There are twelve men who preside over these sacrifice-feasts; and in spring it is Olver who has to get the feast in order, and he is now busy transporting to Maerin everything needful for it."Now when the king had got to the truth with a certainty, he ordered the signal to be sounded for his men to assemble, and for the men-at-arms to go on board ship.He appointed men to steer the ships, and leaders for the people, and ordered how the people should be divided among the vessels.All was got ready in haste, and with five ships and 300 men he steered up the fjord.The wind was favourable, the ships sailed briskly before it, and nobody could have thought that the king would be so soon there.
The king came in the night time to Maerin, and immediately surrounded the house with a ring of armed men.Olver was taken, and the king ordered him to be put to death, and many other men besides.Then the king took all the provision for the feast, and had it brought to his ships; and also all the goods, both furniture, clothes, and valuables, which the people had brought there, and divided the booty among his men.The king also let all the bondes he thought had the greatest part in the business be plundered by his men-at-arms.Some were taken prisoners and laid in irons, some ran away, and many were robbed of their goods.Thereafter the bondes were summoned to a Thing; but because he had taken many powerful men prisoners, and held them in his power, their friends and relations resolved to promise obedience to the king, so that there was no insurrection against the king on this occasion.He thus brought the whole people back to the right faith, gave them teachers, and built and consecrated churches.The king let Olver lie without fine paid for his bloodshed, and all that he possessed was adjudged to the king;and of the men he judged the most guilty, some he ordered to be executed, some he maimed, some he drove out of the country, and took fines from others.The king then returned to Nidaros.
ENDNOTES:
(1) The ships appear to have been decked fore and aft only; and in the middle, where the rowers sat, to have had tilts or tents set up at night to sleep under.-- L.
116.OF THE SONS OF ARNE.
There was a man called Arne Arnmodson, who was married to Thora, Thorstein Galge's daughter.Their children were Kalf, Fin, Thorberg, Amunde, Kolbjorn, Arnbjorn, and Arne.Their daughter, who was called Ragnhild, was married to Harek of Thjotta.Arne was a lenderman, powerful, and of ability, and a great friend of King Olaf.At that time his sons Kalf and Fin were with the king, and in great favour.The wife whom Olver of Eggja had left was young and handsome, of great family, and rich, so that he who got her might be considered to have made an excellent marriage;and her land was in the gift of the king.She and Olver had two sons, who were still in infancy.Kalf Arneson begged of the king that he would give him to wife the widow of Olver; and out of friendship the king agreed to it, and with her he got all the property Olver had possessed.The king at the same time made him his lenderman, and gave him an office in the interior of the Throndhjem country.Kalf became a great chief, and was a man of very great understanding.
117.KING OLAF'S JOURNEY TO THE UPLANDS.
When King Olaf had been seven years (A.D.1015-1021) in Norway the earls Thorfin and Bruse came to him, as before related, in the summer, from Orkney, and he became master of their land.The same summer Olaf went to North and South More, and in autumn to Raumsdal.He left his ships there, and came to the Uplands, and to Lesjar.Here he laid hold of all the best men, and forced them, both at Lesjar and Dovre, either to receive Christianity or suffer death, if they were not so lucky as to escape.After they received Christianity, the king took their sons in his hands as hostages for their fidelity.The king stayed several nights at a farm in Lesjar called Boar, where he placed priests.Then he proceeded over Orkadal and Lorodal, and came down from the Uplands at a place called Stafabrekka.There a river runs along the valley, called the Otta, and a beautiful hamlet, by name Loar, lies on both sides of the river, and the king could see far down over the whole neighbourhood."A pity it is," said the king, "so beautiful a hamlet should be burnt." And he proceeded down the valley with his people, and was all night on a farm called Nes.The king took his lodging in a loft, where he slept himself; and it stands to the present day, without anything in it having been altered since.The king was five days there, and summoned by message-token the people to a Thing, both for the districts of Vagar, Lear, and Hedal; and gave out the message along with the token, that they must either receive Christianity and give their sons as hostages, or see their habitations burnt.
They came before the king, and submitted to his pleasure; but some fled south down the valley.
118.THE STORY OF DALE-GUDBRAND.
There was a man called Dale-Gudbrand, who was like a king in the valley (Gudbrandsdal), but was only herse in title.Sigvat the skald compared him for wealth and landed property to Erling Skjalgson.Sigvat sang thus concerning Erling: --"I know but one who can compare With Erling for broad lands and gear --Gudbrand is he, whose wide domains Are most like where some small king reigns.
These two great bondes, I would say, Equal each other every way.