of people that this ringlet betokened King Olaf the Saint.
King Halfdan was a wise man, a man of truth and uprightness—who made laws, observed them himself, and obliged others to observe them. And that violence should not come in place of the laws, he himself fixed the number of criminal acts in law, and the compensations, mulcts, or penalties, for each case, according to every one's birth and dignity.[1]
A Queen Ragnhild gave birth to a son, and water was poured over him, and the name of Harald given him, and he soon grew stout and remarkably handsome. As he grew up he became very expert at all feats, and showed also a good understanding. He was much beloved by his mother, but less so by his father.
Chapter VIII.
Halfdan's meat vanishes at a feast.
King Halfdan was at a Yule-feast in Ha deland, where a wonderful thing happened one Yule [2] evening. When the great number of guests assembled were going to sit down to table, all the meat and all liquors disappeared from the table. The king sat alone very
- ↑ The penalty, compensation, or manbod for every injury, due to the party injured, or to his family and next of kin if the injury was the death or premeditated murder of the party, appears to have been fixed for every rank and condition, from the murder of the king down to the maiming or heating a man's cattle or his slave. A man for whom no compensation was due was a dishonoured person, or an outlaw. It appears to have been optional with the injured party, or his kin if he had been killed, to take the mulct or compensation, or to refuse it, and wait an opportunity of taking vengeance for the injury on the party who inflicted it, or on his kin. A part of each mulct or compensation was due to the king; and these fines or penalties appear to have constituted a great proportion of the king's revenues, and to have been settled in the Things held in every district for administering the law with the lagman.
- ↑ The feast of Jiolner, one of the names of Thor, was celebrated by the pagan Northmen in mid-win ter; and the name of Yule and the festivity were made to coincide with the Christmas of the church of Rome, which is called Yule all over the North, from Jiolner. In Scotland, as well as in Scandinavia, Yule is the name given to the Christmas holidays.
