Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race
sheep had strayed in the hills. When those that had been gathered were
divided Thorbiorn had lost at least sixty wethers, and was greatly
vexed. Some weeks later Olaf Howardson went alone into the hills, and
returned with all the lost sheep, having sought them with great toil
and danger. Olaf drove the rest of the sheep home to their grateful
owners, and then took Thorbiorn's to Bathstead. Reaching the house at
noonday, he knocked on the door, and as all men sat at their noontide
meal, the housekeeper, the fair Sigrid, went forth herself and saw
Olaf.
She greeted him courteously and asked his business, and he replied, "I
have brought home Thorbiorn's wethers which strayed this autumn," and
then the two talked together for a short time. Now Thorbiorn was
curious to know what the business might be, and sent his nephew Vakr
to see who was there; he went secretly and listened to the
conversation between Sigrid and Olaf, but heard little, for Olaf was
just saying, "Then I need not go in to Thorbiorn; thou, Sigrid, canst
as well tell him where his sheep are now"; then he simply bade her
farewell and turned away.
Vakr ran back into the hall, shouting and laughing, till Thorbiorn
asked: "How now, nephew! Why makest thou such outcry? Who is there?"
"It was Olaf Howardson, the great booby of Bluemire, bringing back the
sheep thou didst lose in the autumn."
"That was a neighbourly deed," said Thorbiorn.
"Ah! but there was another reason for his coming, I think," said Vakr.
"He and Sigrid had a long talk together, and I saw her put her arms
round his neck; she seemed well pleased to greet him."
"Olaf may be a brave man, but it is rash of him to anger me thus, by
trying to steal away my housekeeper," said Thorbiorn, scowling
heavily. Olaf had no thanks for his kindness, and was ill received
whenever he came; yet he came often to see Sigrid, for he loved her,
and tried to persuade her to wed him. Thorbiorn hated him the more for
his open wooing, which he could not forbid.
Thorbiorn Insults Olaf
The next year, when harvest was over, and the sheep were brought home,
again most of the missing sheep belonged to Thorbiorn, and again Olaf
went to the mountains alone and brought back the stray ones. All
thanked him, except the master of Bathstead, to whom Olaf drove back
sixty wethers. Thorbiorn had grown daily more enraged at Olaf's
popularity, his strength and beauty, and his evident love for Sigrid,
and now chose this opportunity of insulting the bold youth who
rivalled him in fame and in public esteem.
Olaf reached Bathstead at noon, and seeing that all men were in the
hall, he entered, and made his way to the dais where Thorbiorn sat;
there he leaned on his axe, gazed steadily at the master, who gave him
no single word of greeting. Then every one kept silence watching them
both.
At last Olaf broke the stillness by asking: "Why are you all dumb?
There is no honour to those who say naught. I have stood here long
enough and had no word of courteous greeting. Master Thorbiorn, I have
brought home thy missing sheep."
Vakr answered spitefully: "Yes, we all know that thou hast become the
Icefirth sheep-drover; and we all know that thou hast come to claim
some share of the sheep, as any other beggar might. Kinsman Thorbiorn,
thou hadst better give him some little alms to satisfy him!"
Olaf flushed angrily as he answered: "Nay, it is not for that I came;
but, Thorbiorn, I will not seek thy lost sheep a third time." And as
he turned and strode indignantly from the hall Vakr mocked and jeered
at him. Yet Olaf passed forth in silence.
The third year Olaf found and brought home all men's sheep but
Thorbiorn's; and then Vakr spread the rumour that Olaf had stolen
them, since he could not otherwise obtain a share of them. This rumour
came at last to Howard's ears, and he upbraided Olaf, saying, when his
son praised their mutton, "Yes, it is good, and it is really ours, not
Thorbiorn's. It is terrible that we have to bear such injustice."
Olaf said nothing, but, seizing the leg of mutton, flung it across the
room; and Howard smiled at the wrath which his son could no longer
suppress; perhaps, too, Howard longed to see Olaf in conflict with
Thorbiorn.
Olaf and the Wizard's Ghost
While Howard was still upbraiding Olaf a widow entered, who had come
to ask for help in a difficult matter. Her dead husband (a reputed
wizard) returned to his house night after night as a dreadful ghost,
and no man would live in the house. Would Howard come and break the
spell and drive away the dreadful nightly visitant?
"Alas!" replied Howard, "I am no longer young and strong. Why do you
not ask Thorbiorn? He accounts himself to be chief here, and a
chieftain should protect those in his country-side."
"Nay," said the widow. "I am only too glad if Thorbiorn lets me alone.
I will not meddle with him."
Then said Olaf: "Father, I will go and try my strength with this
ghost, for I am young and stronger than most, and I deem such a matter
good sport."
Accordingly Olaf went back with the widow, and slept in the hall that
night, with a skin rug over him. At nightfall the dead wizard came in,
ghastly, evil-looking, and terrible, and tore the skin from over Olaf;
but the youth sprang up and wrestled with the evil creature, who
seemed to have more than mortal strength. They fought grimly till the
lights died out, and the struggle raged in the darkness up and down
the hall, and finally out of doors. In the yard round the house the
dead wizard fell, and Olaf knelt upon him and broke his back, and
thought him safe from doing any mischief again. When Olaf returned to
the hall men had rekindled the lights, and all made much of him, and
tended his bruises and wounds, and counted him a hero indeed. His fame
spread through the whole district, and he was greatly beloved by all
men; but Thorbiorn hated him more than ever.
