The place ought to be chosen level, and whereon a large host might be set in array.
And such was this; for in the place where the battle was to be the heath was level,
with a river flowing on one side, on the other a large wood.
But where the distance between the wood and the river was least
(though this was a good long stretch), there king Athelstan's men had pitched,
and their tents quite filled the space between wood and river.
They had so pitched that in every third tent there were no men at all,
and in one of every three but few. Yet when king Olaf's men came to them,
they had then numbers swarming before all the tents, and the others could
not get to go inside.
Athelstan's men said that their tents were all full,
so full that their people had not nearly enough room.
But the front line of tents stood so high that it could not be seen over
them whether they stood many or few in depth.
Olaf's men imagined a vast host must be there.
King Olaf's men pitched north of the hazel-poles,
toward which side the ground sloped a little.