page_title: Olaf Geirstad-Alf
section_title: Ynglinga saga
hierarchical_section_title: Olaf Geirstad-Alf / Ynglinga saga
caption_attribution_description: King Olaf and the Little People (the title in the list of illustrations). In the book this illustrates a story about a race to Norway between Olaf and his brother Harald Haardrade. The little people are called elves in the story.
context_page_description: Olaf Gudrødsson, who was known after his death as Olaf Geirstad-Alf "Olaf, Elf of Geirstad", was a petty king in Norway. A member of the House of Yngling from the Ynglinga saga, he was the son of Gudrød the Hunter and according to the late Heimskringla, a half-brother of Halfdan the Black. Gudrød and Olaf ruled a large part of Raumarike.
context_section_description: In the Ynglinga saga portion of the Heimskringla, the king is reported to have died of a "disease in his foot" (fótarverkr) or gout, although the Flateyjarbók suggests the king succumbed to a plague epidemic.
  The Ynglinga saga also inserts the following verse by Þjóðólfr of Hvinir (original author of the Ynglingatal):
caption: King Olaf the Saint was regarded as a reincarnation of Olaf Geirstad-Alf according to legend.[a]—Drawing by W. J. Wiegand in "King Olaf the Saint" (1871), original title Hellig-Olavs Væddefart (DgF 50).
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