d to the high-seat; but
neither party was satisfied with this.

ENDNOTES: (1) This eating of horse-flesh at these religious festivals
was considered the most direct proof of paganism in the
following times, and was punished by death or mutilation by
Saint Olaf. It was a ceremony apparently commemorative of
their Asiatic origin and ancestors.

19. FEAST OF THE SACRIFICE AT MORE.

The winter thereafter the king prepared a Yule feast in More, and eight
chiefs resolved with each other to meet at it. Four of them were from
without the Throndhjem district--namely, Kar of Gryting, Asbjorn
of Medalhus, Thorberg of Varnes, and Orm from Ljoxa; and from the
Throndhjem district, Botolf of Olvishaug, Narfe of Staf in Veradal,
Thrand Hak from Egg, and Thorer Skeg from Husaby in Eyin Idre. These
eight men bound themselves, the four first to root out Christianity in
Norway, and the four others to oblige the king to offer sacrifice to the
gods. The four first went in four ships southwards to More, and killed
three priests, and burnt three churches, and then they returned. Now,
when King Hakon and Earl Sigurd came to More with their court, the
bondes assembled in great numbers; and immediately, on the first day of
the feast, the bondes insisted hard with the king that he should offer
sacrifice, and threatened him with violence if he refused. Earl Sigurd
tried to make peace between them, and brought it so far that the king
took some bits of horse-liver, and emptied all the goblets the bondes
filled for him without the sign of the cross; but as soon as the feast
was over, the king and the earl returned to Hlader. The king was very
ill pleased, and made himself ready to leave Throndhjem forthwith with
all his people; saying that the next time he came to Throndhjem, he
would come with such strength of men-at-arms that he would repay the
bondes for their enmity towards him. Earl Sigurd entreated the king not
to take it amiss of the bondes; adding, that it was not wise to threaten
them, or to make war upon the people within the country, and especially
in the Throndhjem district, where the strength of the land lay; but the
king was so enraged that he would not listen to a word from anybody. He
went out from Throndhjem, and proceeded south to More, where he remained
the rest of the winter, and on to the spring season (A.D. 950); and when
summer came he assembled men, and the report was that he intended with
thi