Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/345

 came and made peace among them, by asking the king to hold his mouth over the handle of the kettle, upon which the fat smoke of the boiled horse-flesh had settled itself; and the king first laid a linen cloth over the handle, and then gaped over it, and returned to the throne; but neither party was satisfied with this.

The winter thereafter the king prepared a Yule feast in Möre, and eight chiefs resolved with each other to meet at it. Four of them were from without the Drontheim district—namely, Kaare of Gryting, Asbiorn of Midalhouse, Thorberg of Varnæs, and Grin from Lyra; and from the Drontheim district, Blotolf of Olvishoug, Narfe of Staf in Værdal, Thrand Hake from Egge, and Thorer Skeg from Husaboe in Inderöen. These eight men bound themselves, the four first to root out Christianty in Norway, and the four others to oblige the king to offer sacrifice to the gods. The four first went in four ships southwards to Möre, and killed three priests, and burnt three churches, and then they returned. Now, when King Hakon and Earl Sigurd came to Möre with their court, the bonders assembled in great numbers; and immediately, on the first day of the feast, the bonders insisted hard with the king that he should offer sacrifice, and threatened him with violence if he refused. Earl Sigurd tried to make peace between them, and brought it so far that the king took some bits of horse-liver, and emptied all the goblets the bonders filled for him; but as soon as the feast was over, the king and the earl returned to Lade. The king was very ill pleased, and made himself ready to leave Drontheim forthwith with all his people; saying that the next time he came to Drontheim, he would come with such strength of men-at-arms that he would repay the bonders for their enmity towards him. Earl Sigurd entreated the king not to take it amiss of the bonders; adding, that