against the author of the
infamy the help of those whose shame he had come to avenge. Among them
was Ladgerda, a skilled amazon, who, though a maiden, had the courage
of a man, and fought in front among the bravest with her hair loose
over her shoulders. All-marvelled at her matchless deeds, for her locks
flying down her back betrayed that she was a woman.

Ragnar, when he had justly cut down the murderer of his grandfather,
asked many questions of his fellow soldiers concerning the maiden whom
he had seen so forward in the fray, and declared that he had gained the
victory by the might of one woman. Learning that she was of noble birth
among the barbarians, he steadfastly wooed her by means of messengers.
She spurned his mission in her heart, but feigned compliance. Giving
false answers, she made her panting wooer confident that he would gain
his desires; but ordered that a bear and a dog should be set at the
porch of her dwelling, thinking to guard her own room against all the
ardour of a lover by means of the beasts that blocked the way. Ragnar,
comforted by the good news, embarked, crossed the sea, and, telling his
men to stop in Gaulardale, as the valley is called, went to the dwelling
of the maiden alone. Here the beasts met him, and he thrust one through
with a spear, and caught the other by the throat, wrung its neck, and
choked it. Thus he had the maiden as the prize of the peril he had
overcome. By this marriage he had two daughters, whose names have not
come down to us, and a son Fridleif. Then he lived three years at peace.

The Jutlanders, a presumptuous race, thinking that because of his recent
marriage he would never return, took the Skanians into alliance, and
tried to attack the Zealanders, who preserved the most zealous and
affectionate loyalty towards Ragnar. He, when he heard of it, equipped
thirty ships, and, the winds favouring his voyage, crushed the Skanians,
who ventured to fight, near the stead of Whiteby, and when the winter
was over he fought successfully with the Jutlanders who dwelt near the
Liim-fjord in that region. A third and a fourth time he conquered the
Skanians and the Hallanders triumphantly.

Afterwards, changing his love, and desiring Thora, the daughter of the
King Herodd, to wife, Ragnar divorced himself from Ladgerda; for he
thought ill of her trustworthiness, remembering that she had long ago
set the most savage beasts to destroy him. Meantime Herodd, the King
of the Swedes,