His rule was marked by bad crops and starvation. The first autumn, the Swedes sacrificed oxen at the temple at Uppsala, but the next harvest was not better. The second autumn, they sacrificed men, but the following crops were even worse.
The third year many Swedes arrived at Gamla Uppsala, and the chiefs decided that they had to sacrifice the king. They sprinkled the statues of the gods with his blood (see Blót) and the good harvests returned.
It has happened oft ere now,
That foeman's weapon has laid low
The crowned head, where battle plain,
Was miry red with the blood-rain.
But Domald dies by bloody arms,
Raised not by foes in war's alarms --
Raised by his Swedish liegemen's hand,
To bring good seasons to the land.[1] (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/heim/02ynglga.htm)
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