Soon another quarrel arose, when a stranded whale, which came ashore
on Howard's land, was adjudged to Thorbiorn. The lawman, Thorkel, was
summoned to decide to whom the whale belonged, and came to view it.
"It is manifestly theirs," said he falteringly, for he dreaded
Thorbiorn's wrath. "Whose saidst thou?" cried Thorbiorn, coming to him
menacingly, with drawn sword. "Thine," said Thorkel, with downcast
eyes; and Thorbiorn triumphantly claimed and took the whale though the
injustice of the decree was evident. Yet Olaf felt no ill-will to
Thorbiorn, for Sigrid's sake, but contrived to render him another
service.
Olaf's Second Fight with the Ghost
Brand the Strong, Thorbiorn's shepherd, could not drive his sheep one
day. Olaf met him trying to get his frightened wethers home: it seemed
an impossible task, because an uncanny human form, with waving arms,
stood in a narrow bend of the path and drove them back and scattered
them. Brand told Olaf all the tale, and when the two went to look,
Olaf saw that the enemy was the ghost of the dead wizard whom he had
fought before. "Which wilt thou do," said Olaf, "fight the wizard or
gather thy sheep?"
"I have no wish to fight the ghost; I will find my scattered sheep,"
said Brand; "that is the easier task."
Then Olaf ran at the ghost, who awaited him at the top of a high bank,
and he and the wizard wrestled again with each other till they fell
from the bank into a snowdrift, and so down to the sea-shore. There
Olaf, whose strength had been tried to the utmost, had the upper hand,
and again broke the back of the dead wizard; but, seeing that that had
been of no avail before, he took the body, swam out to sea with it,
and sank it deep in the firth. Ever after men believed that this part
of the coast was dangerous to ships.
Brand thanked the youth much for his help, and when he reached
Bathstead related what Olaf had done for him. Thorbiorn said nothing,
but Vakr sneered, and called Brand a coward for asking help of Olaf.
The strife grew keen between them, almost to blows, and was only
settled by Thorbiorn, who forbade Brand to praise Olaf or to accept
help from him. His ill-will grew so evident to all men that Howard the
Halt decided, in spite of Olaf's reluctance, to remove to a homestead
on the other side of the firth, away from Thorbiorn's neighbourhood.
Olaf Meets Thorbiorn
That summer Thorbiorn decided to marry. He wooed a maiden who was
sister of the wise Guest, who dwelt at the Mead, and Guest agreed to
the match, on condition that Thorbiorn should renounce his injustice
and evil ways; to this Thorbiorn assented, and the wedding was held
shortly after. Thorbiorn had said nothing to his household of his
proposed marriage, and Sigrid first heard of it when the wedding was
over, and the bridal party would soon be riding home to Bathstead.
Sigrid was very wroth that she must give up her control of the
household to another, and refused to stay to serve under Thorbiorn's
wife; accordingly she withdrew from Bathstead to a kinsman's house,
taking all her goods with her. Thorbiorn raged furiously on his
return, when he found that she was gone, for her wealth made a great
difference to his comfort, and threatened dire punishment to all who
had helped her. Olaf continued his wooing of Sigrid, and went to see
her often in her kinsman's abode, and they loved each other greatly.
One day when Olaf had been seeking some lost sheep he made his way to
Sigrid's house, to talk with her as usual. As they stood near the
house together and talked Sigrid looked suddenly anxious and said:
"I see Thorbiorn and Vakr coming in a boat over the firth with weapons
beside them, and I see the gleam of Thorbiorn's great sword Warflame.
I fear they have done, or will do, some evil deed, and therefore I
pray thee, Olaf, not to stay and meet them. He has hated thee for a
long time, and the help thou didst give me to leave Bathstead did not
mend matters. Go thy way now, and do not fall in with them."
"I am not afraid," said Olaf. "I have done Thorbiorn no wrong, and I
will not flee before him. He is only one man, as I am."
"Alas!" Sigrid replied, "how canst thou, a stripling of eighteen, hope
to stand before a grown man, a mighty champion, armed with a magic
sword? Thy words and thoughts are brave, as thou thyself art, but the
odds are too great for thee: they are two to one, since Vakr, ever
spiteful and malicious, will not stand idle while thou art in combat
with Thorbiorn."
"Well," said Olaf, "I will not avoid them, but I will not seek a
contest. If it must be so, I will fight bravely; thou shalt hear of my
deeds."
"No, that will never be; I will not live after thee to ask of them,"
said Sigrid.
"Farewell now; live long and happily!" said Olaf; and so they bade
each other farewell, and Olaf left her there, and went down to the
shore where his sheep lay. Thorbiorn and Vakr had just landed, and
they greeted each other, and Olaf asked them their errand. "We go to
my mother," said Vakr.
"Let us go together," replied Olaf, "for my way is the same in part.
But I am sorry that I must needs drive my sheep home, for Icefirth
sheep-drovers will become proud if a great man like thee should join
the trade, Thorbiorn."
"Nay, I do not mind that," said Thorbiorn; so they all went on
together; and as he went Olaf caught up a crooked cudgel with which to
herd his sheep; he noticed, too, that Thorbiorn and Vakr kept trying
to lag behind him, and he took care that they all walked abreast.
The Combat
When the three came near the house of Thordis, Vakr's mother, where
the ways divided, Thorbiorn said: "Now, nephew Vakr, we need no longer
delay what we would do." And then Olaf knew that he had fallen into
their snare. He ran up a bank beside the road, and the two set on him