him. To
each of them he gave a kind of kingdom; Eric, his eldest son, to be head
king, and the others to be feudatory under him, and pay a certain yearly
contribution; an arrangement which did not answer well at all. Head-King
Eric insisted on his tribute; quarrels arose as to the payment,
considerable fighting and disturbance, bringing fierce destruction from
King Eric upon many valiant but too stubborn Norse spirits, and among
the rest upon all his three brothers, which got him from the Norse
populations the surname of _Blod-axe_, "Eric Blood-axe," his title in
history. One of his brothers he had killed in battle before his old
father's life ended; this brother was Bjorn, a peaceable, improving,
trading economic Under-king, whom the others mockingly called "Bjorn
the Chapman." The great-grandson of this Bjorn became extremely
distinguished by and by as _Saint_ Olaf. Head-King Eric seems to have
had a violent wife, too. She was thought to have poisoned one of her
other brothers-in-law. Eric Blood-axe had by no means a gentle life
of it in this world, trained to sea-robbery on the coasts of England,
Scotland, Ireland and France, since his twelfth year.

Old King Fairhair, at the age of seventy, had another son, to whom was
given the name of Hakon. His mother was a slave in Fairhair's house;
slave by ill-luck of war, though nobly enough born. A strange adventure
connects this Hakon with England and King Athelstan, who was then
entering upon his great career there. Short while after this Hakon came
into the world, there entered Fairhair's palace, one evening as Fairhair
sat Feasting, an English ambassador or messenger, bearing in his hand,
as gift from King Athelstan, a magnificent sword, with gold hilt and
other fine trimmings, to the great Harald, King of Norway. Harald
took the sword, drew it, or was half drawing it, admiringly from the
scabbard, when the English excellency broke into a scornful laugh, "Ha,
ha; thou art now the feudatory of my English king; thou hast accepted
the sword from him, and art now his man!" (acceptance of a sword in that
manner being the symbol of investiture in those days.) Harald looked
a trifle flurried, it is probable; but held in his wrath, and did
no damage to the tricksy Englishman. He kept the matter in his mind,
however, and next summer little Hakon, having got his weaning done,--one
of the prettiest, healthiest little creatures,--Harald sent him off,
under charge of "Hauk" (Hawk so