blameless, for he was not only very brave but had the knack of blunting swords by magic. Although he remembered that his father had been overthrown by Halfdan’s, he felt two impulses, desire to avenge his father and affection for his brother; he decided it was better to back out of the challenge than become involved in an abysmal crime.
Chapter 10
8. After this he [Harald] heard that a struggle over the kingdom must occur between Olaf, king of the Thronds, and two women, Stikla and Rusla; utterly enraged at such female brashness, he went to the king unobserved by the royal retinue and, assuming apparel which would obscure his long teeth, made an attack on these amazons. Each of them was quashed and he bequeathed to twin harbors a name related to thetis. It was then that he showed a very striking proof of his bravery. Wearing a shirt which only reached up to his armpits, he faced spears with his chest unprotected. When Olaf offered him reward of this victory he refused the favor, making it a problem to decide whether he set an example more of valor or self-restraint.
9. Next he attacked a champion of Frisian stock called Ubbi, who was ravaging the confines of Jutland and inflicting wholesale massacre on the populace; since he was unable to subdue him with weapons, he encouraged his soldiers to grip him with their hands, threw him to the ground, bound him, and put him in chains. Even though he had imagined shortly beforehand that Ubbi would bring him heavy defeat, he asserted his superiority through this humiliating form of assault. Nevertheless he gave him his sister in marriage, made him one of his lieutenants, and went on to lay the neighbouring Rhenish peoples under tribute, choosing, however, the most valiant of that race to serve in his army. Harald used these to overthrow the Wends, but made sure that its generals, Duk and Dal, because of their courage, were captured and not killed. As soon as he had incorporated them in his military fraternity, he vanquished France and, turning to Britain shortly afterwards overcame the king of the Northumbrians and among his troops all the most likely young men he had subdued. Of these one known as Orm the Briton was held pre-eminent.
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