HARALD HARFAGER'S SAGA.
 
 
 
 1. HARALD'S STRIFE WITH HAKE AND HIS FATHER GANDALF. 
 
 Harald (1) was but ten years old when he succeeded his father
 (Halfdan the Black).  He became a stout, strong, and comely man,
 and withal prudent and manly.  His mother's brother, Guthorm, was
 leader of the hird, at the head of the government, and commander
 (`hertogi') of the army.  After Halfdan the Black's death, many
 chiefs coveted the dominions he had left.  Among these King
 Gandalf was the first; then Hogne and Frode, sons of Eystein,
 king of Hedemark; and also Hogne Karuson came from Ringerike. 
 Hake, the son of Gandalf, began with an expedition of 300 men
 against Vestfold, marched by the main road through some valleys,
 and expected to come suddenly upon King Harald; while his father
 Gandalf sat at home with his army, and prepared to cross over the
 fiord into Vestfold.  When Duke Guthorm heard of this he gathered
 an army, and marched up the country with King Harald against
 Hake.  They met in a valley, in which they fought a great battle,
 and King Harald was victorious; and there fell King Hake and most
 of his people.  The place has since been called Hakadale.  Then
 King Harald and Duke Guthorm turned back, but they found King
 Gandalf had come to Vestfold.  The two armies marched against
 each other, and met, and had a great battle; and it ended in King
 Gandalf flying, after leaving most of his men dead on the spot,
 and in that state he came back to his kingdom.  Now when the sons
 of King Eystein in Hedemark heard the news, they expected the war
 would come upon them, and they sent a message to Hogne Karuson
 and to Herse Gudbrand, and appointed a meeting with them at
 Ringsaker in Hedemark.
 
 ENDNOTES:
 (1)  The first twenty chapters of this saga refer to Harald's
      youth and his conquest of Norway.  This portion of the saga
      is of great importance to the Icelanders, as the settlement
      of their Isle was a result of Harald's wars.  The second
      part of the saga (chaps. 21-46) treats of the disputes
      between Harald's sons, of the jarls of Orkney, and of the
      jarls of More.  With this saga we enter the domain of
      history. -- Ed.
 
 
 
 2. KING HARALD OVERCOMES FIVE KINGS.
 
 After the battle King Harald and Guthorm turned back, and went
 with all the men they could gather through the forests towards
 the Uplands.  They found out where the Upland kings had appointed
 their meeting-place, and came there about the time of midnight,
 without the watchmen observing them until their army was before
 the door of the house in which Hogne Karuson was, as well as that
 in which Gudbrand slept.  They set fire to both houses; but King
 Eystein's two sons slipped out with their men, and fought for a
 while, until both Hogne and Frode fell.  After the fall of these
 four chiefs, King Harald, by his relation Guthorm's success and
 powers, subdued Hedemark, Ringerike, Gudbrandsdal, Hadeland,
 Thoten, Raumarike, and the whole northern part of Vingulmark. 
 King Harald and Guthorm had thereafter war with King Gandalf, and
 fought several battles with him; and in the last of them King
 Gandalf was slain, and King Harald took the whole of his kingdom
 as far south as the river Raum.
 
 
 
 3. OF GYDA, DAUGHTER OF EIRIE.
 
 King Harald sent his men to a girl called Gyda, daughter of King
 Eirik of Hordaland, who was brought up as foster-child in the
 house of a great bonde in Valdres.  The king wanted her for his
 concubine; for she was a remarkably handsome girl, but of high
 spirit withal.  Now when the messengers came there, and delivered
 their errand to the girl, she answered, that she would not throw
 herself away even to take a king for her husband, who had no
 greater kingdom to rule over than a few districts.  "And
 methinks," said she, "it is wonderful that no king here in Norway
 will make the whole country subject to him, in the same way as
 Gorm the Old did in Denmark, or Eirik at Upsala."  The messengers
 thought her answer was dreadfully haughty, and asked what she
 thought would come of such an answer; for Harald was so mighty a
 man, that his invitation was good enough for her.  But although
 she had replied to their errand differently from what they
 wished, they saw no chance, on this occasion, of taking her with
 them against her will; so they prepared to return.  When they
 were ready, and the people followed them out, Gyda said to the
 messengers, "Now tell to King Harald these my words.  I will only
 agree to be his 1awful wife upon the condition that he shall
 first, for my sake, subject to himself the whole of Norway, so
 that he may rule over that kingdom as freely and fully as King
 Eirik over the Swedish dominions, or King Gorm over Denmark; for
 only then, methinks, can he be called the king of a people."
 
 
 
 4. KING HARALD'S VOW.
 
 Now came the messengers back to King Harald, bringing him the
 words of the girl, and saying she was so bold and foolish that
 she well deserved that the king should send a greater troop of
 people for her, and inflict on her some disgrace.  Then answered
 the king, "This girl has not spoken or done so much amiss that
 she should be punished, but rather she should be thanked for her
 words.  She has reminded me," said he, "of something which it
 appears to me wonderful I did not think of before.  And now,"
 added he, "I make the solemn vow, and take God to witness, who
 made me and rules over all things, that never shall I clip or
 comb my hair until I have subdued the whole of Norway, with scat
 (1), and duties, and domains; or if not, have died in the
 attempt."  Guthorm thanked the king warmly for his vow; adding,
 that it was royal work to fulfil royal words.
 
 ENDNOTES:
 (1)  Scat was a land-tax, paid to the king in money, malt, meal,
      or flesh-meat, from all lands, and was adjudged by the Thing
      to each king upon his accession, and being proposed and
      accepted as king.
 
 
 
 5. THE BATTLE IN ORKADAL.
 
 After this the two relations gather together a great force, and
 prepare for an expedition to the Uplands, and northwards up the
 valley (Gudbrandsdal), and north over Dovrefjeld; and when the
 king came down to the inhabited land he ordered all the men to be
 killed, and everything wide around to be delivered to the flames. 
 And when the people came to know this, they fled every one where
 he could; some down the country to Orkadal, some to Gaulardal,
 some to the forests.  But some begged for peace, and obtained it,
 on condition of joining the king and becoming his men.  He met no
 opposition until he came to Orkadal.  There a crowd of people had
 assembled, and he had his first battle with a king called
 Gryting.  Harald won the victory, and King Gryting was made
 prisoner, and most of his people killed.  He took service himself
 under the king, and swore fidelity to him.  Thereafer all the
 people in Orkadal district went under King Harald, and became his
 men.
 
 
 
 6. KING HARALD S LAWS FOR LAND PROPERTY. 
 
 King Harald made this law over all the lands he conquered, that
 all the udal property should belong to him; and that the bondes,
 both great and small, should pay him land dues for their
 possessions.  Over every district he set an earl to judge
 according to the law of the land and to justice, and also to
 collect the land dues and the fines; and for this each earl
 received a third part of the dues, and services, and fines, for
 the support of his table and other expenses.  Each earl had under
 him four or more herses, each of whom had an estate of twenty
 marks yearly income bestowed on him and was bound to support
 twenty men-at-arms, and the earl sixty men, at their own
 expenses.  The king had increased the land dues and burdens so
 much, that each of his earls had greater power and income than
 the kings had before; and when that became known at Throndhjem,
 many great men joined the king and took his service. 
 
 
 
 7. BATTLE IN GAULARDAL.
 
 It is told that Earl Hakon Grjotgardson came to King Harald from
 Yrjar, and brought a great crowd of men to his service.  Then
 King Harald went into Gaulardal, and had a great battle, in which
 he slew two kings, and conquered their dominions; and these were
 Gaulardal district and Strind district.  He gave Earl Hakon
 Strind district to rule over as earl.  King Harald then proceeded
 to Stjoradal, and had a third battle, in which he gained the
 victory, and took that district also.  There upon the Throndhjem
 people assembled, and four kings met together with their troops. 
 The one ruled over Veradal, the second over Skaun, third over the
 Sparbyggja district, and the fourth over Eyin Idre (Inderoen);
 and this latter had also Eyna district.  These four kings marched
 with their men against King Harald, but he won the battle; and
 some of these kings fell, and some fled.  In all, King Harald
 fought at the least eight battles, and slew eight kings, in the
 Throndhjem district, and laid the whole of it under him.
 
