Ivar the Viking / A romantic history based upon authentic facts of the third and fourth centuries

by Paul B. Du Chaillu

CHAP.		PAGE
I	Hjorvard and Gotland	[1]
II	The Viking Land, and the Vikings	[11]
III	Hjorvard Consults the Oracle	[18]
IV	Ivar’s Birth and Life Forecast	[25]
V	The Fostering of Ivar	[31]
VI	Ivar Attains his Majority	[47]
VII	Ivar’s First Expedition	[54]
VIII	The Yule Sacrifice	[80]
IX	Ivar’s Defeat of the Romans	[91]
X	Ivar’s Visit to Britain	[99]
XI	The Daughters of Ran	[108]
XII	Romantic Adventures of Sigurd	[116]
XIII	A Voyage to the Caspian	[130]
XIV	Haki’s Burning Journey to Valhalla	[139]
XV	Death and Burning of Hjorvard	[147]
XVI	Helgi and the Valkyrias	[158]
XVII	The Inheritance Feast of Hjorvard	[167]
XVIII	Ivar Spurns Starkad’s Indemnity	[176]
XIX	The Slaying of Starkad	[182]
XX	The Session of the Thing	[197]
XXI	Ivar’s Visit to Yngvi	[202]
XXII	Yngvi’s Poets and Champions	[214]
XXIII	Yngvi’s Three Beautiful Daughters	[221]
XXIV	The Guests of the Hersir of Svithjod	[229]
XXV	Beginning of the Athletic Games	[234]
XXVI	Great Feats of Ivar and Hjalmar	[241]
XXVII	The Foster-Brothers Fall in Love	[260]
XXVIII	Betrothal of Ivar and Randalin	[268]
XXIX	Ivar’s Duel with Ketil	[275]
XXX	Death of Hjalmar and Astrid	[287]
XXXI	The Wedding of Ivar and Randalin	[298]

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IVAR THE VIKING

CHAPTER I
HJORVARD AND GOTLAND

The mariner sailing in the Baltic, as he skirts the shores of Gotland, sees on a promontory of that island several large cairns and mounds overlooking the sea, and the country that surrounds them. This promontory was the burial place of a family of great Vikings and rulers who held sway over the whole island a few centuries before and after our era. Among the most conspicuous cairns two are pointed out to the stranger, those of Hjorvard and his son Ivar, the hero of the present narrative.