King Olaf now availed himself of the opportunity that chance had given him, to rid himself of royal rivals who, as descendants of Harald the Fairhaired, claimed under the law to have as much right to their possessions as any supreme king, and who had always been in the way of a national unity. King Olaf now, by one decisive act, secured the unity and independence of the country, and prepared the way for the victorious entrance of Christianity. King Ring and two other kings were banished from Norway, under oath never to return. Rorek was a treacherous man and could not be depended upon, so the king ordered both his eyes put out, and afterward took him with him in that condition wherever he went. He ordered Gudrod Valley-king's tongue to be cut out, and of the lendermen and peasants who were implicated in the conspiracy some he banished from the country, some he mutilated, and with others he made peace. King Olaf took possession of the land that these kings had possessed. His stepfather, Sigurd Syr, who had had nothing to do with the conspiracy of the other small kings, died during the winter (1018), and now Olaf alone bore the title of King in Norway. Shortly after his stepfather Sigurd Syr's death, Olaf went to visit his mother, Aasta, and on this occasion it is told that she took her boys (half-brothers of Olaf) to show them to the king. King Olaf took Guthorm on one knee and his brother Halfdan on the other. He made a wry face at the boys, and pretended to be angry, and they became frightened and ran away. Then Aasta brought in her youngest son, Harald, who was then three years old. The king made a wry face at him also, but the boy only stared back at him. The king then took hold of the boy's hair as if to pull it, but the boy in return pulled the king's whiskers. "Thou wilt probably be revengeful some day, my friend," said the king. The following day Olaf and Aasta were watching the boys at play down by the lake (at the Tyrifjord). Guthorm and Halfdan had built houses and barns and had little figures representing cattle and sheep. Little Harald was down by the water, where he had little chips of wood floating. The king asked him what they were, and Harald answered that they were warships. The king laughed, and said: "The time may come, kinsman, when thou wilt command ships." Then the king called Guthorm and Halfdan up to him, and asked them what they would like to have above all. "Fields," answered Guthorm. "And how large?" asked the king. "I would have that headland yonder sown with corn every summer," answered the boy. The headland included ten farms. "There would be a great deal of corn there," said the king. Turning to Halfdan, he asked what he would like best to have. "Cows," said Halfdan. "And how many?" asked the king. "So many that when they came to the lake to drink they would stand close together around the whole lake," was the answer. "You both take after your father in wanting a great husbandry," said the king.