berserks? If there be any truth in history, the strength of these men when the fit came upon them was supernatural.[76] The mischief, however, was, that if they had no enemy before them, they assailed inanimate objects, or even one another. On one occasion, twelve heroes (the sons of Arngrim) fell upon the masts and deck of two ships, which they rent into splinters; and when these were destroyed, they turned their rage against the trees and rocks. On another, a celebrated sea king put to death six out of the twelve champions who accompanied him. Sometimes, too, it happened that the berserks, when under the dominion of their strange frenzy, did not spare themselves. Thus the five sons of Siwald, king of Sweden, were seen to throw themselves into the fire, and to swallow burning pieces of wood.[77] When these warriors, whether berserks or simple champions, fought for their chief and country, their services were useful. But sometimes it happened that they were as fond of turning their arms against their fellow-subjects as against their hereditary enemies. Others, again, openly embraced the career of bandits; and though pursued with great zeal by the neighbouring chiefs, were frequently able, from their mountain fastnesses, to defy all hostility. Such a band _Fridleif II._ resolved to destroy; and he succeeded in his object, but more through stratagem than force. He was, however, a valiant chief. Like many other northern kings, he had to fight for his wife. Seeing that he could not obtain Frogerth, daughter of Asmund, a king of Norway, by the ordinary way of embassy, he invaded the country, subdued and slew the father, and seized upon the princess. But he was not faithful to her. By a concubine—or, perhaps, another wife, for these old pagans did not exactly understand the difference between the two—he had a son, whom he named Olaf. Probably he loved this son more than prince Frode, whom Frogerth bore to him: so, at least, we should infer from the anxiety with which he consulted the fates in reference to the child’s fortunes. Having performed the usual rites, and said the usual prayers, he entered the temple of the Nornies. Each of the three sisters occupied her seat. Two were favourable to the child, whom they endowed with noble gifts; but the third lessened their value by associating them with avarice. This custom, Saxo assures us, prevailed among the ancients. Of Olaf, however, we read no more: the sceptre was not inherited by him, but by _Frode II._, if Saxo be right, and by Havar, if any faith is to be placed on the Icelandic chroniclers. But as, for the reasons we have already detailed, there is little certainty in the royal lists of either, we gladly leave their disputed order of succession to be settled by the native historians of Denmark.[78]