 
 
 8. HARALD SEIZES NAUMUDAL DISTRICT.
 
 North in Naumudal were two brothers, kings, -- Herlaug and
 Hrollaug; and they had been for three summers raising a mound or
 tomb of stone and lime and of wood.  Just as the work was
 finished, the brothers got the news that King Harald was coming
 upon them with his army.  Then King Herlaug had a great quantity
 of meat and drink brought into the mound, and went into it
 himself, with eleven companions, and ordered the mound to be
 covered up.  King Hrollaug, on the contrary, went upon the summit
 of the mound, on which the kings were wont to sit, and made a
 throne to be erected, upon which he seated himself.  Then he
 ordered feather-beds to be laid upon the bench below, on which
 the earls were wont to be seated, and threw himself down from his
 high seat or throne into the earl's seat, giving himself the
 title of earl.  Now Hrollaug went to meet King Harald, gave up to
 him his whole kingdom, offered to enter into his service, and
 told him his whole proceeding.  Then took King Harald a sword,
 fastened it to Hrollaug's belt, bound a shield to his neck, and
 made him thereupon an earl, and led him to his earl's seat; and
 therewith gave him the district Naumudal, and set him as earl
 over it ((A.D. 866)). (1)
 
 ENDNOTES:
 (1)  Before writing was in general use, this symbolical way of
      performing all important legal acts appears to have entered
      into the jurisprudence of all savage nations; and according
      to Gibbon, chap. 44, "the jurisprudence of the first Romans
      exhibited the scenes of a pantomime; the words were adapted
      to the gestures, and the slightest error or neglect in the
      forms of proceeding was sufficient to annul the substance of
      the fairest claims." -- Ed.
 
 
 
 9. KING HARALD'S HOME AFFAIRS.
 
 King Harald then returned to Throndhjem, where he dwelt during
 the winter, and always afterwards called it his home.  He fixed
 here his head residence, which is called Lade.  This winter he
 took to wife Asa, a daughter of Earl Hakon Grjotgardson, who then
 stood in great favour and honour with the king.  In spring the
 king fitted out his ships.  In winter he had caused a great
 frigate (a dragon) to be built, and had it fitted-out in the most
 splendid way, and brought his house-troops and his berserks on
 board.  The forecastle men were picked men, for they had the
 king's banner.  From the stem to the mid-hold was called rausn,
 or the fore-defence; and there were the berserks.  Such men only
 were received into King Harald's house-troop as were remarkable
 for strength, courage, and all kinds of dexterity; and they alone
 got place in his ship, for he had a good choice of house-troops
 from the best men of every district.  King Harald had a great
 army, many large ships, and many men of might followed him.
 Hornklofe, in his poem called "Glymdrapa", tells of this; and
 also that King Harald had a battle with the people of Orkadal, at
 Opdal forest, before he went upon this expedition.
 
      "O'er the broad heath the bowstrings twang,
      While high in air the arrows sang.
      The iron shower drives to flight
      The foeman from the bloody fight.
      The warder of great Odin's shrine,
      The fair-haired son of Odin's line,
      Raises the voice which gives the cheer,
      First in the track of wolf or bear.
      His master voice drives them along
      To Hel -- a destined, trembling throng;
      And Nokve's ship, with glancing sides,
      Must fly to the wild ocean's tides. --
      Must fly before the king who leads
      Norse axe-men on their ocean steeds."
 
 
 
 10. BATTLE AT SOLSKEL
 
 King Harald moved out with his army from Throndhjem, and went
 southwards to More.  Hunthiof was the name of the king who ruled
 over the district of More.  Solve Klofe was the name of his son,
 and both were great warriors.  King Nokve, who ruled over
 Raumsdal, was the brother of Solve's mother.  Those chiefs
 gathered a great force when they heard of King Harald, and came
 against him.  They met at Solskel, and there was a great battle,
 which was gained by King Harald (A.D. 867).  Hornklofe tells of
 this battle: --
 
      "Thus did the hero known to fame,
      The leader of the shields, whose name
      Strikes every heart with dire dismay,
      Launch forth his war-ships to the fray.
      Two kings he fought; but little strife
      Was needed to cut short their life.
      A clang of arms by the sea-shore, --
      And the shields' sound was heard no more."
 
 The two kings were slain, but Solve escaped by flight; and King
 Harald laid both districts under his power.  He stayed here long
 in summer to establish law and order for the country people, and
 set men to rule them, and keep them faithful to him; and in
 autumn he prepared to return northwards to Throndhjem.  Ragnvald
 Earl of More, a son of Eystein Glumra, had the summer before
 become one of Harald's men; and the king set him as chief over
 these two districts, North More and Raumsdal; strengthened him
 both with men of might and bondes, and gave him the help of
 ships to defend the coast against enemies.  He was called
 Ragnvald the Mighty, or the Wise; and people say both names
 suited him well.  King Harald came back to Throndhjem about
 winter.
 
 
 
 11. FALL OF KINGS ARNVID AND AUDBJORN.
 
 The following spring (A.D. 868) King Harald raised a great force
 in Throndhjem, and gave out that he would proceed to South More.
 Solve Klofe had passed the winter in his ships of war, plundering
 in North More, and had killed many of King Harald's men;
 pillaging some places, burning others, and making great ravage;
 but sometimes he had been, during the winter, with his friend
 King Arnvid in South More.  Now when he heard that King Harald
 was come with ships and a great army, he gathered people, and was
 strong in men-at-arms; for many thought they had to take
 vengeance of King Harald.  Solve Klofe went southwards to
 Firdafylke (the Fjord district), which King Audbjorn ruled over,
 to ask him to help, and join his force to King Arnvid's and his
 own.  "For," said he, "it is now clear that we all have but one
 course to take; and that is to rise, all as one man, against King
 Harald, for we have strength enough, and fate must decide the
 victory; for as to the other condition of becoming his servants,
 that is no condition for us, who are not less noble than Harald.
 My father thought it better to fall in battle for his kingdom,
 than to go willingly into King Harald's service, or not to abide
 the chance of weapons like the Naumudal kings."  King Solve's
 speech was such that King Audbjorn promised his help, and
 gathered a great force together and went with it to King Arnvid,
 and they had a great army.  Now, they got news that King Harald
 was come from the north, and they met within Solskel.  And it was
 the custom to lash the ships together, stem to stem; so it was
 done now.  King Harald laid his ship against King Arnvid's, and
 there was the sharpest fight, and many men fell on both sides. 
 At last King Harald was raging with anger, and went forward to
 the fore-deck, and slew so dreadfully that all the forecastle men
 of Arnvid's ship were driven aft of the mast, and some fell.
 Thereupon Harald boarded the ship, and King Arnvid's men tried to
 save themselves by flight, and he himself was slain in his ship.
 King Audbjorn also fell; but Solve fled.  So says Hornklofe: -- 
 
      "Against the hero's shield in vain
      The arrow-storm fierce pours its rain.
      The king stands on the blood-stained deck,
      Trampling on many a stout foe's neck;
      And high above the dinning stound
      Of helm and axe, and ringing sound
      Of blade and shield, and raven's cry,
      Is heard his shout of `Victory!'"
 
 Of King Harald's men, fell his earls Asgaut and Asbjorn, together
 with his brothers-in-law, Grjotgard and Herlaug, the sons of Earl
 Hakon of Lade.  Solve became afterwards a great sea-king, and
 often did great damage in King Harald's dominions.
 
 
 
 12. KING VEMUND BURNT TO DEATH.
 
 After this battle (A.D. 868) King Harald subdued South More; but
 Vemund, King Audbjorn's brother, still had Firdafylke.  It was
 now late in harvest, and King Harald's men gave him the counsel
 not to proceed south-wards round Stad.  Then King Harald set Earl
 Ragnvald over South and North More and also Raumsdal, and he had
 many people about him.  King Harald returned to Throndhjem.  The
 same winter (A.D. 869) Ragnvald went over Eid, and southwards to
 the Fjord district.  There he heard news of King Vemund, and came
 by night to a place called Naustdal, where King Vemund was living
 in guest-quarters.  Earl Ragnvald surrounded the house in which
 they were quartered, and burnt the king in it, together with
 ninety men.  The came Berdlukare to Earl Ragnvald with a complete
 armed long-ship, and they both returned to More.  The earl took
 all the ships Vemund had, and all the goods he could get hold of.
 Berdlukare proceeded north to Throndhjem to King Harald, and
 became his man; and dreadful berserk he was.
 
 
 
 13. DEATH OF EARLS HAKON, AND ATLE MJOVE.
 
 The following spring (A.D. 869) King Harald went southwards with
 his fleet along the coast, and subdued Firdafylke.  Then he
 sailed eastward along the land until he came to Vik; but he left
 Earl Hakon Grjotgardson behind, and set him over the Fjord
 district.  Earl Hakon sent word to Earl Atle Mjove that he should
 leave Sogn district, and be earl over Gaular district, as he had
 been before, alleging that King Harald had given Sogn district to
 him.  Earl Atle sent word that he would keep both Sogn district
 and Gaular district, until he met King Harald.  The two earls
 quarreled about this so long, that both gathered troops.  They
 met at Fialar, in Stavanger fiord, and had a great battle, in
 which Earl Hakon fell, and Earl Atle got a mortal wound, and his
 men carried him to the island of Atley, where he died.  So says
 Eyvind Skaldaspiller: --
 
      "He who stood a rooted oak,
      Unshaken by the swordsman's stroke,
      Amidst the whiz of arrows slain,
      Has fallen upon Fjalar's plain.
      There, by the ocean's rocky shore,
      The waves are stained with the red gore
      Of stout Earl Hakon Grjotgard's son,
      And of brave warriors many a one."
 
