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Updated: May 28, 2025
Much would I give to have him with us on our longship. And by the hammer of Thor, I swear that if I win him not over the horse fight, then I will take him by force!" So then Klerkon made his way to the side of Sigurd Erikson, and told him that he had recognized the boy. At which Sigurd grew very pale, and blamed himself in that he had not kept Olaf within doors by main force.
Then, when they had spoken for a while together, Olaf bent his head close to Thorgils' ear, and said he: "I have news, brother." "Ill news or good?" asked Thorgils. "Judge for yourself," answered Olaf. "It is that our old enemy Klerkon the Viking has come into Holmgard, with many men and a mighty horse that is to be pitted against Sleipner." Thorgils drew back with a sudden start.
Neither did Klerkon come to make claim to his prize. It was in the evening time. Sigurd sat alone in his room at the back of the great hall. He was thinking that Olaf had become strangely restless and unruly of late. Many times the lad had disappointed him and caused him trouble, but never so much as today, when his wilfulness threatened to bring about very serious consequences.
So Sigurd, seeing that there was no way out of his difficulty and hoping that the telling of his secret might after all be of benefit to Olaf, obeyed the queen's behest, relating the story of the kings of Norway and showing how this boy, Olaf, the slayer of Klerkon, was descended in a direct line from the great King Harald Fairhair.
Never before had he seen an animal so strong and fierce as the stallion that Klerkon the Viking had matched against Sleipner. Many horses were led forth into the circle, and they were taken in pairs to the middle, where they fought one against the other. Each horse was followed by its owner or the trainer, who supported and urged it on, inciting it with his stick.
Then was Olaf parted from his mother, and the captain of the vikings, an Esthonian named Klerkon Flatface, got him along with Thoralf and Thorgils. Klerkon deemed Thoralf over old for a thrall, and, seeing no work in him, slew him and flung him overboard, but he had the lads away with him, and sold them into slavery.
Then there was a commotion among the crowd, and one stepped forward and cried out, 'I am the king, and my name is Rand the Strong! and we all knew him to be the same viking who four summers ago was here in Holmgard in the train of Jan Klerkon.
When we had been made captives the rovers took and shared us among themselves as their bond slaves, and it befell that my mother and I were parted. An Esthonian named Klerkon Flatface got me as his portion, along with Thoralf and Thorgils. Klerkon deemed Thoralf over old for a thrall, and could not see any work in him, so he cruelly slew him before our eyes and cast his body into the sea.
"Why," said he, addressing the viking, "'tis but six summers since that you sold that self same boy, here on this marketplace. 'Twas I who bought him from you, Klerkon. Have you forgotten the white haired he goat that you got from me?" "Life is too full for me to keep mind of such small events," answered Klerkon. "But since the lad is yours, what price do you now put upon him?"
Even though he overcome you in the horse fight he shall not take me from you." "He is a great viking," answered Sigurd. "Men name him Klerkon Flatface. It is the same who sold you into bondage." A cloud came upon Olaf's brow, and he sat down upon the side of the trestle bed. "Klerkon Flatface?" he repeated slowly.
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