Finns. Erik wedded with this woman, and it afterwards befell that
she wrought more evil in Norway than even Erik himself. She was
his evil genius, egging him on to deeds of treachery and violence
which made him detested of all men.

"Glad was Gunnhild when Harald the Fairhaired, being stricken in
years, declared that he felt no longer able to bear the burden of
the government. This he did when he was eighty years old. He led
his son Erik to his royal high seat and put him there as the king,
so that Gunnhild by this became the queen, and could work her evil
as she willed.

"Three years afterwards Harald Fairhair died in his bed, having
ruled over Norway for seventy-three years."

Sigurd paused in his narrative and sat down beside Olaf. He felt
that the queen's interest in his nephew was now secure and that
it boded well for Olaf. Allogia set aside her needle and nodded to
the steward as if she would tell him to continue his saga. Sigurd
leaned back in his seat, crossed his legs, and went on.

"King Erik now held dominion over the larger part of Norway," said
he. "But there were two of his brothers who would not yield to him,
and who yet peacefully ruled in the realms over which their father
had placed them. Olaf--the son of King Harald and Queen Swanhild
-- was the sovereign king in Viken, and his brother Halfdan in
like manner ruled in Thrandheim. Full ill content was Erik that he
could not truthfully call himself the lord over all Norway. But,
as he could not be king by favour alone, he resolved to become so
by other means. Two winters after Erik's enthronement his brother