4( ><> THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY. 



know whether we have become free, or thou wilt make us thralls 

 again in a curious manner, as thou wantest us to scorn the 

 belief which our fathers and forefathers had before, lirst in the 

 burning age and now in the mound age ; many of them have 

 been much more eminent than we, but nevertheless this belief 

 has been good for us. We have loved thee highly, so that we 

 have given thee with us the rule of all laws and land-rights. 

 Now it is our will and decision to have and keep the laws which 

 thou didst establish at the Frostathing, and to which we then 

 consented ; we will all follow thee and hold up thy kingship 

 while any of the bcendr here at this Tiling are alive, if thou, 

 king, wilt show moderation and ask of us only what we can 

 grant thee, and what is not unfeasible. But if thou wilt go so 

 far in this matter as to deal with us by force and overbearing, 

 we have all of us determined to part from thee, and take 

 another chief, that we may be free to hold the belief we wish 

 to have ; now thou shalt make thy choice, king, before the 

 Tiling is closed.' The boendr cheered this speech much, and 

 said they wanted to have it as Asbjorn said ; it was a loud 

 noise. Sigurd jarl said, when he got a hearing : ' It is the 

 will of King Hakon to assent to all that the boendr want, 

 and never to part from your friendship.' The boendr said 

 they wanted the king to sacrifice for good seasons and peace, 

 as his father did. The grumbling ceased, and they closed the 

 Tiling. Thereupon Sigurd spoke to the king, and told him not 

 to flatly refuse the wish of the boendr, and that it would not 

 do to act otherwise, 'for, as you have heard, it is the strong 

 will of the chiefs and all the people ; but I will find some way 

 out of the difficulty.' The king assented to this 



" In the autumn during the winter-nights there was a large 

 sacrificing-feast at Hladir, and thither came King Hakon. He 

 had been accustomed when he was present at sacrifices to take 

 his meals in a small house with few men. The bcendr complained 

 that he did not sit in his high-seat at such a great feast ; the jarl 

 told him to do it, and he did it. When the first horn was 

 filled, Sigurd jarl spoke and consecrated it to Odin ; he drank 

 from it to the king ; the king took it and made a sign of 

 the cross over it ; then a man called Kar of Gryting said : 

 ' Why does the king behave thus ? Will he no longer worship l 

 the gods ? ' Sigurd jarl answered : * The king acts like all 

 others who believe in their own strength and might ; he signs 

 his cups to Thor ; he made a hammer-sign over it before he 

 drank it.' 2 That evening all was quiet. Next day when they 

 sat down at the tables the boendr crowded towards the king and 



1 Sacrifice to. 



2 This passage seems to imply that 



those who believed in their own strength 

 only made the sign of Thor. 



