The Gesta Danorum (Books I-IX) on Starkad

The Danish History, > Book Six.

• attestation: Starkad son of Storwerk was shipwrecked and received by Frode as a guest for his exceptional mind and body

  "one Starkad, the son of Storwerk, escaped alone, either by force or fortune, from a wreck in which his friends perished, and was received by Frode as his guest"

• attestation: Starkad was reputed to have been born in the eastern borderlands of Sweden among Esthonians

  "Tradition says that he was born originally in the country which borders Sweden on the east, where barbarous hordes of Esthonians and other nations now dwell"

• attestation: Legend held that Starkad was born of giants with extra arms, four of which Thor ripped off

  "some relate that he was sprung from giants, and betrayed his monstrous birth by an extraordinary number of hands, four of which, engendered by the superfluity of his nature, they declare that the god Thor tore off"

• attestation: Starkad's first notable deed was the killing of Wikar, King of the Norwegians

  "Starkad, whom I mentioned above, offered the first-fruits of his deeds to the favour of the gods by slaying Wikar, the king of the Norwegians"

• attestation: Starkad killed King Wikar by hanging him in a noose of withies, pretending it was a mock sacrifice

  "Starkad made a noose of withies and bound the king in it; saying that for a brief instant he should pay the mere semblance of a penalty. But the tightness of the knot acted according to its nature, and cut off his last breath"

• attestation: After killing Wikar, Starkad joined the rover Bemon, and they both abstained from drink to maintain martial temperance

  "Starkad and Bemon were so careful to keep temperate, that they are said never to have indulged in intoxicating drink"

• attestation: Starkad and Bemon invaded Russia where the natives tried to block them with sharp nails on the ground

  "when, after overthrowing provinces far and wide, they invaded Russia also in their lust for empire, the natives, trusting little in their walls or arms, began to bar the advance of the enemy with nails of uncommon sharpness"

• attestation: After Bemon's death Starkad joined the champions of Permland, then lived seven years with the sons of Frey at Upsala

  "when Bemon was dead, Starkad was summoned because of his valour by the champions of Permland. And when he had done many noteworthy deeds among them, he went into the land of the Swedes, where he lived at leisure for seven years' space with the sons of Frey"

• attestation: Starkad left Upsala in disgust at the effeminate gestures and bell-clapping of mimes during sacrifices

  "when stationed at Upsala, at the time of the sacrifices, he was disgusted by the effeminate gestures and the clapping of the mimes on the stage, and by the unmanly clatter of the bells"

• attestation: Starkad joined Hakon, the tyrant of Denmark, and sailed to Ireland

  "he left them and betook himself to Hakon, the tyrant of Denmark"

• attestation: Starkad received a severe head wound from Geigad that concealed hidden gangrene beneath the skin

  "Starkad, while he was attacking Geigad with his sword, received a very sore wound on the head"

• attestation: Starkad killed Hugleik, routed the Irish, and had captured actors flogged rather than executed

  "Starkad conquered, killed Hugleik and routed the Irish; and had the actors beaten whom chance made prisoner"

• attestation: Starkad and Win, chief of the Sclavs, suppressed eastern revolts and defeated the Kurlanders, Sembs, Sangals, and Easterlings

  "Starkad was commissioned, together with Win, the chief of the Sclavs, to check the revolt of the East. They, having fought against the armies of the Kurlanders, the Sembs, the Sangals, and, finally, all the Easterlings, won splendid victories"

• attestation: Starkad killed Wisin, a Russian champion who could blunt weapons by looking at them, by covering his blade with fine skin

  "Starkad covered his blade with a very fine skin, that it might not met the eye of the sorcerer; and neither the power of his sleights nor his great strength were any help to Wisin"

• attestation: Starkad defeated an invincible giant named Tanne at Byzantium

  "he fought with and overcame a giant at Byzantium, reputed invincible, named Tanne"

• attestation: Starkad conquered a Polish champion called Wasce (or Wilzce in German)

  "he went to the country of Poland, and conquered in a duel a champion whom our countrymen name Wasce; but the Teutons, arranging the letters differently, call him Wilzce"

• attestation: The Saxons challenged Frode to a duel while Starkad was away, but Starkad returned and fought in the king's place

  "Starkad, who had just returned from his sea-roving, appeared, and blamed such a challenge, principally (he said) because it was fitting for kings to fight only with their equals"

