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THE GAILL AND THE GAEDHIL 13
treasures which they found there. After the great naval
battle between Danes and Norsemen in Carlingford Lough
(A.D. 852) Danes and Irish frequently united forces against
the common enemy, and on one occasion—after the two
armies had won a victory over the Norsemen in Tipperary
—the Danish chieftain Horm and his men were escorted
in triumph to Tara where they were received with great
honour by the árd-ri.[1] Even after the arrival of Olaf the
White, who brought about a temporary reconciliation
between the two parties of "Foreigners," a detachment
of Danes remained on in the service of Cearbhall, King
of Ossory.[2]
The Irish chronicler, in alluding to the Norse practice
of billeting their soldiers in the Irish farmhouses, lays stress
on the feelings of hostility entertained by the Irish towards
this "wrathful, foreign, purely Pagan people." Yet, we
not infrequently find instances of friendly intercourse, as
in the well-known story of Olaf-Trygvason and the peasant.[3]
It appears that after Olaf’s marriage to Gyda, sister of
Olaf Cuaran, he occasionally visited Ireland. Once he sailed
there with a large naval force, and being short of provisions
went on land with his men on a foraging expedition. They
––––-
the plundering of Kerry by Baraid (O.N. Barthr) and Olaf the White’s
son" who left not a cave there underground that they did not explore."
Several references to this practice of the Vikings occur also in
Icelandic literature. It is interesting to compare the Irish accounts
with the following passage from Landnámabók (I., ch. 5): "Leifr
(one of the earliest settlers in Iceland) went on a Viking raid to the
West. He plundered Ireland and found there a large underground
house (Icel. jarth-hus). It was dark within until he made his way
to a place where he saw a light shining from a sword which a man
held in his hand. Leifr slew the man and took the sword and much
treasure besides."
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