streaming down her face, cried: "Greater gifts did my father, Harold
Gormsson, give me when, as a child, I got my first teeth; he came hither
to Norway and conquered it; while thou, for fear of my brother Sweyn,
darest not journey through Denmark in order to get me what belongs to
me, and of which I have been shamefully robbed."
To this King Olaf wrathfully replied: "Never shall I be afraid of thy
brother Sweyn, and if we meet, he shall succumb."
Summons was now sent through all the shires of the land, calling upon
the chieftains to join the king with as many ships as were by law
required of them. He had himself just finished a ship of extraordinary
size and beauty, called "The Long-Serpent," the fame of which spread
through all the lands of the North. It was 56 Norwegian ells, or about
112 feet from prow to stern, had 52 oars on either side, and could
accommodate 600 warriors. The crew was made up of picked men, none of
whom must be over 60 and less than 20 years of age. Only one exception
was permitted to this rule in the case of Einar Eindridsson surnamed
Thambarskelver, who was but 18 years old, but the most skilful archer in
all Norway. With his bow, called Thamb, from which he derived his
surname, he could shoot a blunt arrow through a raw ox-hide, depending
from a pole.
In order to distinguish "The Long-Serpent" from the dragon-ship he had
taken from Raud the Strong, Olaf called the latter "The Short-Serpent."
He had many other excellent ships besides, and his brothers-in-law,
Erling Skjalgsson of Sole, Thorgeir, and Hyrning, joined him, each with
a large and finely-equipped galley.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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