Olaf the King, one summer morn,
Blew a blast on his bugle-horn,
Sending his signal through the land of Drontheim.
And to the Hus-Ting held at Mere
Gathered the farmers far and near,
With their war weapons ready to confront him.
Ploughing under the morning star,
Old Iron-Beard in Yriar
Heard the summons, chuckling with a low laugh.
He wiped the sweat-drops from his brow,
Unharnessed his horses from the plough,
And clattering came on horseback to King Olaf.
He was the churliest of the churls;
Little he cared for king or earls;
Bitter as home-brewed ale were his foaming passions.
Hodden-gray was the garb he wore,
And by the Hammer of Thor he swore;
He hated the narrow town, and all its fashions.
But he loved the freedom of his farm,
His ale at night, by the fireside warm,
Gudrun his daughter, with her flaxen tresses.
He loved his horses and his herds,
The smell of the earth, and the song of birds,
His well-filled barns, his brook with its water-cresses.
Huge and cumbersome was his frame;
His beard, from which he took his name,
Frosty and fierce, like that of Hymer the Giant.
So at the Hus-Ting he appeared,
The farmer of Yriar, Iron-Beard,
On horseback, in an attitude defiant.
And to King Olaf he cried aloud,
Out of the middle of the crowd,
That tossed about him like a stormy ocean:
"Such sacrifices shalt thou bring;
To Odin and to Thor, O King,
As other kings have done in their devotion!"
King Olaf answered: "I command
This land to be a Christian land;
Here is my Bishop who the folk baptizes!
"But if you ask me to restore
Your sacrifices, stained with gore,
Then will I offer human sacrifices!
"Not slaves and peasants shall they be,
But men of note and high degree,
Such men as Orm of Lyra and Kar of Gryting!"
Then to their Temple strode he in,
And loud behind him heard the din
Of his men-at-arms and the peasants fiercely fighting.
There in the Temple, carved in wood,
The image of great Odin stood,
And other gods, with Thor supreme among them.
King Olaf smote them with the blade
Of his huge war-axe, gold inlaid,
And downward shattered to the pavement flung them.
At the same moment rose without,
From the contending crowd, a shout,
A mingled sound of triumph and of wailing.
And there upon the trampled plain
The farmer Iron-Beard lay slain,
Midway between the assailed and the assailing.
King Olaf from the doorway spoke.
"Choose ye between two things, my folk,
To be baptized or given up to slaughter!"
And seeing their leader stark and dead,
The people with a murmur said,
"O King, baptize us with thy holy water."
So all the Drontheim land became
A Christian land in name and fame,
In the old gods no more believing and trusting.
And as a blood-atonement, soon
King Olaf wed the fair Gudrun;
And thus in peace ended the Drontheim Hus-Ting!
Tales of a Wayside Inn 1863
- Prelude; The Wayside Inn
- The Landlord's Tale; Paul Revere's Ride
- Interlude
- The Student's Tale; The Falcon of Ser Federigo
- Interlude
- The Spanish Jew's Tale; The Legend of Rabbi Ben Levi
- Interlude
- The Sicilian's Tale; King Robert of Sicily
- Interlude
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - I. The Challenge of Thor
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - II. King Olaf's Return
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - III. Thora of Rimol
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - IV. Queen Sigrid the Haughty
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - V. The Skerry of Shrieks
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - VI. The Wraith of Odin
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - VII. Iron-Beard
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - VIII. Gudrun
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - IX. Thangbrand the Priest
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - X. Raud the Strong
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XI. Bishop Sigurd at Salten Fiord
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XII. King Olaf's Christmas
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XIII. The Building of the Long Serpent
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XIV. The Crew of the Long Serpent
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XV. A Little Bird in the Air
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XVI. Queen Thyri and the Angelica Stalks
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XVII. King Svend of the Forked Beard
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XVIII. King Olaf and Earl Sigvald
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XIX. King Olaf's War-Horns
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XX. Einar Tamberskelver
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XXI. King Olaf's Death-Drink
- The Musician's Tale; The Saga of King Olaf - XXII. The Nun of Nidaros
- Interlude
- The Theologian's Tale; Torquemada
- Interlude
- The Poet's Tale; The Birds of Killingworth
- Finale
- Prelude
- The Sicilian's Tale; The Bell of Atri
- Interlude
- The Spanish Jew's Tale; Kambalu
- Interlude
- The Student's Tale; The Cobbler of Hagenau
- Interlude
- The Musician's Tale; The Ballad of Carmilhan - I.
- The Musician's Tale; The Ballad of Carmilhan - II.
- The Musician's Tale; The Ballad of Carmilhan - III.
- The Musician's Tale; The Ballad of Carmilhan - IV.
- Interlude
- The Poet's Tale; Lady Wentworth
- Interlude
- The Theologian's Tale; The Legend Beautiful
- Interlude
- The Student's Second Tale; The Baron of St. Castine
- Finale
- Prelude
- The Spanish Jew's Tale; Azrael
- Interlude
- The Poet's Tale; Charlemagne
- Interlude
- The Student's Tale; Emma and Eginhard
- Interlude
- The Theologian's Tale; Elizabeth
- Interlude
- The Sicilian's Tale; The Monk of Casal-Maggiore
- Interlude
- The Spanish Jew's Second Tale; Scanderbeg
- Interlude
- The Musician's Tale; The Mother's Ghost
- Interlude
- The Landlord's Tale; The Rhyme of Sir Christopher
- Finale