Asatru Folk Assembly - 12⧸18⧸24 Victory Never Sleeps, Episode 128 - Egill's Saga, Part 3

00:00:00.000 We'll be right back.

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00:01:00.000 Thank you.

00:01:30.000 Thank you.

00:02:00.000 Thank you.

00:02:30.000 We'll be right back.

00:03:00.000 Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Victory Never Sleeps.

00:03:19.400 I see the finest of people have gathered here with us, Bodhi and Jason, all the way from

00:03:28.660 great white north jilly very nice to see you and um yeah definitely a a good point

00:03:38.900 you're wearing the yule elf hat

00:03:46.180 that's great

00:03:50.660 i was just about to say too heathen man made a a a point to apologize for the side quest but i

00:03:57.380 i think that side quest was super important not a lot of folks um get to talk about the entirety

00:04:05.320 of the gods um or the or the the the house and the house senior and the house veneer and

00:04:14.260 the hymn and verder and uh and even beyond the the um the list of our divine is big but

00:04:25.080 very rarely has anybody really kind of encapsulated it into um a type or form in which we could

00:04:33.460 you know better learn and understand it and so it gave us a chance to really kind of

00:04:38.200 um do that so i thought it was a great question

00:04:42.520 they just the the the saga itself is very long so great questions also mean adding on time

00:04:53.320 gw farnsworth thank you so much just got our uh weekly five coffees from him we appreciate

00:05:05.000 your generosity coming through every week like clockwork thank you so much um

00:05:13.000 yeah that's that's very much appreciated uh top of the show things i don't know if we have a ton

00:05:22.360 for you this week at the top of the program other than um you'll the yule season officially kicks

00:05:31.160 off on friday yes um i'm sure we will mention it throughout the program or later this evening but

00:05:39.080 we wish you guys the happiest of yules and uh we the way the calendar's working out i think we've

00:05:46.520 We've got one episode during Yule, this go-around.

00:05:57.860 Worth mentioning, we are celebrating Yule at all four of our Hoffs this weekend.

00:06:04.480 If you can make it, get out there.

00:06:06.680 We would love to have you guys there celebrating with us.

00:06:10.260 It is the best time to do that.

00:06:13.520 I mean, I suppose that each of them individually, there's an argument to be made of the kind of signature event of that Hoth.

00:06:22.720 But as a general thing and getting to know the local congregations there, Yule is the time to do it.

00:06:31.940 So we'd love to see you guys there.

00:06:35.000 It's always a good time, always an exciting time, always a good turnout.

00:06:38.560 out um yeah it's a it's a joyous time of year so make the most of it with family and friends

00:06:48.080 i think that's what i've got we're so this week

00:06:54.640 we are at we just finished chapter 46 i believe so we are going to read through

00:07:06.200 the 69th chapter and that will yeah we're going to read through the end of chapter 69 and then

00:07:17.240 we will finish off next week it is long but this has been fun um in case you haven't joined us

00:07:26.120 um i know i say this a lot but it bears repeating uh especially for those of you that are

00:07:34.700 you know old hats at this or been around a long time um when you first get involved

00:07:40.380 in alsatru one of the old i don't know silly sayings like oh it's a religion with homework

00:07:47.340 well if you genuinely believe in your faith every religion is religion

00:07:54.060 but many of us got into this voraciously trying to read

00:08:00.220 the lore and the lore there we go i gotta bring my arms in and that means different things it

00:08:08.380 certainly means the eddas but it also means um a great many sagas and stories and fragments and

00:08:18.460 things and it seems like when you start that it's this endless stack of stuff but when you've been

00:08:24.700 doing it for a few decades you work your way through most of the stuff every now and again

00:08:29.500 something new comes your way that you haven't heard, or there's a new translation of something

00:08:33.300 from out of the land of obscurity, or any number of those things. And there's always stuff to learn

00:08:41.200 if you really seek, go out there and seek it. But a lot of this material, many of us encountered

00:08:47.240 when first got involved in Ausatru, or maybe, you know, maybe at some other point in our journey,

00:08:51.640 but maybe you haven't gone back over it in years. Maybe you just look for a certain excerpt from it,

00:08:58.920 or use it as a reference thing after you've read it.

00:09:02.780 So going back through and reading it with fresh eyes,

00:09:07.020 with someone new, with a different group of people,

00:09:10.380 it's a really cool experience.

00:09:12.320 And going back through this with Svan has been awesome.

00:09:15.800 Going through our Eddas with him has been really cool.

00:09:18.680 And going through it with you guys in the chat

00:09:20.980 has been awesome too.

00:09:22.120 So I am excited.

00:09:25.620 uh the actions ramping up our our hero is kind of just starting his epic journey and so we have a

00:09:38.800 lot of a lot of cool things this evening and certainly next time um there is a link to

00:09:47.820 hopefully Nick will put up to a Icelandic sagas map it's in Icelandic but you can very easily at

00:09:54.860 top translate it all into english it doesn't translate perfectly but it gets pretty close

00:10:00.460 and it sometimes makes fun translation errors um but it's got an interactive map that

00:10:10.860 links to all these different locations as we go through it i have been

00:10:18.060 you know i've been nerding out on that clicking all those things following the geography getting

00:10:22.860 more familiar with the distances and how close these things are the world of the sagas i mean

00:10:31.420 when they're over in finland writing or you know in other parts of europe it's a little bit more

00:10:37.100 far flung but it's surprising how small scale and close a lot of this action is um you know

00:10:44.060 you know, the epic sea voyage from Norway to Iceland, about three days.

00:10:50.500 So it's not some kind of, you know, it's not like they're worlds apart.

00:10:56.800 The world was much, it was smaller to see how big of a role these people played in their sphere

00:11:07.540 and in their world is really interesting.

00:11:10.300 and I think the geography adds a lot to the story the more you become familiar with it.

00:11:15.900 So with that, Svon, do you have anything you want to say to prep folks, or do you want to jump right

00:11:22.220 in? Oh, I mean, I think I'm going to jump right in, but I did want to say, I probably should turn

00:11:29.420 that down. I did want to say, I noticed everyone's saying, you know, Happy Yule, Merry Yule. So I

00:11:36.780 just wanted to say to everyone um have a happy yule um and i'm glad to see everybody doing stuff

00:11:44.700 definitely if you need a refresher look up uh we just released a video from gidya erickson

00:11:51.900 discussing yule um and some of the traditions that you know you could incorporate and um

00:11:58.940 you know i hope everybody's you know doing well um and i see people talking about the yola kati

00:12:05.420 And I'm like, instant, you know, instant, you know, like anxiety that starts.

00:12:17.940 But I did want to say, too, like, you know, for our house, we do the Yule elf and he has the Yule balk or Yule goat.

00:12:26.700 But I know some folks are doing Krampus and the Yule lads from Iceland.

00:12:34.120 And I know, I don't know if they're doing grilla, but.

00:12:37.420 Chocolatey Pete.

00:12:38.880 Or Svarte Pete.

00:12:40.920 If you're a Dutchman, if you're from the Netherlands, you might, you might have, you know, the Svarte Pete.

00:12:52.420 The fountain.

00:12:54.140 Yeah.

00:12:56.880 But, but, but their Santa Claus looks like a, like a bishop or something.

00:13:01.380 He looks very much like a like a Roman Catholic priest with a little shepherd crook and everything.

00:13:09.920 And I'm and the miter.

00:13:13.420 But there is a Yule video that we did as well on VNS.

00:13:17.240 I think it'd be really good for folks to, you know, go back and and watch that one.

00:13:23.260 We did cover Yule. And also, too, for folks that are in the church and that are on MeWe, I will be posting a video about the Iron Mark calendar and or just the counter of days really is what you should consider it.

00:13:42.840 We use the Gregorian calendar as our mainstay, but a great way to do a counter counting of days without electronics and a way to kind of see the year through, you know, through mainly through our holy tides instead of, you know, through months that kind of shift around all the time.

00:14:05.480 If anybody's interested, I'm posting a video over there about how to download it and to use it for the next coming year.

00:14:13.180 Because Mother's Night is day zero, so it's kind of easier to just do it at that point.

00:14:20.960 But I wanted to throw that out there as well.

00:14:28.600 All right, guys.

00:14:29.640 So we are going to be starting on chapter 47.

00:14:32.900 all right i'm glad you remembered because that was actually further back

00:14:40.820 yeah you were last week too i'm not sure yeah i don't know yeah i just i just remembered trying

00:14:48.460 to plot it uh 23 per i think it ends up next week being 24 chapters

00:14:56.420 but i've got i've seen um versions of this my version that i'm looking at goes chapter 92

00:15:04.600 i've seen ones that only go to chapter 90 though so all right so there might be some

00:15:10.120 differentiation between numbering my son right now is writing down the halvamal and um the the

00:15:19.360 website that i i chose for him to do it is different than the one i normally pull up on my

00:15:24.640 phone. So, and they were, uh, drastically different in number. Um, well, good. That's

00:15:30.960 kind of a fun challenge to, I don't know, bring a new, new insight into it. Yeah. And I, I, I did

00:15:39.780 tell them, you know, the, the, uh, our assembly, the, the Ausitra folk assembly tries to get all

00:15:46.540 of them. They want, you know, it's, it's about the broad view. There's no, um, particular Messiah

00:15:52.200 or scholarly prophet who um you know aha and and that's it so and then the the the translations to

00:16:03.200 help with our understanding because if you don't understand the translations or if you do

00:16:08.820 but it's interesting comparatively to another translation you end up finding a lot about the

00:16:15.520 the gods even when it's you know it's just simply a word or i mean you and i were talking about

00:16:21.940 that you know an hour ago um that's something anyone listening to this don't at all be

00:16:29.140 intimidated you don't need to know any different language modern english or wherever you find

00:16:36.660 yourself is fine it doesn't prevent you but i found a lot the more that you look into the

00:16:42.900 linguistics it adds a richness and it helps develop a closer familiarity and it's really

00:16:51.300 useful that way and that's that's from somebody who's been doing this for you know over two

00:16:56.980 decades now so right i if i could turn back time i would have gotten more involved in the linguistics

00:17:05.860 earlier on but if you guys don't know spawn and i are working on that as our other gothar in the

00:17:14.020 Nyastru Folk Assembly. Icelandic is closer to Old Norse than Modern English is to Shakespeare,

00:17:24.660 so it should be an easy enough transition from Modern Icelandic to incorporating Old Norse

00:17:31.440 spellings and variants, and it'll get you a lot of the way if you learn Icelandic, which is no

00:17:39.800 easy task i assure you but um pimpsler pimpsler is a online course that is got really cool apps

00:17:51.720 it's got a really cool method to walk you through it um i'm on lesson 15 now and it

00:18:00.920 i'm not gonna pretend that i speak icelandic fluently because i obviously do not but it's

00:18:06.120 gotten me a lot closer and it's really helped it's the thing that's helped me the most any

00:18:10.280 of the times i've tried in the past so if it's something that interests you guys that's something

00:18:14.600 i would encourage you to look into um i think that's check one thing here yeah i would definitely

00:18:26.040 say too that app is phenomenal it comes at the language from a totally different angle than like

00:18:34.600 if you're used to duolingo no it it has a conversation between two native speakers and

00:18:40.920 then it breaks down that conversation and it expands on ideas and context i felt like such a

00:18:49.240 giddy little kid when i was first going through it because they start each thing

00:18:54.440 just diving you into a short exchange between two people in icelandic and very quickly i was able to

00:19:03.000 understand what people were saying even if you know i was getting stuck on something or whatever

00:19:07.720 i was able to get real close and like oh wow i know what they said i felt silly but i was just

00:19:13.480 so excited that you know i was able to make the connection so yeah right out the gate

00:19:19.800 i would encourage encourage that so there you go um and with that uh

00:19:26.920 it's fine. Let's take them to chapter 47 and travel back in time to early medieval Iceland.

00:19:37.200 Right. And here, you know, in the translation, we see a word, and I've mentioned it before,

00:19:43.320 but I'll mention it again, in case anybody that's coming in and hasn't seen the other episodes.

00:19:50.400 There is a lot of, you know, I guess, Middle English or just archaic in between Middle and our modern language that is used.

00:20:03.720 And here is one of the perfect examples.

00:20:06.760 Chapter 46 of Thorolf and Eil's harrying.

00:20:12.840 Um, the, the, the word harrying has two meanings and it survives in our, well, in our religion, you might be familiar with it, with the einherjahr.

00:20:26.880 The einherjahr are the ones who rise above or can also be translated as the one warrior, the warrior of the, of one.

00:20:38.420 Um, and, uh, poetic language is like that. And it, it often has double meanings. So like

00:20:47.300 Val could mean slain, but it can also mean chosen or to choose. So the Val father isn't

00:20:56.780 necessarily just the father of the slain. He's also the, the choosing the father. Um,

00:21:02.980 And this word harrying in English, it means to kind of aggressively attack at multiple angles or multiple points.

00:21:15.220 And what this really is, is they're going to Viking.

00:21:18.320 They're going to go out and they're going to sail around and either raid or trade, depending on the situation.

00:21:25.740 and oftentimes in older stuff you'll hear oh the vikings harried the coast it has nothing to do with

00:21:34.800 with hair um so thorolf and eil stayed that winter with thorir and it's worth remembering

00:21:46.980 to thorolf male our brothers um and they were made they were made much of but in spring they

00:21:56.260 got ready a large warship and gathered men there too and in summer they went to the eastern way

00:22:03.940 and harried their one they much wealth and had many battles so at this point they're

00:22:11.700 They're full-fledged warriors.

00:22:15.500 Von, what chapter are you on?

00:22:17.600 46.

00:22:18.880 We are on 47.

00:22:20.660 Oh, see, I'm still doing it.

00:22:23.920 I know.

00:22:26.360 That's all right.

00:22:27.180 You're keeping me in line.

00:22:28.680 I get lost.

00:22:33.100 All right, so 47.

00:22:35.140 of the further harrying

00:22:39.800 of Thorolf and Aeol.

00:22:44.240 So,

00:22:45.700 Herald Gormson

00:22:47.320 had then taken the kingdom

00:22:49.980 of Denmark,

00:22:51.720 his father Gorm being now

00:22:54.040 dead.

00:22:55.580 So,

00:22:55.700 am I

00:23:00.040 correct that his

00:23:01.720 father was Gorm the Old?

00:23:05.140 i want to say yes but whenever we do like any of these these lore things i'm

00:23:12.680 i'm always tentative because of the fact that like i all of trigverson is different than olaf

00:23:21.620 saint olaf so there is this doubling where i get i i doubt myself and i'm like uh i remember it

00:23:30.960 being that way. But I'm always, you know, I want to be super, super careful.

00:23:36.200 All right. This is Harold Bluetooth, right?

00:23:39.780 Yes. Gorm's son is Harold.

00:23:42.720 Bluetooth is, in fact, the son of Gorm the Old. Point of fact, Gorm the Old was the last

00:23:50.280 um also true king of denmark um and did he or how did his son get converted

00:24:03.240 um yes gorm's son is bluetooth cool

00:24:09.920 blau tongue um is how you say bluetooth

00:24:16.200 youth um that's always interesting to me because like eric the red he was also of the old faith

00:24:28.980 our faith and his son laver or excuse me leif was um

00:24:35.580 he became a christian and i like one of the things in that story of his saga

00:24:43.080 he um basically convinced his mother to join the christian church and she wouldn't sleep

00:24:51.500 with a uh heathen so um but i guess it must not have been that good because eric was like

00:25:01.680 that doesn't affect me at all like i don't care like i'm not changing away from my gods

00:25:06.580 whether you try to you know do this or not so that's i've always found that like super hilarious

00:25:15.220 i know that we have many great heroes who have died for our faith but that was a that was a bold

00:25:20.880 move as well i'm not i'm not going this route and and then she wanted him to build a chapel

00:25:29.180 and he took an axe and threw it like over a berm and down a hill and he said wherever the axe lands

00:25:35.520 that's where i'll build it because i love it but i'm not gonna walk out of my house and see that

00:25:40.480 so bluetooth was converted around 960. um gorm the old is what the complex at yelling

00:25:53.920 many of you may be familiar with the yelling stone um it's really famous rune stone in yelling denmark

00:26:00.400 um he was interred there in a big burial mound later they dug him up and put him in the uh

00:26:12.640 christian church that's also on the site at yelling and in and uh put him under the floor

00:26:19.440 near the altar and it's funny that so um what was it 2013 when

00:26:32.480 steve mcnallen and myself along with uh sheila and some friends of ours were there we went and

00:26:41.680 we visited his uh we visited his remains his his tomb there and we went into the the church that

00:26:51.600 was there we actually had a lady that we were with guard the door when we were in there by ourselves

00:26:58.720 and we did a little ritual over the site where he was where he was um laid to rest inside this

00:27:07.120 church there on this on the site and it's to mark the spot it's funny they have this like

00:27:12.000 zigzaggy line pattern with metal on the floor of on like i think a concrete floor like stone floor

00:27:20.280 rather of this church and over the top where he's interred within the metal pattern intentionally

00:27:29.540 or unintentionally they mark a gold colored i assume it's i don't know brass um

00:27:39.220 uh sig room there which is cool and so over top of that we did a little uh ritual there

00:27:46.580 when we went and visited denmark on an afa trip um

00:27:52.020 i was just reading an interesting little bit here too um that the sagas in general from iceland kind

00:28:01.620 of paint herald bluetooth in a negative light and he was forced to submit twice to the swedish prince

00:28:11.060 um steer the strong and he was one of the young viking good or the young vikings

00:28:17.940 um twice and then he made an oath and he broke it to avoid facing him again

00:28:26.220 um and then he ran and kind of started issues elsewhere and he's villainous because he betrayed

00:28:36.040 our gods there is that is yes well so something something to think about and i know that um

00:28:42.640 new folks to also true often wonder like man what do i do with all my ancestors that were

00:28:52.260 christians and you know most of us have many many many many generations of christian ancestors

00:28:58.440 that's all fine and good most of those people didn't know better and didn't have a lot of

00:29:04.540 option but we're dealing right now with a generation of people that did know better

00:29:09.600 They came into this world and into this life in troth to the Aesir.

00:29:17.500 And many of them, in the course of this saga and this generation that we're reading about, chose to abandon that and betray that troth to the Aesir.

00:29:31.100 And by doing so, they didn't just break that link for themselves, but they did that for all those generations.

00:29:38.660 between us and them and you know i don't hold anything against my christian grandfather or

00:29:46.860 great-grandfather that's the religion he was born into and the society was born into but i do hold

00:29:52.500 great animosity towards people of this generation that chose to betray the gods in the first place

00:29:57.540 they knew better

00:29:59.360 yeah and the question always remains why why did they do it why did laver why did harold

00:30:08.640 And, like, Lever is a good example of an actual, just a convert.

00:30:17.580 He wasn't, you know, particularly, like, he wasn't a royal or anything.

00:30:22.440 But here we have another example of, like, a royal.

00:30:27.480 And royals really stood out to gain.

00:30:30.300 So, I mean, I do think that Leivre could have gained something in the sense that he was trading and had trade routes with Christians and it was growing fast.

00:30:44.100 So perhaps, you know, there was some benefit there.

00:30:47.320 But with Harold, absolutely.

00:30:51.320 The gaining of support from the church that had a lot of money.

00:30:57.700 uh even down to when they dug up his father and his mount the the grave goods were um

00:31:06.940 you know dispersed to the church and um because they believe you know you don't need it in the

00:31:14.740 afterlife and so they they took that dispersed it to him and and and to the church and uh buried

00:31:22.480 him in a you know in a in a hole at a in a church you know yard so there was a lot of conniving

00:31:31.040 usury bribery uh marriages there was a lot of stuff and for those folks who grow up in a religion

00:31:40.480 that is not built around um devotion instead is built around culture um and we see it all the

00:31:51.440 time people you know will turn against the cultures that they're in and say oh yeah i hate this i hate

00:31:56.560 that so we have to battle that a lot i think even so because it's relevant we just have a uh

00:32:07.120 comment over on the side or where was it where'd i see it aha um from tom bass and it's relevant

00:32:16.880 to what we're talking about nuts because i only let you get in halfway through the first paragraph

00:32:24.320 wasn't the christian doctrine of divine right of kings an enticement for conversion

00:32:28.560 to protect their claims to the throne um in a roundabout way but

00:32:38.160 But so, and some of this goes back to other unrelated things

00:32:47.420 that factor into this question.

00:32:49.900 A divine right of kings isn't a biblical thing.

00:32:54.940 The ancient Hebrews weren't supposed to have a king.

00:32:57.720 They were super rebellious and they threw a fit

00:33:00.200 and their Jewish God decided to,

00:33:04.960 okay, fine, I will send you a king

00:33:06.860 because you guys can't behave yourself and that's how the davidic um kingship came or i guess

00:33:14.540 yes but that's how first the saul's kingship came about

00:33:20.060 that was an anomaly and wasn't really a thing um

00:33:27.340 in europe the reigning monarchs we had divine right of kings

00:33:31.580 now you're hearing about a really specific cultural expression there were a lot of these

00:33:40.820 little petty kings that would call themselves king but maybe they were king of a valley or a bay or

00:33:46.260 you know a couple hundred people but they weren't big kings ruling kingdoms until just about this

00:33:53.320 generation a little bit previous you started having these kings that took over big swathes

00:33:58.180 of the country, just like Harold Fairhair here earlier. So the concept of divine kingship was

00:34:11.100 absolutely an also true concept. The royal families of Europe, even into the Christian

00:34:16.520 age, trace their legitimacy back to them being descended from our gods. Most often the Allfather

00:34:25.840 Odin, but like in Sweden, Lord Freyr would be their, that they would trace back their royal

00:34:32.460 lineage to. The sacrality of kingship was, vastly predates Christianity. That's why it was so easy

00:34:43.180 to overlay the Christian divine right of kings concept on it. Yes, when the continent was turning

00:34:50.760 and they'd forgotten all about that, they don't care about that, they just care that, you know,

00:34:54.700 jehovah had anointed them king yes oh your pagan king doesn't have the blessing of our jewish god

00:35:02.060 therefore your illegitimate will rally the people against you or will rally other christian nations

00:35:08.700 against you yes but the divinity of kingship was long celebrated in our ancestral times long before

00:35:19.100 Christianity came to Europe. Do you have anything to add on that Svan? Yeah, I think that, you know,

00:35:29.760 when we talk about the divine kingship, it's just that when we go from a culture that does

00:35:37.940 oral poetic traditions to carry things on versus when we write things down. And I'm a huge believer

00:35:45.840 that our ancestors should have gotten on the writing things down, um, train, but yeah, I,

00:35:52.880 you know, when you talk about the Kings of Sweden, um, and Denmark and, um, uh, even,

00:36:02.180 even in the central German areas or back towards like the bronze age, you know, there's evidence

00:36:09.860 that would lend to the idea that the the the kings um were anointed or placed in there by the

00:36:19.860 machinations of the gods by by fate or by by orlog or weird um and i think that lends you know heavily

00:36:30.900 towards that but you see king style changes where the say during the time of tacitus

00:36:40.560 he noted that even though the king was right there the the men folk could come in with their

00:36:47.720 weapons which was foreign comparatively to the romans um so there is this essence of the way

00:36:55.420 that kings functioned and they functioned more on merit and then what you see like even in this

00:37:03.540 mentioning with herald nobody's allowed to bring a weapon in front of him so a or sorry thoralf

00:37:10.900 um or i even ale there they have to disarm so the functioning of kings um i think greatly changed

00:37:22.740 with the coming of christianity and again there was also the ever-present counseling of the church

00:37:31.060 that was not there you were counseled by you know your things and experienced warriors or family

00:37:37.940 members and then it shifted over to like a tendril of rome so the function i think changed but the

00:37:45.380 idea of a sacral king um was was much much older it just had an allure because of money and i think

00:37:56.660 too also a removal of certain responsibilities um kings of old if they failed they often met

00:38:04.820 even spiritually they felt they would meet doomed ends and we see that in the sagas um

00:38:11.940 But the allure of the kingship via, you know, being anointed by the church is that it would somehow kind of avert that and, you know, not have to worry about perhaps an underling coming, you know, and taking it from you.

00:38:31.800 But instead, you know, your child could pick it up.

00:38:35.340 So I think the function changed, but, um, sacral kinship and kingship amongst our folk certainly was there.

00:38:51.060 Um, let me see.

00:38:54.460 uh yeah sacral kingship to tom bass if you're interested uh a couple of books two major books

00:39:07.260 is um the uh the road to hell is a great book because it talks about funerary rites and that's

00:39:15.700 a really good one um and the other is myths and legends of pagan europe those two really do cover

00:39:23.600 some of those kind of concepts and compare them to our cousins, the Gauls, in the south and in

00:39:32.240 the Isles. So really, really cool. Okay, so let's see. All right. So yes, of the harrying of Thorolf

00:39:47.200 And Eil, Harold Gormson, had taken the kingdom in Denmark, his father Gorm being now dead.

00:39:55.060 The land was then open to harrying.

00:39:58.140 So really what this is saying is with the transfer of one king to another, there's this moment where Harold Bluetooth or Harold Gormson is trying to, I'm going to use the word, Matt.

00:40:16.240 He was trying to galvanize Denmark, and this was a ripe opportunity for the Norwegians.

00:40:26.560 Upon what premise was he trying to galvanize?

00:40:31.220 Well, under the premise of security.

00:40:34.180 If he galvanized it, in the future, he would have security.

00:40:42.160 For anybody playing the drinking game, Daniel.

00:40:46.240 um so let's see here uh so the land was then open for harrying free booters vikings often lay off

00:40:59.540 the danish coast aki knew denmark well both by sea and by land so ale inquired of him diligently

00:41:08.820 where the places were

00:41:10.920 that promised great booty

00:41:13.020 or good booty

00:41:14.120 but when they came

00:41:16.820 to Ayrir Sound

00:41:18.720 then Aki said

00:41:21.040 that up on the land

00:41:22.560 there was a large trading town

00:41:24.380 called Lunter

00:41:25.240 there he said was hope of plunder

00:41:29.020 but it was likely

00:41:30.640 that the townsmen

00:41:32.160 would make resistance

00:41:33.520 so

00:41:36.160 oh and if anybody's wondering

00:41:38.300 about the origin of the word booty it comes from german uh buta meaning treasure um

00:41:49.580 so the question was put before the men whether they should go up there or not

00:41:55.020 opinions were divided some liking some letting it then the matter was referred to the leaders

00:42:01.820 Thorolf was rather for going up. Then Eil was asked what counsel he thought, and he recited a stave.

