"Thou art a skald who composes difficulties," says the king; "but into my service, Halfred, thou shalt be received."

Halfred says, "if I am to be named the composer of difficulties,* what dost thou give me, king, on my name-day?"

The king gave him a sword without a scabbard, and said, "Now compose me a song upon this sword, and let the word sword be in every line of the strophe." Halfred + sang thus :—

"This sword of swords is my reward.
For him who knows to wield a sword,
And with his sword to serve his lord,
Yet wants a sword, his lot is hard.

I would I had my good lord's leave

For this good sword a sheath to choose:
I'm worth three swords when men swords use,

But for the sword-sheath now I grieve."

Then the king gave him the scabbard, observing that the word sword was wanting in one line of his strophe. "But there are three swords at least in two other lines," says Halfred. "So it is," replies the king. Out of Halfred's lays we have taken the

* Vandredaskald-the despair of skalds, or the troublesome poet.-L. + In regard to Halfred Vandredaskald, see Gudbrand Vigfusson's Corpus Poeticum, vol. ii. pp. 87-97.

From this dialogue, which we may fairly take as a true represen tation of the tone of conversation, and very likely of the words, between a king and a man of literature or skald in the tenth century, it may be inferred that there was a considerable taste for the compositions of skalds, and for intellectual effort; but that this taste was gratified by the art of verse-making-by the reproduction of words, letters, metres, in difficult technical circumstances-much more than by the spirit of poetry. It is likely that in all ages, and even among individuals, the taste for the simple and natural in poetry is the last, not the first, developed taste. It is the savage who loves frippery in dress, and in what addresses itself to taste.-L.

most of the true and faithful accounts that are here related about Olaf Trygveson.

CHAPTER XCI.—Thangbrand the Priest returns from

Iceland.

The same harvest [999] Thangbrand the priest came back from Iceland to King Olaf, and told the ill success of his journey; namely, that the Icelanders had made lampoons about him; and that some even sought to kill him, and there was little hope of that country ever being made Christian. King Olaf was so enraged at this, that he ordered all the Icelanders to be assembled by sound of horn, and was going to kill all who were in the town; but Kjartan, Gissur, and Hialte, with the other Icelanders who had become Christians, went to him, and said, "King, thou must not fall from thy word,-that however much any man may irritate thee, thou wilt forgive him if he turn from heathenism and become Christian. the Icelanders here are willing to be baptized; and through them we may find means to bring Christianity into Iceland: for there are many amongst them, sons of considerable people in Iceland, whose friends can advance the cause; but the priest Thangbrand proceeded there as he did here in the court, with violence and manslaughter, and such conduct the people there would not submit to." The king hearkened to those remonstrances; and all the Iceland men who were there were baptized.

All

CHAPTER XCII.-Of King Olaf's Feats.

King Olaf was more expert in all exercises than any man in Norway whose memory is preserved to us in sagas; and he was stronger and more agile than most men, and many stories are written down about it. One is, that he ascended the Smalsarhorn,* and fixed his shield upon the very peak. Another is, that one of his followers had climbed up the peak after him, until he came to where he could neither get up nor down; but the king came to his help, climbed up to him, took him under his arm, and bore him to the flat ground. King Olaf could run across the oars outside of the vessel while his men were rowing the Serpent. He could play with three daggers, so that one was always in the air, and he took the one falling by the handle. He could walk all round upon the ship's rails, could strike and cut equally well with both hands, and could cast two spears at once. King Olaf was a very merry frolicsome man; gay and social; was very violent in all respects; was very generous; was very finical in his dress, but in battle he exceeded all in bravery. He was distinguished for cruelty when he was enraged, and tortured many of his enemies. Some he burnt in fire; some he had torn in pieces by mad dogs; some he had mutilated, or cast down from high precipices. On this account his friends were attached to him warmly, and his enemies feared him greatly; and

*Now called Hornelen, an inaccessible peak or needle on the summit of a mountain in Bremanger.-L.

thus he made such a fortunate advance in his undertakings, for some obeyed his will out of the friendliest zeal, and others out of dread.

CHAPTER XCIII.—Of the Baptism of Leif Eirikson.

Leif, a son of Eirik the Red, who first settled in Greenland, came this summer [999] from Greenland to Norway; and as he met King Olaf he adopted Christianity, and passed the winter [1000] with the king.

CHAPTER XCIV.-Fall of Gudrod, the last of Eirik's and Gunhild's Sons.

Gudrod, a son of Eirik Bloodaxe and Gunhild the Mother of Kings, had been ravaging in the western countries ever since he fled from Norway before the Earl Hakon. But the summer before mentioned [999], when King Olaf Trygveson had ruled four years over Norway, Gudrod came to the country, and had many ships of war with him. He had sailed from England; and when he thought himself near to the Norway coast, he steered south along the land, to the quarter where it was least likely King Olaf would be. Gudrod sailed in this way south to Viken; and as soon as he came to the land he began to plunder, to subject the people to him, and to demand that they should accept of him as king. Now as the country people saw that a great army was come upon them, they desired peace and terms. They offered King Gudrod to send a Thing-message

over all the country, and to accept of him at the Thing as king, rather than suffer from his army; but they desired delay until a fixed day, while the token of the Thing's assembling was going round through the land. The king demanded maintenance during the time this delay lasted. The bondes preferred entertaining the king as a guest, by turns, as long as he required it; and the king accepted of the proposal to go about with some of his men as a guest from place to place in the land, while others of his men remained to guard the ships. When King Olaf's relations, Hyrning and Thorgeir, heard of this, they gathered men, fitted out ships, and went northwards to Viken. They came in the night with their men to a place at which King Gudrod was living as a guest, and attacked him with fire and weapons; and there King Gudrod fell, and most of his followers. Of those who were with his ships some were killed, some slipped away and fled to great distances; and now were all the sons of Eirik and Gunhild dead.

CHAPTER XCV.-The Building of the Ship Long Serpent.

*

The winter after [1000] King Olaf came from Halogaland, he had a great vessel built at Ladehammer, which was larger than any ship in the country, and of which the beam-knees are still to be The length of keel that rested upon the grass

seen.

* Hlaðhamrar (now called Ladehammer),—the knob or point of land below the house of Lade, still known by the same name. Lade is close to Throndhjem.-L.