Snæfríðr

Snæfrid is the Sami chief's daughter whose beauty undoes even the iron founder of Norway. When Harald Fairhair, the king who would not rest until he ruled all Norway, is given a cup by Snæfrid at a feast, the touch of her hand sends a fire of longing through him, and he must have her; he marries her and loves her past all reason. And when she dies, the spell does not break — Harald sits over her body, which does not decay, for three years, neglecting his whole kingdom in the certainty that she will wake, until a counsellor tricks him into having the corpse moved, whereupon it crumbles and the enchantment lifts. Snæfrid is the saga's image of the bewitching woman who humbles the great king — the Sami maid whose beauty (and, the saga hints, whose magic) lays the conqueror of Norway aside for grief over a dead woman, the one place where even Harald's iron will fails utterly.