that song which I will compose about my deeds and life.’ Then he began making the song,152 and they carved it on a tablet,153 and the nearer the poem drew to its end, the more the life of Odd ebbed away” (Orvar Odd’s Saga; Fornaldar Sögur. p. 558).
Fig. 289.—Stone, with earlier runes, height over 6 feet.—Krogstad, Upland.
Fig. 290.—Earlier runes on granite block. About 10 feet high, 4 feet 11 inches at widest part, and 9 inches thick.—Tanum, Bohuslän, Sweden.
“The two brothers Jokul and Thorstein were to meet Finnbogi for a Holmganga.154 As he did not come, they took a post from the latter’s farm; Jokul carved a man’s head at one end, and traced in runes an account of what had occurred that day” (Vatnsdæla, 34).
The inscriptions of the earlier runes, the translation of which must be received with extreme caution, are short, while those of a later period are much longer.
Fig. 291.—Runic stone, showing transition between earlier and later runes, about 4½ feet above ground; breadth, 2 feet 4 inches.—Stentofte, Blekinge, Sweden.
Fig. 292.—Part of stone block, with earlier runes.—Torvik, Norway. Eight feet 10 inches in length by 2 feet 2 inches wide, with a thickness of from 2⅓ to 3⅛ feet.
Fig. 293.—Red quartz stone, with earlier runes and warrior on horseback. Height, 8 feet 3 inches, but only 6 feet above ground; greatest breadth, 5 feet.—Hagby, Upland.
Fig. 294.—Granite slab of a stone coffin in a grave-mound, forming one of the sides 1
15 real size.—Torvik, Hardanger, Norway.
Fig. 295.—Runic stone, earlier runes. Length, 7 feet 2 inches; width, 2 feet 4 inches.—Berga, Södermanland, Sweden.155
Fig. 296.—Runic stone, earlier runes. Height, over 13 feet; greatest width, a little over 3 feet; with letters about 6 inches long; near a dom ring.—Björktorp, Blekinge, Sweden. See p. 314 for grave.
Fig. 297.—Earlier runic stone; about 7 feet 7 inches long, and at its broadest part 3 feet 6 inches.—Norway.
Fig. 298.—Granite block with earlier and later runes (the earlier runes in the centre). Height, 5 feet 3 inches; greatest breadth, 3 feet; average thickness, 1 foot.—Skå-äng, Södermanland, Sweden.
Fig. 299.—Earlier runic stone, Sigdal, Norway.
Fig. 300.—Earlier runic stone discovered in 1880, in a ruined grave-mound which contained a slab stone chest; one of the side slabs bore runes, and is given here. It has probably stood on another mound before it was put to this use.—Bergen Museum, Torvik, Hardanger, Norway.
Fig. 301.—Tune stone (with earlier runes) of red granite; found in a graveyard wall surrounding the church of Tune, near Moss, entrance of Christiania fjord. Height, 6 feet 7 inches; greatest width, 2 feet 4 inches.
Fig. 302.—Earlier runic inscription on a bluff, 11 feet above high-water mark.—Væblungsnæs, Romsdal, Norway.
Fig. 303.—Runic stone, having the longest runic inscription known, composed of over 760 letters. Height, 12 feet; width, 6 feet.—In the Churchyard of Rök, Ostergötland, Sweden.
Fig. 304.—Marble lion, with later runic inscription. Height, 10 feet. Now at Venice, whither it was brought from the Piræus in 1687.156
Not only do the finds prove to us how extensive were the voyages and journeys of the vikings, but many of the runic stones add their testimony to these and the sagas, often mentioning journeys in distant lands both for peaceful and warlike purposes. There are four runic stones extant on which Knut the Great is mentioned as “Knut who went to England”; the Thingamenn or Thingamannalid is mentioned on at least two runic stones.
Fig. 305.—Later runic stone, with animal and bird.—Upland.
Fig. 306.—Later runic stone, with animals, possibly a representation of Fylgja at Svartsjö Castle, Lake Mälaren, Sweden.
Fig. 307.—Later runic stone, with birds.—Upland.
Fig. 308.—Stone with later runes. Height above ground, 10 feet; the width over 5 feet.—Nysätra parish, Upland.
Fig. 309.—Later runic stone, Edssocken, Upland. “Runa rista lit Rahnualtr huar a Kriklanti uas lisforunki.”
Fig. 310.—Later runic stone, 7½ feet above the ground. “Sterkar and Hiorvardr erected this stone to their father, Geiri, who dwelt west, in Thikalid (Thingmannalid). God help his soul.”—Kålstad, Upland.
Fig. 311.—King Gorm’s stone, with later runes.—Jellinge, Jutland. Front view.
Fig. 312.—Back view of King Gorm’s stone.
The inscription on the above stone runs thus, the translation being literal: “Haraltr kunukr bath kaurua kubl thausi aft kurm (Gorm) fathur sin auk aft thæurui muthur sina, sa haraltr ias sær uan tanmaurk ala auk nuruiak auk tana … t kristnæ” = Harald king bade make mounds these after Gorm, father his and after Thyra, mother his, that Harald who swore, Denmark all and Norway and Dane … to christianize.
The historical mounds of King Gorm and his queen Thyra are respectively 200 and 230 feet in diameter, and about 40 feet high (see p. 183); the burial chamber of King Gorm was of wood, 22 feet long, 4½ feet high, 8 feet wide. In the grave