Part 68 - Fin Arnason Gets Quarter

Earl Fin Arnason was taken prisoner in the battle, as before related; and when he was led before King Harald the king was very merry, and said,

"Fin, we meet here now, and we met last in Norway. The Danish court has not stood very firmly by thee; and it will be a troublesome business for Northmen to drag thee, a blind old man, with them, and preserve thy life."

The earl replies,

"The Northmen find it very difficult now to conquer, and it is all the worse that thou hast the command of them."

Then said King Harald,

"Wilt thou accept of life and safety, although thou hast not deserved it?"

The earl replies,

"Not from thee, thou dog."

The king:

"Wilt thou, then, if thy relation Magnus gives thee quarter?"

Magnus, King Harald's son, was then steering the ship.

The earl replies,

"Can the whelp rule over life and quarter?"

The king laughed, as if he found amusement in vexing him. —

"Wilt thou accept thy life, then, from thy she-relation Thorer?"

The earl:

"Is she here?"

"She is here,"

said the king.

Then Earl Fin broke out with the ugly expressions which since have been preserved, as a proof that he was so mad with rage that he could not govern his tongue: —

"No wonder thou hast bit so strongly, if the mare was with thee."

Earl Fin got life and quarter and the king kept him a while about him. But Fin was rather melancholy and obstinate in conversation; and King Harald said,

"I see, Fin, that thou dost not live willingly in company with me and thy relations; now I will give thee leave to go to thy friend King Svein."

The earl said,

"I accept of the offer willingly, and the more gratefully the sooner I get away from hence."

The king afterwards let Earl Fin be landed and the traders going to Halland received him well. King Harald sailed from thence to Norway with his fleet; and went first to Oslo, where he gave all his people leave to go home who wished to do so.