Afterwards the king said, "Wilt thou enter into my service?"Halfred replied, "I was formerly in Earl Hakon's court; but now Iwill neither enter into thine nor into any other service, unless thou promise me it shall never be my lot to be driven away from thee.""It has been reported to me," said the king, "that thou are neither so prudent nor so obedient as to fulfil my commands.""In that case," replied Halfred, "put me to death.""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 cost 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 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 instead are three swords in one of the lines," says Halfred."That is true," replies the king.-- Out of Halfred's lays we have taken the most of the true and faithful accounts that are here related about Olaf Trygvason.
91.THANGBRAND RETURNS FROM ICELAND.
The same harvest (A.D.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 Hjalte, with the other Icelanders who had become Christians, went to him, and said, "King, thou must not fail from thy word -- that however much any man may irritate thee, thou wilt forgive him if he turn from heathenism and become Christian.All 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 harkened to those remonstrances;and all the Iceland men who were there were baptized.
92.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 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.
93.BAPTISM OF LEIF EIRIKSON.
Leif, a son of Eirik the Red, who first settled in Greenland, came this summer (A.D.999) from Greenland to Norway; and as he met King Olaf he adopted Christianity, and passed the winter (A.D.1000) with the king.
94.FALL OF KING GUDROD.
Gudrod, a son of Eirik Bloodaxe and Gunhild, had been ravaging in the west countries ever since he fled from Norway before the Earl Hakon.But the summer before mentioned (A.D.999), where King Olaf Trygvason 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.