over to England, so that he might be buried in Christian soil, but
Hakon replied: 'I am not worthy of it. I have lived like a heathen,
and therefore it is meet that I should be buried like a heathen.'"

Queen Allogia drew a heavy breath at this point in Sigurd's narrative,
as if she thought that the story would have no end.

"Your voice gets tired, hersir," said she, "and it may be that you
would wish to keep the rest of the saga for another time!"

"There is but little more to tell," returned Sigurd, looking up
with anxious eyes. "And as what is left is the more important part,
I beg you to hear it to the end."

The queen assented, and Sigurd took up the thread of his story:

"Little time did the sons of Gunnhild lose," said he, "in claiming
the kingdom of their fathers; but it was only the middle part of
Norway that they could possess in safety. To gain the whole country
they had need to break the power of Triggvi Olafson and Gudrod
Biornson, both grandsons of Harald Fairhair, who ruled as independent
kings. To do this in open warfare was not easy. Gunnhild, who now
forced her sons to action, as she had formerly forced Erik Bloodaxe,
found treachery an easier means; so she got one of her sons to
feign hostility to his brothers and to make a show of friendship
for Triggvi Olafson. King Triggvi was invited by this son to go out
on a cruise with him. Triggvi yielded to his false friend's wish,
and on reaching the place of meeting he was foully murdered with
all his men. His cousin, King Gudrod Biornson, was at about this
same time surprised at a feast by Harald Greyfell and slain after