Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 3.djvu/201

 KINGS OF NORWAY. 189 The king: " I tliouglit that I was in Jederen, and sa ga x n. looked out towards the sea ; and that I saw something very black moving itself; and when it came near it appeared to be a large tree, of which the branches stretched far above the water, and the roots were down in the sea. Now when the tree came to the shore it broke in pieces, and drove all about the land, both the mainland, and the out-islands, rocks, and strands ; and it appeared to me as if I saw over all Norway along the sea-coast, and saw pieces of that tree, some small and some large, driven into every bight." Then said the bailiff, " It is likely that you can best interpret this dream yourself; and I would willingly hear your interpretation of it." Then said the king, " This dream appears to me to denote the arrival in this country of some man who will fix his seat here, and whose posterity will spread itself over the land; but with unequal power, as the dream shows." It so happened once, that King vSigurd sat in a Chapter gloomy mood among many worthy men. It was a of Asia'/ Friday evening, and the kitchen-master asked what ^^"^' meat should be made ready. The king replies, *' What else but flesh-meat?" And so harsh w^ere his words that nobody dared to contradict him, and all were ill at ease. Now when people prepared to go to table, dishes of warm flesh- meat were carried in ; but all were silent, and grieved at the king's illness. Before the blessing was pro- nounced * over the meat, a man called Aslak Hane spoke. He had been a long time with King Sigurd on his journey abroad, and was not a man of any great family ; and was small of stature, but fiery. over it.
 * Or rather signed over the meat ; viz. the sign of the cross made