King Olaf called before him the men who had come from Iceland, Thorod
Snorrason, Geller Thorkelson, Stein Skaptason, and Egil Halson, and
spoke to them thus:--"Ye have spoken to me much in summer about making
yourselves ready to return to Iceland, and I have never given you a
distinct answer. Now I will tell you what my intention is. Thee, Geller,
I propose to allow to return, if thou wilt carry my message there; but
none of the other Icelanders who are now here may go to Iceland before
I have heard how the message which thou, Geller, shalt bring thither has
been received."
When the king had made this resolution known, it appeared to those who
had a great desire to return, and were thus forbidden, that they were
unreasonably and hardly dealt with, and that they were placed in the
condition of unfree men. In the meantime Geller got ready for his
journey, and sailed in summer (A.D. 1026) to Iceland, taking with him
the message he was to bring before the Thing the following summer (A.D.
1027). The king's message was, that he required the Icelanders to adopt
the laws which he had set in Norway, also to pay him thane-tax and
nose-tax (1); namely, a penny for every nose, and the penny at the rate
of ten pennies to the yard of wadmal (2). At the same time he promised
them his friendship if they accepted, and threatened them with all his
vengeance if they refused his proposals.
The people sat long in deliberation on this business; but at last they
were unanimous in refusing all the taxes and burdens which were demanded
of them. That summer Geller returned back from Iceland to Norway to King
Olaf, and found him in autumn in the east in Viken, just as he had come
from Gautland; of which I shall speak hereafter in this story of King
Olaf. Towards the end of autumn King Olaf repaired north to Throndhjem,
and went with his people to Nidaros, where he ordered a winter residence
to be prepared for him. The winter (A.D. 1027) that he passed here in
the merchant-town of Nidaros was the thirteenth year of his reign.
ENDNOTES: (1) Nefgildi (nef=nose), a nose-tax or poll-tax payable to the
king. This ancient "nose-tax" was also imposed by the
Norsemen on conquered countries, the penalty for defaulters
being the loss of their nose.
(2) Wadmal was the coarse woollen cloth made in Iceland, and so
generally used for clothing that it was a measure of value
in the North, like money, for other commodities.--L.