Saxo Bo

4. 13. Odin, on the other hand, once he had recovered his divine
regalia, shone throughout the earth with such lustrous renown that all
peoples welcomed him like a light returned to the universe; there was
nowhere in the entire world which did not pay homage to his sacred
power. When he saw that his son Bo, Rinda’s child, loved the
hardships of war, he summoned the lad and told him to keep in
mind the destruction of his brother; better to take vengeance on
Balder’s assassins than overpower guiltless men with his weapons, for
a battle was more suitable and beneficial when a proper excuse for
revenge made warring a duty.

4. 14. Meanwhile a report came that Gevar had been overwhelmed
by his treacherous jarl Gunni. Høther put his fiercest energies into
avenging the murder; he waylaid Gunni and threw him to be
consumed on a blazing pyre, since the villain had seized Gevar in
an ambush and burnt him alive at night. In this way he appeased his
foster-father’s ghost and at length set Gevar’s sons, Herlek and Gerik,
on the Norwegian throne.

4. 15. Later, after he had called his chieftains to a meeting, Høther
announced that he was bound to take on Bo and would perish in the
fight, a fact he had discovered not by doubtful surmises but from the
trustworthy prophecies of seers. He therefore begged them to make
his son Rørik ruler of the kingdom and not let the votes of wicked
men transfer this privilege to unknown foreign houses, declaring that
he would experience more delight in the assurance of his son’s
succession than bitterness at his own approaching death. When
they had readily acceded to his request he met Bo in battle and was
slain. But Bo had little joy in his victory; he was so badly stricken
himself that he withdrew from the skirmish, was carried home on his
shield in turns by his foot-soldiers and expired next day from the
agony of his wounds. At a splendidly prepared funeral the Russian
army buried his body in a magnificent barrow erected to his name, so
that the record of this noble young man should not soon fade from the
memory of later generations.


- Gesta Danorum, Book III