Heimskringla [47]
was valued at fifty marks. This they sent to Eyvind; but Eyvind was obliged to separate the clasps from each other, and sell them to buy food for his household. But the same spring a shoal of herrings set in upon the fishing ground beyond the coast-side, and Eyvind manned a ship's boat with his house servants and cottars, and rowed to where the herrings were come, and sang: --
"Now let the steed of ocean bound O'er the North Sea with dashing sound: Let nimble tern and screaming gull Fly round and round -- our net is full. Fain would I know if Fortune sends A like provision to my friends. Welcome provision 'tis, I wot, That the whale drives to our cook's pot."
So entirely were his movable goods exhausted, that he was obliged to sell his arrows to buy herrings, or other meat for his table: --
"Our arms and ornaments of gold To buy us food we gladly sold: The arrows of the bow gave we For the bright arrows of the sea." (1)
ENDNOTES: (1) Herrings, from their swift darting along, are called the arrows of the sea.
KING OLAF TRYGVASON'S SAGA.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
Hitherto the narrative has been more or less fragmentary. With Olaf Trygvason's Saga reliable history begins, and the narration is full and connected. The story of Hakon the earl is incorporated in this saga.
Accounts of Olaf Trygvason may be found in Od the Monk's legendary saga, in parts of "Agrip", "Historia Norvegiae", and in Thjodrek. Icelandic works on this epoch are:
"Egla", "Eyrbyggja", "Finboga", "Floamanna", "Faereyinga", "Hallfredar Saga", "Havardar Saga", "Are's Islendinga-bok", "Kristni Saga", "Laxdaela", "Ljosvetninga", "Njala", "Orkneyinga", "Viga Glums Saga", and "Viga Styrs Saga".
The skalds quoted are: Glum Geirason, Eyvind Finson, Skaldaspiller, Einar Skalaglam, Tind Halkelson, Eyjolf Dadaskald, Hallarstein, Halfred Vandraedaskald, Haldor Ukristne, Skule Thorsteinson, and Thord Kolbeinson.
1. OLAF TRYGVASON'S BIRTH.
King Trygve Olafson had married a wife who was called Astrid. She was a daughter of Eirik Bjodaskalle, a great man, who dwelt at Oprustader. But after Trygve's death (A.D. 963) Astrid fled, and privately took with her all the loose property she could. Her foster-father, Thorolf Lusarskeg, followed her, and never left her; and others of her faithful followers spied about to discover her enemies, and where they were. Astrid was pregnant with a child of King Trygve, and she went to a lake, and concealed herself in a holm or small island in it with a few men. Here her child was born, and it was a boy; and water was poured over it, and it was called Olaf after the grandfather. Astrid remained all summer here in concealment; but when the nights became dark, and the day began to shorten and the weather to be cold, she was obliged to take to the land, along with Thorolf and a few other men. They did not seek for houses unless in the night-time, when they came to them secretly; and they spoke to nobody. One evening, towards dark, they came to Oprustader, where Astrid's father Eirik dwelt, and privately sent a man to Eirik to tell him; and Eirik took them to an out-house, and spread a table for them with the best of food. When Astrid had been here a short time her travelling attendants left her, and none remained, behind with her but two servant girls, her child Olaf, Thorolf Lusarskeg, and his son Thorgils, who was six years old; and they remained all winter (A.D. 964).
2. OF GUNHILD S SONS.
After Trygve Olafson's murder, Harald Grafeld and his brother Gudrod went to the farm which he owned; but Astrid was gone, and they could learn no tidings of her. A loose report came to their ears that she was pregnant to King Trygve; but they soon went away northwards, as before related. As soon as they met their mother Gunhild they told her all that had taken place. She inquired particularly about Astrid, and they told her the report they had heard; but as Gunhild's sons the same harvest and winter after had bickerings with
"Now let the steed of ocean bound O'er the North Sea with dashing sound: Let nimble tern and screaming gull Fly round and round -- our net is full. Fain would I know if Fortune sends A like provision to my friends. Welcome provision 'tis, I wot, That the whale drives to our cook's pot."
So entirely were his movable goods exhausted, that he was obliged to sell his arrows to buy herrings, or other meat for his table: --
"Our arms and ornaments of gold To buy us food we gladly sold: The arrows of the bow gave we For the bright arrows of the sea." (1)
ENDNOTES: (1) Herrings, from their swift darting along, are called the arrows of the sea.
KING OLAF TRYGVASON'S SAGA.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
Hitherto the narrative has been more or less fragmentary. With Olaf Trygvason's Saga reliable history begins, and the narration is full and connected. The story of Hakon the earl is incorporated in this saga.
Accounts of Olaf Trygvason may be found in Od the Monk's legendary saga, in parts of "Agrip", "Historia Norvegiae", and in Thjodrek. Icelandic works on this epoch are:
"Egla", "Eyrbyggja", "Finboga", "Floamanna", "Faereyinga", "Hallfredar Saga", "Havardar Saga", "Are's Islendinga-bok", "Kristni Saga", "Laxdaela", "Ljosvetninga", "Njala", "Orkneyinga", "Viga Glums Saga", and "Viga Styrs Saga".
The skalds quoted are: Glum Geirason, Eyvind Finson, Skaldaspiller, Einar Skalaglam, Tind Halkelson, Eyjolf Dadaskald, Hallarstein, Halfred Vandraedaskald, Haldor Ukristne, Skule Thorsteinson, and Thord Kolbeinson.
1. OLAF TRYGVASON'S BIRTH.
King Trygve Olafson had married a wife who was called Astrid. She was a daughter of Eirik Bjodaskalle, a great man, who dwelt at Oprustader. But after Trygve's death (A.D. 963) Astrid fled, and privately took with her all the loose property she could. Her foster-father, Thorolf Lusarskeg, followed her, and never left her; and others of her faithful followers spied about to discover her enemies, and where they were. Astrid was pregnant with a child of King Trygve, and she went to a lake, and concealed herself in a holm or small island in it with a few men. Here her child was born, and it was a boy; and water was poured over it, and it was called Olaf after the grandfather. Astrid remained all summer here in concealment; but when the nights became dark, and the day began to shorten and the weather to be cold, she was obliged to take to the land, along with Thorolf and a few other men. They did not seek for houses unless in the night-time, when they came to them secretly; and they spoke to nobody. One evening, towards dark, they came to Oprustader, where Astrid's father Eirik dwelt, and privately sent a man to Eirik to tell him; and Eirik took them to an out-house, and spread a table for them with the best of food. When Astrid had been here a short time her travelling attendants left her, and none remained, behind with her but two servant girls, her child Olaf, Thorolf Lusarskeg, and his son Thorgils, who was six years old; and they remained all winter (A.D. 964).
2. OF GUNHILD S SONS.
After Trygve Olafson's murder, Harald Grafeld and his brother Gudrod went to the farm which he owned; but Astrid was gone, and they could learn no tidings of her. A loose report came to their ears that she was pregnant to King Trygve; but they soon went away northwards, as before related. As soon as they met their mother Gunhild they told her all that had taken place. She inquired particularly about Astrid, and they told her the report they had heard; but as Gunhild's sons the same harvest and winter after had bickerings with