"A holy bond between us still
Makes me wish speedy end to ill:
The sluggard waits till afternoon,--
At once great Magnus! grant our boon.
Then we will serve with heart and hand,
With thee we'll fight by sea or land:
With Olaf's sword take Olaf's mind,
And to thy bondes be more kind."
In this song the king was exhorted to observe the laws which his father
had established. This exhortation had a good effect on the king, for
many others held the same language to him. So at last the king consulted
the most prudent men, who ordered all affairs according to law.
Thereafter King Magnus had the law-book composed in writing which is
still in use in Throndhjem district, and is called "The Grey Goose" (1).
King Magnus afterwards became very popular, and was beloved by all the
country people, and therefore he was called Magnus the Good.
ENDNOTES: (1) "The Grey Goose", so called probably from the colour of
the parchment on which it is written, is one of the most curious
relics of the Middle Ages, and give us an unexpected view of
the social condition of the Northmen in the eleventh
century. Law appears to have been so far advanced among
them that the forms were not merely established, but the
slightest breach of the legal forms of proceeding involved
the loss of the case. The "Grey Goose" embraces subjects
not dealt with probably by any other code in Europe at that
period. The provision for the poor, the equality of
weights and measures, police of markets and of sea havens,
provision for illegitimate children of the poor, inns for
travellers, wages of servants and support of them in
sickness, protection of pregnant women and even of domestic
animals from injury, roads, bridges, vagrants, beggars, are
subjects treated of in this code.--"Schlegel."--L.