The Story of Harald Hairfair, Chapters 31-46

Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.

From The Stories of the Kings of Norway: Called the Round World: (Heimskringla) by Snorri Sturluson, translated by William Morris and Erikr Magnusson, 1893.

Chapter XXXI. Death of Halfdan High-Leg.

Halfdan High-Leg came west to the Orkneys all unwares, and Earl Einar fled straightway from the isles over into Caithness; but he came back again in the autumn and fell un wares on Halfdan. They met, and short was the battle ere Halfdan fled against the very fall of night; and Einar and his folk lay tentless through the night. But in the morning at daybreak they fell a-searching the fleers about the islands, and every man was slain where he was taken. Then spake Earl Einar: "I wot not," says he, "what it is I see out on Rinan's-isle, whether it be a man or a fowl ; whiles it cometh up, and whiles it lieth down." So thither went they, and found Halfdan High-leg there, and laid hands on him. Now Earl Einar had sung this song the eve before, or ever he joined battle:

From the hand of Rolf my brother, From Hrollaug's hand nought see I The spears fly gainst the foemen. And our father cries for vengeance. Yea, and on this same evening, While we thrust on the battle, In Mere by the beakers' river Earl Thorir sitteth silent.

So now went Earl Einar to Halfdan, and cut an erne on the back of him in such wise, that he thrust his sword into the hollow of the body by the backbone, and sheared apart all the ribs down to the loins, and thereby drew out the lungs; and that was the bane of Halfdan.

Then sang Einar:

Wreaked have I Rognvald's slaying, I for my fourth part fully, For the stay of hosts is fallen; The Norns have ruled it rightly. Heap stones then upon High-leg, High up, brave lads of battle, For we in strife were stronger, And a stony scat I pay him.

Then took Earl Einar the Orkneys to him as he had before had them. But when these tidings were known in Norway, then were the brethren of Halfdan exceeding ill content thereat, and said that it must be avenged, and many others said that sooth it was. But when Earl Einar heard thereof, then sang he:

A many nought unmighty There are in many countries, For many a due cause doubtless, Full fain my death to compass; Yet ere to field they fell me, They know not who is fated Meanwhile to fall before me Neath foot-thorn of the eagle.

Chapter XXXII. Peace Between King Harald and Earl Einar.

King Harald called out his men and drew together a great host, and so went west to the Orkneys; and when Earl Einar heard that King Harald was come from the east, he got him over to Caithness. Then he sang this song:

For the slaughtering of the sheep-kind Are some with beards made guilty; But I for a king's son's slaying Amid the sea-beat island. Comes peril, say the franklins, From the wrath of a king redoubted, And surely of my shearing Is the shard in the shield of Harald.

Then went men and messengers between the king and the earl; and it was so brought about that a meeting was bespoken, and they themselves met, and the earl handselled all to the king's judgment. So King Harald doomed Earl Einar and all the folk of Orkney to pay him sixty marks of gold. Over-great the bonders deemed the fine; so the earl offered to pay it all himself, and that he should have in return all the odal lands in the isles.

Hereto they all assented, mostly for this cause, that the poor folk had but little land, but the rich thought to redeem their land when they would. So the earl paid all the fine to the king; and the king went back east in the autumn-tide. So a long while thereafter in the Orkneys the earls owned all the odal lands; yea, until the time when Sigurd, son of Lewis, gave them up again.

Chapter XXXIII. Fall of Guthorm and Halfdan the White, Sons of Harald.

Guthorm, the son of King Harald, had the warding of the land about the Wick, and would fare with his war-ships out beyond the skerries; and on a time whenas he lay in the mouth of the Elf, came Solfi Klofi and joined battle with him, and Guthorm fell there.

Halfdan the Black and Halfdan the White lay out sea-roving, and harried in the Eastlands; and on a time they had a great battle in Esthonia, and Halfdan the White fell there.

Chapter XXXIV. The Wedding of King Eric.

