at on the south side was empty;
for that was the king's seat. Harald sat on the steps before it.

The feast went merrily until long after midnight. Then the thralls took
some of the guests to the guest house to sleep, and some to the beds
around the sides of the feast hall. But some men lay down on the benches
and drew their cloaks over themselves.

On the next night there was another feast. Still Harald sat on the step
before the high seat. But when the tables were gone and the horns were
going around, he stood up and raised high a horn of ale and said loudly:

"This horn of memory I drink in honor of my father, Halfdan, son of
Gudrod, who sits now in Valhalla. And I vow that I will grind my
father's foes under my heel."

Then he drank the ale and sat down in the king's high seat, while all
the men stood up and raised their horns and shouted:

"King Harald!"

And some cried:

"That was a brave vow."

[Illustration: "_I vow that I will grind my father's foes under my
heel_"]

And Harald's uncle called out:

"A health to King Harald!"

And they all drank it.

Then a man stood up and said:

"Hear my song of King Halfdan!" for this man was a skald.

"Yes, the song!" shouted the men, and Harald nodded his head.

So the skald took down his great harp from the wall behind him and went
and stood before Harald. The bottom of the harp rested on the floor, but
the top reached as high as the skald's shoulders. The brass frame shone
in the light. The strings were some of gold and some of silver. The man
struck them with his hand and sang of King Halfdan, of his battles, of
his strong arm and good sword, of his death, and of how men loved him.

When he had finished, King Harald took a bracelet from his arm and gave
it to him, saying:

"Take this as thanks for your good song."

The guests stayed the next day and at night there was another feast.
When the mead horns were going around, King Harald stood up and spoke:

"I said that no man should go away empty-handed from drinking my
father's funeral ale."

He beckoned the thralls, and they brought in a great treasure-chest and
set it down by the high seat. King Harald opened it and took out rich
gifts--capes and sword-belts and beautiful cloth and bracelets and gold
cloak-pins. These he sent about the hall and gave something to every
man. The guests wondered at the richness of his gifts.

"This young king has an open hand," they said, "and deep
treasure-chest