Now, as regards the knot thou didst tie for me, then, methinks, I might
have tied such a knot for thee that thou wouldst never have been king in
Norway, when thou returnedst from thy campaign, and didst sail hither
with but a single ship. Let, now, intelligent men judge, what advantage
thou hast over me, and know ye, ye purse-proud braggarts, that there are
yet men in Norway, who dare hold themselves your equals."
This was the end of the "man-measuring"; and both kings were very wroth.
Several other incidents are recorded, which show that Sigurd's jealousy
of his brother would, at length, have brought about a breach of the
peace, if death had not suddenly made an end of their intercourse.
Eystein died at the age of thirty-three, August 29, 1122. The youngest
brother, Olaf, had died (1115) before he reached manhood, and Sigurd was
accordingly the sole ruler in the land. He was now free from the
restraint, which Eystein's pacific disposition had imposed upon him, and
he presently availed himself of his liberty to make a crusade into the
Swedish province Smaaland, where paganism yet lingered (1123). He
attacked the town of Kalmar, from which incident the war has been called
the Kalmar War. Whether he succeeded in converting the pagans is not
known; nor are any other results of the crusade recorded. After his
return from this campaign, a great calamity befell him. Once, it is
told, when he was in his bath, he called out, that there was a fish in
the bath-tub, and ran about trying to catch it. It was the first symptom
of the insanity which darkened the remaining years of his life. He was
often sane for long periods; but, at times, he would sit and brood with
wildly rolling eyes, or break out into paroxysms of wrath. Once, on the
day of Pentecost, when his madness came upon him, he took a precious
book,[A] which he had brought with him from Constantinople, and, gazing
gloomily at Queen Malmfrid, who was sitting at his side, said: "How many
things can change in a man's lifetime! When I returned to my country, I
owned two things which seemed to me most precious,--this book and the
queen. Now the one seems only more worthless than the other. The queen
does not know how hideous she is; for a goat's horn is sticking out of
her head. * * * And this book here is good for nothing."
[Footnote A: A codex written in letters of gold, containing probably a
portion of the Bible.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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