heavenly power. Erik said that he was
naturally drawn to stand by his brother, and that the bird was
infamous which fouled its own nest. But Kraka was more vexed by her own
carelessness than weighed down by her son's ill-fortune: for in old
time it made a craftsman bitterly ashamed to be outwitted by his own
cleverness.

Then Kraka, accompanied by her husband, took away the brothers on their
journey to the sea. They embarked in a single ship, but soon attached
two others. They had already reached the coast of Denmark, when,
reconnoitering, they learned that seven ships had come up at no great
distance. Then Erik bade two men who could speak the Danish tongue well,
to go to them unclothed, and, in order to spy better, to complain to Odd
of their nakedness, as if Erik had caused it, and to report when they
had made careful scrutiny. These men were received as friends by Odd,
and hunted for every plan of the general with their sharp ears. He
had determined to attack the enemy unawares at daybreak, that he might
massacre them the more speedily while they were swathed in their night
garments: for he said that men's bodies were wont to be most dull and
heavy at that hour of dawn. He also told them, thereby hastening what
was to prove his own destruction, that his ships were laden with stones
fit for throwing. The spies slipped off in the first sleep of the night,
reported that Odd had filled all his vessels with pebbles, and also told
everything else they had heard. Erik now quite understood the case, and,
when he considered the smallness of his own fleet, thought that he must
call the waters to destroy the enemy, and win their aid for himself.

So he got into a boat and rowed, pulling silently, close up to the
keels of the enemy; and gradually, by screwing in an auger, he bored the
planks (a device practiced by Hadding and also by Frode), nearest to the
water, and soon made good his return, the oar-beat being scarce audible.
Now he bore himself so warily, that not one of the watchers noted his
approach or departure. As he rowed off, the water got in through
the chinks of Odd's vessels, and sank them, so that they were seen
disappearing in the deep, as the water flooded them more and more
within. The weight of the stones inside helped them mightily to sink.
The billows were washing away the thwarts, and the sea was flush with
the decks, when Odd, seeing the vessels almost on a level with the
waves, ordered the heavy seas tha