“Yea, forsooth,” saith the King.
Now from Hallfreðr’s songs we take knowledge and sooth witness from what is there told concerning King Olaf.
In 1014, after a great sea fight in which a yard arm fell and inflicted a mortal blow, Hallfreðr lay dying on board of a crippled vessel which was drifting before the gale. Still mindful of conditions around him he makes the following stave, which was translated by Miss Oswald:—
“Down on my heart and side
Crashes the weatherworn spar;
Scarce ever so heavy a wave
Has swept o’er a boat before.
Wet am I, wave-washed and worn,
And shattered at heart and breast;
And the sea is aboard our craft,