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Legendary Tales 51
of their men on the island and saw one after another
of Olafs ships sail by. They wished only to get sight
of his own ship, "Ormen L&nge" (Long Serpent) ,
the
mightiest ship built in Norway. Many great hulks
passed by, and each time King Sweyn thought it must
be the king’s ship. But the Norwegian jarl, who well
knew the king’s ship, said, "This is not Ormen L&nge."
At last a powerful, gold-bedecked dragon appeared.
Then Sweyn arose and exclaimed: "High shall the
dragon carry me tonight, I will steer him." But that
dragon was called "Ormen Korte."
Finally a dragon ship hove in sight, so immense that
one had to wait a long while after seeing the bow be-
fore one could see the stern. From its richly orna-
mented prow there spread a shimmer of gold over the
billows. No one asked, all knew that there sailed Olaf
Tryggvesson. It was propelled by thirty-four pairs of
oars, and its crew numbered nearly one thousand men,
and they were select men, who were said to surpass
all others in courage and strength, even as Ormen
L&nge surpassed other ships.
The whole hostile fleet then rushed out against
Olafs fleet, which now numbered only eleven ships.
But Olaf would listen to no suggestion of flight. He
brought the ships up alongside and fastened them to-
gether with his own ship in the center. A fierce battle
ensued. Men fell thick and fast. Before long all the
ships were cleared of their crews, except the king’s
ship. All of Olafs men who were still able to wield
arms gathered on his ship. Over them rained showers
of missiles so thick and fast that shields were inade-
quate for protection, as the hostile ships attacked
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