This degree of intimacy he obtained because he had been reared and fostered with them.

But Brun, amid the toils of his constant journeys to and fro, was drowned in a certain river; and Odin, disguised under his name and looks, shook the close union of the kings by his treacherous embassage; and he sowed strife so guilefully that he engendered in men, who were bound by friendship and blood, a bitter mutual hate, which seemed unappeasable except by war.

Their dissensions first grew up silently; at last both sides betrayed their leanings, and their secret malice burst into the light of day.

So they declared their feuds, and seven years passed in collecting the materials of war.

Some say that Harald secretly sought occasions to destroy himself, not being moved by malice or jealousy for the crown, but by a deliberate and voluntary effort.