Chapter CIX: Of Harald and Swein

AFTER Earl Rögnvald’s death, Earl Harald took possession of the whole of the Islands, and became their sole ruler. He was a mighty chief, and a man of large stature and great strength. His wife was Afreka, and their children were—Heinrek, Hákon, Helena, and Margarét. When Hákon was only a few winters old, Swein, Asleif’s son, offered to foster him, and when he was able to take his part with other men, Swein took him out on marauding expeditions every summer, and honoured him in everything. Swein used to reside at home in Gáreksey, in winter, keeping there eighty men at his own expense. He had such a large drinking-hall that there was none equal to it anywhere else in the Orkneys. In the spring he was very busy sowing a large breadth of seed, and he usually did a great part of the work himself. When this work was finished, he went every spring on marauding expeditions. He plundered in the Sudreyar and Ireland, and returned home after midsummer. This he called spring-viking. Then he stayed at home till the fields were reaped and the corn brought in. Then he went out again, and did not return until one month of winter had passed. This he called autumn-viking.