第94章

In the autumn, the men in search of supplies came back, but they were richer in trophies than in food.For Roller had made tributary the provinces Sundmor and Nordmor, after slaying Arthor their king.But Olmar conquered Thor the Long, the King of the Jemts and the Helsings, with two other captains of no less power, and also took Esthonia and Kurland, with Oland, and the isles that fringe Sweden; thus he was a most renowned conqueror of savage lands.So he brought back 700 ships, thus doubling the numbers of those previously taken out.Onef and Glomer, Hedin and Hogni, won victories over the Orkneys, and returned with 900ships.And by this time revenues had been got in from far and wide, and there were ample materials gathered by plunder to recruit their resources.They had also added twenty kingdoms to the sway of Frode, whose kings, added to the thirty named before, fought on the side of the Danes.

Trusting in their strength, they engaged with the Huns.Such a carnage broke out on the first day of this combat that the three chief rivers of Russia were bestrewn with a kind of bridge of corpses, and could be crossed and passed over.Also the traces of the massacre spread so wide that for the space of three days'

ride the ground was to be seen covered with human carcases.So, when the battle had been seven days prolonged, King Hun fell; and his brother of the same name, when he saw the line of the Huns giving way, without delay surrendered himself and his company.

In that war 170 kings, who were either Huns or fighting amongst the Huns, surrendered to the king.This great number Erik had comprised in his previous description of the standards, when he was giving an account of the multitude of the Huns in answer to the questions of Frode.So Frode summoned the kings to assembly, and imposed a rule upon them that they should all live under one and the same law.Now he set Olmar over Holmgard; Onef over Conogard; and he bestowed Saxony on Hun, his prisoner, and gave Revil the Orkneys.To one Dimar he allotted the management of the provinces of the Helsings, of the Jarnbers, and the Jemts, as well as both Laplands; while on Dag he bestowed the government of Esthonia.Each of these men he burdened with fixed conditions of tribute, thus making allegiance a condition of his kindness.So the realms of Frode embraced Russia on the east, and on the west were bounded by the Rhine.

Meantime, certain slanderous tongues accused Hedin to Hogni of having tempted and defiled his daughter before the rites of betrothal; which was then accounted an enormous crime by all nations.So the credulous ears of Hogni drank in this lying report, and with his fleet he attacked Hedin, who was collecting the king's dues among the Slavs; there was an engagement, and Hogni was beaten, and went to Jutland.And thus the peace instituted by Frode was disturbed by intestine war, and natives were the first to disobey the king's law.Frode, therefore, sent men to summon them both at once, and inquired closely what was the reason of their feud.When he had heard it, he gave judgment according to the terms of the law he had enacted; but when he saw that even this could not reconcile them (for the father obstinately demanded his daughter back), he decreed that the quarrel should be settled by the sword -- it seemed the only remedy for ending the dispute.The fight began, and Hedin was grievously wounded; but when he began to lose blood and bodily strength, he received unexpected mercy from his enemy.For though Hogni had an easy chance of killing him, yet, pitying youth and beauty, he constrained his cruelty to give way to clemency.And so, loth to cut off a stripling who was panting at his last gasp, he refrained his sword.For of old it was accounted shameful to deprive of his life one who was ungrown or a weakling; so closely did the antique bravery of champions take heed of all that could incline them to modesty.So Hedin, with the help of his men, was taken back to his ship, saved by the kindness of his foe.

In the seventh year after, these same men began to fight on Hedin's isle, and wounded each other so that they died.Hogni would have been lucky if he had shown severity rather than compassion to Hedin when he had once conquered him.They say that Hilda longed so ardently for her husband, that she is believed to have conjured up the spirits of the combatants by her spells in the night in order to renew the war.