it to eat, by which she discovered if the wounds had
penetrated into the belly; for if the wound had gone so deep, it would
smell of leek. She brought some of this now to Thormod, and told him to
eat of it. He replied, "Take it away, I have no appetite for my broth."
Then she took a large pair of tongs, and tried to pull out the iron; but
it sat too fast, and would in no way come, and as the wound was swelled,
little of it stood out to lay hold of. Now said Thormod, "Cut so deep
in that thou canst get at the iron with the tongs, and give me the tongs
and let me pull." She did as he said. Then Thormod took a gold ring from
his hand, gave it to the nurse-woman, and told her to do with it what
she liked. "It is a good man's gift," said he: "King Olaf gave me the
ring this morning." Then Thormod took the tongs, and pulled the iron
out; but on the iron there was a hook, at which there hung some morsels
of flesh from the heart,--some white, some red. When he saw that, he
said, "The king has fed us well. I am fat, even at the heart-roots;" and
so saying he leant back, and was dead. And with this ends what we have
to say about Thormod.

248. OF SOME CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE BATTLE.

King Olaf fell on Wednesday, the 29th of July (A.D. 1030). It was near
mid-day when the two armies met, and the battle began before half-past
one, and before three the king fell. The darkness continued from about
half-past one to three also. Sigvat the skald speaks thus of the result
of the battle:--

"The loss was great to England's foes,
When their chief fell beneath the blows
By his own thoughtless people given,--
When the king's shield in two was riven.
The people's sovereign took the field,
The people clove the sovereign's shield.
Of all the chiefs that bloody day,
Dag only came out of the fray."

And he composed these:--

"Such mighty bonde-power, I ween,
With chiefs or rulers ne'er was seen.
It was the people's mighty power
That struck the king that fatal hour.
When such a king, in such a strife,
By his own people lost his life,
Full many a gallant man must feel
The death-wound from the people's steel."

The bondes did not spoil the slain upon the field of battle, for
immediately after the battle there came upon many of them who had been
against the king a kind of dread as it were; yet they held by their evil
inclination, for they resolved among the