espected then the crows flap their wings and caw,
for they know that ere long they shall glut themselves with human
blood."

He sat down, and immediately after Ulf of Romsdal stood up. Ulf had
fully as much fire as Erling or Glumm, but he possessed greater power of
self-restraint, and, as he spoke with deliberation, his words had all
the more weight. He said--

"King Harald, when in the exercise of our udal rights we bonders elected
thee to be our King at the Thing held in Drontheim, we stated and traced
thy descent from Odin through the Vingling dynasty, proved thy udal
right to the crown, and truly thought that we had placed it on the head
of one who would walk in the footsteps of his father, and respect that
authority and power in virtue of which he held his own high position.
But we now find that thou hast constituted thyself a law higher than the
law which made thee what thou art, and thou now wouldst have us, of our
own free will, bend our necks so low that thou mayest with the more ease
set thy foot on them and keep us down. We have served thee in all good
faith up to the present time; we have readily met thy demands for men,
ships, arms, and money, by calling together our assemblies and voting
these supplies; and now thou wouldst rob us of this our old right, and
tax us without our consent, so that thou mayest raise men for thyself,
and have it all thine own way. This must not, shall not, be. Even now,
we bonders will unanimously hold by the law if it be passed in the
proper assembly and receives our yea, and we will follow thee and serve
thee as our King as long as there is a living man amongst us. But thou,
King, must use moderation towards us, and only require of us such things
as it is lawful or possible for us to obey thee in. If, however, thou
wilt take up this matter with a high hand, and wilt try thy power and
strength against us, we have resolved among ourselves to part with thee,
and to take to ourselves some other chief who will respect those laws by
which alone society can be held together. Now, King Harald, thou must
choose one or other of these conditions before the Thing is ended."

The loud applause which followed this speech showed that the bonders
heartily sympathised with it, and indeed several of them rose and said
that it expressed their will exactly, and they would stand or fall by
what had been spoken.

When silence had been restored, Jarl Rongvold, who had whispered in the
Kin