to her mind: 'Since she will not wed an unprincely man
then canst thou give me an earldom; lineage have I, and according to
what folk say certain other qualities therewith that may well give me
title to be an earl.' Then said the King: 'When King Olaf, my brother,
& King Magnus, his son, ruled the kingdom, one earl did they allow to be
in the country at a time; this likewise hath been my plan since I have
been King, & therefore will I not take away from Orm the dignity which I
have already given him.' Then saw Hakon that his cause had not been
forwarded and he liked it but ill, and Fin was likewise exceeding wrath
that the King had not kept his word, and thereafter they parted. Hakon
fared straightway from the country in a well-found long-ship, and
southward steered a course for Denmark where he betook him to his
kinsman-in-law, King Svein. The King received him with great pleasure &
gave him large grants in Denmark and made he Hakon also captain of his
coast defences, which were against vikings, who oft-times harried in the
Danish realm, and Wends, and Courlanders, and other folk coming from the
east. Therefore at sea, on his ships, dwelt Hakon in winter as well as
in summer.

|| Asmund was the name of a certain man who was said to be nephewSec. &
foster-son to King Svein, a very able man was he, and well-beloved by
the King.

But when Asmund grew to man's estate soon showed he himself of an unruly
complexion & a manslayer; and the King being ill-pleased thereat sent
him away, but gave him a company of men and a goodly feof whereof could
he full well find support.

Now no sooner had Asmund accepted the money of the King than gathered he
many men to him, and thereafter, since the money the King had granted
him sufficed in no sort for his charges, seized he many possessions of
the King.

For this ill conduct, when the King heard thereof, summoned he Asmund to
him, and when they met told him that obeyed would he be, that he must
enter his body-guard & no longer have his own company of men. When
Asmund had been a time with the King, became he ill-content, & one night
ran he away and rejoined his company, and thereafter wrought even more
evil than aforetime.

Then it befell once upon a time when the King was riding in his
dominions, that he came nigh unto the place where then abode Asmund and
he despatched men to take him by force, and that done the King had him
put in irons and kept him thus for a while to see if