 
 
 14. HARALD AND THE SWEDISH KING EIRIK.
 
 King Harald came with his fleet eastward to Viken and landed at
 Tunsberg, which was then a trading town.  He had then been four
 years in Throndhjem, and in all that time had not been in Viken.
 Here he heard the news that Eirik Eymundson, king of Sweden, had
 laid under him Vermaland, and was taking scat or land-tax from
 all the forest settlers; and also that he called the whole
 country north to Svinasund, and west along the sea, West
 Gautland; and which altogether he reckoned to his kingdom, and
 took land-tax from it.  Over this country he had set an earl, by
 name Hrane Gauzke, who had the earldom between Svinasund and the
 Gaut river, and was a mighty earl.  And it was told to King
 Harald that the Swedish king said he would not rest until he had
 as great a kingdom in Viken as Sigurd Hring, or his son Ragnar
 Lodbrok, had possessed; and that was Raumarike and Vestfold, all
 the way to the isle Grenmar, and also Vingulmark, and all that
 lay south of it.  In all these districts many chiefs, and many
 other people, had given obedience to the Swedish king.  King
 Harald was very angry at this, and summoned the bondes to a Thing
 at Fold, where he laid an accusation against them for treason
 towards him.  Some bondes defended themselves from the
 accusation, some paid fines, some were punished.  He went thus
 through the whole district during the summer, and in harvest he
 did the same in Raumarike, and laid the two districts under his
 power.  Towards winter he heard that Eirik king of Sweden was,
 with his court, going about in Vermaland in guest-quarters.
 
 
 
 15. HARALD AT A FEAST OF THE PEASANT AKE.
 
 King Harald takes his way across the Eid forest eastward, and
 comes out in Vermaland, where he also orders feasts to be
 prepared for himself.  There was a man by name Ake, who was the
 greatest of the bondes of Vermaland, very rich, and at that time
 very aged.  He sent men to King Harald, and invited him to a
 feast, and the king promised to come on the day appointed.  Ake
 invited also King Eirik to a feast, and appointed the same day.
 Ake had a great feasting hall, but it was old; and he made a new
 hall, not less than the old one, and had it ornamented in the
 most splendid way.  The new hall he had hung with new hangings,
 but the old had only its old ornaments.  Now when the kings came
 to the feast, King Eirik with his court was taken into the old
 hall; but Harald with his followers into the new.  The same
 difference was in all the table furniture, and King Eirik and his
 men had the old-fashioned vessels and horns, but all gilded and
 splendid; while King Harald and his men had entirely new vessels
 and horns adorned with gold, all with carved figures, and shining
 like glass; and both companies had the best of liquor.  Ake the
 bonde had formerly been King Halfdan the Black s man.  Now when
 daylight came, and the feast was quite ended, and the kings made
 themselves ready for their journey, and the horses were saddled,
 came Ake before King Harald, leading in his hand his son Ubbe, a
 boy of twelve years of age, and said, "If the goodwill I have
 shown to thee, sire, in my feast, be worth thy friendship, show
 it hereafter to my son.  I give him to thee now for thy service."
 The king thanked him with many agreeable words for his friendly
 entertainment, and promised him his full friendship in return.
 Then Ake brought out great presents, which he gave to the king,
 and they gave each other thereafter the parting kiss.  Ake went
 next to the Swedish king, who was dressed and ready for the road,
 but not in the best humour.  Ake gave to him also good and
 valuable gifts; but the king answered only with few words, and
 mounted his horse.  Ake followed the king on the road and talked
 with him.  The road led through a wood which was near to the
 house; and when Ake came to the wood, the king said to him, "How
 was it that thou madest such a difference between me and King
 Harald as to give him the best of everything, although thou
 knowest thou art my man?"  "I think" answered Ake, "that there
 failed in it nothing, king, either to you or to your attendants,
 in friendly entertainment at this feast.  But that all the
 utensils for your drinking were old, was because you are now old;
 but King Harald is in the bloom of youth, and therefore I gave
 him the new things.  And as to my being thy man, thou art just as
 much my man."  On this the king out with his sword, and gave Ake
 his deathwound.  King Harald was ready now also to mount his
 horse, and desired that Ake should be called.  The people went to
 seek him; and some ran up the road that King Eirik had taken, and
 found Ake there dead.  They came back, and told the news to King
 Harald, and he bids his men to be up, and avenge Ake the bonde.
 And away rode he and his men the way King Eirik had taken, until
 they came in sight of each other.  Each for himself rode as hard
 as he could, until Eirik came into the wood which divides
 Gautland and Vermaland.  There King Harald wheels about, and
 returns to Vermaland, and lays the country under him, and kills
 King Eirik's men wheresoever he can find them.  In winter King
 Harald returned to Raumarike, and dwelt there a while.
 
 
 
 16. HARALD'S JOURNEY TO TUNSBERG.
 
 King Harald went out in winter to his ships at Tunsberg, rigged
 them, and sailed away eastward over the fiord, and subjected all
 Vingulmark to his dominion.  All winter he was out with his
 ships, and marauded in Ranrike; so says Thorbjorn Hornklofe: --
 
      "The Norseman's king is on the sea,
      Tho' bitter wintry cold it be. --
      On the wild waves his Yule keeps he.
      When our brisk king can get his way,
      He'll no more by the fireside stay
      Than the young sun; he makes us play
      The game of the bright sun-god Frey.
      But the soft Swede loves well the fire
      The well-stuffed couch, the doway glove,
      And from the hearth-seat will not move."
 
 The Gautlanders gathered people together all over the country.
 
 
 
 17. THE BATTLE IN GAUTLAND.
 
 In spring, when the ice was breaking up, the Gautlanders drove
 stakes into the Gaut river to hinder King Harald with his ships
 from coming to the land.  But King Harald laid his ships
 alongside the stakes, and plundered the country, and burnt all
 around; so says Horn klofe: --
 
      "The king who finds a dainty feast,
      For battle-bird and prowling beast,
      Has won in war the southern land
      That lies along the ocean's strand.
      The leader of the helmets, he
      Who leads his ships o'er the dark sea,
      Harald, whose high-rigged masts appear
      Like antlered fronts of the wild deer,
      Has laid his ships close alongside
      Of the foe's piles with daring pride."
 
 Afterwards the Gautlanders came down to the strand with a great
 army, and gave battle to King Harald, and great was the fall of
 men.  But it was King Harald who gained the day.  Thus says
 Hornklofe: --
 
      "Whistles the battle-axe in its swing
      O'er head the whizzing javelins sing,
      Helmet and shield and hauberk ring;
      The air-song of the lance is loud,
      The arrows pipe in darkening cloud;
      Through helm and mail the foemen feel
      The blue edge of our king's good steel
      Who can withstand our gallant king?
      The Gautland men their flight must wing."
 
 
 
 18. HRANE GAUZKE'S DEATH.
 
 King Harald went far and wide through Gautland, and many were the
 battles he fought there on both sides of the river, and in
 general he was victorious.  In one of these battles fell Hrane
 Gauzke; and then the king took his whole land north of the river
 and west of the Veneren, and also Vermaland.  And after he turned
 back there-from, he set Duke Guthorm as chief to defend the
 country, and left a great force with him.  King Harald himself
 went first to the Uplands, where he remained a while, and then
 proceeded northwards over the Dovrefjeld to Throndhjem, where he
 dwelt for a long time.  Harald began to have children.  By Asa he
 had four sons.  The eldest was Guthorm.  Halfdan the Black and
 Halfdan the White were twins.  Sigfrod was the fourth.  They were
 all brought up in Throndhjem with all honour.
 
