The Gesta Danorum (Books I-IX) on Odd

The Danish History, > Book Five.

• attestation: Frode granted Odd supreme command of the sea

  "Frode had also given the supremacy of the sea to Odd; who was very closely related to the king"

• attestation: Odd was a skilled magician who could traverse the sea without a ship and raise tempests by spells

  "Odd, who had at that time the greatest prestige among the Danes as a rover, for he was such a skilled magician that he could range over the sea without a ship, and could often raise tempests by his spells"

• attestation: Odd was merciful to farmers but ruthless to traders, valuing agriculture over commerce

  "To traders this man was ruthless, but to tillers of the soil he was merciful, for he thought less of merchandise than of the plough-handle"

• attestation: Odd used spells to make Danish swords appear to flame, blinding the Norwegian attackers

  "he so dulled the sight of the enemy by the power of his spells that they thought the drawn swords of the Danes cast their beams from afar off, and sparkled as if aflame"

• attestation: Odd planned to attack at dawn when men's bodies are most sluggish, and his ships were loaded with throwing-stones

  "He had determined to attack the enemy unawares at daybreak, that he might massacre them the more speedily while they were swathed in their night garments"

• attestation: The stones loaded in Odd's ships accelerated their sinking once the water flooded in

  "The weight of the stones inside helped them mightily to sink"

• attestation: Odd and his entire crew were killed in the engagement, with no survivors

  "Thus was Odd slain with all his crew; the look-outs were captured, and it was found that no man escaped to tell the tale of the disaster"

• attestation: Odd was described as a grandson of Fridleif in Erik's riddle

  "a lance-head was shaken from the shaft of the king, and it was the grandson of Fridleif"