The Saga of King Olaf
"The Saga of King Olaf" is a poetic sequence by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1863 as part of his book Tales of a Wayside Inn. Overview "The Saga of King Olaf" is written in twenty-two parts and follows the adventures of King Olaf of Norway, spurred to avenge his slain father and reclaim his kingdom by the Norse god Thor. It is the longest section of Longfellow's 1863 book Tales of a Wayside Inn, where it is presented as "The Musician's Tale". The Musician, in turn, is Longfellow's tribute to Norwegian violinist Ole Bull. It is also the oldest part of the book; Longfellow began writing it as early as 1856. Before 1850, Longfellow had also written a poem in imitation of Icelandic poetic form called "The Challenge of Thor", which was repurposed as an introductory to the sequence. Longfellow scholar Christoph Irmscher notes it as "one of Longfellow's most accomplished tales". The diversity of meters in the 22-part sequence also displays Longfellow's virtuosity as a poet. The content of the poems draws heavily from the Heimskringla and ultimately implies little difference between the symbols of Thor's hammer and Christ's cross. Longfellow relied on a translation by