Fairhair had come back once more, gentler and more generous than
before, but no less mighty and beautiful. They claimed him as
their king, calling him Hakon the Good, and he reigned in Norway
for many years, nor did he seek to do any ill to his nephew, Triggvi
Olafson, but confirmed him as king in Viken.

"Now when Hakon the Good returned it was an ill day for his elder
brother Erik Bloodaxe, for the people had become so wroth against
him that he could find no peace. At first he tried to raise an army,
but none would serve him, and he was forced to flee from the land
with his wife and children and a few weak followers. He thereupon
took a ship and roamed about as a viking. He fared westward to the
Orkneys, and got many vikings to join him, then he sailed south
and harried all about the north parts of England. So greatly did
he trouble the English people that at last King Athelstane, to win
his peace, offered Erik the dominion over Northumberland, on the
condition that he would become the king's vassal and defend that
part of the realm against the Danes and other vikings. Erik agreed,
allowed himself to be christened, and took the right troth.

"Now Northumbria is accounted the fifth part of England, and the
better bargain was on Erik's side. He made his abode in the town
of York, and he warded the country well, for full oft did the Danes
and Northmen harry there in the earlier time. But very soon, urged,
it may be, by Queen Gunnhild, he sought to increase his wealth
and to add to his lands; and when Athelstane died and King Edmund
became the monarch of England Erik Bloodaxe went far into the land,
and forcibly drove the people from their homes. Too greatly did he
reckon upon success, for it happened that there was another who,
like himself, had been set there by the king for the warding of