He was, like all other chieftains among the Danes, a man of great determination and energy, and he had made himself very celebrated all over the land by his exploits and conquests.

His particular horde of marauders, too, was specially celebrated among all the others, on account of a mysterious and magical banner which they bore.

The name of this banner was the _Reafan_, that is, the Raven.

There was the figure of a raven woven or embroidered on the banner.

Hubba's three sisters had woven it for their brothers, when they went forth across the German Ocean to avenge their father's death.