 
 
 19. BATTLE IN HAFERSFJORD.
 
 News came in from the south land that the people of Hordaland and
 Rogaland, Agder and Thelemark, were gathering, and bringing
 together ships and weapons, and a great body of men.  The leaders
 of this were Eirik king of Hordaland; Sulke king of Rogaland, and
 his brother Earl Sote: Kjotve the Rich, king of Agder, and his
 son Thor Haklang; and from Thelemark two brothers, Hroald Hryg
 and Had the Hard.  Now when Harald got certain news of this, he
 assembled his forces, set his ships on the water, made himself
 ready with his men, and set out southwards along the coast,
 gathering many people from every district.  King Eirik heard of
 this when he same south of Stad; and having assembled all the men
 he could expect, he proceeded southwards to meet the force which
 he knew was coming to his help from the east.  The whole met
 together north of Jadar, and went into Hafersfjord, where King
 Harald was waiting with his forces.  A great battle began, which
 was both hard and long; but at last King Harald gained the day.
 There King Eirik fell, and King Sulke, with his brother Earl
 Sote.  Thor Haklang, who was a great berserk, had laid his ship
 against King Harald's, and there was above all measure a
 desperate attack, until Thor Haklang fell, and his whole ship was
 cleared of men.  Then King Kjotve fled to a little isle outside,
 on which there was a good place of strength.  Thereafter all his
 men fled, some to their ships, some up to the land; and the
 latter ran southwards over the country of Jadar.  So says
 Hornklofe, viz.: --
 
      "Has the news reached you? -- have you heard
      Of the great fight at Hafersfjord,
      Between our noble king brave Harald
      And King Kjotve rich in gold?
      The foeman came from out the East,
      Keen for the fray as for a feast.
      A gallant sight it was to see
      Their fleet sweep o'er the dark-blue sea:
      Each war-ship, with its threatening throat
      Of dragon fierce or ravenous brute (1)
      Grim gaping from the prow; its wales
      Glittering with burnished shields, (2) like scales
      Its crew of udal men of war,
      Whose snow-white targets shone from far
      And many a mailed spearman stout
      From the West countries round about,
      English and Scotch, a foreign host,
      And swordamen from the far French coast.
      And as the foemen's ships drew near,
      The dreadful din you well might hear
      Savage berserks roaring mad,
      And champions fierce in wolf-skins clad, (3)
      Howling like wolves; and clanking jar
      Of many a mail-clad man of war.
      Thus the foe came; but our brave king
      Taught them to fly as fast again.
      For when he saw their force come o'er,
      He launched his war-ships from the shore.
      On the deep sea he launched his fleet
      And boldly rowed the foe to meet.
      Fierce was the shock, and loud the clang
      Of shields, until the fierce Haklang,
      The foeman's famous berserk, fell.
      Then from our men burst forth the yell
      Of victory, and the King of Gold
      Could not withstand our Harald bold,
      But fled before his flaky locks
      For shelter to the island rocks.
      All in the bottom of the ships
      The wounded lay, in ghastly heaps;
      Backs up and faces down they lay
      Under the row-seats stowed away;
      And many a warrior's shield, I ween
      Might on the warrior's back be seen,
      To shield him as he fled amain
      From the fierce stone-storm's pelting rain.
      The mountain-folk, as I've heard say,
      Ne'er stopped as they ran from the fray,
      Till they had crossed the Jadar sea,
      And reached their homes -- so keen each soul
      To drown his fright in the mead bowl."
 
 
 ENDNOTES:
 (1)  The war-ships were called dragons, from being decorated with
      the head of a dragon, serpent, or other wild animal; and the
      word "draco" was adopted in the Latin of the Middle Ages to
      denote a ship of war of the larger class.  The snekke was
      the cutter or smaller war-ship. -- L.
 (2)  The shields were hung over the side-rails of the ships. --
      L.
 (3)  The wolf-skin pelts were nearly as good as armour against
      the sword.
 
 
 
 20. HARALD SUPREME SOVEREIGN IN NORWAY.
 
 After this battle King Harald met no opposition in Norway, for
 all his opponents and greatest enemies were cut off.  But some,
 and they were a great multitude, fled out of the country, and
 thereby great districts were peopled.  Jemtaland and
 Helsingjaland were peopled then, although some Norwegians had
 already set up their habitation there.  In the discontent that
 King Harald seized on the lands of Norway, the out-countries of
 Iceland and the Farey Isles were discovered and peopled.  The
 Northmen had also a great resort to Hjaltland (Shetland Isles)
 and many men left Norway, flying the country on account of King
 Harald, and went on viking cruises into the West sea.  In winter
 they were in the Orkney Islands and Hebrides; but marauded in
 summer in Norway, and did great damage.  Many, however, were the
 mighty men who took service under King Harald, and became his
 men, and dwelt in the land with him.
 
 
 
 21. HARALD'S MARRIAGE AND HIS CHILDREN.
 
 When King Harald had now become sole king over all Norway, he
 remembered what that proud girl had said to him; so he sent men
 to her, and had her brought to him, and took her to his bed.  And
 these were their children: Alof -- she was the eldest; then was
 their son Hrorek; then Sigtryg, Frode, and Thorgils.  King Harald
 had many wives and many children.  Among them he had one wife,
 who was called Ragnhild the Mighty, a daughter of King Eirik,
 from Jutland; and by her he had a son, Eirik Blood-axe.  He was
 also married to Svanhild, a daughter of Earl Eystein; and their
 sons were Olaf Geirstadaalf, Bjorn and Ragnar Rykkil.  Lastly,
 King Harald married Ashild, a daughter of Hring Dagson, up in
 Ringerike; and their children were, Dag, Hring, Gudrod Skiria,
 and Ingigerd.  It is told that King Harald put away nine wives
 when he married Ragnhild the Mighty.  So says Hornklofe: --
 
      "Harald, of noblest race the head,
      A Danish wife took to his bed;
      And out of doors nine wives he thrust, --
      The mothers of the princes first.
      Who 'mong Holmrygians hold command,
      And those who rule in Hordaland.
      And then he packed from out the place
      The children born of Holge's race."
 
 King Harald's children were all fostered and brought up by their
 relations on the mother's side.  Guthorm the Duke had poured
 water over King Harald's eldest son and had given him his own
 name.  He set the child upon his knee, and was his foster-father,
 and took him with himself eastward to Viken, and there he was
 brought up in the house of Guthorm.  Guthorm ruled the whole land
 in Viken and the Uplands, when King Harald was absent.
 
 
 
 22. KING HARALD'S VOYAGE TO THE WEST.
 
 King Harald heard that the vikings, who were in the West sea in
 winter, plundered far and wide in the middle part of Norway; and
 therefore every summer he made an expedition to search the isles
 and out-skerries (1) on the coast.  Wheresoever the vikings heard
 of him they all took to flight, and most of them out into the
 open ocean.  At last the king grew weary of this work, and
 therefore one summer he sailed with his fleet right out into the
 West sea.  First he came to Hjaltland (Shetland), and he slew all
 the vikings who could not save themselves by flight.  Then King
 Harald sailed southwards, to the Orkney Islands, and cleared them
 all of vikings.  Thereafter he proceeded to the Sudreys
 (Hebrides), plundered there, and slew many vikings who formerly
 had had men-at-arms under them.  Many a battle was fought, and
 King Harald was always victorious.  He then plundered far and
 wide in Scotland itself, and had a battle there.  When he was
 come westward as far as the Isle of Man, the report of his
 exploits on the land had gone before him; for all the inhabitants
 had fled over to Scotland, and the island was left entirely bare
 both of people and goods, so that King Harald and his men made no
 booty when they landed.  So says Hornklofe: --
 
      "The wise, the noble king, great
      Whose hand so freely scatters gold,
      Led many a northern shield to war
      Against the town upon the shore.
      The wolves soon gathered on the sand
      Of that sea-shore; for Harald's hand
      The Scottish army drove away,
      And on the coast left wolves a prey."
 
 In this war fell Ivar, a son of Ragnvald, Earl of More; and King
 Harald gave Ragnvald, as a compensation for the loss, the Orkney
 and Shetland isles, when he sailed from the West; but Ragnvald
 immediately gave both these countries to his brother Sigurd, who
 remained behind them; and King Harald, before sailing eastward,
 gave Sigurd the earldom of them.  Thorstein the Red, a son of
 Olaf the White and of Aud the Wealthy, entered into partnership
 with him; and after plundering in Scotland, they subdued
 Caithness and Sutherland, as far as Ekkjalsbakke.  Earl Sigurd
 killed Melbridge Tooth, a Scotch earl, and hung his head to his
 stirrup-leather; but the calf of his leg were scratched by the
 teeth, which were sticking out from the head, and the wound
 caused inflammation in his leg, of which the earl died, and he
 was laid in a mound at Ekkjalsbakke.  His son Guthorm ruled over
 these countries for about a year thereafter, and died without
 children.  Many vikings, both Danes and Northmen, set themselves
 down then in those countries.
 
 
 ENDNOTES:
 (1)  Skerries are the uninhabited dry or halt-tide rocks of a
      coast. -- L.
 
 
 
 23. HARALD HAS HIS HAIR CLIPPED.
 
 After King Harald had subdued the whole land, he was one day at
 a feast in More, given by Earl Ragnvald.  Then King Harald went
 into a bath, and had his hair dressed.  Earl Ragnvald now cut his
 hair, which had been uncut and uncombed for ten years; and
 therefore the king had been called Lufa (i.e., with rough matted
 hair).  But then Earl Ragnvald gave him the distinguishing name
 -- Harald Harfager (i.e., fair hair); and all who saw him agreed
 that there was the greatest truth in the surname, for he had the
 most beautiful and abundant head of hair.
 