• attestation: Starkad received lands and sixty bondmen as reward for defeating Hame

  "Many lands and sixty bondmen apiece were the reward of the victory"

• attestation: Starkad was so disgusted by Ingild's excess that he left for Halfdan, King of the Swedes

  "Starkad was so disgusted at the excess of Ingild, that he forsook his friendship, and sought the fellowship of Halfdan, the King of Swedes"

• attestation: Starkad traveled to Sweden to punish the smith's presumption, out of gratitude to Frode's memory

  "he hastened to chastise such bold and enormous insolence, wishing to repay the orphan ward the benefits he had of old received from Frode"

• attestation: Starkad disguised himself in a cap and entered the smith's house to observe the man's wantonness

  "he travelled through Sweden, went into the house of the smith, and posted himself near the threshold muffling his face in a cap to avoid discovery"

• attestation: Starkad drew his sword and struck the fleeing smith through the hams at the threshold

  "just as he gained the threshold, the old man watching at the door smote him through the hams, and there, half dead, he tottered and fell"

• attestation: Starkad deliberately chose to maim rather than kill the smith, deeming ignominy worse punishment than death for such a man

  "the smiter thought he ought carefully to avoid lending his illustrious hands to the death of a vile cinder-blower, and considered that ignominy would punish his shameless passion worse than death"

• attestation: Starkad composed a mocking verse taunting the wounded smith and the household's grief

  "Why is the house silent and aghast? What makes this new grief? Or where now rest that doting husband whom the steel has just punished for his shameful love?"

• attestation: Starkad's long verse described how he disguised himself, watched the smith's lewd approach to Helga, then struck

  "Wishing to know who burned with love for the maiden, and was deeply enamoured of my beloved ward, I put on a cap, lest my familiar face might betray me"

• attestation: Starkad struck the smith's groin and privates, then punched Helga in the face, drawing blood from her nose

  "I uncovered and drew my sword, and as the smith fled I clove his privy parts; his hams were laid open, cut away from the bone"

• attestation: Starkad admonished Helga to respect her ancestors and avoid giving her reputation to gossip

  "Respect thy grandsires, honour thy fathers, forget not thy parents, value thy forefathers; let thy flesh and blood keep its fame"

• attestation: Starkad returned to Halfdan King of Sweden after the incident with the smith, devoting himself to war

  "Starkad got as much pleasure from his words as from his works, and went back to Halfdan, embracing his service with the closest friendship"

• attestation: Helge's betrothed counseled him to seek Starkad's aid rather than face nine opponents alone

  "she counselled him to refrain from the battle, wherein it seemed he would encounter only death and disgrace"

• attestation: Starkad traveled in one day the distance that took others twelve days, arriving at Ingild's palace simultaneously with Helge

  "Starkad, by sheer speed of foot, travelled in one day's journeying over as great a space as those who went before him are said to have accomplished in twelve"

• attestation: The nine champions barked like dogs and made wild gestures, which Starkad rebuked as effeminate

  "Some say that they barked like furious dogs at the champion as he approached. Starkad rebuked them for making themselves look ridiculous with such an unnatural visage"

• attestation: Starkad sat exposed to wind and snow on the hillside, removing his cloak and casting away a purple mantle Helga had given him

  "he put off his cloak, and set to picking out the fleas. He also cast on the briars a purple mantle which Helga had lately given him"

• attestation: The nine champions lit a fire for warmth while Starkad sat uncovered in the snow, then declared he would fight them all at once

  "Whenever a surly pack of curs yelps at me, I commonly send them flying all at once, and not in turn"

• attestation: Starkad killed all nine champions single-handed, felling six unwounded and three more despite receiving seventeen wounds that exposed his bowels

  "he felled six of them without receiving any wound in return; and though the remaining three wounded him so hard in seventeen places that most of his bowels gushed out of his belly, he slew them notwithstanding"

• attestation: Starkad refused water from the blood-contaminated stream, preferring to lose strength than drink from it

  "Starkad thought it nobler that his bodily strength should fail than that he should borrow strength from so foul a beverage"

• attestation: Starkad refused aid from a sergeant, a man married to a slave, and a handmaid, accepting only help from a peasant's son

  "Starkad would rather be tortured by grievous wounds than use the service of a man of base estate"

• attestation: Starkad refused aid from a handmaid with a nursing child but praised and accepted help from a peasant's son

