Saga of Sigurd the Crusader and His Brothers Eystein and Olaf

36. OF SIGURD'S SWIMMING.

It happened once that Sigurd was out in his ship, which lay in
the harbour; and there lay a merchant ship, which was an Iceland
trader, at the side of it. Harald Gille was in the forecastle of
the king's ship, and Svein Rimhildson, a son of Knut Sveinson of
Jadar, had his berth the next before him. There was also Sigurd
Sigurdson, a gallant lenderman, who himself commanded a ship. It
was a day of beautiful weather and warm sunshine, and many went
out to swim, both from the long-ship and the merchant vessel. An
Iceland man, who was among the swimmers, amused himself by
drawing those under water who could not swim so well as himself;
and at that the spectators laughed. When King Sigurd saw and
heard this, he cast off his clothes, sprang into the water, and
swam to the Icelander, seized him, and pressed him under the
water, and held him there; and as soon as the Icelander came up
the king pressed him down again, and thus the one time after the
other.

Then said Sigurd Sigurdson, "Shall we let the king kill this
man?"

Somebody said, "No one has any wish to interfere."

Sigurd replies, that "If Dag Eilifson were here, we should not be
without one who dared."

Then Sigurd sprang overboard, swam to the king, took hold of him,
and said, "Sire, do not kill the man. Everybody sees that you
are a much better swimmer."

The king replies, "Let me loose, Sigurd: I shall be his death,
for he will destroy our people under water."

Sigurd says, "Let us first amuse ourselves; and, Icelander, do
thou set off to the land," which he did. The king now got loose
from Sigurd, and swam to his ship, and Sigurd went his way: but
the king ordered that Sigurd should not presume to come into his
presence; this was reported to Sigurd, and so he went up into the
country.

37. OF HARALD AND SVEIN RIMHILDSON.

In the evening, when people were going to bed, some of the ship's
men were still at their games up in the country. Harald was with
those who played on the land, and told his footboy to go out to
the ship, make his bed, and wait for him there. The lad did as
he was ordered. The king had gone to sleep; and as the boy
thought Harald late, he laid himself in Harald's berth. Svein
Rimhildson said, "It is a shame for brave men to be brought from
their farms at home, and to have here serving boys to sleep
beside them." The lad said that Harald had ordered him to come
there. Svein Rimhildson said, "We do not so much care for Harald
himself lying here, if he do not bring here his slaves and
beggars;" and seized a riding-whip, and struck the boy on the
head until the blood flowed from him. The boy ran immediately up
the country, and told Harald what had happened, who went
immediately out to the ship, to the aft part of the forecastle,
and with a pole-axe struck Svein so that he received a severe
wound on his hands; and then Harald went on shore. Svein ran to
the land after him, and, gathering his friends, took Harald
prisoner, and they were about hanging him. But while they were
busy about this, Sigurd Sigurdson went out to the king's ship and
awoke him. When the king opened his eyes and recognised Sigurd,
he said. "For this reason thou shalt die, that thou hast intruded
into my presence; for thou knowest that I forbade thee:" and with
these words the king sprang up.

Sigurd replied, "That is in your power as soon as you please; but
other business is more urgent. Go to the land as quickly as
possible to help thy brother; for the Rogaland people are going
to hang him."

Then said the king, "God give us luck, Sigurd! Call my
trumpeter, and let him call the people all to land, and to meet
me."

The king sprang on the land, and all who knew him followed him to
where the gallows was being erected. The king instantly took
Harald to him; and all the people gathered to the king in full
armour, as they heard the trumpet. Then the king ordered that
Svein and all his comrades should depart from the country as
outlaws; but by the intercession of good men the king was
prevailed on to let them remain and hold their properties, but no
mulct should be paid for Svein's wound.

Then Sigurd Sigurdson asked if the king wished that he should go
forth out of the country.

"That will I not," said the king; "for I can never be without
thee."

38. OF KING OLAF'S MIRACLE.

There was a young and poor man called Kolbein; and Thora, King
Sigurd the Crusader's mother, had ordered his tongue to be cut
out of his mouth, and for no other cause than that this young man
had taken a piece of meat out of the king-mother's tub which he
said the cook had given him, and which the cook had not ventured
to serve up to her. The man had long gone about speechless. So
says Einar Skulason in Olaf's ballad: --

"The proud rich dame, for little cause,
Had the lad's tongue cut from his jaws:
The helpless man, of speech deprived,
His dreadful sore wound scarce survived.
A few weeks since at Hild was seen,
As well as ever he had been,
The same poor lad -- to speech restored
By Olaf's power, whom he adored."

