Gunnar told him that they had news which they thought a good deal of. "Earl Haakon is dead, and we now have a very notable king, whose name is Olaf Trygvasson. He is a Christian, and drives all men, and women too, into the water, to make Christians also of them."
Ogmund said this was greatness; "And do the people take kindly to the water?" Gunnar said that they did.
Then Ogmund said, "And my friend Halward, how is he?"
"Oh, he!" said Gunnar. "I saw him just now."
"What, here?" says Ogmund.
"Yes," said Gunnar, "he is here sure enough. He is as good friends with King Olaf as ever he was with Earl Haakon, and yet he is not the man he was when he gave you your name."
"How is that then?" Ogmund wanted to know.
"Why," Gunnar told him, "one of the last battles fought by Haakon was at Yomswicking; and in that battle Halward got a great whang by the ear, and rather below it. It cut the sinew of his neck, and made a bad healing. The good man now carries his head on one side, and will do it until his death-day. And yet he is as well as ever he was otherwise, and in high favour with the king."
Ogmund thanked him for all this news; but saw how preoccupied Gunnar was, and how his eyes dwelt upon his cloak. "You are pleased to admire my cloak," he said. "And yet I assure you it is by no means the best I have."