return for all your high words, for I mean to be your passenger." Olaf
and his got on board, and put out to sea. They had a good voyage and
made Broadfirth, and they put out their gangways and landed at
Salmon-river-Mouth. Olaf had the wood taken out of his ship, and the
ship put up in the shed his father had made. Olaf then asked Giermund
to come and stay with him. That summer Olaf had a fire-hall built at
Herdholt, a greater and better than had ever been seen before. Noble
legends were painted on its wainscoting and in the roof, and this was
so well done that the hall was thought even more beautiful when the
hangings were not up. Giermund did not meddle with every-day matters,
but was uncouth to most people. He was usually dressed in this way--he
wore a scarlet kirtle below and a grey cloak outside, and a bearskin
cap on his head, and a sword in his hand. This was a great weapon and
good, with a hilt of walrus tooth, with no silver on it; the brand was
sharp, and no rust would stay thereon. This sword he called Footbiter,
and he never let it out of his hands. [Sidenote: Giermund's marriage]
Giermund had not been there long before he fell in love with Thured,
Olaf's daughter, and proposed to Olaf for her hand; but he gave him a
straight refusal. Then Giermund gave some money to Thorgerd with a
view to gaining the match. She took the money, for it was offered
unstintedly. Then Thorgerd broached the matter to Olaf, and said she
thought their daughter could not be better married, "for he is a very
brave man, wealthy and high-mettled." Then Olaf answered, "I will not
go against you in this any more than in other things, though I would
sooner marry Thured to some one else." Thorgerd went away and thought
her business had sped well, and now told Giermund the upshot of it. He
thanked her for her help and her determination, and Giermund broached
the wooing a second time to Olaf, and now won the day easily. After
that Giermund and Thured were betrothed, and the wedding was to be
held at the end of the winter at Herdholt. The wedding feast was a