fetch such things as were not in the house; and the rest of the servants, of both sexes, were occupied in the back court-yard. To Sigurd, who was occupied in farming, such garments were sent as became a king, and with them a horse magnificently caparisoned. Four domestics went to invite guests for the entertainment, such as should do the more honour to Olaf. The rest of the servants,—those, we suppose, whose duty it was to wait on the guests, were commanded to put on their gayest apparel, and “such as had none were to be supplied by those who had.” The manners of the age and the character of the man are equally visible in the reply of Sigurd to the messengers of his wife, when urged to appear with becoming splendour. “Asta has before now received her friends with much pomp, but never has she showed much respect to mine. On all occasions she exhibits as much ambition as if the greatest advantage were to be derived from her display; and I suppose we shall be required to pay the youth the same honours at his departure as at his arrival.” He then alluded to the charge of the entertainment,—to the umbrage which the kings of Denmark and Sweden might take at it,—and concluded by hoping that all would end better than he feared. But Sigurd was a prudent man, and he exhibited no such spirit in the presence of his wife. Knowing that he must obey, he sat down while one servant pulled off his agricultural vestments; another helped him to draw on a costly pair of boots; a third fastened the spurs; another held his mantle and cloak: the addition of a helmet and sword transformed the honest farmer into a noble baron. But he must not alone approach the son of his wife. From his peasantry, hitherto busy in the labours of the harvest, he selected thirty as a kind of a body guard, and with them he rode in silent dignity towards his villa.[234] [Sidenote: 1014.]