Håkon.
Name me a single king’s-task you achieved in all the years you were regent for me! Were the Baglers or the Ribbungs ever mightier than then? You were in ripe manhood, yet the land was harried by rebellious factions; did you quell a single one of them? I was young and untried when I came to the helm—look at me—all fell before me when I became king; there are no Baglers, no Ribbungs left!
Duke Skule.
Beware how you boast of that; for there lies the greatest danger. Party must stand against party, claim against claim, region against region, if the king is to have the might. Every village, every family, must either need him or fear him. If you strike at the root of faction, at the same stroke you kill your own power.
Håkon.
And you would be king—you, who think such thoughts! You had been well fitted for a chieftain’s part in Erling Skakke’s days; but the time has grown away from you, and you know it not. See you not, then, that Norway’s realm, as Harald and Olaf built it up, may be likened to a church that stands as yet unconsecrate? The walls soar aloft with mighty buttresses, the vaultings have a noble span, the spire points upward, like a fir-tree in the forest; but the life, the throbbing heart, the fresh blood-stream, is lacking to the work; God’s living spirit is not breathed into it; it stands unconsecrate.—I will bring consecration! Norway has been a kingdom, it shall become a people. The Trönder has stood against the man of Viken, the Agdeman against the Hordalander, the Halogalander against the Sogndalesman; all shall be one hereafter, and all shall feel and know that they are one! That is the task which God has laid on my shoulders; that is the work which now lies before the King of Norway. That life-work, Duke, I think you were best to leave untried, for truly it is beyond you.
Duke Skule.
[Impressed.] To unite——? To unite the Trönders and the men of Viken,—all Norway——? [Sceptically.] ’Tis impossible! Norway’s saga tells of no such thing!
Håkon.
For you ’tis impossible, for you can but work out the old saga afresh; for me, ’tis as easy as for the falcon to cleave the clouds.