  "he told her to go home and give the breast to her squalling daughter; for he thought it most uncomely that he should borrow help from a woman of the lowest degree"

• attestation: Starkad praised the peasant's calling as honorable labor earning livelihood through honest sweat

  "Starkad praised his origin, and pronounced that his calling was also most worthy of honour; for, he said, such men sought a livelihood by honourable traffic in their labour"

• attestation: Starkad rewarded the peasant's son with the purple mantle he had cast among the thorns

  "he rewarded the esteem he had shown him with the mantle he had cast among the thorns"

• attestation: Starkad returned to Sweden where Halfdan had been killed, and installed Siward as his heir

  "Halfdan had been killed by his rivals; and Starkad, after quelling certain rebels, set up Siward as the heir to his father's sovereignty"

• attestation: Starkad traveled to Denmark carrying a load of charcoal, saying he would sharpen Ingild's dull wits with it

  "he hung on his shoulders a mighty mass of charcoal, as though it were some costly burden, and made his way to Denmark. When asked by those he met why he was taking along so unusual a load, he said that he would sharpen the dull wits of King Ingild"

• attestation: Ingild's queen insulted Starkad for his ragged appearance and ordered him out of the high seat

  "the ugliness of her guest's dress made her judge him with little heed; and, measuring the man by the clothes, she reproached him with crassness of wit"

• attestation: Starkad endured the insult silently but then battered the palace walls with his body in rage

  "he flung his body against the walls; and strong as they were, he so battered them with the shock, that the beams quaked mightily"

• attestation: Starkad rejected the lavish feast at Ingild's table, choosing rancid plain fare instead of elaborate dishes

  "Starkad took some smoky and rather rancid fare, appeasing his hunger with a bitter relish because more simply"

• attestation: Starkad was disgusted that the same meat was both roasted and boiled at the same meal, viewing this as a monstrosity

  "he was also very wroth that they should go, to the extravagance of having the same meat both roasted and boiled at the same meal"

• attestation: The queen offered Starkad a decorated headband from her own head, which he flung back in her face

  "she took off her own head a band of marvellous handiwork, and put it in his lap as he supped"

• attestation: Starkad refused to wear a woman's headband on a head accustomed to helmets and scars

  "he knew that the locks of a man ought not to wear a woman's head-band"

• attestation: Starkad's devotion to Frode's memory was so deep that no flattery could dissuade him from seeking revenge for Frode's murder

  "To the soul of Starkad reverence for Frode was grappled with hooks of love. Drawn to him by deeds of bounty, countless kindnesses, he could not be wheedled into giving up his purpose of revenge"

• attestation: The queen hired a musician to soothe Starkad's anger with pipe music, but he was unmoved

  "she bade a piper strike up, and started music to melt his unbending rage. For she wanted to unnerve his stubborn nature by means of cunning sounds"

• attestation: Starkad flung a stripped bone at the piper's face, deflating his puffed cheeks

  "he flung the bone, which he had stripped in eating the meat, in the face of the harlequin, and drove the wind violently out of his puffed cheeks"

• attestation: Starkad was enraged that Ingild feasted with Frode's murderers (the sons of Swerting) instead of avenging his father

  "when Starkad saw that the slayers of Frode were in high favour with the king, his stern glances expressed the mighty wrath which he harboured"

• attestation: Starkad told Ingild he had come to find the son of Frode, not a glutton stuffing himself with elaborate feasts

  "he said that he had come to Denmark to find the son of Frode, not a man who crammed his proud and gluttonous stomach with rich elaborate feasts"

• attestation: Starkad denounced Ingild in verse for preferring feasting over filial vengeance

  "Let the unwarlike youth yield to the aged, let him honour all the years of him that is old"

• attestation: Starkad lamented in verse that under Ingild he was relegated to a corner instead of the high seat he held under Frode

  "When I was counted as a comrade of Frode, I ever sat in the midst of warriors on a high seat in the hall, and I was the first of the princes to take my meal"

• attestation: Starkad addresses Ingild with a lengthy verse reproach demanding he avenge his father Frode's murder

  "Thou, Ingild, buried in sin, why dost thou tarry in the task of avenging thy father?"

• attestation: Starkad claims he had a prophetic foreboding that Frode would be killed by enemies

  "When last I left thee, Frode, I learned by my prophetic soul that thou, mightiest of kings, wouldst surely perish by the sword of enemies."