00:42:14.000 Wolf battering warrior

00:42:19.040 Wield we high gleaming swords

00:42:22.900 In snake fostering summer

00:42:27.180 Such deeds well be seen

00:42:30.420 Lead up to Lunder

00:42:33.500 Let laggards be none

00:42:37.140 Spear music ungentle

00:42:40.240 By sunset shall sound

00:42:43.980 so he is in agreeance we should go um i love the the idea that in in snake fostering summer

00:42:55.800 that the season of snakes because they're in the this is the best time it's the weather is good

00:43:01.420 and this is where we start to see ale's true spirit he is a warrior he sees an opportunity

00:43:11.820 he places himself in front of harm he knows that the the menfolk of the village could

00:43:18.400 you know take their lives that's why they're doing this vote to begin with and he doesn't

00:43:23.800 shirk away from it i can honestly tell everyone here i had a similar experience in iraq and this

00:43:33.420 saga like led me towards the path that that i wanted or that i went to go on there was two

00:43:41.700 places I could have went. And, um, as they were, you know, drafting a lot of the corporals and

00:43:47.400 sergeants to fill in these spots. And I was told this place had just been attacked and this place

00:43:53.820 had seen nothing. And I saw the nervousness of some of my, um, fellow Marines. So I said,

00:44:03.260 I'll go to the place that was just attacked. Like if it's hot, send me there. Um, so question

00:44:08.720 upon the eve of battle did you recite verses no i wish i wish i had a verse i mean battles

00:44:20.880 is a an interesting term because by that time we were um doing a lot of like what would almost be

00:44:27.680 like police work and getting attacked and fighting was never uh we were more reactionary than

00:44:34.080 anything um though there were you know nights where yeah we would do things uh and go out and

00:44:42.160 kind of assault houses and build up these you know like places to you know try to catch people

00:44:49.440 and so on and so forth um but i did give bloat on the euphrates um with no horn had a canteen cup

00:45:00.800 um i gave some of my best mre you know electrolyte drink and i you know asked the gods that they

00:45:12.640 not protect me but at least you know what it really was was i just wanted to not be surprised

00:45:21.040 that was the one thing i prayed for was just i don't i'm not afraid of death i just don't want

00:45:25.200 to be caught with like my pants down i don't want to be like a oh and then it'd be over with

00:45:31.360 so i i just all i asked was to be able to meet my death with a semblance of um awareness

00:45:40.160 because that's just one of the things you think about so yeah

00:45:46.000 um so with ale saying his um prose

00:45:57.760 they they go forward after that they made their way ready to go up and they came to the town

00:46:02.880 but when the townsmen were aware of the enemies coming they made against them a wooden wall

00:46:08.880 was round the town, so they had a palisade. They set men to guard this. A very, very fierce battle

00:46:18.020 was fought. Eil, with his following, charged fiercely on the gate, nor spared himself. So

00:46:25.200 all in. There was great slaughter, the townsmen falling one upon another. It is said that Eil

00:46:35.680 first entered the town the others followed then those of the town fled and great was the slaughter

00:46:45.940 but thorolf and his company plundered the town and took much wealth and fired the buildings

00:46:52.080 before they left then they went down to their ships so at this point

00:46:58.600 uh the the full um like stereotypical viking stuff is going on there they are looting and

00:47:11.800 and and taking these towns and i think too it's worth noting that perhaps the loss of kings when

00:47:18.340 small fiefdom kings were taken out by a larger king um there was a loss of protection at least

00:47:26.680 a window of it um before like armies could be raised and so i think that's really what

00:47:33.160 they're capitalizing on in these moments um they also you know they they're attacking these places

00:47:43.400 with the intention of bringing loot back and we have to be careful about attempting to

00:47:50.360 i guess moralize our ancestors i see people say like oh well you know your ancestors owned slaves

00:48:02.200 and those slaves were white people and it's like you're you're twisting and turning things to fit

00:48:09.240 a narrative versus the reality is that's who they knew that's what they knew and the differences

00:48:16.360 between them and the you know having battle gods uh to pray to when you're surrounded by folk

00:48:25.240 because our folk our ancestors didn't live in peace a lot of people try to you know always

00:48:31.000 say or portray that like the native americans they all loved each other and they sat around and

00:48:35.800 smoked on the pipe and made buffalo hair macrame and it's false and we should not

00:48:46.200 we should not do the same thing our ancestors fought each other all the time and very different

00:48:52.680 everybody likes to get behind these slogans and stuff without really putting thought to them

00:49:00.280 everything has to do with context and that's why i

00:49:09.080 counsel to lean on principle much more than on politics because politics are situational

00:49:15.320 we talk all the time about no more brother wars but everything that was ever celebrated

00:49:20.840 by any of our ancestors is almost exclusively brother wars because that's how small the world

00:49:27.320 was you know that's that's what they knew and where they were you'll find in these sagas almost

00:49:35.560 all of them are in some way related to the people that they're interacting with they knew them if

00:49:41.320 they had truces if they had good relationships they treated them well if they were in the outer

00:49:46.600 yard then they were treated like they were in the outer yard and you're looking out for yours and

00:49:50.680 those who've been loyal to you and it was a very different very different arrangement the world was

00:49:58.120 so much smaller as i mentioned earlier you know almost all though of the things that we read and

00:50:03.720 are celebrated certainly from you know pretty much anything in the uh pre-christian period was

00:50:15.960 almost exclusively brother wars because that's how the world was different times different politics

00:50:23.480 different things different geopolitical situation you do different things but i've always counseled

00:50:31.320 against trying to project your modern sensibilities on you know our ancestors in a different time in

00:50:38.600 in a different place. Um, you have to judge people by the standards of their time and

00:50:45.480 their world and their, their knowledge base, not retroactively, you know, like, uh, degenerates

00:50:54.540 these days do. Do you want to pull down all the statues of people that you have no sense

00:50:58.740 to understand don't do that i did want to um answer a question that's kind of relevant to

00:51:08.820 what we're just talking about because i didn't want to answer it like an hour from now finwraith

00:51:13.620 asked did you ever have a moment in the army when you thought that you were about to die

00:51:18.900 i was going to say one i um and are you offended no no he's in finland i might not know um because

00:51:27.140 swan is not projecting his understanding upon people with a different context yeah he's from

00:51:34.420 yeah he might not know uh i was in the marine corps which is the uh kind of combat element

00:51:41.860 connected to the navy um and it's a very long tradition just kind of very similar and they

00:51:47.460 were born out of the british royal marines um and the united states you know they had a lot of ex

00:51:55.940 british royal marines that ended up becoming united states marines during the revolutionary

00:52:00.580 war but um i was gonna say every time i ran down a street and every time i got into a helicopter

00:52:09.860 yes you just reserved yourself for death i'm being dead serious too i'm not

00:52:16.740 not a morose joke. Helicopters are pretty scary. But yeah, and also to running down

00:52:26.620 streets where we didn't have any protection or any follow-up. It was just perhaps me and maybe

00:52:32.540 two or three other people, and we were just kind of out in the open. I just figured at any minute

00:52:38.460 there was going to be either an explosion or an ambush, and it was just pretty constant.

00:52:46.740 every time so we're putting it out there um for the audience

00:52:57.060 something to make note of and anyone who has been in that situation by all means you are entitled

00:53:06.260 to feel however you want about it i have no place to tell you what to think about it

00:53:12.660 But I think it speaks really highly of my friend Svan here, the way he carries himself and the way he presents himself on things.

00:53:29.920 I don't think a lot of people realize the life he's led, the things that he's seen, the life lessons that he brings to the program.

00:53:45.360 He is so very humble and respectful with how he presents himself.

00:53:51.560 this man's seen some things and he has

00:53:58.280 embodied far more of the warrior virtue than so many of our people like to chest thump about

00:54:06.640 it's really beneficial to all of us to think as the kids say these days to sit under his

00:54:16.300 learning tree about some of these things because he's been there and he knows the things that he's

00:54:22.620 speaking of and he is still able to present himself in the way that he is the folks that

00:54:31.680 are the adorners of benches should uh give heed and respect to the stuff that he has to say

00:54:39.280 because he's earned that uh in spades thank you hail to you my friend

00:54:47.120 yeah let's see i feel like i'm at a stumble now like how do i follow

00:54:53.680 got nothing to follow it with this is a celebration of you

00:54:57.440 well you said humbleness too humbleness is not oh it's not like a particularly strong virtue in our

00:55:02.720 in our faith. And, um, I, you bring me bright fame, especially on here, you know, to be

00:55:10.440 remembered and spoken about is good, but yeah, I don't really talk about it often. And I think

00:55:17.440 a lot of people think because I'm my demeanor, I'm, I don't, I don't know what they think of

00:55:22.560 me, but I don't think they think of like some of the stuff I've done. Um, if they tested,

00:55:31.460 it may be the last thing they think about i mean yeah i mean

00:55:37.220 um i was gonna say too finraith said you know they in finland they say everyone they say the

00:55:42.260 army for everyone here in um america finraith there is a like a big difference between army

00:55:50.180 and navy and then the subsidiaries that follow like the air force out of the army and the marine

00:55:57.620 corps out of the navy so there's a lot of kind of group rivalry it's all done with competitive drive

00:56:04.740 but um yeah there's definitely like a big calling a marine a soldier is like no i'm not in the army

00:56:15.140 like no no no so um okay so they attack the town and they make their way back

00:56:27.620 And again, much slaughter, and Thorolf and Eil make their way out of it. More likely, too, they have far more experience with a sword. Even though they have the defensive position, Eil drives the attack to the door and makes it through, and it's just really emphasizing that they are seasoned warriors.

00:56:52.640 Um, so chapter 48 of the banquet at Earl Arnfydd's house, um, which is interesting too, because

00:57:08.720 they use a different name, Arnhirni is in the old Norse, but Arn means eagle, um, not 100%

00:57:19.960 on the on the feed part um so thorolf stood northwards with his force past holland and they

00:57:30.680 put in a harbor there as the wind drove them back they did not plunder there a little way up the

00:57:37.860 country dwelt an earl named arnfid but when he heard the freebooters had come to the land there

00:57:46.420 he sent his men to meet them with this errand, to know whether they wished for peace or for war.

00:57:54.760 Upon the messengers coming to Thorolf with their errand, he said that they would not

00:58:00.640 harry here, that there was no need to harry there or to come with war shield, the land being not so

00:58:10.480 wealthy. The messenger went back to the Earl and told him the issue of their errand. But when the

00:58:17.620 Earl knew that he need not gather men for the cause, then he rode down without any armed force

00:58:25.600 to meet the freebooters. When they met, all went well at the conference. The Earl, see,

00:58:33.840 and that's like the moment where in our kind of modern sensibility of like plot uh-oh he's gonna

00:58:41.680 but no it's it just reads very matter-of-factly the earl bade thorolf to a banquet with him

00:58:49.440 and as many of his men as he could and thorolf promised to go on the appointed day the earl

00:58:56.400 had riding horses sent down to meet them thorolf and ale went they had 30 men with them and when

00:59:03.920 they came to the earl he received them well they were led to the dining hall at once beer was

00:59:10.720 brought and given them to drink they sate there there till evening but before the tables were

00:59:18.320 removed, the earl said that they should cast lots to drink together in pairs. Now, that's interesting,

00:59:29.040 um, the usage of lots and the idea that perhaps they are using runes, but it's not specifically

00:59:37.280 said um the uh the usage of the rune like or the the word rune um is not done there uh see here

00:59:52.960 i just wanted to see if uh yeah it's not the the usage of the word rune is not there

01:00:00.800 So whether they use runes or not, we don't quite know. It could, and I'm just shooting this out

01:00:08.300 there. I'm not saying that it's the case, but the lots themselves could have been some form of dice

01:00:12.820 or something of that nature. But I have a tendency to believe that it is runes because of the usage

01:00:19.940 of the word lots versus dice or anything else. But they cast them to find pairings, and then

01:00:32.380 those people will drink together. Man and woman, so far as numbers would allow, but the odd ones

01:00:38.800 by themselves. They cast then their lots into the skirt of a cloak, and the earl drew them out.

01:00:48.660 the earl had a very beautiful daughter then in the flower of youth the lot

01:00:55.620 decreed that ale should sit by her for the evening here we go um

01:01:03.540 ale stood up and went to the place in which the earl's daughter had sat during the day

01:01:08.580 but when all took their several seats then the earl's daughter went to her place and she

01:01:15.220 He said a verse.

01:01:45.220 affair, madly met. So she's kind of insulting. He has not fed a lot of ravens, according

01:01:58.260 to her. And he will retort. Okay, may I for a sec? Oh, absolutely.

01:02:08.540 Ael took her and sat her down beside him. And then he spake a verse. That's for you,

01:02:14.240 buddy go ahead oh oh yeah i saw the question and then he spent a verse and i mean in a way this is

01:02:22.220 this is she's on par i think she absolutely is a lover of poetry and at that time um poetry was

01:02:33.500 such a phenomenal way of passing fame and news um it was very much their forms of entertainment

01:02:42.660 So you had people who learned it and were particular lovers of it.

01:02:49.960 The other thing that I think is worth noting, there was a need to measure up and display

01:03:14.120 your value as a mate and it's not as like transactional or as cynical as it may sound

01:03:27.320 but

01:03:31.000 this was a society where people who were worth something

01:03:35.720 had self-esteem and had a sense of their own value and there was a challenge made and this is simple

01:03:45.800 similar to challenging at sumble but you needed to prove yourself you needed to demonstrate your

01:03:58.000 worthiness as a mate and it was a big part of that custom and it was like you know prove yourself in

01:04:05.580 bunch of ways challenge you to make you know to compose a a poetic poetic retort or to you know

01:04:14.140 go out there and make a name for yourself to achieve but there was a um

01:04:24.060 there are a number okay there are kind of two female archetypes that we run into a lot

01:04:31.820 and i don't i don't know the best way to express it to where it's super clear for everybody but

01:04:40.340 there are relationship situations where partners push each other to excel and to be their best

01:04:51.500 and there are other synergies in a relationship where partners

01:04:55.980 validate each other's uselessness and wallow in their mediocrity.

01:05:05.940 In Alcatru, the ideal is always to push ourselves to be heroes, to push each other and those we

01:05:13.240 care about to be our very best and to excel at the things that we do, and not to celebrate

01:05:20.620 victimhood or mediocrity you celebrate great deeds and achievement and accomplishment

01:05:27.660 and you expect that of those that you associate yourself with

01:05:33.900 not in a disparaging like hey you suck kind of way but in a way to push you to be your best

01:05:41.180 and that was so hardwired in to society that way sometimes they would make the challenge even if

01:05:48.460 it was false to give you the opportunity to crow about your deeds and cool stuff you did

01:05:55.660 um so that is such a contrast with the culture that we currently find ourselves immersed in

01:06:02.700 it's worth making note of and internalizing and finding ways to to do in our own life

01:06:11.100 don't use other low achievement lamos to make give you an excuse to achieve less push each other to

01:06:24.700 be the very best you can be and then the whole tide rises but um you know if we seek to actualize

01:06:37.280 on our faith it involves us being the very best we can be and inspiring our fellows our brothers

01:06:43.200 and our sisters our mates our children to be the very best that they can be that raises us all up

01:06:52.400 so please keep that in mind we're reading the stories of heroes and that's why we're reading this

01:06:59.040 you know what 1100 years later

01:07:01.280 and he is honored as well by the whole of the assembly that is bright bright fame

01:07:12.560 so far after and people are holding banquets and bloats in his honor

01:07:18.620 now he speaks back and he says

01:07:30.840 with bloody brand on striding me bird of

01:07:38.360 bane hath followed my hurtling spear

01:07:43.380 hath sounded in the swift viking's charge raged wrathful our battle ran fire over foemen's roof

01:07:54.660 trees sound sleepeth many a warrior slain in the city gate so just uh if anybody's reading along

01:08:06.160 to just to to note the the uh these these poems don't rhyme at the end and they have alliterative

01:08:13.180 So you can kind of see when you read them, but what's really important is to catch the ear.

01:08:23.560 And you don't get that in the English translation, but like a perfect example for her.

01:08:31.900 Why sittest in my seat, youth? Thou seldom sure hast given.

01:08:36.600 So here, sitist, seat, and seldom are the key words that are kind of, they transfer over, but she says, kvatskaltur svein, svein meaning young lad, i sesmin, thvittu sjaltin hefer kevnar.

01:08:56.500 so the alliterative sense of what is rhyming is important um and you have to you have to learn

01:09:08.280 to have an ear for it it's like playing an instrument um and it gets you know it's it's

01:09:14.100 a little bumpy and a lot of folks kind of notice the disjointedness of the poem but very rarely

01:09:20.260 catch on to what is exactly being set how can it be memorized it's memorized through alliteration

01:09:30.340 um they too then drink together for the evening and were right merry the banquet was the of the

01:09:39.860 best on that day and on the morrow then the rovers went to their ships they and the earl

01:09:47.860 parting in friendship with an exchange of gifts thorolf with his force then stood for

01:09:55.380 the bren islands at that time there was a great layer of freebooters because through the islands

01:10:04.260 sailed many merchant ships aki went home to his farms and his sons with him he was a very wealthy

01:10:12.580 man owning several farms in jutland jutland of course is denmark he and thoralf parted

01:10:23.860 with affection and pledged them close friendship but as autumn came on thoralf and his men sailed

01:10:31.060 northward along norway's coast till they reached the firths which is the word that they used to

01:10:37.460 translate fjord um then went to lord thorit he received them well but arenbjorn his son

01:10:48.420 much better who asked ale to be there for the winter ale took this offer up with thanks

01:10:57.140 but when thorir knew of arenbjorn's offer he called it rather a hasty speech

01:11:02.420 I know not, said he, how King Errik may like that, for after the slaying of Bard, he said that he would not have Eil be here in the land.

01:11:17.220 You, father, can easily manage this with the king, said Arnbjorn, so that we will not have any blame in Eil's Eil stay.

01:11:27.760 You'll ask Thorolf, your niece's husband, to be here, and I and Eil will have one winter home.

01:11:39.720 Thorir saw from the talk that Arnbjorn would have his way in this, so father and son

01:11:47.000 offered Thorolf winter home there, which he much accepted.

01:11:52.880 They were there through the winter with twelve men.

01:11:57.760 Two brothers there were named Thorvald the Proud and Thorvid the Strong,

01:12:05.880 near kinsmen of Bjorn Yeoman, and brought up with him.

01:12:11.300 Tall men they were, strong, of much energy and forward daring.

01:12:16.440 They followed Bjorn so long as he went out a-roving,

01:12:21.020 but when he settled down in quiet, then these brothers went to Thoralf

01:12:26.120 and were there with him in his harrying, they were foc'sle men in the ship.

01:12:34.000 And when Eil took command of the ship, then Thorvir was his foc'sle man.

01:12:41.140 These brothers followed Thorolf throughout, and he valued them most of his crew.

01:12:47.800 They were of his company this winter and sate next to the two brothers.

01:12:52.000 So it's worth noting here, they're explaining some of the seating and the idea of the high seat

01:13:15.940 generally is the seat in the center of the table, and then the person to your right or

01:13:21.820 to your left or across from each other was your your cup mate or you know your um second

01:13:29.900 you know depending on kind of the layout of the hall um and we do this too here in um

01:13:37.340 in the asa true folk assembly in a general sense that the alzharagoli sits in the high

01:13:42.540 seat and then the person to the left of them is like the second and um the horn goes around sun

01:13:51.180 wise through the hall and usually the the the thuller the one who kind of

01:13:57.740 administrates or make sure he or she is generally last so um to kind of make sure that all the

01:14:06.460 witnessing is done so you'll see that uh if you come to like national events is it always that

01:14:12.540 that way? No, but it's a general guideline. Um, so let's see. So they spend the winter and there's

01:14:23.580 much drinking and rejoicing and good feast. Um, so then Lord Thorir went in the autumn to King

01:14:32.260 Eric. So this is the next year. The King received him exceedingly well, but when they began to talk

01:14:39.540 together, Thorir begged the king not to take it amiss, but he had Eil with him that past winter.

01:14:48.580 The king answered this well. He said that Thorir might get from him what he would, but it should

01:14:56.100 not have been so had any other man harbored Eil. But when Gunnhilde, Erik's wife, heard

01:15:06.260 what they were talking of then said she this i think eric that is now going again as it has gone

01:15:16.920 often before thou lendest easy ear to talk nor bearest long in mind that the ill that is done

01:15:24.940 to thee and now thou will bring forward the sons of skalagrim to this and that they will yet again

01:15:32.460 smite down some of thy nearest kin but thou though mayest choose to think bard slaying was

01:15:41.040 of no account I think not so so in a way she's saying like this is gonna this is what happens

01:15:49.680 you start to ease up you let them around they kill one of your family members and then you regret it

01:15:56.340 And, you know, I, I would like to think that you don't think that bard slaying is just happenstance is basically what she's saying. She's really goading him. And, and Gunhilda is, you know, she was often referred to as being a master of dark arts, or at least, you know, the arts that were kind of questionable at the time.

01:16:23.640 uh she went to finland and a lot of folks always associated um certain types of magical practices

01:16:32.700 with the fins and they were not known very well so it was immediately brought about with an air

01:16:39.240 of mystery which could have just simply been a political tactic but she's certainly a uh a woman

01:16:48.420 of of great um drive and cunning so so this speaks to a thing in also true that i think folks need to

01:17:00.260 internalize as well women have a very powerful function in society and that function is not to

01:17:12.660 pretend that they're dudes or to go out and go a viking with the men that function

01:17:20.580 is to manipulate social arrangements

01:17:25.140 we've talked so two two kind of things here there is the noble woman as frith weaver

01:17:36.020 and there's no the noble woman as strifester and noble women have the ability to serve as

01:17:46.100 intermediaries between proud men to fix things to be go-betweens to weave peace to have them

01:17:55.140 come together to advise them of little nice things that they can do that don't compromise

01:18:01.220 their position but our nice gestures we see that all the time our women are like hey we should send

01:18:10.660 so and so a gift i'll send them a gift with both of our names on it hey you should call your dad

01:18:16.420 hey you should do this and that that's beautiful and amazing when that can happen

01:18:24.500 or and i've been in a lot of fights that started this way

01:18:31.220 are you gonna let him say that to you who does he think he is i'm sitting with you and you're

01:18:36.180 gonna let this guy do this did you see the way he said such and such to me or the way he looked

01:18:41.700 to be funny and as a bouncer in the bar i've had guys turn their back on their girlfriend who

01:18:50.980 prompted them literally look at me and mouth you know i'm sorry i have to and then throw a punch

01:19:00.100 oh because they got to do what they got to do and i appreciate it and after you know whatever i'll

01:19:05.860 pick them up dust them off and i'm not mad i get it but that is a common thing and in this society

01:19:15.140 it's a thing that is often the bringer of death and uh ruin to houses to families to countries

01:19:22.500 um and then you also have in other situations you know you have adrian at the beginning of

01:19:31.380 rocky movies and adrian at the end of rocky movies you have the like trying to hold you back

01:19:37.140 and like be a wet rag on all the things you want to do or you have the one that's in full support

01:19:44.180 and urges you to be your best and do great things and i think that those kind of four different

01:19:53.380 positing of female energies if done in the right circumstance to the right people that can be the

01:20:00.660 difference maker between really amazing things happening or very very tragic things happen

01:20:06.740 and we see both in the course of our our lore and we see both in the course of our lives

01:20:13.300 and she starts to goad him about this that he's he's slipping he's going against his decree and

01:20:27.700 he answers to he said he says thou gunhilda more than any others you provoked me to savageness

01:20:36.340 Yet time was when that were on better terms with Thorolf than now.

01:20:42.900 However, I will not take back my word about those brothers.

01:20:47.700 And she said Thorolf was well here before Eil made him bad.

01:20:53.500 But now I reckon there are no odds between them.

01:20:57.880 Thorir, who Eil and Thorolf stayed with, he leaves.

01:21:03.320 And then he tells them, tells the brothers what words passed between the king and the queen.

01:21:12.600 So now, I mean, it's really known, Eil and Thoralf know that Queen Gunelda does not like them.

01:21:26.120 Chapter 49, the slaying of Thorvald the Proud.

01:21:33.320 So Ivan, Screda, and Alf, or Alv, were the names of two brothers of Gunilda, sons of Azur-Toti.

01:21:49.300 That's very interesting.

01:21:53.520 I'm just now seeing, like, that's hitting.

01:21:56.020 Um, yeah, Azurartota is what it's, uh, translation in Old Norse. Okay.

01:22:08.540 Nope. Let me write that down real quick. Um, so, uh, they were tall, strong, and great traders.

01:22:17.080 uh they were made much of by king eric and gunelda not generally liked where they at this time they

01:22:30.100 were young but fully grown to manhood it is so befell in the spring that a great sacrifice was

01:22:38.020 fixed to be held in the summer at Gowler. Let me see. An odd name. I wonder if it has any

01:22:54.900 relation to like Latin and color blue. Yeah, so they're going to hold this great sacrifice or

01:23:07.720 bloat here was the most renowned chief temple thither flocked numbers from all the firsts and

01:23:16.880 from the fells and from from son and almost all great men king eric went hither then or thither

01:23:25.580 and then uh then spoke gun hill hilda with her brothers i would feign that you two should so

01:23:33.500 manage matters in this crowded gathering that ye get to slay one of the two sons of Skalagrim,

01:23:42.500 or better still, both. So she starts to get her brothers to start hunting for them during this

01:23:53.160 great bloat um they said that it would be done lord thorir made ready to go thither and he called

01:24:05.660 aren bjorn to speak with him now will i said he go to the bloat but i will not that ale go with me

01:24:14.380 i i will not will it that ale go with me i know that i know the craft of gun hilda

01:24:20.900 the vehement vehemence of ale and the power of the king no easy task were it to watch

01:24:29.900 these all at once but ale will not let himself be hindered unless you stay behind

01:24:36.920 now thorolf and the rest of his company shall go with me uh because uh arnbjorn and ale are

01:24:44.960 such fast friends he knew his son would be able to say to ale hey let's not go and then they'll

01:24:53.200 be at peace um now thoralf and the rest of his company shall go with me thoralf shall give

01:25:04.780 sacrifice and pray for happiness for his brother as well as for himself so in essence this is a

01:25:12.860 really important event most likely midsummer and they're gonna go and give a good big bloat but he

01:25:21.240 says you know what you can just tell ale that thorolf will go in his stead and pray for him

01:25:30.140 as well as himself so the idea then comes about that perhaps ale might say well no i want to go

01:25:41.100 and give prayer myself um or that the need for doing that is very high and so uh lord thorier

01:25:51.260 is saying no no if he says that you can just tell him no no his brother will do it in his steading

01:25:56.540 he will give gifts in both his name and his brother's name

01:26:03.740 so it does show a lot of that importance whereupon arnbjorn turns and he goes and tells ale

01:26:11.100 that he meant to stay home during this bloat.

01:26:15.380 And he says, you should stay with me.

01:26:18.100 And Eil agrees that it should be so.

01:26:21.680 But Thorir and the rest went to the bloat

01:26:25.560 and a very great multitude was there.

01:26:28.760 There was much drinking.

01:26:30.520 Thorolf went with Thorir,

01:26:32.900 wheresoever he went,

01:26:34.640 and they were never apart, day or night.

01:26:37.880 Eyvind told Gunnhilde that he could get no chance at Thorolf's Skalagrimson.

01:26:45.660 She bade him then slay some of Thorolf's men, rather than letting everything fall or fail.

01:26:54.800 So that's pretty savage too.

01:26:58.140 So it chanced one evening when the king had gone to rest, as had also Thorir and Thorolf,

01:27:04.720 But Thorvid and Thorvald, the brothers, they were still up.

01:27:11.860 Then the two brothers, Avend and Alf, came and sat down by them.

01:27:18.500 They were very merry.

01:27:20.260 First they drank as one drinking party, but presently it came to this that each should drink half a horn.

01:27:27.860 Avend and Thorvald being paired together to drink, and Alf and Thorvid.

01:27:33.080 So again, we see this pairing of sharing of a horn with just one other person, perhaps so that the logistics of it not being passed across the room, you could have one horn between two people.

01:27:47.340 um now as the evening wore on there was unfair drinking next followed a bandying of words and

01:27:57.800 then insulting language so in essence one of them was drinking you know their their share

01:28:05.980 too much or uh perhaps you know holding out for you know like you get the bottom half of the horn

01:28:14.140 with all the the spit and swill and i'll get the you know the good top half so it starts off this

01:28:21.340 and then now they're you know joking with each other and then it turns straight into insults

01:28:26.460 then ivan jumped up drew his sword and thrust at thorvald dealing him a wound that was his death

01:28:35.260 whereupon up jumped on either side the king's men and thorir's house carls but men were all

01:28:42.620 weaponless in there because it was a sanctuary so this is interesting just in general because

01:28:51.980 ivan is armed and they are in the hof they are in the temple and it was of common practice at

01:29:00.960 that time that you did not wear a weapon inside the hof um is that practice now no i don't think

01:29:10.060 it should be it was more or a social context of the time you'll see people say like i don't think

01:29:17.100 we should wear weapons in the hof um because they're trying to again replicate um so a condition

01:29:27.380 that our ancestors had but conditions do change and it wasn't always the case all right so before

01:29:33.860 we continue but why every time you want to do some larpy thing ask yourself why

01:29:45.380 is the reason that our ancestors did it still valid today

01:29:52.420 or is the reason you want to do it simply to pay homage to a tradition of our ancestors

01:30:00.100 That's not wrong, but you need to go into it with the full knowledge of why you're doing something, especially in a holy place, especially during ritual.

01:30:10.360 Why matters tremendously.

01:30:12.800 Intent is such a key component.

01:30:18.040 If you're doing something because it's something our ancestors did and you want to hearken back to that, that's not wrong.

01:30:26.400 but it's also not necessary to thrust upon others unless there's a good reason

01:30:33.640 if we have a rash of people you know shooting each other at sumble then we may start a policy

01:30:43.180 of hey how about you leave your weapon in your car but we live in a different time that's not

01:30:50.940 a commonplace thing. You can see how it happens here. It's kind of a common thing, and it's why

01:30:57.840 they do that. In a different time, in a different place, in a different context, you got to make

01:31:04.340 different rules that apply to different things. So again, think about the principle of why,

01:31:10.700 because why makes all the difference. I also think that's a great time to tie in that question

01:31:18.780 at the end there by Appalachian, or Appalachian, Highlander.

01:31:26.200 Sorry, got to.

01:31:27.460 You live in Virginia.

01:31:28.900 What are you doing?

01:31:29.960 I'm a lowlander, but I did work up in West Virginia.

01:31:35.020 No, no, no.

01:31:37.380 You know, what lessons can we take from the sagas as modern?

01:31:40.440 Also, awesome horn, Matt.

01:31:44.020 Enjoyed seeing the horns the past.

01:31:46.060 Ah, Goethe Rob Stam carved this for me.

01:31:48.780 years ago um yeah it's got tri-horns on it

01:31:58.380 trying to get the beginning

01:32:01.900 i'm rotating it wrong right i was trying to read it

01:32:05.340 is it share it go the i'll say you're good oh i'll say okay i see it now because i started

01:32:19.480 with the uh the s i tried to get it on the on the answers but uh yeah and it's got you

01:32:27.760 know, some good carving into it. And it's much, much appreciated. Figured I'd change it up this

01:32:37.880 week. Yeah. Go the stand made a horn for me as well. It's beautiful. And I, I have it over on

01:32:45.520 my style letter. So, but I mean, he says here, you know what things can we learn that what you

01:32:53.340 just talked about i think is one of the most important things is why we don't we're not

01:33:00.020 reenacting and we always should ask rebel relevance why you know um and and and and there

01:33:10.740 is also another big glaring point is uh the idea that it's a cultural custom versus a decree by the

01:33:18.680 gods, I think it has

01:33:20.860 more of a sense

01:33:22.840 that because of the warring

01:33:24.700 nature of the time period

01:33:26.780 with blood feuds, it was better

01:33:28.740 that people be unarmed

01:33:30.320 in the Hoff as a place of peace

01:33:32.880 so that it wasn't disrupted.

