“Fridthjof sat at a hnefa-tafl when Hilding came. He said: ‘Our kings send thee greetings, and want to have thy help for battle against King Hring, who wants to attack their realm overbearingly and unjustly.’ Fridthjof answered nothing, and said to Björn, with whom he played the game: ‘There is an empty place, foster-brother, and thou shalt not make a move but I will attack the red piece (tafla), and see if thou canst guard it.’ Björn said: ‘Here are two choices, foster-brother, and we can move in two ways.’ Fridthjof answered: ‘It is best to attack the hnefi (= the highest piece) first, and then it is easy to choose what to do’” (Fridthjof’s Saga, ch. 3).
It seems that the pieces that had just been moved were called out in a loud voice.
“The king (Magnus the Good) sat and played at Hneftafl, and a man called out the names of the king’s pieces when Ásmund came.”
Games with dice were of great antiquity, as seen from the finds, which prove even more than the Sagas how common dice-throwing was. The dice-throwing of the three Northern kings about Hisingen shows that the highest throw won.
Fig. 1338.—Die of bone. Real size.—Ultuna
find.
“On Hising (an island at the mouth of the Gauta river) was a district which had at one time belonged to Norway, and at another to Gautaland. The kings agreed to cast lots about the possession thereof, and throw dice, and that he should have it who threw the highest. The Swedish king threw two sixes, saying that King Olaf need not throw; but he replied, shaking the dice in his hand, ‘there are yet two sixes on the dice, and it is easy for God, my lord, to let them turn up again.’ He threw, and got two sixes. Olaf King of Sweden threw and again got two sixes. Olaf King of Norway threw and there was on one die six, but the other burst asunder, and then there were seven. He then took possession of the district” (St. Olaf’s Saga).
Dancing does not seem to have been a popular amusement before the end of the 11th century; and it is only referred to in a very obscure manner in the following Saga.
“King Godmund, of Glæsisvellir, was to give his sister in marriage to Siggeir, son of King Harek of Bjarmaland, and had prepared a splendid wedding-feast. Bosi was present, disguised in the garb of King Godmund’s councillor Sigurd, whom he had slain. It is not stated how the chiefs were placed, but it is mentioned that Sigurd played on a harp for the bridesmaids; and when the horns were brought in the men said that no one was his equal.... When the horn consecrated to Thor was brought in, Sigurd changed the tune; then all that was loose, both knives and plates, began to move; many jumped from their seats and moved to and fro on the floor; and this continued for a long while. Then came the horn consecrated to all the Asar. Sigurd once more changed the tune, and played so loud that it echoed all around. All in the hall rose, except the bride and bridegroom and the king, and everyone was moving round the hall, for a long while. The king asked if he knew any more tunes, and he said he still had some left, but he told the people to rest first. The men sat down and began to drink. Then he played the gygjarslag (air of jötun-woman), and draumbut (dream-piece), and Hjarrandahljod (air of Hjarrandi). When the horn consecrated to Odin came, Sigurd opened the harp, which was so large that a man could stand upright in it; it shone all over like red gold; he took from it white gloves embroidered with gold, and played the air called faldafeykir (the head-dress blower). At this the head-dresses flew off the women, and moved above the crossbeams; the women jumped up, the men sprang to their feet, and nothing could be kept quiet. When this toast was finished, the toast consecrated to Freyja, which was to be the last, came in; Sigurd touched the string which lay across all the others, and which he had not struck before, and told the king to expect hard playing; the king was so startled that he, as well as the bride and bridegroom, jumped up, and none were more lively than they, and this continued for a long while” (Herraud and Bosi’s Saga, ch. 12).
Some of the chiefs or kings had jugglers or buffoons and performing dogs to amuse them and their guests. It seems to have been customary to exercise dogs in jumping over poles. A beggar came to King Magnus Erlingsson.