that
lies here nearest to us?'

They answered:

'We think it be Sweyn, King of Danes.'

Then said King Olaf: 'We need not fear that force; never did Danes win
victory in battle when fighting on shipboard against Norsemen.'

Again asked King Olaf: 'Who lies there out beyond with so many ships?'

He was told that it was Olaf Ericsson, King of Swedes.

Then answered King Olaf: 'We need not fear Swedish horse-eaters;[36] they
will be more eager to lick up what is in their sacrificial bowls than to
board Long Snake under our weapons.'

And yet again asked King Olaf Tryggvason: 'Who owns those large ships
that lie out beyond the other squadrons?'

He was told that it was Earl Eric, Hacon's son, with the Iron Earn, of
all ships the largest.

Then said King Olaf: 'Many high-born men are arrayed against us in that
host, and with that force we may expect a stubborn battle: they are
Norsemen as are we, and have often seen bloody swords and exchange of
blows, and they will think they meet their match in us, as in truth they
do.'

So these four chiefs, two kings and two earls, joined battle with Olaf
Tryggvason. Sigvaldi indeed took little part in the fight, but Skuli
Thorsteinsson in his short poem says that Sigvaldi was there. Very sharp
and bloody was this contest, and the Danes fell most because they were
nearest the Norsemen. Soon they did not hold their ground, but withdrew
out of shot range; and this fleet, as Olaf had said, came off with no
glory. But none the less the battle raged fierce and long, and numbers
fell on either side--of the Swedes, however, most--till it came about
that Olaf the Swede saw this to be the best counsel for himself and his
fleet, to make as if they shunned the fight. And so he bade his ships
drop away sternwards; and then Earl Eric lay broadside on.

King Olaf Tryggvason had laid the Long Snake between Short Snake and the
Crane, and the smallest ships outside them. But Earl Eric, as each of
these was disabled, caused it to be cut away, and pressed on to those
that were behind. Now, when the small ships of King Olaf were cleared,
the men leapt from them and went up on the larger ships. There was in
this bout much loss of life in either party; but ever, as men fell in
Earl Eric's ships, others took their place, Swedes and Danes; whereas
none took the place of the men who fell on Olaf's side. All his ships
were cleared presently except Long Snake; this held out because it was
highest in