Part 26

Then did the King's men run towards the chamber and before the door thereof, but the peasants were all at a loss because now to them pertained no leader; yet did they urge one another on saying that it were shame not to avenge their chief, but for all that did they naught, & made no essay to fight. Then went the King out to his men, set them in array, & caused his banner to be unfurled, but made he no onset & thereafter bade he all his men go out to his ship, then rowed they down the river and so out on the fjord.

Now apace was brought the intelligence of the death of Eindrid to Bergliot his wife for she was in the lodging that she and Einar inhabited in the town. Thence went she up unto the King's-House where was gathered the peasant host and them incited she to fight inasmuch as in her lay, but at that same moment rowed the King down the river, then quoth Bergliot: 'Now lack we my kinsman Hakon Ivarson; ne'er would the murderers of Eindrid be rowing there adown the river were Hakon on its banks.'

Thereafter caused Bergliot the bodies of Einar & Eindrid be laid out, and they were buried in the church of Saint Olaf hard by the tomb of King Magnus Olafson.

After the fall of Einar became King Harald so greatly hated for his share in that foul deed, that the feudatories and peasants only held back from fighting with him because to them pertained no leader to raise the banner for them.

|| Now dwelling at Austrat in Iriar was Fin Arnison, feudatory of King Harald.

Fin was married with Bergliot, the daughter of Halfdan the son of Sigurd Sow, & Halfdan was the brother of King Olaf and King Harald.

Thora, wife to King Harald, was the daughter of the brother of Fin Arnison; sworn friends to the King were Fin and his brethren. Certain summers had Fin been in viking warfare westward and on those quests he & Guthorm GunhildsonSec. & Hakon Ivarson had sailed in company. So fared King Harald down the Throndhjem fjord and out to Austrat, where he was well received, and thereafter communed they together, Fin and he, & took counsel one with the other as to the outcome concerning what had but then befallen, to wit the slaying of Einar and his son, and then of that murmuring and turmoil the which the Throndhjem folk were raising over against the King.

Fin answered hastily: 'Wrong art thou on every count; whatsoever thou doest thou doest ill & thereafter art thou so afeared that thou knowest no whither to turn.'

The King rejoined laughing: 'Kinsman-in-law, I will send thee in to town & thou shalt make it up betwixt the peasants and me; & if that business cometh to naught then shalt thou fare to the Uplands, & good feeling again cause with Ivar Hakonson & so bring it about that he goeth not to war against me.' Fin answered: 'What will be my reward an I go on this fool's errand, for alike Throndhjem folk and Upland folk are so hostile to thee that no messenger of thine could fare to them save at his own risk.'

The King answered: 'Go thou on this errand, kinsman-in-law, for well wot I an any man could bring us to a reconciliation it would be thee, & ask thyself of us what boon thou wilt have therefor.'

'Keep thou thy word, and I will choose the boon; I choose peace for my brother Calf and removal of his outlawry, and the restoring unto him of all his possessions; and furthermore I ask that he shall have all his appointments and all the power that he had or ever he left the land.'

And the King said yea to all whatever Fin asked of him, & they twain before witnesses took one another by the hand thereon. Thereafter said Fin: 'But what am I to proffer Hakon so that he may promise thee peace, for he it is who hath the upper hand of those kinsmen'? The King said: 'First shalt thou find out what Hakon is like to demand so that reconciliation may be brought about, and thereafter must thou forward my cause as best thou canst; but should the worst come to the worst, then deny him nothing save & except the kingship itself.'

|| Then went King Harald southward to More where mustered he men, and a great number was gathered unto him.

|| So Fin Arnison fared into the town & took with him his house-carles to the number of some eighty men, and being come to the town held he a Thing with the townsmen. Now Fin spoke long and wisely at this Thing, bidding townsman and peasant take any other course rather than live in hatred with his King or drive him away; & he reminded them how much ill they had been brought to suffer when they had acted in this wise aforetime, towards the sainted King Olaf.

He said, moreover, that the King would atone for these murders in such manner as the best & wisest men might adjudge; and the outcome of the speech of Fin was that the men gave their word to let the matter rest until the return of the messengers despatched by Bergliot to Hakon Ivarson in the Uplands. Thereafter fared Fin out to Orkadal with the men who had accompanied him to town, and further up to the Dofrafjal and eastward (south) across those mountains; and firstly went he to see his kinsman-in-law Earl Orm (the Earl was wedded to Sigrid the daughter to Fin) & to him disclosed his errand.

|| When this was done, appointed they a tryst with Hakon Ivarson, & when they were met did Fin before Hakon lay his errand in accordance with the behest of King Harald. But on the instant was it seen from the speech of Hakon that he deemed himself bound to avenge the slaying of his kinsman Eindrid; and said he, moreover, that he had received word from Throndhjem that there would come to him forces sufficient for an uprising against the King.

|| Then did Fin open unto Hakon what a difference would lie, and how much the more to his own vantage, were he, in lieu of risking battle against a King to whom he was already bounden by service, to accept from that King honour as great as he himself might demand. Fin said that Hakon might be unvictorious; 'and then wouldst thou have forfeited both wealth and peace; and if thou wert victorious over the King then wouldst thou be dubbed a traitor.'

