Harald:
I Harald, by the grace of God,
King of all the northern lands,
mightiest warrior that ever donned a coat of mail,
and held a sharp edged sword,
strongest king that ever strode a longship’s prow
and sailed the restless sea.
Most merciless fighter that ever killed a living man,
Whereas my brother, the blessed and holy man,
Olaf the Saint, said: Love thine enemies;
I say: Sever their limbs until they cause no trouble.

When I was young I raided endless Russia,
my ship sailed past Byzantium,
I scourged the Saracen men in Sicily,
I trod the holy ground of Palestine.
They knew my justice on both banks of the Jordan;
Wherever I went, men said:
May his soul abide in Christ!
All around the orb of the world, my name is feared;
by this name am I known: Harald the Merciless.

Fanfare of Trumpets:
Hail Tostig; tell all, Tostig; tell us your tale, tall Tostig.
Treat us to the truth; tempt us with a truthless trick;
trick us in a trance, tall terse Tostig;
Tell us all, tell us all, talk! all hail! tall hale tell-tale;
talk! tall-tale telling Tostig.

Tostig
Hail; take; kill; win; sail; fight; go
Go.

St. Olaf
Sleep Harald, sleep on, I fear that death awaits,
I hear the wolves cry in the mountains,
I see the wolves’ jaws red with blood;
I see black ravens, birds of carrion, fly to the west.
I died at home a holy man;
To my blessed memory be true, trusty hero.

Harald
Put out to sea, put out to sea.
Sail, far, over sea.

Harald’s wives
Farewell, Harald. Take care, Harald.
God bless Harald.

The Norwegian army
We gladly leave for Harald
the land from which we came;
beneath his royal standard,
his courage and his fame.
We gladly fight for Harald,
we plunder and we steal;
our warriors’ strength is famous,
our courage and our zeal.
We gladly kill for Harald,
we slaughter all his foes;v first, we beat them to the ground, and then we

A messenger
O Sir! O Harald; I bring fateful news. Your army lies
in great peril; the sun is bright but the fates are
black. We thought to meet no danger; but as we
approached the town of York, we saw dust, a cloud
a dust, raised by the hooves of horses; and below it
the gleam of handsome shields and white coats of
mail; and we could see that it was an army, an
army of men; and their glittering weapons sparkled
like a field of broken ice.

A soldier
Side by side the armies fought.
Shoulder to shoulder their men attacked;
the storm of arrows raged around the king,
and all around the clash of mail, the clang of swords,
men running and falling, the crack of blows,
bright weapons flying, hewing flesh,
grating, glinting,
men flinching, kicking, jolting, flinging axes,
breathless they gash and graze and grate.
No room to move, tripping, falling,
horses rearing, a litter of corpses;
they shove and stab and stub,
raining blows without purpose;
the leaders cannot command,
their shouted orders unheard
in the ripping and crashing.
Now Harald, the Norwegian king, felt anger and fury;
Into the thickest knot of bodies he ran,
fighting two-handed, swinging weapons aimlessly.
blood pouring, cramp and sweat, shouting, roaring,
cutting down, moving blindly.
Nearby, a man exhausted, fallen in the mud cried:
disaster has befallen us ! we have been duped!
there was no cause for Harald to bring his
forces westward;
we are all as good as dead!
At this moment, King Harald was struck in the throat,
And drew his last breath,
his last gasp

An Icelandic sage
I have seen this all before; ships returning to the
harbour unloading not live men but corpses.
Women weeping, children who have never seen
their fathers; it seems to happen often, and always
they say the same thing: since so many were killed,
we will never forget and make the same mistake.
But they do ! and it happens again.

Why did Harald bother? He could have stayed at
home and made the best of it. I could have told him
it would end like this.