After Ragnar had thus triumphed the king scanned his dress closely, and saw that he was rough and hairy; but, above all, he laughed at the shaggy lower portion of his garb, and chiefly the uncouth aspect of his breeches; so that he gave him in jest the nickname of Lodbrog.Also he invited him to feast with his friends, to refresh him after his labours.Ragnar said that he would first go back to the witnesses whom he had left behind.He set out and brought them back, splendidly attired for the coming feast.At last, when the banquet was over, he received the prize that was appointed for the victory.By her he begot two nobly-gifted sons, Radbard and Dunwat.These also had brothers --Siward, Biorn, Agnar, and Iwar.
Meanwhile, the Jutes and Skanians were kindled with an unquenchable fire of sedition; they disallowed the title of Ragnar, and gave a certain Harald the sovereign power.Ragnar sent envoys to Norway, and besought friendly assistance against these men; and Ladgerda, whose early love still flowed deep and steadfast, hastily sailed off with her husband and her son.She brought herself to offer a hundred and twenty ships to the man who had once put her away.And he, thinking himself destitute of all resources, took to borrowing help from folk of every age, crowded the strong and the feeble all together, and was not ashamed to insert some old men and boys among the wedges of the strong.So he first tried to crush the power of the Skanians in the field which in Latin is called Laneus (Woolly); here he had a hard fight with the rebels.Here, too, Iwar, who was in his seventh year, fought splendidly, and showed the strength of a man in the body of a boy.But Siward, while attacking the enemy face to face, fell forward upon the ground wounded.When his men saw this, it made them look round most anxiously for means of flight;and this brought low not only Siward, but almost the whole army on the side of Ragnar.But Ragnar by his manly deeds and exhortations comforted their amazed and sunken spirits, and, just when they were ready to be conquered, spurred them on to try and conquer.
Ladgerda, who had a matchless spirit though a delicate frame, covered by her splendid bravery the inclination of the soldiers to waver.For she made a sally about, and flew round to the rear of the enemy, taking them unawares, and thus turned the panic of her friends into the camp of the enemy.At last the lines of HARALD became slack, and HARALD himself was routed with a great slaughter of his men.LADGERDA, when she had gone home after the battle, murdered her husband....in the night with a spear-head, which she had hid in her gown.Then she usurped the whole of his name and sovereignty; for this most presumptuous dame thought it pleasanter to rule without her husband than to share the throne with him.
Meantime, Siward was taken to a town in the neighbourhood, and gave himself to be tended by the doctors, who were reduced to the depths of despair.But while the huge wound baffled all the remedies they applied, a certain man of amazing size was seen to approach the litter of the sick man, and promised that Siward should straightway rejoice and be whole, if he would consecrate unto him the souls of all whom he should overcome in battle.Nor did he conceal his name, but said that he was called Rostar.Now Siward, when he saw that a great benefit could be got at the cost of a little promise, eagerly acceded to this request.Then the old man suddenly, by the help of his hand, touched and banished the livid spot, and suddenly scarred the wound over.At last he poured dust on his eyes and departed.Spots suddenly arose, and the dust, to the amaze of the beholders, seemed to become wonderfully like little snakes.
I should think that he who did this miracle wished to declare, by the manifest token of his eyes, that the young man was to be cruel in future, in order that the more visible part of his body might not lack some omen of his life that was to follow.When the old woman, who had the care of his draughts, saw him showing in his face signs of little snakes; she was seized with an extraordinary horror of the young man, and suddenly fell and swooned away.Hence it happened that Siward got the widespread name of Snake-Eye.
Meantime Thora, the bride of Ragnar, perished of a violent malady, which caused infinite trouble and distress to the husband, who dearly loved his wife.This distress, he thought, would be best dispelled by business, and he resolved to find solace in exercise and qualify his grief by toil.To banish his affliction and gain some comfort, he bent his thoughts to warfare, and decreed that every father of a family should devote to his service whichever of his children he thought most contemptible, or any slave of his who was lazy at his work or of doubtful fidelity.And albeit that this decree seemed little fitted for his purpose, he showed that the feeblest of the Danish race were better than the strongest men of other nations; and it did the young men great good, each of those chosen being eager to wipe off the reproach of indolence.Also he enacted that every piece of litigation should be referred to the judgment of twelve chosen elders, all ordinary methods of action being removed, the accuser being forbidden to charge, and the accused to defend.
This law removed all chance of incurring litigation lightly.
Thinking that there was thus sufficient provision made against false accusations by unscrupulous men, he lifted up his arms against Britain, and attacked and slew in battle its king, Hame, the father of Ella, who was a most noble youth.Then he killed the earls of Scotland and of Pictland, and of the isles that they call the Southern or Meridional (Sudr-eyar), and made his sons Siward and Radbard masters of the provinces, which were now without governors.He also deprived Norway of its chief by force, and commanded it to obey Fridleif, whom he also set over the Orkneys, from which he took their own earl.
