Gunhild,
Eyvind's mother, was a daughter of Earl Halfdan, and her mother was
Ingibjorg, a daughter of Harald Harfager. Thereafter Eyvind made a song
about King Harald:--

"Guardian of Norway, well we know
Thy heart failed not when from the bow
The piercing arrow-hail sharp rang
On shield and breast-plate, and the clang
Of sword resounded in the press
Of battle, like the splitting ice;
For Harald, wild wolf of the wood,
Must drink his fill of foeman's blood."

Gunhild's sons resided mostly in the middle of the country, for they did
not think it safe for them to dwell among the people of Throndhjem or
of Viken, where King Hakon's best friends lived; and also in both places
there were many powerful men. Proposals of agreement then passed between
Gunhild's sons and Earl Sigurd, or they got no scat from the Throndhjem
country; and at last an agreement was concluded between the kings and
the earl, and confirmed by oath. Earl Sigurd was to get the same power
in the Throndhjem land which he had possessed under King Hakon, and on
that they considered themselves at peace. All Gunhild's sons had the
character of being penurious; and it was said they hid their money in
the ground. Eyvind Skaldaspiller made a song about this:--

"Main-mast of battle! Harald bold!
In Hakon's days the skald wore gold
Upon his falcon's seat; he wore
Rolf Krake's seed, the yellow ore
Sown by him as he fled away,
The avenger Adils' speed to stay.
The gold crop grows upon the plain;
But Frode's girls so gay (1) in vain
Grind out the golden meal, while those
Who rule o'er Norway's realm like foes,
In mother earth's old bosom hide
The wealth which Hakon far and wide
Scattered with generous hand: the sun
Shone in the days of that great one,
On the gold band of Fulla's brow,(2)
On gold-ringed hands that bend the bow,
On the skald's hand; but of the ray
Of bright gold, glancing like the spray
Of sun-lit waves, no skald now sings--
Buried are golden chains and rings."

Now when King Harald heard this song, he sent a message to Eyvind to
come to him, and when Eyvind came made a charge against him of being
unfaithful. "And it ill becomes thee," said the king, "to be my enemy,
as thou hast entered into my service." Eyvind then made these verses:--

"One lord I had before thee, Harald!
One dear-love