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.

 

Copyright © 1996. All rights reserved.
Document maintained at http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/OMACL/Heimskringla/harfager.html by the SunSITE Manager.
Last update 6/10/96. SunSITE Manager: manager@sunsite.berkeley.edu

Harald’s Saga

Vikings for all occasions, no tale too odd

Manaraefan Herred