01:33:34.820 If we're in the Old West, if

01:33:36.720 we're in whatever, if there's some societal

01:33:38.820 breakdown

01:33:39.440 and you've got a blood feud with somebody else

01:33:42.700 that's going to be at the Hoff with you during

01:33:44.260 Sumble and you guys are going to be drinking,

01:33:46.880 I'm probably going to ask you guys

01:33:48.640 you know hey you guys got anything on you let's leave it in the car that's a situational thing

01:33:56.240 now well something really important to think about in a sacred place in a hof

01:34:03.040 what do the gods want

01:34:06.880 if the gods want things to be a certain way and they wanted it to be a certain way in antiquity

01:34:13.600 and they want it to be that way now then you know for example um i'll be at odin's off this weekend

01:34:20.320 swan will be at thor's half what do odin and thor want because that that wins that's their house

01:34:31.520 beyond that cool what customs do we have now this is a thing and it

01:34:37.280 is not the current state of the astro folk assembly but in the past we had people that like to

01:34:43.600 get overly uh overly in their cups and do stupid things oh yeah so rather than hey nobody and I've

01:34:53.420 had to fight against this because in modern times we're all affected by the modernity we grew up in

01:34:58.380 there's a tendency to make rules for everybody because a couple people can't act right

01:35:03.760 and I've fought against that hard and I continue to do so but hey if you're that guy that's the

01:35:10.540 reason we can't have nice things because you get drunk you're not drinking at our events and if

01:35:17.100 the guy next to you can handle his stuff fine and he's not a problem he can do what he likes

01:35:21.660 that's one of the things we try to push hard is personal responsibility in the australia folk

01:35:27.100 assembly but again the people who are making decisions make the best ones they can under

01:35:34.400 their current circumstance. So it's hard. So you, the challenge as thinking and responsible Aryan

01:35:41.800 men and women, and especially in a position of leadership, you have to make, you have to

01:35:48.480 balance whether something is some kind of divine decree or principle, or whether it's a situational

01:35:57.240 rule or expectation that you have and treat each accordingly and

01:36:03.140 so we're trying to point out relevant also true things that come up in the sagas and we'll

01:36:11.480 continue to do that and i think it's really cool that way because and this is a point i wanted to

01:36:16.960 make earlier on in the broadcast but i'll make now what's neat is as opposed to some more high

01:36:24.740 mythological stories that are crafted to make a point or to illustrate aspects about the gods or

01:36:33.140 to artistically display truths this is a real recounting of events these are real people in

01:36:42.920 the real world doing um doing things like you and i would do things and that's what makes this so

01:36:52.500 spectacular this stuff really happened it's so easy if you're writing a work of fiction to

01:36:59.700 make your hero invincible and do amazing deeds what's spectacular is no this is a real guy

01:37:07.300 um and this is a real guy doing fantastical things that there's multiple different sources

01:37:16.740 and accounts verifying like no this guy was really he was about that life as the kids say these days

01:37:24.660 so i think that's something really cool about this and we'll continue to try to point out

01:37:30.100 relevant um also true practice tidbits as we as we go further i i like to one of the things that

01:37:38.820 has developed uh most certainly at thor's hop but i i do believe it's at all the horses um one the

01:37:47.140 consciousness of speech when you enter the bay and what you're saying not that the gods can't

01:37:53.860 laugh and take a joke or you know we we have uh you know funny things and it's not always

01:38:01.380 you know watch your mouth but keeping in mind time and place yeah and the other i really like

01:38:10.580 is the removal of hats or anything that obfuscates the face sunglasses hoodies

01:38:19.700 for both men and women the idea of being able to show your face and your head

01:38:25.860 to the gods um and not hiding yourself under a hood or or a hat or what have you

01:38:34.340 i really like that one as well um

01:38:44.660 let's see so uh

01:38:48.900 trying to uh i lost it

01:38:55.060 Wait a minute. Okay. So at this point, Ivan stabs one of Thorier's housecarls.

01:39:10.100 Men went between them, parted them, who were most furious, nor did anything more happen that evening.

01:39:18.780 Ivan had slain a man on holy ground

01:39:22.780 that's another great point to bring up

01:39:25.400 is our Hoffs are holy grounds

01:39:29.060 a lot of people just try to associate that with Christianity

01:39:33.100 that is not the case

01:39:34.720 our grounds are holy

01:39:37.060 they've been blessed

01:39:38.660 they've been blessed by the highest authority of our priesthood

01:39:43.620 so you know

01:39:45.740 and this carries on here

01:39:48.380 so he was therefore made accursed and had to go abroad at once the king offered a fine for the

01:40:03.000 man but thorolf and thorvid had said they they never had taken man fine and would not take this

01:40:13.020 So at this point, manfine is a bounty. And the idea is when you ostracize someone out and make them an outlaw, people can kill you with no fear of being punished and could possibly make some money off of it.

01:40:32.020 but so we'll also talk about uh um where guild for a second

01:40:40.020 so we're in a time and a place at this point and this is fundamental to our sense of justice

01:40:47.760 keep in mind always that also true is not a anti-christianity it's its own thing you can

01:41:00.760 forgive people if you want. You can, you know, you are a sovereign being that has the right to make

01:41:09.260 decisions. But fundamentally, when someone wrongs you, they take something from you.

01:41:18.200 The idea of vengeance and the vengeance we see in these sagas is rebalancing of that scale.

01:41:25.820 if someone has wronged you and taken the life of someone close to you of a member of your family

01:41:34.460 that person has a value and it's hard to equate that in a I don't know in a tangible way but we

01:41:45.880 also live in a time where our ancestors are not that far removed from dire straits from starvation

01:41:53.260 if they can't get their stuff figured out from some realities.

01:41:59.860 So who can place value on a human life?

01:42:04.080 People that are real close to the poverty line can.

01:42:09.040 What does this guy bring to the table and what are we missing because he's not there?

01:42:15.080 We talk, we give lip service today about paying your debt to society,

01:42:19.600 but you sitting around and rotting in a jail cell does not give anything to society.

01:42:24.340 It costs society a lot of money.

01:42:28.180 Compensating someone for something you've done or something you've taken matters a lot.

01:42:35.300 And it seems, I don't know, cold or overly pragmatic to view it in terms of the slaying of one of your kinsmen.

01:42:44.800 but there's a value exchange and the first step in any of our concept of forgiveness

01:42:52.900 fix what you broke

01:42:55.440 when i said earlier that we're not a contrast to christianity a lot of people want to say oh

01:43:03.300 christians just forgive everybody we don't forgive anyone no you can absolutely forgive people

01:43:09.080 but the idea in christianity is when you sin you do something bad to god and you need to make it

01:43:17.600 right with god and not the person whose stuff you stole or whose house you burned down or who's

01:43:23.760 who've you maimed or whose family member you've killed no you need to make it right with the

01:43:30.520 person who has been wounded and made less by your actions and it can't always be perfect and it

01:43:38.580 can't always be one for one, but you can make that effort to find some equivalency. And that's

01:43:43.560 what we see here. We're like, hey, I know this transgression really hurt you and your family.

01:43:49.380 As the king, I will pay for it. I will give you a sum of money to compensate you for the loss

01:43:56.120 here of this member of your family. That step

01:44:00.640 saves a lot of life because the vengeance cycle doesn't stop.

01:44:08.460 It's just somebody runs out of the ability to enforce it at some point.

01:44:14.360 So just know that for, I don't know, context or familiarity going into this,

01:44:19.520 but also know it in the concept of modern ausitru.

01:44:23.240 When you mess something up, fix it or do the best you can to fix it.

01:44:29.740 and then after you've tried to fix it, then ask for forgiveness, and that's the key. It's not

01:44:39.400 that you can't forgive people, and honestly, if it's something minor, it's not that you can't

01:44:44.640 choose to be above it and let it slide. You can't, but that's not your obligation to Jehovah.

01:44:51.620 That is your position as a noble-minded person to be willing to take one on the chin,

01:44:58.160 And, you know, if a kid does something to you or if somebody does something and they really regret it and they're genuinely sorry, you can give them a pass if you like.

01:45:08.400 And that's a noble thing to do, but you're not obliged to do that.

01:45:11.700 um and it's also worth remembering too ivan is the brother of of gunelda so

01:45:30.820 this this machination was working out in some way shape or form and she you know said kill

01:45:38.660 one of his men and they cook this up so he's going to be taken care of i did like to in the

01:45:44.820 the verse in old norse it says i've been to have the uh vayet evayam so he killed someone in the

01:45:52.180 in the vay in the sanctity room um so he has been declared a varg uh which has two meanings

01:46:07.380 uh criminal or a wolf so um so keep that in mind there's two kind of versions

01:46:15.220 of wolf in old norse though there's ulther which is a wolf and there's varger which is like a

01:46:26.260 criminal shady kills your lifestyle a bad wolf right

01:46:30.340 look at that beautiful offer um or like uh what uh south uh father author but or then there's like

01:46:48.900 uh look at that barger let's string him up let's there's a lot of hanging wolves in

01:46:56.100 this day and age well he um let's see

01:47:11.780 so thorolf and thorvid to say we're not going to go after this guy um and with that they parted

01:47:18.740 thorir and his company went home king eric and gunhilt sent ivan the the the one who has been

01:47:27.880 declared an outlaw they sent him south across the sea to denmark to king harold gormson for he might

01:47:35.280 not now be able to exist or live on norwegian soil the king received him and his comrades well

01:47:43.020 Ivan brought to Denmark a large warship.

01:47:46.940 He then appointed Ivan to be his coast guard there against freebooters, for Ivan was a right good warrior.

01:48:04.020 Yeah, so there was, you know, rest in peace.

01:48:13.020 thorvald you know you're in a place drinking and you don't think you're gonna get stabbed and then

01:48:19.420 ivan does that just that um so they're kind of travel from home right well and it's and it's

01:48:30.460 also emphasizes the dastardliness of eric and gunhild as they're all of the stuff that they

01:48:38.300 start to do does catch up with them um i mean it's good advice when you're drinking with people

01:48:45.420 that you don't know everybody listening to this if you go out to the bar with your with people

01:48:52.060 you don't know and you put yourself in a compromising spot stay frosty yep head on a swivel

01:49:00.300 um so he goes down into denmark and starts to work for harold the bluetooth in the spring

01:49:08.940 following that winter thorolf and ale made their way to go a viking again and when ready they again

01:49:15.940 stood for the eastern way but when they came to vic they sailed then south along jutland and

01:49:24.640 harried there in denmark then went to friseland which is the netherlands um and land of the

01:49:33.760 phrygians and chocolate people and smart to peter um yeah sorry you throw me off every time you bring

01:49:45.520 him up um it is the season oh i hope people are googling it just right now so they know

01:49:58.160 um so there they stayed for a great part of the summer but then stood back for denmark

01:50:05.360 but when they came to the borderland where denmark and frieseland meet

01:50:09.680 and lay by the land there so it was that one evening when they were on shipboard were preparing

01:50:17.860 for sleep two men came to eil's ship and said that they had an errand for him they were brought

01:50:25.020 before him they said that aki the wealthy had sent them thither with his message avend

01:50:33.740 is laying out

01:50:37.880 off Yutlin's side

01:50:39.600 and thinks of a waylay

01:50:41.560 thinks to waylay you as you come

01:50:43.740 from the south

01:50:44.460 and has gathered much a large force

01:50:47.920 as ye cannot withstand

01:50:49.220 if ye encounter it all at once

01:50:52.100 but he himself

01:50:53.740 goes with two

01:50:55.700 light vessels and he is even now

01:50:57.960 here close to you

01:50:58.980 so this, if you guys remember

01:51:02.000 they make a friendship

01:51:03.020 in frisland because they decide not to raid and the jarl there or the king there

01:51:11.360 um brings them in and they they eat and they drink and now it's paying off the dividends

01:51:18.200 are paying off because they come back there and they have a friend and that friend sends

01:51:23.300 messaging like hey i heard um that uh ivan is waiting for you and uh and then he sends men to

01:51:34.500 help ale um but when these tidings came before ale at once he he and his took down their tenting

01:51:46.420 he bade them go silently and they did so and they came at dawn to where ivan and his men

01:51:52.660 lay anchor so he doesn't even waste any time he immediately starts to roll up and close down his

01:52:00.820 his camp to go to fight and they travel and they go to where ivan is in the morning um

01:52:13.620 they set upon them at once hurling both stones and spears now this that's a really really

01:52:21.220 interesting one there and i think it's worth noting when they say hurling stones was the usage

01:52:26.820 of slings which a lot of folks just have in their mind like vikings only used certain weapons and i

01:52:35.620 think you know slings arrows um halberds and even single-sided viking swords like a falchion style

01:52:45.460 was was common um at the time um

01:52:53.700 let me see so they uh yeah they threw their stones and their spears and they set upon them

01:52:57.540 once many of ivan's forces fell right there but he himself leapt overboard and got to land by

01:53:03.780 swimming as did all those of his men who escaped but al took his ships cargo and weapons they went

01:53:12.020 back that day to their own company and met Thorolf. He asked whether Eil had gone and where

01:53:21.600 he had gotten all those ships and where they came from. And Eil said that Ivan Skreda had had these

01:53:28.920 ships, but they had taken them from him. Then Eil spoke verse. He said, in struggle sternly hard,

01:53:40.140 we strove off Utland side. Well did the warrior fight, warder of Denmark's realm,

01:53:47.760 till, with his wights overborne, eastwards from the wave horse high, to swim and seek the sand,

01:53:59.440 swift Ivan Skrera leapt. So he's, you know, a lot of that's pretty self-explanatory until he says,

01:54:09.080 know um you know he's the warder of denmark because he's part of the coastal guard and um

01:54:15.480 he says till his whites overborne so uh a white is a being uh normally in modern houses we refer

01:54:25.080 to it with spiritual beings but in this case the translation is used for other ship that his crew

01:54:35.080 um and eastward over the wave horse high so he jumps over the wave horses wall on the eastern

01:54:45.000 side and swims to land and then he he throws in he is the swift ivan because he was running which is

01:54:55.560 awesome um thoralf his brother says herein ye have so rot methinks uh that it will not serve us as

01:55:08.440 our autumn plan to go back to norway ale said it was quite well though they should seek some other

01:55:15.480 place so he didn't kill him but he knew that word would get back up to norway so might be better

01:55:24.280 that they find another place, even though this guy is a Vargr. He has connections in Norway,

01:55:32.200 and it's only going to make things worse.

01:55:39.800 So now we go to chapter 50. Good old Greek Britain.

01:55:44.280 Paul, for a sec, before you get to it, Maximus says, what's the rules on joining?

01:55:51.400 so rules on joining is go to runestone.org and you click the join button um

01:56:03.380 it's self-explanatory there there's some stuff you got to go through but

01:56:09.500 basically if you are a heterosexual white person and you want to

01:56:15.360 practice the religion of Ausatru, then you're welcome to join.

01:56:23.540 There is a quick run through to make sure you are not a registered sex offender or some other

01:56:29.080 egregious criminal. Beyond that, this is the birthright of our folk, and we'd love to have

01:56:37.340 all our folk come home. A couple of check boxes there to say that you've read our basic material

01:56:43.620 and you agree with where we're at on stuff.

01:56:46.460 And then, yeah, we would love to have you join.

01:56:49.700 So if that's something you're thinking about doing,

01:56:51.480 I'd encourage you to go check that out.

01:56:53.300 And I look forward to seeing your application.

01:57:02.980 Now we turn to England.

01:57:08.360 Alfred the Great ruled England,

01:57:10.400 being of his family the first supreme king of England.

01:57:15.680 That was in the days of Harold Fairhair, king of Norway.

01:57:20.300 So back during Kveldolf, who is Ael's grandfather.

01:57:32.020 Let's see.

01:57:33.360 Edward was his son, was now the king of England.

01:57:37.340 He was father to Athelstan the Victorious, who was foster father to Haakon the Good.

01:57:47.220 It was at this time of our story that Athelstan took the kingdom after his father.

01:57:53.220 There were several brothers, sons of Edward.

01:57:58.000 But when Athelstan had taken the kingdom,

01:58:00.160 Then those chieftains who had before lost their power to his forefathers rose in rebellion.

01:58:08.360 Now, they thought, was the easiest time to claim back their own.

01:58:13.380 When a young king ruled the realm, these were Britons, Scots, and Irish.

01:58:21.560 King Athelstan, therefore, gathered him an army and gave pay to all such as wished to enrich themselves.

01:58:30.160 both foreigners and natives. The brothers, Thorolf and Eil, were standing southwards along

01:58:38.120 Saxony and Flanders when they heard that the king wanted men, that there was in service hope of such

01:58:46.660 to gain. So they resolved to take their forces thither, and they went on the autumn till they

01:58:52.260 came to King Athelstan. He received them well. He saw plainly that such followers would be a great

01:58:58.080 help full soon did the english king decide to ask them to join him and take pay there and become

01:59:04.880 defenders of his land and they so agreed between them and that they became king athelstan's men

01:59:12.560 and it is worth noting that icelandic or old norse i mean and old english were very very similar

01:59:22.160 and could be understood to a degree maybe there's uh perhaps a middling language that they don't

01:59:28.640 refer but you know if in icelandic you know if you were to ask somebody their name you would say

01:59:35.760 like and it's in essence translates to what call us thou or what is what is the title of thou

01:59:46.080 And, you know, there's like the usage of the word erthu versus art thou.

01:59:54.800 And it still survives in Icelandic today, but it's completely gone in English.

02:00:01.520 But here we get to see some more of the history of it.

02:00:05.200 England was thoroughly Christian in faith and has long been so.

02:00:11.440 So by this time, Christianity has fully saturated the Isles.

02:00:19.180 By the time these things happened, King Athelstan was a good Christian.

02:00:25.280 So now when they kind of refer to Christianity or Christians in the sagas, it's worth noting, by this time, Iceland had been converted.

02:00:35.360 So the mentionings of religious faith towards Christianity will always be in a positive light.

02:00:48.500 He was, excuse me, he was called Athelstan the Faithful.

02:00:56.360 Actually, I wanted to see what, Trufasti is.

02:01:00.840 is what it translates in

02:01:06.440 Old Norse. The king

02:01:10.700 asked Thorolf and his brother to consent to take the first signing

02:01:14.980 with the cross, for this was then a common custom

02:01:18.860 both with merchants and those who took to soldierly pay

02:01:22.840 in Christian armies. Since those were

02:01:25.600 those who were prime signed

02:01:28.580 as it was termed could hold all intercourse with christians and heathens alike bear in mind the

02:01:37.640 word intercourse is not what people might be referring to in their minds is that they may

02:01:44.000 be able to engage in trade or any sort of uh because in england there was a great

02:01:53.140 The Christians didn't want to interact with the pagans or the, you know, not good Gentiles of the North.

02:02:07.480 So at this time, let's keep in mind, too, that we are just about at the generation.

02:02:14.720 We see the Icelanders and the Norwegians are still also true.

02:02:20.380 But the Danes, their king is, is at this time within his lifetime converting.

02:02:27.940 But the English, they've converted in part or in whole about 300 years previous.

02:02:39.060 And the Scots and the Irish have been converted for a very long time.

02:02:43.420 As a matter of fact, the original people who traveled and made home for themselves in Iceland were Irish monks.

02:02:50.380 so

02:02:51.620 there's a little bit of a culture clash

02:02:55.440 when it comes to faiths in this

02:02:57.340 portion

02:02:58.700 and it's also worth noting too that the

02:03:03.160 that the

02:03:05.600 I don't think

02:03:09.520 that they saw Christianity

02:03:11.240 as a cultural

02:03:12.420 religion of their

02:03:15.240 forefathers and ancestors but

02:03:17.000 more or less a

02:03:19.100 bureaucratic um thing so like okay if this guy um in the pajamas wants to sprinkle me with water

02:03:30.260 and say a bunch of stuff in latin so that i could make business with you know the rest of the

02:03:37.700 english okay cool let's do it so a lot of them didn't take to the idea that it was just uh

02:03:45.500 you know betraying the gods and i think that's something that was a problem just like i said we

02:03:53.540 i think we should have picked up writing i think our ancestors should have also been a little bit

02:03:57.240 more forthwith or forthright that's one of the things that's part of the i don't know march of

02:04:09.500 Christianity through the West and through any indigenous culture it interacts with, the idea of

02:04:18.980 universalism or of your God's good and no other gods get to exist except for your God

02:04:29.240 is such a foreign and odd and just strange idiosyncrasy that it doesn't occur to most

02:04:38.680 our ancestors are like oh okay if we're in your ports and in your land if we need to

02:04:44.440 give some kind of you know nod of the head to to your gods i mean that makes sense that's fine but

02:04:52.840 it wasn't there wasn't the understanding inherently of like it's either our gods or

02:05:02.760 your gods because if you went to interact with you know any other indigenous people

02:05:12.120 cool your gods are fine for you my gods are good for me um cool if we go to you know the land of

02:05:18.760 your gods we can be respectful and and pay some kind of respect to your gods we're in their land

02:05:24.120 that only makes sense you know it's like there was a certain syncretism in in rome but there

02:05:30.760 there was also a thing in the Mediterranean, you know, like you went to Egypt, you would pay a

02:05:35.700 certain amount of obeisance to the Egyptian deities because you're in their land. And that's

02:05:40.080 only respectful. It didn't negate your, you know, your Roman deities. It's a strange new thing that

02:05:49.620 our ancestors are facing to where like this desert God says that he only gets to exist. And in order

02:05:57.480 to be good you have to turn your back on your gods and embrace him that's a that's an odd concept

02:06:04.880 that people are still kind of wrapping their heads around and you see some of the syncretism you see

02:06:11.160 the things in iceland where you have the crucifix and the thor's hammer in the same um stone mold

02:06:19.520 You have early on in England, I think, what was it, Redwald, who had, I don't want to put that on him if that's not the case.

02:06:33.820 But you have some of the kings that will have like, in their hoth, they'll have altars to their gods and then also an altar to Christ because they didn't really understand that the two were mutually exclusive.

02:06:45.620 So there's a certain amount of that at play too.

02:06:48.540 Oh, and a random side thing over in the side, Morris Taylor, I assume jokingly, is saying Applestand, the faithful. Anybody who's curious of the linguistics, Applestand means noble stone.

02:07:02.760 you know because athol and othol or othala the rune are of the same

02:07:11.320 uh yeah meaning uh noble by of the land um

02:07:20.640 also uh i think that you know when we talk about christianity's origins

02:07:29.180 they too in i'm talking in the middle east you know the the what is it the second commandment

02:07:36.960 is thou shall not put any other gods before me um but that over time by the time that christianity

02:07:43.960 kind of morphed into the greco-roman world um it became that you can't pray to any other gods and

02:07:54.460 those gods became demonized which is a greek you know word they um and they became lessered and

02:08:03.360 then they became evil and that was a that was a a mode i i don't think that i mean i do believe

02:08:08.920 that like the the israelites the jews did this as well with their neighbors but it's just

02:08:15.680 interesting to me that it's um it doesn't say you know thou shalt not put you know the gods who are

02:08:22.760 actually demons before me it says no other gods and i i really um let's go on that because i see

02:08:31.280 that in the questioning morris also says doesn't the christian god just say to put no other gods

02:08:36.420 over him he doesn't say they don't exist most christians think they're not supposed to believe

02:08:41.640 in more than one god so that's not really fair because it's not like oh there are other gods too

02:08:51.080 i just have to be your favorite god no you can't interact with these other gods too not only

02:08:57.960 so if you read the text fairly it acknowledges other gods exist but they are all bad

02:09:07.800 and they are all the enemy and you cannot have other gods and jehovah of the israelites so

02:09:17.400 So there's no, I mean, as a, if you want to, as a speculative thing on the most ancient

02:09:27.640 formulaic practices of Judaism, perhaps, because at the time where Judaism erupted,

02:09:35.720 there were many gods that were worshiped in the Middle East, in Israel, and this happened

02:09:43.140 to be one of them that gained that gained prominence but it's not like yeah these other

02:09:51.060 gods are fine you just need to acknowledge that i'm the super supreme super duper god

02:09:56.360 no it's any other gods at all

02:10:00.480 we're going to kill you and that's that's very much the christian position and always has been

02:10:09.680 And you could form an alternate Middle Eastern theology that, I guess, accepts polytheism, but with, you know, Jehovah at the top.

02:10:21.060 But that's all kind of retconning things that that isn't the case since the very earliest of times.

02:10:26.820 The idea is you are exclusive in the worship of any other gods that are not Jehovah is punishable by death immediately.

02:10:35.040 And that's carried through and been the practice in Christianity since the very dawn of Christianity. It continues to be, well, up until the modern age of degeneracy, that was the standard in Christianity.

02:10:53.180 and now it's like do whatever you want

02:10:56.600 and fly the rainbow flags

02:10:58.160 and the trans flag

02:11:00.860 and you don't have to

02:11:02.680 and the commie pope

02:11:04.620 says you don't really even have to believe

02:11:06.580 in Jesus to be like

02:11:08.200 it's a mess now but

02:11:10.460 Christianity since Jesus

02:11:12.360 till

02:11:13.180 2010

02:11:18.260 says that no any other gods

02:11:22.400 that's demonic that's literally worshiping the devil and where they have the power to do so they

02:11:28.880 will put you to death well and i the the word in aramaic i do believe because it says um not uh

02:11:37.280 above but before me but it it means like firstly uh not that like before me like in presence like

02:11:46.080 don't roll out anything in front of me i believe the aramaic translation of that word and i cannot

02:11:52.000 recall it right now is do not put other gods firstly but but only me so the idea then is that

02:12:02.100 yeah that he takes precedence um and that you know and after when the when the jews and greeks

02:12:12.240 started to intermingle it became a really hot contentious point um where they would it was

02:12:21.740 just super like uh aggressively pressed that you know that the uh that they didn't mix that they

02:12:30.080 didn't do things together i mean that's how hanukkah kind of came about was the maccabee

02:12:35.580 revolution um and that fight between and it started with uh jews thank you for tying that in

02:12:44.340 There you go.

02:12:46.380 Yeah, they were slaying Greek Jews who were starting to intermingle with the Greco-Roman religion.

02:12:58.380 And that's why Jesus and Bacchus have so much interplay as well.

02:13:02.660 Because during that time, there wasn't just Jews.

02:13:05.340 There was Jewish Christians who were seen as heretical Jews or were a subsect of Judaism.

02:13:13.520 Go ahead.

02:13:14.260 I'm sorry. Oh, I was going to say over time that that was the trajectory that eventually by the time of Charlemagne and all of that, that the Roman Catholic Church was like, no, it's not even just you can't coexist.

02:13:28.700 Those the divine gods of other people are evil. And that's why Charlemagne cut off everyone's heads.

02:13:35.020 that's something to realize and um maurice you're not wrong in that i do think and that's a point

02:13:42.220 that has been used by al-satruar for a long time to kind of open the eyes you're right

02:13:50.620 in the passage thou shall have no other god before me yes it is the ancient hebrews acknowledging

02:13:58.060 that other gods exist that is a powerful point to awaken that thought in our folk like okay well if

02:14:08.360 these other gods exist and they're gods then maybe we should think about that so i don't you're not

02:14:14.300 wrong in that but i think that to retroactively rewrite the religion of judaism and then of

02:14:21.220 Christianity is different. Judaism was extremely folkish and much of it still is today. It was

02:14:29.980 very much like, don't intermix with these devil worshipers. Yeah, they got gods, but their gods

02:14:36.280 are bad. And our God will wipe them from existence. Just because you acknowledge something exists

02:14:46.220 It doesn't mean it's on your team.

02:14:48.620 And that was a very stark thing.

02:14:51.760 And their separation from that, and it evolved in Christianity to then say, yes, these other gods exist, but they're just like the secret identity of devils and demons.

02:15:06.240 Cool, they exist, but they're firmly on the bad guys team.

02:15:10.400 And you want to separate yourself out from that as much as possible.

02:15:16.220 And I'm cool with fully separating myself out.

02:15:23.420 That's, but no, that your, your point is a really interesting one.

02:15:27.080 And I don't think a lot of Christians read their Bible that way to realize, no, the other gods exist.

02:15:34.680 They're just, you know, quote unquote bad or on the other team or false or, you know, they're the bad guys in that narrative.

02:15:44.540 and i do think that opens minds to people who really think about that as a matter of fact i've

02:15:51.300 known a number of people who have read it that way and that's changed the way that they're

02:15:54.860 thinking so you're not on the wrong track there i just there is no point in time since christians

02:16:01.520 referred to themselves as christians that they thought it was okay to acknowledge other gods

02:16:07.160 alongside of christ just with him at like the forefront that's never been a thing that's never

02:16:12.060 been okay i'm sure there's some mystic off in a cave that maybe said that he was most certainly

02:16:20.500 put the nail screw or the thumbnail screws to and like had really bad things happening to him

02:16:26.760 when the inquisition came through but you find you know strange cult leaders today that

02:16:32.580 worship christ alongside a variety of other things so

02:16:37.740 but it do

02:16:41.780 all right so these guys join in they get you know they get the cross and now they're part of the

02:16:55.820 army um so they're able to fight and to sell goods and intermingle with their uh angelo

02:17:07.240 cousins who are now thoroughly Christian.

02:17:12.880 Chapter 51 of

02:17:15.540 Olaf, King of the

02:17:17.580 Scots.

02:17:19.420 Olaf the Red

02:17:20.940 was the name of the

02:17:23.440 king in Scotland.

