Profiles in "Courage" III

King Rarek the Blind

Before King Rarek the Blind was known as King Rarek the blind he was known as King Rarek…the Wily or something. But that was before Olaf the Saint became king of all Norway.

In the early eleventh century Olaf made himself sole king through the coup of capturing five other local kings of the Norwegian lands in one morning. (Sweden still claimed ownership of Norway and would not recognize Olaf's title, but that's neither here nor there.) Four of the kings Olaf let go on their parole, but old King Rarek was known to be too crafty and dangerous to set free; instead Olaf blinded him. But with the magnanimity that would later make him a saint, Olaf permitted the blind Rarek to return to his kingdom where he sat on a throne and was treated with all the pomp and splendor of a king, the way kings like. Olaf even gave Rarek a boy to lead him around on walks.

But Rarek was always moody and glum. And whenever he’d have the boy take him for a stroll, he’d wait till they were out of range of the castle and then beat the boy mercilessly. Finally the boy ran away back to Olaf, and refused to return to Rarek. So Olaf sent a full-grown man to attend to Rarek, but Rarek abused and beat him, too, until he, too, quit in a huff. And so it went with every attendant Olaf sent to the blind king. Until finally Olaf, exasperated, sent Rarek’s nephew, Swain, to attend King Rarek, under the assumption that Rarek would show more kindness to his kin. And so Olaf played right into Rarek’s hands, for Rarek behaved as he ever did when in pubic I(i.e. innocent as lamb), but when he and Swain would go out ramblingf, he revealed his true purpose to his nephew, and spoke to him with a poisoned tongue of how Olaf had humiliated their family, and they must needs have revenge. He promised Swain that after Olaf was dead, Rarek would be king of Norway and he would make Swain a jarl. And Swain was beguiled and went to Trondheim (or wherever) and waited outside the church with the sundry well-wishers who gathered there to greet the king as he left vespers; he bore a cloak over his arm, and beneath the cloak was a naked sword. But Olaf perceived the guilty look on Swein’s face, and ran up and seized the cloak, exposing the sword. Swein confessed and was banished from the kingdom. And Olaf did not know what to do with Rarek.

So he revoked Rarek’s right to sit on his throne, and made him sit in the second seat, the seat of honored guests. And he sent two strong and trustworthy men to attend to the king. For Rarek could hardly abuse these men, so strong were they, and neither could he turn them against King Olaf; and they never left Rarek’s side. And many of Olaf’s men stayed with the blind king, to keep an eye on him. Rarek began to act mad, and sometimes he was melancholy and sometimes he was gay. And in his manic phases, he would serve drinks freely, and the small stipend he received from King Olaf he used to buy alcohol, which he always passed around. His hall became a convivial one, and many people would come to stay and drink.

One night many people were at the hall, including Sigvat, the greatest skald of that age, and many brave men beside, and a Lapp called Fin the Little. Fin was most treacherous, and he was Rarek’s man. He gave out to everyone strong drink, and hid its strength with spices, until everyone was very drunk. Some, such as Sigvat and his friend Thord Folason, staggered back to their rooms when they had had enough merriment, but most passed out right there in the hall. And just then Rarek would have to go to the privy, so his two guards took him there. While Rarek was in the privy, the sounds of a fight were heard from Rarek’s hall. “Some have had too much to drink, and have fallen to brawling,” he said, and, feigning concern, had his two guards hasten back to the hall to stop the fight ere any were hurt. But the sounds of a fight were the sounds of twelve man loyal to Rarek, concealed among the throng and stone sober, massacring the drunks. Sigurd Hit, Rarek’s standard bearer from back in the day, and Little Fin hid on either side of the door to the hall and slew Rarek’s guards as they ran in; the one behind they slew first, silently, and then the one before. They then fetched King Rarek and took him to a waiting boat, and sailed away.

Now Sigvat the Skald had drunk much that night, and anon he rose to use the privy. On his way back he slipped, for the ground near the hall was slick. “Rarek has served us all good wine tonight,” he laughed to himself, “and I did not drink the least of it.” But when he reached his room, where a light still burned, his roommate Thord Folason saw that Sigvat’s legs were covered in blood. “Did you fall and scrape yourself?” he asked, and Sigvat answered, “I fell but did not scrape myself, and that bodes ill.” They took a light outside, to solve the mystery, and found that blood had spilled so copiously in the hall that it had flowed out onto the path; and they followed the blood back and found the massacre, and they knew King Rarek has escaped.