• attestation: Starkad regrets being absent during Frode's murder, saying he would have either avenged the king or died alongside him

  "Else I would either have shown myself the avenger of my lord, or have shared his fate and fallen where he fell"

• attestation: Starkad declares he came from Sweden seeking Frode's son, expecting a brave man but finding a glutton enslaved by vice

  "I have come from Sweden, travelling over wide lands, thinking that I should be rewarded, if only I had the joy to find the son of my beloved Frode."

• attestation: Starkad vows not to let Frode's wealth fall to strangers despite the heir's degeneracy

  "I will not suffer the wealth of mighty Frode to profit strangers or to be made public like plunder."

• attestation: The queen offers Starkad a hair ribbon to appease his anger, which he flings back in her face

  "she took from her head the ribbon with which she happened, in woman's fashion, to be adorning her hair, and proffered it to the enraged old man"

• attestation: Starkad rejects the ribbon as a woman's gift unfit for warriors, declaring men ready for battle should not wear wreathed gold

  "Take hence, I pray thee, thy woman's gift, and set back thy headgear on thy head; no brave man assumes the chaplets that befit Love only."

• attestation: Starkad condemns Ingild's queen for extravagant cooking practices including re-roasting boiled meats

  "She roasts the boiled, and recooks the roasted meats, planning the meal with spendthrift extravagance, careless of right and wrong, practising sin, a foul woman."

• attestation: Starkad declares that the proper food of warriors is raw and uncooked, not sumptuous table fare

  "The food of valiant men is raw; no need, methinks, of sumptuous tables for those whose stubborn souls are bent on warfare."

• attestation: Starkad recalls that warriors of old ate rancid fare and simple ram and swine flesh without sauces or herbs

  "A dish with no sauce of herbs gave us the flesh of rams and swine. We partook temperately, tainting nothing with bold excess."

• attestation: Starkad condemns taking money as ransom for a father's murder rather than seeking blood vengeance

  "Who would ever have borne to take money in ransom for the death of a lost parent, or to have asked a foe for a gift to atone for the murder of a father?"

• attestation: Starkad hides his face in shame when kings' honours are sung because Ingild has no worthy trophies to record

  "when the honours of kings are sung, and bards relate the victories of captains, I hide my face for shame in my mantle, sick at heart."

• attestation: Starkad concludes his reproach by expressing his greatest wish: to see those guilty of Frode's murder duly punished

  "I would crave no greater blessing, O Frode, if I might see those guilty of thy murder duly punished for such a crime."

• attestation: Starkad's reproach ignites a tardy fire of revenge in Ingild, transforming him from reveller to avenger

  "stirred by the earnest admonition of his guardian, he conceived in his heart a tardy fire of revenge; and, forgetting the reveller, he changed into the foeman."

• attestation: Saxo reflects that Starkad's old man's eloquence expelled infinite sin from Ingild's mind and implanted virtue

  "who by his eloquent adjuration expelled from that king's mind its infinite sin, and who, bursting the bonds of iniquity, implanted a most effectual seed of virtue."

• attestation: After the slaughter, Starkad praises Ingild for his deed of daring and declares his spirit revealed by the fair beginning

  "King Ingild, farewell; thy heart, full of valour, hath now shown a deed of daring. The spirit that reigns in thy body is revealed by its fair beginning"

• attestation: Starkad urges routing the remaining enemies and denying the slain burial rites, leaving their bodies to rot in fields for birds

  "let them be scattered to rot in the fields, to be consumed by the beaks of birds; let them taint the country all about with their deadly corruption."

• attestation: Starkad advises Ingild to flee his savage bride lest she bear offspring that will harm its own father

  "Do thou too, king, if thou hast any wit, flee thy savage bride, lest the she-wolf bring forth a litter like herself, and a beast spring from thee that shall hurt its own father."

• attestation: Starkad recalls his beardless youth under King Hakon, when he hated luxury, practiced only war, and wore rough clothing

  "When, O King Hakon, I was a beardless youth, and followed thy leading and command in warfare, I hated luxury and wanton souls, and practiced only wars."

• attestation: Starkad philosophically questions whether he, who has shaken the whole world with slaughter, will enjoy a peaceful death or die in bed without a wound

  "But I, who have shaken the whole world with my slaughters, shall I enjoy a peaceful death? Shall I be taken up to the stars in a quiet end? Shall I die in my bed without a wound?"

