econciliation
with Olaf the Thick; for the king was so enraged against him, that he
would not suffer his name to be mentioned before him. It happened one
day that Hjalte was sitting with the king and talking to him, and the
king was very merry and drunk. Then Hjalte said, "Manifold splendour and
grandeur have I seen here; and I have now witnessed with my eyes what I
have often heard of, that no monarch in the north is so magnificent: but
it is very vexatious that we who come so far to visit it have a road
so long and troublesome, both on account of the great ocean, but more
especially because it is not safe to travel through Norway for those who
are coming here in a friendly disposition. But why is there no one to
bring proposals for a peace between you and King Olaf the Thick? I heard
much in Norway, and in west Gautland, of the general desire that this
peace should have taken place; and it has been told me for truth, as the
Norway king's words, that he earnestly desires to be reconciled to you;
and the reason I know is, that he feels how much less his power is than
yours. It is even said that he intends to pay his court to your daughter
Ingegerd; and that would lead to a useful peace, for I have heard from
people of credit that he is a remarkably distinguished man."

The king answers. "Thou must not speak thus, Hjalte; but for this time
I will not take it amiss of thee, as thou dost not know what people have
to avoid here. That fat fellow shall not be called king in my court, and
there is by no means the stuff in him that people talk of: and thou must
see thyself that such a connection is not suitable; for I am the tenth
king in Upsala who, relation after relation, has been sole monarch over
the Swedish, and many other great lands, and all have been the superior
kings over other kings in the northern countries. But Norway is little
inhabited, and the inhabitants are scattered. There have only been small
kings there; and although Harald Harfager was the greatest king in that
country, and strove against the small kings, and subdued them, yet he
knew so well his position that he did not covet the Swedish dominions,
and therefore the Swedish kings let him sit in peace, especially as
there was relationship between them. Thereafter, while Hakon Athelstan's
foster-son was in Norway he sat in peace, until he began to maraud in
Gautland and Denmark; on which a war-force came upon him, and took
from him both life and land. Gunhi