He was a poetical genius, a favorite of kings and a terror to his enemies. He did not so often unsheath his sword in a quarrel as he employed his stinging rhymes which cut his enemy deeper than the sharpest sword. Like his sister, _Halfreðr_ had his love troubles. _Kolfina_ loved him and he reciprocated but her father chose otherwise and betrothed her to _Griss_, a man who had accumulated great wealth in the service of the Emperor at Constantinople. _Griss_ was “rather elderly, short-sighted, blear-eyed;” but he could see well enough when he went to woo _Kolfina_ that a handsome youth was kissing her at the door of the lodge. Caught by _Griss_ in the very act, _Halfreðr_ shouted to him as he took his reluctant departure:— “Thou shalt have me for a foe, _Griss_, if thou wilt try to make this match.” The parents gave _Halfreðr_ a good scolding and ordered him away at once. As he rides away he makes this rhyme:— “Rage of the heath-dweller, trough-filler, beer-swiller, Count I no more Than the old farm-dog’s yelp At the farm door Howling at parting guest,—who cares for his behest? My song shall praise her best, Her I adore.” _Trans. by Miss Oswald._ Longfellow says:— “Halfred the scald, Gray-bearded, wrinkled, and bald.” This passage shows the wide poetic license which Longfellow took in dealing with the _Sagas_ and the _Heimskringla_ of _Snorri_. Scott’s harpers were always old and gray and Longfellow infers that the Scalds were the same. The fact is that _Halfreðr_ did not live beyond forty years of age. He was gay and reckless as were all of his cult; he was reckless of speech even in the presence of the king. He was always ready with a song whether at the court of _Olaf_, in the camp, on the sea in storm or in calm or in the brunt of the fight. He was constant in love and although he married a beautiful and wealthy woman he never forgot his early love for the fair _Kolfina_. King _Olaf_ had much trouble in converting him to Christianity and in getting him to take the christening. He succeeded as we shall see from the following quotation, but _Halfreðr_ clung in secret to the faith of his fathers, the hope of a future life in _Valhalla_ as we note from the many references to the old northern gods in his songs and the way in which he talks of them. So frequently did he call upon the pagan deities that _Olaf_ often talked to him about it and mistrusted that he was not really converted to the Cross. The Christening of Halfred The Troublous-Skald. Heimskringla, Vol. I. _Sturlason_. “On a day went the King a-walking in the street, and certain men met him, and he of them who went first greeted the King; and the King asked him of his name, and he named himself _Hallfreðr_.” “Art thou the skald?” said the king. Said he, “I can make verses.”