#01.12.13

In 998, it was proposed that Sigrid should marry Olav Trygvasson, and she would have to convert to Christianity for this. It is said that she refused and told Olav, to his face, that “I will not part from the faith which mt forefathers have kept before me.” This provoked Olav, and he struck her. Sigrid then told him, calmly, “This may some day be thy death.

Sigrid the Haughty and Olaf Tryggvason

She later helped creating an alliance between Sweden and Denmark against Norway, a coalition of Olavs enemies to bring him down.

It is also said that she burnt Harald Grenske (father of Olav II Haraldsson), she refused to be baptised, and she was said to be “hedensk som en hund.”

In the short story “The Deluge at Norderney,” by Karen Blixen, it’s claimed that Sigrid at one point invited all her suitors to her home and burned them, to discourage future suitors.

A poem written about the event written by Henry Wadswoth Longfellow can be found here.

No one is certain if Sigrid was a real person, a fictional person, or an “amalgamation of the lives and deeds of several women.”

Sources

http://arsmagica.wikia.com/wiki/Sigrid_the_Haughty, http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigrid_Storr%C3%A5de, http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/notables.html#anchor419851

It’s okay that you leave  toothpaste on the bathroom sink and skin on my pillow because it’s all the more of you that I can inhale, all the more to make our lungs  take the same breaths and I never told you this but late at night once you’ve already fallen asleep I slow my heart down so your heart will keep time with mine, like clockwork.

It’s okay that sometimes you forget to call because you’ll  always, always, always show up with some cheesy  99 cent valentines day card  that you probably bought from  the gas station on the corner, but I’ll swallow the I love yous like they’re cups of chamomile tea and you’ll watch me like I’m the most beautiful girl in  the entire world.

It’s okay that nowadays I only see your syrupy eyes when we’re having sex or when we accidentally bump into each other on the dairy aisle because romances are always better in your head, and fairy tales  are the stuff of tween poetry.

It’s okay that your goodbye  note was simply the spare key I had made exactly six months ago left on top of my collection of half-hearted drawings of you that you told me you’d had  framed, but here they are,  charcoal smudged with some  other girls fingertips and I wonder what you told her, if anything at all.

him: sabi ka, i-DAWN ZULUETA mo nga ako.

me: bakit? ano pala yun?

him: basta, tapos takbo ka sakin. Open mo arms mo parang oblation.

me: AHHHHHH (tapos natawa)