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СКАЧАТЬ gloomily on the bench and would not eat, and you cannot wonder; for he saw us putting potfuls of his good beef and basket-loads of bread into our big mouths. When the tables were taken out and the mead-horns came round, I stood up and raised my horn and said to the farmer:

      "'You would not eat with us. You cannot say no to half of my ale. I drink this to your health.'

      "Then I drank half of the hornful and sent the rest across the fire to the farmer. He took it and smiled, saying:

      "'Since it is to my health, I will drink it. I thought that all this night's work would be my death.'

      "'Oh, do not fear that!' I laughed, 'for a dead man sets no tables.'

      "So we drank and all grew merrier. At last I stood up and said:

      "'I like this little taste of your hospitality, friend farmer. I have decided to accept more of it.'

      "My men roared with laughter.

      "'Come,' they cried, 'thank him for that, farmer. Did you ever have such a lordly guest before?'

      "I went on:

      "'Now there is no fun in having guests unless they keep you company and make you merry. So I will give out this law: that my men shall never leave you alone. Hakon there shall be your constant companion, friend farmer. He shall not leave you day or night, whether you are working or playing or sleeping. Leif and Grim shall be the same kind of friends to your two sons.'

      "I named nine others and said:

      "'And these shall follow your thralls in the same way. Now, am I not careful to make your time go merrily?'

      "So I set guards over every one in that house. Not once all that winter did they stir out of sight of some of us. So no tales got out to the neighbors. Besides, it was a lonely place, and by good luck no one came that way. Oh! that was fat and easy living.

      "Well, after we had been there for a long time, Hakon came in to the feast one night and said:

      "'I heard a cuckoo to-day!'

      "'It is the call to go a-viking,' I said.

      "All my men put their hands to their mouths and shouted. Their eyes danced. Big Thorleif stood up and stretched himself.

      "'I am stiff with long sitting,' he said. 'I itch for a fight.'

      "I turned to the farmer.

      "'This is our last feast with you,' I said.

      "'Well,' he laughed, 'this has been the busiest winter I ever spent, and the merriest. May good luck go with you!'

      "'By the beard of Odin!' I cried; 'you have taken our joke like a man.'

      "My men pounded the table with their fists.

      "'By the hammer of Thor!' shouted Grim. 'Here is no stingy coward. He is a man fit to carry my drinking-horn, the horn of a sea-rover and a sword-swinger. Here, friend, take it,' and he thrust it into the farmer's hand. 'May you drink heart's-ease from it for many years. And with it I leave you a name, Sif the Friendly. I shall hope to drink with you sometime in Valhalla.'

      "Then all my men poured around that farmer and clapped him on the shoulder and piled things upon him, saying:

      "'Here is a ring for Sif the Friendly.'

      "'And here is a bracelet.'

      "'A sword would not be ashamed to hang at your side.'

      "I took five great bracelets of gold from our treasure chest and gave them to him.

      "The old man's eyes opened wide at all these things, and at the same time he laughed.

      "'May Odin send me such guests every winter!' he said.

      "Early next morning we shook hands with our host and boarded the 'Waverunner' and sailed off.

      "'Where shall we go?' my men asked.

      "'Let the gods decide,' I said, and tossed up my spear.

      "When it fell on the deck it pointed up-shore, so I steered in that direction. That is the best way to decide, for the spear will always point somewhere, and one thing is as good as another. That time it pointed us into your father's ships. They closed in battle with us and killed my men and sunk my ship and dragged me off a prisoner. They were three against one, or they might have tasted something more bitter at our hands. They took me before King Halfdan.

      "'Here,' they said, 'is a rascal who has been harrying our coasts. We sunk his ship and men, but him we brought to you.'

      "'A robber viking?' said the king, and scowled at me.

      "I threw back my head and laughed.

      "'Yes. And with all your fingers it took you a year to catch me.'

      "The king frowned more angrily.

      "'Saucy, too?' he said. 'Well, thieves must die. Take him out, Thorkel, and let him taste your sword.'

      "Your mother, the queen, was standing by. Now she put her hand on his arm and smiled and said:

      "'He is only a lad. Let him live. And would he not be a good gift for our baby?'

      "Your father thought a moment, then looked at your mother and smiled.

      "'Soft heart!' he said gently to her; then to Thorkel, 'Well, let him go, Thorkel!'

      "Then he turned to me again, frowning.

      "'But, young sharp-tongue, now that we have caught you we will put you into a trap that you cannot get out of. Weld an iron collar on his neck.'

      "So I lived and now am your tooth thrall. Well, it is the luck of war. But by the chair of Odin, I kept my vow!"

      "Yes!" cried Harald, jumping to his feet. "And had a joke into the bargain. Ah! sometime I will make a brave vow like that."

      FOOTNOTES:

3 See note about drinking-horns on page 195.

4 See note about feast hall on page 196.

      Olaf's Fight With Havard

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      At another time Harald said:

      "Tell me of a fight, Olaf. I want to hear about the music of swords."

      Olaf's СКАЧАТЬ