History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Vol. 1 (of 2)Dunham, S. A. (Samuel Astley)
History
History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Dunham, S. A. (Samuel Astley)
Scandinavia -- History
After this victory, Norway was unable to resist the conqueror. The
reguli, and jarls, and native chiefs, who refused to submit, were driven
into exile. Some, preferring liberty, or rather an unbridled licence, to
an established government, voluntarily exiled themselves. From this year
may be dated the colonisation, by Norwegian settlers, of the Orkneys,
the Hebrides, the Shetlands, the Feroes, Iceland; the depredations on
the coasts of Great Britain, and Ireland, and Spain; the invasion of
Russia and Normandy by successful hordes of pirates. So great an
emigration might, one would suppose, greatly weaken the physical
resources of Harald; but this does not appear to have been the fact: on
the contrary, he spared numerous families to people the wilds of Jamta,
Helsingia, and other regions more to the north, which, prior to his
time, are said to have been wholly or partially desert. But if Norway
was thus his, he had no idle life. The pirates whom he had banished
infested his coasts, until he, in person, must dislodge them from their
strong holds in the islands of the western ocean. To _their_ and _his_
maritime transactions we shall advert on a future occasion.—Harald,
being now the monarch of Norway, says the Saga, remembered that he had
accomplished his vow, and that his hair might be cut and combed. It was
surely high time, if, as we are told, he had resembled, previously, a
wild beast rather than a man, and had been called Harald _Lufa_, or
“Harald with the Horrid Hair.” When this deformity was removed,—when the
shears and the bath had done their work,—he obtained the epithet of
Harfager, or Fair-hair. And he now remembered the saying of the maiden
who had excited him to all his successes. Sending for her, he made her
the partner of his throne; and by her had a daughter and four sons.—All
this is fabulous, but unequal to what follows, which appears to have
occurred some years before this marriage. One winter, the king hastened
to the uplands to hold the festivities of Yule; and he ordered the
banquet to be prepared in the villa of Thopte. The evening before the
opening of the feast, as he sat at table, a domestic advanced to say
that a Finn, waiting at the door, wished to see him. At this bold
message the anger of the king and the surprise of all present may be
conceived, and an indignant answer was returned. But Swaso was resolute:
he bade Harald be informed that he was the Finn whose hut was on the
other side of the mountain, and whom he had promised to visit. The
monarch went to the door, and immediately said that he would accompany
him to the hut. On their entrance, the daughter of Swaso—a wondrous
beauty—arose, and presented a horn of mead to the royal visitor. It was
a magic drink, designed to make the king amorous, and it had its effect.
He wished to take her as his mistress; but she had too much art for
this; she would be the affianced bride, or nothing. That ceremony was
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