XLIV
TO ICELAND
King Olaf sat in his council room writing on his parchment tablets. With him were Father Reachta and Father Breasal. A little apart sat Thorgills. The king was sending letters to the leading chiefs of Iceland, to Hall of the Side, to Gissur the White, and to Njaal, the learned lawyer of Bergthor’s Knoll. The two priests were to carry the letters in which Olaf had asked these Icelanders, as they had already accepted Christianity through his influence, to aid the priests in spreading the gospel of Christ. After the work in Iceland, the missionaries were to preach in Greenland and in the Faroe Islands. King Olaf’s heart was full of the desire to spread the gospel to these distant parts of his kingdom.
As he sealed his letters, the king turned affectionately to the priests. “My fathers,” he said, “it grieves me to part with you. Ye came to me when I claimed my kingdom and ye have taught the love of the White Christ throughout Norraway.”
“My King,” earnestly answered Father Reachta, “our sojourn by thy side, working with thee, hath been full of comfort; but we hear the call of other
