XLII
FALSE FRIENDS
Thorgills was sorely troubled as he journeyed home with the king. The scald was thinking within himself: “O my King! there do be worse things and more dangerous than a woman’s fancies; and these be a woman’s hate and a passionate woman’s promise of revenge. These will hurry a man to the brink of the grave; and when he falls in, they will keep his poor bones in toil.”
A few days after Olaf’s return to Nidaros from his unsuccessful mission to Queen Sigrid, Thorgills met Earl Sigvalde upon the street. After their greeting the chief of the Jomsvikings asked with a sneer: “How comes Olaf Tryggevesson back so soon from his wooing of Erik’s rich widow? He is a mighty viking, but surely he did not gain the alliance with Sweden and all Queen Sigrid’s wealth in so short a space. A queen is not so quickly courted as a peasant maid.”
Thorgills was plainly embarrassed. In his own keen dread at the result of his king’s wooing, he sorely felt Earl Sigvalde’s sneers, and answered shortly: “There will be no marriage between King Olaf and Queen Sigrid.”
