The queen assented, and Sigurd took up the thread
of his story:
“Little time did the sons of Gunnhild lose,”
said he, “in claiming the kingdom of their fathers;
but it was only the middle part of Norway that they
could possess in safety. To gain the whole country
they had need to break the power of Triggvi Olafson
and Gudrod Biornson, both grandsons of Harald Fairhair,
who ruled as independent kings. To do this in
open warfare was not easy. Gunnhild, who now
forced her sons to action, as she had formerly forced
Erik Bloodaxe, found treachery an easier means; so
she got one of her sons to feign hostility to his
brothers and to make a show of friendship for Triggvi
Olafson. King Triggvi was invited by this son
to go out on a cruise with him. Triggvi yielded
to his false friend’s wish, and on reaching
the place of meeting he was foully murdered with all
his men. His cousin, King Gudrod Biornson, was
at about this same time surprised at a feast by Harald
Greyfell and slain after a desperate fight.
“Thus did the sons of Gunnhild clear their path.
Thus, too, did the wicked queen fulfil the vow that
she had sworn many years before, to exterminate the
whole race of Harald Fairhair outside her husband’s
line.
“But,” added Sigurd, in a deep and solemn
voice, “the flower that is trampled under foot
may yet leave its seed behind to come forth in its
own season and flourish. The race of King Harald
was not yet dead, and Queen Gunnhild presently found
that there was a woman in Norway whose true love and
faithfulness were better than all the guile and treachery
that jealousy could devise. Triggvi Olafson’s
widow, Queen Astrid, when she heard tidings of his
murder, guessed rightly that Gunnhild would pursue
her, so she fled from Viken, and journeyed north towards
the Uplands, taking with her her two young daughters,
Ingibiorg and Astrid, together with such chattels
as she might have with her. In her company was
her foster father, Thoralf Lusaskegg by name, and
his young son Thorgils. Thoralf never left her,
but guarded her always most faithfully, while other
trusty men of hers went about spying for tidings of
her foes.
“Now very soon Astrid heard that Gunnhild’s
sons were pursuing her with intent to kill her, so
she let herself be hidden on a little island in the
midst of a certain lake. There on that island
her son was born, and she had him sprinkled with water
and named Olaf, after his father’s father.”
Sigurd paused, and laying his hand on Olaf’s
shoulder, “This,” said he, “is that
same child, Olaf Triggvison, and he is the one true
flower of which King Harald Fairhair was the parent
stem. An ill thing would it be for Norway if,
for the slaying of Klerkon the Viking, he were now
to lose his life. And I beg you, oh, queen! to
deal kindly with this king’s son so hardly dealt
with, and to deal with King Valdemar concerning him
that his life may be spared.”
Then Queen Allogia answered, looking on the lad, that
she would do as Sigurd wished.