The Danish History, > Book Seven.

• attestation: Starkad was among forty of the bravest Swedes who fled from this battle in a strange panic, despite normally fearing no danger

  "The chief of these, Starkad, had been used to tremble at no fortune, however cruel, and no danger, however great. But some strange terror stole upon him, and he chose to follow the flight of his friends"

• attestation: The fleeing warriors including Starkad joined the service of King Hakon, the mightiest of the rovers

  "all these warriors embraced the service of King Hakon, the mightiest of the rovers, like remnants of the war drifting to him."

• attestation: Starkad refused to fight the aged Sigar whose hospitality he had enjoyed

  "Starkad forbore to become the foe of the aged Sigar, whose hospitality he had enjoyed"

• attestation: Starkad composed songs praising the warrior virtues and disparaging those who loved luxury and ease

  "with his last pants composed this song:

"Though we be weak in frame, and the loss of blood has drained our strength; since the life-breath, now drawn out by my wound, scarce quivers softly in my pierced breast:

"I counsel that we should make the battle of our last hou"

• attestation: A war-song urges warriors to fight for immortal fame, hoping their memory will outlive their bodies

  "And that our wild strife while we bore arms may, when our weary flesh has found rest in the tomb, win us the wage of immortal fame"

• attribution: The song instructs warriors to crush the enemy's shoulder-blades with the first stroke

  ""Let our first stroke crush the shoulder-blades of the foe, let our"

• attestation: Starkad composed martial verses exhorting courage and despising cowardice in battle

  "When Ole had news of this, he rejoiced in the chance of a battle, and borrowing the attire of a peasant, went to the dwelling of Olaf."

The Danish History, > Book Eight.

• attestation: Starkad was the first to record in Danish speech the history of the Swedish war, in which he was a major participant

  "STARKAD was the first to set in order in Danish speech the history of the Swedish war, a conflict whereof he was himself a mighty pillar"

• attestation: The history of the Swedish war was an oral rather than written tradition transmitted by Starkad

  "the said history being rather an oral than a written tradition"

• attestation: Numerous named champions are catalogued on both sides, making this battle the most thoroughly documented in Saxo's history

  "their breasts, and exposed their bodies to every peril, offering battle with drawn swords."

• attestation: Starkad fought on the Danish side as one of the most prominent warriors

  "fought in the Danish camp."

• attestation: Starkad fought ferociously on the Danish side, cutting down Swedish champions

  "Starkad, who was the first to set forth the history of this war in the telling, fought foremost in the fray, and relates that he overthrew the nobles of Harald, Hun and Elli, Hort and Burgha, and cut off the right hand of Wisna."

• attestation: The conspirators bribed Starkad to join them and carry out the assassination

  "they bribed Starkad to join them. He was prevailed to do the deed with the sword"

• attestation: Starkad entered the bath where Ole was washing but was struck with dread by the king's fierce gaze

  "In he went while the king was washing, but was straightway stricken by the keenness of his gaze and by the restless and quivering glare of his eyes"

• attestation: Starkad drew his sword, thrust the king through, and struck his throat as Ole tried to rise

  "Starkad drew his sword, leapt forward, thrust the king through, and struck him in the throat as he tried to rise"

• attestation: Starkad was paid one hundred and twenty marks of gold for the assassination

  "One hundred and twenty marks of gold were kept for his reward"

• attestation: Starkad was consumed by remorse afterward and wept whenever the crime was mentioned

  "he was smitten with remorse and shame, and lamented his crime so bitterly, that he could not refrain from tears if it happened to be named"

• attestation: To atone for his crime, Starkad killed some of the conspirators who had recruited him

  "to atone for the crime he had committed, he slew some of those who had inspired him to it"

• attestation: Starkad, worn out with extreme age, was unwilling to lose his ancient glory through the fault of old age

  "Starkad, who was now worn out with extreme age, and who seemed to be past military service and the calling of a champion, was loth to lose his ancient glory through the fault of eld"

• attestation: Starkad preferred death in battle to dying weakly in bed and sought someone to kill him honorably

  "Meantime, Starkad, who was now worn out with extreme age, and who seemed to be past military service and the calling of a champion, was loth to lose his ancient glory through the fault of eld, and thought it would be a noble thing if he could make a voluntary"

