Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
got up; and first they took their breakfast. When they had got food,
Arnliot said, "Now we must part here. Ye can proceed upon the new-traced
path the merchants have made in coming here yesterday. In the meantime
I will seek after my halberd, and in reward for my labour I will take so
much of the goods these men had with them as I find useful to me. Thou,
Thorod, must take my salutation to King Olaf; and say to him that he is
the man I am most desirous to see, although my salutation may appear to
him of little worth." Then he took his silver plate, wiped it dry with
a cloth, and said, "Give King Olaf this plate; salute him, and say it is
from me." Then they made themselves ready for their journey, and parted.
Thorod went on with his comrade and the man of the merchants company
who had escaped. He proceeded until he came to King Olaf in the town
(Nidaros); told the king all that had happened, and presented to him the
silver plate. The king said it was wrong that Arnliot himself had not
come to him; "for it is a pity so brave a hero, and so distinguished a
man, should have given himself up to misdeeds."
Thorod remained the rest of the winter with the king, and in summer
got leave to return to Iceland; and he and King Olaf parted the best of
friends.
152. KING OLAF'S LEVY OF MEN.
King Olaf made ready in spring (A.D. 1027) to leave Nidaros, and many
people were assembled about him, both from Throndhjem and the Northern
country; and when he was ready he proceeded first with his men to More,
where he gathered the men of the levy, and did the same at Raumsdal. He
went from thence to South More. He lay a long time at the Herey Isles
waiting for his forces; and he often held House-things, as many reports
came to his ears about which he thought it necessary to hold councils.
In one of these Things he made a speech, in which he spoke of the loss
he suffered from the Farey islanders. "The scat which they promised me,"
he said, "is not forthcoming; and I now intend to send men thither after
it." Then he proposed to different men to undertake this expedition; but
the answer was, that all declined the adventure.
Then there stood up a stout and very remarkable looking man in the
Thing. He was clad in a red kirtle, had a helmet on his head, a sword
in his belt, and a large halberd in his hands. He took up the word and
said, "In truth here is a great want of men. Ye have a good king; but ye
are bad servants who say no to this expedition he offers you, although
ye have received many gifts of friendship and tokens of honour from him.
I have hitherto been no friend of the king, and he has been my enemy,
and says, besides, that he has good grounds for being so. Now, I offer,
sire, to go upon this expedition, if no better will undertake it."
The king answers, "Who is this brave man who replies to my offer? Thou
showest thyself different from the other men here present, in offering
thyself for this expedition from which they excuse themselves, although
I expected they would willingly have undertaken it; but I do not know
thee in the least, and do not know thy name."
He replies, "My name, sire, is not difficult to know, and I think thou
hast heard my name before. I am Karl Morske."
The king--"So this is Karl! I have indeed heard thy name before; and, to
say the truth, there was a time when our meeting must have been such, if
I had had my will; that thou shouldst not have had to tell it now. But
I will not show myself worse than thou, but will join my thanks and my
favour to the side of the help thou hast offered me. Now thou shalt come
to me, Karl, and be my guest to-day; and then we shall consult together
about this business." Karl said it should be so.
153. KARL MORSKE'S STORY.
Karl Morske had been a viking, and a celebrated robber. Often had the
king sent out men against him, and wished to make an end of him; but
Karl, who was a man of high connection, was quick in all his doing's,
and besides a man of great dexterity, and expert in all feats. Now when
Karl had undertaken this business the king was reconciled to him, gave
him his friendship, and let him be fitted out in the best manner for
this expedition. There were about twenty men in the ship; and the king
sent messages to his friends in the Farey Islands, and recommended him
also to Leif Ossurson and Lagman Gille, for aid and defence; and for
this purpose furnished Karl with tokens of the full powers given him.
Karl set out as soon as he was ready; and as he got a favourable breeze
soon came to the Farey Islands, and landed at Thorshavn, in the island
Straumey. A Thing was called, to which there came a great number of
people. Thrand of Gata came with a great retinue, and Leif and Gille
came there also, with many in their following. After they had set up
their tents, and put themselves in order, they went to Karl Morske, and
saluted each other on both sides in a friendly way. Then Karl produced
King Olaf's words, tokens, and friendly message to Leif and Gille, who
received them in a friendly manner, invited Karl to come to them, and
promised him to support his errand, and give him all the aid in their
power, for which he thanked them. Soon after came Thrand of Gata, who
also received Karl in the most friendly manner, and said he was glad to
see so able a man coming to their country on the king's business, which
they were all bound to promote. "I will insist, Karl," says he, "on
thy taking-up thy winter abode with me, together with all those of thy
people who may appear to thee necessary for thy dignity."
Karl replies, that he had already settled to lodge with Leif; "otherwise
I would with great pleasure have accepted thy invitation."
"Then fate has given great honour to Leif," says Thrand; "but is there
any other way in which I can be of service?"
Karl replies, that he would do him a great service by collecting the
scat of the eastern island, and of all the northern islands.
