in cheese
Did not our stern king's fancy please.
Now many a maiden fair, may be,
Sees iron anchors splash the sea,
Who will not wake a maid next morn
To laugh at Norway's ships in scorn."

It is said that a spy who had seen the fleet of King Harald said to
Thorkel Geysa's daughters, "Ye said, Geysa's daughters, that King Harald
dared not come to Denmark." Dotta, Thorkel's daughter, replied, "That
was yesterday." Thorkel had to ransom his daughters with a great sum. So
says Grane:--

"The gold-adorned girl's eye
Through Hornskeg wood was never dry,
As down towards the sandy shore
The men their lovely prizes bore.
The Norway leader kept at bay
The foe who would contest the way,
And Dotta's father had to bring
Treasure to satisfy the king."

King Harald plundered in Denmark all that summer, and made immense
booty; but he had not any footing in the land that summer in Denmark.
He went to Norway again in autumn and remained there all winter (A.D.
1049).

33. MARRIAGES AND CHILDREN OF HARALD HARDRADE.

The winter after King Magnus the Good died, King Harald took Thora,
daughter of Thorberg Arnason, and they had two sons; the oldest called
Magnus, and the other Olaf. King Harald and Queen Ellisif had two
daughters; the one Maria, the other Ingegerd. The spring after the foray
which has just been related King Harald ordered the people out and went
with them to Denmark (A.D. 1049), and herried there, and did so summer
after summer thereafter. So says Stuf, the skald:--

"Falster lay waste, as people tell,--
The raven in other isles fared well.
The Danes were everywhere in fear,
For the dread foray every year."

34. OF THE ARMAMENTS OF SVEIN ULFSON AND HARALD.

King Svein ruled over all the Danish dominions after King Magnus's
death. He sat quiet all the winter; but in summer he lay out in his
ships with all his people and it was said he would go north to Norway
with the Danish army and make not less havoc there than King Harald
had made in Denmark. King Svein proposed to King Harald in winter (A.D.
1049) to meet him the following summer at the Gaut river and fight until
in the battle-field their differences were ended, or they were settled
peacefully. They made ready on both sides all winter with their ships,
and called out in summer one-half of all the fighting men. The same
summer came Thorleik the Fair out of Icela