The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations, Volume 2

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Page 381 - ... with his left as with his right hand, and he smote so swiftly with his sword, that three seemed to flash through the air at once. He was the best shot with the bow of all men, and never missed his mark. He could leap more than his own height, with all his war-gear, and as far backwards as forwards.
Page 406 - ... such a matter. Leaving honour aside, however, the old book tells us that a man should never despair. Fire, the sight of the sun, good health, and a blameless life, — these are the goodliest things in this world. Yet a man is not utterly wretched, though he have bad health, or be maimed. The halt may ride a horse; the handless may drive a herd; the deaf can fight and do well; better be blind than buried. A corpse is good for naught. On the subject of women there is not very much in the book...
Page 395 - I have done it,' said the king ; ' they are thirty now, but why doest thou only sing flokks ? Doest thou not know any drapas ? ' Stuf answered : ' I know no fewer drapas than flokks, though many flokks which I know are still unsung '
Page 371 - Skarphedinn stood with his axe aloft, and smiled scornfully and said, " This axe I had in my hand when I leapt twelve ells across Markfleet and slew Thrain Sigfus' son, and eight of them stood before me, and none of them could touch me. Never have I aimed weapon at man that I have not smitten him.
Page 112 - Thou hast promised me this, grandmother," says the boy, "that we should never part so long as I wished to be with thee; but methinks it is much better to die with thee and Njal than to live after you.
Page 172 - Thorberg shaped the gunwale so that all the cuts disappeared. The king and every one said that the ship was much better on the side which Thorberg had shaped. The king asked him to do the same on the other side, and thanked him well for it. Thereafter Thorberg was the chief smith of the ship till it was finished. It was a dragon made in the shape of the serpent which he brought from Halogaland, and belonged to Baud, but much larger and in every respect more carefully built.
Page 508 - The English King said to the Northmen who were with him, " Do you know the stout man who fell from his horse, with the blue kirtle, and beautiful helmet ? " " That is the Norwegian King," said they. English Harold replied, " A great man, and of stately appearance is he ; but I think his luck has left him.
Page 484 - Olaf had large hurdles made of withies and soft wood, so cut as to make a wicker-house, and thus covered his ships, so that the hurdles reached out over their sides ; he had posts put beneath them so high that it was easy to fight beneath them, and the covering was proof against stones thrown down on it. When the host was ready they rowed up the river ; as they came near the bridges they were shot at, and such large stones thrown down on them that neither their helmets nor shields could withstand...
Page 410 - Know this, if thou hast A friend whom thou trustest well, Go often to see him ; For with brushwood And with high grass will overgrown The road on which no one walks.

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