Thrand said it was both his duty and interest to assist in the king's
business, and thereupon Thrand returned to his tent; and at that Thing
nothing else worth speaking of occurred. Karl took up his abode with
Leif Ossurson, and was there all winter (A.D. 1028). Leif collected the
scat of Straumey Island, and all the islands south of it. The spring
after Thrand of Gata fell ill, and had sore eyes and other complaints;
but he prepared to attend the Thing, as was his custom. When he came to
the Thing he had his tent put up, and within it another black tent, that
the light might not penetrate. After some days of the Thing had passed,
Leif and Karl came to Thrand's tent, with a great many people, and found
some persons standing outside. They asked if Thrand was in the tent, and
were told he was. Leif told them to bid Thrand come out, as he and Karl
had some business with him. They came back, and said that Thrand had
sore eyes, and could not come out; "but he begs thee, Leif, to come to
him within." Leif told his comrades to come carefully into the tent, and
not to press forward, and that he who came last in should go out first.
Leif went in first, followed by Karl, and then his comrades; and all
fully armed as if they were going into battle. Leif went into the black
tent and asked if Thrand was there. Thrand answered and saluted Leif.
Leif returned his salutation, and asked if he had brought the scat
from the northern islands, and if he would pay the scat that had been
collected. Thrand replies, that he had not forgotten what had been
spoken of between him and Karl, and that he would now pay over the scat.
"Here is a purse, Leif, full of silver, which thou canst receive." Leif
looked around, and saw but few people in the tent, of whom some were
lying upon the benches, and a few were sitting up. Then Leif went to
Thrand, and took the purse, and carried it into the outer tent, where it
was light, turned out the money on his shield, groped about in it with
his hand, and told Karl to look at the silver. When they had looked at
it a while, Karl asked Leif what he thought of the silver. He replied,
"I am thinking where the bad money that is in the north isles can have
come from." Thrand heard this, and said, "Do you not think, Leif, the
silver is good?" "No," says he. Thrand replies, "Our relations, then,
are rascals not to be trusted. I sent them in spring to collect the scat
in the north isles, as I could not myself go anywhere, and they have
allowed themselves to be bribed by the bondes to take false money, which
nobody looks upon as current and good; it is better, therefore, Leif, to
look at this silver which has been paid me as land-rent." Leif thereupon
carried back this silver, and received another bag, which he carried to
Karl, and they looked over the money together. Karl asked Leif what he
thought of this money. He answered, that it appeared to him so bad that
it would not be taken in payment, however little hope there might be of
getting a debt paid in any other way: "therefore I will not take this
money upon the king's account." A man who had been lying on the bench
now cast the skin coverlet off which he had drawn over his head, and
said, "True is the old word,--he grows worse who grows older: so it is
with thee, Thrand, who allowest Karl Morske to handle thy money all
the day." This was Gaut the Red. Thrand sprang up at Gaut's words, and
reprimanded his relation with many angry words. At last he said that
Leif should leave this silver, and take a bag which his own peasants had
brought him in spring. "And although I am weak-sighted, yet my own
hand is the truest test." Another man who was lying on the bench raised
himself now upon his elbow; and this was Thord the Low. He said, "These
are no ordinary reproaches we suffer from Karl Morske, and therefore he
well deserves a reward for them." Leif in the meantime took the bag,
and carried it to Karl; and when they cast their eyes on the money, Leif
said, "We need not look long at this silver, for here the one piece of
money is better than the other; and this is the money we will have. Let
a man come to be present at the counting it out." Thrand says that he
thought Leif was the fittest man to do it upon his account. Leif and
Karl thereupon went a short way from the tent, sat down, and counted and
weighed the silver. Karl took the helmet off his head, and received in
it the weighed silver. They saw a man coming to them who had a stick
with an axe-head on it in his hand, a hat low upon his head, and a short
green cloak. He was bare-legged, and had linen breeches on tied at the
knee. He laid his stick down in the field, and went to Karl and said,
"Take care, Karl Morske, that thou does not hurt thyself against my
axe-stick." Immediately a man came running and calls with great haste
to Leif Ossurson, telling him to come as quickly as possible to Lagman
Gille's tent; "for," says he, "Sirurd Thorlakson ran in just now into
the mouth of the tent, and gave one of Gille's men a desperate wound."
Leif rose up instantly, and went off to Gille's tent along with his
men. Karl remained sitting, and the Norway people stood around in all
corners. Gaut immediately sprang up, and struck with a hand-axe over the
heads of the people, and the stroke came on Karl's head; but the wound
was slight. Thord the Low seized the stick-axe, which lay in the field
at his side, and struck the axe-blade right into Karl's skull. Many
people now streamed out of Thrand's tent. Karl was carried away dead.
Thrand was much grieved at this event, and offered money-mulcts for his
relations; but Leif and Gille, who had to prosecute the business, would
accept no mulct. Sigurd was banished the country for having wounded
Gille's tent comrade, and Gaut and Thord for the murder of Karl. The
Norway people rigged out the vessel which Karl had with him, and sailed