 
 
 24. ROLF GANGER DRIVEN INTO BANISHMENT.
 
 Earl Ragnvald was King Harald's dearest friend, and the king had
 the greatest regard for him.  He was married to Hild, a daughter
 of Rolf Nefia, and their sons were Rolf and Thorer.  Earl
 Ragnvald had also three sons by concubines, -- the one called
 Hallad, the second Einar, the third Hrollaug; and all three were
 grown men when their brothers born in marriage were still
 children Rolf became a great viking, and was of so stout a growth
 that no horse could carry him, and wheresoever he went he must go
 on foot; and therefore he was called Rolf Ganger.  He plundered
 much in the East sea.  One summer, as he was coming from the
 eastward on a viking's expedition to the coast of Viken, he
 landed there and made a cattle foray.  As King Harald happened,
 just at that time, to be in Viken, he heard of it, and was in a
 great rage; for he had forbid, by the greatest punishment, the
 plundering within the bounds of the country.  The king assembled
 a Thing, and had Rolf declared an outlaw over all Norway.  When
 Rolf's mother, Hild heard of it she hastened to the king, and
 entreated peace for Rolf; but the king was so enraged that here
 entreaty was of no avail.  Then Hild spake these lines: --
 
      "Think'st thou, King Harald, in thy anger,
      To drive away my brave Rolf Ganger
      Like a mad wolf, from out the land?
      Why, Harald, raise thy mighty hand?
      Why banish Nefia's gallant name-son,
      The brother of brave udal-men?
      Why is thy cruelty so fell?
      Bethink thee, monarch, it is ill
      With such a wolf at wolf to play,
      Who, driven to the wild woods away
      May make the king's best deer his prey."
 
 Rolf Ganger went afterwards over sea to the West to the Hebrides,
 or Sudreys; and at last farther west to Valland, where he
 plundered and subdued for himself a great earldom, which he
 peopled with Northmen, from which that land is called Normandy.
 Rolf Ganger's son was William, father to Richard, and grandfather
 to another Richard, who was the father of Robert Longspear, and
 grandfather of William the Bastard, from whom all the following
 English kings are descended.  From Rolf Ganger also are descended
 the earls in Normandy.  Queen Ragnhild the Mighty lived three
 years after she came to Norway; and, after her death, her son and
 King Harald's was taken to the herse Thorer Hroaldson, and Eirik
 was fostered by him.
 
 
 
 25. OF THE FIN SVASE AND KING HARALD.
 
 King Harald, one winter, went about in guest-quarters in the
 Uplands, and had ordered a Christmas feast to be prepared for him
 at the farm Thoptar.  On Christmas eve came Svase to the door,
 just as the king went to table, and sent a message to the king to
 ask if he would go out with him.  The king was angry at such a
 message, and the man who had brought it in took out with him a
 reply of the king's displeasure.  But Svase, notwithstanding,
 desired that his message should be delivered a second time;
 adding to it, that he was the Fin whose hut the king had promised
 to visit, and which stood on the other side of the ridge.  Now
 the king went out, and promised to go with him, and went over the
 ridge to his hut, although some of his men dissuaded him.  There
 stood Snaefrid, the daughter of Svase, a most beautiful girl; and
 she filled a cup of mead for the king.  But he took hold both of
 the cup and of her hand.  Immediately it was as if a hot fire
 went through his body; and he wanted that very night to take her
 to his bed.  But Svase said that should not be unless by main
 force, if he did not first make her his lawful wife.  Now King
 Harald made Snaefrid his lawful wife, and loved her so
 passionately that he forgot his kingdom, and all that belonged to
 his high dignity.  They had four sons: the one was Sigurd Hrise;
 the others Halfdan Haleg, Gudrod Ljome and Ragnvald Rettilbeine.
 Thereafter Snaefrid died; but her corpse never changed, but was
 as fresh and red as when she lived.  The king sat always beside
 her, and thought she would come to life again.  And so it went on
 for three years that he was sorrowing over her death, and the
 people over his delusion.  At last Thorleif the Wise succeeded,
 by his prudence, in curing him of his delusion by accosting him
 thus: -- "It is nowise wonderful, king, that thou grievest over
 so beautiful and noble a wife, and bestowest costly coverlets and
 beds of down on her corpse, as she desired; but these honours
 fall short of what is due, as she still lies in the same clothes.
 It would be more suitable to raise her, and change her dress." 
 As soon as the body was raised in the bed all sorts of corruption
 and foul smells came from it, and it was necessary in all haste
 to gather a pile of wood and burn it; but before this could be
 done the body turned blue, and worms, toads, newts, paddocks, and
 all sorts of ugly reptiles came out of it, and it sank into
 ashes.  Now the king came to his understanding again, threw the
 madness out of his mind, and after that day ruled his kingdom as
 before.  He was strengthened and made joyful by his subjects, and
 his subjects by him and the country by both.
 
 
 
 26. OF THJODOLF OF HVIN, THE SKALD.
 
 After King Harald had experienced the cunning of the Fin woman,
 he was so angry that he drove from him the sons he had with her,
 and would not suffer them before his eyes.  But one of them,
 Gudrod Ljome, went to his foster-father Thjodolf of Hvin, and
 asked him to go to the king, who was then in the Uplands; for
 Thjodolf was a great friend of the king.  And so they went, and
 came to the king's house late in the evening, and sat down
 together unnoticed near the door.  The king walked up and down
 the floor casting his eye along the benches; for he had a feast
 in the house, and the mead was just mixed.  The king then
 murmured out these lines: --
 
      "Tell me, ye aged gray-haired heroes,
      Who have come here to seek repose,
      Wherefore must I so many keep
      Of such a set, who, one and all,
      Right dearly love their souls to steep,
      From morn till night, in the mead-bowl?"
 
 Then Thjodolf replies: --
 
      "A certain wealthy chief, I think,
      Would gladly have had more to drink
      With him, upon one bloody day,
      When crowns were cracked in our sword-play."
 
 Thjodolf then took off his hat, and the king recognised him, and
 gave him a friendly reception.  Thjodolf then begged the king not
 to cast off his sons; "for they would with great pleasure have
 taken a better family descent upon the mother's side, if the king
 had given it to them."  The king assented, and told him to take
 Gudrod with him as formerly; and he sent Halfdan and Sigurd to
 Ringerike, and Ragnvald to Hadaland, and all was done as the king
 ordered.  They grew up to be very clever men, very expert in all
 exercises.  In these times King Harald sat in peace in the land,
 and the land enjoyed quietness and good crops.
 
 
 
 27. OF EARL TORFEINAR'S OBTAINING ORKNEY.
 
 When Earl Ragnvald in More heard of the death of his brother Earl
 Sigurd, and that the vikings were in possession of the country,
 he sent his son Hallad westward, who took the title of earl to
 begin with, and had many men-at-arms with him.  When he arrived
 at the Orkney Islands, he established himself in the country; but
 both in harvest, winter, and spring, the vikings cruised about
 the isles plundering the headlands, and committing depredations
 on the coast.  Then Earl Hallad grew tired of the business,
 resigned his earldom, took up again his rights as an allodial
 owner, and afterwards returned eastward into Norway.  When Earl
 Ragnvald heard of this he was ill pleased with Hallad, and said
 his son were very unlike their ancestors.  Then said Einar, "I
 have enjoyed but little honour among you, and have little
 affection here to lose: now if you will give me force enough, I
 will go west to the islands, and promise you what at any rate
 will please you -- that you shall never see me again."  Earl
 Ragnvald replied, that he would be glad if he never came back;
 "For there is little hope," said he, "that thou will ever be an
 honour to thy friends, as all thy kin on thy mother's side are
 born slaves."  Earl Ragnvald gave Einar a vessel completely
 equipped, and he sailed with it into the West sea in harvest.
 When he came to the Orkney Isles, two vikings, Thorer Treskeg and
 Kalf Skurfa, were in his way with two vessels.  He attacked them
 instantly, gained the battle, and slew the two vikings.  Then
 this was sung: --
 
      "Then gave he Treskeg to the trolls,
      Torfeinar slew Skurfa."
 
 He was called Torfeinar, because he cut peat for fuel, there
 being no firewood, as in Orkney there are no woods.  He
 afterwards was earl over the islands, and was a mighty man.  He
 was ugly, and blind of an eye, yet very sharp-sighted withal.
 
 
 
 28. KING EIRIK EYMUNDSON'S DEATH.
 
 Duke Guthorm dwelt principally at Tunsberg, and governed the
 whole of Viken when the king was not there.  He defended the
 land, which, at that time, was much plundered by the vikings.
 There were disturbances also up in Gautland as long as King Eirik
 Eymundson lived; but he died when King Harald Harfager had been
 ten years king of all Norway.
 
 
 
 29.GUTHORM'S DEATH IN TUNSBERG.
 
 After Eirik, his son Bjorn was king of Svithjod for fifty years.
 He was father of Eirik the Victorious, and of Olaf the father of
 Styrbjorn.  Guthorm died on a bed of sickness at Tunsberg, and
 King Harald gave his son Guthorm the government of that part of
 his dominions and made him chief of it.
 
