“He suffered so much from this wound that they had to lead him down to the shore. When he got there he said: ‘Now you must go and hew a stone coffin for me, while some shall sit at my side and carve that song which I will compose about my deeds and life.’ Then he began making the song,[152] and they carved it on a tablet,[153] and the nearer the poem drew to its end, the more the life of Odd ebbed away” (Orvar Odd’s Saga; Fornaldar Sögur. p. 558). [Illustration: Fig. 289.—Stone, with earlier runes, height over 6 feet.—Krogstad, Upland. ] [Illustration: Fig. 290.—Earlier runes on granite block. About 10 feet high, 4 feet 11 inches at widest part, and 9 inches thick.—Tanum, Bohuslän, Sweden. ] “The two brothers Jokul and Thorstein were to meet Finnbogi for a Holmganga.[154] As he did not come, they took a post from the latter’s farm; Jokul carved a man’s head at one end, and traced in runes an account of what had occurred that day” (Vatnsdæla, 34). The inscriptions of the earlier runes, the translation of which must be received with extreme caution, are short, while those of a later period are much longer. [Illustration: Fig. 291.—Runic stone, showing transition between earlier and later runes, about 4½ feet above ground; breadth, 2 feet 4 inches.—Stentofte, Blekinge, Sweden. ] [Illustration: Fig. 292.—Part of stone block, with earlier runes.—Torvik, Norway. Eight feet 10 inches in length by 2 feet 2 inches wide, with a thickness of from 2⅓ to 3⅛ feet. ] [Illustration: Fig. 293.—Red quartz stone, with earlier runes and warrior on horseback. Height, 8 feet 3 inches, but only 6 feet above ground; greatest breadth, 5 feet.—Hagby, Upland. ] [Illustration: Fig. 294.—Granite slab of a stone coffin in a grave-mound, forming one of the sides 1/15 real size.—Torvik, Hardanger, Norway. ] [Illustration: Fig. 295.—Runic stone, earlier runes. Length, 7 feet 2 inches; width, 2 feet 4 inches.—Berga, Södermanland, Sweden.[155] ] [Illustration: Fig. 296.—Runic stone, earlier runes. Height, over 13 feet; greatest width, a little over 3 feet; with letters about 6 inches long; near a dom ring.—Björktorp, Blekinge, Sweden. See p. 314 for grave. ] [Illustration: Fig. 297.—Earlier runic stone; about 7 feet 7 inches long, and at its broadest part 3 feet 6 inches.—Norway. ] [Illustration: Fig. 298.—Granite block with earlier and later runes (the earlier runes in the centre). Height, 5 feet 3 inches; greatest breadth, 3 feet; average thickness, 1 foot.—Skå-äng, Södermanland, Sweden. ] [Illustration: Fig. 299.—Earlier runic stone, Sigdal, Norway. ] [Illustration: Fig. 300.—Earlier runic stone discovered in 1880, in a ruined grave-mound which contained a slab stone chest; one of the side slabs bore runes, and is given here. It has probably stood on another mound before it was put to this use.—Bergen Museum, Torvik, Hardanger, Norway. ]