KINGS OF NORWAY. 85 No king in days of yore saga vii. E'er won so much before: That this is so All Norsemen know." King Olaf took possession of the land these five kings had possessed, and took hostages from the lendermen and bonders in it. He took money in- stead of guest-quarters from the country north of the valley district, and from Hedemark ; and then re- turned to Kaumarige, and so west to Hadeland. This winter his stepfather Sigurd Syr died ; and King Olaf went to Kingarike, where his mother Aasta made a great feast for him. Olaf alone bore the title of king now in Norway. It is told that when King Olaf was on his visit Chapter to his mother Aasta, she brought out her children, of Kino-* and showed them to him. The king took his brother olaf ' s half - Guttorm on the one knee, and his brother Halfdan on the other. The king looked at Guttorm, made a wry face, and pretended to be angry at them ; at which the boys were afraid. Then Aasta brought her youngest son, called Harald, who was three years old, to him. The king made a wry face at him also ; but he looked the king in the face without regarding it. The king took the boy by the hair, and plucked it ; but the boy seized the king's whiskers, and gave them a tug. " Then," said the king, " thou wilt be re- vengeful, my friend, some day." The following day the king was walking with his mother about the farm, and they came to a play-ground, where Aasta's sons, Guttorm and Halfdan, were amusing themselves. They were building great houses and barns in their play, and were supposing them full of cattle and sheep ; and close beside them, in a clay pool, Harald was busy with chips of wood, sailing them in his sport along the edge. The king asked him what these were ; and he answered, these were his ships of g 3