 
 
 30. EARL RAGNVALD BURNT IN HIS HOUSE.
 
 When King Harald was forty years of age many of his sons were
 well advanced, and indeed they all came early to strength and
 manhood.  And now they began to take it ill that the king would
 not give them any part of the kingdom,  but put earls into every
 district; for they thought earls were of inferior birth to them.
 Then Halfdan Haleg and Gudrod Ljome set off one spring with a
 great force, and came suddenly upon Earl Ragnvald, earl of More,
 and surrounded the house in which he was, and burnt him and sixty
 men in it.  Thereafter Halfdan took three long-ships, and fitted
 them out, and sailed into the West sea; but Gudrod set himself
 down in the land which Ragnvald formerly had.  Now when King
 Harald heard this he set out with a great force against Gudrod,
 who had no other way left but to surrender, and he was sent to
 Agder.  King Harald then set Earl Ragnvald's son Thorer over
 More, and gave him his daughter Alof, called Arbot, in marriage.
 Earl Thorer, called the Silent, got the same territory his father
 Earl Ragnvald had possessed.
 
 
 
 31. HALFDAN HALEG'S DEATH.
 
 Halfdan Haleg came very unexpectedly to Orkney, and Earl Einar
 immediately fled; but came back soon after about harvest time,
 unnoticed by Halfdan.  They met and after a short battle Halfdan
 fled the same night.  Einar and his men lay all night without
 tents, and when it was light in the morning they searched the
 whole island and killed every man they could lay hold of.  Then
 Einar said "What is that I see upon the isle of Rinansey?  Is it
 a man or a bird?  Sometimes it raises itself up, and sometimes
 lies down again."  They went to it, and found it was Halfdan
 Haleg, and took him prisoner.
 
 Earl Einar sang the following song the evening before he went
 into this battle: --
 
      "Where is the spear of Hrollaug?  where
      Is stout Rolf Ganger's bloody spear!
      I see them not; yet never fear,
      For Einar will not vengeance spare
      Against his father's murderers, though
      Hrollaug and Rolf are somewhat slow,
      And silent Thorer sits add dreams
      At home, beside the mead-bowl's streams."
 
 Thereafter Earl Einar went up to Halfdan, and cut a spread eagle
 upon his back, by striking his sword through his back into his
 belly, dividing his ribs from the backbone down to his loins, and
 tearing out his lungs; and so Halfdan was killed.  Einar then
 sang: --
 
      "For Ragnvald's death my sword is red:
      Of vengeance it cannot be said
      That Einar's share is left unsped.
      So now, brave boys, let's raise a mound, --
      Heap stones and gravel on the ground
      O'er Halfdan's corpse: this is the way
      We Norsemen our scat duties pay."
 
 Then Earl Einar took possession of the Orkney Isles as before.
 Now when these tidings came to Norway, Halfdan's brothers took it
 much to heart, and thought that his death demanded vengeance; and
 many were of the same opinion.  When Einar heard this, he sang:
 --
 
      "Many a stout udal-man, I know,
      Has cause to wish my head laid low;
      And many an angry udal knife
      Would gladly drink of Eina's life.
      But ere they lay Earl Einar low, --
      Ere this stout heart betrays its cause,
      Full many a heart will writhe, we know,
      In the wolf's fangs, or eagle's claws."
 
 
 
 32. HARALD AND EINAR RECONCILED.
 
 King Harald now ordered a levy, and gathered a great force, with
 which he proceeded westward to Orkney; and when Earl Einar heard
 that King Harald was come, he fled over to Caithness.  He made
 the following verses on this occasion: --
 
      "Many a bearded man must roam,
      An exile from his house and home,
      For cow or horse; but Halfdan's gore
      Is red on Rinansey's wild shore.
      A nobler deed -- on Harald's shield
      The arm of one who ne'er will yield
      Has left a scar.  Let peasants dread
      The vengeance of the Norsemen's head:
      I reck not of his wrath, but sing,
      `Do thy worst! -- I defy thee, king! --'"
 
 Men and messages, however, passed between the king and the earl,
 and at last it came to a conference; and when they met the earl
 submitted the case altogether to the king's decision, and the
 king condemned the earl Einar and the Orkney people to pay a fine
 of sixty marks of gold.  As the bondes thought this was too heavy
 for them to pay, the earl offered to pay the whole if they would
 surrender their udal lands to him.  This they all agreed to do:
 the poor because they had but little pieces of land; the rich
 because they could redeem their udal rights again when they
 liked.  Thus the earl paid the whole fine to the king, who
 returned in harvest to Norway.  The earls for a long time
 afterwards possessed all the udal lands in Orkney, until Sigurd
 son of Hlodver gave back the udal rights.
 
 
 
 33. DEATH OF GUTHORM AND HALFDAN THE WHITE.
 
 While King Harald's son Guthorm had the defence of Viken, he
 sailed outside of the islands on the coast, and came in by one
 of the mouths of the tributaries of the Gaut river.  When he lay
 there Solve Klofe came upon him, and immediately gave him battle,
 and Guthorm fell.  Halfdan the White and Halfdan the Black went
 out on an expedition, and plundered in the East sea, and had a
 battle in Eistland, where Halfdan the White fell.
 
 
 
 34. MARRIAGE OF EIRIK.
 
 Eirik, Harald's son, was fostered in the house of the herse
 Thorer, son of Hroald, in the Fjord district.  He was the most
 beloved and honoured by King Harald of all his sons.  When Eirik
 was twelve years old, King Harald gave him five long-ships, with
 which he went on an expedition, -- first in the Baltic; then
 southwards to Denmark, Friesland, and Saxland; on which
 expedition he passed four years.  He then sailed out into the
 West sea and plundered in Scotland, Bretland, Ireland, and
 Valland, and passed four years more in this way.  Then he sailed
 north to Finmark, and all the way to Bjarmaland, where he had
 many a battle, and won many a victory.  When he came back to
 Finmark, his men found a girl in a Lapland hut, whose equal for
 beauty they never had seen.  She said her name was Gunhild, and
 that her father dwelt in Halogaland, and was called Ozur Tote. 
 "I am here," she said, "to learn sorcery from two of the most
 knowing Fins in all Finmark, who are now out hunting.  They both
 want me in marriage.  They are so skilful that they can hunt out
 traces either upon the frozen or the thawed earth, like dogs; and
 they can run so swiftly on skees that neither man nor beast can
 come near them in speed.  They hit whatever they take aim at, and
 thus kill every man who comes near them.  When they are angry the
 very earth turns away in terror, and whatever living thing they
 look upon then falls dead.  Now ye must not come in their way;
 but I will hide you here in the hut, and ye must try to get them
 killed."  They agreed to it, and she hid them, and then took a
 leather bag, in which they thought there were ashes which she
 took in her hand, and strewed both outside and inside of the hut.
 Shortly after the Fins came home, and asked who had been there;
 and she answered, "Nobody has been here."  "That is wonderful,"
 said they, "we followed the traces close to the hut, and can find
 none after that."  Then they kindled a fire, and made ready their
 meat, and Gunhild prepared her bed.  It had so happened that
 Gunhild had slept the three nights before,  but the Fins had
 watched the one upon the other, being jealous of each other.
 "Now," she said to the Fins, "come here, and lie down one on each
 side of me."  On which they were very glad to do so.  She laid an
 arm round the neck of each and they went to sleep directly.  She
 roused them up; but they fell to sleep again instantly, and so
 soundly the she scarcely could waken them.  She even raised them
 up in the bed, and still they slept.  Thereupon she too two great
 seal-skin bags, and put their heads in them, and tied them fast
 under their arms; and then she gave a wink to the king~s men.
 They run forth with their weapons, kill the two Fins, and drag
 them out of the hut.  That same night came such a dreadful
 thunder-storm that the could not stir.  Next morning they came to
 the ship, taking Gunhild with them, and presented her to Eirik.
 Eirik and his followers then sailed southwards to Halogaland and
 he sent word to Ozur Tote, the girl's father, to meet him.  Eirik
 said he would take his daughter in marriage, to which Ozur Tote
 consented, and Eirik took Gunhild and went southwards with her
 (A.D. 922).
 
