466 SOME EXPEDITIONS AND DEEDS OF GREAT VIKINGS. 



whenever he got angry, to first keep quiet and let his anger 

 subside, and then look at the matter calmly. He did thus, 

 and brought the matter before his friends ; and they all 

 thought it right to do as had been done by. He thereupon 

 allowed King .ZEthelstan's men to depart unharmed. 



" Hank Habrok (high breeches) was with King Harald. He 

 was a good messenger on all difficult errands, and dear to the 

 king. The summer after this King Harald entrusted his son 

 Hakon to the hands of Hauk, and sent him westward to England 

 to King yEthelstan. Hauk found him in London, at a great feast. 

 He went into the hall with thirty men, and said to them : ' We 

 will so arrange that the one who enters last shall go out first, 

 and we will all stand in a line before the king's table, and each 

 one shall have his shield on his left side, and hide it under his 

 cloak.' He took the boy Hakon on his arm, and they entered ; 

 he saluted the king, who bid him welcome ; then he seated 

 the boy on King .ZEthelstan's knee. The king looked at him, 

 and asked why he did this. Hauk replied : ' King Harald of 

 Norway asks thee to foster for him this child of his bond- 

 woman.' King ^Ethelstan at this became very angry, seized 

 a sword near him, and drew it as if he wanted to slay 

 the boy. 



" Hauk then said : ' Thou hast now seated him on thy 

 knee, king ; and murder him thou rnayest if thou wilt ; but by 

 this thou wilt not exterminate all King Harald's sons.' Hauk 

 and his men walked out and went to their ships, and when 

 they were ready they set sail and returned to Norway. King 

 Harald was well pleased with the result of their errand, for it 

 is said that the man who fosters the child of another is of 

 lower rank. By these doings of the kings it could be seen 

 that each wanted to be greater than the other ; but neverthe- 

 less each retained his rank, for each was over-king over his 

 kingdom until his dying day " (Olaf Tryggvason's Saga, 

 pp. 16, 17). 



The following Saga corroborates the story of Hakon being 

 sent over to England for his education, and indirectly 

 shows the intercourse which existed between England and 

 Norway. 



" King ./Ethelstan had Hakon baptized and taught the true 

 creed, good habits, and all kinds of courtesy. He loved him 

 more than any one else, kinsman or not, and every one who 

 knew him liked him. He was afterwards called ^Ethelstan's 

 foster-son. He was larger and stronger and handsomer than 

 other men, and the greatest man of idwttir, wise and elo- 



