Did the shield-bearer steer the ship,
It was the Gods that led him.
‘And the men-loving Æsirs gloat on the offerings
Whereby the shield-bearer is made of more account.
Bountifully doth the earth give forth her sustenance
When its lord builds temples for the Gods.’
All that is northward to Vik lies under the heel of the Earl;
Wide is the sway that he holds, mightily waxed by victories.’
¶ That self-same first winter wherein King Hakon ruled over Norway came the herring up along the coast, and before that in the autumn had the corn grown wheresoever it had been sown; in the spring men gat themselves seed-corn and the greater number of the peasants sowed their fields, and soon there was promise of a good harvest.