02:17:25.360 He was Scottish on

02:17:27.380 his father's side, but Danish on

02:17:29.300 his mother's, and came

02:17:31.300 of a family of

02:17:32.620 Ragnar, Harry

02:17:34.780 breeks that's an interesting um um like translation

02:17:43.120 uh ragnar love broker which means leather breeches or leather pants or hairy pants

02:17:55.060 yeah and i always wondered about that but i i you know the um usage of the leather pants to

02:18:03.180 cover one's clothing from sea salt and water i don't know well here's the thing is what what's

02:18:09.180 the difference between leather and leather with hair and fur still on it right i think at some

02:18:17.420 point it's six of one half a dozen of the other right um but i mean he's of that line that's kind

02:18:26.700 of a you know cool point um that's an interesting thing in today's world when people have an aversion

02:18:33.980 to the fur industry but not to the leather industry it's like it's a it's a it's an odd

02:18:43.020 place to draw the line

02:18:44.220 well and and having um ragnar connected to the king of scotland and you'll see that a lot during

02:18:59.060 this time because of the danes and the way that they had taken over the eastern side of both

02:19:04.420 scotland and england and northumbria and york in particular was like right in the middle of that

02:19:13.880 So that's why that town becomes such a huge hub during this time.

02:19:23.780 Scotland, as compared with England, was reckoned a third of the realm.

02:19:30.600 Northumberland was reckoned a fifth part of England.

02:19:34.900 It was the northernmost county marching with Scotland on the eastern side of the island.

02:19:41.480 Formally, the Danish kings had held it.

02:19:43.880 Its chief town was York. It was in Athelstan's dominions. He had set over it two earls. The one's name was Algeir, or Spear of the Elves, and the other was Gudrek, the Good Kingdom.

02:20:03.380 uh when they when they were set there as defenders of the land against the inroads of the scots

02:20:12.320 and the danes and the norsemen so even though the danes had controlled the eastern side they were

02:20:19.500 still you know a problem especially if they were coming over and viking and then the norsemen too

02:20:25.340 just the the north mani the the folks of norway and iceland so they had harried much land and

02:20:35.180 though they had a strong claim on the land there because in northumberland nearly all

02:20:39.900 the inhabitants were danish by father or by mother and many by both um brett land was governed by

02:20:51.260 two brothers ring and athels they were tributaries under the king athelstan and with all had their

02:21:01.500 had this right that when they were with the king in the field they and their forces should be in

02:21:09.100 in the van of the battle before the royal standard so the van of the battle they should

02:21:16.940 they should be in the in the uh

02:21:23.980 around or like the usage of the word van kind of towards waning but i think it what it means

02:21:32.380 is it's the inner circle of the of the army not the outer circle so it's the the waning if you

02:21:38.940 wane the army down it is the inner circle and that's where the standard bearer is um

02:21:46.940 These brothers were good warriors, but not young men.

02:21:51.280 Alfred the Great had deprived all tributary kings of name and title and power.

02:21:58.100 They were now called earls, who had before been kings or princes.

02:22:03.040 This was maintained throughout his lifetime and his son, Edwards.

02:22:08.180 But Athelstan came young to the kingdom, and to him they stood less in awe.

02:22:16.800 wherefore many now were disloyal and had who had before been faithful subjects

02:22:23.840 so two generations later athelstan's dealing with a lot of these folks now saying you know what

02:22:29.600 i'm a king and so i'm going to point out here too in the march of of christianity to

02:22:39.680 our ancestors northumbria was or northumberland as it's become known now um it was kind of the last

02:22:50.640 holdout it's interesting because it was those were the folks that hung on to alsatru the longest

02:22:58.000 we celebrate uh king anfrith and king osric that maintained their trough to the icer and reinstated

02:23:08.080 it for a time um during their brief reigns so they were like the last holdouts of alsatru

02:23:15.600 in england and then that was also the first that was the beachhead of the viking invasions to where

02:23:22.080 they re-made alsatru the law of the land of the danelaw so jorvik and northumbria in general

02:23:33.120 we're kind of you know a hotbed of resilient also true in a pretty thoroughized thoroughly

02:23:42.880 christianized island here uh in chapter 52 of the gathering of the host now in this case

02:23:56.960 a host is not someone who presides over but is a body of men uh and it's generally seen as

02:24:06.320 an army so he's gathering of the army um and it's like worth mentioning too like lord odin

02:24:15.840 comes ultimately from the name meaning leader of the host or leader of the

02:24:24.000 army or the einherjar um so olaf king of scots drew together a mighty host and marched upon

02:24:33.920 england when he came to northumberland he advanced with shield of war on learning this

02:24:42.960 the earls who ruled there mustered their forces and went again to the king and when they met

02:24:49.360 there was a great battle where off the issue was that the king olaf won the victory but earl

02:24:56.320 goodrick fell and alfgir fled away as did the greater part of his force that had followed

02:25:04.240 and escaped from the field now king olaf found no resistance but subdued all of northumberland

02:25:11.920 so now he has stepped outside of scotland and he is thoroughly in angeland

02:25:18.780 uh alfger the one who fled he went back to the king and told him of his defeat but as soon as

02:25:30.980 king athelstan heard that so mighty a host had come into his land he dispatched men and summoned

02:25:37.720 forces it's worth noting to alf did he he runs but more likely he didn't run simply because he

02:25:48.280 didn't want to fight it's that his forces broke and that they they it was a loss at that point

02:25:55.640 so when he goes back now athelstan's like holy moly we got to get our army together um

02:26:03.000 and with such force as he had at once turned him and marched against the scots but when it was

02:26:13.000 uh brooded about that olaf king of scots had won a victory and subdued under him a large part of

02:26:18.840 england he soon had a much larger army than athelstan for many nobles joined him and on

02:26:26.760 learning this, Hring and Athels, who had gathered much people, turned to swell King Olaf's army.

02:26:35.720 Thus, their numbers became exceedingly great. All this, when Athelstan learned, he summoned

02:26:44.060 to conference his captains and his counselors. He inquired for them what is best to do.

02:26:51.860 He told the whole council point by point that he had ascertained about the doings of the Scots king and his numbers.

02:27:01.380 All present were agreed on this, that Alfgir was most to blame and thought it were but his due to lose his earldom.

02:27:09.840 But the plan resolved on was this, that King Athelstan should go back to the south of England and then for himself hold a levy of troops.

02:27:21.860 coming northward through the whole land for they saw that the only way for the needful numbers to

02:27:28.120 be levied in the time was for the king himself to gather the force so start at the bottom and start

02:27:34.140 picking up people as you go as for the army already assembled the king set over as commanders

02:27:43.560 Thorolf and Eil, two Icelanders. And they were also to lead that force with which the freebooters

02:27:52.860 had brought to the king. But Alfgir still held command over his own troops. Further,

02:27:59.720 the king appointed such captains of company as he saw fit. So now we've got the king doing the

02:28:06.860 trudge of pulling in

02:28:08.920 the new army. He's got the

02:28:10.840 old army set

02:28:12.880 forth and gives Thorolf and

02:28:14.780 Aeol command over them.

02:28:18.080 And that

02:28:18.920 too, they bring in a bunch of Vikings.

02:28:22.880 So when Aeol returned from

02:28:24.740 council to his fellows, they

02:28:26.900 asked him, what tidings could he tell

02:28:28.840 about the Scots king?

02:28:30.620 He said,

02:28:32.440 Olaf won Earl by

02:28:34.460 Furious.

02:28:35.320 Onslaught in flight hath driven

02:28:39.440 The other slain a sovereign

02:28:42.920 Stubborn in fight he is

02:28:45.420 Upon the field fared Gudrek

02:28:48.600 False path to his undoing

02:28:51.920 He holds this foe of England

02:28:54.700 Northumbria's humbled soil

02:28:57.540 So

02:28:59.400 Gudrek stood

02:29:03.360 Alfgir ran

02:29:05.140 and now King Olaf has the land.

02:29:09.760 After this, they sent messengers to King Olaf

02:29:12.360 giving out this as their errand

02:29:15.100 that King Athelstan would feign

02:29:17.500 in Hazel him a field

02:29:20.640 and offer battle on Vinheath by Vinwood.

02:29:26.280 Meanwhile, he would then have them forbear

02:29:29.260 to harry his land.

02:29:31.780 But of the twain, he should rule England

02:29:35.060 who should conquer in the battle so the term in hazel hazel wood is a sacred wood amongst

02:29:45.040 the Norse at the time but also to the English and they understood the reference to specifically

02:29:53.660 find a hazel tree and then place it around in staves like to make a ring sometimes it was done

02:30:04.020 with leather. Sometimes it was just done to mark the space. But in that space, they would

02:30:10.060 fight whoever won. So a single combat instead of armies.

02:30:17.080 Okay. So something to think about. And this relates to Alcetru in the sense of sacred

02:30:27.700 space. So when you surround something, usually the field of battle with hazel rods, you are

02:30:41.740 setting apart that battlefield as like a sacred place that's outside of the mundane, that's

02:30:52.780 outside of time, that's outside of the realm of the mortals.

02:30:57.380 And you're inviting the gods, the Nornir, the other to stand behind their champion.

02:31:10.660 It's where you would set aside if you were going to do a home gang.

02:31:14.800 if you had a dispute that you wanted to settle by you know trial by combat which evolved from this

02:31:22.960 you would do that within the hazelrod designated space and in that place the gods would

02:31:32.020 cast their lot along with who they wanted to be victorious

02:31:37.380 and there was a trust in that

02:31:41.740 and this transcends

02:31:43.220 just the old Norse expression of our faith

02:31:48.440 you see something that you find

02:31:50.600 that I think is interesting

02:31:51.800 as far as Aryan people

02:31:54.740 and their most ancient understandings

02:31:58.280 of how our gods

02:32:02.200 the Aesir interact with mankind

02:32:04.820 like the romans especially the soldiers really big on gambling

02:32:10.460 but they'd have these wonky dice that were just silly and they didn't care that the dice were

02:32:19.840 evenly weighted or whatever because it wasn't the point when you were going to test your luck

02:32:27.840 in a luck exchange.

02:32:31.340 They had faith that the gods would determine that role.

02:32:36.340 And it didn't matter what, you know, shape and the odds of, you know,

02:32:42.020 the weight of the dice and how it would roll.

02:32:44.640 No, if the gods wanted it to come up snake eyes,

02:32:47.020 it was coming up snake eyes.

02:32:51.400 You know, if the gods wanted an 11, they're getting an 11.

02:32:54.320 it would come up however you wanted or however the gods willed it and that was

02:33:01.840 part of the trial by combat and we a lot of people have a confusion about the interplay between fate

02:33:12.160 and free will and also true no free will is everything you have a determined course that

02:33:19.680 you're set upon but you can veer from that and your actions play into that well your actions

02:33:27.440 are what weave the strands of the tapestry of erther and that's how that works

02:33:35.680 when you step into a sacred space and you're inviting the divine to back who they want to win

02:33:43.040 then yeah fate becomes involved because you are beseeching the divine to sanction their champion

02:33:51.980 and then it's kind of a mixture of who you got behind you and your own abilities and maybe

02:34:00.260 you're you're at and here's the thing you this is another thing and it depends if you're

02:34:07.400 what your background is or what your understanding of quote-unquote paganism is apologize for the

02:34:14.100 little quotes if my arms are out to the side you can't see them so

02:34:18.000 wiccans have this thing where you like

02:34:23.140 somehow order the gods to do things that's sacrilegious and wrong but moreover it's also

02:34:32.560 silly and ridiculous you can't make the gods do stuff you can beseech them to observe what you do

02:34:42.400 and to back you if your cause is right and maybe they're like cool this guy's my guy screw those

02:34:49.900 other guys go out there and cut him down or you can watch how it goes you can be like hey this

02:34:55.900 guy is showing some heart I like this guy I'm going to get on his team maybe you have one of

02:35:02.380 isir who's like hey i think this guy is my guy and the other one's like all right i think this

02:35:09.180 other guy's my guy let's see there's any number of interplays but we see that kind of a dichotomy

02:35:18.620 between odin and and frig in with the tale of the uh longobardi we also see that in homer's iliad

02:35:29.580 you see the gods sometimes they're on different sides of it but when you set up the hazel rods

02:35:38.120 and there's there is something special and transcendent that happens when you ritually

02:35:44.320 make your action take place in a ritual context we can do mundane things all day long but when

02:35:52.260 you invoke the other, be that the gods, the ancestors, the spirits of the place that you're

02:36:00.300 in, to bear witness and participate, when you separate space out, then it becomes something

02:36:09.480 elevated, not necessarily in the word, the usage that we normally mean, but it becomes something

02:36:19.120 literally other it becomes outside of the mundane and that's what happens when you set up the hazel

02:36:25.820 rods and that's also a thing like if you want a home gang with somebody or whatever it's a common

02:36:31.820 kind of expression like cool we can set up the hazel rods and see you know see what's up

02:36:36.640 i've heard a lot of people say that i don't think they necessarily know what they're invoking when

02:36:43.520 they do that but that's the implication is cool we will test this on the field of battle and you

02:36:51.020 know put your blood where your mouth is and it's so not to i don't mean to cheapen it or be silly

02:37:01.620 but i think it was a really powerful and cool thing and i don't know if everybody watched

02:37:08.000 uh troy with brad pitt back i don't know what 20 years ago now

02:37:13.180 but one of the battles they called out champions they had achilles go out against

02:37:19.640 i forget what nation he was championing with but he was played by this guy nathan jones who's just

02:37:25.480 a beast and they're like cool instead of all of these men having to die let's settle this by two

02:37:33.880 of our champions going one-on-one man against man and settle the conflict and achilles did his like

02:37:44.120 super move jump in the air thingy but before that was one and this is forgive me this is what i do

02:37:52.600 anybody watches this show knows that my mind tends to go where where it goes but one of the coolest

02:38:01.720 things and coolest scenes from that movie that i think rings very true to also true is when the

02:38:07.320 the messenger comes to get achilles to be the champion of the army comes in and he's like

02:38:13.320 hey you know the king wants you to go be the champion and fight you know the champion of the

02:38:18.040 the other force and he's like man he's really big i don't know i i'd never want to go fight that guy

02:38:25.960 and achilles like and that's why no one will remember your name

02:38:31.720 You know, you got to step up to be remembered and to earn fame for yourself, much like we talked about when A.L. was at the at the feast and drinking.

02:38:42.660 So I don't know how we got there from here, but that's that's what happens on Victory Never Sleeps.

02:38:51.660 well it's really it's kind of funny about this whole situation because it never really fully

02:38:59.020 comes to fruition um as far as well i won't ruin it but it kind of is a thing

02:39:08.540 not what everyone or like what it's intended to be well let's see

02:39:14.620 yeah so north of the heath stood a town there in the town king olaf courted himself

02:39:23.920 there he had the greatest part of his force because there was a wide district around which

02:39:29.420 seemed to him convenient for bringing such provisions as his army needed but he sent

02:39:34.700 men of his own up to the heath where the battlefield was appointed these were to take

02:39:41.440 camping ground and make all ready before the army came. But when the men came to the place

02:39:49.160 where the field was in hazel, there were all the hazel poles set up to mark the ground where the

02:39:57.060 battle should be. So it was already set up. The place ought to be chosen level and whereon a large

02:40:05.720 host might be set in array. And such was this, for in this place where the battle was to be,

02:40:13.980 the heath was level, with a river flowing on one side, on the other a large wood, but where the

02:40:21.780 distance between the wood and the river was least, though this was a good long stretch. There King

02:40:28.560 Athelstan's men had pitched, and their tents were quite filled with the space between

02:40:35.700 the root wood and the river so now this is the part where i was kind of like trying to understand

02:40:41.620 i think because it's it reads that up here um

02:40:49.140 that let me see uh that athelstan would feign and hazel him a field and offer battle on vin heath

02:40:57.300 meanwhile he would have them forbear to harry his land but of the twain of the two of them

02:41:04.020 uh one of them should rule england whoever was to conquer in battle so in this case too

02:41:12.820 they're in hazeling the entirety of the um battlefield not just a one-on-one um in this

02:41:23.740 case they've decided to make sacred the entirety of the war or at least perhaps to limit the number

02:41:30.820 um but when they get there they are looking at the battlefield and it's already been set up um

02:41:39.860 so let's see uh they had so pitched that in every third tent there was no man at all and in one

02:41:51.480 of every three but few yet when king olaf's men came to them they had then numbers swarming

02:41:59.140 before all the tents so Athelstan's men are meager and spread out and Olaf's men are just there's so

02:42:06.940 many of them so full that their people had not nearly enough room to sleep in the tents but the

02:42:12.980 front line of the tent stood so high that it could not be seen over whether they stood many or a few

02:42:20.080 in depth Olaf's men imagined a vast host must be there or excuse me yeah that was the um

02:42:29.020 uh the other way around so Athelstan his men look like there's a lot of them there and they

02:42:37.260 place the tents strategically so that it just looks like Athelstan's army is ready to go

02:42:44.680 but bear in mind that's not the case Athelstan is in the south drawing in his army um so when

02:42:53.440 Olaf's men look over and see this they're like wow there's a lot of these guys and it's

02:42:58.900 already set up the battles already they've already come here and plotted the place they're ahead of

02:43:05.020 the game and that's sending messages so um Olaf's men imagined a vast host must be there King Olaf's

02:43:19.900 men then pitched north of the hazel poles towards which side the ground sloped a little from day

02:43:27.340 day Athelstan's men said that the king would come or was to come to the town that lay to the south

02:43:34.500 of the heath. Meanwhile forces started to flock to them both day and night. When the appointed time

02:43:42.460 came or the appointed time had expired then Athelstan's men sent envoys to king Olaf with

02:43:50.160 these words. King Athelstan is ready for battle. He had a mighty host but he sends to the king

02:43:56.040 Olaf these words he would ask that you should not cause such bloodshed as now looks likely and he

02:44:06.680 begs Olaf rather go home back to Scotland and Athelstan will give him a friendly gift of one

02:44:15.660 shilling of silver for every plow which is a person every free man in his army through all

02:44:25.780 his realm and he wishes that they would they would become friends so he's basically saying

02:44:32.100 like oh he's gathered this huge army he is ready to fight but you know you could you could go back

02:44:38.340 and be and and they could make an amicable peace when the messengers uh came to king olaf he was

02:44:48.160 just beginning to make ready his army purposing for the attack but on the messengers declaring

02:44:55.620 their errand he forbode the advance of the day then he had his captain sit in council wherein

02:45:01.780 opinions were divided some strongly desired that these terms be taken they said that this journey

02:45:08.420 had already won them great honor if they should go home after receiving so much money from

02:45:13.940 athelstan but some were against it and they said that athelstan would offer even more money

02:45:20.420 if there was a second round of negotiation.

02:45:26.060 And this was the course of counsel that prevailed.

02:45:30.980 So they sent a messenger and begged.

02:45:33.900 Then the messengers begged King Olaf to give them time

02:45:37.240 to go back to King Athelstan

02:45:39.380 and try, if he would, pay yet more money to ensure peace.

02:45:45.080 They asked for a truce for one more day

02:45:48.280 so that they could have more deliberation.

02:45:53.020 And Olaf agreed to this.

02:45:55.500 The messengers went back home,

02:45:57.620 came back on the third day according to the promise.

02:46:00.560 Now they said to King Olaf

02:46:02.140 that Athelstan would give all that he offered before

02:46:05.960 and over and above.

02:46:08.300 For the distribution among Olaf's soldiers,

02:46:11.120 he would give one shilling to every freeborn man.

02:46:15.080 He would give a silver mark

02:46:16.320 to every officer of a company of 12 men or more.

02:46:20.720 He would give a gold mark to every captain of the king's guard

02:46:25.180 and five gold for every earl.

02:46:28.860 Then the king laid this offer before his forces.

02:46:32.120 It was again as before.

02:46:34.020 Some opposed this.

02:46:35.500 Some desired it.

02:46:36.420 In the end, the king gave a decision.

02:46:39.400 He said he would accept these terms.

02:46:41.980 If this too were added,

02:46:44.920 that King Athelstan let him have all of Northumberland with tributes and dues thereto

02:46:53.580 belonging. Again, the messengers asked for armistice, said give us three days. With this

02:47:00.580 further, that the King Olaf should send his men to hear Athelstan's answer, whether he would take

02:47:07.540 the terms or no. They say that to their thinking Athelstan will hardly refuse anything because

02:47:14.500 he's desperate to ensure peace king olaf agreed to this and sent his men to king athelstan

02:47:22.340 the messengers ride along together and find king athelstan in the town that was close to the heath

02:47:28.980 on the south king olaf's messengers declare before athelstan their errand and the proposals

02:47:34.660 for peace king athelstan's men told also with what offers they had gone to king olaf adding

02:47:42.420 that this had been the council of wise men thus to delay the battle so long as the king had not come

02:47:50.660 and he was building his army but king athelstan made a quick decision on this matter and spoke

02:47:57.060 to the messengers bear these words bear these my words to the king olaf that i will give him

02:48:04.480 leave for this to go home to scotland with his forces only let him restore all the property that

02:48:11.880 he has wrongfully taken here in my land then make we peace between our lands neither harrying

02:48:19.560 or the other further be it provided that king olav shall become my vassal and hold scotland for

02:48:28.300 me and be my under king go now back and tell him this and once they came the evening the messengers

02:48:37.720 turned, and they came to King Olaf about midnight that night. They then waked the king and told him

02:48:44.100 straight away the words that Athelstan the king had given them. He instantly summoned his earls

02:48:50.580 and his captains. Then he caused the messengers to come and declare the issue of their errand

02:48:56.120 and the words of Athelstan. But when this was made known before the soldiers, all the soldiers

02:49:03.200 with one voice said that this was now before them to prepare for battle so now they were like no

02:49:11.040 enough negotiations let's go and kick his arse um the messenger said this too that athelstan had

02:49:22.560 numerous forces but he had come into the town on that same day when the messengers came there

02:49:29.200 so he had not been there prior something was going on and it was better to attack now so then spoke

02:49:39.120 earl althus now me thinks that has come to pass o king which i said that we would find

02:49:46.240 tricksters in the english we have sat here a long time and waiting and they have gathered forces

02:49:53.200 whereas their king can have been nowhere near when he came here they will have been assembling a

02:50:00.800 multitude while we are sitting still this is my counsel oh king that we two brothers ride at once

02:50:07.380 forward this very night with our troop and maybe they will have no fear for themselves now they

02:50:14.460 know that their king is near with a large army so we shall make a dash upon them if they turn and fly

02:50:22.580 they will lose some of their men and be less bold after the conflict the king thought this

02:50:29.160 was good counsel we will make ready then our army he said as soon as it is light and move

02:50:37.420 to support you and this plan was fixed upon and immediately undertook

02:50:44.100 so they start a night raid while the rest of the army gets ready chapter 53 of the fight

02:50:53.840 earl hring and alphas his brother made ready their army and at once in the middle of the night they

02:51:02.200 moved southward across the heath but when day dawned thorolf's sentries saw that the army

02:51:08.120 saw the army approaching. So Thorolf, that's Aeol's brother. Then a war blast was blown.

02:51:17.540 Men donned their arms, selects spirited, and they began to draw up their force.

02:51:24.760 And they had two divisions. Earl Alfgir commanded one division, and the standard was born before him.

02:51:31.220 In that division, there was his own followers and also what force had been gathered from the

02:51:37.180 countryside. It was much larger fours than that which followed Thorolf and Eil.

02:51:47.980 Thorolf was thus armed. He had a shield, ample and stout. He had a strong helmet on his head.

02:51:56.700 He was also girded with a sword that he called long, a weapon large and good. If his hand he had

02:52:05.940 in his hand he had a halberd whereof the feather formed blade has two l was two l's long ending in

02:52:17.940 a four-edged spike the blade was broad above the socket both long and thick the shaft stood just

02:52:27.140 high enough for the hand to grasp the socket and was remarkably thick the socket fitted the iron

02:52:33.460 prong on the shaft which was also wound around with iron such weapons were called male piercers

02:52:42.580 and so i think what this really is is i think this is more akin to a bill hook style halberd

02:52:49.540 because they speak of it having it's feathered it's like a feather shaped so it it most likely

02:52:57.220 you know is wide in in at the middle like an axe and then it points out and it also has a hook

02:53:04.820 um and that to me just sounds like i mean that's describing a bill hook um

02:53:12.180 ale was armed the same way as thoralf he was girded with a sword that he called

02:53:19.020 adder like the snake this he had gotten in corland it was a right good weapon neither of the two

02:53:26.920 had shirt or mail a shirt of mail wow so neither of them had chain mail they set up their standard

02:53:36.360 which was born by tovid the the strong all their men had norwegian shields and norwegian armor at

02:53:44.300 in every point and in their division were all norsemen who were present thoralf's force was

02:53:51.260 drawn up near the wood alfgir moved along the river earl althas and his brother saw that they

02:53:59.660 would not come upon thoralf unaware so they began to draw up their forces they also made two divisions

02:54:06.700 and had two standards athels was opposed to earl alfgir ring to the freebooters

02:54:13.580 the battle now began both charged with great spirit earl althus pressed on hard and fast

02:54:23.400 until alfgir gave ground then althos men pressed twice as boldly nor was it long before alfgir fled

02:54:31.400 again and this is to be told of him that he rode away south over the heath and a company of his

02:54:39.600 men with him he rode till he came near the town where sat the king then spoke the earl i deem it

02:54:48.600 not safe for us to enter the town we go we got sharp words of late when we came to the king after

02:54:55.700 the defeat by king olav and we will not think our case bettered by this coming no need to expect

02:55:02.440 honor where he is then he rode to the south country and of his travel tis to be told that

02:55:10.860 he rode night and day till he came westwards to earl's nest then the earl got on a ship to take

02:55:18.680 him southward over the sea he came to france where half of his kin were and never after returned to

02:55:25.880 England. So Alfgir just keeps on going.

02:55:34.540 Athos at first pursued the fleeing foe, but not far, and then he turned back to where the battle

02:55:40.560 was and made an onset. This, when Thorolf saw, he said that Eil should turn and encounter him,

02:55:49.160 or they would be flanked, and bade the stander be born that way. His men, he bade, hold well

02:55:55.780 together and stand close we should move to the wood he said and let it cover our back

02:56:02.980 so that way they cannot come around us from all sides and they did this and followed along the

02:56:08.420 wood fierce was the battle ale charged against athels and they had a hard fight of it the odds

02:56:15.780 of numbers were great yet more of athel's men fell than ails then thorolf became so furious

02:56:23.620 that he cast his shield on his back and grasping his halberd in two hands bounded forward dealing

02:56:30.740 a cut and thrust on either side men sprang away from him both ways but he slew many thus

02:56:38.900 he cleared the way forward to earl ring standard and then nothing could stop him he slew the man

02:56:46.100 that bore the standard he cut down the standard pole after that he lunged with his halberd at

02:56:52.580 the earl's breast driving it right through his mail coat and body so that it came out at the

02:56:59.380 shoulders between the blades of his shoulders he lifted him up on the halberd overhead planted

02:57:07.940 the butt end in the ground there on the weapon the earl breathed out his life in sight of all

02:57:16.820 both friends and foes then thorolf drew his sword and then dealt blows on either side of him

02:57:24.420 his men also charging many britons and scots fell some turned and fled so he just straight up impaled

02:57:36.580 um ring

02:57:45.860 Behold, everybody who can see, this is just an epic picture of our very own Witton's Fawn making a Yule offering, I believe, last year.

02:58:02.680 But just a particularly cool picture that I found and I wanted Nick to put up because it's festive.

02:58:10.720 um that's awesome i uh

02:58:18.640 i know i think that was yeah that was last year

02:58:22.800 it's a really good picture whoever got it do more of those those are good pictures

02:58:29.440 um we also had some really good pictures from feast the honor yard this year

02:58:35.840 um i know there's a really good picture of spawn from charming of the plow

02:58:40.720 um he's got some good ones he's a photogenic fella no no homo well i wonder i can't remember

02:58:50.360 who took the picture too i think it was um go the stand so something to

02:58:57.240 it bears repeating these are real people doing real things

02:59:07.600 it is

02:59:10.620 beyond impressive

02:59:15.800 to hear the tale of their battle deeds

02:59:21.340 these are

02:59:25.140 some hard men that are very serious about their craft

02:59:31.040 and they are artists of death

02:59:33.760 And I think that any man that reads this is just kind of awestruck that with axe and halberd and spear and sword,

03:00:00.140 These guys are out there hacking and slashing in a state of exhaustion, surrounded by people trying to cut them down and just painting the canvas of the English countryside with the blood of their foes.

03:00:23.180 it is

03:00:25.140 a profound

03:00:27.380 testament to their

03:00:29.700 metal and their skill and

03:00:31.720 the favor that they earned

03:00:35.600 because of such.

