"Show him to me!" he shouted, and there was joy in his voice.

The serving-woman put down her bundle on the ground and turned back the cloth. There was a little naked baby. The king looked at it carefully.

"It is a goodly youngster," he said, and smiled. "Bring Ivar and Thorstein."[2]

They were captains of the king's soldiers. Soon they came.

"Stand as witnesses," Halfdan said.

Then he lifted the baby in his arms, while the old serving-woman brought a silver bowl of water. The king dipped his hand into it and sprinkled the baby, saying:

"I own this baby for my son. He shall be called Harald. My naming gift to him is ten pounds of gold."

Then the woman carried the baby back to the queen's room.

[17]

[18]"My lord owns him for his son," she said. "And no wonder! He is perfect in every limb."

[18]

The queen looked at him and smiled and remembered her dream and thought:

"That great tree! Can it be this little baby of mine?"

FOOTNOTES:

[1] See note about house on page 194.

[1]

[2] See note about names on page 194.

[2]

[19]

[19]

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