The Gesta Danorum (Books I-IX) on Fridleif

The Danish History, > Book Four.

• attestation: Fridleif the Swift succeeded Dan and allied with Huyrwil, lord of Oland, to attack Norway; they defeated the amazon Rusila

  "After Dan, FRIDLEIF, surnamed the Swift, assumed the sovereignty. During his reign, Huyrwil, the lord of Oland, made a league with the Danes and attacked Norway"

• attestation: In the battle at Zealand, both armies were nearly annihilated; Bild and Brodd deserted by cutting their ships loose at night

  "Bild and Brodd cut the cables with which the ships were joined, and stealthily severed their own vessels from the rest"

• attestation: Fridleif, protected by his steel-defying mail shirt, fought and killed Huyrwil, Bug, Fanning, and Gunholm single-handed

  "after slaying Huyrwil, Bug, and Fanning, he killed Gunholm, who was accustomed to blunt the blade of an enemy with spells, by a shower of blows from his hilt"

• attestation: Fridleif captured Dublin by fastening fire to the wings of swallows, imitating Hadding's tactic

  "he imitated the shrewd wit of Hadding, and ordered fire to be shut up in wicks and fastened to the wings of swallows"

• attestation: In Britain, Fridleif propped up dead soldiers like Amleth had done to make his depleted forces appear intact

  "he set up the corpses of the slain (Amleth's device) and stationed them in line"

The Danish History, > Book Six.

• attestation: Fridleif learned of his father Frode's death from Halfdan and went to Norway with armed force

  "From him Fridleif heard the tidings of his father's death, and granting the aid he sought, went to Norway in armed array"

• attestation: Fridleif surprised the raiding brothers and drove them back to their island stronghold, capturing Biorn's horse

  "Fridleif surprised them while on a reckless raid, and drove them all back for refuge to the stronghold; he also seized the immensely powerful horse"

• attestation: Fridleif offered to pay the weight of any slain brother's body in gold as a bounty

  "Fridleif proclaimed that he would pay the weight of the dead body in gold to any man who slew one of those brothers"

• attestation: Fridleif secretly crossed the river alone at night, having killed his companion and dressed the corpse in his own clothes to fake his death

  "he crushed and killed his companion with a shower of flints, and flung his bloodless corpse into the waves, having dressed it in his own clothes"

• attestation: Fridleif smeared the horse with blood and sent it back to camp to convince his men he was dead

  "he further deliberately drew blood from the beast on which he had ridden, and bespattered it, so that when it came back into camp he might make them think he himself was dead"

• attestation: The brothers found the bloodied horse and assumed Fridleif had drowned in the river

  "finding the horse they surmised that Fridleif had been drowned in the waters of the river"

• attestation: Fridleif's champions found the disguised slave corpse and, believing their king dead, attacked the stronghold to avenge him

  "This exasperated the champions who had just promised Fridleif to see that the robbers were extirpated"

• attestation: Fridleif lowered the bridge from inside, admitted his champions, and killed all the brothers except Biorn

  "Fridleif saw them he hastened to lower the bridge to the mainland; and when he had got the champions he cut down the watch at the first attack"

• attestation: Fridleif spared Biorn, healed his wounds, and made him his sworn companion

  "all save Biorn; whom he tended very carefully and cured of his wounds; whereupon, under pledge of solemn oath, he made him his colleague"

• attestation: The Danes summoned Fridleif to assume the throne and ordered Hiarn to abdicate

  "when they found that he was approaching, they sent men to fetch him, and ordered Hiarn to quit the sovereignty"

• attestation: Fridleif exposed Hiarn's identity by forcing him to bathe, revealing his scars, then challenged and killed him in single combat

  "The king, in order to ease his own suspicions, made him wash; and when he knew his enemy by the scars"

• attestation: Fridleif initially resisted marriage, citing his father Frode's dishonor from a wanton wife

  "he maintained that the unmarried life was best, quoting his father Frode, on whom his wife's wantonness had brought great dishonour"

• attestation: Fridleif sailed against Norway with Halfdan and Biorn, and met Amund's fleet at the firth called Frokasund

  "Fridleif heard news of this outrage, and summoning Halfdan and Biorn, sailed round Norway. Amund, equipped with his native defences, put out his fleet against him. The firth into which both fleets had mustered is called Frokasund"

• attestation: Fridleif mocked and attacked a three-bodied giant, cutting off its hand and foot and freeing the captive prince

  "When he had said this he lopped off a hand and foot of the giant, made him fly, and set his prisoner free"

• attestation: Fridleif plundered the giant's cave of its treasure

  "Then he went straightway to the giant's headland, took the treasure out of his cave, and carried it away"

• attestation: Fridleif married a woman named Grubb's daughter and begat a son Olaf during his Norwegian campaign

  "being received hospitably by a certain Grubb, and at last winning his daughter in marriage, he begat a son named Olaf"

• attestation: Fridleif also won Frogertha in marriage after defeating Amund

  "After some time had passed he also won Frogertha"

• attestation: Fridleif was guided by a vision to slay a treasure-guarding dragon on an unknown island, attacking its vulnerable underside

  "A certain man appeared to him in a vision, and instructed him to dig up a treasure that was buried in the ground, and also to attack the dragon that guarded it"

• attestation: Fridleif killed the dragon by piercing its groin from below, its upper scales being impervious to weapons

  "assailed the lower side with his sword, and piercing the groin, drew blood from the quivering beast"

• attestation: Fridleif entrusted his three-year-old son Olaf to Biorn and Ane to rear, after reconciling their feud

  "he took great pains to reconcile Biorn and Ane, who had often challenged and fought one another, and made them exchange their hatred for friendship; and even entrusted to them his three-year-old son, Olaf, to rear"

• attestation: Fridleif visited a temple to learn Olaf's fate and saw three maidens (Norns) on three seats bestowing gifts

  "he went to the house of the gods in entreaty; where, looking into the chapel, he saw three maidens, sitting on three seats"

• attestation: Fridleif arranged the marriage of Hythin's daughter to Halfdan

  "he took on himself to act as ambassador, and sued successfully for Hythin's daughter, whom he had once rescued from a monster, to be the wife of Halfdan"