“When King Olaf Tryggvason and his men saw that the sea was covered far and wide with the war-ships of their foes, a wise and valiant man, Thorkel Dydril, his uncle, said: ‘Lord, here is an overwhelming force to fight against; let us hoist our sails and follow our men out to sea. We can still do so while our foes prepare themselves for battle, for it is not looked upon as cowardice by any one for a man to use forethought for himself or his men.’ King Olaf replied loudly: ‘Tie together the ships, and let the men prepare for battle and draw their swords, for my men shall not think of flight.’ The chiefs arranged the host for attack, and it is said that they threw lots, who should first attack Olaf’s ship, the Long Serpent. Svein drew the lot to attack first, then Olaf and Eirik jarl last if it was needed. “King Olaf signalled by horn to lay the eleven ships together which he had there. The Long Serpent was in the middle, with the Short Serpent on one side and the Crane on the other, and four other ships on each side of them. But this ship-host, though he had large ships, was only a small detachment compared to the overwhelming host which his enemies had. He now missed his host, as it was likely. “King Olaf’s men now tied together the ships as bid; but when he saw that they began to tie together the stems of the Long Serpent and the Short Serpent, he called out loudly: ‘Bring forward the large ship; I will not be the hindmost of all my men in this host when the battle begins.’ “Then Ulf the red, the king’s standard bearer and his stem defender, said: ‘If the Serpent shall be put as much forward as it is larger and longer than the other ships, the men in the bows will have a hard time of it.’ The king answered: ‘I had the Serpent made longer than other ships, so that it should be put forward more boldly in battle, and be well known in fighting and sailing, but I did not know that I had a stem defender who was both red and faint-headed.’ Ulf replied: ‘Turn thou, king, no more than back forward in defending the lypting than I will in defending the stem.’ The king had a bow in his hand, and laid an arrow on the string and aimed at Ulf. Then Ulf said: ‘Do not shoot me, lord, but rather where it is more needed, that is at our foes, for what I win I win for thee. May be you will think your men not over many, before the evening comes.’ The king took off the arrow and did not shoot.