(scene continued from last chapter: Gunnhild telling a tale to her sulky stepson)

Gunnhild went on with her tale. "The folk here in the Dales loved their Prince, for he was a kind and gracious ruler, though hard of hearing. He yelled whenever he spoke, so they called him Prins Dond, Prince Roar. That's where Donstad got its name, the steading of Dond, if the tales are true. Ånund Bjørnsson of the Yngling dynasty, our Prins Dond, had a son by the name of—" she took a dramatic pause. "Aslak."

Laki straightened, unable to hold back a wide grin. "That's my name!"

"And not by coincidence," his stepmother said with a tone of mystery while she rolled out another round. "Would you tend the skillet for me, please?"

Laki scooted a low stool into place by the hearth.

"Aslak's sons Roald Rygg and Hadd the Hard joined the rebels against Harald Fairhair who went about battling all the minor kings and uniting our country into one nation. Roald and Hadd lost, of course, but kept their lives. Harald didn't bother to pursue them so far inland when they fled home. Therewas nothing in the mountains he wanted, just control of the coasts.

"Now skip ahead six hundred years. Down near Brunkeberg is a large estate called Holtan. In the Middle Ages it took in all the surrounding fields and forests, creeks and ridgetops. A great bonde dwelled there in the 1500's, ruling like a king. And perhaps he had descended from royalty, from that same Aslak Ånundsson, son of Prins Dond. For according to the parish register, down the male line of firstborn sons at Holtan came those same names: Aslak, Ånund, Aslak, Ånund.

"Did you know, by the way, that Aslak Guttormsson, who married the daughter of the great bonde up the Dales at Moen, land of our ancestors – did you know he came from the family line of Holtan?"

Laki leaped to his feet, and his stool tipped over. "You mean my great-great-six times great-grandfather?"

"Ja, I do."

"You mean I'm descended from great bondes? From Prins Dond? From Sigurd Ring?!"

Gunnhild grinned. "That's the way it looks, Your Highness. But so are most of our kin, so it'snothing to brag about. Uff da, look sharp! The flatbread is scorching!"

Laki swaggered with pride the rest of that day.

Come nightfall, Tall Såmund nuzzled his wife's flour-dusted cheek. "Enough baking! Off with the apron, and tell me. What potion did you brew into your magic loaves today? I've never seen such a charm as you've cast on my sulky son."

She giggled. "I told him a long tale with his name woven throughout. And the most powerful magic in the story was, simply, the truth."

.

BEHIND THE SCENES

One saga local to the Kviteseid area tells of Prins Dond, otherwise known as Ånund, brother of Eirik King of Sweden. One website, now defunct, related this local lore, including the following items:

- Listing number 004 featured Anund of Svearike and mentioned his local nickname, Prins Dond. (Svearike is a variation of Sverige, the Norse term for Sweden: the rike, or kingdom, of the Svea, or Swedes. "Rike" may well derive from "Rig.")

- Listing number 005 told of Aslak Anundsson, and his son Roald Rygg was number 006.

The fragment of an old saga that Gunnhild relates is found in the Rígsthula. Rig was another name for the Norse god Heimdall. Was Laki descended from Sigurd Ring? Who knows? The naming pattern hints at a possibility!

The tale of Harald Hårfagre ("hair-fine," or Fairhair) is told in the Heimskringla.

The lineage at Holtan farm (dating from the 1500's) is found in the Syftestad farm listing in the Kviteseid Bygdesoga.

Liv's eldest daughter Sigrid died at Byggland in1828 at the age of 83.