Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/447

 the queen was enraged, and said that Olaf would deceive her in more ways than this one. In the same year King Olaf went into Ringarike, and there the people also were baptized.

Aasta, the daughter of Gudbrand, soon after the fall of Harald Gramske married again a man who was called Sigurd Syr, who was a king in Ringarike. Sigurd was a son of Halfdan, and grandson of Sigurd Rise, who was a son of Harald Haarfager. Olaf, the son of Aasta and Harald Gramske, lived with Aasta, and was brought up from childhood in the house of his stepfather, Sigurd Syr. Now when King Olaf Tryggvesson came to Ringarike to spread Christianity, Sigurd Syr and his wife allowed themselves to be baptized, along with Olaf her son; and Olaf Tryggvesson was godfather to Olaf, the stepson of Harald Gramske. Olaf was then three years old. King Olaf returned from thence to Viken, where he remained all winter. He had now been three years king in Norway.

Early in spring King Olaf went eastwards to Konghelle to the meeting with Queen Sigrid; and when they met the business was considered about which the winter before they had held communication, namely, their marriage; and the business seemed likely to be concluded. But when Olaf insisted that Sigrid should let herself be baptized, she answered thus:— "I must not part from the faith which I have held, and my forefathers before me; and, on the other hand, I shall make no objection to your believing in the god that pleases you best." Then King Olaf was enraged, and answered in a passion, "Why should I care to have thee, an old faded woman, and a heathen jade? and therewith struck her in the face with his glove which he held in his hands, rose up, and they parted. Sigrid said, "This may some day be thy death. The king set off to Viken, the queen to Sweden.