The same harvest (A.D. 999) Thangbrand the priest came back from Iceland
to King Olaf, and told the ill success of his journey; namely, that the
Icelanders had made lampoons about him; and that some even sought to
kill him, and there was little hope of that country ever being made
Christian. King Olaf was so enraged at this, that he ordered all the
Icelanders to be assembled by sound of horn, and was going to kill all
who were in the town, but Kjartan, Gissur, and Hjalte, with the other
Icelanders who had become Christians, went to him, and said, "King,
thou must not fail from thy word--that however much any man may irritate
thee, thou wilt forgive him if he turn from heathenism and become
Christian. All the Icelanders here are willing to be baptized; and
through them we may find means to bring Christianity into Iceland: for
there are many amongst them, sons of considerable people in Iceland,
whose friends can advance the cause; but the priest Thangbrand proceeded
there as he did here in the court, with violence and manslaughter, and
such conduct the people there would not submit to." The king harkened
to those remonstrances; and all the Iceland men who were there were
baptized.