nd it
always comes back to his hand and is eager to go again."

When they reached the top of the hill they looked back. Far below was a
soft, green valley. In front of it the sea came up into the land and
made a fiord. On each side of the fiord high walls of rock stood up and
made the water black with shadow. All around the valley were high hills
with dark pines on them. Far off were the mountains. In the valley were
Halfdan's houses around their square yard.

"How little our houses look down there!" Harald said. "But I can
almost--yes, I can see the red dragon on the roof of the feast hall. Do
you remember when I climbed up and sat on his head, Olaf?"

He laughed and kicked his heels and ran on.

[Illustration: "_He threw back his cape and drew a little dagger from
his belt_"]

At last they came to Aegir's Rock and walked up on its flat top. Harald
went to the edge and looked over. A ragged wall of rock reached down,
and two hundred feet below was the black water of the fiord. Olaf
watched him for a while, then he said:

"No whitening of your cheek, Harald? Good! A boy that can face the fall
of Aegir's Rock will not be afraid to face the war flash when he is a
man."

"Ho, I am not afraid of the war flash now," cried Harald.

He threw back his cape and drew a little dagger from his belt.

"See!" he cried; "does this not flash like a sword? And I am not afraid.
But after all, this is a baby thing! When I am eight years old I will
have a sword, a sharp tooth of war."

He swung his dagger as though it were a long sword. Then he ran and sat
on a rock by Olaf.

"Why is this Aegir's Rock?" he asked.

"You know that Asgard is up in the sky," Olaf said. "It is a wonderful
city where the golden houses of the gods are in the golden grove. A
high wall runs all around it. In the house of Odin, the All-father,
there is a great feast hall larger than the whole earth. Its name is
Valhalla. It has five hundred doors. The rafters are spears. The roof is
thatched with shields. Armor lies on the benches. In the high seat sits
Odin, a golden helmet on his head, a spear in his hand. Two wolves lie
at his feet. At his right hand and his left sit all the gods and
goddesses, and around the hall sit thousands and thousands of men, all
the brave ones that have ever died.

"Now it is good to be in Valhalla; for there is mead there better than
men can brew, and it never runs out. And there are skalds that sing
wonderful songs that