Eric, Harald's son, was fostered with the Hersir Thorir, Roald's son, in the Firth-land. Him King Harald loved and honoured the most of all his sons. When Eric was twelve winters old Harald gave him five long-ships, and he went a-warring; first in the Eastlands, then south about Denmark and Friesland and Saxland, in which warfare he abode for four winters; thereafter he went West-over-sea, and harried in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Normandy, and another four winters he wore away thus; then he fared north-away to Finland, and right up to Biarmland, and had a great battle there, and won the day.

Now when he came back to Finmark his men found a certain woman in a cot there, the like of whom they had never seen for fairness; she named her Gunnhild to them, and said that her father dwelt in Halogaland, and was called Ozur Tot. "For this cause have I abided here," said she, "that I might learn cunning from two Finns here, the wisest of all the wood. Now are they gone a-hunting; but they both of them are fain of my love. So wise are they, that they may follow a track as hounds, both over thaw and hard ice; and so cunning are they on snow-shoes that nought may escape them, neither man nor beast; and whatso they shoot at they hit without fail. Thus have they overcome every man that has come anigh here; and if they be angry, the earth turneth inside outward before the eyes of them; but if aught quick be before their eyes, straightway it falleth down dead. Now may ye in no wise cross their way, but I will hide you here in the hut, and then ye shall try if we may compass their slaying."

That took they with thanks, and so she hid them there. She took a linen sack, wherein them-seemed were ashes; that took she in her hand, and strawed it about the hut both within and without.

A little after the Finns come home, and ask her what is come thither, and she says that nought at all is come. Marvellous that seemeth to the Finns, who have followed the slot right up to the hut, but may find nought thereafter.

So they make them fire, and cook some meat; and when they had had their fill Gunnhild arrays their bed. But so matters had gone for three nights past, that Gunnhild had slept, but either of them had watched waking over the other for jealousy's sake; but now she spake to the Finns:

"Come hither, and lie one of you on either side of me."

Hereof were they full fain, and did so; and she cast an arm about the neck of either, and they fell asleep straightway. But she woke them again; yet speedily they fell asleep once more, and that so fast, that she might scarcely wake them; once again they slept, and then she might nowise get them awake. So she set them up withal, and still they slept on; then she took two great seal- skin bags, and did them over their heads, and bound them strongly underneath their arms.

Then she gave a sign to the king's men, and they leap forth and bear weapons against the Finns and destroy them, and drag them out of the hut; and all that night was there fierce thundering, so mighty that they might not go their ways; but in the morning they fared to the ship, and had Gunnhild with them, and brought her to Eric. So Eric and his folk fare south thence to Halogaland; and there Eric summoned Ozur Tot to him, and says that he would wed his daughter. He said yea thereto, and Eric wedded Gunnhild, and had her with him into the South-country.

Chapter XXXV. King Harald Shares His Realm With His Sons.

Now was King Harald fifty years old, when some of his sons were fully grown, or dead, other some of them; they were waxen now riotous men in the land, yea, and were not at one among themselves. They drave the king's earls away from their lands, or some they slew. So King Harald summoned a Thing of many men in the South-country, bidding thereto all the Upland-men. Thereat he gave his sons the name of king, and established by law that all his very kin should each take the kingship after his father, but all they who were come of him on the distaff side should be held for earls.

He shared the land betwixt them; Vingulmark, Raumrealm, Westfold, Thelmark, this he gave to Olaf, Biorn, Sigtrygg, Frodi, and Thorgils. Heathmark and Gudbrandsdale gave he to Day and Ring and Ragnar. To the sons of Snowfair gave he Ring-realm, Hadaland, Thotn, and all that appertains thereto. To Guthorm had he aforetime given all rule from the Elf to Swinesound, and Ran-realm to wit, and had set him up for the warding of the land to the easternmost end thereof.

