Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/326

 of men of knowledge, of remarkably handomehandsome [sic] appearance, great and strong, and very generous and affable to his men. He was a great warrior in his youth; and people think that this was foretold by bis mother's dream before bis birth, as the lowest part of the tree she dreamt of was red as blood. The stem again was green and beautiful, which betokened his flourishing kingdom; and that the tree was white at the top showed that be should reach a grey-haired old age. The branches and twigs showed forth his posterity, spread over the whole land: for of his race, ever since, Norway has always had kings.

King Eric took all the revenues which the king had in the middle of the country, the next winter after King Harald's decease. But Olaf took all the revenues eastward in Viken, and their brother Sigrod all that of the Drontheim country. Eric was very ill pleased with this; and the report went that he would attempt with force to get the sole sovereignty over the country, in the same way as his father had given it to him. Now when Olaf and Sigrod heard this, messengers passed between them; and after appointing a meeting place, Sigrod went eastward in spring to Viken, and he and his brother Olaf met at Tunsberg, and remained there a while. The same spring King Eric levied a great force, and ships, and steered towards Viken. He got such a strong steady gale that he sailed night and day, and came faster than the news of him. When he came to Tunsberg, Olaf and Sigrod, with their forces, went out of the town a little eastward to a ridge, where they drew up their men in battle order; but as Eric had many more men, he won the battle. Both brothers, Olaf and Sigrod, fell there; and both their grave-mounds