t the other, already much exhausted, was for
the moment paralysed, and failed to take advantage of his opportunity.
He met but failed to arrest the blow with his shield. It was crushed
down upon his head, and in another moment the swarthy warrior lay
stretched upon the turf.

Sternly the men conveyed their fallen chief to his boat, and rowed him
to the mainland, and many a week passed by ere he recovered from the
effects of the blow that felled him. His conqueror returned to have his
wounds dressed by the bride for whom he had fought so long and so
valiantly on that bright summer morning.

Thus it was that King Haldor of Horlingdal, surnamed the Fierce,
conquered King Ulf of Romsdal, acquired his distinctive appellation, and
won Herfrida the Soft-eyed for his bride.

It must not be supposed that these warriors were kings in the ordinary
acceptation of that term. They belonged to the class of "small" or
petty kings, of whom there were great numbers in Norway in those days,
and were merely rich and powerful free-landholders or udallers.

Haldor the Fierce had a large family of sons and daughters. They were
all fair, strong, and extremely handsome, like himself.

Ulf of Romsdal did not die of his wounds, neither did he die of love.
Disappointed love was then, as now, a terrible disease, but not
necessarily fatal. Northmen were very sturdy in the olden time. They
almost always recovered from that disease sooner or later. When his
wounds were healed, Ulf married a fair girl of the Horlingdal district,
and went to reside there, but his change of abode did not alter his
title. He was always spoken of as Ulf of Romsdal. He and his old enemy
Haldor the Fierce speedily became fast friends; and so was it with their
wives, Astrid and Herfrida, who also took mightily to each other. They
span, and carded wool, and sewed together oftentimes, and discussed the
affairs of Horlingdal, no doubt with mutual advantage and satisfaction.

Twenty years passed away, and Haldor's eldest son, Erling, grew to be a
man. He was very like his father--almost a giant in size; fair, very
strong, and remarkably handsome. His silken yellow hair fell in heavy
curls on a pair of the broadest shoulders in the dale. Although so
young, he already had a thick short beard, which was very soft and
curly. His limbs were massive, but they were so well proportioned, and
his movements so lithe, that his great size and strength were not fully
appre