 
 
 35. HARALD DIVIDES HIS KINGDOM.
 
 When King Harald was fifty years of age many of his sons were
 grown up, and some were dead.  Many of them committed acts of
 great violence in the country, and were in discord among
 themselves.  They drove some of the king's earls out of their
 properties, and even killed some of them.  Then the king called
 together a numerous Thing in the south part of the country, and
 summoned to it all the people of the Uplands.  At this Thing he
 gave to all his sons the title of king, and made a law that his
 descendants in the male line should each succeed to the kingly
 title and dignity; but his descendants by the female side only to
 that of earl.  And he divided the country among them thus: --
 Vingulmark, Raumarike, Vestfold and Thelamark, he bestowed on
 Olaf, Bjorn, Sigtryg, Frode, and Thorgils.  Hedemark and
 Gudbrandsdal he gave to Dag, Hring, and Ragnar.  To Snaefrid's
 sons he gave Ringerike, Hadeland, Thoten, and the lands thereto
 belonging.  His son Guthorm, as before mentioned, he had set over
 the country from Glommen to Svinasund and Ranrike.  He had set
 him to defend the country to the East, as before has been
 written.  King Harald himself generally dwelt in the middle of
 the country, and Hrorek and Gudrod were generally with his court,
 and had great estates in Hordaland and in Sogn.  King Eirik was
 also with his father King Harald; and the king loved and regarded
 him the most of all his sons, and gave him Halogaland and North
 More, and Raumsdal.  North in Throndhjem he gave Halfdan the
 Black, Halfdan the White, and Sigrod land to rule over.  In each
 of these districts he gave his sons the one half of his revenues,
 together with the right to sit on a high-seat, -- a step higher
 than earls, but a step lower than his own high-seat.  His king's
 seat each of his sons wanted for himself after his death, but he
 himself destined it for Eirik.  The Throndhjem people wanted
 Halfdan the Black to succeed to it.  The people of Viken, and the
 Uplands, wanted those under whom they lived.  And thereupon new
 quarrels arose among the brothers; and because they thought their
 dominions too little, they drove about in piratical expeditions.
 In this way, as before related, Guthorm fell at the mouth of the
 Gaut river, slain by Solve Klofe; upon which Olaf took the
 kingdom he had possessed.  Halfdan the White fell in Eistland,
 Halfdan Haleg in Orkney.  King Harald gave ships of war to
 Thorgils and Frode, with which they went westward on a viking
 cruise, and plundered in Scotland, Ireland, and Bretland.  They
 were the first of the Northmen who took Dublin.  It is said that
 Frode got poisoned drink there; but Thorgils was a long time king
 over Dublin, until he fell into a snare of the Irish, and was
 killed.
 
 
 
 36. DEATH OF RAGNVALD RETTILBEINE.
 
 Eirik Blood-axe expected to be head king over all his brothers
 and King Harald intended he should be so; and the father and son
 lived long together.  Ragnvald Rettilbeine governed Hadaland, and
 allowed himself to be instructed in the arts of witchcraft, and
 became an area warlock.  Now King Harald was a hater of all
 witchcraft.  There was a warlock in Hordaland called Vitgeir; and
 when the king sent a message to him that he should give up his
 art of witchcraft, he replied in this verse: --
 
      "The danger surely is not great
      From wizards born of mean estate,
      When Harald's son in Hadeland,
      King Ragnvald, to the art lays hand."
 
 But when King Harald heard this, King Eirik Blood-axe went by his
 orders to the Uplands, and came to Hadeland and burned his
 brother Ragnvald in a house, along with eighty other warlocks;
 which work was much praised.
 
 
 
 37. DEATH OF GUDROD LJOME.
 
 Gudrod Ljome was in winter on a friendly visit to his foster-
 father Thjodolf in Hvin, and had a well-manned ship, with which
 he wanted to go north to Rogaland.  It was blowing a heavy storm
 at the time; but Gudrod was bent on sailing, and would not
 consent to wait.  Thjodolf sang thus: --
 
      "Wait, Gudrod, till the storm is past, --
      Loose not thy long-ship while the blast
      Howls over-head so furiously, --
      Trust not thy long-ship to the sea, --
      Loose not thy long-ship from the shore;
      Hark to the ocean's angry roar!
      See how the very stones are tost
      By raging waves high on the coast!
      Stay, Gudrod, till the tempest's o'er --
      Deep runs the sea off the Jadar's shore."
 
 Gudrod set off in spite of what Thjodolf could say: and when they
 came off the Jadar the vessel sunk with them, and all on board
 were lost.
 
 
 
 38. KING BJORN KAUPMAN'S DEATH.
 
 King Harald's son, Bjorn, ruled over Vestfold at that time, and
 generally lived at Tunsberg, and went but little on war
 expeditions.  Tunsberg at that time was much frequented by
 merchant vessels, both from Viken and the north country, and also
 from the south, from Denmark, and Saxland.  King Bjorn had also
 merchant ships on voyages to other lands, by which he procured
 for himself costly articles, and such things as he thought
 needful; and therefore his brothers called him Farman (the
 Seaman), and Kaupman (the Chapman).  Bjorn was a man of sense and
 understanding, and promised to become a good ruler.  He made a
 good and suitable marriage, and had a son by his wife, who was
 named Gudrod.  Eirik Blood-axe came from his Baltic cruise with
 ships of war, and a great force, and required his brother Bjorn
 to deliver to him King Harald's share of the scat and incomes of
 Vestfold.  But it had always been the custom before, that Bjorn
 himself either delivered the money into the king's hands, or sent
 men of his own with it; and therefore he would continue with the
 old custom, and would not deliver the money.  Eirik again wanted
 provisions, tents, and liquor.  The brothers quarrelled about
 this; but Eirik got nothing and left the town.  Bjorn went also
 out of the town towards evening up to Saeheim.  In the night
 Eirik came back after Bjorn, and came to Saeheim just as Bjorn
 and his men were seated at table drinking.  Eirik surrounded the
 house in which they were; but Bjorn with his men went out and
 fought.  Bjorn, and many men with him, fell.  Eirik, on the other
 hand, got a great booty, and proceeded northwards.  But this work
 was taken very ill by the people of Viken, and Eirik was much
 disliked for it; and the report went that King Olaf would avenge
 his brother Bjorn, whenever opportunity offered.  King Bjorn lies
 in the mound of Farmanshaug at Saeheim.
 
 
 
 39. RECONCILIATION OF THE KINGS.
 
 King Eirik went in winter northwards to More, and was at a feast
 in Solve, within the point Agdanes; and when Halfdan the Black
 heard of it he set out with his men, and surrounded the house in
 which they were.  Eirik slept in a room which stood detached by
 itself, and he escaped into the forest with four others; but
 Halfdan and his men burnt the main house, with all the people who
 were in it.  With this news Eirik came to King Harald, who was
 very wroth at it, and assembled a great force against the
 Throndhjem people.  When Halfdan the Black heard this he levied
 ships and men, so that he had a great force, and proceeded with
 it to Stad, within Thorsbjerg.  King Harald lay with his men at
 Reinsletta.  Now people went between them, and among others a
 clever man called Guthorm Sindre, who was then in Halfdan the
 Black's army, but had been formerly in the service of King
 Harald, and was a great friend of both.  Guthorm was a great
 skald, and had once composed a song both about the father and the
 son, for which they had offered him a reward.  But he would take
 nothing; but only asked that, some day or other, they should
 grant him any request he should make, which they promised to do.
 Now he presented himself to King Harald, brought words of peace
 between them, and made the request to them both that they shou1d
 be reconciled.  So highly did the king esteem him, that in
 consequence of his request they were reconciled.  Many other able
 men promoted this business as well as he; and it was so settled
 that Halfdan should retain the whole of his kingdom as he had it
 before, and should let his brother Eirik sit in peace.  After
 this event Jorun, the skald-maid, composed some verses in
 "Sendibit" ("The Biting Message"): --
 
      "I know that Harald Fairhair
      Knew the dark deed of Halfdan.
      To Harald Halfdan seemed
      Angry and cruel."
 
 
 
 40. BIRTH OF HAKON THE GOOD.
 
 Earl Hakon Grjotgardson of Hlader had the whole rule over
 Throndhjem when King Harald was anywhere away in the country; and
 Hakon stood higher with the king than any in the country of
 Throndhjem.  After Hakon's death his son Sigurd succeeded to his
 power in Throndhjem, and was the earl, and had his mansion at
 Hlader.  King Harald's sons, Halfdan the Black and Sigrod, who
 had been before in the house of his father Earl Hakon, continued
 to be brought up in his house.  The sons of Harald and Sigurd
 were about the same age.  Earl Sigurd was one of the wisest men
 of his time, and married Bergljot, a daughter of Earl Thorer the
 Silent; and her mother was Alof Arbot, a daughter of Harald
 Harfager.  When King Harald began to grow old he generally dwelt
 on some of his great farms in Hordaland; namely, Alreksstader or
 Saeheim, Fitjar, Utstein, or Ogvaldsnes in the island Kormt.
 When Harald was seventy years of age he begat a son with a girl
 called Thora Mosterstang, because her family came from Moster.
 She was descended from good people, being connected with Kare
 (Aslakson) of Hordaland; and was moreover a very stout and
 remarkably handsome girl.  She was called the king's servant-
 girl; for at that time many were subject to service to the
 king who were of good birth, both men and women.  Then it was the
 custom, with people of consideration, to choose with great care
 the man who should pour water over their children, and give them
 a name.  Now when the time came that Thora, who was then at
 Moster, expected her confinement, she would to King Harald, who
 was then living at Saeheim; and she went northwards in a ship
 belonging to Earl Sigurd.  They lay at night close to the land;
 and there Thora brought forth a child upon the land, up among the
 rocks, close to the ship's gangway, and it was a man child.  Earl
 Sigurd poured water over him, and called him Hakon, after his own
 father, Hakon earl of Hlader.  The boy soon grew handsome, large
 in size, and very like his father King Harald.  King Harald let
 him follow his mother, and they were both in the king's house as
 long as he was an infant.
 
