Scandinavian-Britain

THE -EARLIEST RAIDS 51nisbani. He, it is said, to outdo Hengist and Horsaand the Northmen from Hserethaland, set out toconquer England with two ships. Captured by yEllaof Northumberland, he was thrown into the pitof snakes. His sons, Ivar the Boneless and hisbrethren, avenged him by the greatinvasion andconquest but their ; saga embroiders the true storywith picturesque and mythical ornament. It tells howIvar the Crafty, hanging back from the first fruitlessattempt, bargained with ALlla. for as much land asan ox-hide would cover, the old Hengist and Horsaplot.Thus founding London (or York), he gained./Ella's confidence, brought his brothers' army back,and avenged his father with the torture of ./Ella andSt. E-admund. The episodeis not made more historicalby placing the scene in Ireland, as Haliday (ScandinavianDublin^ p. 28) tries to do. A historic Ragnarwas present at the siege of Paris in 845, and Ivarwith his brethren conquered East Anglia and Northumbria;but the legendary part of the saga is merely onevariant of the inevitable myth of explanation, inventedto show why the Vikings attacked Britain, othervariants being Roger of Wendover's tale of Bernethe huntsman and Lothbrok, and Gaimar's of BuernBuzecarle.It must be evident that such legends of prehistoricVikings Celtic, English and Scandinavian are thenatural growth of the story-telling genius at an agewhen the great movement was past. After every warwe have a crop of novels about it. At the sametime, the fact of piracy was no invention of the