Many restless men rowed north from Skania with Brue and Vagn, and found ill fortune at Jorundfjord; others marched with Styrbjorn to Uppsala and died there with him. When the news reached their homeland that few of them could be expected to return, elegies were declaimed and memorial stones set up; whereupon all sensible men agreed that what had happened was for the best, for they could now hope to have a more peaceful time than before, and less parceling out of land by the ax and sword. There followed a time of plenty, with fine rye harvests and great herring catches, so that most people were well contented; but there were some who thought that the crops were tardy, and they went a-viking in Ireland and England, where fortune smiled on their wars; and many of them stayed there.
-Frans G. Bengtsson, from the prologue to The Long Ships
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What an awesome book!
ReplyDeleteIf memory serves, it was based on your recommendation that I visited the library and ordered a copy. Thanks.
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