Professor Borges - A Course on English Literature

which contained more kennings—metaphors—and that’s why it seemed better to him. Moreover, this king had traveled to Constantinople and been in love with a Greek princess. He wrote—says [James Lewis]Farley, with a phrase that could have been from Hugo—“madrigals of iron.” 21 Earl Tostig, who also had a stake in England, went to Norway to seek an alliance with Harald. And they landed near a city that the Icelandic historian,Snorri Sturluson, called Jorvik, which is the present-day city of York. 22 And there gathered, naturally, many Saxons who were his, not Harold’s, supporters. He came with his army from the south. The two armies faced each other. It was morning.
    I have already told you that battles at that time were somewhat like tournaments. Thirty or forty men from the Saxon army advanced on horseback. We can imagine them covered in armor, and the horses also might have armor. If you have seen
Alexander Nevsky
, it might help you imagine this scene. 23 And now I would like you to think about every word they are going to say. These words might very well have been invented by tradition, or by the Icelandic historian who records the scene, but each of the words is significant. So, these forty Saxon—I mean, English—horsemen approach the Norwegian army. And there was Earl Tostig, and next to him was the king of Norway, Harald. Now, when Harald disembarked on the coast of England, his horse tripped and fell. And he said, “A fall on a journey brings good luck.” Something like when Julius Caesar landed in Africa, fell, and to prevent this from being seen as a bad omen by his soldiers, he said, “Africa, I have tight hold of you.” So, Harald was recalling a proverb. Then the horsemen approached and were still a certain distance away, but close enough to be able to see the faces of the Norwegians and the Norwegians the faces of the Saxons. And the chief of this small group calls out, “Is Earl Tostig here?” Tostig understands and says, “I do not deny that I am here.” So then the Saxon horseman says, “I bear a message from your brother Harold, king of England. He offers you a third of his kingdom and his forgiveness”—for what he has done, of course, allying himself with the Norwegian foreigners and invading England. Then Tostig reflects for a moment. He would like to accept the offer, but at the same time, there stands the king of Norway and his army. And so he says, “If I accept his offer, what will my lord receive”—the other was the king of Norway and he was an earl—“my lord, Harald, king of Norway?” So, the horseman reflects for a moment and says, “Your brother has also thought of that. He offers him six feet of English ground, and,” he adds, looking at him, “because he is so tall, one extra foot.” During the [Second] World War, at the beginning,Churchill said in one of his speeches that so many centuries later, England had kept this offer open to all invaders, and he also offered Hitler six feet of English ground. The offer stood still.
    So Tostig reflects for a moment and then says: “In this case, tell your lord that we will do battle, and that God will see who is victorious.” The other says nothing and rides away. In the meantime, the king of Norway has understood everything, because the languages are similar, but he has not said a word. He has his suspicions. And when the other men have joined the bulk of the army, he asks Tostig—because in this dialogue, everybody comes off well—“Who was that knight who spoke so well?” You see? And then Tostig tells him: “That knight was my brother Harold, the king of England.” And now we see why Harold asked at first, “Is Earl Tostig here?” Of course he knew he was, because he is seeing his brother. But he asks him in this manner to indicate to Tostig that he must not betray him. If the Norwegians had known he was the king, they would have killed him immediately.
    So the brother also acted loyally, because he pretended not to know him, and at the same time, he remained loyal to the king of Norway, because he asked, “What will there be for my lord?” And so the king of Norway, remembering their exchange, says, “He is not very tall, but he sits very steadfastly on his horse.”
    Then the Battle of Stamford Bridge begins—the site is still there—and the Saxons destroy the Norwegians, Tostig’s allies, and the king of Norway conquers his six feet of English ground that he had been promised in the