"On the silent battle-field, In viking garb, with axe and shield, The warrior, striding o'er the slain, Asks of the gods 'What days will gain?' Two ravens, flying from the east, Come croaking to the bloody feast: The warrior knows what they foreshow-- The days when Gautland blood will flow. A viking-feast Earl Hakon kept, The land with viking fury swept, Harrying the land far from the shore Where foray ne'er was known before. Leaving the barren cold coast side, He raged through Gautland far and wide,-- Led many a gold-decked viking shield O'er many a peaceful inland field. Bodies on bodies Odin found Heaped high upon each battle ground: The moor, as if by witchcraft's power, Grows green, enriched by bloody shower. No wonder that the gods delight To give such luck in every fight To Hakon's men--for he restores Their temples on our Norway shores." 29. THE EMPEROR OTTA RETURNS HOME. The Emperor Otta went back to his kingdom in the Saxon land, and parted in friendship with the Danish king. It is said that the Emperor Otta stood godfather to Svein, King Harald's son, and gave him his name; so that he was baptized Otta Svein. King Harald held fast by his Christianity to his dying day. King Burizleif went to Vindland, and his son-in-law King Olaf went with him. This battle is related also by Halfred Vandredaskald in his song on Olaf:-- "He who through the foaming surges His white-winged ocean-coursers urges, Hewed from the Danes, in armour dressed, The iron bark off mail-clad breast." 30. OLAF'S JOURNEY FROM VINDLAND. Olaf Trygvason was three years in Vindland (A.D. 982-984) when Geira his queen fell sick, and she died of her illness. Olaf felt his loss so great that he had no pleasure in Vindland after it. He provided himself, therefore, with warships, and went out again a plundering, and plundered first in Frisland, next in Saxland, and then all the way to Flaemingjaland (Flanders). So says Halfred Vandredaskald:-- "Olaf's broad axe of shining steel For the shy wolf left many a meal. The ill-shaped Saxon corpses lay Heaped up, the witch-wife's horses' (1) prey. She rides by night: at pools of blood. Where Frisland men in daylight stood, Her horses slake their thirst, and fly On to the field where Flemings lie. The raven-friend in Odin's dress-- Olaf, who foes can well repress, Left Flemish flesh for many a meal With his broad axe of shining steel." ENDNOTES: (1) Ravens were the witches' horses.--L. 31. KING OLAF'S FORAYS.