The Guests of Odin Read Online Free PDF Page B

invasion. Vikar sent for all his advisers and they discussed the message, eventually deciding to fight Fridthjof.
    Olaf the Keen-eyed was king of Naeriki in Sweden, and he gathered a host to come to Vikar’s aid. Together they went to fight against Fridthjof, and Vikar’s fighters charged into the battle.
    Finally, with most of his men dead, Fridthjof sued for peace from Vikar. They made a settlement under Olaf’s arbitration, and Fridthjof yielded the Uplands and Telemark, going into exile. Vikar made his son Harald king of Telemark and Neri became Earl of the Uplands. Then Vikar parted from Olaf the Keen-eyed on the best of terms and returned to his kingdom.
    Now Vikar became a well-respected warrior and a powerful king, and Starkad sat beside him on the high seat and acted as his counsellor and his landwarden. Vikar presented him with a gold bracelet weighing three marks, and in return, Starkad gave him Thruma Island, which Vikar’s father had given to Storvirk. Starkad remained with Vikar for fifteen years.
    One year Vikar set out north from Agder and sailed towards Hordaland. The fleet encountered contrary winds and they weighed anchor off the island now called Vikarsholmar. They cast the runes to find out when the wind would turn, and discovered that Odin wanted a human sacrifice to be chosen by lot. They drew lots and each time it was Vikar who drew the lot to be the sacrifice. Everyone was very disturbed by this and it was decided that next day there would be a general meeting to discuss it.
    In the middle of the night, Grani Horsehair awoke his foster-son Starkad and asked him to accompany him. They got in a small boat and rowed over to one of the islands. Then they walked through a wood until they came to a clearing where men waited by twelve chairs. Starkad and Grani joined the assembly. Grani sat in the twelfth chair, and everyone present greeted him as Odin.
    He said, “We must decide Starkad’s fate.”
    A red bearded man who everyone called Thor spoke, saying, “Since Starkad’s grandmother Alfhild preferred a giant as father of her son rather than me, Starkad himself will have no children.”
    Odin countered this by granting Starkad a life three times as long as anyone other man.
    Thor cursed Starkad: “He shall commit a shameful deed for each of his three lifespans.”
    Odin said, “He will have the best weapons and clothes.” Thor countered this by denying Starkad land or estates.
    Odin replied, “Starkad shall have great riches.”
    But Thor said, “He will never be satisfied with what he has.”
    Odin granted him fame and victory in every battle, but Thor said, “He shall receive a terrible wound in every fight.”
    Odin gave Starkad the art of poetry, the ability to compose verses as fast as he could speak, but Thor said, “He will never remember them afterwards.”
    Odin decreed: ‘Starkad shall be honoured by nobles and kings.”
    Thor said, “The common people will detest him.”
    Then everyone else on the judgment seats said that this would all come about, and the meeting broke up. Grani took Starkad back to the boat. He said that Starkad should repay him for all the blessings he had given him, and Starkad agreed.
    Grani added, “You must send King Vikar to me.” He gave Starkad a spear that he said would look like a reed to other people.
    That morning the counsellors met and they proposed making a mock sacrifice. Starkad built a gallows using the slender branch of a pine tree and the guts of a calf. He told Vikar to put his neck in the noose of guts. When he did so, Starkad thrust at the king with the reed-stalk Grani had given him. The guts turned into a strong withy, the branch leapt upwards and the reed-stalk revealed its true nature as a spear when it plunged into Vikar’s ribs. This was Starkad’s first shameful deed.
     
    3. Starkad’s Second Shameful Deed
     
    Starkad was widely hated by the people because of this killing, and because of it he was banished from Hordaland.