King Harald himself was most oft in the midmost of the land. Roerek and Gudrod were ever in the court with the king, and held great bailiwicks about Hordland and Sogn. King Eric abode ever with King Harald; to him gave he Halogaland and Northmere and Raumsdale. North-away in Thrandheim he gave the rule to Halfdan the Black and Halfdan the White and Sigrod. In each of these counties he gave to his sons half of the dues against himself, and there-withal seat in the high-seat a step higher than the earls and a step lower than he himself.

That seat of his, in sooth, each of his sons was minded himself to have after his father's day ; but he himself was minded that Eric should have it. And the Thrandheim folk would have Halfdan the Black to sit there; and the folk of the Wick and the Upland-men would give the rule each unto the one who was nighest at hand to them; and from all this waxed dissension anew betwixt the brethren. And whereas they deemed themselves to have but little dominion, they went a-warring, as is aforesaid, and how Guthorm fell in the mouth of the Elf before Solfi Klofi; and after him Olaf took the dominion he had had. Halfdan the White also fell in Estland, and Halfdan Highleg in the Orkneys.

To Thorgils and Frodi gave King Harald warships, and they went a-warring in the West, and harried about Scotland and Wales and Ireland; and they were the first of the Northmen who gat to them Dublin. So say folk that to Frodi was deadly drink given; but Thorgils was a long while king over Dublin, and was bewrayed of the Ersefolk and so died there.

Chapter XXXVI. Death of Rognvald Straight-Leg.

Eric Blood-Axe was minded to be king over all his brethren, and even so would King Harald have it; and at most times were he and his father together. Now Rognvald Straight-leg had Hadaland, and he fell to wizardry and became a spell-worker; but King Harald was a foe to wizards. In Hordland dwelt a wizard called Vitgeir; to him sent the king word bidding him leave his wizard-craft, but he answered and sang this song :

Little weighs it Though wizards we be, We carle-begotten On very carlines; When Rognvald Straight-leg, Dear son of Harald, Raiseth the witch-lay In Hadaland.

But when King Harald heard thereof, Eric Blood-axe fared at his bidding to the Uplands, and came to Hadaland; and there he burned in his house Rognvald his brother and eighty wizards, and much was that work praised.

Chapter XXXVII. Death of Gudrod Gleam.

Gudrod Gleam abode in the winter with his foster-father Thiodolf of Hvin for old friendship's sake; a cutter he had all-manned, and therein would he fare north to Rogaland. Great storms were about that tide, but Gudrod was eager to go, and loth to abide. Then sang Thiodolf:

Go not from hence, O Gudrod, Ere the ship's plain groweth better; For Geitir's way is wafting The stones in wash of billows. Await here, O thou wide-famed, The turmoil and wind's wonder: Bide with us for fair weather! Surf-washed is all round Jadar.

But Gudrod went as he was minded, whatsoever Thiodolf might say; but when they were come off Jadar the ship foundered under them, and there they all perished.

Chapter XXXVIII. The Fall of Biorn the Chapman.

Biorn, the son of King Harald, ruled in those days over Westfold, and abode oftest at Tunsberg, and went a-warring but little. To Tunsberg came many ships, both from the Wick and thereabouts, and from the North-country; from south-away also from Denmark and Saxland. King Biorn also had ships a-voyaging to other lands, and he gathered thus to him dear-bought things and other goods that he deemed he had need of; and his brethren called him Biorn the Sea-farer, or the Chapman. Biorn was a wise man and a peaceful, and was deemed to have in him the makings of a good lord; he wedded well and meetly, and had a son named Gudrod.

Now came Eric Blood-axe from the Eastlands with war-ships and a great company of folk, and bade Biorn his brother give up to him the scat and dues which King Harald had in Westfold; but the wont was aforetime for Biorn to bring the scat to the king himself, or send men therewith; and even so he will have it now, and will not pay it out of hand, but Eric deemed he had need of victuals and tents and drink.

