"Oh, very," said Olaf, and became attentive to what the wise man had to say.
To be short about it, King Olaf was baptized and all the men with him in the long ships; and soon afterwards he sailed for Norway where, in the time of Earl Haakon's sickness, he made a landing and gathered a company about him. When the Earl was killed by Kark, his head was brought to King Olaf in a bag by the malefactor. Olaf accepted it as his due; but he hanged Kark then and there on a convenient ash-tree.
I said that the Thing chose Olaf for king; and one of the first of his acts was to proclaim that he chose Christianity for the religion of Norway, and willed that all his people should be baptized. He had brought back priests with him from Scilly, and a bishop as well, so everything was in order.
The common sort gave him no trouble, for they either ran down into the water in herds, or withdrew themselves to the mountains and forests; but some of the great men were stiff about it, and did not choose to forsake their gods. They debated about it among themselves, and sent chosen champions to debate about it with the king. But in this they had mistaken their man. King Olaf listened to one or two, and then, lifting his large hand, slammed it down upon the board in front of him. "Enough of this," he said. "It may be a good religion or a bad, but it is my own religion, and I desire it to be that of my people. See you to it, and let me have no more talk, for I am sick of it." They went away, and a good many of them were baptized, but by no means all.
There were two brothers living in a dale of Drontheim—Sigurd was the elder, and his brother was Gunnar. Both were called Helming. They were well descended, and neither of them was thirty years old, though Sigurd was near it. He was married and a friend of the King's. Gunnar was twenty-six years old, a cheerful high-coloured man with a reddish beard, though his hair was much darker, and might have been taken for black. Sigurd was a councillor, Gunnar was not, but had been to sea, and fought in Sicily, and as far as Micklegarth. When he was not voyaging he lived with his brother. The pair were great friends.
Sigurd Helming was one of those who followed Olaf's example, and went down into the water. When it was over and all his household had been made Christians, he said to Gunnar, "Now it's your turn."
Gunnar laughed. "Not for me," he said. "I will go into the water when my time comes, but that will be the end of me. I know too much about the water."
Sigurd said, "It's soon over."
"The sooner the better," said Gunnar, "when it is to be—and also, the later the better."
Sigurd said, "This is the king's religion."