Then they must inform King Olaf, who was sleeping nearby. But neither wanted to wake the good king with the terrible news that his men were slaughtered and his enemy free. They agreed that one should wake the king, and the other tell him what had happened, and Thord said he would rather tell the news than wake the king. So Sigvad bade him enter the king’s bedchamber silently, while he himself went to the church and rang the bell. Olaf sat up in bed and asked, “Is it matins already?” “No, my liege, but much worse than matins,” Thord said to him, “for Rarek the blind has slain your men and escaped.”

The bodies of the dead were still warm, so Olaf knew Rarek could not have gotten far. He called his men together and sent them in different directions. But the fastest of them at sea was Thorer the Long, who commanded a swift boat with thirty oarsmen. They rowed all night and at dawn they saw Rarek’s little craft in the distance. Rarek’s men rowed hastily to shore, for they were outnumbered, and leapt out to flee inland; and Thorer the Long was right behind them. But Rarek perceived that flight with a blind man would prove impossible, so he stayed in the boat and bade his men go on without him, for they would meet again. Then Little Fin shot Thorer with an arrow as he fled, and Thorer died of the wound. But Thorer’s men took his body, and the blind King Rarek, and brought them back to Olaf. And Olaf did not know what to do with Rarek.

Many counseled Olaf to kill the blind man; but Olaf said the glory of his ascension was that he conquered five kings in one morning without slaying any of them, and he would not annul that glory by slaying one now. He decided that he himself would keep an eye on Rarek. He took the blind king with him everywhere, and he brought Rarek to church with him, though Rarek was a pagan, to try to improve him. Rarek feigned interest in Christian doctrine, and asked that every part of the service be described to him. He asked about the decor of the church, and costumes of the priest, the instruments of the mass; when people stood and when they closed their eyes; and what the people around him wore. And one Ascension Day, when everyone’s apparel was particularly fine, Rarek, to learn more, reached out and felt King Olaf’s clothing. He commented on how fine the material was, and ran his hand all over it, but really he was testing to see if Olaf was armored beneath his clothes, and withal where he kept his heart. And when he knew the congregation would, by custom, all close their eyes in prayer, Rarek drew from his belt a dagger he had secreted there, and struck at the king. But King Olaf, in his piety, had at that moment bowed down before the altar, and Rarek’s dagger sliced through his cloak but did not draw blood. Rarek struck again, but the king had perceived the danger, and leapt away, and the blow fell on air. “What is this?” Rarek taunted. “Do you flee from a blind man?” But Olaf had his men take Rarek away. And Olaf did not know what to do with Rarek.

Now there was an ugly man named Thorarin in King Olaf’s retinue. And one morning the king awoke early and looked around the hall, where everyone was sleeping, and saw that one of Thorarin’s feet was sticking out from beneath the blanket. He remarked that he would wager it was the ugliest foot in all the county. Thorarin, awakening, said that it was not so bad, really, and he would wager he could locate an uglier foot. Then King Olaf and Thorarin made a wager, that whoever was right would have to perform a favor for the other. “Now where will you find an uglier foot?” Olaf asked, whereupon Thorarin drew from beneath the blankets his other foot, which was ugly and misshapen and deformed, such that it had four toes. But the king said the first foot was the uglier, for it had five ugly toes, while this one had but four.

And so Thorarin lost the bet, and must perform a favor for the king. And the king explained that he wanted Thorarin to take Rarek the Blind in a ship to Greenland, and leave him there with (of all people) Leif Erikson. Then Olaf magnanimously granted Thorarin the favor he would have asked of the king, which was to be made one of the king’s men. And Thorarin, Rarek in tow, sailed for Greenland. But storms prevented him from landing, and he had to double back to Iceland. There he left Rarek on a humble farm, and Rarek remarked that it was the best place he had lived in since he was deposed. Rarek stayed there until he died.

He is the only king ever to be buried in Iceland.

(Mostly taken from the Heimskringla.)