Tonight, children, a story. An epic adventure with danger, passion, deadly battles, journeys to far-off lands, and… magic! Or at least the rumor of magic.

My fellow Viking reenactors probably wouldn’t like me to say this (we try to discourage the use of the word “barbarian”), but if there was ever a genuine, real-world Conan the Barbarian, it must have been Harald Sigurdsson (1015-1066), known as “Hardrada” (or Hard Ruler, but not till after his death, and certainly not to his face), king of Norway from 1047 to 1066. If there’s a more sprawling epic made out of a single life in world history, I don’t know about it.

Harald was the half-brother of King Olaf Haraldsson of Norway, better known as St. Olaf. He shared his brother’s exile when he fled to Russia (about 1028), and was fighting at his side (he was only fifteen years old) when Olaf died at the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030. Then followed another flight to Russia. After that he journeyed to Constantinople, where he became the captain of the emperor’s bodyguard, the Varangian Guard, which at that time was made up entirely of Scandinavians. He fought a number of successful campaigns for the Empire, an enterprise that proved so profitable that he was accused of malfeasance and imprisoned. He managed to escape (with the loot), and returned to Russia (where he married a princess), and proceeded home to Norway.

The king of Norway then was Olaf’s son Magnus the Good (an illegitimate son—standards for sainthood were somewhat loose back then). Harald intended to fight Magnus for the throne, but friends mediated, and it ended with Magnus agreeing to share power in return for half of Harald’s fortune. Magnus died not long after (surprisingly from natural causes) and Harald became sole ruler. He was remembered as a good lawmaker but a dangerous man to cross. He spent most of his reign trying to conquer Denmark. He won all the battles but couldn’t manage to kill the Danish king, and so couldn’t take permanent possession.

In the 1060s he was approached by Tostig, the exiled brother of King Harold Godwinson of England, who had a plan for conquering England. Harald (probably in the midst of a mid-life crisis) agreed to participate. He and Tostig arrived in northern England in September, 1066, and beat an English army at the Battle of Fulford. On the morning of Sept. 25 he and his army (lightly armored or armorless due to warm weather and cocksureness) marched to York to accept the city’s surrender. Instead they found Harold Godwinson and the English army (which had made an incredible forced march from the south) waiting for them at Stamford Bridge. A fierce battle followed, Harald was killed by an arrow in the throat, and the few surviving Norwegians fled.

Now here’s the magic part. According to the sagas, Harald was flying his battle flag at Stamford Bridge, a flag called Landwaster. Landwaster had never flown over a defeat before that day.

What happened to Landwaster?

Well, there’s a legend connected with a relic of the Scottish Clan MacLeod, the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan. The Fairy Flag has been in the family from time immemorial, and is said to guarantee victory for the MacLeods when flown over a battlefield. However, according to the legend, it can only be used three times. And it’s already been used twice.

There are three legends as to the flag’s origin.

Some say it was given to the MacLeods by the fairies.

Others say it came back from the Holy Land with crusaders (it has been analyzed as Middle Eastern silk).

Another says that it’s Harald Hardrada’s Landwaster.

That’s not as unlikely as you might think. Many Highland clans have Norse roots. The name MacLeod is a gaelicization of Ljotsson, a Viking name.

I get the impression that the family prefers the fairy explanation. But I think tracing it back to Harald is magic enough.