d said that it was his duty to do so. Dag replies, "Then
thou must allow me to determine the punishment if I disclose his faith."
The king replied that he would not submit his decision to another man,
but again ordered Dag to reply to what he asked.

Dag replies, "The sovereign's order goes before all. I find this
disposition in Thorer, as in so many others, that he is too greedy of
money."

The king: "Is he then a thief, or a robber?"

"He is neither."

"What is he then?"

"To win money he is a traitor to his sovereign. He has taken money from
King Canute the Great for thy head."

The king asks, "What proof hast thou of the truth of this?"

Dag: "He has upon his right arm, above the elbow, a thick gold ring,
which King Canute gave him, and which he lets no man see."

This ended their conference, and the king was very wroth. Now as the
king sat at table, and the guests had drunk a while with great mirth,
and Thorer went round to see the guests well served, the king ordered
Thorer to be called to him. He went up before the table, and laid his
hands upon it.

The king asked, "How old a man art thou, Thorer?"

He answered, "I am eighteen years old."

"A stout man thou art for those years, and thou hast been fortunate
also."

Then the king took his right hand, and felt it towards the elbow.

Thorer said, "Take care, for I have a boil upon my arm."

The king held his hand there, and felt there was something hard under
it. "Hast thou not heard," said he, "that I am a physician? Let me see
the boil."

As Thorer saw it was of no use to conceal it longer, he took off the
ring and laid it on the table.

The king asked if that was the gift of King Canute.

Thorer replied that he could not deny it was.

The king ordered him to be seized and laid in irons. Kalf came up and
entreated for mercy, and offered money for him, which also was seconded
by many; but the king was so wroth that nobody could get in a word.
He said Thorer should suffer the doom he had prepared for himself.
Thereupon he ordered Thorer to be killed. This deed was much detested
in the Uplands, and not less in the Throndhjem country, where many
of Thorer's connections were. Kalf took the death of this man much to
heart, for he had been his foster-son in childhood.

176. THE FALL OF GRJOTGARD.

Grjotgard Olverson, Thorer's brother, and the eldest of the brothers,
was a very wealthy man, and had a great troop of people about him. He
liv