03:00:42.540 Well, they

03:00:43.520 at this

03:00:46.000 point, Thorolf has broken

03:00:48.000 into Hering's

03:00:49.820 side of the army

03:00:53.060 and his brother athels seeing this and the slaughter of many of his forces and the flight

03:00:59.380 of some while himself was hard stress turned to fly and ran to the wood into the wood they fled

03:01:07.220 him and his company then all the force that had followed the earl took flight thorolf and ale

03:01:14.580 pursued their foe in their in his flighting great was the slaughter and the fugitives scattered far

03:01:21.700 and wide earl althus was had lowered his standards so none could know his company from others

03:01:30.580 and soon the darkness of night began to close in thorolf and ale returned to their camp and

03:01:37.700 just when king athelstan had came up with the main army they pitched their tents and made their

03:01:43.540 arrangements a little after so this is even before athelstan even shows up a little after came the

03:01:52.420 king olaf with his army they too encamped and made their arrangements there where their men had

03:01:59.460 before placed tents then it was told that king to king olaf that both of his earls ring and athels

03:02:07.460 had fallen and so had a multitude of his men this is all even before it really kicks off

03:02:20.420 so here we have the fall of thorolf chapter 54. king athelstan had passed the night

03:02:30.820 before in the town where of mention was made above and there he heard rumor that there was

03:02:40.180 fighting on the heath at once he and all his host made ready and marched northwards towards the heath

03:02:45.920 there they learned all the tidings clearly how the battle had gone then the brothers Thorolf and

03:02:54.300 Ale came to meet the king he thanked them much for their brave advances and the victory that

03:03:00.500 they had won. He promised them a hearty friendship. They all remained together that night. No sooner

03:03:07.600 did day dawn, Athelstan woke his army, held conference with his captains, and told them

03:03:15.400 how his forces should be arranged. His own divisions he first arranged, and then the van

03:03:22.060 thereof, he set those companies that were the smartest. Then he said that Eol should command

03:03:29.560 these, but Thorolf, he said, shall be with his own men

03:03:33.480 and such others as I add thereto. This force shall be

03:03:37.500 opposed to that part of the enemy, which is loose

03:03:41.620 and not set array. For the Scots were ever

03:03:45.520 loose in their array, and they ran to and fro, and

03:03:49.400 dashed forward here and there. Often they prove dangerous if

03:03:53.540 men are not wary, but they are unsteady in the field if boldly

03:03:57.720 faced ale answered the king i will not that i and thorolf be parted in battle rather to me it seems

03:04:09.880 well that we to be placed there where it is like to be most need and hardest fighting

03:04:15.720 so he doesn't want he's not trying to get away from battle but he doesn't want to be separated

03:04:21.000 from his brother and he's like put me in the thick of it with my brother thorolf said leave

03:04:28.200 we the king to rule where he will place us serve we him as he likes best i will if you wish it

03:04:36.040 change places with you ale said brother you will have your way but this separation

03:04:43.080 shall often rue so we will regret this after this they formed the divisions as the king had arranged

03:04:51.000 and the standards were raised, and the king's division stood on the plain towards the river.

03:04:56.440 Thorolf's division moved on the higher ground beside the wood. King Olaf drew up his forces.

03:05:02.160 When he saw King Athelstan had done so, he had also made two divisions, and his own standard

03:05:08.120 and the division that himself commanded. He opposed that to the king, Athelstan, and his

03:05:13.880 division. Either had a large army. There was no difference on the score of numbers,

03:05:19.300 But King Olaf's second division moved near the wood, against the force under Thorolf.

03:05:26.400 The commanders thereof were Scottish earls, the men were mostly Scots, and it was a great multitude.

03:05:35.320 And now the armies closed, and soon the battle waxed fierce.

03:05:40.540 Thorolf pressed eagerly forward, causing his standard to be borne onwards along the woodside.

03:05:45.340 He thought to go so far forward as to turn upon the Scottish King's division behind their shields, so to flank them.

03:05:54.860 His own men held their shields before them.

03:05:57.820 They trusted to the wood, which was on their right, to cover that side.

03:06:03.100 So far in the advance went Thorolf that few of his men were before him.

03:06:08.120 So now he's way out in front.

03:06:10.180 He's getting drawn in.

03:06:11.660 But just when he was leased on his guard, out leapt from the wood, Earl, Athels, and his followers.

03:06:19.840 They thrust at Thorolf at once with many halberds, and there by the wood he fell.

03:06:30.460 But Thorvid, who bore the standard, drew back to where the men stood thicker in numbers.

03:06:39.200 Athol now attacked them, and a fierce contest there was.

03:06:42.820 The Scots shouted a shout of victory as having slain the enemy's chieftain.

03:06:50.020 This about when Aeol heard and saw Thorolf's standard going back.

03:06:55.880 He felt sure that Thorolf himself would not be with it.

03:07:00.020 So he bounded thither over the space between the two divisions.

03:07:04.620 Full soon learned he the tidings of what had done.

03:07:07.300 when he came to his men then he keenly spur them on the charge because he's upset now himself

03:07:15.700 foremost he had in his hand his sword adder forward ale pressed and hewn on either side of

03:07:23.940 him felling many men thorvid bore the standard close after him behind the standard followed the

03:07:30.760 rest right sharp was the conflict there ale went forward till he met earl athels few blows did they

03:07:38.760 exchange air of the oral athels fell and many men around him but after the earl's death his followers

03:07:46.380 fled ale and his force pursued them and slew them if they overtook them no need were they to beg for

03:07:54.700 quarter nor stood those scott earls long when they saw the others of their fellows fly

03:08:02.540 but at once they took to their heels and ran so ale is in full rage now because his brother has

03:08:10.620 been slain whereupon ale and his men turn and make their way towards king olaf's division

03:08:18.140 and coming coming to them from behind their shields soon they wrought great havoc the

03:08:25.420 division completely wavered and broke up many of king olaf's men fled and the norsemen shouted a

03:08:31.500 shout of victory but when athelstan perceived kings olaf's division beginning to break he spurred his

03:08:38.700 force and bade them to standard advance a fierce onset was made so that the king so that king

03:08:45.820 olaf's force recoiled and there was great slaughter king olaf fell there and the greater

03:08:53.420 part of the force which he had for those who had turned to fly all were overtaken and slain

03:09:01.260 and thus king athelstan gained a signal victory

03:09:06.460 chapter 55 ale buries his brother thorolf while his men still pursued the fugitives

03:09:20.780 king athelstan left the battlefield rode back to the town south of the heath nor stayed he

03:09:27.820 for the night before he come thither but ale pursued the flying foe followed them far slaying

03:09:35.420 ending man he could overtake at length sated with pursuit he with his followers turned back

03:09:43.420 and came where the battle had been and found there dead the body of his brother thoralf

03:09:50.060 he took him up he washed him and performed such other offices as were the want of the time

03:09:58.860 they dug a grave there and laid thoralf therein with all of his weapons and rainments

03:10:04.380 then ale clasped the gold bracelet on either wrist before he parted from him

03:10:11.420 this done they heaped on stones and cast in the mold or the soil and ale sang this verse

03:10:20.860 dauntless the dody champion dashed on the earl's bold slayer in stormy stress of battle stout

03:10:33.260 hearted thoralf fell green grows on soil of vin heath grass over my noble brother but we are woe

03:10:44.540 a sorrow worse than death pang must bear and then he said with warriors slain round standard the

03:10:54.220 western field i burdened athels with my blue adder assailed mid snow of war olaf young prince

03:11:03.820 encountered england in the battle thunder ring stood not stour of weapons starved not the raven's

03:11:13.260 maw and then ale went from that place and those about him to seek king athelstan and at once

03:11:28.560 went before the king where he sat at the drink sat drinking there was much noise and merriment

03:11:35.620 And when the king saw Aeol come in, he bade him to go to the lower bench.

03:11:42.200 He had it cleared for them.

03:11:44.180 And Aeol should sit in the high seat facing the king.

03:11:49.280 Aeol sat down there and cast his shield before his feet.

03:11:53.000 He had his helm on his head and laid his sword across his legs.

03:11:57.620 And now and again, he half drew it, then clashed it back into the sheath.

03:12:03.480 He sat upright, but his head was bent forward.

03:12:09.400 Ale was a large-featured man with a broad forehead, with large eyebrows and a nose,

03:12:15.420 not long, but very thick, and lips wide and long, chin exceedingly broad,

03:12:23.160 as was all about his jaws, a thick neck, his big shoulders beyond other men.

03:12:29.700 He was hard-featured, grim, and angry.

03:12:32.600 He was well made, more than commonly tall, had hair wolf gray and thick, but became early bald. He had black eyes and browned skin.

03:12:48.680 But as he sat, as was before written, he drew one eyebrow down towards the cheek, the other up towards the roots of his hair.

03:12:58.100 he would not drink now though the horn was born to him but alternately twitched his eyebrows up

03:13:06.780 and down king athelstan sat in the upper high seat he too laid his sword across his knees

03:13:12.720 when they had sat there for some time the king drew his sword from the sheath took from his arm

03:13:20.280 gold arm ring large and good placed it upon the sword point he stood up and went across the floor

03:13:29.400 and reached it over the fire to ale ale stood up drew his sword went across the floor and he stuck

03:13:37.240 the sword point within the round ring he drew it to him and then he went back to his place

03:13:42.920 the king sate him again in the high seat and when ale sat down he drew the ring on his own arm

03:13:51.260 then his brows went back to their place he now laid down his sword and helm

03:13:57.060 took the horn that they bear and he drank from it and he's saying this

03:14:02.700 mailed monarch god of battle maketh the tinkling circlet hang his own arm forsaken

03:14:13.560 on hawk trodden wrist of mine i bear on my arm brand wielding bracelet of the red gold gladly

03:14:21.300 war falcons feeder meat meatly findeth such mead of praise

03:14:28.460 so he was upset because he had lost his brother and had really nothing of wealth to gain and the

03:14:39.160 king took off one of his very own arm rings and gave it to ale and he felt this was

03:14:50.220 you know worth again that's a lot of gold too

03:14:54.780 thereafter ale drank his share and talked with others presently the king caused to be born in

03:15:07.680 two chests two men bear each both were full of silver and the king said these chests ale

03:15:14.060 thou shalt have if thou comes to iceland shall carry his money to thy father

03:15:19.720 as payment for a son i send it to him but some of the money thou shalt divide among your kinsmen

03:15:27.580 of thyself and thorolf as thou thinkest most honorable but thou shalt take here payment for

03:15:34.380 your brother for a brother with me land or chattels which thou wilt and if thou would

03:15:41.060 abide with me long then i will give thee honor and dignity such as thyself mayest name

03:15:48.040 ale took the money thanked the king for his gifts and friendly words thenceforward ale became

03:15:56.380 cheerful and he said in sorrow sadly drooping sank my brows close knitted then i found i

03:16:04.860 found i one who furrows a forehead could smooth fierce frowning cliffs that shaded

03:16:12.500 my face a king had lifted with gleam of golden armlet gloom leaveth my eyes

03:16:21.680 then those men were healed whose wounds were left to hope of life ails abode with the king

03:16:32.080 athelstan for the next winter after thorell's death and had a very great honor with the king

03:16:37.800 with ale was then all that force which had followed the two brothers and come

03:16:43.600 alive out of battle ale now made a poem about King Athelstan land shielder

03:16:52.020 battle quickener low now this scion royal earls three hath laid to Ella earth

03:17:05.100 must obedient bow, lavish of gold, kin glorious, great Athelstan victorious, surely I swear,

03:17:16.280 all humbled to such high monarch yields. But this is the burden in the poem.

03:17:26.320 reindeer trod hills obey bold athelstan's high sway so to um and i think reindeer is is kind of a

03:17:38.160 miss to the to the bold heats or the wild lands in the hills all the way down to the coast

03:17:46.200 all the land obeys athelstan's monarch

03:17:50.160 then gave athelstan further to ale as a poet two gold rings each weighing a mark and therewith

03:18:00.960 a costly cloak that the king had himself formally worn but when the king but when spring came ale

03:18:09.360 signified to the king that he proposed to go away in the summer to norway and to learn how matters

03:18:15.120 stand with ausgerder uh my late brother thorolf's wife a large property there is in all but i know

03:18:25.440 not whether there be children they are living i am bound to look after them if they live

03:18:31.920 but i am heir to all if thorold dies childless the king answered this will be ale for you to

03:18:40.880 arrange to go away hence if you think you have an errand of duty but i think to where the best

03:18:47.760 way that you should settle down here with me on such terms as you like and ale thanked the king

03:18:55.520 for his words i will now first go as i am in duty bound to go but it is likely that i shall return

03:19:04.320 and see after this the promise as soon as i can the king made me want to leave whereupon ale made

03:19:12.000 him ready to depart with his men but of these many remained being with the king ale had one

03:19:19.040 large warship on board thereof a hundred men thereabouts and when he was ready for his voyage

03:19:26.720 and fair wind blew he put out to sea he and king athelstan parted with great friendship

03:19:32.800 and the king begged ale to return as soon as possible and this ale promised he would do

03:19:40.640 then to norway ale stood and when they went he came to the land sailed with speed to the firsts

03:19:48.400 and heard these tidings that lord thorir was now dead and that arenbjorn had taken inheritance

03:19:56.480 after him it was made barren and ale went to arnbjorn because they were good friends and got

03:20:03.440 there a good welcome arnbjorn asked him to stay there ale accepted had his ship set up and his

03:20:10.080 crew lodged but arnbjorn received ale and 12 men and they stayed with him for the winter in his own

03:20:17.040 hall chapter 56

03:20:27.440 ale's marriage and inheritance claim

03:20:32.080 bergenund son of thorgir thornfoot had then married gunhilda's daughter

03:20:40.400 gunhilda daughter of bjorn yeoman she had come to keep house with him at asgard

03:20:47.040 But Ausgerðr, whom Thorolf Skalagrimson had wife, was then with Arnbjorn, her kinsman.

03:20:56.340 Thorolf and she had a daughter named Thordis, and the girl was there with her mother.

03:21:03.140 Eil told Ausgerðr of Thorold's death and offered her his guardianship.

03:21:09.820 Ausgerðr was much grieved at this tiding.

03:21:13.040 she answered ale's words well saying however but little one way or the other

03:21:20.160 but at autumn as it wore on ale began to become very gloomy and drank little and often say with

03:21:28.320 his head drooping in his cloak one time arnbjorn went to him and asked him what meant of this gloom

03:21:37.040 though now you have great loss in your brother

03:21:42.320 It is manly to bear up well.

03:21:45.620 A man must overlive man.

03:21:48.680 Come, what verse are you now repeating?

03:21:51.920 Let me hear it.

03:21:53.880 And Ale said,

03:21:56.200 Unfriendly who was friend, fair goddess seems.

03:22:00.840 Of old, bold with uplifted brow, beheld I a woman's face.

03:22:06.640 Now one whose name I veil.

03:22:08.740 No sooner the scald occurs than shyly sinks, screened in his cloak of his head.

03:22:19.040 Arnbjorn asked who this woman was.

03:22:22.820 Have you hidden her name in the stave?

03:22:26.560 Eil recited, sorrow shows not but hides the saddening thought within.

03:22:33.380 Names in my posy

03:22:36.760 Not oft I use to veil

03:22:40.020 For Odin's warrior wights

03:22:43.480 Will surely searching find

03:22:45.900 In war god's wine of song

03:22:48.040 What poet deep hath plunged

03:22:52.160 Excuse me

03:22:53.760 Here, ale

03:22:57.220 Here, said ale

03:22:59.540 well the old saw uh saw he found true all should be told to a friend i will tell you that that

03:23:08.800 which you ask about i compose this the woman i compose this verse is ausgerder your kinswoman

03:23:16.980 and i would feign to have her furtherance to secure this match

03:23:22.300 arnbjorn deemed that this would be well i well said surely give my good word

03:23:33.820 that this match be made ale laid the matter before ausgerder but she referred it to the

03:23:41.420 decision of her father and her kinsman arnbjorn arnbjorn talked with ausgerder and she

03:23:47.740 made the answer, same answer. Arnbjorn was desirous of this match. After this, Arnbjorn

03:23:55.800 and Eil went together to Bjorn, and then Eil made his suit and asked to wife Bjorn's daughter,

03:24:04.800 Ousker. Bjorn took the matter well, said that Arnbjorn was chiefly good to decide it since he

03:24:12.040 was the head of the of the kinsmen of arnbjorn greatly desired it and in the end the matter

03:24:18.360 was that ale and ausgarther would be then be betrothed and the wedding was to be at arnbjorn's

03:24:25.900 hall and when the appointed time came there was a grand feast and ale gets married he was then

03:24:37.460 very cheerful for the remaining part of the winter and in the spring he made ready a merchant ship

03:24:42.420 to voyage to iceland arnbjorn advised him not to settle in norway while gunhilda's power was so great

03:24:51.700 for she was still very wroth with him and this has been made much worse by your encounter with ivan

03:25:00.100 But when Eil was ready and fair wind blew, he sailed out to sea.

03:25:06.140 His voyage went well, came in autumn to Iceland, and stood there at Bjorg Orkerferd.

03:25:14.360 He had now been out for twelve winters.

03:25:20.600 Skalagrim was an old man by this time.

03:25:24.260 Full glad was he when Eil came home.

03:25:27.000 Eil went to lodge at Bjorg, and with him, Thovid Strong and many others of their company, and there were with the Skalagrim for winter.

03:25:38.580 Eil had advanced store of wealth, but it was not told that Eil shared that silver which King Athelstan had given him, either with Skalagrim or the others.

03:25:49.020 That winter, Thorvid married Sion, Scalagrim's daughter, and in the following spring, Scalagrim gave them a homestead in Long River Foss and the land inwards from Lyra Brook between Long River and Swan River, even up to the fell.

03:26:11.120 Daughter of Thorvid and Sion was Thordas' wife to Ungir in Holm, the son of Berse Godless.

03:26:21.280 Their son was Bjorn, Haetadale's champion.

03:26:24.860 So that kind of just gives, you know, a little bit of a kind of a geographical talking about everyone.

03:26:37.880 I'm kind of, I was here because I'm kind of losing my voice.

03:26:43.440 I can take over if you want me to.

03:26:46.160 Yeah, I might have to.

03:26:47.920 Yeah, just say the word and I got it.

03:26:50.660 Okay, yeah.

03:26:52.080 Let's, I'm from here.

03:26:54.080 I need to also go and use the restroom.

03:26:58.500 All right, let me switch my translations to a little bit more readable one.

03:27:07.880 Just a moment.

03:27:14.140 All right.

03:27:44.120 not, this causes me to change my screen to where I can't see him or what's going on, so

03:27:49.960 just break in if and when you need to. Soup between Ale and Onond. King Eric was there

03:28:01.420 numerously attended. Bergenund was among his train, as were his brothers. There was a large

03:28:11.940 follow but when the meeting was to be held about men's lawsuits both the parties went where the

03:28:18.500 court was set to plead their proofs then was on and full of big words now in the courts sate was

03:28:27.700 the level was a level plot with hazel poles planted in a ring and outside were twisted

03:28:34.980 ropes all around this was called the precincts within the ring sate 12 judges of the frith folk

03:28:45.300 12 of the song folk i'm sorry firth folk 12 of the song folk and 12 of the horda folk

03:28:54.740 there were there i'm sorry these three twelves were to judge all the suits

03:29:02.720 Aranbjorn ruled who should be judges from the Firth folk.

03:29:08.160 Ford of Ireland, who should be so from the Sogan folk.

03:29:15.480 All these were of one party.

03:29:18.360 Aranbjorn had brought thither a longship full equipped.

03:29:23.400 Also many small craft and store ships.

03:29:27.140 King Erich had six or seven longships, all well-equipped.

03:29:32.700 A great number of landowners were also there.

03:29:38.660 Eil began his cause thus.

03:29:41.760 He craved the judges to give him lawful judgment in the suit between him and Onond.

03:29:47.140 He then set forth with proofs he held of his claim on the property

03:29:52.700 that had belonged to Bjorn, Breinolf's son.

03:29:58.100 He said that Ausgurther, daughter of Bjorn,

03:30:04.100 own wife of him, Eil, was the rightful heiress,

03:30:07.720 born noble of landed gentry,

03:30:10.520 even of titled family further back.

03:30:13.900 And he craved of the judges this,

03:30:16.480 to a judge to Ausgurther,

03:30:18.620 half of Bjorn's inheritance,

03:30:21.040 Whether land or chattels.

03:30:25.200 And when he ceased speaking, then Bergonand took the whole and spoke thus.

03:30:33.820 Gunhilde, my wife, is the daughter of Bjorn and Alof, the wife whom Bjorn lawfully married.

03:30:43.000 Gunhilde is rightful heiress of Bjorn.

03:30:46.140 I, for this reason, took possession of all the property left by Bjorn, because I knew that the other daughter of Bjorn had no right to inherit.

03:30:56.200 Her mother was a captive of war, afterwards taken as concubine, without her kinsman's consent, and carried from land to land.

03:31:06.220 But thou, Eil, thinkest to go on here as everywhere else, with thy fierceness and wrongful dealing.

03:31:14.160 This will not avail thee now, for King Erik and Queen Gunhilda have promised me that I shall have right in every cause within the bounds of their dominion.

03:31:26.280 I will produce true evidence before the king and the judges that Thora Lacehand, Ausgurther's mother, was taken captive from the house of Thorir, her brother, and a second time from Brynjolf's house at Auerland.

03:31:45.460 Then she went away out of the land with freebooters, and was outlawed from Norway.

03:31:52.680 And in this outlawry, Bjorn and she had borne to them this girl, Ausgurther.

03:32:01.360 A great wonder now is this in Eil, that he thinks to make void all the words of King Eric.

03:32:09.500 First, Eol, thou art here in the land after Eol made thee an outlaw.

03:32:16.280 Secondly, which is worse, though thou hast a bondswoman to thy wife, thou claimest for her right of heritage.

03:32:27.520 I demand this to the judges, that they adjudge the inheritance of Gunhilda,

03:32:32.720 but a Judge Ausgurður to be the bondswoman of the king

03:32:41.220 because she was begotten when her father and mother were outlawed by the king.

03:32:47.120 Right Roth was Aranbjörn when he heard Thora Lacehand call a bondwoman

03:32:53.560 and he stood up and he would no longer hold his peace.

03:32:57.940 He looked around on either side and took the word.

03:33:00.880 Evidence we will bring, Sir King, in this matter, and oaths we will add that this was in the reconciliation of my father and Bjorn Yeoman expressly provided that Ausgurther, daughter of Bjorn and Thoreau, was to have right of inheriting after Bjorn her father.

03:33:23.700 As also this, which thyself, O king, dost know, that thou restoredst Bjorn to his rights in Norway.

03:33:34.180 And so everything was settled, which had before stood in the way of their reconciliation.

03:33:39.460 To these words, the king found no ready answer.

03:33:43.460 Then, Eil spake a verse.

03:33:46.820 Bondswoman born this knave

03:33:50.700 My broached deck lady calls

03:33:53.700 Shameless and selfish greed

03:33:56.500 Such dealing own unloves

03:33:58.980 Braggart, my bride is one

03:34:02.180 Born heiress, jeweled dame

03:34:04.780 Our oaths great king accept

03:34:07.100 Oaths that are meet and true

03:34:10.520 Then Ehrenbjorn produced witnesses

03:34:14.620 twelve men, and all well chosen.

03:34:18.680 These all had heard being present the reconciliation of Thorir and Bjorn,

03:34:24.820 and they offered to the king and judges to swear to it.

03:34:28.920 The judges were willing to accept their oath if the king forbade it not.

03:34:34.260 Then did Queen Gunhilda take the word.

03:34:37.080 great wonder is this sir king that thou let us this big ale make such a coil of the whole

03:34:46.680 cause before thee what is thou not to say against him that though he should claim at thy hand

03:34:56.840 thy very kingdom now though thou will give no decision that may help on us yet will not i brook

03:35:06.480 this, that Eo tread

03:35:08.420 underfoot our friends, and wrongfully

03:35:10.740 take the property from Onond.

03:35:13.280 Where is Alph,

03:35:14.680 my brother? Go thou, Alph,

03:35:17.260 with thy following,

03:35:18.820 where the judges are, and let

03:35:20.620 them not give thee wrong judgment.

03:35:23.500 Then he and his men

03:35:24.760 went thither, and cut

03:35:26.640 in sunder the precinct ropes, and

03:35:28.680 tore down the poles, and

03:35:30.660 scattered the judges. Great

03:35:32.740 uproar was there in the thing.

03:35:34.180 But men there were all weaponless, then spake Eil, can Bergenon hear my words?

03:35:45.540 I hear, said Onond, then do I challenge thee to combat, and be our fight here at the thing.

03:35:54.480 Let him of us, twain, have this property, both lands and chattels, who wins the victory.

03:36:01.980 But be thou every man's dastard if thou darest not, whereupon King Eric made answer.

03:36:11.420 If thou, Ael, art strongly set on fighting, then will we grant thee this forthwith.

03:36:19.560 Ael replied, I will not fight with king's power and overwhelming force, but before equal numbers I will not flee.

03:36:28.280 If this be given, nor will I make any distinction of persons, titled or untitled, then spake Aaron Bjorn.

03:36:39.900 We go away, Ael. We shall not hear effect today anything that will be to our gain.

03:36:47.900 And with this, Aaron Bjorn and all his people turned to depart.

03:36:51.360 But Ael turned to him and cried aloud, This do I protest before thee, Aaron Bjorn, and thee, Thorn, and all men that now can hear my words, barons and lawmen, and all people, that I ban all those lands that belong to Bjorn, Brian Julfson, from building and tillage, and from all gain therefrom to be gotten.

03:37:20.000 I ban them to thee, Bergenon, and to all others, natives and foreigners, high and low, and anyone who shall herein offend, I denounce as a lawbreaker, a peacebreaker, and a curse.

03:37:35.240 After which, Hale went away with Aaron Bjorn.

03:37:39.980 They then went to their ships, and there was a rise in the ground of some extent to pass over.

03:37:45.840 So the ships were not visible from the thing field.

03:37:50.000 Eyal was very wroth, and when they came to the ships, Aaron Bjorn spoke before his people and said,

03:37:58.060 All men know what has been the issue of the thing here, that we have not got law, but the king is much in wrath,

03:38:06.660 so that I expect our men will get a hard measure from him if he can bring it about.

03:38:11.820 I will now that every man embark on his ship and go home. Let none wait for the other.

03:38:19.740 Then Aaron Bjorn went on board his own ship, and to Ael he said,

03:38:24.800 Now go you with your comrades on board the cutter that lies here outside the longship,

03:38:31.440 and get you away at once.

03:38:33.400 Travel by night so much as you may, and not by day, and be on your guard,

03:38:39.760 for the king will seek to meet with you.

03:38:42.360 Come and find me afterwards, when all this is ended,

03:38:45.980 whatever may have chanced between you and the king.

03:38:49.640 Eil did as Aaron Bjorn said.

03:38:52.900 They went aboard the cutter, about thirty men, and rode with all their might.

03:38:58.540 The vessel was remarkably fast.

03:39:01.340 Then rode out of the haven many other ships of Aaron Bjorn's people, cutters and rowboats.

03:39:07.600 But the long ship which Aaron Bjorn steered went last, for it was the heaviest under oars.

03:39:13.440 Ale's cutter

03:39:15.080 Which he steered

03:39:17.400 Soon outstripped the rest

03:39:19.480 Then Ale

03:39:21.100 Sang a verse

03:39:22.620 My heritage

03:39:25.620 He steals

03:39:26.420 The money grasping air

03:39:28.740 Of Thornfoot

03:39:30.560 But his threats

03:39:32.120 Though fierce I boldly meet

03:39:34.060 For land we sought the law

03:39:36.240 Land grabbing loon is he

03:39:38.560 But robbery of my right

03:39:41.000 Ere long he shall repay

03:39:43.160 chapter 58 of king eric and ale king eric heard the council uh concluding words

03:39:59.760 of ale that he spake last at the thing and his wrath waxed hot but all men had gone weaponless

03:40:08.780 to the thing. Therefore, the king attempted no attack. He bade his men hasten to their ships,

03:40:15.860 and they did as he bade. Then, when they came to the strand, the king summoned his household thing

03:40:21.980 and told them his purpose. We must now, he said, untent our ships and row after Aranbjorn and Eil.

03:40:31.740 And this I will have you know, that we will take Eil's life if we get the chance and spare no man

03:40:37.900 who shall stand up for him after that they went abroad made all ready as speedily as might be

03:40:45.900 and i'm sorry they went aboard made ready as speedily as might be and pushed out the ships

03:40:53.400 and rode to the place where aaron bjorn ships has been these were now all gone then the king

03:40:59.780 bade that they should row after them northwards by the sound and when he came to soren sea

03:41:07.420 Then there was Aaron Bjorn's company rowing in towards Sheeping Sound.

03:41:13.180 And thither the king turned in after him, and he came up with Aaron Bjorn's ship in the inner part of the Sheeping Sound.

03:41:21.160 At once the king made for it, and they exchanged words.

03:41:25.240 The king asked whether Eil was in the ship.

03:41:28.340 Aaron Bjorn answered.

03:41:32.700 Eil is not here, he said.

03:41:34.840 That, O king, thou mayest at once see, here on board, on none but those who thou knowest, and Aeol will not be found down under the benches, though thou shouldest seek him there.

03:41:50.020 The king asked Aaron what he knew latest of Aeol.

03:41:54.260 He said that Aeol was on a cutter with thirty men, and they took their way out to Stone Sound.

03:42:01.140 Then the king told his men to row by the inner sound and shape their course so as to meet Eil.

03:42:10.640 There was a man named Kettle, Kettle Hod.

03:42:14.880 He was of King Eric's guard, an uplander by family.

03:42:20.900 He was pilot on the king's ship and steered the same.

03:42:25.540 Kettle was a tall man, and handsome he was, near of kin to the king.

03:42:33.780 And t'was generally said that he and the king were like an appearance.

03:42:39.080 Now Eo, before going to the thing, had had his ship launched and the cargo put on board.

03:42:45.460 And after parting with Aaron Bjorn, he and his went their way to Stone Sound,

03:42:50.760 till they came to a ship, which lay there afloat in the haven with tent overspread.

03:42:57.480 Then they went up aboard the ship, but the cutter rode beside the rudder of the ship

03:43:03.800 between the land and the ship, and the oars lay there in the loops.

03:43:10.820 Next morning, when day had hardly dawned, the watch were aware that some ships were rowing for them.

03:43:17.940 But when Aeol saw that it was the enemy, he stood up and bade that they should leap into the cutter.

