Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 2.djvu/35

 KINGS OF NORWAY. 27 the news, and also told him all that Aasta was doing saga vn. at home in the house. He had many people on his farm. Some were then shearing corn, some b oundit together, some drove it to the building, some un- loaded it and put it in stack or barn ; but the king, and two men with him, went sometimes into the field, sometimes to the place where the corn was put into the barn. His dress, it is told, was this : — he had a blue kirtle and blue hose ; shoes which were laced about the legs ; a grey cloak, and a grey wide-brimmed hat ; a veil * before his face ; a staff in his hand with a gilt-silver head on it, and a silver ring around it. Of Sigurd's living and disposition it is related that he was a very gain-making man, who attended carefully to his cattle and husbandry, and managed his house- keeping himself. He was nowise given to pomp, and was rather taciturn. But he was a man of the best understanding in Norway, and also excessively wealthy in moveable property. Peaceful he was, and nowise haughty. His wife Aasta was generous and high-minded. Their children were, Guttorm, the el- dest ; then Gunhild ; the next Halfdan, Ingrid, and Harald. The messengers said to Sigurd, "Aasta told us to bring thee word, how much it lay at her heart that thou shouldst on this occasion comport thyself in the fashion of great men, and show a disposition more akin to Harald Haarfager's race than to thy mother's father's, Kane Thin-nose, or Earl Nereid the Old, although they too were very wise men." The king replies, " The news ye bring me is weighty, and ye bring it forward in great heat. Already before now Aasta has been taken up much with people who were not so near to her ; and I see she is still of the same disposition. She takes this up with great of moschetoes.
 * Often used by men in summer to protect the face from the stings