Earl Hakon then marched hither & thither carrying war through both the Gautlands, until he was come unto Norway, & then took he the road right to the north, to Throndhjem. It is of this that the Vellekla speaketh:
'The foeman of those who fled consulted the gods on the plain, and Gat answer Fret[§] from that the day was propitious to battle; There the war-leader saw how mighty were the corse-ribs; The gods of the temple would thin lives in Gautland. A Sword-Thing held the Earl there where no man afore him With shield on arm had durst to harry; No one ere this so far inland had borne That shield of gold; all Gautland had he o'errun. With heaps of the fallen the warriors piled the plain The kith of the Æsirs conquered, Odin took the slain; Can there be doubt that the gods govern the fall of kings? Ye strong powers, I pray, make great the sway of Hakon.'
¶ After that he had parted in all goodly friendship from the Danish King, fared Emperor Otta back to his realm of Saxland; men say that he held Svein the son of Harald at the font, & that the child bore the name of Otta Svein. Harald, the Danish King, held by the Christian faith even to the day of his death. King Burizlaf, after these things, betook himself back to Wendland, & together with him in his company went his son-in-law King Olaf Tryggvason. Of the battle aforesaid telleth Hallfrod the Troublous-skald in Olaf's lay:
'The ruler of war ships hewed and smote asunder warriors Even in Denmark to the south of Hedeby.'
¶ It was the space of three winters that Olaf Tryggvason abode in Wendland, even until Geira his wife fell ill of a sickness, whereof she died, and so great a sorrow was this to Olaf that he no longer had pleasure in living in Wendland.
Therefore getting him ships of war once more went he forth plundering and harrying, first in Saxland, then in Frisland, and he even fared as far as Flanders. Thus saith Hallfrod the Troublous-skald:
'Oft did the son of Tryggvi smite to the death the Saxon And left maimed corses food for the wolves, And for their drink did that lord, beloved of his host, Give the brown blood of many a Frisian. Mighty sea-kings hewed In Flanders corses asunder, The prince to the ravens gave The flesh of Walloons as supper.'