Afterwards the young man came to Nidaros, and watched in the
Christ church; but at the second mass for Olaf before matins he
fell asleep, and thought he saw King Olaf the Saint coming to
him; and that Olaf talked to him, and took hold with his hands of
the stump of his tongue and pulled it. Now when he awoke he
found himself restored, and joyfully did he thank our Lord and
the holy Saint Olaf, who had pitied and helped him; for he had
come there speechless, and had gone to the holy shrine, and went
away cured, and with his speech clear and distinct.

39. KING OLAF'S MIRACLE WITH A PRISONER.

The heathens took prisoner a young man of Danish family and
carried him to Vindland, where he was in fetters along with other
prisoners. In the day-time he was alone in irons, without a
guard; but at night a peasant's son was beside him in the chain,
that he might not escape from them. This poor man never got
sleep or rest from vexation and sorrow, and considered in many
ways what could help him; for he had a great dread of slavery,
and was pining with hunger and torture. He could not again
expect to be ransomed by his friends, as they had already
restored him twice from heathen lands with their own money; and
he well knew that it would be difficult and expensive for them to
submit a third time to this burden. It is well with the man who
does not undergo so much in the world as this man knew he had
suffered. He saw but one way; and that was to get off and escape
if he could. He resolved upon this in the night-time, killed
the peasant, and cut his foot off after killing him, and set off
to the forest with the chain upon his leg. Now when the people
knew this, soon after daylight in the morning, they pursued him
with two dogs accustomed to trace any one who escaped, and to
find him in the forest however carefully he might be concealed.
They got him into their hands and beat him, and did him all kinds
of mischief; and dragging him home, left barely alive, and showed
him no mercy. They tortured him severely; put him in a dark
room, in which there lay already sixteen Christian men; and bound
him both with iron and other tyings, as fast as they could. Then
he began to think that the misery and pain he had endured before
were but shadows to his present sufferings. He saw no man before
his eyes in this prison who would beg for mercy for him; no one
had compassion on his wretchedness, except the Christian men who
lay bound with him, who sorrowed with him, and bemoaned his fate
together with their own misfortunes and helplessness. One day
they advised him to make a vow to the holy King Olaf, to devote
himself to some office in his sacred house, if he, by God's
compassion and Saint Olaf's prayers could get away from this
prison. He gladly agreed to this, and made a vow and prepared
himself for the situation they mentioned to him. The night after
he thought in his sleep that he saw a man, not tall, standing at
his side, who spoke to him thus, "Here, thou wretched man, why
dost thou not get up?"

He replied, "Sir, who are you?"

"I am King Olaf, on whom thou hast called."

"Oh, my good lord! gladly would I raise myself; but I lie bound
with iron and with chains on my legs, and also the other men who
lie here."

Thereupon the king accosts him with the words, "Stand up at once
and be not afraid; for thou art loose."

He awoke immediately, and told his comrades what, had appeared to
him in his dream. They told him to stand up, and try if it was
true. He stood up, and observed that he was loose. Now said his
fellow-prisoners, this would help him but little, for the door
was locked both on the inside and on the outside. Then an old
man who sat there in a deplorable condition put in his word, and
told him not to doubt the mercy of the man who had loosened his
chains; "For he has wrought this miracle on thee that thou
shouldst enjoy his mercy, and hereafter be free, without
suffering more misery and torture. Make haste, then, and seek
the door; and if thou are able to slip out, thou art saved."

He did so, found the door open, slipped out, and away to the
forest. As soon as the Vindland people were aware of this they
set loose the dogs, and pursued him in great haste; and the poor
man lay hid, and saw well where they were following him. But now
the hounds lost the trace when they came nearer, and all the eyes
that sought him were struck with a blindness, so that nobody
could find him, although he lay before their feet; and they all
returned home, vexed that they could not find him. King Olaf did
not permit this man's destruction after he had reached the
forest, and restored him also to his health and hearing; for they
had so long tortured and beaten him that he had become deaf. At
last he came on board of a ship, with two other Christian men who
had been long afflicted in that country. All of them worked
zealously in this vessel, and so had a successful flight. Then
he repaired to the holy man's house, strong and fit to bear arms.
Now he was vexed at his vow, went from his promise to the holy
king, ran away one day, and came in the evening to a bonde who
gave him lodging for God's sake. Then in the night he saw three
girls coming to him; and handsome and nobly dressed were they.
They spoke to him directly, and sharply reprimanded him for
having been so bold as to run from the good king who had shown so
much compassion to him, first in freeing him from his irons, and
then from the prison; and yet he had deserted the mild master
into whose service he had entered. Then he awoke full of terror,
got up early, and told the house-father his dream. The good man
had nothing so earnest in life as to send him-back to the holy
place. This miracle was first written down by a man who himself
saw the man, and the marks of the chains upon his body.