The Earl also supported this speaking of Fin.

When Hakon had given the matter thought, made he known to them what was in his mind, & said: 'I will accept reconciliation from King Harald if he will give me in wedlock his kinswoman Ragnhild, the daughter of Magnus Olafson, with such a dowry as is seemly for her, and as she herself may desire.'

Then Fin answered that he would promise the fulfilment of this request on behalf of King Harald, & therewith was the matter ratified between them. Thereafter fared Fin back north to Throndhjem, and all the disquiet and turmoil was set at rest; and so in the end kept the King his kingdom in peace within the land, for now the whole of that league came to naught which the kinsfolk of Eindrid had set against King Harald.

|| Now when the time was come that Hakon was to demand the fulfilment of the contract, fared he to see King Harald; and when they began talking of the matter together, said the King to him that he on his side would keep to everything that had been covenanted twixt Hakon and Fin: 'Thou shalt speak with Ragnhild herself, Hakon,' said the King, 'and ask her consent to this match, but I would not advise thee, or any other, to wed Ragnhild save with her consent.'

Thereafter went Hakon unto Ragnhild and asked her hand, and she answered: 'Indeed feel I that my father, King Hakon, is dead, since I am to be given to a peasant, fine man though thou art and of mighty prowess. Were King Magnus alive would he never yoke me with any mate less than a king, nor can it be awaited now that I will wed a man without princely rank.' Now after this went Hakon to King Harald & opened unto him of the colour of the speech of Ragnhild, & withal to his memory again commended the agreement betwixt himself and Fin; and Fin was there present, & sundry others who could also bear witness to what was pledged betwixt him and Fin. Then of them all demanded Hakon to bear him out in regard to the agreement that the King should give Ragnhild such dowry as was to her mind: 'Since she will not wed an unprincely man then canst thou give me an earldom; lineage have I, and according to what folk say certain other qualities therewith that may well give me title to be an earl.' Then said the King: 'When King Olaf, my brother, & King Magnus, his son, ruled the kingdom, one earl did they allow to be in the country at a time; this likewise hath been my plan since I have been King, & therefore will I not take away from Orm the dignity which I have already given him.' Then saw Hakon that his cause had not been forwarded and he liked it but ill, and Fin was likewise exceeding wrath that the King had not kept his word, and thereafter they parted. Hakon fared straightway from the country in a well-found long-ship, and southward steered a course for Denmark where he betook him to his kinsman-in-law, King Svein. The King received him with great pleasure & gave him large grants in Denmark and made he Hakon also captain of his coast defences, which were against vikings, who oft-times harried in the Danish realm, and Wends, and Courlanders, and other folk coming from the east. Therefore at sea, on his ships, dwelt Hakon in winter as well as in summer.

|| Asmund was the name of a certain man who was said to be nephewSec. & foster-son to King Svein, a very able man was he, and well-beloved by the King.

But when Asmund grew to man's estate soon showed he himself of an unruly complexion & a manslayer; and the King being ill-pleased thereat sent him away, but gave him a company of men and a goodly feof whereof could he full well find support.

Now no sooner had Asmund accepted the money of the King than gathered he many men to him, and thereafter, since the money the King had granted him sufficed in no sort for his charges, seized he many possessions of the King.

For this ill conduct, when the King heard thereof, summoned he Asmund to him, and when they met told him that obeyed would he be, that he must enter his body-guard & no longer have his own company of men. When Asmund had been a time with the King, became he ill-content, & one night ran he away and rejoined his company, and thereafter wrought even more evil than aforetime.

Then it befell once upon a time when the King was riding in his dominions, that he came nigh unto the place where then abode Asmund and he despatched men to take him by force, and that done the King had him put in irons and kept him thus for a while to see if he would not grow meeker. But when Asmund was let loose from his irons forthwith ran he the more away, & raised men and war-ships, and fell to harrying both at home and abroad, & much war-work did he, slaying many folk, and pillaging far and wide. Those men that were the sufferers from his raids went to the King and made plaint before him, and he rejoined: 'Why say ye this to me, why do ye not fare to Hakon Ivarson? He is now the warden of my coasts, and is put there to punish vikings and keep the peace for ye peasants. It was told me that Hakon was a bold man and brave, but methinks that now is he never to be found where he deemeth danger to be toward.'

These words from the King, and many added to them, came to the ears of Hakon, & thereon went Hakon & his men in search of Asmund, & they were met on their ships, wherefore Hakon forthwith gave battle. A hard & great struggle was it; Hakon boarded Asmund's ship and cleared it, and at the last he and Asmund themselves dealt blows one at another with their weapons & thus fell Asmund. Thereafter Hakon smote off his head, & then betook him with all speed to King Svein whom he found sitting at table.