in marriage, he begat a son named Olaf. After some time had passed he
also won Frogertha; but, while going back to his own country, he had a
bad voyage, and was driven on the shores of an unknown island. A certain
man appeared to him in a vision, and instructed him to dig up a treasure
that was buried in the ground, and also to attack the dragon that
guarded it, covering himself in an ox-hide to escape the poison;
teaching him also to meet the envenomed fangs with a hide stretched over
his shield. Therefore, to test the vision, he attacked the snake as it
rose out of the waves, and for a long time cast spears against its scaly
side; in vain, for its hard and shelly body foiled the darts flung at
it. But the snake, shaking its mass of coils, uprooted the trees which
it brushed past by winding its tail about them. Moreover, by constantly
dragging its body, it hollowed the ground down to the solid rock, and
had made a sheer bank on either hand, just as in some places we see
hills parted by an intervening valley. So Fridleif, seeing that the
upper part of the creature was proof against attack, assailed the
lower side with his sword, and piercing the groin, drew blood from
the quivering beast. When it was dead, he unearthed the money from the
underground chamber and had it taken off in his ships.

When the year had come to an end, he took great pains to reconcile Biorn
and Ane, who had often challenged and fought one another, and made them
exchange their hatred for friendship; and even entrusted to them his
three-year-old son, Olaf, to rear. But his mistress, Juritha, the mother
of Olaf, he gave in marriage to Ane, whom he made one of his warriors;
thinking that she would endure more calmly to be put away, if she wedded
such a champion, and received his robust embrace instead of a king's.

The ancients were wont to consult the oracles of the Fates concerning
the destinies of their children. In this way Fridleif desired to search
into the fate of his son Olaf; and, after solemnly offering up his vows,
he went to the house of the gods in entreaty; where, looking into the
chapel, he saw three maidens, sitting on three seats. The first of them
was of a benignant temper, and bestowed upon the boy abundant beauty
and ample store of favour in the eyes of men. The second granted him
the gift of surpassing generosity. But the third, a woman of more
mischievous temper and malignant disposition, scorning the unanimous
kindness of her