xuberant pitch, in the course of the two centuries
which followed that of Olaf. Him all testimony represents to us as a
most righteous no less than most religious king. Continually vigilant,
just, and rigorous was Olaf's administration of the laws; repression
of robbery, punishment of injustice, stern repayment of evil-doers,
wherever he could lay hold of them.

Among the Bonder or opulent class, and indeed everywhere, for the poor
too can be sinners and need punishment, Olaf had, by this course of
conduct, naturally made enemies. His severity so visible to all, and
the justice and infinite beneficence of it so invisible except to a very
few. But, at any rate, his reign for the first ten years was victorious;
and might have been so to the end, had it not been intersected, and
interfered with, by King Knut in his far bigger orbit and current of
affairs and interests. Knut's English affairs and Danish being all
settled to his mind, he seems, especially after that year of pilgrimage
to Rome, and association with the Pontiffs and Kaisers of the world on
that occasion, to have turned his more particular attention upon Norway,
and the claims he himself had there. Jarl Hakon, too, sister's son of
Knut, and always well seen by him, had long been busy in this direction,
much forgetful of that oath to Olaf when his barge got canted over
by the cable of two capstans, and his life was given him, not without
conditions altogether!

About the year 1026 there arrived two splendid persons out of England,
bearing King Knut the Great's letter and seal, with a message, likely
enough to be far from welcome to Olaf. For some days Olaf refused to see
them or their letter, shrewdly guessing what the purport would be. Which
indeed was couched in mild language, but of sharp meaning enough: a
notice to King Olaf namely, That Norway was properly, by just heritage,
Knut the Great's; and that Olaf must become the great Knut's liegeman,
and pay tribute to him, or worse would follow. King Olaf listening to
these two splendid persons and their letter, in indignant silence till
they quite ended, made answer: "I have heard say, by old accounts
there are, that King Gorm of Denmark [Blue-tooth's father, Knut's
great-grandfather] was considered but a small king; having Denmark only
and few people to rule over. But the kings who succeeded him thought
that insufficient for them; and it has since come so far that King Knut
rules over both Denmark and Englan