Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of NorwaySnorri Sturluson
History
Heimskringla; Or, The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
Snorri Sturluson
Iceland -- History; Norway -- History; Sagas -- Translations into English; Scandinavia -- History
King Trygve Olafson had married a wife who was called Astrid. She was a
daughter of Eirik Bjodaskalle, a great man, who dwelt at Oprustader. But
after Trygve's death (A.D. 963) Astrid fled, and privately took with her
all the loose property she could. Her foster-father, Thorolf Lusarskeg,
followed her, and never left her; and others of her faithful followers
spied about to discover her enemies, and where they were. Astrid was
pregnant with a child of King Trygve, and she went to a lake, and
concealed herself in a holm or small island in it with a few men. Here
her child was born, and it was a boy; and water was poured over it, and
it was called Olaf after the grandfather. Astrid remained all summer
here in concealment; but when the nights became dark, and the day began
to shorten and the weather to be cold, she was obliged to take to the
land, along with Thorolf and a few other men. They did not seek for
houses unless in the night-time, when they came to them secretly;
and they spoke to nobody. One evening, towards dark, they came to
Oprustader, where Astrid's father Eirik dwelt, and privately sent a man
to Eirik to tell him; and Eirik took them to an out-house, and spread a
table for them with the best of food. When Astrid had been here a short
time her travelling attendants left her, and none remained, behind with
her but two servant girls, her child Olaf, Thorolf Lusarskeg, and his
son Thorgils, who was six years old; and they remained all winter (A.D.
964).
2. OF GUNHILD S SONS.
After Trygve Olafson's murder, Harald Grafeld and his brother Gudrod
went to the farm which he owned; but Astrid was gone, and they could
learn no tidings of her. A loose report came to their ears that she was
pregnant to King Trygve; but they soon went away northwards, as before
related. As soon as they met their mother Gunhild they told her all that
had taken place. She inquired particularly about Astrid, and they told
her the report they had heard; but as Gunhild's sons the same harvest
and winter after had bickerings with Earl Hakon, as before related, they
did not seek after Astrid and her son that winter.
3. ASTRID'S JOURNEY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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