 
 
 41. KING ATHELSTAN'S MESSAGE
 
 At this time a king called Aethelstan had taken the Kingdom of
 England.  He was called victorious and faithful.  He sent men to
 Norway to King Harald, with the errand that the messengers should
 present him with a sword, with the hilt and handle gilt, and also
 the whole sheath adorned with gold and silver, and set with
 precious jewels.  The ambassador presented the sword-hilt to the
 king, saying, "Here is a sword which King Athelstan sends thee,
 with the request that thou wilt accept it."  The king took the
 sword by the handle; whereupon the ambassador said, "Now thou
 hast taken the sword according to our king's desire, and
 therefore art thou his subject as thou hast taken his sword."
 King Harald saw now that this was an insult, for he would be
 subject to no man.  But he remembered it was his rule, whenever
 anything raised his anger, to collect himself, and let his
 passion run off, and then take the matter into consideration
 coolly.  Now he did so, and consulted his friends, who all gave
 him the advice to let the ambassadors, in the first place, go
 home in safety.
 
 
 
 42. HAUK'S JOURNEY TO ENGLAND.
 
 The following summer King Harald sent a ship westward to England,
 and gave the command of it to Hauk Habrok.  He was a great
 warrior, and very dear to the king.  Into his hands he gave his
 son Hakon.  Hank proceeded westward tn England, and found King
 Athelstan in London, where there was just at the time a great
 feast and entertainment.  When they came to the hall, Hauk told
 his men how they should conduct themselves; namely, that he who
 went first in should go last out, and all should stand in a row
 at the table, at equal distance from each other; and each should
 have his sword at his left side, but should fasten his cloak so
 that his sword should not be seen.  Then they went into the hall,
 thirty in number.  Hauk went up to the king and saluted him, and
 the king bade him welcome.  Then Hauk took the child Hakon, and
 set it on the king's knee.  The king looks at the boy, and asks
 Hauk what the meaning of this is.  Hauk replies, "Herald the king
 bids thee foster his servant-girl's child."  The king was in
 great anger, and seized a sword which lay beside him, and drew
 it, as if he was going to kill the child.  Hauk says, "Thou hast
 borne him on thy knee, and thou canst murder him if thou wilt;
 but thou wilt not make an end of all King Harald's sons by so
 doing."  On that Hauk went out with all his men, and took the way
 direct to his ship, and put to sea, -- for they were ready, --
 and came back to King Harald.  The king was highly pleased with
 this; for it is the common observation of all people, that the
 man who fosters another's children is of less consideration than
 the other.  From these transactions between the two kings, it
 appears that each wanted to be held greater than the other; but
 in truth there was no injury, to the dignity of either, for each
 was the upper king in his own kingdom till his dying day.
 
 
 
 43. HAKON, THE FOSTER-SON OF ATHELSTAN, IS BAPTIZED.
 
 King Athelstan had Hakon baptized, and brought up in the right
 faith, and in good habits, and all sorts of good manners, and he
 loved Hakon above all his relations; and Hakon was beloved by all
 men.  He was henceforth called Athelstan's foster-son.  He was an
 accomplished skald, and he was larger, stronger and more
 beautiful than other men; he was a man of understanding and
 eloquence, and also a good Christian.  King Athelstan gave Hakon
 a sword, of which the hilt and handle were gold, and the blade
 still better; for with it Hakon cut down a mill-stone to the
 centre eye, and the sword thereafter was called the Quernbite
 (1).  Better sword never came into Norway, and Hakon carried it
 to his dying day.
 
 
 ENDNOTES:
 (1)  Quern is the name of the small hand mill-stones still found
      in use among the cottars in Orkney, Shetland, and the
      Hebrides.  This sword is mentioned in the Younger Edda.
      There were many excellent swords in the olden time, and many
      of them had proper names.
 
 
 
 44. EIRIK BROUGHT TO THE SOVEREIGNTY.
 
 When King Harald was eighty years of age (A.D. 930) he became
 very heavy, and unable to travel through the country, or do the
 business of a king.  Then he brought his son Eirik to his
 high-seat, and gave him the power and command over the whole
 land.  Now when King Harald's other sons heard this, King Halfdan
 the Black also took a king's high-seat, and took all Throndhjem
 land, with the consent of all the people, under his rule as upper
 king.  After the death of Bjorn the Chapman, his brother Olaf
 took the command over Vestfold, and took Bjorn's son, Gudrod, as
 his foster-child.  Olaf's son was called Trygve; and the two
 foster-brothers were about the same age, and were hopeful and
 clever.  Trygve, especially, was remarkable as a stout and strong
 man.  Now when the people of Viken heard that those of Hordaland
 had taken Eirik as upper king, they did the same, and made Olaf
 the upper king in Viken, which kingdom he retained.  Eirik did
 not like this at all.  Two years after this, Halfdan the Black
 died suddenly at a feast in Throndhjem and the general report was
 that Gunhild had bribed a witch to give him a death-drink.
 Thereafter the Throndhjem people took Sigrod to be their king.
 
 
 
 45. KING HARALD'S DEATH.
 
 King Harald lived three years after he gave Eirik the supreme
 authority over his kingdom, and lived mostly on his great farms
 which he possessed, some in Rogaland, and some in Hordaland.
 Eirik and Gunhild had a son on whom King Harald poured water, and
 gave him his own name, and the promise that he should be king
 after his father Eirik.  King Harald married most of his
 daughters within the country to his earls, and from them many
 great families are descended.  Harald died on a bed of sickness
 in Hogaland (A.D. 933), and was buried under a mound at Haugar in
 Karmtsund.  In Haugesund is a church, now standing; and not far
 from the churchyard, at the north-west side, is King Harald
 Harfager's mound; but his grave-stone stands west of the church,
 and is thirteen feet and a half high, and two ells broad.  One
 stone was set at head and one at the feet; on the top lay the
 slab, and below on both sides were laid small stones.  The grave,
 mound, and stone, are there to the present day.  Harald Harfager
 was, according to the report of men~of knowledge, or remarkably
 handsome appearance, great and strong, and very generous and
 affable to his men.  He was a great warrior in his youth; and
 people think that this was foretold by his mother's dream before
 his birth, as the lowest part of the tree she dreamt of was red
 as blood.  The stem again was green and beautiful, which
 betokened his flourishing kingdom; and that the tree was white at
 the top showed that he should reach a grey-haired old age.  The
 branches and twigs showed forth his posterity, spread over the
 whole land; for of his race, ever since.  Norway has always had
 kings.
 
 
 
 46. THE DEATH OF OLAF AND OF SIGROD.
 
 King Eirik took all the revenues (A.D. 934), which the king had
 in the middle of the country, the next winter after King Harald's
 decease.  But Olaf took all the revenues eastward in Viken, and
 their brother Sigrod all that of the Throndhjem country.  Eirik
 was very ill pleased with this; and the report went that he would
 attempt with force to get the sole sovereignty over the country,
 in the same way as his father had given it to him.  Now when Olaf
 and Sigrod heard this, messengers passed between them; and after
 appointing a meeting place, Sigrod went eastward in spring to
 Viken, and he and his brother Olaf met at Tunsberg, and remained
 there a while.  The same spring (A.D. 934), King Eirik levied a 
 great force, and ships and steered towards Viken.  He got such a
 strong steady gale that he sailed night and day, and came faster
 than the news of him.  When he came to Tunsberg, Olaf and Sigrod,
 with their forces, went out of the town a little eastward to a
 ridge, where they drew up their men in battle order; but as Eirik
 had many more men he won the battle.  Both brothers, Olaf and
 Sigrod, fell there; and both their grave-mounds are upon the
 ridge where they fell.  Then King Eirik went through Viken, and
 subdued it, and remained far into summer.  Gudrod and Trygve fled
 to the Uplands.  Eirik was a stout handsome man, strong, and very
 manly, -- a great and fortunate man of war; but bad-minded,
 gruff, unfriendly, and silent.  Gunhild, his wife, was the most
 beautiful of women, -- clever, with much knowledge, and lively;
 but a very false person, and very cruel in disposition.  The
 children of King Eirik and Gunhild were, Gamle, the oldest; then
 Guthorm, Harald, Ragnfrod, Ragnhild, Erling, Gudrod, and Sigurd
 Sleva.  All were handsome, and of manly appearance (1).
 
 
 ENDNOTES:
 (1)  Of Eirik, his wife, and children, see the following sagas.