Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 09 (of 15), ScandinavianMorris, Charles
History
Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 09 (of 15), Scandinavian
Morris, Charles
Scandinavia -- History
"Enough cows to cover the shores of the headland when they went to the
water to drink."
"So; one wants land and the other cattle; and what do you want, Harold?"
"Men," said the boy.
"How many?"
"Enough to eat up in a single dinner all brother Halfdan's cows."
"Come, mother," said Olaf, laughing; "you have here a chap in training to
make himself a king."
So it proved, for in later days Harold rose to be king of Norway.
But now we have to tell from what the king gained his title of Olaf the
Saint. It came from his warm endeavors to make Norway a Christian land.
The former King Olaf had forced his people to be baptized, but the most
of them were heathens at heart still and after his death many began to
worship the old gods again. It was the second Olaf that made the
Christian secure in the land, and this still more by his death than by
his life.
When he was still an infant the former King Olaf had baptized him and
given him his own name, and the time came when his little namesake took
up and finished his work. What most troubled the kings of Norway in that
age was the power held by the tribal chiefs, who were difficult to
control and ready to rebel; and this power came from the fact that they
were not only chiefs, but were the priests of the old religion. As
priest-kings their people followed them blindly, and no king could be
sure of his crown while this system prevailed.
Olaf, who had been brought up in the new faith, set himself earnestly to
spread the true principles of Christ's teachings through the land and for
years he worked at it earnestly. But he had hard metal to deal with. It
is said that one chief, when about to be baptized, turned to the priest
and asked him where were his brave forefathers who had died without being
baptized.
"They are in hell," said the priest.
"Then hell is the place for me," answered the chief. "I would rather be
there with Odin and my hard fighting and noble fathers than in heaven
with cowardly Christians and shaven monks."
This was the spirit of the chiefs. A heaven in which there would be no
fighting and mead-drinking had no charms for them, and to live forever
with the souls of men who had never drawn sword and struck blow was too
dreary a prospect for their turbulent tastes.
But Olaf was ardent in the new faith and persistent in his endeavors,
travelling from end to end of the land in his efforts to break up the old
idolatry. Here is one of the stories told of this missionary work of the
king.
He was then in Nidaros, whose peasantry, called Troenders, were said to be
celebrating in secret the old pagan festivals and offering sacrifices to
Odin and Frey for bountiful crops. When King Olaf came among them they
took arms against him, but afterwards agreed to hold a public assembly
and deal in that way with the religious question that was troubling the
kingdom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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