J. F. Campbell Collection > Our Scandinavian forefathers

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of the eighth century, some small colonies had been formed, besides
the still more ancient ones in our neighbourhood here. But it was
in the end of the ninth century that the real colonising impulse was
given. It came from Norway, which was, after all, the true home
and most typical centre of the Scandinavian race. Up till this
time, that country had been divided among a host of petty chiefs,
each with his own Thing or council, and all of them little more
than nominally subject to the King of Norway. In the year 861,
this almost titular sovereignty was inherited by Harald Haarfajer,
or Fair-haired Harald, He was at this time only ten years old ;
but ere he had arrived at manhood, he had formed the daring pro-
ject of making himself king in reality as well as name. This design
he was incited to, or at least confirmed in, by the answer he received
from the maiden whose hand he sought in marriage. She replied
that as soon as he was what he professed to be — King of Norway —
she would listen to his proposals, but not till then. For thirty long
years Harald toiled, and schemed, and fought; and at last, at
Hafur's Fiord, in one of the bloodiest battles recorded in the
history of the north, the power of his enemies was entirely broken.
To complete the romance, he was immediately after wedded to
Gyde, his early choice, who must ere then have lost something
of her youthful charms. Such was the Scandinavian reverence for
woman that there is nothing unlikely in this account, almost in-
credible as it would be in the records of any other heathen nation.*-
Most of the defeated chieftains, and their retainers, determined to
live no longer in a land which they deemed enslaved. Some set
out to join and to extend tlie colonies already in existence ; some
to conquer new lands for themselves. And in this they were joined
by numbers from Sweden and from Denmark, who had nothing
themselves to do with the fair-haired king. Thus the tide of
Scandinavian emigration had fairly set in, to continue for genera-
tions, long after its immediate cause had passed away. Let me run
over the localities where they founded colonies ; and though I can
do little more than name them, you will see at once how wide-spread
their influence became ; and if you bear in mind what I have told
you of the state of Europe at the time, you will be able (after I have
summed up for you the elements of the Scandinavian character) to
* On looking the other day, however, over a book in which Scandinavian chronologj is
well laid down, I found the date assigned to the battle of Hafur's Fiord to be 876, or only
fifteen years after Harald succeeded to the crown. This, of course, is quite irreconcilable
with the account given above. Where tlie mistake lies, I cannot tell. It may spring from
a misprint in the book aUuded to ; it may be from my having, through forgetfulness, ascribed
to Harald a story relating to some other king ; but most probably there are different legends
and chronologies adopted in the different Sagas. It is not until Norway had become con-
solidated under the rtile of this powerful monarch, that the dates of most of its historical
events can be ascertained with perfect certainty. I have no time for examining fully into
the causes of the discrepancy ; and 1 must remind the reader of the warning already given
of my not professing accurately to remember, in every case, dates and other particulars of the
kind. Though I should be much surprised at any downright error bemg found in any of my
statements, I would much prefer that they should not be taken for granted, but that ealh
should search into them for himself; and I am confident that many at least who might begin
to read on the subject, only to ascertain the precise truth conceniing some tran.saction in
which they are interested, would speedily learn to pursue the study lor its own sake.