03:43:24.260 He armed himself at once, as did they all.

03:43:28.480 Aeol took up the chest of silver which King Athelstan gave them and bore them with him.

03:43:34.480 They leapt armed into the cutter and rode forward between the land and the long ship that was advancing nearest to the land.

03:43:41.200 This was King Eric's ship.

03:43:42.520 But as it happened suddenly, and there was little light, the two ships ran past each other, and when the stern castles were opposite, then Aeol hurled a spear and smote in the middle the man who was steering Ketelhod to wit.

03:43:59.740 And once he got his bane, then King Erech called out and bade his men row after Aeol and his party.

03:44:07.800 But as their vessels ran past Aeol's merchant ship, the king's men leapt aboard of that.

03:44:14.120 And those of Aeol's men, who had been left behind and not leapt into the cutter, were all slain who could be caught.

03:44:20.880 But some escaped to land. Ten men of Aeol's followers were lost there.

03:44:26.240 Some ships rowed after Aeol, but soon plundered the merchant ship.

03:44:34.700 All the booty on board was taken, and the ship burnt.

03:44:38.860 But those who rowed after Aeol pulled hard, two at each oar.

03:44:44.400 They could even so take the rowing by turns, for they had no lack of men on board.

03:44:50.380 while Aeol's crew was short, they being now but 18 on the cutter, so the distance between them

03:44:57.420 lessened, but inside of the island was a shallow sound between it and other islands. It was now

03:45:04.740 low water. Aeol and his rowers ran their cutter into the shallow sound. The longships could not

03:45:11.900 float there, thus pursuers and pursued were parted. The king then turned back southward,

03:45:17.700 But Aeol went north to seek Aranbjorn, then Aeol spake a verse.

03:45:26.620 Wakener of weapon den, the warlike prince hath wrought,

03:45:31.660 Where I escaped scot-free, scathe on our gallant ten.

03:45:37.800 Yet sped by hand a spear, like springing salmon swift,

03:45:42.840 that rushed in Kettle's ribs,

03:45:46.440 rents sore with deathful wound.

03:45:50.820 Ale came to Aranbjorn and told him these tidings.

03:45:54.820 Aranbjorn said that he could expect nothing better

03:45:57.860 in dealing with King Erik.

03:46:00.280 But you shall not want for money, Ale.

03:46:02.640 I will make good the loss of your ship

03:46:05.200 and give you another,

03:46:06.700 which you can well sail to Iceland.

03:46:08.800 Ausgurther, Eil's wife, had remained at Ehrenbjorn's while they went to the thing.

03:46:16.800 Ehrenbjorn gave Eil a good seaworthy ship and had it laden with such things as Eil wished.

03:46:23.800 This ship Eil got ready for sea, and again he had a crew of about thirty men.

03:46:30.800 Then he and Ehrenbjorn parted in friendship.

03:46:33.800 And Eos sang, requite him, righteous gods, for robbery of my wealth, hunt him away, be wroth, high Oden, heavenly powers, foe of his folk, base king, may Freyr and Yorther make flee, hate him, land guardians, hate who holy ground hath scorned.

03:47:03.800 Apparently Svan is ill, yet lo, I shall continue.

03:47:21.740 We have a goal this evening that we shall get to.

03:47:26.300 I believe we've got, what, 11 chapters left?

03:47:32.100 You guys can bear with me in my reading. I will do my best here. If Spawn rejoins us, excellent. If not, we will catch up with him next week.

03:47:45.740 Chapter 59, King Eric slays his brothers.

03:47:50.920 Harold Fairhair set his sons to rule in Norway when he began to grow old.

03:47:55.840 eric he made king above all his other sons it was when harold had been king for 70 years

03:48:03.960 that he gave over the kingdom into the hands of his son eric at that time gunhilda bear a son

03:48:10.480 whom harold the king sprinkled with water giving him his own name and he added this that he should

03:48:17.740 be king after his father if he lived long enough king harold then settled down in retirement

03:48:23.760 being mostly in Rogaland, or Horgaland.

03:48:28.600 But three years later, King Harald died in Rogaland,

03:48:32.940 and a mound was raised to his memory by Haugesound.

03:48:40.900 After the death of the king,

03:48:43.480 there was a great strife between his sons,

03:48:47.500 for the men of Vic took Olaf for their king,

03:48:50.580 but the thrones Sigurd.

03:48:55.380 But these two, his brothers, Eric slew at Tunsberg

03:48:58.580 one year after King Harald's death.

03:49:02.120 All these things happened in one and the same summer.

03:49:06.160 To wit, King Eric, going with his army eastward to Vic

03:49:09.780 to fight with his brothers.

03:49:12.000 Before that, the strife of Ale and Bergenund at Gulatheng.

03:49:17.060 with the other events that have just been related.

03:49:22.880 Borgenund remained at home on his estate

03:49:26.380 when the king went to war.

03:49:29.440 For he thought it unsafe for him to leave home

03:49:32.400 while Eol was still in the land.

03:49:35.320 Had his brother was now there with him.

03:49:39.560 There was a man named Frodi,

03:49:42.900 a kinsman of King Eric,

03:49:45.220 very handsome, young in years, but a man grown. King Erik left him behind to protect Bergenund.

03:49:54.660 Frode was staying at Alriksted, a royal farm, and had some men there. A son of Erik and Gunnhilde

03:50:05.120 there was named Roggenwald, who was then 10 or 11 years old and had the makings of a very handsome

03:50:13.100 a man. He was with Frodi when these things

03:50:17.200 happened, but before King Erik rode forth to this war,

03:50:21.000 he made Eil an outlaw through all Norway and

03:50:25.000 free for any man to slay. Aaron Bjorn

03:50:28.360 was with the king in the war, but before he left home, Eil took his ship

03:50:33.080 to sea and made for the outlying fishing station called

03:50:36.280 Vitar. Over against

03:50:41.100 Aldi. It is on the high road of the seas.

03:50:45.440 Fishermen were there, and twas a good place for hearing tidings.

03:50:50.120 Then he heard that the king had made him an outlaw, whereupon

03:50:53.340 Eil spake a verse.

03:50:57.440 Lawbreaker, land demon, long voyage lays

03:51:01.340 on me. He, bane of his brothers,

03:51:05.200 beguiled by his bride, Gunhilda, the guilt bears,

03:51:09.280 grim queen of my exile. Fain am I full swiftly, her frauds to repay.

03:51:18.680 The weather was calm. A fell wind blew by night, a sea breeze by day. One evening,

03:51:26.500 Ale sailed out to sea, but the fishermen would then rowing into land, those to wit,

03:51:31.820 who had been set as spies on Eil's movement.

03:51:36.520 They had this to tell, that Eil had put out and sailed the sea and was gone.

03:51:42.180 This news they carried to Bergenund.

03:51:45.500 And when he knew these tidings,

03:51:47.500 then he sent away all those men that he had had before for protection.

03:51:52.820 Thereafter, he rode in to Ulrichsted and bade Frodi to his house,

03:51:59.500 for he had a great ale-drinking there.

03:52:02.620 Frodi went with him, taking some men.

03:52:06.460 They were feasted well there,

03:52:08.560 and they made merry with no fear of danger.

03:52:12.580 Rogenbald, the king's son,

03:52:15.660 had a penance rowed by six men on either side,

03:52:19.840 painted all above the sea line.

03:52:22.200 He had with him ten or twelve who constantly followed him,

03:52:25.600 and when Frodi had left home,

03:52:27.920 Then, Roenvald took the penance, and they rode out to Herdla, twelve in number.

03:52:38.000 A large farm of the kings was there, whereof the manager was named Skegthorier.

03:52:45.620 Roenvald, in his childhood, had been fostered there.

03:52:50.300 Thorier received the king's son joyfully.

03:52:53.980 There, too, was no lack of drunk.

03:52:57.920 I do not believe Svahn will be rejoining us, sir.

03:53:15.700 I just got off the phone with him.

03:53:18.460 All right.

03:53:19.220 So we have a Svahn-free broadcast from here on out.

03:53:24.260 I will do my best to hold down the fort.

03:53:27.920 um you're quite articulate i think you'll be okay appreciate the confidence over on the side uh

03:53:41.440 nothing louse apparently you tried to email me and three other people on the website but

03:53:49.600 haven't received a response that's terrible um i don't believe that i got your email and ignored it

03:53:57.280 uh please send another message if you send it right now i'll know it's you and i will get it

03:54:04.800 um yeah my apologies i wouldn't intentionally ignore you i hope everything's doing right you

03:54:11.040 may want to throw out an address just to make sure you're not i don't know misspelling something or

03:54:18.160 you know a missed letter here or there and if not if i know a date i can check my spam folder but

03:54:24.240 But either way, please get a hold of me right now.

03:54:26.340 Nobody's trying to duck you.

03:54:27.460 I'd be very happy to answer anything or, you know, respond to you at the very least.

03:54:32.700 I'm sorry that folks have missed you.

03:54:36.420 Yeah, I hope it was just some kind of oversight.

03:54:39.480 I think that may be the case, but we want to connect with you either way.

03:54:44.040 So chapter 60, the slaying of Bergenund and Rogenwald, the king's son.

03:54:52.740 aeol sailed out to sea for the night as was written above when morning came the wind fell

03:55:05.420 and there was a calm they then they drifting letting the ship ride free for some nights

03:55:12.360 but when a sea breeze came on aeol said to his shipmen we will now sail to land for i

03:55:21.640 I do not quite know, should the sea wind come to blow hard, where we could make land, to the dangerous-looking coast in most places.

03:55:32.320 The rowers made El rule their course.

03:55:35.800 So then they made sail, and sailed into the waters about Herdla.

03:55:42.020 There they found a good haven, and spread the tent over their ship, and lay there for the night.

03:55:48.760 They had on the ship a little boat.

03:55:51.640 into which went Aeol with three men.

03:55:57.660 They rode into Herdla and sent a man up into the island to learn tidings.

03:56:05.320 And when he came down to the ship, he said that there at the farm was Roanvald, the king's son, and his men.

03:56:13.540 They sat there a-drinking.

03:56:15.680 said he I lit on one of the house

03:56:20.360 the housecarls and he was ale mad

03:56:24.160 and said that here they must not drink less

03:56:27.640 than was drunk at Bergenon's

03:56:30.000 though Frodi was feasting there with a party of five

03:56:36.260 he said that no more were there than the household

03:56:40.220 save Frodi and his men

03:56:42.500 Whereupon Aeol rode back to the ship and bade his men rise and take their weapons.

03:56:50.340 They did so.

03:56:51.960 The ship they put out from the shore and anchored.

03:56:55.680 Aeol left twelve men to guard the ship, but himself went on the ship's boat.

03:57:01.500 They being eighteen in all, they then rode in along the sound.

03:57:05.880 They so regulated their pace that they came to Fen-Hurang at eventide.

03:57:12.500 and put into a hidden creek there.

03:57:16.060 Then said Eil, now will I go up into the island

03:57:19.760 and spy out what I can get to know.

03:57:22.600 But you shall await me here.

03:57:25.480 Eil had his weapons that he was wont to have,

03:57:29.060 a helmet and shield, a sword at his girdle,

03:57:33.820 a halberd in his hand.

03:57:35.400 He went up into the island and along the border of a wood.

03:57:40.240 He had now drawn a hood over his helm.

03:57:43.800 He came where there were some lads, and with them, large sheep dogs.

03:57:49.660 And when they began to exchange words, he asked whence they were, and why they were there, and had such big dogs.

03:57:57.100 They said, you must be a very silly fellow.

03:58:00.980 If you not heard that a bear goes about the island here, a great pest, he kills both men and sheep.

03:58:08.100 And a price is set upon his head. We watch here at Asker every night over our flocks that are pinned in this fold.

03:58:20.540 By why go you at night thus armed? He answered, I too am afraid of the bear. And few me thinks now go weaponless.

03:58:29.260 he has long pursued me tonight see there now where he is in the skirt of the wood

03:58:36.320 are all asleep at the farmhouse the boy said that bergenund and frodi would be drinking still

03:58:43.760 they sit at it every night then tell them said ale where the bear is but i will hasten home

03:58:51.980 so he went away but the boy ran home to the farmhouse and into the room where they were

03:58:59.000 drinking all were gone to sleep save those three or save these three onan frodi and had

03:59:07.260 the boy told them where the bear was they took their weapons which hung there by them

03:59:13.100 and at once ran out and up to the wood

03:59:16.300 from the main forest ran out a spur of wood with scattered bushes the boy told them where the bear

03:59:26.720 had been in the bushes then they saw that the branches moved once they guessed that the bear

03:59:33.360 would be there then bergenund advised that had and frodi should run forward between the shrubs

03:59:40.420 and the main forest, and stopped the bear from gaining the wood.

03:59:46.120 Bergenund ran forward to the bushes.

03:59:49.920 He had helm and shield, a sword at his girdle, a halberd in his hand.

03:59:55.100 Ale was there before him in the bushes, but no bear.

03:59:59.460 When he saw where Bergenund was, he unsheathed his sword,

04:00:04.120 and taking the coil of Korah attached to the hilt, wound it round his arm,

04:00:08.200 and so let the sword hang in his hand he grasped the halberd then ran forward to meet barganand

04:00:16.520 which when barganand saw he quickened his pace and cast his shield before him

04:00:23.060 and ere they met each hurled his halberd at the other ayl opposed the halberd with his shield

04:00:29.880 held a slant so the halberd with a cut tore out of the shield and flew into the ground

04:00:37.480 But Aeol's weapon came full on the middle of the shield and went right through it, far up to the blade.

04:00:44.020 And the weapon was fast in the shield.

04:00:46.400 Onan's shield was thus cumbersome.

04:00:48.860 Then quickly did Aeol grasp his sword hill.

04:00:52.060 Onan also began to draw his sword.

04:00:54.940 But ere it was half drawn, Aeol pierced him with a thrust.

04:00:58.940 Onan reeled at the blow.

04:01:00.940 But Aeol suddenly snatched back his sword and made a cut at Onan, well nigh taking off his head.

04:01:07.480 Then Aeol took his halberd out of the shield.

04:01:14.480 Now Had and Frodi saw Bergenon fall and ran thither.

04:01:19.480 Aeol turned to meet them.

04:01:21.480 At Frodi he threw his halberd, which pierced the shield, went into his breast and out his back.

04:01:29.480 At once he fell back dead.

04:01:31.480 Then taking his sword, Aeol turned against Had.

04:01:35.480 and they exchanged, but few blows Erhat fell.

04:01:39.900 Just then the herd boy chanced to come up.

04:01:43.040 Aeol said to them,

04:01:44.620 Watch you here by Onan, your master, and his friends,

04:01:49.200 that no beast or bird tear their bodies.

04:01:53.120 Aeol then went his way,

04:01:54.800 and before long, eleven of his comrades met him,

04:01:58.680 six staying at watch on the ship,

04:02:00.380 and they asked what success he had,

04:02:02.480 whereupon he sang.

04:02:03.880 long did we losers sit losers through him who took with greed the gold that once to guard i

04:02:13.640 better knew till now bergenen's bane my blade with wounds have wrought and hidden earth and veil

04:02:21.360 of had and frodi's blood then ale said we will now turn back to the farm and act in warlike wise

04:02:30.960 slaying all the men we can and taking all the booty we can come by.

04:02:38.120 They went to the farm, rushed into the house, and slew there 15 or 16 men.

04:02:45.060 Some escaped by running away.

04:02:47.720 They plundered the place, destroying what they could not take with them.

04:02:53.100 The cattle they drove to the shore and slaughtered,

04:02:56.460 putting on board as much as the boat would hold.

04:02:59.260 then they rode out to the sound between the islands ale was now furious so there was no

04:03:06.220 speaking with him he sat at the boat's helm when they got further out in the firth towards herdla

04:03:13.600 then came rowing out towards them roden lull the king's son with 12 men on on the painted pennants

04:03:21.460 they had now learned that ale's ship laid and heard in the water and they meant to take to

04:03:29.800 onan news of ale's whereabouts and when ale saw the boat he knew it at once straight for it he

04:03:38.220 steered when the boats came together the break of the cutter struck the beak of the cutter struck

04:03:44.980 the side of the penance's bow which so healed over the water poured in on one side and the boat

04:03:52.460 filled a leapt aboard grasping his holder and cried to his men to let no one on the penance

04:03:58.740 escape with life this was easy for there was no defense all were slain as they swam no one escaped

04:04:08.500 Thirteen their parish

04:04:10.320 Rowanvald and his comrades

04:04:12.720 Then Ale and his men

04:04:15.040 Rode to herd the island

04:04:16.560 And Ale spake a verse

04:04:18.260 I fought

04:04:22.340 Nor feared vengeance

04:04:24.040 Foul shone their reddened

04:04:26.980 Blood

04:04:28.140 Of the son of blood axe

04:04:30.100 Bold king and his queen

04:04:32.360 Perished on the penance

04:04:34.600 Prince

04:04:35.740 With twelve his legion

04:04:38.740 such stress of stern battle against them i stirred and when ale and his men came to herd

04:04:45.300 left at once fully armed they ran up to the farm buildings but when thor and his household saw that

04:04:53.460 they at once ran away and saved themselves all that could go men and women ale's party plundered

04:05:00.340 the place of all they could lay hands on then they rode out to their ship nor had they long

04:05:07.700 to wait ere a breeze blew off the land they made ready to sail

04:05:15.380 and when all was ready for sailing ale went up into the island he took in his hand a hazel pole

04:05:22.500 and went to rocky eminence that looked inward to the mainland then he took a horse's head

04:05:28.980 and fixed it on the pole after that in solemn form of curse he thus spake here set i up a curse pole

04:05:39.540 and this curse i turn on king eric and queen gunhilda here he turned the horse's head landwards

04:05:47.780 this curse i turn also on the guardian spirits who dwell in this land that they may all wander astray

04:05:55.060 nor reach or find their home till they have driven out of the land king eric and gunhilda

04:06:03.700 this spoken he planted the pole down in the rift of the rock and let it stand there the horse's

04:06:10.020 head he turned inwards to the mainland but on the pole he cut rooms expressing the whole form of curse

04:06:17.460 after this ale went aboard the ship they made sail and sailed out to sea soon the breeze

04:06:25.440 freshened and blew strong from a good quarter so the ship ran on a pace then sang ale forest

04:06:34.900 foe fiercely blowing flogs hard and unceasing the sharp storm the seaway that ship's stern doth

04:06:43.640 the plow the wind willow render with icy gust rustles or ruthless our sea swan doth buffet or

04:06:55.480 bowsprit and beak uh bowsprit and beak their voyage sped well from the main they came into

04:07:06.680 Borgirth, brought their ship into the Haven, carried their baggage on shore. Aeol then went

04:07:14.120 home to Borg, but his crew found their lodging. Skalagrim was now old, weak with age. Aeol took

04:07:23.720 the management of the property and care of the house. Sorry guys, one man shows, so I'm kind of

04:07:34.700 bouncing back and forth between stuff at the chapter breaks

04:07:37.400 and taking a swig of my Arctic Berry Ale.

04:07:53.420 Story time is good, no matter how old you are.

04:07:57.340 All right.

04:07:58.740 Chapter 61, Death of Skalagoran.

04:08:01.920 There was a man named Thorgir. He had to wife Thordis Yngvar's daughter, Eil's mother's sister. Thorgir dwelt on Svannes at Lammstead.

04:08:18.460 he'd come out to iceland with yingvar he was wealthy and much honored of men

04:08:25.540 thor gear and his wife had a son ford who was dwelling at lamstead after his father when ale

04:08:33.520 now came back to iceland it chanced in the autumn shortly before winter that thor rode into borg to

04:08:41.500 find Eil, his kinsman, and he bade him to a banquet. He had had Eil brewed out at his

04:08:49.860 home. Eil promised to go, and the day was fixed about a week thence. So when the time

04:08:55.960 came, Eil prepared to go, and with him, Ausgur, his wife, they were a company of ten or twelve

04:09:05.580 in all. But just when Eil was ready, Skalagrim went out with him, and embracing him before

04:09:11.060 he mounted said you are late methinks ale in paying to me the money which king athelstan sent

04:09:17.620 me what do you mean to do with that money ale answered are you very short of money father

04:09:26.340 i did not know it i shall at once let you have silver when i know you need it but i know that

04:09:33.620 that you still have in your keeping

04:09:35.320 one or two chests full of silver?

04:09:38.600 I suppose, said Scalagrin,

04:09:40.880 you think that we have made our division

04:09:43.160 of the movable property.

04:09:45.480 You must now be content if I do what I like

04:09:48.040 with that money I have in keeping.

04:09:50.460 Hale answered, you cannot think you need to ask any leave

04:09:54.080 for me in this, for you will choose to have it your own way,

04:09:58.140 whatever I may say.

04:10:04.340 Then Eo rode away till he came to Lampstead, where he was made heartily welcome.

04:10:11.440 He was to be there three nights.

04:10:14.500 Same evening that Eo left home, Scalagrin had a horse saddled.

04:10:19.200 He then rode out just when the others were going to bed.

04:10:23.360 When he went away, he bore before him on his knees a very large chest, but under his arm he carried a brazen kettle.

04:10:30.740 it has been since held for certain that he let down one or both into crumbs bog hole and dropped

04:10:42.180 a large stone slab atop of them scala groom came home about midnight and then went to his place and

04:10:49.840 lay down in his clothes but in the morning when it was light and people were dressed there sat

04:10:55.620 skallagrim forward on the seat's edge already dead and so stiff they could not straighten him

04:11:02.160 though they tried all they could then a man was put on horseback who galloped off as hard as he

04:11:11.200 might to lamstead at once he sought ale and told him these tidings then ale took his weapons

04:11:18.420 and clothes, and rode home, reaching Borg by Edentide. And at once, on dismounting, he went

04:11:27.140 in, and to the passage that was round the hall, with doors leading from the passage to the seats

04:11:32.700 inside. Aeol went on to the chief seat, and took Skallagrim by the shoulders, and forced him

04:11:39.320 backward, and laid him down in the seat, and rendered then the service to the dead. Then Aeol

04:11:45.800 bade him take digging tools and break open the wall on the south side.

04:11:50.460 When this was done, then Aeol supported the head

04:11:53.840 and the others the feet of Skalagorim.

04:11:57.680 And so they bore him athwart, the house

04:12:01.740 out through the breach in the wall,

04:12:05.000 in the wall just made. Then they bore him immediately down to

04:12:09.860 Naustanes. There for the night a tent was set

04:12:13.740 over the body, but in the morning, with flood tide, Scalagrim was put on a boat and rode

04:12:18.820 out to Digra-Ness. There, Eil had a mound raised on the point of the Ness. Therein was

04:12:29.440 laid Scalagrim, with his horse, his weapons, and his smithy tools. He was not told that

04:12:36.160 any valuables were laid in the mound beside him. Eil took the heritage, lands, and chattels.

04:12:44.300 Thenceforth he ruled the house.

04:12:46.700 With Aeol, there was Thordas, daughter of Thorulf, and Ausgurther.

04:13:05.480 Wolf throne, you'll have to deal with just me this evening.

04:13:08.180 Svan has taken ill for the evening.

04:13:10.500 um yeah it's unfortunate i hope that uh that does not last him long

04:13:18.740 chapter 62 ale's voyage to england

04:13:25.260 king eric ruled over norway one year after the death of his father king harold

04:13:31.260 before haakon athelstan's foster son another son of harold came out there

04:13:37.560 out of the west of England.

04:13:40.500 And in that same summer, Eil Skalagrimson went to Iceland.

04:13:46.320 Håkon went northward to Thronheim.

04:13:50.040 He was there accepted as king.

04:13:52.300 He and Erik were for the winter both king in Norway.

04:13:56.580 But in the following spring, each gathered an army.

04:14:00.780 Håkon had by far the larger numbers.

04:14:03.600 The reason for this is that he made it law in the land that every man should owe his patrimony, where King Harald had enslaved all, rich and poor alike.

04:14:15.860 Errik saw no other choice but to flee the land, and so he went abroad with Gunhilda, his wife, and their children.

04:14:23.600 Lord Erendjorn was King Errik's foster brother, the foster father of his son.

04:14:28.700 Dear to the king was he above all his barons, and the king had set him as ruler over the Firth folk.

04:14:39.140 Aranbjorn was with the king when he left the land.

04:14:42.900 They first went westward over the main to the Orkneys.

04:14:48.000 There Eric gave his daughter Regnwilder in marriage to Earl Arnfinn.

04:14:53.480 After that, he went south with his horse along the coast of Scotland,

04:14:57.620 and he harried there, then still south to England and harried there.

04:15:03.580 And when King Athelstan heard of this, he gathered a force and went against Eric.

04:15:08.760 But when they met, terms were proposed, and the terms were that King Athelstan gave to Eric the government of Northumberland.

04:15:16.720 And he was to be, for King Athelstan, defender of the land against the Scots and the Irish.

04:15:22.080 Athelstan had made Scotland tributary under him after the death of King Olaf

04:15:28.020 but that people were constantly disloyal to him

04:15:32.360 the story goes that Gonhilda had a spell worked

04:15:35.860 this spell being that Eil Skaladrimson should find no rest in Iceland

04:15:41.180 till she had seen him

04:15:43.300 but in that summer when Håkon and Eret had met and contended for Norway

04:15:49.340 All travel to any land from Norway was forbidden.

04:15:54.100 So in the summer, there came to Iceland from Norway neither ship nor tidings.

04:15:58.760 Eil Skalagrimson abode at his home.

04:16:05.960 During the second winter that he was living at Borg, after Skalagrimson's death, Eil became melancholy.

04:16:14.580 And this was more marked as the winter wore on.

04:16:17.480 And when summer came, Ale let it be known that he meant to make ready his ship for a voyage out in the summer.

04:16:26.120 He then got a crew. He proposed to sail to England.

04:16:30.240 There were 30 men on the ship.

04:16:32.840 Asgurther remained behind and took charge of the house.

04:16:36.800 Ale's purpose was to seek King Athelstan and to look after the promise that he had made to Ale at their last parting.

04:16:43.700 it was late ere ale was ready when he put to sea the winds delayed him autumn then came on

04:16:53.220 rough weather set in they sailed past the north coast of the orkneys ale would not put in there

04:17:00.280 for he thought king eric's power would be supreme all over the islands then they sailed southward

04:17:06.760 past scotland and had great storms and crosswinds weathering the scottish coast they held on

04:17:15.240 southwards along england but on the evening of of a day as darkness came on it blew a gale

04:17:23.880 before they were aware breakers were both seaward and ahead there was nothing for it but to make for

04:17:29.800 land and this they did under sail they ran ashore and came to land at humbermouth all the men were

04:17:38.820 saved and most of the cargo but as for the ship was broken to pieces when they found men to speak

04:17:45.480 with they learnt these tidings which ale thought good that with king athelstan all was well with

04:17:54.080 his kingdom, but other tidings were there, which Eol thought dangerous, to wit, that King Eric

04:18:00.060 Bloodaxe was there, and Gunhilda, and they had the government of the province, and Eol was but a short

04:18:06.920 way up the country in the town of York. I'm sorry, and Eric was but a short way up the country in the

04:18:14.620 town of York. This also, Eol learned, that Lord Ehrenbjorn was there with the king, and in great

04:18:22.060 friendship with him. When Adel got to know these tidings, he resolved what to do. He thought he

04:18:29.880 had little hope of escape, though he should try to conceal himself and go disguised as long as he

04:18:35.380 might, till he were clear of Eric's dominions. For he was at that time easily known by such as

04:18:43.720 should see him he thought also it were a mean man's fate to be captured in such flight so he

04:18:51.960 took a bold heart and resolved that at once in that very night when they came there he should

04:18:59.640 get him a horse and ride to the town he came there in the evening and rode at once into the town

04:19:06.460 he had now a hood drawn over his helm was fully armed ale inquired where in the town erin dorm

04:19:14.480 was housed it was told him fither he rode to the house when he came to the hall door he dismounted

04:19:23.100 from his horse found a man to speak to it was told him that erin bjorn sat meet ale said i would

04:19:31.080 fame good fellow you should go into the hall and ask you aaron bjorn whether he will rather speak

04:19:37.320 without or within to ale skallagernson the man says tis but little trouble for me to do this

04:19:45.320 errand he went into the hall and spoke quite loud there is a man come here out before the door he

04:19:52.360 said big as a giant and he begged me to go in and ask whether thou would rather rather speak without

04:20:00.040 or within to ale skallagrimson aaron bjorn said go and beg him to bide without nor shall he need

04:20:09.240 to bide long he did as aaron bjorn told him went out and said what he had been said what had been

04:20:16.840 said to him aaron bjorn did uh take up the tables then went he out with all his housecarls with him

04:20:24.360 And when Aaron Bjorn met Aeol, he greeted him well and asked why he was come there.

04:20:31.280 Aeol, in a few words, told him clearly of his journey.

04:20:34.720 And now you shall see what counsel I ought to take, if you will give me any help.

04:20:40.820 Have you, said Aaron Bjorn, before you came to this house, met any man in the town who are likely to have known you?

04:20:48.360 None, said Aeol.

04:20:50.220 Let men then take their weapons, said Aaron Bjorn.

04:20:53.300 They did so, but when all were armed, then went they to the king's house.

04:20:59.560 And when they came to the hall, then Aaron Bjorn knocked at the door, asking them to open and saying who was there.

04:21:05.400 The doorkeepers at once opened the door. The king was sitting at table.

04:21:10.640 Aaron Bjorn then bade that they should go in, go in, twelve in number, naming for this Ale and ten others.

