CHAPTER ONE
Cormac's Fore-Elders. Harald Fairhair was king of Norway when this tale begins. There
was a chief in the kingdom in those days and his name was Cormac;
one of the Vik-folk by kindred, a great man of high birth. He
was the mightiest of champions, and had been with King Harald in
many battles.
He had a son called Ogmund, a very hopeful lad; big and sturdy
even as a child; who when he was grown of age and come to his
full strength, took to sea-roving in summer and served in the
king's household in winter. So he earned for himself a good name
and great riches.
One summer he went roving about the British Isles and there he
fell in with a man named Asmund Ashenside, who also was a great
champion and had worsted many vikings and
