1031), after King Olaf's death his holy remains were dug up, and the coffin had raised itself almost entirely to the surface of the earth; and the coffin appeared quite new, as if it had but lately been made.When Bishop Grimkel came to King Olaf's opened coffin, there was a delightful and fresh smell.Thereupon the bishop uncovered the king's face, and his appearance was in no respect altered, and his cheeks were as red as if he had but just fallen asleep.The men who had seen King Olaf when he fell remarked, also, that his hair and nails had grown as much as if he had lived on the earth all the time that had passed since his fall.Thereupon King Svein, and all the chiefs who were at the place, went out to see King Olaf's body.Then said Alfifa, "People buried in sand rot very slowly, and it would not have been so if he had been buried in earth." Afterwards the bishop took scissors, clipped the king's hair, and arranged his beard;for he had had a long beard, according to the fashion of that time.Then said the bishop to the king and Alfifa, "Now the king's hair and beard are such as when he gave up the ghost, and it has grown as much as ye see has been cut off." Alfifa answers, "I will believe in the sanctity of his hair, if it will not burn in the fire; but I have often seen men's hair whole and undamaged after lying longer in the earth than this man's." Then the bishop had live coals put into a pan, blessed it, cast incense upon it, and then laid King Olaf's hair on the fire.
When all the incense was burnt the bishop took the hair out of the fire, and showed the king and the other chiefs that it was not consumed.Now Alfifa asked that the hair should be laid upon unconsecrated fire; but Einar Tambaskelfer told her to be silent, and gave her many severe reproaches for her unbelief.After the bishop's recognition, with the king's approbation and the decision of the Thing, it was determined that King Olaf should be considered a man truly holy; whereupon his body was transported into Clement's church, and a place was prepared for it near the high altar.The coffin was covered with costly cloth, and stood under a gold embroidered tent.Many kinds of miracles were soon wrought by King Olaf's holy remains.
259.OF KING OLAF'S MIRACLES.
In the sand-hill where King Olaf's body had lain on the ground a beautiful spring of water came up and many human ailments and infirmities were cured by its waters.Things were put in order around it, and the water ever since has been carefully preserved.
There was first a chapel built, and an altar consecrated, where the king's body had lain; but now Christ's church stands upon the spot.Archbishop Eystein had a high altar raised upon the spot where the king's grave had been, when he erected the great temple which now stands there; and it is the same spot on which the altar of the old Christ church had stood.It is said that Olaf's church stands on the spot on which the empty house had stood in which King Olaf's body had been laid for the night.The place over which the holy remains of King Olaf were carried up from the vessel is now called Olaf's Road, and is now in the middle of the town.The bishop adorned King Olaf's holy remains, and cut his nails and hair; for both grew as if he had still been alive.So says Sigvat the skald: --"I lie not, when I say the king Seemed as alive in every thing:
His nails, his yellow hair still growing, And round his ruddy cheek still flowing, As when, to please the Russian queen, His yellow locks adorned were seen;Or to the blind he cured he gave A tress, their precious sight to save."Thorarin Loftunga also composed a song upon Svein Alfifason, called the "Glelogn Song", in which are these verses: --"Svein, king of all, In Olaf's hall Now sits on high;And Olaf's eye Looks down from heaven, Where it is given To him to dwell:
Or here in cell, As heavenly saint, To heal men's plaint, May our gold-giver Live here for ever!
"King Olaf there To hold a share On earth prepared, Nor labour spared A seat to win From heaven's great King;Which he has won Next God's own Son.
"His holy form, Untouched by worm, Lies at this day Where good men pray, And nails and hair Grow fresh and fair;His cheek is red, His flesh not dead.
"Around his bier, Good people hear The small bells ring Over the king, Or great bell toll;And living soul Not one can tell Who tolls the bell.
"Tapers up there, (Which Christ holds dear,)By day and night The altar light:
Olaf did so, And all men know In heaven he From sin sits free.
"And crowds do come, The deaf and dumb, Cripple and blind, Sick of all kind, Cured to be On bended knee;And off the ground Rise whole and sound.
"To Olaf pray To eke thy day, To save thy land From spoiler's hand.
God's man is he To deal to thee Good crops and peace;Let not prayer cease.
"Book-prayers prevail, If, nail for nail (1), Thou tellest on, Forgetting none."Thorarin Loftunga was himself with King Svein, and heard these great testimonials of King Olaf's holiness, that people, by the heavenly power, could hear a sound over his holy remains as if bells were ringing, and that candles were lighted of themselves upon the altar as by a heavenly fire.But when Thorarin says that a multitude of lame, and blind, and other sick, who came to the holy Olaf, went back cured, he means nothing more than that there were a vast number of persons who at the beginning of King Olaf's miraculous working regained their health.King Olaf's greatest miracles are clearly written down, although they occurred somewhat later.
ENDNOTES:
(1) Before the entrance of the temples or churches were posts called Ondveigis-sulor, with nails called Rigin-naglar --the gods' nails -- either for ornament, or, as Schoning suggests, to assist the people in reckoning weeks, months, festivals, and in reckoning or keeping tale of prayers repeated, and to recall them to memory, in the same way as beads are used still by the common people in Catholic countries for the same purpose.-- L.
260.OF KING OLAF'S AGE AND REIGN.