“The king placed an arrow on the string, and took a knife and stuck it into an oak. He shot into the back of the knife-handle so that the arrow stuck fast. Heming took his arrows. The king stood near him and said: ‘With gold are thy arrows wound round, and a very ambitious man art thou.’ ‘I did not cause these arrows to be made; they were given to me, and I have not taken any ornaments off them.’ Heming shot and hit the knife-handle, and split it; the arrow point stuck in the upper point of the blade. Then the king said: ‘Now we will shoot further.’ With an angry look he laid an arrow on the string, and drew the bow so as to bend its tips together. The arrow flew very far, and stopped in a very slender bough. All thought this a most excellent shot. Heming shot somewhat farther, and the arrow went through a nut. All present wondered at this. The king said: ‘Now the nut shall be taken, and placed on the head of thy brother Björn, and there thou shalt hit it. Thou shalt not shoot from a shorter distance than before, and, if thou dost not hit, thou hast forfeited thy life.’ ‘Thou canst decide over my life, but I will never shoot this shot.’ Björn answered: ‘Thou must shoot rather than choose death, for every man is bidden to prolong his life while he may.’ ‘Wilt thou stand still, and not shrink, if I shoot at the nut?’ ‘Certainly,’ said Björn. ‘Then the king shall stand at his side,’ replied Heming, ‘and see if I hit the nut.’ The king agreed to stand at his side. He called Odd Ofeiggson, who went to where Björn stood, and said it was a fit trial for him to keep his courage there. Then Heming went to where the king would have him stand, and made the sign of the cross. ‘I call God to witness that I make the king responsible for this, and that I do not want to harm my brother.’ Heming shot; the arrow went swiftly, and skipped over the crown of his head and under the nut, and Björn was not wounded. The nut rolled backwards down from his head, but the arrow went much farther. When the king asked if the shot had hit the nut, Odd replied: ‘Better than hit, for he shot under the nut and it rolled down, and he harmed not Björn.’ ‘It does not seem to me that he has shot as I ordered,’ added the king. They slept over night. “In the morning Aslak went to speak with the king, and told him he had again prepared his journey if he wanted to go to the mainland, but he determined to stay that day. When the drinking hour was over, he called his men, and they went down to the shore. The king said to Halldór Snorrason (an Icelander): ‘I entrust it to thee to kill Heming while swimming to-day.’ Halldór answered: ‘It would be difficult for abler men than I am.’ Then the king told Bödvar Eldjarnsson to do it. He replied: ‘Though I had all the idróttir of those here present, I would not harm him in anything, but least of all as I know that he surpasses me in everything.’