Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/199

 KINGS OF NORWAY. 191 last : and of their journey all that is to be told is, that saga vil they did not come back, and no scatt either, the following summer ; for nobody had come to the Faroe Isles, and no man had demanded scatt there. King Olaf proceeded about harvest time to Yiken, CHA r^T R T and sent a message before him to the Uplands that ofthemar- they should prepare guest-quarters for him, as he Kediand intended to be there in winter. Afterwards he made of Th ?!: d , ready for his journey, and went to the Uplands, and sisters. remained the winter there ; going about in guest- quarters, and putting things to rights where he saw it needful, advancing also the cause of Christianity wheresoever it was requisite. It happened while King Olaf was in Hedemark that Ketil Kalf of Ringenaes courted Gunhild, a daughter of Sigurd Syr and of King Olaf's mother Asta. Gunhild was a sister of King Olaf, and therefore it belonged to the king to give consent and determination to the business. He took it in a friendly way ; for he knew Ketil, that he was of high birth, wealthy, and of good understanding, and a great chief ; and also he had long been a great friend of King Olaf, as before related. All these cir- cumstances induced the king to approve of the match, and so it was that Ketil got Gunhild. King Olaf was present at the wedding. From thence the king went north to Gudbrandsdal, where he was entertained in guest -quarters. There dwelt a man, by name Thord Guttormsson, on a farm called Steig*; and he was the most powerful man in the north end of the valley. When Thord and the king met, Thord made proposals for Isrid, the daughter of Gudbrand, and the sister of King Olaf 's mother, as it belonged to the king to give consent. After the matter was considered, it w r as determined that the marriage should proceed, and bransdal.
 * Steig is a farm two miles south-east of Froen's church in Gud-