T 70 Norway and the Norwegians 



prince. He will do no hurt to this kingdom ; on the 

 contrary, he will in every way increase thy fame. He 

 will return to his native land while he is still in the 

 flower of his age, and will reign with great glory in this 

 northern portion of the world ; but not for long. Now 

 carry me away." ' 



This passage brings before us the romantic person- 

 ality of Olaf Tryggvason, about whom so many stories 

 and myths lingered in the north. The passage comes 

 from what is called the Longer Olafs-Saga, and is not 

 to be found in the Heimskringla, But the longer and 

 shorter Sagas alike tell the history of the flight of 

 Astrid, Olaf's mother, across the border to Sweden, and 

 of her attempt to make her way to the Greater Sweden 

 (Gardariki), where she had a brother, Sigurd, in the 

 service of its king, King Valdemar,^ 



But on the way they were captured by pirates ; and 

 the mother was separated from her son. Both were 

 sold into slavery. Olaf, his foster-father Thorolf, and 

 Thorgils, Thorolf's son, made one ' lot.' The purchaser, 

 a farmer of Esthonia named Kleerkon, thought that 

 Thorolf was not worth his keep, so he killed him. The 

 two boys he subsequently sold again to a man named 

 Klserk ; and Kleerk sold Olaf to one named Eeas, who 

 gave a good cape in exchange for the Hope of Norway. 



Olaf was six winters with Eeas in Estlionia. One 

 day there came a great man from the court of Novgorod 

 to collect the king's dues from this part of the country. 

 He saw a very handsome boy standing in the market- 



1 Valdemar's (Vlarlomir's) reign is given a.d. 970 to 977. He became 

 a convert to Christianity, and is spoken of as the first Christian king of 

 Novgorod. His successor was Jarisleif (Yaroslav), called the Legislator. 