The brethren contended hereover with high words, but nowise might Eric get his needs, so he fared away from the town. Biorn also fared away from the town in the evening, and up to Seaham. So Eric turned back a-night-time after Biorn, and came on Seaham as Biorn and his men sat over the drink. Eric took the house over their heads, and Biorn went out to fight, he and his; and there fell Biorn and many men with him. Eric took great booty there, and so went north-away up country.

The Wick-folk were full evil content with this deed, and Eric was evil spoken of therefor; and the word went about that King Olaf would avenge Biorn his brother when occasion served.

King Biorn lieth in Sea-farer's Mound at Seaham.

Chapter XXXIX. Peace Between the Kings.

The winter after King Eric fared north to Mere, and took guesting at Solvi inward of Agdanes. But when Halfdan the Black heard thereof he fared thither with an host of men, and took the house over their heads; but Eric slept in an outbower, and gat him away to the wood with four other men, while Halfdan and his men burned up the house and all the folk therein.

So came Eric to King Harald with these tidings. The king was wood-wroth thereat, and gathered an host together against the Thrandheimers. But when Halfdan the Black heard thereof he bade out folk and ships, and waxed full many, and put out to the Stad inward of Thorscliff; and the king lay with his host out by Reinfield. Then went men betwixt them; and there was one Guthorm Cinder, a noble man among the folk of Halfdan the Black, who had aforetime been with King Harald, and was well loved of either.

Guthorm was a great skald, and he had done a song on both father and son, and they had bidden him a reward therefor; which thing he refused, and craved that they should one time grant him a boon, and they promised him. So now he went to King Harald and bare words of peace between them, and now claimed his boon of either, to wit, that they should be at one again; and the kings deemed him worth so much honour that at his prayer they were appeased. And many other noble men also pleaded this cause along with him; and the peace was this, that Halfdan should have still the dominion he had had aforetime, but he was to give no trouble to Eric his brother. After this tale Jorun the Skald-maiden hath made somewhat in the Sentbit:

I learned how Harald Hairfair Heard the hard deeds of Halfdan. To him that deals with sword edge Dark looking shall the deed be.

Chapter XL. Birth of Hakon the Good.

Hakon Griotgardson, Earl of Ladir, had had all rule in Thrandheim whenas King Harald was otherwhere in the land, and Hakon had had the greatest honour from the king of all the Thrandheim folk. After the fall of Hakon, Sigurd his son took all his dominion, and became earl in Thrandheim, and had his abode at Ladir; with him had been nourished the sons of King Harald, Halfdan the Black and Sigrod, who had before been in the hands of Earl Hakon his father. They were much of an age, the sons of King Harald and Earl Sigurd. Earl Sigurd wedded Bergliot, daughter of Earl Thorir the Silent, and whose mother was Alof the Years-heal, daughter of Harald Hairfair. Earl Sigurd was the wisest of men.

But when King Harald grew old he abode often at his great manors which he had in Hordland, at Alrek-stead or Seaham, at Fitiar, at Out-stone, or at Ogvalldsness in Kormt-isle. When King Harald was now nigh seventy years old he begat a son on a woman named Thora Most-staff, whose kin were of Most; good kin she had, and might tell Horda-Kari amongst them. The tallest of women was she, and the fairest, and was called the king's bondwoman; for in those days there were many of good blood, both men and women, that owed homage to the king. Now the wont it was then concerning the children of noble men, to seek carefully one who should sprinkle the child with water and give it a name.

So when the time came that Thora looked to bear a child she was fain to go seek King Harald, who was as then north in Seaham, and she was in Most; so she fared north in Earl Sigurd's ship. And on a night when they lay off the land Thora brought forth a child on the cliff's side hard by the gangway-head, and a man-child it was; so Earl Sigurd sprinkled the boy with water, and called him Hakon after his father Hakon the Ladir-earl. The boy was early fair to look on, and great of growth, and most like unto his father. King Harald let the lad abide with his mother, and they were about the king's manors while the lad was yet young.

Chapter XLI. The Message of King Athelstane.

