hast borne him on thy knee, and thou canst murder him if thou wilt; but
thou wilt not make an end of all King Harald's sons by so doing." On
that Hauk went out with all his men, and took the way direct to his
ship, and put to sea,--for they were ready,--and came back to King
Harald. The king was highly pleased with this; for it is the common
observation of all people, that the man who fosters another's children
is of less consideration than the other. From these transactions between
the two kings, it appears that each wanted to be held greater than the
other; but in truth there was no injury, to the dignity of either, for
each was the upper king in his own kingdom till his dying day.

43. HAKON, THE FOSTER-SON OF ATHELSTAN, IS BAPTIZED.

King Athelstan had Hakon baptized, and brought up in the right faith,
and in good habits, and all sorts of good manners, and he loved Hakon
above all his relations; and Hakon was beloved by all men. He was
henceforth called Athelstan's foster-son. He was an accomplished skald,
and he was larger, stronger and more beautiful than other men; he was
a man of understanding and eloquence, and also a good Christian. King
Athelstan gave Hakon a sword, of which the hilt and handle were gold,
and the blade still better; for with it Hakon cut down a mill-stone to
the centre eye, and the sword thereafter was called the Quernbite (1).
Better sword never came into Norway, and Hakon carried it to his dying
day.

ENDNOTES:
(1) Quern is the name of the small hand mill-stones still
found.
in use among the cottars in Orkney, Shetland, and the
Hebrides. This sword is mentioned in the Younger Edda.
There were many excellent swords in the olden time, and many
of them had proper names.

44. EIRIK BROUGHT TO THE SOVEREIGNTY.

When King Harald was eighty years of age (A.D. 930) he became very
heavy, and unable to travel through the country, or do the business of
a king. Then he brought his son Eirik to his high-seat, and gave him the
power and command over the whole land. Now when King Harald's other sons
heard this, King Halfdan the Black also took a king's high-seat, and
took all Throndhjem land, with the consent of all the people, under his
rule as upper king. After the death of Bjorn the Chapman, his brother
Olaf took the command over Vestfold, and took Bjorn's son, Gudrod,
as his foster-child. Olaf's son was called Trygve; and the two
foster-brothers