The hard ruling clearer of the pale horse of the wave when Child Young had

ship's prowls put out to sea at the best time so that the owner of the shield traveled on board there into battle

against two rulers. The storm drove the plank horse from the north, and the very vigorous rulers greeted each other wordlessly

with din shots at the battle. The voice of the Red Shields sufficed.

It is with these words that the Scald Thorbjorn-Horn Clovey commemorates a naval battle which was fought near the island of Solscale

on the western coast of Norway sometime in the early 870s, C.E.

In this battle, a man who was then known as Harold Tanglehair,

the young upstart king hailing from the southeast, convincingly defeated forces which had been gathered

by the rulers of two major kingdoms, which at that time peppered the west coast of Norway.

After defeating their forces in battle and disposing of their slain monarchs,

Harold's forces entered both kingdoms and set about consolidating their control over them.

As part of this process, messengers were sent to all of the prominent chieftains and farmers of the region, instructing them to bend

the knee to Harold or face the bloody consequences. One such messenger was sent to a man named Kettle Flatnose.

Kettle was a wealthy, powerful chieftain in the leader of a prominent family in Romsdah.

He had spent much of his youth raiding throughout the British Isles before returning with

wealth and renown to his Norwegian homeland.

By this time Kettle's raiding days were long over.

He was old, and his time was now spent presiding over his large family.

He had two sons and three daughters,

all of whom were fully grown and busy making names for themselves, both within Norway and beyond.

When Kettle received Harold's messenger, he called his family together to his farmstead to hold a feast and

collectively determine their next steps. When they had all arrived and

...