Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/148

 140 CHRONICLE OF THE SAGA VII. Chapter CVI. The earls' agreement to the king's terms. Thorfinn the earl heard that his brother Bruse had gone east to King Olaf to seek support from him ; but as Thorfinn had been on a visit to King Olaf before, and had concluded a friendship with him, he thought his case would stand well with the king, and that many would support it ; but he believed that many more would do so if he went there himself. Earl Thorfinn resolved, therefore, to go east himself with- out delay ; and he thought there would be so little difference between the time of his arrival and Bruse's, that Bruse's errand could not be accomplished before he came to King Olaf. But it went otherwise than Earl Thorfinn had expected ; for when he came to the kino; the agreement between the king and Bruse was already concluded and settled, and Earl Thorfinn did not know a word about Bruse's having surrendered his udal domains until he came to King Olaf. As soon as Earl Thorfinn and King Olaf met, the king- made the same demand upon the kingdom of Orkney that he had done to Earl Bruse, and required that Thorfinn should voluntarily deliver over to the king that part of the country which he had possessed hitherto. The earl answered in a friendly and re- spectful way, that the king's friendship lay near to his heart : " And if you think, sire, that my help against other chiefs can be of use, you have already every claim to it ; but I cannot be your vassal for service, as I am an earl of the Scottish king, and owe fealty to hirn." As the king found that the earl, by his answer, declined fulfilling the demand he had made, he said, " Earl, if thoi wilt not become my vassal, there is another condition ; namely, that I will place over the Orkney Islands the man I please, and require thy oath that thou wilt make no claim upon these lands, but allow whoever I place over them to sit in peace. If thou wilt not accept of either of these conditions,