therefor."

"Had my father been slain in fair fight, lord king," I said, "no
ill will had been thought of. It has not been in my mind that you
bade Rognvald slay him as he did. And that Jarl is dead, and the
feud is done with therefore. Jarl Einar is my foster father,
moreover."

"That is well said," answered Harald. "But I thought Sigurd must
have fostered you; he was ever a close friend of Vemund's."

I did not know why the king thought this, though the reason was at
my side; so I only said that my mother had given me to Einar's
keeping, and the king said no more at that time about it.

After that I gave the Jarl's messages, and the king heard them well
enough, though it seemed to Einar that the weregild to be paid was
over heavy, and he had bidden me tell Harald that it was so.
Therefore the king said that he would give me an answer on the
morrow, and I went away into the town well pleased with his kindly
way with me.

There was a feast made for me that night, and after it I must sit
still and hear the scalds sing of the deeds of Harald the king,
which was well enough. But then Thiodolf rose up and sang a great
saga about the winning of Sigurd's sword, wherein it seemed that I
had fought the dead jarl, and bale fires, and I know not what. He
had heard strange tales from Einar's men, if they told him all that
he sang.