THE SCENE: In case you somehow need reminding that sometimes vikings can be bloodthirsty jerks.
THE TEXT: Then the old woman stood up and thanked the king for his counsel. She said, “Could any king grant better favors than you? Do you know anything that will cure old age, my lord?”
The king answered, “I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know what it is.”
Asmund said, “It’s often found in a peasant’s house, but not in a king’s. I know a cure for your old age, woman, if you’ll accept it from me.”
She said that she was eager for it. “But will you do it in bed?”
He answered, “Come to me. I’ll proceed as I think best.”
The old woman flung off her mantle and walked up to Asmund. He had a timber axe in his hand. He told the old woman to bow before him. She did so, thinking that the wanted to speak with her privately. Asmund let the axe fall onto her neck so that it cut her head off, and he said, “Now I’ve cured your old age.”
King Hrolf hadn’t been paying attention to their conversation, but he noticed the head flying off. King Hrolf became so angry at this that he was on the verge of attacking Asmund. He said that such a wicked and outrageous deed had been done that they would never recover from the disgrace, and their shame for having killed a poor old woman in a foreign land would be spread all around. Asmund said that it was unbelievable that he was taking it so badly. They argued about it, and they went back to the hall.
When men had come to the table to feast, King Aelle noticed that King Hrolf did not look happy, and at once he asked the king what had happened. King Hrolf told how it had been, and said that this had been the worst of misfortunes.
– The Saga of Hrolf Gautreksson, 13th Century