The king in England of those days was called Athelstane, who was but newcome to the kingdom; he was called the Victorious, or the Faithful.

Now he sent men to Norway to King Harald, with this-like message, that the messenger should go before the king and deliver to him a sword done with gold about the hilts and the grip thereof, and all its array wrought with gold and with silver, and set with dear-bought gems. So the messenger reached out the sword-hilt to the king and said: "Here is a sword which King Athelstane sendeth thee, bidding thee take it withal."

So the king took the grip, and straightway spake the messenger : "Now hast thou taken the sword even as our king would; wherefore now wilt thou be his thane, since thou hast taken his sword."

Then saw King Harald that this was done to mock him; but no man's thane would he be.

Nevertheless, he called to mind his wont, that whensoever swift rage or anger fell on him, he held himself aback at first, and let the wrath run off him, and looked at the matter unwrathfully; and even so did he now, and laid the matter before his friends, who all found a rede hereto, and this above all things, that they should let the messenger go his ways home unhurt.

Chapter XLII. The Journey of Hawk into England.

The next summer King Harald sent a ship west to England, and made Hawk High-breech captain thereof, a great champion and most well-beloved of the king; into his hands gave the king Hakon his son. So Hawk fared west to England to see King Athelstane, and found the king in London, and thereat was there a bidding and a feast full worthy.

Hawk told his men whenas they came to the hall, how they shall deal with their entering, saying that he shall go out first who came in last, and that all shall stand abreast before the board, and each man with his sword at his left side, but their cloaks so set on that the swords be not seen. So they went into the hall,thirty men in company. Hawk went before the king and greeted him, and the king bade him welcome. Then took Hawk the lad Hakon and laid him on King Athelstane's knee; the king looked on the lad and asked Hawk why he did so. Says Hawk: "King Harald biddeth thee foster the child of his bondwoman."

The king was exceeding wroth, and caught up his sword that lay beside him, and drew it, as if he would slay the lad. Then said Hawk: "Thou hast set him on thy knee, and mayst murder him if thou wilt, but not thus withal wilt thou make an end of all the sons of King Harald."

Therewith went Hawk out and all his men, and they go their ways to their ship and put to sea, when they were ready, and so came back to Norway to King Harald; and now was he well content, for men ever account the fosterer less noble than him whose child he fostereth. By such-like dealings of the kings may it be seen how either would fain be greater than the other; yet not a whit for all this was any honour of either spilt, and either was sovereign lord of his realm till his death-day.

Chapter XLIII. The Christening of Hakon, Athelstane's Fosterling.

King Athelstane let christen Hakon and teach him the right troth, and good manners with all kind of prowess. Athelstane loved him more than any of his kin, yea, moreover, and all men else loved him who knew him. He was sithence called Hakon Athelstane's Fosterling; he was a man of the greatest prowess, bigger and stronger and fairer than any man else. He was a wise man and of fair speech, and a well-christened man. King Athelstane gave Hakon a sword whose hilts and grip were all of gold; yet was the brand itself better, for therewith did Hakon cleave a quern-stone to the eye, wherefore was it called sithence Quern-biter, and it was the best sword that ever came to Norway; and Hakon kept it till his death-day.

Chapter XLIV. Eric Led into Kingship.

Now was King Harald eighty years old, and waxen heavy of foot, so that he deemed he might no more fare through the land or rule the kingly matters; so he lead Eric his son into the high-seat, and gave him dominion over all the land. But when the other sons of King Harald knew thereof, then Halfdan the Black set himself down in the king's high-seat, and took on him all rule in Thrandheim; and all the Thrandheimers were consenting to that rede with him.

