CHAPTER LXX.-Eyvind Kelda's Death.

When spring [998] came King Olaf went out to Viken, and was on visits to his great farms. He sent notice over all Viken that he would call out an army in summer, and proceed to the north parts of the country. Then he went north to Agder; and when Easter was approaching he took the road to Rogaland with 300 men, and came on Easter evening north to Augvaldsnes, in Karmt Island, where an Easter feast was prepared for him. That same night came Eyvind Kelda to the island with a well-manned long-ship, of which the whole crew consisted of sorcerers and other dealers with evil spirits. Eyvind went from his ship to the land with his followers, and there they played many of their pranks of witchcraft. Eyvind clothed them with caps of darkness, and so thick a mist that the king and his men could see nothing of them; but when they came near to the house at Augvaldsnes, it became clear day. Then it went differently from what Eyvind had intended; for now there came just such a darkness over him. and his comrades in witchcraft as they had made before, so that they could see no more from their eyes than from the back of their heads, but went round and round in a circle upon the island. When the king's watchmen saw them going about, without knowing what people these were, they told the king. Thereupon he rose up with his people, put on his clothes, and when he saw Eyvind with his men wandering about he ordered his men to arm, and

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examine what folk these were. The king's men discovered it was Eyvind, took him and all his company prisoners, and brought them to the king. Eyvind now told all he had done on his journey. Then the king ordered them all to be taken out to a skerry which was under water in flood tide, and there to be left bound. Eyvind and all with him left their lives on this rock, and the skerry is still called Skrattasker.*

CHAPTER LXXI.-Of King Olaf and Odin's Apparition.

It is related that once on a time King Olaf was at a feast at this Augvaldsnes, and one eventide there came to him an old man very gifted in words, and with a broad-brimmed hat upon his head. He was one-eyed, and had something to tell of every land. He entered into conversation with the king; and as the king found much pleasure in the guest's speech, he asked him concerning many things, to which the guest gave good answers: and the king sat up late in the evening. Among other things, the king asked him if he knew who the Augvald had been who had given his name both to the ness and to the house. The guest replied, that this Augvald was a king, and a very valiant man, and that he made great sacrifices to a cow which he had with him wherever he went, and considered it good for his health to drink her milk. This same King Augvald had a battle with a king called Varin, in which battle Augvald fell. He was buried under a mound close to the house; "and

* Skrattasker-Skerry of sorcerers.

there stands his stone over him,* and close to it his cow also is laid." Such and many other things, and ancient events, the king enquired after. Now, when the king had sat late into the night, the bishop reminded him that it was time to go to bed, and the king did so. But after the king was undressed, and had laid himself in bed, the guest sat upon the footstool before the bed, and still spoke long with the king; for after one tale was ended, he still wanted a new one. Then the bishop observed to the king, it was time to go to sleep, and the king did so; and the guest went out. Soon after the king awoke, asked for the guest, and ordered him to be called; but the guest was not to be found. The morning after, the king ordered his cook and cellar-master to be called, and asked if any strange person had been with them. They said, that as they were making ready the meat a man came to them, and observed that they were cooking very poor meat for the king's table; whereupon he gave them two thick and fat pieces of beef, which they boiled with the rest of the meat. Then the king ordered that all the meat should be thrown away, and said this man can be no other than the Odin whom the heathen have so long worshipped; and added, "but Odin shall not deceive us."

CHAPTER LXXII.-The Thing in Throndhjem.

King Olaf collected a great army in the east of the country towards summer, and sailed with it north to

The highest bauta or standing stone to be found in Norway stands near the church at Augvaldsnes,

Nidaros in the Throndhjem country. From thence he sent a message-token over all the fiord, calling the people of eight different districts to a Thing; but the bondes changed the Thing-token into a wartoken; and called together all men, free and unfree, in all the Throndhjem land. Now when the king met the Thing, the whole people came fully armed. After the Thing was scated, the king spoke, and invited them to adopt Christianity; but he had only spoken a short time when the bondes called out to him to be silent, or they would attack him and drive him away. "We did so," said they, "with Hakon foster-son of Athelstan, when he brought us the same message, and we held him in quite as much respect as we hold thee." When King Olaf saw how incensed the bondes were, and that they had such a war force that he could make no resistance, he turned his speech as if he would give way to the bondes, and said, "I wish only to be in a good understanding with you as of old; and I will come to where ye hold your greatest sacrificefestival, and see your customs, and thereafter we shall consider which to hold by." And in this all agreed; and as the king spoke mildly and friendly

*Thegn oc Thræl" is the expression in the Icelandic text; and the term Thegn or Thane occurs rarely, if at all, in any other passage of the early sagas. Bonde, it is evident, was a word applied only to landowners; and to this general meeting all men of the highest and of the lowest class, and not merely the men having right as bondes to sit in the Law Things, were summoned by the bondes. Thegn has been a more comprehensive term than Bonde, and means here a free proprietor of any kind of property. The bondes or landed proprietors only are spoken of at Law Things, and no mention of thegns is made at Things, or on any other occasion.-L.

with the bondes, their anger was appeased, and their conference with the king went off peacefully. At the close of it a midsummer sacrifice was fixed to take place in Mærin,* and all chiefs and great bondes to attend it as usual. The king was to be at it.

CHAPTER LXXIII.—Of Skegge, or Iron Beard.

There was a great bonde called Skegge, and sometimes Jarnskegge, or Iron Beard, who dwelt in Uphaug in Yrjar. He spoke first at the Thing to Olaf; and was the foremost man of the bondes in speaking against Christianity. The Thing was concluded in this way for that time,-the bondes returned home, and the king went to Lade.

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CHAPTER LXXIV.-The Feast at Lade.

King Olaf lay with his ships in the river Nid, and had thirty vessels, which were manned with many brave people; but the king himself was often at Lade with his court attendants. As the time now was approaching at which the sacrifices should be made at Mærin, the king prepared a great feast at Lade, and sent a message to the districts of Strind, Gaulardal, and out to Orkadal, to invite the chiefs and other great bondes. When the feast was ready, and the chiefs assembled, there was a handsome entertainment the first evening, at which plenty of liquor went round, and the guests were made very drunk.

* At Mærin, the site of the ancient temple in the Throndhjem district, a large mound still remains with the name Mæren.-L.