Olaf was twelve years old when, for the first time, he went on board a ship of war (1007). His mother, Aasta, got Rane, who was called foster-father of kings, to command the ship and take Olaf under his charge. The men on board, however, gave Olaf the title of king. With two ships, Olaf first steered to Denmark and then to Sweden, where he harried the coasts and fought with vikings. Afterward he made cruises to Finland, Russia, and Gotland. Later he turned westward to Friesland and England, where he took part in the fights between the Danes and the Anglo-Saxons. From the poems of the Skalds it appears that he took part in the battle of Hringmara (1010), and in the storming of Canterbury (1012). In company with Thorkel the Tall (a brother of Earl Sigvald) he entered the English king Ethelred's service, took part in his battles against the Danish vikings, and accompanied Ethelred on his flight to Normandy. From here he thought of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land; but on the way he had, according to tradition, a remarkable dream. He thought he saw a tall and handsome man, who told him to return to Norway and take his Udal, adding "for thou shalt be king over thy country forever." CHAPTER XV _Olaf the Saint (1015-1028)_ Leaving his long-ships (battleships) behind him at Northumberland, Olaf sailed, in the fall of 1015, with two merchant-ships and 120 well-armed men, across the North Sea to Norway. After a stormy voyage he landed on the west coast of Norway, near a small island called Sæla. King Olaf thought this was a good omen, because that word means luck. He sailed southward to Ulfasund, where he heard that Earl Haakon was south in Sogn, and was expected north with a single ship as soon as the wind was favorable. King Olaf then sailed further south, and when he came to Saudungssund he laid one of his vessels on each side of the sound, with a thick cable between them. Soon after Earl Haakon came rowing into the sound with a manned ship; they saw Olaf's ships, but thought they were only two merchant vessels, and rowed in between them. When the ship was over the cable, Olaf's men on each side wound it up with the windlass, so that Haakon's ship upset, and all his men plunged into the water. Most of them, however, were picked up and taken on board Olaf's ship; only a few were drowned. Among those saved was Earl Haakon. He was a very handsome boy of eighteen years, with fair, silken hair, bound about his head with a gold ornament. When Olaf saw him, he said: "True it is what has been said of your family: you are handsome people; but now your luck has deserted you." Haakon replied: "It is always so, that sometimes one is victorious, and sometimes another. I am little beyond childhood in years; besides, we did not expect any attack. It may turn out better with me another time." "But dost thou not fear that thou art now in such a condition that, hereafter, there will be neither victory nor defeat for thee?" asked the king.