SUPPOSED POWER OF IDOLS. 469 



people was the belief in the power of Thor, the sight of whose 

 image was alone sufficient, in their minds, to make the God 

 of the Christians vanish before it, and how hard was the struggle 

 when they had to give up that belief. 



" Olaf had all the most prominent men there (in Upplond) 

 taken, both in Lesjar and in Dofrar, and they were forced to 

 accept Christianity or suffer death, or, if able, flee away. 

 Those who received Christianity gave into the hands of the 

 king their sons as hostages and pledges of their faith. The 

 king stayed overnight at Boear in Lesjar, and left priests 

 there. Then he went through Lorodal and came to Stafa- 

 brekka. The river Otta runs through the valley, and the fine 

 district on both sides is called Loar. The king could look 

 over the whole length of the district. ' It is a pity that we 

 must burn a district so fine,' said the king. He came down 

 into the valley with his men, and they stayed overnight at 

 the farm Nes, and the king chose a loft as his sleeping- 

 room, which is there still (Snorri's time) and has not been 

 changed since. He stayed there five nights, and cut a Thing- 

 summons, summoning men from Vagar, Loar, and Hedal, 

 and at the same time let them know that they should either 

 fight battles against him and suffer from his ravages, or accept 

 Christianity, and bring him their sons as hostages. There- 

 after they came to him and obeyed, but some fled south to 

 Dalir. 



" Dala-Gudbrand was the name of a man who ruled like a 

 king over the Dalir, and was Hersir by title. Sigvat Scald 

 compared him in regard to power and large possessions 

 to Erling Skjalgsson. Gudbrand had a son who is mentioned 

 here. When he heard that King Olaf had come to Loar and 

 forced men to accept Christianity he cut a war arrow and 

 summoned all the men of Dalir to the farm Huudthorp to 

 meet him. They all came, and it was a multitude of men, 

 because the lake Log lies near there, and they could come 

 as well by water as by land. Gudbrand held a Thing, and 

 said : ' A man, by name Olaf, has come to Loar, and wants us 

 to take a new belief and break all our gods asunder, and says 

 he himself has a much greater and mightier god. It is a 

 wonder that the earth does not burst asunder under him when 

 he dares speak such things, or that our gods allow him to live 

 any longer. I expect if we carry Thor out of our temple at the 

 beer where he is, and if he looks on Olaf and his men, Olaf's 

 god and himself and his men will melt and vanish, for this 

 has always helped us.' They all shouted at once that Olaf 



