s to this day, and is commonly named Hakon's
Howe.

But Borgar, with Skanian chivalry suddenly came up and slaughtered a
multitude of them. When the enemy were destroyed, he manned their ships,
which now lacked their rowers, and hastily, with breathless speed,
pursued the son of Hamund. He encountered him, and ill-fortune befell
Hakon, who fled in hasty panic with three ships to the country of the
Scots, where, after two years had gone by, he died.

All these perilous wars and fortunes had so exhausted the royal line
among the Danes, that it was found to be reduced to GURID alone, the
daughter of Alf, and granddaughter of Sigar. And when the Danes saw
themselves deprived of their usual high-born sovereigns, they committed
the kingdom to men of the people, and appointed rulers out of the
commons, assigning to Ostmar the regency of Skaane, and that of Zealand
to Hunding; on Hane they conferred the lordship of Funen; while in the
hands of Rorik and Hather they put the supreme power of Jutland, the
authority being divided. Therefore, that it may not be unknown from what
father sprang the succeeding line of kings, some matters come to my mind
which must be glanced at for a while in a needful digression.

They say that Gunnar, the bravest of the Swedes, was once at feud with
Norway for the most weighty reasons, and that he was granted liberty to
attack it, but that he turned this liberty into licence by the greatest
perils, and fell, in the first of the raids he planned, upon the
district of Jather, which he put partly to the sword and partly to the
flames. Forbearing to plunder, he rejoiced only in passing through the
paths that were covered with corpses, and the blood-stained ways.
Other men used to abstain from bloodshed, and love pillage more than
slaughter; but he preferred bloodthirstiness to booty, and liked best
to wreak his deadly pleasure by slaughtering men. His cruelty drove
the islanders to forestall the impending danger by a public submission.
Moreover, Ragnald, the King of the Northmen, now in extreme age, when he
heard how the tyrant busied himself, had a cave made and shut up in
it his daughter Drota, giving her due attendance, and providing her
maintenance for a long time. Also he committed to the cave some swords
which had been adorned with the choicest smith-craft, besides the royal
household gear; so that he might not leave the enemy to capture and use
the sword, which he saw that he could not wield him