After the fall of Biorn the Chapman, Olaf his brother took the dominion of Westfold, and fostered Gudrod Biorn's son. Tryggvi was Olaf 's son, and he and Gudrod were foster-brothers, and much of an age; both were most hopeful and full of all prowess: Tryggvi was the biggest and strongest of men. So when the folk of the Wick heard that the Hordlanders had taken Eric for sovereign king, then they in like wise took Olaf for sovereign king in the Wick, and he held that dominion; and full ill content was Eric thereat. Two winters thereafter Halfdan the Black died a sudden death at a feast in Thrandheim, and it was the common talk of men that Gunnhild Kings'-mother had struck a bargain with a witch-wife to give him a deadly drink. But thereafter the Thrandheimers took Sigrod for king.

Chapter XLV. The Death of King Harald.

King Harald lived three winters after he had given Eric sole dominion over his realm, and that while he abode in Rogaland or Hordland at the great manors he had there. Eric and Gunnhild had a son whom King Harald sprinkled with water, and gave his own name to, saying that he would have him be king after his father Eric.

King Harald gave the more part of his daughters to his earls in his own land, and great stocks are come thence.

King Harald died in his bed in Rogaland, and was buried at the Howes by Kormt-sound. In Howe-sound a church standeth to-day, and just to the north-west of the churchyard is the howe of King Harald Hairfair; but west of the church lies the tombstone of King Harald, which lay over his grave in the mound, and the said stone is thirteen feet and a half long, and near two ells broad. In the midst of the howe was the grave of King Harald, and one stone was set at the head, and another at the feet, and on the top thereof was laid the flat stone, while a wall of stone is builded below it on either side: but those stones which were in the howe stand now in the churchyard, as is aforesaid.

Now so say men of lore that Harald Hairfair was the fairest of face of all men that have ever been, the biggest and the strongest, the most bounteous of his wealth, and the friendliest to his men. In his early days he was a great warrior; and common rumour goeth about that great tree that his mother saw in her dream, how that it foreshadowed his deeds therein, whereas the lower half of the tree was red as blood : and whereas the stem thence upward was fair and green, that betokened the flourishing of his realm ; but whereas the topmost of the tree was white, that betokened that he should come to old age and hoary hairs. The boughs and limbs of the tree showed forth his descendants who were scattered wide about the land; yea, and of his kin also have all kings in Norway been sithence.

Chapter XLVI. The Fall of Olaf and Sigrod.

King Eric took all the dues which the king owned amidmost of the land the next winter after the death of King Harald; but Olaf ruled east-away in Wick, and Sigrod their brother ruled all in Thrandheim. Eric was right ill content hereat, and the rumour ran that he would seek by the strong hand to get from his brethren the sovereign rule over all the land which his father had given him; and when Olaf and Sigrod heard thereof, messengers fared between them, and thereon they made trysting, and Sigrod fared east in the spring-tide to the Wick, and there met his brother Olaf in Tunsberg, and there they abode awhile.

That same springtide Eric called out a great host of men and ships, and turned east-away to Wick. King Eric gat so fair a wind that he sailed night and day; nor was there any espial of his coming. So when he came to Tunsberg, Olaf and Sigrod fared with their folk from the town eastward on to the brent and there arrayed them. Eric had much the greater host, and he won the day, and Olaf and Sigrod fell both, and the howes of them both are on the brent whereas they lay slain.

Then King Eric fared all about the Wick and subdued it to him, and abode there long that summer; but Tryggvi and Gudrod fled away to the Uplands.

Eric was a big man and a fair; strong, and most stout of heart; a mighty warrior and victorious, fierce of mind, grim, unkind, and of few words.

Gunnhild his wife was the fairest of women, wise and cunning in witchcraft; glad of speech and guileful of heart, and the grimmest of all folk.

These are the children of Eric and Gunnhild: Gamli the eldest, Guthorm, Harald, Ragnfrod,

Ragnhild, Erling, Gudrod, and Sigurd Slaver. And all Eric's children were fair and full manly.

Sturluson, Snorri. The Stories of the Kings of Norway: Called the Round World: (Heimskringla). Translated by William Morris and Erikr Magnusson, Bernard Quaritch, 1893.

Snorri Sturluson

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