To the people they plundered and murdered, the Vikings were no better than
pirates, and they certainly did seize many a ship on the high seas in their
unexcelled "long ships," beginning in about the eighth century. Among the most
fierce of them, according to the sagas, was Ragnar the Terrible, who was finally
caught by the English and flung into a pit of poisonous snakes. Ragnar showed no
weakness; in fact he sang Viking songs until he died, except for his last words:
"The little pigs would grunt now if they knew how it fared with the old boar."
When the little pigs (his four sons) did learn of his fate, they reacted in
typical Viking fashion. Tracking down their father's executioner, they took
their vengeance by binding him and tearing his lungs out of his body while he
lived.