A KING SUBJECT TO THE PEOPLE. 



543 



Eirik the Victorious, and was with him on many war-journeys ; 

 he increased the Swedish realm, and defended it manfully, and 

 it was easy for us to give him advice. But this king now allows 

 no man to be so bold as to talk to him except only what he 

 wants, and uses he thereto all his power, and permits his tribu- 

 taries to fall away from him from lack of strength and courage. 

 He would hold Norway's realm subject to himself, though no 

 King of Sweden has before desired this, and thereby causes 

 trouble to many a man. Now this is the will of us boendr, that 

 thou, King Olaf, should make reconciliation with Olaf the 

 Stout, and marry thy daughter Ingigerd to him. If thou wilt 

 win back to thyself those realms in the east which thy kins- 

 men and forefathers once owned, we will all follow thee 

 thither. But if thou wilt not do what we tell thee, we will 

 attack and slay thee, and not endure from thee trouble and 

 lawlessness : our forefathers have done the same, they threw 

 five kings down into a well, at the Mula-Thing, who before 

 had been as full of overbearing as thou hast been with us. 

 Tell us now quickly which choice thou wilt make.' Then the 

 multitude clashed their weapons. The king arose, and said 

 that he wanted everything to be as the boendr wished, for thus 

 had all Kings of Sweden acted. At this the grumblings of the 

 boendr ceased. The chiefs, the king, the jarl and Thorgnyr 

 talked together, and then made peace and reconciliation on 

 behalf of the King of Sweden, according to the proposal of 

 Norway's king. It was resolved at that Thing that Olaf's 

 daughter Ingigerd should be married to Olaf Haraldsson, and 

 the king delivered into the jarl's hands the power to betroth 

 her, and gave to him the charge of the marriage " 1 (St. Olaf s 

 Saga, c. 79-81). 



1 In the same Saga, c. 96, there is 

 another account of the powers of the 

 lawman. 



In ch. 81, the king (of Sweden), the 



jarl of Vestr Gautland, and the lawman 

 Thorgnyr are all three called kofdingjar 

 = chiefs. 



