Monday, May 24, 2021
Facing Death
Saga of the Jomsvikings, tr. N.F. Blake (London: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1962), p. 41 recto (§ 36; "asked him," i.e. what he thought about dying):
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Then the ninth man was released and Þorkell asked him as usual. He said: 'I am well content to die as are all our comrades. But I will not let myself be slaughtered like a sheep: I would rather face the blow. Strike straight at my face and watch carefully if I pale at all, as we have often spoken about that.' He was allowed to face the blow and Þorkell approached him from the front and hewed into his face. He did not pale, but his eyes closed as death overtook him.