04:21:19.620 Now shall you, Ale, bring the king your head and clasp his foot, but I will be your spokesman.

04:21:28.540 Then they went in.

04:21:30.600 Aaron Bjorn went before the king and saluted him.

04:21:33.860 The king received him and asked what he would have.

04:21:39.840 Aaron Bjorn said, I lead hither one who has come a long way to seek thee in thy place and to be reconciled with thee.

04:21:48.740 Great is this honor to thee, my Lord, when thine enemies travel of their own free will from other lands and deem they cannot endure thy wrath, though thou be nowhere near.

04:22:02.900 Now show thyself princely to this man

04:22:06.100 Let him get from thee good terms

04:22:09.260 Seeing that he hath so magnified thine honor

04:22:13.180 And as thou now mayest see

04:22:15.360 By braving many seas and dangers to come hither from his own home

04:22:20.400 No compulsion drove him to this journey

04:22:23.200 Not but goodwill to thee

04:22:25.400 Then the king looked round and saw over men's heads

04:22:30.360 where Ael stood, the king knew him at once, and darting a keen glance at him said,

04:22:37.520 How wert thou so bold, Ael, that thou darest come before me? Thy last parting from me was such that

04:22:46.260 of life thou couldst have from me no hope. Then went Ael up to table, and clasped the foot of the king,

04:22:57.540 He then sang, with crosswinds far cruising, I came on my wave horse, Eric England's warder, eager soon to see, now wielder of wound flash, white dauntless and daring, the strong strand of herald, stout lineage I meet.

04:23:19.900 King Eric said,

04:23:49.900 ale be slain at once rememberest thou no more o king what ale hath done to thee slain thy friends

04:23:59.180 and thy kin a even thine own son to boot and cursed thyself wherever was it known that a king

04:24:09.900 was thus dealt with aaron bjorn said if ale had spoken evil of the king for that he can now atone

04:24:17.500 in words of praise that shall live for all time when hilda said we will hear none of his praise

04:24:25.260 o king bid ale be led out and beheaded i will neither hear his words nor see him then said

04:24:34.380 erin the king will not let himself be egged on to all thy dastardly work he will not have ale slain

04:24:43.260 by night, for night slaying is murder. The king said, So shall it be, Aaron Bjorn, as

04:24:50.760 thou demandest. Ale shall live this night. Take thou him home with thee, and bring him

04:24:58.160 to me in the morning. Aaron Bjorn thanked the king for his words. We hope, my lord,

04:25:06.940 that henceforth Aeol's cause will take a better turn.

04:25:11.360 And though Aeol has done great wrong against thee,

04:25:14.720 yet look thou on this,

04:25:16.800 that he has suffered much from thee and thy kin.

04:25:20.360 King Harald thy father took the life of Thorulf,

04:25:24.180 a man of renown, Aeol's father's brother,

04:25:28.340 for the slander of bad men and no crime at all.

04:25:32.420 And thou, O king, didst break the law in Aeol's case

04:25:35.740 for the sake of Bergenon.

04:25:37.980 Nay, further, thou didst wish to doom his death,

04:25:42.600 and didst slay his men, and plunder all his goods,

04:25:46.460 and withal didst make him an outlaw,

04:25:49.040 and drive him from the land.

04:25:51.420 And Eil is one who will stand no teasing,

04:25:54.460 but in every cause under judgment

04:25:57.160 one must look at the act with its reasons.

04:26:01.180 I will now have Eil in keeping for the night.

04:26:05.740 Then Ehrenbjorn and Ale went back to the house.

04:26:09.240 When they came in, they too went into a small upper room and talked over the matter.

04:26:14.940 Ehrenbjorn said, the king just now was very wroth, yet methought his mood rather softened before the end,

04:26:24.320 and fortune will now decide what may be the upshot.

04:26:30.240 I know that Gunhilda will set all her mind on marring your cause.

04:26:35.280 Now would I feign that we take this counsel, that you be awake through the night and compose a song of praise about King Herrick.

04:26:44.660 I should think it had best be a poem of 20 stanzas, and you might recite it tomorrow when we come before the king.

04:26:54.400 Thus did Bragi, my kinsman, when he was under the wrath of Bjorn, king of Sweden.

04:26:59.860 He composed a poem of praise about him in one night, and for it received his head.

04:27:06.680 Now may we also have the same luck with the king, and you may make your peace with him, if you can offer him a poem of praise.

04:27:15.480 Aeol said, I shall try this counsel that you wish, but was the last thing I ever meant to sing King Eric's praises.

04:27:25.400 Aaron Bjorn bade him try.

04:27:26.740 then aaron bjorn went away and had food and drink carried to the upper room ale was there alone for

04:27:35.700 the night aaron bjorn went to his men and they sate over drink till midnight then aaron bjorn

04:27:42.540 and his men went to the sleeping chambers but before undressing he went up to the room to ale

04:27:48.000 and asked how he was getting on with his poem ale said that nothing was done here said he

04:27:55.240 has said a swallow by the window and twittered all night so that I have never got rest for that

04:28:03.120 saying. Whereupon Eric Bjorn went away and out by the door leading up to the house roof and he

04:28:10.200 sat by the window of the upper room where the bird had before said. He saw that something of a shape

04:28:17.800 which a posist moved away from the roof.

04:28:25.280 Aaron Bjorn sat there by the window all night till dawn.

04:28:29.100 But after Aaron Bjorn had come there,

04:28:31.540 Ale composed all the poem and got it so by heart

04:28:36.220 that he could recite it in the morning when he met Aaron Bjorn.

04:28:40.240 They watched for a fit time to go before the king.

04:28:47.800 So, a few things.

04:29:03.400 I'm sorry, I'm looking over in the chat, and there's questions as to where we're at.

04:29:07.180 Those of you following along, we're about to start chapter 63, and we're going to be reading through chapter 69 tonight.

04:29:17.800 it's an interesting development

04:29:26.860 there was the option of trying to hide and somehow escape and make his way out of the realm

04:29:38.680 that King Eric Bloodaxe now governed in England but our hero Aeol chose to take a bold choice

04:29:47.800 he decided to ride up and test his fate and see what he could do.

04:29:53.620 And so he went to his friend.

04:29:55.240 His friend wanted to represent him before the king

04:29:57.300 and got him an opportunity to perhaps spare his life.

04:30:04.260 And that's the task that he set upon now.

04:30:06.580 But as you can see, the queen used her magic to either shapeshift or send a fetch

04:30:15.340 or whatever witchly magic she had

04:30:17.940 to have this swallow outside distracting a long night

04:30:22.460 so he couldn't compose his poem.

04:30:27.420 Again, what's cool about this is it's not,

04:30:33.200 again, this isn't fanciful.

04:30:35.780 This is a real retelling of stuff that happened.

04:30:40.100 And it's an interesting kind of,

04:30:42.800 you know, you may recognize the similarity

04:30:44.720 to, you know, the fly that bit the dwarf as he was forging Mjolnir and distracted him,

04:30:54.460 causing him to make the handle a little bit too short.

04:30:57.400 So there's precedent for this, this idea of sending an animal form out to confound the

04:31:04.220 building or creation of something.

04:31:07.820 And we see that here again in the saga.

04:31:09.620 chapter 63

04:31:13.620 ale recites the poem

04:31:21.500 king eric went to table according to his want

04:31:25.960 much people were with him and when

04:31:29.800 erin bjorn knew this then went he

04:31:33.680 with all his followers fully armed to the king's palace

04:31:37.860 While the king stayed at the table, Aaron Bjorn craved entrance into the hall.

04:31:47.520 It was granted.

04:31:48.980 He and Eol went in with half of his followers, but the other half stood without before the door.

04:31:55.560 Aaron Bjorn saluted the king.

04:31:57.840 The king received him well.

04:31:59.860 Aaron Bjorn spoke.

04:32:01.740 Here now has come Eol.

04:32:03.180 He has not sought to run away in the night, nor would we fain know, my lord, what his lot is to be.

04:32:12.420 I hope thou wilt let him get good from my words, for I think in a matter of great moment to me that Eo gained terms from me.

04:32:22.720 I have so acted, as was right, that neither in word nor deed have I spared aught whereby thy honor should be made greater than before.

04:32:33.180 I have also abandoned all my possessions, kinsmen and friends, that I had in Norway, and followed thee when all other barons deserted thee, and herein do I what is me, for thou hast often done great good to me.

04:32:49.620 Then spoke Gunnhilde

04:32:52.960 Cease, Aaron Bjorn

04:32:55.220 Nor prate so at length of this

04:32:58.560 Thou hast done much good to King Eric

04:33:01.280 This he hath fully rewarded

04:33:03.960 Thou owest far more duty to King Eric than to Eil

04:33:08.380 It is not for thee to ask that Eil go unpunished hence from King Eric's presence

04:33:14.260 Seeing what crimes he has wrought

04:33:16.860 Then, said Aaron Bjorn

04:33:19.400 If thou, O king, and thou, Gunhilda, if ye too have resolved that Eol shall here get no terms, then is this the manly course, to give him respite and leave to go for a week, that he may look out for himself of his own free will with any way he can hitherto seek you, and therefore hoped for peace.

04:33:47.140 Thereafter this done, let your dealings together end as they may.

04:33:54.180 Gunhilda said, well, can I see by this, Aaron Bjorn, that thou art more faithful to Ael than to King Eric.

04:34:02.140 If Ael is to ride hence for a week, then will he in this time become to King Athelstan.

04:34:08.980 But King Eric cannot now hide this from himself, that every king is now stronger than he is.

04:34:17.820 Whereas a little while ago, it had been deemed incredible that King Eric would not have the will and energy to avenge his wrongs on such a one as Aeol.

04:34:28.660 Said Aaron Bjorn, no one will call Eric a great man for slaying a yeoman's son, a foreigner, who has freely come into his power.

04:34:37.940 but if the king wishes to achieve greatness hereby then will i help him in this so that

04:34:46.140 these tidings shall be thought more worthy of record for i and ale will now back each other

04:34:53.780 so that we may both be met at once thou wilt then oh king dearly by the life of ale when we be all

04:35:03.220 lay dead on the field i and my followers far other treatment should i have expected of thee

04:35:12.040 than that thou wouldest prefer seeing me lay dead on the earth to granting me the boon i crave for

04:35:18.640 one man's life then answered the king a wondrous eager champion art thou erin bjorn in this thy

04:35:27.980 helping of Ael. Loth were I to do thee scathe, if it come to this, if thou wilt rather give away

04:35:37.600 thine own life than that he be slain. But sufficient are the charges against Ael,

04:35:45.340 whatever I cause to be done with it. When the king had said this, then Ael advanced before him

04:35:51.500 and began the poem, and recited it in a loud voice, and at once won silence.

04:36:03.320 Westward I sailed the wave, within me Oven gave, the sea of song I bear, so tis my want to fare.

04:36:13.020 I launch my floating oak

04:36:15.680 When loosening ice flows broke

04:36:19.200 My mind a galleon fraught

04:36:22.080 With load of minstrel taut

04:36:24.740 A prince doth hold me guest

04:36:27.720 Praise be his due confessed

04:36:31.620 Of Oven's mead let drop

04:36:34.180 In England now be quaffed

04:36:37.480 Laud bear I to the king

04:36:40.480 Loudly his honor sang

04:36:43.000 Silence I crave around

04:36:46.180 My song of praise is found

04:36:48.780 Sire, mark the tale I tell

04:36:52.660 Such heed beseems thee well

04:36:55.580 Better I chaunt my strain

04:36:59.740 If stillness hushed I gain

04:37:02.260 The monarch's wars in word

04:37:06.500 Widely have peoples heard

04:37:08.680 But Odin saw alone Bodies before him strone

04:37:13.760 Swell of swords the sound Smiting bucklers round

04:37:20.620 Fiercely waxed the fray Forward the king made way

04:37:24.980 Struck the ear while blood Streamed from glaives and flood

04:37:31.160 Iron hailstorm song Heavy, loud, and long

04:37:38.680 lances a woven fence well-ordered bristle dense on royal ships in line exulting spearmen shine

04:37:50.120 soon dark with bloody stain see there an angry mane with war fleet thundering sound with wounds

04:38:00.440 and din around of men many a rank mid showering darts sank glory and fame got eric's name

04:38:13.960 more may yet be told and men silence hold further feats and glory fame hath noised in story

04:38:24.200 warrior's wounds were rife where the chief weighed strife shivered swords with stroke

04:38:33.880 on blue shields blue shield rims broke

04:38:38.040 breastplates ringing crashed burning helm fire flashed

04:38:46.840 biting point of glaive bloody wound did grave

04:38:51.920 olden's oak they say in that iron play baldrick's crystal blade

04:39:00.260 bowed and prostrate laid spears crossing dashed sword edges clashed glory and fame got eric's name

04:39:13.520 red blade the king did wield ravens flocked o'er the field dripping spears flew madly

04:39:21.480 darts with aim full deadly scotland scourge let feed wolf and ogre steed

04:39:32.120 for erin of downtrod dead dainty meal was spread sword battle cranes or co or course strong lanes

04:39:44.440 found flesh fouls bill of blood its fill while deep the wound

04:39:51.480 he delves around grim raven's beak blood fountains break axe furnished feast for ogress beast

04:40:03.080 eric on the wave to wolf flesh banquet gave javelins flying sped peace a fright fled

04:40:14.280 Bows were bent amain

04:40:17.260 Wolves were battle fane

04:40:19.600 Spears and shivers split

04:40:22.180 Sword teeth keenly bit

04:40:24.580 Archer's strings loud sang

04:40:28.340 Arrows forward sprang

04:40:31.440 He back his buckler flings

04:40:36.020 From arm beset with rings

04:40:38.740 Sword play stirrer good

04:40:41.560 Spiller of foeman's blood

04:40:44.200 Waxing everywhere, witness true I bear

04:40:48.760 East or billows came, Eric's sounding name

04:40:54.200 Bent the king his ewe, bees wound-bearing flew

04:41:01.020 Eric on the wave, to wolves flesh banquet gave

04:41:06.320 Yet to make more plain, I to men were fain

04:41:12.060 High-souled mood of king

04:41:14.200 But must swiftly sing

04:41:16.620 Weapons when he takes

04:41:18.900 The battle goddess wakes

04:41:21.500 On ship's shielded side

04:41:24.380 Streams the battle tide

04:41:26.840 Gems from wrist he gives

04:41:31.260 Glittering armlet riffs

04:41:33.680 Lavish ring despiser

04:41:38.060 Loves not hoarding miser

04:41:41.940 Frodi's flower of gold gladdens rovers bold.

04:41:47.240 Prince bestoweth scorning, pebbles hand adorning.

04:41:54.420 Fomen might not stand, for his death will brand.

04:42:00.360 You bow loudly sang, sword blades beating rang.

04:42:04.900 lances i were cast still he the land held fast proud eric prince renowned and praise his feats

04:42:16.460 hath crowned monarch at thy will judge my menstrual my menstrual skill silence thus defined

04:42:26.080 Sweetly cheered my mind

04:42:29.300 Moved my mouth with word

04:42:31.760 From my heart's ground stirred

04:42:35.000 Draught of Othin's wave

04:42:37.800 Due to warrior brave

04:42:40.160 Silence I have broken

04:42:43.080 A sovereign's glory spoken

04:42:46.300 Words I knew well fitting

04:42:49.040 Warrior council sitting

04:42:51.720 Praise from heart I bring

04:42:54.460 Praise to honored king

04:42:56.540 Plain I sang

04:42:58.800 And clear

04:42:59.640 Song that all could hear

04:43:02.380 Hail

04:43:09.100 A.O. Scali Grimson

04:43:11.180 I'm really glad to get the opportunity to read that again.

04:43:32.760 It's been a lot of years, and that is masterful.

04:43:41.180 Chapter 64, Aeol's life is given him.

04:43:48.380 King Eric stayed upright while Aeol recited the poem and looked keenly at him.

04:43:55.340 When the song of praise was ended, then spake the king.

04:44:01.320 Right well was the poem recited, and now, Darren Bjorn,

04:44:06.080 I've resolved about the cause between me and Aeol, how it shall go.

04:44:11.180 thou hast pleaded at ale's cause with great eagerness since thou off offer us to risk a

04:44:19.060 conflict with me now shall i for thy sake do what thou hast asked letting ale go from my land safe

04:44:29.000 and unhurt but thou ale so order thy going that after leaving my presence

04:44:36.460 in this hall thou never come before my eyes nor my son's eyes nor be ever in the way of myself

04:44:45.460 or my people but i give thee now thy head this time for this reason that thou came freely into

04:44:54.120 my power i will do no dastardly deed on me yet know thou this for sure that this is no

04:45:03.760 reconciliation with me, or my sons, or any of our kin who wish to wreak their vengeance.

04:45:11.880 Then sang ale. Loath am I in no wise, though in features loathly, helm-capped head in pardon

04:45:22.540 from high king to take, who can boast that ever better gift he won him from a lordly sovereign's

04:45:32.200 noble-minded son. Aaron Bjorn thanked the king with many fair words for the honor and the

04:45:39.280 friendship that he had shown him. Then they too, Aaron Bjorn and Ale, went back to Aaron Bjorn's

04:45:46.260 house. After that, Aaron Bjorn bade horses be made ready for his people. He rode away with Ale

04:45:53.700 and a hundred fully armed men with him. Aaron Bjorn rode with that force till they came to King

04:46:00.900 Athelstan, where they were well received. The king asked Aeol to remain with him and

04:46:06.860 inquired how it had gone between him and King Eric, whereupon Aeol spake a verse.

04:46:13.880 Aeol, his eyes black-brow from Eric, Raven's friend, welcomed, wise help therein, wife's

04:46:21.960 loyal kin lent my head throne of helmet unheritage noble as erst from rough rainstorm to rescue i

04:46:32.120 knew but at the parting of aaron bjorn and ale ale gave aaron bjorn those two gold rings that

04:46:39.000 king athelstan had given him were of each way to mark and aaron bjorn gave ale the sword called

04:46:46.120 uh drower drow drowvendil this had been given to erin bjorn by thorolf scholar grimson

04:46:57.960 but before that scholar grim had received it from thorolf his brother but to thorolf the sword was

04:47:03.880 given by grim shaggy skin son of kettle hang kettle hang had owned the sword and used it in

04:47:12.760 single combats and no sword was there more biting ale and erinbjorn parted with much affection

04:47:20.520 erinbjorn went home to king eric at york but ale's comrades and shipmates had had good peace there

04:47:28.600 and disposed their cargo under erinbjorn's protection but as winter wore on they moved

04:47:34.520 south to England and joined Egil. Chapter 65. Egil goes to Norway. There was a baron in Norway named

04:47:53.400 Erik Allwise. He married Thora, daughter of Lord Thorir, sister of Erin Bjorn. He owned property

04:48:01.940 eastward at Vic. He was a very wealthy man, much

04:48:05.900 honored, a prophetic foresight. Son of

04:48:09.680 Erekinthora was Thorstein. He was brought

04:48:13.860 up with Ehrenbjorn, was now fully grown, though quite young.

04:48:18.440 He had gone westward to England with Ehrenbjorn.

04:48:25.420 But in that same summer,

04:48:27.840 when Eil had come to England, these tidings were heard from Norway.

04:48:31.940 That Eric always was dead, but the king's stewards had taken his inheritance and claimed it for the king.

04:48:38.800 These tidings, when Aaron Bjorn and Thorstein heard, they resolved that Thorstein should go east and see after the inheritance.

04:48:48.680 So when spring came on, and men made ready their ships, who meant to travel from land to land,

04:48:55.380 and Thorstein went south to London, and there found King Athelstan.

04:48:59.020 He produced tokens and a message from Aaron Bjorn to the king, also to Eil, that he might be his advocate with the king, so that King Athelstan might send a message for himself to King Håkon, his foster son, advising that Thorstein should get his inheritance and possessions in Norway.

04:49:19.040 King Athelstan was easily persuaded of this, because Aaron Bjorn was known to him for good.

04:49:25.900 Then came Ael also to speak with King Athelstan and told him his intention.

04:49:33.060 I wish this summer, he said, to go eastward to Norway and see after the property of which King Eric and Bergenon robbed me.

04:49:42.240 Atli the short, Bergenon's brother, is now in possession.

04:49:46.980 I know that if a message of yours be added, I shall get law in this matter.

04:49:52.440 the king said that ale should rule his own goings but best me thinks were it he said

04:50:03.840 for thee to be with me and be made defender of my land and command my army i will promote thee to

04:50:10.700 great honor ale answered this offer i deem most desirable to take i will say yea to it and not

04:50:18.760 nay, yet have I first to go to Iceland and see after my wife and the property that I

04:50:24.940 have there.

04:50:27.080 King Athelstan then gave to Aeol a good merchant ship and a cargo therewith, and was aboard

04:50:33.860 for landing wheat and honey and much money worth in other wares.

04:50:39.240 And when Aeol made ready his ship for sea, then Thorstein, Eric's son, settled to go

04:50:47.580 with him.

04:50:48.760 He of whom mention was made before, who was afterward called Thora's son.

04:50:55.580 And when they were ready, they sailed, King Athelstan and Eil's parting, with much friendship.

04:51:03.740 Eil and his company had a prosperous voyage.

04:51:07.400 They came to Norway, eastwards, in Vick, and sailed their ship right into Oselarferth.

04:51:15.440 Up on land, there Thorstein had estates, and also inward as far as Romeric.

04:51:22.420 And when Thorstein landed there, he then preferred his claim to his father's property before the stewards, who were settled on the farm.

04:51:32.760 Many went help to Thorstein in the matter.

04:51:35.800 A meeting was held about it.

04:51:37.820 Thorstein had their many kinsmen of renown.

04:51:40.920 The end was that it was referred to the king's decision.

04:51:44.380 Thorstein, meanwhile, taking to him the safekeeping of his father's possessions.

04:51:50.700 For winter lodgment, Ale went to Thorstein with eleven more.

04:51:55.980 Thither to Thorstein's house was moved the wheat and honey, a merry time of it they had that winter.

04:52:02.660 Thorstein kept the house in grand style, for provisions were in plenty.

04:52:13.680 Chapter 66 Aeol and Thorstein go before the king.

04:52:27.440 King Hauken, Athelstan's foster son, then ruled Norway, as was told before.

04:52:34.460 That winter, the king held court in the north, in Thrandheim, Thrandheim, but as the winter

04:52:43.660 wore on, Thorstein started on his journey and Eil with him, and they had about 30 men.

04:52:52.680 When ready, they first went to Upland, thence northward by the Doverfell to Thrandheim,

04:53:02.140 they came before King Halkin. They declared their errand with the king. Thorstein explained his

04:53:08.140 cause and produced witnesses that he was the rightful owner of all that inheritance which he

04:53:14.380 claimed. The king received this matter well and let Thorstein obtain his possessions, and therewith

04:53:21.940 he was made a baron of the king, even as his father had been. Aeol also went before King Halkin

04:53:29.760 and declared his errand, giving therewith King Athelstan's message and tokens.

04:53:35.320 Eil claimed property that had belonged to Bjorn Yeoman, lands and chattels.

04:53:41.840 Half of this property he claimed for himself and Ausgurther, his wife.

04:53:47.800 And he offered witnesses and oaths to the cause.

04:53:52.480 He said, too, that he had said all this before King Eirik.

04:53:56.180 adding that he had then not got law

04:54:00.460 owing to King Eric's power

04:54:02.400 and the prompting of Gunhilda

04:54:03.840 Eil set forth the whole cause

04:54:07.520 which had been tried

04:54:09.360 at the Gullah thing

04:54:11.660 he then begged the king

04:54:15.340 to grant him law in this matter

04:54:16.900 King Haakon answered

04:54:18.660 this have I heard that my brother Eric

04:54:21.260 and with him Gunhilda

04:54:22.440 both assert that thou

04:54:25.400 Aeol has cast a stone beyond thy strength in thy dealing with them.

04:54:29.800 Now methinks, though, I and Eric have not the luck to agree, yet thou mightest be well content should I do nothing in this cause.

04:54:41.520 Aeol said,

04:55:11.520 folk enough here in the land to win right against atli the shore but as for the cause between me

04:55:18.940 and king eric there is this to say to thee that i went before him and that we so parted that he

04:55:25.520 made me go in peace whether i would i will offer thee my lord my following and service i know that

04:55:34.540 there will be here with the men who can in no wise be taught of more martial appearance

04:55:40.720 thought of no more martial appearance than I am.

04:55:45.080 My foreboding is that I will not be long

04:55:48.040 ere thou and King Eric meet,

04:55:50.640 that it will not be long that thou and King Eric meet,

04:55:53.780 if ye both live.

04:55:55.780 And I shall be surprised if thou come not then

04:55:58.580 to think that Gunhilda has borne too many sons.

04:56:03.260 King said, thou shalt not, Ael, become my liegeman.

04:56:07.900 thy kin have hewn far too many gaps in our house for this to be well that thou should settle here

04:56:17.840 in the land go thou out to iceland dwell there on thy father's inheritance no harm will there

04:56:23.980 touch thee from our kin but in this land tis to be looked for that thou all thy days our kin will

04:56:32.780 be more powerful. Yet for the sake of King Athelstan, my foster father, thou shalt have

04:56:39.160 peace here on the land, and shalt get law and land right, for I know that he holds thee right

04:56:44.900 dear. And you'll thank the king for his words, and pray that the king would give him sure tokens

04:56:51.620 to Thord in Arland, or to other barons in Sogon and Hordaland. The king said that this should be

04:57:00.660 done.

04:57:18.340 Chapter 67

04:57:19.860 Eil slays Ljot the Pale

04:57:22.740 Thorstein

04:57:24.800 and Eil made ready

04:57:26.520 for their journey so soon

04:57:28.500 as they had ended their errand.

04:57:30.660 They then went their way back, and when they came south over the Dover of Fel, then said Eil that he would go down to Romsdale, and after that south by way of the sounds.

04:57:44.360 I will, said he, finish my business in Solgen and Hordaland, for I would fain in the summer take my ship out to Iceland.

04:57:54.360 Thorstein bade him settle his journey as he would, so Thorstein and Eil separated.

04:57:59.000 Thorstein went south by the Dales all the way till he came to his estates.

04:58:07.840 There he produced the tokens of the king and his message before the stewards

04:58:11.660 that they should give up all the property which they had taken, and Thorstein claimed.

04:58:17.160 No one spoke against it, and he took all his property.

04:58:21.480 Ale went his way.

04:58:23.120 They being twelve in all, they came to Ramsdale.

04:58:25.500 uh there got them conveyance and then went south to uh myri nothing was told of their journey

04:58:36.140 before they came to the island called hog and went to pass the night at a farm named bend him

04:58:45.660 this was a well-to-do homestead in which dwelt a baron named fred gear he was young in years

04:58:53.260 and had but lately inherited his father's property his mother was named geda she was a sister of lord

04:59:00.220 erin bjorn a woman of noble presence and wealthy she managed the house for her son fred gear

04:59:08.540 they lived in grand style there ale and his company found good welcome in the evening ale sat next to

04:59:15.740 to Fridgier and his comrades outside him.

04:59:20.340 There was much strength and sumptuous viands.

04:59:24.540 Gida, the housemistress, in the evening had some talk with Ael.

04:59:28.820 She inquired about Aronbjorn, her brother, and others of her kinsmen and friends who

04:59:33.860 had gone to England with Aronbjorn.

04:59:36.440 Ael answered her inquiries.

04:59:38.640 She asked what tidings had befallen in Ael's journey.

04:59:42.460 He told her plainly.

04:59:44.820 And then he sang.

04:59:54.640 Gloomy on me glowered, in gruesome wrath a king.

05:00:00.980 But Cuckoo faints and fails not, for vulture flapping near.

05:00:06.420 Aid good from Ehrenbjorn, as oft in peace I gat.

05:00:10.200 He falls not whom true friends help forward on his way.

05:00:16.100 Ale was very cheerful that evening, but Fridgier and his household were rather silent.

05:00:21.620 Ale saw there was a maiden fair and well-dressed.

05:00:24.900 He was told that she was Fridgier's sister.

05:00:28.280 The maiden was sad and wept constantly that evening, which they thought strange.

05:00:34.480 They were there for the night, but in the morning, the wind was blowing hard, and there was no putting to sea.

05:00:41.500 They need a boat to take them from the island.

05:00:44.760 Then went Fridgir, and with him Gidya to Eil, and offered that he and his comrades should stay there until it was good traveling weather,

05:00:55.220 and should have then such help for the journey as they needed.

05:00:59.580 This Eil accepted.

05:01:01.400 They stayed there, weather-bound, for three nights, most hospitably entertained.

05:01:07.200 After that, the weather became calm.

05:01:10.440 Then Eil and his men rose up early in the morning and made ready.

05:01:14.440 They went to meet, and Eil was given them to drink.

05:01:18.000 They sat a while.

05:01:19.660 Then they took their clothes.

05:01:21.560 Eil stood up and thanked the master and mistress of the house for their entertainment.

05:01:25.860 Then they went out.

05:01:27.760 The master and his mother went out into the path with them.

05:01:31.880 Gidya then went to speak with her son Fredgir and talked low with him.

05:01:40.860 Eil standing a while and waiting for them.

05:01:46.580 Eil said to the maiden, Why weep you, maiden?

05:01:50.240 I never see you cheerful.

05:01:52.920 She could not answer, but wept the more.

05:01:56.220 Fridgir now said to his mother aloud,

05:01:59.140 I will not now ask this.

