When Earl Paul heard this, he said: “So far as my mind is concerned, I will say that I have left my dominions in such a way as has never been heard of before, I think; and I shall never return to the Orkneys any more. I see that this must be God’s vengeance for the theft which I and my kinsmen committed. But if God thinks the dominion mine, then will I give it to Harald, if he may enjoy it; but I wish some money given to me, so that I may establish myself in some monastery, and you can take care that I do not escape. And you, Swein, shall go out to the Orkneys, and say that I have been blinded, or still more mutilated, because my friends will fetch me if I am an unmaimed man. In that case I may not be able to refuse to return to my dominions with them, for I suspect that they will consider our parting a greater loss than it is.”

What more the Earl said has not been placed on record.

Then Swein, Asleif’s son, went to the Orkneys, and Earl Paul remained behind in Scotland.

This is how Swein related these matters. But some men tell the story in a way by no means so creditable (to those concerned)—namely, that Margaret induced Swein, Asleif’s son, to blind her brother Earl Paul, then threw him into a dungeon, and subsequently induced another man to put him to death. We do not know which of these two statements is the more correct; but it is well known that Earl Paul came never again to the Orkneys, and that he had no dominions in Scotland.

CHAPTER LXX
OF EARL ROGNVALD AND SWEIN, ASLEIF’S SON.

It happened at Westness, when the Earl did not come home, that Sigurd sent men to search for him. When they came to the stone-heap they saw the slain, and then they thought the Earl had been killed. They went home and told the news. Sigurd went immediately to examine the bodies, and they recognised nineteen as the Earl’s men; but six they did not know. Then Sigurd sent men to Egilsey, to the Bishop, to tell him the news. He went immediately to Sigurd. When they were talking about what had happened, Sigurd hinted that it had been done at the instigation of Earl Rögnvald; but the Bishop replied that it would be proved that Earl Rögnvald had not acted treacherously towards his kinsman Earl Paul. “It is my opinion,” he said, “that some others have committed this crime.”

Borgar, the son of Játvör, Erlend’s daughter, who lived at Geitaberg,[[347]] had seen the barge coming from the south, and returning. When this was heard, it was believed to have been done at the instigation of Frákork and Olvir.

When the news spread in the Islands that Earl Paul had disappeared, and no one knew what had become of him, the Islanders had a consultation, and most of them went to Earl Rögnvald, and swore fealty to him; but Sigurd, of Westness, and his sons, Brynjúlf and Hákon Kló, said they would not swear oaths of fealty to any man while they did not know anything of Earl Paul, or whether he might he expected to return or not. There were others also who refused to swear oaths to Earl Rögnvald. Others again fixed an hour or a day when they would become Earl Rögnvald’s men, if Earl Paul had not then been heard of. But when Earl Rögnvald saw that he had to do with many powerful men, he did not refuse peremptorily anything which the people asked; and, as the time passed, he had frequent meetings with the inhabitants, and at each of them some submitted to him.

One day it happened in Kirkiuvag (Kirkwall) when Earl Rögnvald was holding a Thing meeting with the Bœndr, that nine armed men were seen walking from Skálpeid (Scapa) to the meeting. When they came near, Swein, Asleif’s son, was recognised, and all were curious to know what news he had to tell. He had come in a ship to Skálpeid, and left it there, while he and his men walked to Kirkiuvag. When Swein came to the meeting, his kinsmen and friends turned to him, and asked him for news, but he did not say much. Swein sent for the Bishop, who welcomed him heartily, because they had long been friends. They went aside to talk, and Swein told the Bishop the whole truth about what he had done, and asked for his advice in these difficult circumstances.

The Bishop said: “Those are weighty tidings you have brought, Swein, and we shall probably not be by ourselves sufficient in this matter. I wish you to wait here for me; but I shall plead your cause before the people and Earl Rögnvald.”