186. Hlödver was Earl after Liót, and became a great chief. He married Audna, the daughter of Kiarval, the King of the Ivar.[473] Their son was Sigurd the stout. Hlödver died on a sick-bed, and was buried at Hofn (Huna), in Caithness. His son Sigurd succeeded him, and became a great chief, with extensive possessions. He kept Caithness by main force from the Scots, and went every summer on war expeditions to the Sudreyar (Hebrides), Scotland, and Ireland. One summer Finnleik, an Earl of the Scots, challenged Sigurd to meet him at Skida-mire on a certain day; but Sigurd went to consult his mother, who was a wise woman. The Earl told her that the difference in numbers would not be less than seven to one. She replied: “I should have reared thee up long in my wool-bag if I had known that thou wouldst wish to live for ever. It is fate that rules life, and not the place where a man may go. It is better to die with honour than live with shame. Take thou here this banner which I have made with all my skill, and I ween that it will bring victory to him before whom it is borne, but death to its bearer.” The banner was wrought with cunningly executed handiwork and elaborate art. It was made in the shape of a raven, and when floating in the wind it resembled the raven flying. Earl Sigurd was very wroth at his mother’s words. He restored their odal rights to the Orkneymen to induce them to assist him, and went to meet Earl Finnleik at Skida-mire, where they both placed their men in battle array. When the forces met, Earl Sigurd’s standard-bearer was killed by an arrow. The Earl ordered another to bear the banner, and when they had fought for a while he also fell. Three standard-bearers were killed, but the Earl gained the victory, and the Orkneymen regained their freeholds. MEETING BETWEEN OLAF (TRYGGVI’S SON) AND THE EARL. 187. Olaf, Tryggvi’s son, sailed west to the Orkneys, as has been mentioned before. But as the Pentland Firth was not to be passed at the time, he moored his ships in Asmundarvag (Osmondwall) opposite Rögnvaldsey. Earl Sigurd, Hlödver’s son, was there before him with three ships, for he was going on a war expedition. When King Olaf became aware that the Earl was there, he called him into his presence. But when the Earl came to the King’s ship, the King spoke as follows:—