when the king asks you for who to rule you, elect a dog. that will bring you freedom from royal rule, which you did not want at all to beginn with anyway.
(sadly, the dog then grew 3 heads, and started to talk, altough they do in the saga appear to give respect to this dog, so it appears to not all be bad. but, the plan to be free from royal rule via dog election, sadly failed in the saga. i think. it was very confusing tbh)
Counter suggestion: skip the whole process and have your army elect yourself as ruler.
ah, you see ceasar this story (confusing as it is), is a mythological tale about the election of who would be the liege - lord of the king. the king in this story, King Östen, had already elected himself “king of tröndelag” on very loose basis (basis of being king being on the level of “because i said so!!”).
this is also why, the people of tröndelag, are not really that into, this random person suddenly appearing claiming he is their king. they are like “who the fuck are you even? never seen you before. leave!”
and this norse saga in general btw is very much about how tröndelag is like, impossible to get control off be different (mostly non - local) rulers trying to claim rulership over it. previously in the story, Östen son, who he elected as the liege - lord of tröndelag (ish area) got very suddenly killed by “the common - folk of tröndelag”.
so anyway, to not repeat the same “sudden death of liege - lord syndrom” as previously happened in the story, the King Östen suggests that the people of tröndelag should pick their own local ruler, but which is sworn alliance to the King Östen.
here is were the story goes from “something like this could have happened irk, sure” to “this is fucking wild wtf just happened”
because this is the next passage in the story, Chapter 13 in Heimskringla:
“Then King Östen made another inroad into Trondhiem [city in tröndelag], and ravaged the land far and wide, and subdued it. He then offered the people either his slave, who was called Thorer Faxe, or his dog, whose name was Saur, to be their king. They preferred the dog, as they thought they would sooner get rid of him.
Now the dog was, by witchcraft, gifted with three men’s wisdom; and when he barked, he spoke one word and barked two. A collar and chain of gold and silver were made for him, and his courtiers carried him on their shoulders when the weather or ways were foul. A throne was erected for him, and he sat upon a high place, as kings are used to sit. He dwelt on Eyin Idre, and had his mansion in a place now called Saurshaug.
It is told that the occasion of his death was that the wolves one day broke into his fold, and his courtiers stirred him up to defend his cattle; but when he ran down from his mound, and attacked the wolves, they tore him into pieces.
Many other extraordinary things were done by this King Östen against the Trondhiem people, and in consequence of this persecution and trouble, many chiefs and people fled and left their udal properties.“
i love the last paragraph. even STRANGER THINGS, happened during King Östen apperntly. damn that King Östen, what jerk.
(btw King Östen is in the story said to be from Upplands, which most likely is Uppsala. that is, a city located in modern day sweden. tsk tsk Östen, what a jerk. also, should not be needed to be said, but, Östen is a king considered mythological in sweden, that is not an actual person, but a mythological figure.)
ps. the reason why everyone is running around in tröndelag in this story, is most likely because it appears very likely that the exiled norwegian nobles who founded Iceland, were from Tröndelag. therefore many icelandic sagas are very into talking about the history of the tröndelag region. tröndelag is within the borders of modern day Norway. It should also be mentioned that modern day tröndelag is located within sapmi