one Osbjorn of Medalhusin Gulathal,
stept forward, and said, in a distinct manner, "We Bonders (peasant
proprietors) thought, King Hakon, when thou heldest thy first Thing-day
here in Trondhjem, and we took thee for our king, and received our
hereditary lands from thee again that we had got heaven itself. But
now we know not how it is, whether we have won freedom, or whether thou
intendest anew to make us slaves, with this wonderful proposal that we
should renounce our faith, which our fathers before us have held, and
all our ancestors as well, first in the age of burial by burning, and
now in that of earth burial; and yet these departed ones were much our
superiors, and their faith, too, has brought prosperity to us. Thee, at
the same time, we have loved so much that we raised thee to manage all
the laws of the land, and speak as their voice to us all. And even now
it is our will and the vote of all Bonders to keep that paction which
thou gavest us here on the Thing at Froste, and to maintain thee as king
so long as any of us Bonders who are here upon the Thing has life left,
provided thou, king, wilt go fairly to work, and demand of us only such
things as are not impossible. But if thou wilt fix upon this thing with
so great obstinacy, and employ force and power, in that case, we Bonders
have taken the resolution, all of us, to fall away from thee, and to
take for ourselves another head, who will so behave that we may enjoy
in freedom the belief which is agreeable to us. Now shalt thou, king,
choose one of these two courses before the Thing disperse." "Whereupon,"
adds the Chronicle, "all the Bonders raised a mighty shout, 'Yes,
we will have it so, as has been said.'" So that Jarl Sigurd had to
intervene, and King Hakon to choose for the moment the milder branch of
the alternative. [4] At other Things Hakon was more or less successful.
All his days, by such methods as there were, he kept pressing forward
with this great enterprise; and on the whole did thoroughly shake
asunder the old edifice of heathendom, and fairly introduce some
foundation for the new and better rule of faith and life among his
people. Sigurd, Jarl of Lade, his wise counsellor in all these matters,
is also a man worthy of notice.

Hakon's arrangements against the continual invasions of Eric's sons,
with Danish Blue-tooth backing them, were manifold, and for a long time
successful. He appointed, after consultation and consent in the various
Things,