become vacant. Some time after he also received the earldoms of
Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland.

Later the Norwegians made war on the king; but Siward defeated them and
avenged many fold the insults and injuries sustained by the king, thus
fulfilling the prophecy "that Divine Providence would permit to be born
from the union of a rational with an irrational creature, i.e., from the
union of a woman with a bear, a man who would wreak vengeance on the
enemies of the illustrious and glorious King of England."

In the course of time, Dunewal, King of the Scots, was ejected from his
kingdom. He sought the aid of Siward, who gathered an army and proceeded
as far as Dundee, when news was brought him that his subjects in
Northumberland had risen in insurrection and slain his son Osbertum
(Osbernum) Bulax. Compelled to return he was roused to such anger that
he sank his sword into a rock leaving a mark that could be seen, the
author says, in his day. Siward restored to the king the territory
seized by the rebels, and returned home and inflicted severe punishment
on his enemies.

B has some variations from the account in A, but none of these
variations are of present significance.

The transformation of Siward from an historical character, in regard to
whom we have authentic information, into the hero of a saga the first
part of which is of the "fornaldarsaga" type, the latter part of the
"Islændingasaga" type,[41] is quite remarkable. He must have made a deep
impression on the minds of his contemporaries and remained a hero in
oral tradition long after the historical events of his life had been
forgotten.