05:02:02.080 They are even now ready for their journey.

05:02:05.360 Then Gidya went to Eil and said,

05:02:08.520 I will tell you, Eil, how things stand here with us.

05:02:11.860 There is a man named Lyot the Pale.

05:02:14.740 He is a berserk and a duelist.

05:02:17.640 He is hated.

05:02:19.240 He came here and asked my daughter to wife.

05:02:22.740 But we answered at once, refusing the match.

05:02:25.260 whereupon he challenged my son Fridgir to wager of battle,

05:02:29.920 and he asked to go tomorrow to this combat on the island called Vorse.

05:02:35.560 Now I wished, Aeol, that you should go to the combat with Fridgir.

05:02:42.200 It would soon be shown if Aranbjorn were here in the land

05:02:45.380 that we should not endure the overbearing of such a fellow as Liot.

05:02:51.860 Eiel said, Tis but my bounden duty, lady, for the sake of Aaron Bjorn, thy kinsman, that I go.

05:03:00.600 If Fred Gere thinks this is any help to him, wherein you do well, said Gideon.

05:03:09.200 So we will go back into the hall and be all together for the whole day.

05:03:14.800 Then Eiel and the rest went into the hall and drank.

05:03:18.200 They stayed there for the day.

05:03:20.840 But in the evening came those friends of Fridger who had appointed to go with him.

05:03:29.020 And there was a numerous company for the night and a great banquet.

05:03:33.140 On the morrow, Fridger made ready to go and many with him, A.O. being one of the party.

05:03:39.840 It was now good traveling weather.

05:03:44.000 They now start and soon came to the island.

05:03:47.420 There was a fair plain near the sea, which was to be the place of combat. The ground was marked out by stones lying round in a ring. Soon came thither Lyot and his party, then made him ready for combat.

05:04:04.300 He had shield and sword. Lyot was a man of vast size and strong.

05:04:11.300 And as he came forward on the field to the ground of combat, a fit of berserk fury seized him.

05:04:18.300 He began to bellow hideously and bit his shield.

05:04:22.300 Fridgir was not a tall man. He was slenderly built, comely in face, not strong.

05:04:29.300 strong. He had not been used to combats, but when Eil saw Lyot, then he sang a stave.

05:04:39.600 It fits not, young Fregir, to fight with this warrior, Grimnar of Shilbrim. By his gods who

05:04:48.260 doth curse, I better may meet him, may rescue the maiden, full fearsome he spareth, yet

05:04:56.240 fey are his eyes. Leot saw where Eil stood and heard his words. He said, come thou hither, big man,

05:05:05.540 to the home and fight with me if thou hast a wish that way. That is a far more even match than I

05:05:14.140 thought I should fight with red gear. For I shall deem me no whit the greater man, though I lay him

05:05:21.600 low on earth. Then sang Ao, Liot asketh but little. Loth were I to balk him. Pale white

05:05:32.840 my hand plaint shall play on his mail. Come busk we for combat, nor quarter expect thou.

05:05:42.220 strifester in myri stern shield cutting all hours after this ale made him ready for combat with the

05:05:52.500 ale had the shield that he was wont to have was girded with the sword which he called adder

05:06:01.540 but in his hand he had dragvandil he went in over the boundary that marked the battleground

05:06:10.860 But Lyot was then not ready.

05:06:13.760 Ale shook his sword and sang.

05:06:17.140 Hew we with hilt wands flashing.

05:06:20.180 Hack we shields with falchion.

05:06:23.220 Test we moony targets.

05:06:26.420 Tinge red swords and blood.

05:06:29.020 Lyot from life be sundered.

05:06:31.980 Low stern play shall lay him.

05:06:35.660 Quelled the quarrel seeker.

05:06:37.840 Come eagles to your prey.

05:06:41.560 Then Lyot came forward on the field and declared the law of combat that he should ever after bear the name of dastard

05:06:49.280 who should draw back outside the boundary stones that were set up in a ring around the field of combat.

05:06:55.560 This done, they closed.

05:06:58.420 And Eil dealt a blow at Lyot, which Lyot parried with a shield.

05:07:03.300 But Eil then dealt a blow, dealt blow upon blow so fast that Lyot got no chance for a blow in return.

05:07:10.860 He drew back to get room for a stroke, but Eol pressed as quickly after him, dealing blows with all his vigor.

05:07:20.120 Liot went out beyond the boundary stones, far into the field.

05:07:23.580 So ended the first bout.

05:07:26.020 Then Liot begged for a rest.

05:07:29.800 Eol let it be so.

05:07:31.480 They stopped, therefore, and rested, and Eol sang.

05:07:35.520 free-handed gold giver back goeth yon champion in craven fear crouches this wealth wealth

05:07:46.020 craving white not strongly fights spearman his strokes who delayeth low beat by a bald head

05:07:55.760 this a bragging pest flies these were the laws of wager of battle in those times that when one

05:08:04.460 man challenged another on any claim, and the challenger gained the victory, then he should

05:08:10.000 have as prize of victory that which he had claimed in the challenge. But if he were vanquished,

05:08:15.760 then he should ransom himself for such price as should be fixed. But if he were slain on the field,

05:08:23.240 then he forfeited all his possessions, and he who slew him in combat should take his inheritance.

05:08:29.460 This was also law that if a foreigner died who had no heir in the land, then that inheritance fell to the king's treasury.

05:08:43.400 And now Eol bade Loth be ready.

05:08:48.400 I will, he said, that we now try to the utmost this combat.

05:08:54.160 Loth sprang swiftly to his feet.

05:08:57.240 Eil bounded at him and dealt at once a blow at him.

05:09:01.380 He pressed him so close that he was driven back, and the shield shifted from before him.

05:09:07.000 Then smote Eil at Lyot, and the blow came on him above the knee, taking off his leg.

05:09:13.760 Lyot then fell and soon expired.

05:09:16.580 Then Eil went to where Fridgir and his party stood.

05:09:21.060 He was heartily thanked for this work.

05:09:22.980 then eos bake a verse fallen lies the wolf feeder foul worker of mischief

05:09:33.100 leot's leg by a scald severed leaves fredgir in peace from the free gold giver

05:09:41.120 gurdon none i seek me sport i deem the spear den sport was such pale foe

05:09:52.560 Lyot's death was little mourned, for he had been a turbulent bully.

05:09:57.140 He was a Swede by birth and had no kin in the land.

05:10:01.060 He had come thither and amassed him wealth by duels.

05:10:04.500 He had slain many worthy landowners when he had first challenged to wager a battle for their lands and heritages.

05:10:11.480 He had now become very wealthy both in lands and chattels.

05:10:16.200 ale went home with fredgir from the field of combat he stayed there but a short time before

05:10:24.740 going south to mairi ale and fredgir parted with much affection ale charged fredgir with

05:10:32.120 securing of the lands that he belonged that had belonged to liot ale went on his way and came to

05:10:39.860 the firths whence he went into song with solemn with to seek thord in the island thord received

05:10:49.940 him well he declared his errand and message of king and the message of king halcon the words of

05:10:56.020 ale were taken well by thord who promised him to help in this matter ale remained there with thord

05:11:02.660 far into the spring.

05:11:32.660 Chapter 68 of Aeol's journeyings.

05:11:40.260 Aeol went on southwards to Hordaland, taking for this journey a rowing vessel, and thereon 30 men.

05:11:47.960 They came on a day to Asgur on Finhring Island.

05:11:53.520 Aeol went up to the house with 20 men, while 10 guarded the ship.

05:11:58.560 Atle the short was there with some men.

05:12:01.500 Aeol bade him to be called out and told that Aeol Scalagrimson had an errand with him.

05:12:08.500 Atlee took his weapons, as did all the fighting men that were there, and they went out.

05:12:14.580 Aeol spoke, I am told, Atlee, that you hold in keeping that property which of right belongs to me and my wife, Ausgurther.

05:12:22.580 you will be like have heard it talked of air now how i claimed the inheritance of bjorn yeoman

05:12:32.000 which bergen on your brother kept from me i am now come to look after that property

05:12:38.740 lands and chattels and beg you to give it up and pay it into my hands so thatly long have we heard

05:12:47.740 Ael, that you are a most unjust man, but now I shall come to prove it. If you mean to claim

05:12:54.800 at my hands this property, which King Eric adjudged to bargain on my brother, King Eric

05:13:02.100 had then power to bid and ban in this land. I was thinking now, Ael, that you would come here for

05:13:08.660 this end, to offer me a fine for my brothers, whose lives you took, and that you would pay

05:13:15.280 atonement for the privilege committed by you here at Asker. I would make answer to this proposal

05:13:22.520 if you should plead this errand, but here, to this other, I can make none.

05:13:33.560 I shall then, said Eam, offer you, as I offered Onund, that Gullithing Law decided our cause.

05:13:43.020 Your brothers, I declare, to have fallen without claim for fine and through their own wrong deeds, because they had first plundered me of law and land right and taken my property by force of arms.

05:13:57.620 I have the kings leave herein to try the law with you in this cause.

05:14:02.420 I summon you to the Gullah thing, there to have lawful decision on the matter.

05:14:07.180 To the Gullah thing, said Adley, I will come, and we can there speak of this matter.

05:14:16.640 Hereupon, Eo with his comrades went away.

05:14:20.300 He went north to Soren, then into Arland to Thord, his wife's kinsman.

05:14:27.720 And there he stayed till the Gullah thing.

05:14:30.600 And when men came to the thing, then came Eo thither.

05:14:33.800 uh atley the short was there was also there they began to declare their cause and pleaded it for

05:14:41.840 those who were to judge ale made his demand of money due but atley offered against it as a lawful

05:14:49.500 uh defense the oath of 12 men that he atley had in keeping no money that belonged to ale

05:14:56.780 And when Atlee went before the court with his twelve who would swear, then went to Ael to meet him and said that he would not accept Atlee for his own property.

05:15:08.540 I will offer you other law that we do battle here at the thing, that he shall have the property who wins the victory.

05:15:17.620 This was also law, that Aal proposed, in ancient custom, that any man had a right to challenge another to wager a battle, whether he were defendant in the cause or prosecutor.

05:15:33.080 at least said that he would not refuse this to do battle with ale for he said you propose what i

05:15:42.280 ought to have proposed seeing that i have enough loss to avenge on you you have done to death my

05:15:48.620 two brothers and far shall i be from upholding the right if i yield to you mine own possessions

05:15:55.840 unlawfully rather than to fight with you when you offer me this choice

05:16:03.080 So then Atli and Aeol joined hands, pledged them to do battle, the victor to own the lands for which they had been disputing.

05:16:13.500 After this, they arrayed them for combat. Aeol came forward with helm on head and shield before him, halberd in hand.

05:16:22.720 But his sword, Dragvandil, he suspended from his right arm.

05:16:27.580 It was the custom with those who fought in single combat so to arrange that the sword should need no drawing during the fight, but be attached to the arm to be at ready at once when the combatant willed.

05:16:45.420 Atlee had the same arming as Aeo. He was experienced in single combat, was a strong man, and of good courage.

05:16:54.900 To the field was led forth a bull, large and old, sacrificial beast, such was termed, to be slain by him who won the victory.

05:17:05.560 Sometimes there was one such ox, sometimes each combatant had his own led forth.

05:17:14.760 When they were ready for combat, they ran at each other, and first they threw their halberds,

05:17:21.720 neither of which stood fast in the foeman's shield, but both struck in the ground.

05:17:27.280 Then took they both to their swords and went at it with a will, blow upon blow.

05:17:35.900 Atlee gave no ground.

05:17:37.700 They smoked fast and hard, and full soon their shields were becoming useless.

05:17:43.160 When Atlee's shield was of no use, then he cast it from him,

05:17:46.680 and grasping his sword in both hands,

05:17:49.580 dealt blows as quickly as possible.

05:17:52.360 Eil fetched him a blow on the shoulder,

05:17:55.280 but the sword bit not.

05:17:57.080 He dealt another and a third.

05:17:59.380 It was now easy to find parts in Atlee

05:18:01.760 that he could strike since he had no cover.

05:18:05.140 And Eil brandished and brought down his sword

05:18:08.360 with all his might, yet it bit not.

05:18:12.120 Strike where he might.

05:18:13.320 then ale saw that nothing would be done this way for his shield was now rendered useless

05:18:20.020 so ale let drop both sword and shield and bounding on atli gripped him with his hands

05:18:26.260 then the difference of strength was seen and atli fell right back but when ale went down prone upon

05:18:33.820 him and bit bit through his throat there atley died a leapt up at once and ran to where the

05:18:43.900 victim stood with one hand he gripped his lips and with the other his horn and gave him such

05:18:51.180 a wrench that his feet slipped up and his neck was broken after which ale went where his comrade

05:18:59.020 stood, and then he sang. I bared blue a dragvandil, who bit not the buckler, Atley the short, so

05:19:11.780 blunted, all edges by his spells. Straining my strength, I grappled, staggered the wordy

05:19:19.940 foeman. My tooth, I bade, bit him. Best of swords at need. Then Ale got possession of all those

05:19:28.620 lands for which he had contended and claimed

05:19:30.640 as rightful, coming to his wife

05:19:32.880 Ausgurther from her

05:19:34.600 father. Nothing is told of further

05:19:36.700 tidings of that thing.

05:19:39.380 Eil then went first

05:19:40.560 into Sagan and arranged

05:19:42.880 about those lands

05:19:44.640 that he now got into his power.

05:19:47.240 He remained there for the great

05:19:48.580 part of the, for a great part of the

05:19:50.480 spring. Afterwards

05:19:52.040 he went with his comrades eastward

05:19:54.540 to Vic, then sent

05:19:56.520 Thorstein

05:19:57.200 then to seek Thorstein, and was there for a while.

05:20:04.760 All right, last chapter, and this one's tiny.

05:20:08.280 Chapter 69, Eil comes out to Iceland.

05:20:12.140 In the summer, Eil prepared his ship,

05:20:14.820 and when all was ready, at once set sail for Iceland.

05:20:18.640 His voyage sped well.

05:20:20.980 He came to Borgafirth and brought in his ship just below his own house.

05:20:26.300 He had his cargo conveyed home and set up his ship.

05:20:30.060 Eil stayed in his home that winter.

05:20:33.340 He had now brought out very great wealth and was a very rich man.

05:20:38.520 He had a large and lofty house.

05:20:41.260 Eil was by no means meddlesome with other men's matters,

05:20:44.140 nor generally presuming when there in Iceland,

05:20:48.720 nor did any try to encroach on what was his.

05:20:51.260 Eil remained at home now for years, not a few.

05:20:56.460 Eil and Ausgurðr had children thus named, Bodvar, a son, and another son, Gunnar, Thorgurðr, a daughter, and Berrath.

05:21:09.860 Their youngest was Thorstein, and Eil's children were of good promise and intelligence.

05:21:15.580 Thorgirðr was the eldest of the children, Beirðr the next.

05:21:23.960 That brings our reading to a close this evening.

05:21:37.080 Nafnlaust, you are very welcome.

05:21:41.300 I enjoy reading this.

05:21:44.460 it's translated archaically and a little bit awkwardly so I apologize for stumbling over a

05:21:51.720 few things here and there but uh I've really enjoyed reading it this evening and I'm glad

05:21:56.160 you enjoyed it um I'm gonna go ahead I'm gonna make sure we answer again I know a lot of you

05:22:02.880 waited a long time I hope those that asked earlier in the broadcast are still with us or if not

05:22:09.120 listen at a later time because I do want to answer all the questions I just want to make

05:22:13.500 we get through the text first. So I'm going back over to our questions list here.

05:22:25.720 Apologize, guys. I'm doing this single-handedly, sort of. Nick's helping me, but I'm kind of the

05:22:33.040 voice on the deal here. So as I go back and read the questions, it takes me a second to catch up

05:22:39.460 on some of the chat so we have a question um will the afa ever host a cultural institute of some

05:22:46.420 kind hosting language classes offering certificates and the like that's a really cool idea i'm not at

05:22:55.300 all opposed to that i'd really like us to do that at some point um it's not scheduled or you know

05:23:04.820 really on our radar to do at this point but i think it's a really neat idea and i'd be curious

05:23:09.860 how that develops um and we have a um those of you that may not know this is simulcast on a lot

05:23:19.860 of different platforms i think our best audience is here on youtube or over on x but we also are on

05:23:28.100 rumble uh we're on twitch we're on odyssey and we're on vk so there's a lot of different stuff

05:23:36.740 and you can always ask questions live when we're doing lore stuff we kind of wait to the end to ask

05:23:42.260 to answer questions that aren't like immediately pertinent uh but here's the question g'day have

05:23:50.420 you guys look into tartaria the tartarian empire the mud flood reset black sun and the 13 months

05:24:00.100 calendar i don't know if all of those are connected or not the tartaria mud flood thing

05:24:15.220 and again i'm not going to claim i'm an expert or that i've really dived into it

05:24:20.420 As it has been presented to me is, on the surface, ridiculous.

05:24:28.380 I, again, there may be someone who can put something eloquent to me that might change my mind, but it seems ludicrous.

05:24:37.860 We don't have gaps.

05:24:39.040 We have very complete history in a lot of different places that take us pretty comprehensively through the time period and the stuff that that theory talks about.

05:24:55.220 It sounds absurd.

05:24:58.860 I remain open-minded if there's something I need to look into or think about.

05:25:03.420 I'm fascinated to learn different things.

05:25:06.020 But all of the things that I've seen and have been presented to me, I find, you know, I find without merit so far, but maybe there's something I don't know on it.

05:25:19.020 sorry guys still reading through the questions

05:25:36.520 so Morris Taylor is it correct

05:25:38.480 to view the current world as

05:25:40.400 pre-Ragnarok or post

05:25:42.560 Ragnarok i.e.

05:25:44.400 are all the gods going to die

05:25:46.280 or did they already

05:25:47.600 Or does time work differently than linear?

05:25:52.380 Yes.

05:25:55.880 Yes answers all of those questions, though I know it doesn't explain it much.

05:26:00.140 What we've talked about on the show a number of times is the idea of mythic time.

05:26:06.660 Our gods don't die in the sense that you're talking about.

05:26:13.800 They are indestructible in that sense.

05:26:17.600 Because Ragnarok is in the future, it is now, and it is past. It is all that simultaneously. Mythic time functions very different than linear time, and there's a lot of layers.

05:26:36.000 I realize that that sounds like a very complicated answer, but it's the truth and it's the best way that I know to present that truth.

05:26:49.720 Yeah, our myths, all of the stories when you read them are present and in the moment when you read them, they're in the future, they're in the past, they're all of those things simultaneously.

05:27:07.560 In order for us to better relate to our mythos, to our gods, we see them at all different seasons of their lives and in all of those different situations.

05:27:27.840 their truths in those moments reveal themselves to us

05:27:34.320 in all the different seasons and situations of our lives

05:27:37.720 and the myths are an ever-repeating cycle of

05:27:44.040 becoming, being, and falling away

05:27:48.680 and then becoming again

05:27:50.480 And that's the, I know that's not the easiest to follow, but that is the truth of it and the way to embody it.

05:28:07.120 But what's important for your day-to-day, our day-to-day, and our going forth, our gods exist, they hear us, they interact with us through the gift cycle.

05:28:19.020 That is true. Whatever our conception of how we want to make a timeline or how we want to conceive of the time cycle, that happens.

05:28:31.380 Life beyond the veil and outside of Midgar, there functions differently.

05:28:38.160 But that understanding of death doesn't preclude one from interacting.

05:28:45.480 we know that we interact with our loved ones who have passed and that the veil allows that gift

05:28:51.860 cycle and interaction to go on. So same is true of our gods. They exist, they interact, they hear us,

05:28:59.440 they share with us, and they participate in that gift cycle. And that's the fundamental truth of

05:29:04.440 our practice. Everything else builds on that, but that bedrock is absolutely true.

05:29:15.480 Also from Morris Taylor, how do you change your mindset from just seeing our people being attacked from every angle to being optimistic and building things for the future, regardless of what other people say?

05:29:33.820 It's difficult in this world because we are bombarded with negative stuff all the time.

05:29:45.480 So the answer is this.

05:29:48.900 You focus on the things in your life that you have control of.

05:29:54.600 You get lost if all of your focus is towards these big macro geopolitical things that involve billions of people that you feel powerless to affect.

05:30:07.200 That's great.

05:30:07.840 I mean, be aware of the world around you.

05:30:10.400 If you have a way to affect the big picture, then cool.

05:30:13.200 but you have infinite ways to affect the small picture you have plenty of ways before you

05:30:23.340 to make life for yourself and your family better

05:30:27.540 you have literally infinite opportunity in front of you to build for yourself and your family

05:30:37.420 If you're always focused on what you don't have and opportunities that you don't have, you are blinded to all of the opportunities that you do have, and there's tons.

05:30:53.320 Very specifically, I channel all of that frustration and angst and concern into the OUSA True Folk Assembly.

05:31:03.940 You have the ability, as a member of the House True Folk Assembly, to drastically affect the lives of hundreds, likely thousands, possibly tens of thousands of people.

05:31:20.500 That's so much more than most people have access to.

05:31:26.180 In the AFA, we've done amazing things in just the past few years.

05:31:31.540 In the last decade, we've established the first four real Hoffs to our gods in a thousand years.

05:31:44.260 For a thousand years, Othin and Thor and Balder and Yordher did not have Hoffs.

05:31:54.140 They do now.

05:31:56.140 Due to a relatively small amount of people just making the effort.

05:32:02.020 So if you're not a member, join us and be part of that.

05:32:05.800 We're accomplishing beautiful things every day.

05:32:08.840 My daughter's never going to know a world that doesn't have Hoffs to our gods in it.

05:32:13.500 We didn't have that before 10 years ago.

05:32:16.860 We're doing awesome stuff.

05:32:19.200 It's so hard when we get a constant stream of negativity.

05:32:22.780 break free of that

05:32:25.300 focus on what we can do

05:32:27.020 because we're doing amazing things

05:32:28.720 if you're not part of it

05:32:30.400 come home

05:32:31.300 build amazing things with us

05:32:34.080 we're doing stuff every day

05:32:45.940 sorry guys for the dead air

05:32:47.740 I'm used to spawn feeling it

05:32:49.440 all right

05:33:00.080 so from the wolf throne i'll say here you go what advice would you give to a 24 to your 24 year old

05:33:11.420 self uh being that you know the wolf throne is 24 and he needs life advice

05:33:20.220 so that's tricky i'm that guy that overthinks all of those questions and to firmly you know

05:33:34.620 it'd take me hours to really thresh out exactly what i'd tell myself exactly at where i was when

05:33:40.560 I was 24. But in general, sorry, math in here. So I would have been 24 in 2005. And I guess

05:33:57.440 the first half of 2006.

05:34:10.080 It's funny you should ask that.

05:34:11.960 That's a time in my life where I really went through a lot of change.

05:34:27.440 at that time i was floating around but not actively being a part of afa stuff

05:34:33.280 i didn't get really active in the afa till 2009

05:34:38.880 so i would encourage myself to dive into that even quicker

05:34:46.640 i would encourage myself at that time to and all these things being honest and they're coming as

05:34:53.840 as they're coming, to count my macros instead of just trying to meet my protein, because

05:35:01.240 I got really fat in my process of trying to get big.

05:35:05.820 I could have looked better, had gotten less fat if I would have paid attention to macros

05:35:11.760 and not just protein intake.

05:35:13.280 Like, I would, I would counsel my 24-year-old self into having confidence in what I could do and not being willing to settle for less.

05:35:30.840 I mean that in a lot of ways, but like romantically and otherwise, I was still coming into having confidence in myself.

05:35:40.900 and knowing a degree of my value.

05:35:47.660 I was beaten down and kind of willing to take what I could get in life.

05:35:55.160 And I think that I would tell myself that you're better than that

05:36:00.760 and you can do better and you can try for more.

05:36:05.160 It's hard because I wouldn't redo.

05:36:06.940 I'm very happy with the life that I've been able to make for myself and the blessings I've received in my life.

05:36:13.840 So it's not so much a do-over thing, but like, no, you have so much opportunity.

05:36:19.220 Go out there and make the effort.

05:36:22.440 Don't just be lonely and take whatever comes your way.

05:36:27.200 Have standards and shoot for people that you think are maybe out of your league.

05:36:33.500 And if you really do that, you can probably, you know, be successful beyond what maybe you're entitled to if you have the courage to go out there and try to make it happen.

05:36:52.160 And Mandy's awesome.

05:36:53.580 My life is great.

05:36:54.580 I met her much later than 24.

05:36:56.460 This isn't a reference to that.

05:36:57.800 It's early relationships and other things in my life.

05:37:00.580 Please don't read into that.

05:37:02.940 Um, thinking on it, I was like 33 or so when I met my wife, and then I developed who I

05:37:14.200 was, and I knew who I was by then.

05:37:21.760 Yeah, that's what I'd say.

05:37:23.020 Have confidence in yourself and go out there and make the dreams that you want happen.

05:37:27.160 and believe in your ability to achieve things through being consistent.

05:37:32.960 Consistency is the key in anything you want to try.

05:37:37.260 Give it time to work, though.

05:37:39.020 Stuff doesn't happen overnight.

05:37:41.800 And also, people who've been around longer than you know more than you.

05:37:47.000 Doesn't mean they're always right,

05:37:49.200 but you should assume that if people have been doing something for a long time

05:37:54.060 and have had success at it maybe they know a little something about what they're doing

05:37:58.700 when they make choices that maybe you don't think you would have made maybe they have

05:38:04.300 reasons and see things from a perspective that you don't see when we're in our early 20s

05:38:10.940 this is speaking for myself but also so many people that i know you think you know everything

05:38:16.940 man if i was only there i would do this or i would do that i'd do different or i'd do whatever

05:38:23.340 You don't know that until you're there and you're exposed to the same vantage point that some of the people you think you do differently than are.

05:38:33.000 All this may sound cryptic, but I do think it's really good advice.

05:38:38.060 And rather than enthusiastically jumping behind one thing after another, after another, after another, if you don't have immediate success, invest in your long-term success.

05:38:53.860 And when you find something that is good, take the time to let it work itself out and to build yourself within that context.

05:39:04.020 Rather than being flaky and trying a million different things and failing at all of them, find the things that actually are valuable to you and invest the time to let them work out.

05:39:16.440 That's what I'd say at this point.

05:39:18.180 Probably a million other things if you ask me at a different time, but those are the things that I can think of right now.

05:39:23.860 um last one um what does Odin think of homosexuals

05:39:37.900 I think it would be impious of me to well Odin thinks this I think that's the wrong thing for

05:39:47.200 to do. Everything in our lore and in our being tells me homosexuality, especially male homosexuality,

05:40:03.040 is a mental disorder that is in a lot of ways disgusting to our traditional value system.

05:40:13.880 It inverts the values of masculinity and femininity in a toxic and malignant way that's indicative

05:40:22.520 of a dangerous and concerning mental illness.

05:40:27.060 And I think, you know, our ancestors certainly did not approve of it.

05:40:32.680 And it was dealt with more or less harshly in a lot of different contexts.

05:40:37.700 One of the things that we know to be true in our current life experience and in the world around us, male homosexuality is a mental illness that replicates through vampirism, for lack of a better term.

05:40:58.280 And there's kind of the phrase out there, hurt people hurt people.

05:41:08.520 There is a common thread amongst every homosexual that I've known well enough to where they were willing to admit this and many, many things that I've read anecdotally.

05:41:21.020 And many people who I've spoken to have been the victim of abuse.

05:41:28.280 That is propagated by the exploitation and abuse of children, and it becomes a generational process that preys on the innocence of children to propagate itself.

05:41:41.060 it's a very dangerous thing and a thing that we do not allow in the austral folk assembly and we

05:41:52.120 guard heavily against because it is a a threat to the well-being of our children and to

05:41:59.160 the furtherance of of our folk

05:42:04.060 all right guys so it's been a long one this evening but i'm loving reading through this

05:42:18.780 again with you guys um i appreciate you guys bearing with me even though my co-host had to go

05:42:25.080 and deal with some stomach issues this evening we in all likelihood will have him back next week to

05:42:32.240 join us. I hope you guys will join us. Like, share, subscribe. If you know people that would

05:42:39.220 be educated and or entertained by this, let them know. Biggest thing preventing our growth is that

05:42:46.600 a lot of our folk don't know that we are here. So please let folks know. If you're listening to this

05:42:53.800 and you agree with things we're saying, you're a heterosexual white person that wants to come

05:42:58.800 home to your gods, join the AstroFocus. And we were doing amazing things. We would love to have

05:43:04.100 you part of the family and sharing in those victories with us. I appreciate you guys.

05:43:11.760 Coming up on Friday, we're starting the Yule season. I hope everyone listening to this has

05:43:16.820 an amazing Yule with you and your family, surrounded by people who care about you,

05:43:22.400 celebrating and truly taking 12 days to enjoy the blessings that you have in your life.

05:43:36.920 Yeah, I hope you guys all have an amazing yule. I'm looking forward to talking to you guys next

05:43:41.660 Wednesday. Till then, hail the Aesir, hail the folk, hail the AFA. Remember, victory never sleeps.

05:43:52.400 Thank you.

05:44:22.400 We'll be right back.

05:44:52.400 Thank you.

05:45:22.400 We'll be right back.

05:45:52.400 We'll be right back.

05:46:22.400 Transcription by CastingWords

05:46:52.400 Amen.

Asatru Folk Assembly - December 19, 2024

12⧸18⧸24 Victory Never Sleeps, Episode 128 - Egill's Saga, Part 3

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