“Ásmund said: ‘It matters not though you try your arms (baling, rowing), for you did not excuse us when we rose so early in Baldrshagi (sacred grove of Baldr), and we rubbed our eyes.’ ‘Why doest thou not sing, Ásmund?’ asked Fridthjof. ‘I will,’ said Ásmund. Here was it rough round the mast When the sea fell on the ship; I with eight men Had to work on board; Easier was it to carry A meal to women in their room (dyngja) Than to bale Ellidi On the high wave. “Fridthjof said with laughter: ‘Thou callest not thy help less than it is, though thy thrall-kin did appear now as thou didst wish to carry food.’ Then the wind grew stronger again, so that the white sea-drifts[146] which burst on the ship from all sides were more like mountains and mountain-peaks than waves. “Björn: ‘Now thou art afraid, foster-brother, and there is fear in thy words; it is bad of a good warrior like thee.’ Fridthjof answered: ‘It is neither fear nor fright, though our journeys of merriment are sung, but it may be they are mentioned oftener than is needed; most men would think death likelier than life if they were situated as we are now.’ * * * * * “Björn: ‘We must take this, foster-brother, as it is.’ Then came a wave dashing so strongly that it carried away the gunwales and part of the bows, and flung four men overboard who were all lost. Fridthjof sang: Both the bows were smashed In the great wave of the sea; Four warriors sank Down into the deep” (Fridthjof’s Saga, c. 6). ----- Footnote 123: Cf. also Olaf Tryggvason, c. 102; St. Olaf, c. 60, 150. Footnote 124: The Nydam and Gokstad boats seem to have been a fifteen-seated _skuta_ or _karfi_. Some skutas seem to have carried a crew of about thirty men. Footnote 125: See p. 142. Footnote 126: Cf. also St. Olaf, c. 132, 149; Magnus Blind’s Saga, c. 5, 16; Magnus Erlingson, c. 30. Footnote 127: See Battle of Svold. Footnote 128: This may explain the name _Askmanni_ given to the Vikings by Adam of Bremen (c. 212). Footnote 129: Cf. also Ingi’s Saga, c. 1. Footnote 130: In the lypting seems to have been the sleeping-room, for in Harald Hardradi’s Saga, c. 22, it is said of Harald, on his journey from Constantinople, that “in the evening (he) went to sleep in the _lypting_ of his ship.” Footnote 131: Ship boat, also a small vessel. Footnote 132: Cf. also Eyrbyggja, c. 29. Footnote 133: Cf. Orvar Odd, Hervara Saga, Harald Hardradi, 32; Olaf Tryggvason, c. 87. Footnote 134: Cf. also St. Olaf, c. 39. Footnote 135: In the Vold ship also there are some specimens of carving, but they are rare. Footnote 136: Cf. also Magnus the Good’s Saga, c. 20. Footnote 137: