XXVII
ERLING OF SOLE
Not without some opposition did Olaf proceed in his eager work of religion. When he left Agder he went to South Hordaland. Here the earl-folk and the chieftains gathered together, and after pledging their faith to Odin and Thor they resolved to defy King Olaf when he would endeavor to bring them to the religion of Christ the White. They surrounded the king at his banquet, and after pledging their fealty to him as their sovereign, they had the horse-flesh that had been sacrificed in the pagan temple brought to the king’s table. A tall, powerful young chief, earl-born and valiant, Erling of Sole, stood up before the king. Erling held in his hand the sacrificial bowl of horse-flesh. He placed the bowl to his lips. Then he handed it to Olaf. “Thy father was my father’s overlord, and my father was thy father’s faithful vassal. At the feast they drank from the same horn. They licked the same bowl of sacrifice to the same god. I ask thee now to do as thy father did, even as I am doing as my father did.”
Olaf stood up. Looking with great kindness at the young chief, he drank a portion from his own horn
