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Then between his jaws distended,
When his frantic struggles ended,
Through King Olaf's horn an adder,
Touched by fire, they forced to glide.

Sharp his tooth was as an arrow,

As he gnawed through bone and marrow; But without a groan or shudder,

Raud the Strong blaspheming died.

Then baptized they all that region,
Swarthy Lap and fair Norwegian,
Far as swims the salmon, leaping,

Up the streams of Salten Fiord.

In their temples Thor and Odin
Lay in dust and ashes trodden,
As King Olaf, onward sweeping,

Preached the Gospel with his sword.

Then he took the carved and gilded
Dragon-ship that Raud had builded,
And the tiller single-handed,

Grasping, steered into the main.

Southward sailed the sea-gulls o'er him, Southward sailed the ship that bore him, Till at Drontheim haven landed

Olaf and his crew again.

XII.

KING OLAF'S CHRISTMAS

AT Drontheim, Olaf the King
Heard the bells of Yule-tide ring,

As he sat in his banquet-hall,
Drinking the nut-brown ale,
With his bearded Berserks hale
And tall.

Three days his Yule-tide feasts
He held with Bishops and Priests,
And his horn filled up to the brim ;
But the ale was never too strong,
Nor the Saga-man's tale too long,
For him.

O'er his drinking-horn, the sign

He made of the cross divine,

As he drank, and muttered his prayers,

But the Berserks evermore

Made the sign of the Hammer of Thor
Over theirs.

The gleams of the fire-light dance
Upon helmet and hauberk and lance,

And laugh in the eyes of the King;

And he cries to Halfred the Scald,

Gray-bearded, wrinkled, and bald,

"Sing!"

"Sing me a song divine,

With a sword in every line,

And this shall be thy reward."

And he loosened the belt at his waist,
And in front of the singer placed
His sword.

"Quern-biter of Hakon the Good, Wherewith at a stroke he hewed

The millstone through and through, And Foot-breadth of Thoralf the Strong, Were neither so broad nor so long, Nor so true."

Then the Scald took his harp and sang, And loud through the music rang

The sound of that shining word; And the harp-strings a clangor made, As if they were struck with the blade Of a sword.

And the Berserks round about

Broke forth into a shout

That made the rafters ring:

They smote with their fists on the board,

And shouted, "Long live the Sword,
And the King!"

But the King said, "O my son,

I miss the bright word in one

Of thy measures and thy rhymes."

And Halfred the Scald replied, "In another 't was multiplied Three times."

Then King Olaf raised the hilt
Of iron, cross-shaped and gilt,
And said, "Do not refuse;
Count well the gain and the loss,
Thor's hammer or Christ's cross :
Choose!"

And Halfred the Scald said, “This
In the name of the Lord I kiss,
Who on it was crucified!"

And a shout went round the board,
"In the name of Christ the Lord,
Who died!"

Then over the waste of snows

The noonday sun uprose,

Through the driving mists revealed,

Like the lifting of the Host,

By incense-clouds almost

Concealed.

On the shining wall a vast

And shadowy cross was cast

From the hilt of the lifted sword,

And in foaming cups of ale

The Berserks drank "Was-hael!

To the Lord! "

XIII.

THE BUILDING OF THE LONG SERPENT

THORBERG SKAFTING, master-builder,
In his ship-yard by the sea,
Whistling, said, "It would bewilder
Any man but Thorberg Skafting,
Any man but me!"

Near him lay the Dragon stranded,
Built of old by Raud the Strong,
And King Olaf had commanded.
He should build another Dragon,
Twice as large and long.

Therefore whistled Thorberg Skafting, As he sat with half-closed eyes,

And his head turned sideways, drafting

That new vessel for King Olaf

Twice the Dragon's size.

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