[29] Brantome.
_STORY OF GUDBRAND OF THE DALES_[30]
THERE was a man named Gudbrand of the Dales, who was as good as king
over the Dales though he had but the title of duke. He had one son, of
whom this story makes mention. Now when Gudbrand heard that King Olaf
was come to Loa and was compelling men to receive Christianity, he cut
the war-arrow and summoned all the dalesmen to meet him at the village
called Houndthorpe. Thither came they all in countless numbers, for the
lake Logr lies near, and they could come by water as well as by land.
There Gudbrand held an assembly with them, and said: 'There is a man
come to Loa named Olaf; he would fain offer us a faith other than we had
before, and break all our gods in sunder. And he says that he has a God
far greater and mightier. A wonder it is that the earth does not burst
in sunder beneath him who dares to say such things; a wonder that our
gods let him any longer walk thereon. And I expect that if we carry Thor
out of our temple, wherein he stands and hath alway helped us, and he
see Olaf and his men, then will Olaf's God and Olaf himself and all his
men melt away and come to nought.'
At this they all at once shouted loud, and said that Olaf should never
escape alive if he came to meet them. 'Never will he dare to go further
south by the Dales,' said they. Then they appointed seven hundred men to
go and reconnoitre northwards to Breida. This force was commanded by
Gudbrand's son, then eighteen years old, and many other men of renown
with him; and they came to the village called Hof and were there for
three nights, where they were joined by much people who had fled from
Lesja Loa and Vagi, not being willing to submit to Christianity.
But King Olaf and Bishop Sigurd, after appointing teachers of religion
at Loa and Vagi, crossed over the channel between Vagi and the land and
came to Sil, and were there for the night; and they heard the tidings
that a large force was before them. And the people of the country who
were at Breida heard of the King's movements, and prepared for battle
against him. But when the King rose in the morn, then he clad him for
war, and marched south by Silfield, nor stayed till he came to Breida,
where he saw a large army arrayed for battle.
Then the King set his men in array and rode himself before them, and,
addressing the country-folk, bade them embrace Christianity.