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NOTES 145
when the bonders heard that, even they who stood out in the wing,
they cried the same cry as they heard these call out. And when the
others of the bonder-host heard this, they thought that these last were
the king’s men, and bore weapons upon them, go that they fought be-
tween themselves, and many men fell before they were aware how it
was.”” (Chapter 238.)
PaGE 102. In the arch of heaven Blood-red the sun shone.
“ Fair was the weather, and the sun shone in the clear heaven, But when
the battle began, the heaven was besmitten by redness, and the sun
withal; and before it cleared off, it grew mirk as night.” (Chapter 238.)
An eclipse of the sun, which was total in Verdalen, lasted from 1.31
P.M. until 4.58 p.m., August 31, 1030, thus fixing definitely the day
and hour of the battle.
PaGE 103. One man bided, Tore Hund.
“Thorir Hund had fared last with his company, for he was to watch
that the host should not slink back, when the war-whoop came up and
the foemen’s folk were seen.” (Chapter 236.)
PaGE 104. Then a madness Seized on Tore.
“Tore Hund, like Haarek of Tjotta, had been bound to Olaf by the
feudal tie, and both had accepted Christianity, but the Halogalanders
held their Christianity lightly, having accepted it in a calculating spirit,
out of fear for the king’s anger. Tore Hund was a treacherous and
crafty man, and he is depicted in the saga as skilled in witchcraft. It
is, therefore, in consonance with the ideas prevailing at the time that
Tore Hund should steel his followers by witchcraft, to prevent them
from being driven to flight. His peculiar troll-like character causes the
old heathendom to contend in his mind with the new Christianity,
which threatens the rule of the Z@sir. He believes —as many of his time
believed — both in Odin and Thor and in Christ. This conflict between
the old faith and the new, made known to him by his own doubts, now
takes the form of a battle between the old gods and Christ, as he watches
the King’s army contend with the bonders’ army on the plain. The gods
take part in the battle of men; it seems to him as if the divine powers
of both the old and the new religions seek to destroy each other, and
vanish in the yawning abyss of annihilation (Ginnungagap). What he
sees and thinks, finds also expression in his speech. By his wild words,
naming in the same breath the good and evil powers of the old and
the new religions, familiar or half-familiar names, arousing terror or
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