• attestation: Starkad carried gold with him to offer as reward to whoever would strike the killing blow

  "Meantime, Starkad, who was now worn out with extreme age, and who seemed to be past military service and the calling of a champion, was loth to lose his ancient glory through the fault of eld, and thought it would be a noble thing if he could make a voluntary"

• attestation: Starkad wandered through the countryside seeking a worthy opponent to end his life

  "Meantime, Starkad, who was now worn out with extreme age, and who seemed to be past military service and the calling of a champion, was loth to lose his ancient glory through the fault of eld, and thought it would be a noble thing if he could make a voluntary"

• attestation: Starkad composed verse lamenting the indignities of old age and his declining powers

  "Meantime, Starkad, who was now worn out with extreme age, and who seemed to be past military service and the calling of a champion, was loth to lose his ancient glory through the fault of eld, and thought it would be a noble thing if he could make a voluntary"

• attribution: Starkad laments that life flows on irreversibly, comparing it to waters sweeping down a channel

  "As the unreturning waters sweep down the channel; so, as the years run by, the life of man flows on never to come back"

• attribution: Starkad mourns that old age is the child of doom who shall destroy all things

  "fast gallops the cycle of doom, child of old age who shall make an end of all"

• attribution: Starkad describes his body as decayed: his eyes dimmed, limbs shaking, strength gone

  "Nor is he less in war: his strength is equal to his goodness; he is swift in the fray, slow to waver, ready to give battle; and he cannot turn his back when the foe bears him hard."

• attribution: Starkad describes himself as having lived through many human lifetimes, a gift from the gods

  "fighting against the press of the foe, smote through the mail that covered my head, pierced my helmet, and plunged his blade into my crest."

• attribution: A stranger addresses Starkad as one who writes the poems of his land, noting his frail staff and wavering steps

  "Whence comest thou, who art used to write the poems of thy land, leaning thy wavering steps on a frail staff?"

• attribution: Starkad is described as the readiest bard of the Danish muse, whose glory has faded with age

  "whither dost thou speed, who art the readiest bard of the Danish muse? All the glory of"

• attestation: Starkad recounts the many battles he fought and the kings he served across his long life

  "Starkad answered: "Wretch, thy glib lips scatter idle words, unfit for the ears of the good."

• attestation: The dialogue reveals Starkad seeking death by offering gold to anyone who would strike him down

  "Starkad answered: "Wretch, thy glib lips scatter idle words, unfit for the ears of the good."

• attestation: Starkad is recognized as the most famous poet-warrior of the Danish tradition

  "the readiest bard of the Danish muse"

• attribution: Starkad recalls fighting three times at great peril for the son of Ole, breaking swords and obstacles

  "thou didst not try to rob me of my sword when thrice at great peril I fought (for?) the son of Ole"

• attribution: Starkad details his combat prowess, describing how his hand either broke the sword or shattered obstacles

  "my hand either broke the sword or shattered the obstacle"

• attribution: Starkad served multiple kings across his supernaturally long life, fighting in their greatest battles

  "So sang Starkad."

• attribution: Starkad recounts his shame at betraying Ole, calling it the worst deed of his long life

  "So sang Starkad."

• attestation: Starkad offered money from his pouch to his eventual killer as payment for the service of death

  "So sang Starkad."

• attestation: Starkad had received wounds in every major battle of the northern lands across three lifetimes

  "So sang Starkad."

• attestation: The gods had cursed Starkad to commit one treacherous act per lifetime, making Ole's murder fated

  "So sang Starkad."

• attestation: Despite his supernatural longevity, Starkad was mortal and subject to the ravages of extreme age

  "So sang Starkad."

• attestation: Starkad took money from his pouch and gave it to Hather as payment for killing him

  "So saying, he took money from his pouch and gave it him"

• attestation: Starkad instructed Hather to strike quickly so the head would fly off before the body fell

  "Starkad eagerly handed him the sword, and at once stooped his neck beneath it, counselling him not to do the smiter's work timidly, or use the sword like a woman; and telling him that if, when he had killed him, he could spring between the head and t"

• attestation: Starkad warned that even his severed head could harm whoever it fell on, due to his supernatural nature

  "Starkad eagerly handed him the sword, and at once stooped his neck beneath it, counselling him not to do the smiter's work timidly, or use the sword like a woman; and telling him that if, when he had killed him, he could spring between the head and t"